Justin

Is there any update on Food Fight? This was the game I was looking forward to most and I worry it will become vaporware and the holy grail of this renascence era of Atari.

Should we consider Frenzy for a future ColecoVision High Score Squad Challenge?

Here's a question for you guys - How do you think 5200 Berzerk compares to what was on ColecoVision at the time?

I should qualify this by saying that I'm primarily speaking of hardware. I don't think it's very likely that we will ever see a 5200 Flashback (although we did see Intellivision and ColecoVision Flashbacks, so I don't rule it out entirely!) although I think even the Flashback era is starting to sunset. The more opportunities for 5200 software released on modern platforms the better! I think even with that, when there is an Atari 5200 title that Atari is able to release, potentially superior versions may already exist in A8, 7800 or Coin-Op Arcade form that Atari could be more likely to choose from. That said, the inclusion of A8 games in some of these new complications and products opens the door to more 5200 games being included. I was thrilled to see this. Absolutely correct! Especially games like Pole Position, Dig Dug and Xevious, which were released in arcades as "Atari" games, ported to Atari home video game systems as Atari products, and the public at the time thought of all of these things as "Atari". Unfortunately so much of this has been chipped away at. Plus there's the issue of the 1984 split between Coin-Op and Home Consumer. Some of these "Atari" games that really would've been great hits, like Road Blasters, S.T.U.N. Runner, Marble Madness and Paperboy aren't included in Atari compilations, but some are often included in "Midway Classics" releases. These are EXCELLENT POINTS, very well stated by @Sabertooth who totally gets it! These issues are far too often overlooked by much of the retro gaming community who are more into having a great time playing classic games than untangling the legalities of IP. Spend five minutes looking into getting licensing rights for Chip's Challenge and you'll see what I mean.

Unfortunately I don't expect we will see a "5200 Flashback" or much of 5200 anything in the future, but you never know! I was always of the belief that the 5200 should've been A8 compatible, and ultimately I saw the XE as everything the 5200 functionally could have been. With a lot of time and commitment you could recreate the PCBs and have a short run of them made, maybe if you had a few others to go in on it with you. But to "produce a 5100" would be a mountainous task. Even if the 5100 had been put into production, I'm of the opinion that it didn't solve any meaningful issues and wouldn't have changed the 5200s fate by much. I loved the look of the original 5200. A slimmed down "5200 Jr." that could be sold for "under 50 bucks!" would be nice, but that would have to be one aspect of a multi-pronged strategy that would have to include completely new controllers and more new, good looking games to strengthen the 5200 games library. By the time the 5100 would make it out the door it would've been Nintendo & Sega time, so they'd have to do a great job with the joysticks and games. I think even under Warner they recognized that a better option would be to move forward with something new. There are a handful of working 5100s out there. They tend to be expensive, but if the 5200 is special to you, at least these were produced and are still out there in the world somewhere. Maybe one day you will get your hands on one!

@Atari 5200 Guy No it's fine, Atari 5200 is on topic. Random show-and-tell picture day is not. No apologies needed. I have a TON of content for a cool new thread! 🙂

Apologies for steering us off topic. I came across the 5200 20th Anniversary article that I thought would be poignant to share here since we're now talking about the 40th Anniversary! Along with the articles I found some "digital artifacts" from this site from long ago that I thought would be fun to share with you guys, from the standpoint of getting to see what Atari I/O was doing 20+ years ago. How amazing is it that websites likes ours, AA and others are now as old as the Atari 2600 was when we first built them?! I was just excited and thought you guys may like to see some old stuff from before Atari I/O became what it is now. I'll be moving that into a new topic. Game on!

@Atari 5200 Guy Today I was going through an old hard drive retrieving and archiving files. I came across the articles and content we had written in 2002 to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Atari 5200 on this website. When I launched the new version of the site in 2014 that you're all familiar with now, I had originally intended to clean these articles up a bit and publish them on our 5200 page, but I was happy with the new content I had created. Today would be a good day to share these here. These were primarily penned by our Atari 5200 contributor George Reese in 2001 with contributions from Curt Vendel. I don't know where George is, but he was a really fantastic guy and a 5200 gamer to the core. Absolute wealth of knowledge. I haven't altered a word of these articles we first put them up 20+ years ago. There are three articles: 20 YEARS AND STILL GOING - THE ATARI 5200 SUPERSYSTEM ATARI 5200 BARROOM PROJECT ATARI 5200 POWER SUPPLIES - A BASIC GUIDELINE PDFs are attached below. I'm pasting the 20th Anniversary article into this post. Enjoy! 20 Years And Still Going - The Atari 5200 SuperSystem.pdf Atari 5200 Barroom Project.pdf Atari 5200 Power Supplies - A Basic Guideline.pdf

It's great to see so much enthusiasm for a 5200 Squad Challenge! We've tried getting these off the ground since 2015 and could never get more than a couple of players. So glad you guys nominated this one! 🥳

I wish they'd uniform everything and release a mini Atari Lynx with Atari 50 Anniversary Celebration built into it.

