----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Pepin" <cpepin1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <stella@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2001 9:07 PM
Subject: Re: [stella] OT: Astrocade
> The main problem I have is that I don't own one nor does it look like I'll
> find one anytime soon. If I did find one, I'm not sure if the system or
> games are even any fun to play. If it wasn't fun to play I would probably
The Astrocade has some real gems, including the best home version of Wizard
of Wor. Its main display mode is almost identical to GRAPHICS 7 on the 8-bit
Ataris... 160x102 4-color, from a palette of 256. No sprites, but a 3.5Mhz
Z80 to blit graphics around. 4K of RAM. 3-voice sound chip, apparently very
similar to the one used in many early Bally/Midway arcade games. Really cool
pistol-style controllers with a combo stick/paddle. 4 controller ports. And
so on... :)
And how's this for fan support (from
http://www.classicgaming.com/gamingmuseum/bally.html):
"Much of the programs released for the Bally system at that time [1979] were
written by it's users anyways. Newsletters sprung up and users traded
casette based Bally software, and sold casette and cartridge based software.
Much of this software was innovative, and made the Bally console the only
known console that allowed you to program it in machine language when
Machine Language Manager was released. A fairly complete listing of the type
of games and programs available is here.
In fact, these users were so loyal that a group of users who enjoyed
the unit for it's programming capabilities bought the system from Bally and
released it in 1981 as the Bally Computer System. In 1982 they renamed the
product the Astrocade and sold it for the next 3 years."
Here's a page with a lot of Astrocade links:
http://www.classicgaming.com/ballyalley/links.html
--
Clay Halliwell | ATARI XL/XE DO + THE
clay.FAKEMEAT.h@xxxxxxx | 8 - B I T S --------
e.halliwell@xxxxxxxxx | /////////// M A T H
Keeper of the Atari Jaguar Cheats and Codes FAQ. Request your copy today!
Editor, Jaguar Explorer Online - More Jaguar News Than Should Be Allowed!
http://www.atarihq.com/jeo/ "Where do you want to play Atari today?"
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