RSS: Player/Missile

A retrospective of the Atari 8-bit home computer systems, the magazines that covered them, and a somewhat chronological review of games as they arrived on the platform.

Phase 2 begins with the usual magazine coverage and a review of Quarxon, a two-player shoot-each-other game with prominent use of Display List Interrupts. In the tech section, I use Omnivore to discover how these DLIs work. Introduction Stef Animal's Bandcamp page Stef Animal's Pico-8 game: The Spooky House Pico-8 virtual machine (a "fantasy video game console") XLXE Podcast Magazines Atari 8-bit magazines ANTIC Antic Vol 1, #2 Atari Connection Atari Connection Vol 2, #2 Byte Byte Vol 7, #6 Full text of De Re Atari ... For 14 more links, see the show notes

Introducing Phase 2 of the Player/Missile extended podcastimatic universe. The magazine coverage will stay the same, but instead of a typical game review, I will focus on reverse engineering to discover interesting game programming techniques used by the authors of these classic games. I intend it to be a tutorial on the use of Omnivore, the desktop application I've designed that includes many reverse engineering tools, including a built-in emulator and debugger. Tech Section Omnivore, my 8-bit reverse engineering platform

The hiatus is over. With my new slimmed-down post-production, I now plan to get back to regular episodes. For this one, it's the usual magazine coverage and some talk about the retro-computing projects I've been doing in the last year. Introduction KansasFest! Richard Broadhurst's Programs Astroblaster Carnival Frogger Phoenix Emulated hardware arcade port of Circus Tech Section Omnivore, the Atari 8-bit Binary Editor Magazines Atari 8-bit magazines ANALOG Analog #6 Antic Podcast Interview #214: Ron Hartman of K-Byte Software ... For 13 more links, see the show notes

The culmination of the first "season" of the Player/Missile podcast is a review of my favorite game and the announcement of the project undertaken by Kevin Savetz and myself to reverse engineer the game. We're sponsoring a level design contest, and there's still time to enter! Oh, and I'm taking a hiatus until I can collect the physical magazines. You can help out with your contributions! Introduction KansasFest! Chris Torrence's Softalk Apple (video) Podcast I'm a guest on Antic Episode 33! Atari 8 bit ads Intellivisionaries Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 Article and photo of Mark Reid winning the 1983 Atari Star Award Listener Written Programs Wade's windowing system in Action! MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) More details on MAME cabinet Tech Section Omnivore, the Atari 8-bit Binary Editor AtariAge forum post announcing Omnivore Jumpman Level Editor for C64 ... For 19 more links, see the show notes

Game review of Getaway! and interview with the author Mark Reid. The program won the Atari Star Award and the $25,000 prize in 1983. I also introduce Omnivore, the 8-bit binary editor that I've been working on during the hiatus. Kevin Savetz has a guest review of the APX Spring Catalog, and we add a new section to the podcast, the countdown to the Tramiel takeover. Introduction Omnivore, the Atari 8-bit Binary Editor Player/Missile Blog AtariAge forum post announcing Omnivore AtariAge forum post with Wade's new Getaway! level Dan Boris's Atari Disk Explorer Atari Disk Explorer on github Feedback San Leandro Computer Club SLCC home page AtariAge forum post: 1200XL Owners Club (serial tracker) Atari Party 2016! Saturday, Jul 30, 2016 Vintage Computer Festival West, Aug 6-7, 2016 Listener Written Programs Tom Raidna's Windows IDE & code builder for his TUI (Text User Interface) MAME Cabinet ... For 48 more links, see the show notes

Part 2b of the flight simulator roundup with Chris Olson, reviewing helicopter sims and the all-time classic F-15 Strike Eagle. Plus: an update on speeding up Star Raiders. Introduction Dan Carlin's Hardcore History Pictures from the AtariAge booth at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo XEGS Cart-by-Cart Podcast They Create Worlds Podcast They Create Worlds Blog Feedback Interview with Dona Bailey, Centipede co-creator Hidden Maze from Compute!'s First Book of Atari Games Wikipedia article on maze generation Bill Kendrick's maze generator web game Bill Kendrick's printable mazes Bill Kendrick's 10-line BASIC maze generator San Leandro Computer Club SLCC home page Listener Written Programs RetroChallenge in January! MAME Cabinet ... For 33 more links, see the show notes

