7800 Pro Gamer

You are awesome @TrekMD thank you! It looks great!

That would be really helpful. Maybe we can start listing them here and make a list with the help of all the members and we can keep a spreadsheet on it

I was talking to @Funkmaster V on the phone tonight and we started talking Jaguar, as you inevitably do, and he asked if there was a list of Jaguar Homebrew similar to what he's trying to do over at atari7800forever.com. And I wasn't able to find one that includes everything. While I'm a ways off from doing a Ranking the Jaguar Library thing, I might be able to compile something of a definitive list of Jaguar Homebrew that is available on cartridge and possibly the WIP and download only stuff too. If it's already been done then fantastic, I'd like to see it for collector purposes but if not maybe I can give it a try...

I like the way this guy thinks!

Hey guys, long time no update! I've put out a ton of content since the last time I posted. We do a review every Sunday and a "featured" video every Thursday. Usually featured videos are about what's going on with Atari and the community, covering classic consoles and releases, buyers guides and stories about our favorite hobby! For example, last week we reviewed California Games for the Atari 2600: And we covered the 2600+ versus the Retron 77... Which will be getting a follow up so I can clear up some errors and talk about my experience since the unboxing! I also host a podcast with Funkmaster V from Big N Funky Productions over on YouTube, in The Atari Network Podcast Brought to you by atari7800forever.com! Last week we talked about some of what happened in 2023 along with the usual news and events in the world of Atari! Check it out if you haven't: But the main reason for this update is the possibility of merch coming soon. I had somebody ask about if that's something we would do and said they would rock a shirt about the podcast or Atari Network. I never considered that anybody would be interested in merchandise but there appears to be a small amount of people wanting it. So right now I'm shopping around providers and mocking up designs for a limited merch run. Whatever I do will probably be in limited quantities as I don't want to be on the hook for lots of stuff that doesn't sell. Right now I'm designing the coffee mug but also plan on offering 3-4 unisex t shirt designs, a "tumbler" or travel mug, baseball cap, stickers and vinyl decals for car bumpers etc. I envision there being an Atari Network shirt, a 7800 Pro Gamer shirt and possibly a podcast shirt if Vinnie agrees. If you'd like to see something else let me know. This merch type stuff is probably a few months away from being released as I want to make sure whatever I sell to you is quality and affordable. But once they sell out their done unless they go stupid fast which I doubt. So for those of you who asked for it I promise it's coming, and everyone else don't feel obligated. With all that said thank you guys for the continued support and making this YouTube thing so much fun. This week I'm doing a video about why the Atari Jaguar is so expensive and if it's really worth the cost today and there will be a review of Delta Space Arena for the Atari 7800 by Video61. I'm also working on reviews for Madness Beverage, 5200 version of HERO, and much more. I'm also hoping to do an awesome project with somebody close to Atari in the 80's and 90's especially the Jaguar! So subscribe if you haven't, and Stay Classy Atarians!

I was wondering if the process was going to be made simpler. Honestly it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but it definitely felt a bit chaotic the way it was presented and done. I hope they make it idiot proof because I messed it up initially, so if they need an idiot for testing I'm here! Lol

Like others said narrowing it down to five is a hard thing to do. Especially if your counting homebrew. So I'll give you the games that I loved back when we had one as a kid and then some games that really brought me back to it later in life. As a kid we played Asteroids a lot and the 7800 version was just so much cooler to me than our 2600 version. Pole Position 2 also got played a lot believe it or not. Seeing the backgrounds slide in and out of sight was just so mesmerizing to me. We also enjoyed Mario Bros in 2 player and Rampage. As an adult I came back with a heavy interest in Jinks, Choplifter, Ninja Golf, and Crossbow. Of those games I still really like Crossbow and find it to be a unique and fun idea and I've completed Ninja Golf on every difficulty. But Jinks and Choplifter... Well idk why I was drawn to them but let's just say that I no longer am lol. So maybe give a few of those a try!

Also I didn't mention it last night but Lance @Video 61 had to cancel yesterday due to health reasons (nothing serious but under the weather) so myself and @Funkmaster V wish him to feel better soon and we hope he'll be able to join us very soon! Be sure to check out Video61 Atari Sales for all your sealed Atari game needs!