@nosweargamer has the latest on this announcement from My Arcade, offering a micro arcade, mini handheld, and a plug and play mini "game station" with unique wireless joysticks featuring multiple fire buttons:

REAL HARDWARE, LETTSSS GOOOOO!!! 🕹️🔥🔥🔥

TERRIFIC to have you join us in High Score Squad again @- Ω - glad you joined the team! It's always more fun for everybody when we have more players join, especially on a system like the Atari 5200 which doesn't get as many participants as something like the 2600 and NES.

This is a MONTH LONG Squad Challenge! You have through January 31st to post your High Score! Take the extra time to enjoy the game!

Congratulations everyone! Great job Atari 5200 Guy on Silence! Congratulations to everyone who joined us this year for our 2022 F-ZERO event! I hope you had a great time playing, and a great holiday with the people you love! I took the top spot for the MUTE CITY I Squad Challenge, and I'd like to congratulate the legendary @Atari 5200 Guy for his winning performance on the Bonus Challenge for SILENCE! This year in MUTE CITY, I took 1st Place with my lap time of 2' 09" 39. "The Mayor" @greenween was hot on my tail, taking 2nd Place with a lap time of 2' 10" 62. @Atari 5200 Guy joins us for both Squad Challenges, and in MUTE CITY takes 3rd with a lap time of 2' 11" 54. "The Don" @RickR pulls in 4th Place just a fraction of a second behind Atari 5200 Guy, with a final lap time of 2' 11" 62. @Sabertooth found time to join us in MUTE CITY with a great lap time of 2' 16" 32, landing him in 5th Place. WELL DONE! In our SILENCE Bonus Challenge, @Atari 5200 Guy takes the 1st Place spot, making it all the way to SILENCE and completing the course with an outstanding lap time of 2' 20" 64! I secured my position in 2nd Place with a lap time of 2' 27" 28. Way to go on your incredible performances everyone, and THANK YOU to everyone who joined in this Squad Challenge! As always I'd like to encourage the legendary @Atari 5200 Guy to join me in posting our new high scores on the Scoreboard, and let's make sure these F-ZERO Challenges continue on! Once again, a very special "Thank You" to your Club VCS Moderator @Sabertooth who did a stellar job throughout 2022 hosting Atari VCS "Recharged" Squad Challenges and other fun events in our new Club VCS! 2023 will be even better! If you're a VCS owner or just curious about what's been going on, be sure to check out Club VCS where this month's Challenge will be for VCTR-SCTR, and thank Sabertooth for all the hard work he's put into building the best community for VCS gamers! NOTE: Our next High Score Squad Challenge will be posted momentarily. Be there!

The yellow car was always my favorite back in the day, I guess I liked the way it looked and the character that went with it in the manual. These days I've found the same thing you have: I use the blue car to get better scores. Best one to play overall in my experience.

Berzerk Atari 5200 Controller: JOYSTICK / KEYBOARD / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: GAME 1 (Default) Play on: Real Hardware / Dedicated Console / Emulation OK! ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST January 31, 2023 Nominated by @greenween and @RickR Objective Play for the highest possible score using the difficulty settings defined in the challenge. Post a photo or YouTube video of your score in this thread. Scores must be achieved between January 1st through January 31st, 2023. Screen captures are not allowed as they are more easily manipulated for falsified scores. Multiple submissions are permitted. The player with the highest score at the end of the competition is the victor! Eligibility Anyone can join in. All players are welcome! Play Rules Games may be played on real hardware, Flashback / Mini console, officially released compilation, or emulation, using any controller or keyboard, following all rules and game settings defined in the challenge. Choosing between real hardware or emulation, and choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds, updated and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level Game 1. We are starting Berzerk on Game 1, the default level. Fair Play Your integrity is everything. Players should play fairly, be honest, and have fun! Falsified scores will result in your immediate removal from the site. It goes without saying that we will not allow cheats, hacks, cartridge frying, enhancements, rewinds, deceitful photo manipulation, subterfuge, or any other dishonest advantage. Everybody hates a cheater. More To review detailed rules on how to play, please visit the High Score Squad page here: Message Welcome to our 141st Squad Challenge! We're kicking off the new year with a fantastic release for the 5200, the incredible BERZERK! Berzerk will leave you hearing voices! 2023 marks the ninth year in which we have hosted High Score Squad Challenges! Can you believe it? Let's celebrate with another special chance to play a great Atari 5200 game in Squad Challenge. Special thanks to @greenween and @RickR for nominating this game! Do you have what it takes to defeat Evil Otto without defeating your joystick? How far can you get without inducing a heart attack? ROM and PDF Instruction Booklet is attached below. Good luck! Berzerk.bin Berzerk.pdf

My SILENCE High Score: 2' 27" 28

My MUTE CITY I High Score: 2' 09" 39

YES you are. KaOS has got to be one of the coolest name for an operating system I've ever heard. I love it!