Commodore Remix

Is Dizzy a relative of Weebl?

I wouldn't know what a Weebl is.

But what I do know is that since I investigated Space Invaders for the Atari 2600, which I forgot I had, I've had a real reminder of why that console was my first love before the Commodore 64.

I've had a bit of a spending splurge on Ebay. No more than a tenner per game, but I must have bought maybe 5 or 6 tonight, including classics like Video Olympics, Tapper, Spiderman and Robot Tank. I also bought Space Invaders before I investigated my collection to discover I already had it; which is how I've got more than one copy of other games.

And perhaps I was being a touch rash even there because I've discovered that the Stella emulator has really come on since I last downloaded it 5 or so years ago: http://stella.sourceforge.net/. Back then the sound was rubbish and it didn't have the breathtaking array of features you get now. (You can even emulate the 'frying' of the old cartridges, which was the method of rapidly oscillating the power on and off to corrupt the circuit; thus you could find yourself a natty cheat mode in many games. It doesn't work on some games which I know can be 'fried', but at least it's all safely imitated now.)

The games can be found here, handily downloadable in whopping great piles: http://www.atariage.com/system_items.ht ... TypeID=ROM

Nice to have many interesting cartridges, like the Road Runner or Mario games, plus very late games like 1987's Realsports Boxing looked very C64. But I want to get the Atari VCS MIDI system soon because of the unique sonics of the system: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?_nkw=synt ... &_osacat=0. Oooh, will I now, won't I now?

But in the meantime, I think I'll try this Atari VSTi: http://www.gersic.com/plugins/index.php?daPlug=1666

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EXTRA NOTE: The 'Atari' VSTi is very nice in its way, but it's NOT a 2600! But for free, these samples may help: http://little-scale.blogspot.com/2008/1 ... e-set.html

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EXTRA EXTRA NOTE: Whilst running a few Commodore synth programs in search of Atari-esque sounds, I thought even the earliest and most rudimentary SID software wasn't coarse enough for my liking. Then I remembered a trick I even used myself before: running the level of the sound, through PC audio software, so hard into the red that the system noise of the 64 registered quite highly on the meter without a gate on. With the gain right the way up and the fader virtually at the bottom on the mixer screen, such distortion gives that virtually ideal VCS sound. (Of course, the physical audio level going into the PC is normal.)

Commie_User wrote:I've discovered that the Stella emulator has really come on since I last downloaded it 5 or so years ago

Ah, neat. Haven't checked Stella out in ages myself. Best give it a spin - one of my earliest gaming memories is of playing Vanguard on a mates 2600 back in the early 80s.

Hopefully the Windows version of the emulator will work with the Competition Pro USB joystick.

Your USB stick ought to do. If it's working through the Direct-X software interface it should just work right off the bat. My USB joypad certainly does.

Even though it's now the cold light of day, I'm still torn right down the middle on whether or not I should have an Atari VCS sound system to compliment the Commies which I've armed to the teeth. I don't need to tell any of you how the allure of a classic system-turned-synth can really put you in a necklock.

Yes, on the one hand I linked to the samples and said how a degraded C64 playback can give you that Atari-esque sound. But on the other, there's a chap selling a virtually comprehensive music package (with tape loader!) on Ebay, along with others selling the MIDI interface and circuit-bent Atari for the best sound possible.

Wish I'd left the bl**dy thing alone now, as well as wishing I'd not discovered those Classic Game Room videos on Youtube!
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But here are some pictures of my Atari rig as it stands at the moment, if they upload.

And here's the cheats page on the internet, surprisingly still there after all these years: http://www.digitpress.com/faq/vcstrick.htm. (Still not updated either, as I know you can also 'fry' Phoenix, Rampage and Road Runner; as I discovered back in the days when I was disgruntled that was no Action Replay or Game Genie for it. Though who needed it for such tiny games?)

More pictures.

I did have more games, but foolishly threw them out at a time when I was jaded with video games and extremely impatient with them.

I remember getting one game from a conman, several years after the Atari had commercially died. Remember you used to get those market traders who ran 'auctions' for junk? You know, he would say "Who wants a hand-held video game for a fiver", and the kids would all go "Me, me". The burly men with him would take the money and give the kids black bin bags, menacingly telling them not to open them until they went home, whereupon they would find they were sold rubbish.

In my case the man sold my bag to me for a penny, just to warm up the crowd before getting to the microwave oven boxes with bricks in or something. I was happy because I got the mint-nick Kangaroo game for a penny, so I was satisfied twice.

Not satisfied enough to keep it for too many years. Good game looking back, I wish I hadn't been so ruthless in my clear-out.

And now a surprisingly lukewarm review of Mario Bros in the July 1987 issue of Your Commodore.

Mario Bros is now usually regarded as a essential part of the classic gaming experience rather than as some quaint deficient curiosity.

DOWNLOAD: http://roms.zophar.net/search?search=mario+bros

I think we all at some point regretfully sold something that now wish we didnt.

In recent years here and there I've managed to get stuff that I would never been able to afford when I was
younger. Colecovision, Intellivision, Sega Master System, NES. Still need to get a hold of an SNES in good shape.

Commie_User wrote:And now a surprisingly lukewarm review of Mario Bros in the July 1987 issue of Your Commodore.

Mario Bros is now usually regarded as a essential part of the classic gaming experience rather than as some quaint deficient curiosity.

DOWNLOAD: http://roms.zophar.net/search?search=mario+bros

Actually, I do agree with the review at the time. You have to bear in mind that Mario Bros had already been around 3-4 years before Ocean converted it, and there had already been a conversion by Atari. Neither of them plays perfectly, and the graphics on the Ocean effort are quite poor. The game itself was highly regarded BEFORE then, and is now well-liked after its many appearances on later Nintendo hardware (e.g. as an extra on the GBA Super Mario games)

Although I understand that by then videogame fashions were developing so fast that even 3 year-old games looked arcahic, I still have to say a classic is a classic. I'm usually aware of Mario players taking this into consideration, even at the time of the 1987 range.

The Atari 2600 version seemed like a design of shaded line drawings in comparison to the arcade and 5200 versions, but it still rocked. The later Commie version handled well and even the Spectrum version looked classy enough for what it was.

I liked the NES version of Mario included with Super Mario Bros 3, even though it lacked the single-player option.

For me, all the versions wear well. Some more than others, but as far as I'm concerned they are engaging, addictive and fall far short of failure.