The universe of games really begins to expand in 1982. From here on out we'll have a huge selection of choices to talk about, and Shamus by Cathryn Mataga leads us off. Also, an interview with Michael Portuesi who is both a published author in Compute!'s books and a listener to the podcast. Introduction Ten Pence Arcade podcast San Leandro Computer Club Feedback Interview with Dona Bailey, Centipede co-creator MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) More details on MAME cabinet Tech Section Python program to split ATR/XFD images My half-finished game Air Defense Source code to Air Defense ATasm, a Mac/65 cross assembler 2015 ABBUC Software Contest Magazines ... For 16 more links, see the show notes

The first half of the military flight simulator roundup with Chris Olson. I've included a bonus tech section at the end discussing a clever display list technique used by the MicroProse sims. Guest reviews: Michael Glaser of the XEGS Cart-by-Cart podcast covers SoftSide and Kevin Savetz summarizes the APX Winter 1981 Catalog. Introduction Thanks to Wade from Inverse ATASCII for the ANALOGs & Flight Simulator II AtariAge forum thread: 2 worthy video game podcasts Internet History Podcast By Brian McCullough Dan Carlin's Hardcore History XEGS Cart-by-Cart Podcast ANTIC Podcast Feedback The History of 8-bit Computer Games in The USA #1 : CGW Nov/Dec 1981 Sprite Castle, the C64 game review podcast with Rob O'Hara No Quarter episode 89: Arcade Draft #1 No Quarter episode 123: Arcade Draft #2 Listener Written Programs The Space Invaders TRS-80 'Bootleg' Project MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) More details on MAME cabinet ... For 35 more links, see the show notes

Two new magazines for the coverage: Computer Gaming World and my first magazine from the UK: Computer & Video Games, and two guest reviewers of magazines. An overview of KansasFest from the Atari point of view, and a review of the APX game Reversi II. Introduction California Extreme Arcade/Pinball show July 18 & 19 2015 CA Extreme twitter Pictures from CA Extreme KansasFest KansasFest More from Rebecca Heineman: Antic Interview #64 Steve Mayer: Antic Interview #65 Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python Ringtones from Atari 8-bit games HackFest Podcasters Summit Retro Computing Roundtable Ep #105 Carrington Vanston from Retro Computing Roundtable John Leake from RetroMacCast John Linville from The CoCo Crew Ken Gagne from Polygamer ... and also from Indiesider Kevin Savetz from ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast Michael Mulhurn from Retro Computing Roundtable Mike Whalen from Electric Dreams BBS Podcast ... For 43 more links, see the show notes

Jack Nutting of the Retro Computing Roundtable, Victor Marland of Ten Pence Arcade, Wade Ripkowski of Inverse Atascii and Kevin Savetz of ANTIC join me for a 5 round draft of Atari 8-bit games. Participants Jack Nutting of Retro Computing Roundtable Victor Marland of Ten Pence Arcade Wade Ripkowski of Inverse Atascii Kevin Savetz of ANTIC Jack's Picks Star Raiders my Star Raiders speedup hack (in progress) M.U.L.E. Realm of Impossibility Wizard of Wor Dog Daze Deluxe Victor's Picks Alley Cat Mr. Dig Donkey Kong Donkey Kong Jr. Kangaroo Arkanoid Wade's Picks ... For 20 more links, see the show notes

Summary of Bill Kendrick's Atari Party 2015 and review of the excellent port of Missile Command. In magazine coverage, I've added MICRO: The 6502/6809 Journal, and new contributor Michael Glaser takes over SoftSide Magazine. Introduction Atari Party in Davis, CA, May 2, 2015 Atari Party photos! California Extreme Arcade/Pinball show July 18 & 19 2015 Feedback ANTIC Podcast Interview #40: Doug Carlston of Br0derdund Software BBC Micro magazine: Acorn User ANTIC Magazine preview of the ATR8000 Kevin Savetz's site with full text to 21 flight simulator books Intellivisionaries Podcast Pictures of some of the Atari 'silver box' kits UER Podcast CoCo Crew Podcast Listener Written Programs Bill Kendrick's Combat-like game & tutorial in Action HSC12r8 Ramp Rage by TRBB (Jason Kendall) MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) ... For 37 more links, see the show notes