It was awesome having @CrossBow on and he brings so much knowledge that we are lacking. If you enjoyed seeing him on the podcast then you'll be glad to know he will hopefully return from time to time! As long as he's available and willing we will have him on again; hopefully multiple times a year. Thanks to everyone who joined us in the chat and everyone who gave us a like or simply watched! Barring any unforseen releases, next show will be our "Fuji" awards on the podcast which will be a semi serious award show for the best and worst of 2023 in the Atari world and community! So join us for that and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

We'd love to have you some time. I'll reach out around December 26th so I can get some ideas about what you would be interested discussing etc. Yeah sorry lol. Same show different name essentially. Again, Vinnie was the first to mention it to me I would've never done it otherwise!

You'd be an incredible person to have on as Vinnie and I are notoriously awful with technical aspects. After December 25th I'll send you a message and we can work something out. Thank you!

Hey all, just a quick introduction for the channel, The Atari Network started back in July of 2023 as a channel dedicated solely to the Atari 7800. It soon there after expanded to allow for more coverage on modern and classic Atari consoles and news. In that time we've gained 1200 subscribers, nearly 8,000 hours of watch time and over 80,000 views! We have also hosted the Atari 7800 Forever Podcast for several months now which is the brainchild of Vinnie Vineyard aka Funkmaster V (Big N Funky Productions on YouTube) who started the atari7800forever.com website many years ago! Unfortunately the last episode of the Atari 7800 Forever podcast is airing on December 29th at 7:30pm EST. Which is very sad for both Vinnie and myself but good news! The Atari Network Podcast starts 2 weeks later! One vision I have for the new podcast is to allow for an occasional rotating slot for a 3rd or even 4th chair to get more opinions and points of view on the show. Myself and Vinnie will still be on every week! But despite our different personalities we share a lot of the same views and opinions. I think having other opinions represented on the channel is important for the wider community to feel they have a voice. Our guests in the past have mostly been in an interview style format where we focus solely on them and give them a platform to talk about their achievements in the Atari community. And we'll still do that but I also want to have guests who have insight on certain topics that we cover and want to engage in the conversation. These topics and conversations could be about classic Atari consoles or games, certain eras of Atari, new releases like stuff on the VCS, 2600+ or the XP line of games and much more. You don't have to be actively creative in the community, you don't have to be a developer or tech person, all you need is a willingness to talk and a passion about Atari. I've been reaching out to people but I want to give others the same opportunity Vinnie gave me last June. So if your interested in joining in on a few episodes a year all you have to do is send me a message. From there we'll just chat a little bit and see where a good fit would be. Then when a topic comes up in your wheel house you might be invited on. Also this is a good opportunity for people to practice public speaking or attempt to overcome personal fears, or stuff like that. I'm not delusional our reach is very small right now lol. Active unique viewers for the live show right now is between 30-50 people (usually less than 20 at a time) and they get about 125-300 views after the fact. So your not putting yourself out to a massive audience but we hope that will change soon! If you have your own YouTube channel you can stream it to your audience too. Your free to redistribute your appearances after the fact. You can also promote any of your own projects on the show during the introduction or ending! That's really it guys. If your interested in appearing let me know. Audio only is fine too for people who don't have cameras but video preferred. And if you have your own podcast or show I'm very open in appearing and discussing on your show as long as I can promote my channel 😁 ok thanks guys hope you all have a great day and most importantly, Stay Classy Atari IO!

Pretty good assessment. This is where I'm at. I like what's here but it needs expanded in a lot of ways. I can understand your point of view but I disagree. I think they focused on the shooting action and made a very enjoyable shooter. But everything else feels tacked on and none of the additional content is fleshed out enough. I'm fine with having Atari icons both real and fictional but they should do more than say one phrase over and over. Give me missions, objectives and other direction for some unlockables or something. I agree with this 100 percent. Not enough content outside of the core game. If your going to offer this Atari erse make it worth checking out. I think it can be saved with some updates but right now it serves little purpose other than get you to say "hey I remember that" The reason I can think for this is not to take away from sales of the Atari 50th. Again I agree 100% that these are lesser games but they should provide some purpose to the main experience. Like if you get the high score you get some themed clothing for your character or something. Otherwise I see no reason to play these rather than just enjoying the originals elsewhere. I just put out a video on this game and I won't bog down the thread by linking it (search Atari Network food fight on YouTube if your interested) but I like the main 3rd person component. Everything else needs fleshed out but I could see it becoming a great experience with the proper updates and added content. I want to see how it plays with 8 real people and to that end I want to host a food fight culinary combat gameplay night. Where we all log in and play together. If anybody is interested let me know and I'll set up a date and time so we can really stress test this baby