Flight simulator roundup where Chris Olson and I review 5 noteworthy civilian aircraft sims on the 8-bits (military sims will be the subject of part 2). Also added Byte to the magazine to the coverage due to the serializiaton of De Re Atari. Introduction Atari Party in Davis, CA, May 2, 2015 RetroPie Raspberry Pi game emulation distro Stella, the 2600 emulator Atari800 emulator Atari podcast interviews thread Interview with David Fox Floppy Days Episode 36 with all the Atari 8-bit podcasters Listener Written Programs Sudoku Solver in 6502 assembly MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) More details on MAME cabinet Hacking Ms. Pac-Man Pac-Man Dossier Don Hodges: the Pac-Man kill screen Commented Ms. Pac-Man source Ms. Pac-Man annotated hex dump ... For 31 more links, see the show notes

Interview episode with game developer James Hague who was published in ANALOG and Antic magazines, is the author of Halcyon Days & maintainer of the Giant List of Classic Video Game Programmers. Atari Party 2015 is just around the corner! Introduction Atari Party in Davis, CA, May 2, 2015 No Quarter is back with new co-host Rob O'Hara! WICO Joystick review Feedback Inverse ATASCII Podcast Rescue on Fractalis writeup by Trevor Briscoe Listener Written Programs Paul Nurminen's BASIC games and demos The Intellivisionaries Podcast Tech Section My Star Raiders fork example 16 bit division routine 4am Algernon crack documentation Open Apple Podcast 6502.org 6502 reference ... For 27 more links, see the show notes

Interview episode with Chuck Bueche, tech section on Star Raiders and the Atari 8-bit executable format, guest magazine coverage of Softalk, and the Atari Party: Davis CA, May 2, 2015! Introduction The Atari 5200 Super Podcast Atari Party in Davis, CA, May 2, 2015 KansasFest July 14-19 2015 California Extreme classic arcade games expo July 18-19 2015 AtariAge 8-bit High Score Club Season 12 Feedback Computer Gaming World MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) More details on MAME cabinet Let's Hack Arcade Games Tech Section my fork of the Star Raiders disassembly CC65 CC65 source AtariAge userdevwebcl's example CC65 files AtariAge forum thread: Star Raiders - was it ever fixed? ... For 28 more links, see the show notes

Interview episode with Michael Current, maintainer of the Atari 8-bit FAQ and the Atari History Timeline; also covering the magazines from June 1981. Tech section on building Star Raiders, MAME cabinet update, and the Atari Party: Davis CA, May 2, 2015! Introduction Atari Party in Davis, CA, May 2, 2015 RetroLink DB9 Joystick to USB cables My original linux driver Improved linux driver Raspberry Pi Model B KansasFest July 14-19 2015 California Extreme classic arcade games expo AtariAge 8-bit High Score Club Season 12 Feedback Experiment in Forced Nostalgia Inverse ATASCII episode guide MAME Cabinet MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread) More details on MAME cabinet Cabaret cabinets in Tipperary, Ireland Tech Section Reverse engineering the classic 1979 game Star Raiders ... For 24 more links, see the show notes

Magazines from May 1981 and a review of Eastern Front (1941) by Chris Crawford, and the triumphant reinstatement of the tech section of the podcast because I've found a manageable topic. Also, info about the Atari Party 2015 which I will attend and give away a Raspberry Pi. Introduction Ringtones and notifications from Atari 8-bit games Thread about building my MAME cabinet Comparing the RPi to the Cray X-MP Raspberry Pi 2 announcement Raspberry Pi 2 specs Atari Party in Davis, CA, May 2, 2015 RetroLink DB9 Joystick to USB cables My original linux driver Improved linux driver Raspberry Pi Model B AtariAge 8-bit High Score Club AtariAge forum thread: 2 worthy video game podcasts S1500's Classic Console Gamernews Tech Section Reverse engineering the classic 1979 game Star Raiders 6502 math operations Simple 8bit division routine Software - Math - Integer Division ANALOG ANALOG #3, May/Jun 1981 ... For 29 more links, see the show notes

Magazine coverage for April 1981 but jump ahead in time to cover our first homebrew game, Gem Drop by Bill Kendrick. Bill also invented one of the first software-driven graphics modes, called Super IRG, and we have an interview with him to talk about it. Introduction Ferg's review of BASIC Programming River Raid Linear Feedback Shift Registers Elite II: 100 billion solar systems on 2 floppy disks Ten Pence Arcade podcast, Episode 25: Space Invaders Feedback Cross-platform Apple ][ emulator You Don't Know Flack Ep. 155: Cassettes KansasFest Inverse ATASCII Vintage Computer Festival Compute #11, Apr 1981 Sholes (QWERTY) vs Dvorak keyboard Does the Dvorak keyboard increase typing speed? VIC-20: First Look The Mysterious and Unpredictable RND The Atari Gazette Unlease the Power of your Atari CPU Weird Al's Word Crimes ... For 22 more links, see the show notes

In addition to the usual magazine coverage for March 1981, we look at the Apple ][ game Sabotage, converted to run on the Atari. I talk with Paul Hagstrom to get background knowledge on the Apple hardware, and get the inside story on the Sabotage conversion by the guy who did it, AtariAge user Shamus. Introduction Sound explained in De Re Atari, Chapter 7 cc65 started on the Atari 8-bits! Feedback Christmas Vacation sled scene ANALOG 400/800 Magazine #2, Mar/Apr 1981 Atari News Atari word processor review at Inverse ATASCII New Products Using Note & Point Type-in: Balance your Checkbook Type-in: Player/Missile graphics DMA timings Atari Graphics and Arcade Game Design, Chapter 6 ANTIC Techincal Video timing diagram Type-in: Cannon Duel Listen: Music Composer Column VCS update Graphics clipping routine in BASIC by Tom Hudson The Game Room by Tom Repstad ... For 32 more links, see the show notes

This episode reviews the game Jawbreaker by John Harris and covers the February 1981 magazines Compute #9, Creative Computing Vol 7 #2, and introduces coverage of SoftSide Magazine. Anacronisticly included is coverage of my trip to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2014. Feedback Sound Finder Special Section: Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2014 Walkthrough of the arcade Ms. Pac-Man FAQ Howard Scott Warshaw's panel David Crane, Gary Kitchen, Bob Smith from 2013 PRGE Intellivision Producitons Joe DeCuir from the 2013 PRGE DubiousGamingOnline PRGE Experiences, part 1 DubiousGamingOnline PRGE Experiences, part 2 Compute #9, Feb 1981 History of Personal Computing podcast MOS Technology KIM-1 single board computer OSI Superboard Editor's Review of the Atari 825 printer ad for daisywheen printer and typewriter combo More on the mysterious and unpredictable RND function Type-in: Ticker Tape Messages Type-in: colors and sounds with paddles ... For 34 more links, see the show notes

Welcome to January, 1981! Finally going month-by-month, Episode 4 includes the first ANALOG issue, Compute #8 and Creative Computing Vol 7 #1 and a review the game Caverns of Mars published first by APX then by Atari itself. And in my first interview, I talk with with Mike DesChenes, the co-founder of ANALOG Computing! Introduction I'm now a part of the Throwback Network! Ten Pence Arcade McCoyCast episode on Real Genius Feedback Intellivisionaries Ep. #13 Atari Bit Byter User Club cc65 cross compiler Brian Sturk's MAME cabinet Interview with Mike DesChenes Master Hobbies, Cherry Valley, MA Newspaper scans of interviews with Lee Pappas and Mike DesChenes OCR versions at The Digital ANALOG Project ANALOG scans at archive.org ANALOG scans at atarimania ANALOG scans at atarimagazines.com ANALOG 400/800 Magazine #1, Jan/Feb 1981 Cover drawn by Mike DesChenes' father ... For 58 more links, see the show notes