Wow Jinks? Let me tell you I've tried to love that game but I can't. I'm interested in your take on it. Am I missing something or is it an acquired taste? Great opinions all around regardless!

So I've invested about 2 and 1/2 hours into this one and it's pretty good. Has anybody else tried it? What do you think?

I think that was definitely Ataris most ambitious era for sure! Lots of throwing anything and everything at the wall to see what stuck!

So after enjoying and "studying" the 7800 for some time I feel there are sort of 5 eras of 7800 releases spanning from its console release all the way to today. Briefly they are: 1st era : original arcade ports by GCC. This follows what Atari had done with the 2600 and 5200 mostly with Ms Pac man, joust and food fight. 2nd era : computer ports brought in by Michael Katz. Stuff like Karateka, Impossible Mission, One on One basketball, etc. 3rd era : crazy late in life releases. Ninja Golf, Scrapyard Dog, Basketbrawl and Midnight Mutants. Crazy ideas like golf with ninjas, fighting basketball game and adding Al Lewis to our adventure game to see what stuck. 4th era : after the console died and was forgotten, suddenly stuff started to be released mostly with found prototypes. Stuff like Sirius, Plutos, Klax, and extremely early homebrew like combat 1990. 5th era : current day where impressive homebrew rules the roost. Things like Rikki & Vikki, Popeye, Venture from video61 and EXO. In my head those are the eras of the 7800 that I made and obviously some lasted longer than others, but with that definition in mind which era did you (do you) prefer? Honestly I had the 7800 as a kid and I mostly knew it for it's 1st era games. I had very little 2nd era games and none from the 3rd era until the 2000s. But as an adult I really enjoy all of them but obviously the 5th era or modern era has been a godsend for all of us fans. So do you agree with my definitions and do you have a favorite? Or maybe a least favorite? Let me know!

I'm getting ready to dive back into this one. So far I completed the tutorial. So this game seems to be following the mold of Atari 50th and Atari Mania more than say the recharged series. I'll have more thoughts in a little bit and probably a "special" first impressions video one day soon.

Any left?

The audio only versions of the podcast is done and I have several ready to upload. The avenue I was going to use proves much less useful than I anticipated so I need to go the old fashion route (posting them directly to a podcast distributor myself). Those of you who requested audio only versions, where do you go for your podcast? Let me know and I'll start uploading them!

Great stuff here! I have to say interest in the 7800 has to be at an all time high. I think it would be very reasonable to sell 10k copies of some of their games with enhancements, but I would test the waters with 1. Which one though? Hmm...

These games are honestly really good schmups for the 7800 so I recommend them. I prefer Sirius myself but both are worth picking up!

Got mine!

I agree with this. I can't speak on Colecovision but Atari really spread itself thin at a time when they needed to buckle down. I understand not wanting to abandon the 2600 as it was still selling but they needed to focus. Consumer confidence is key, I think they needed to say publicly that the 5200 is for the advanced game player who wants the arcade at home but you can still play all your 2600 games on your 2600. So no need for an adapter, you already have the console! Then fix the controller issues and offer a rebate to early adopters to get the fixed controllers for cheap while packing it in with future releases. And finally continue supporting the 5200 with top of the line software showing that 5200 is in a league of its own. Advertise that if your not ready for advanced games, then we still offer 2600 software but for those game players who want a next level challenge, who have mastered the 2600 then get the 5200 as it's the future of video games. I feel they conceded too much by creating adapters and the like and made consumers feel vindicated in their complaints. Regardless, I'm a 7800 guy so I'm glad the 7800 came out, but man I wish they were more focused even at that time.

I'm curious what you guys think. With the CX 78 being confirmed, what games deserve an XP release and what would you buy? I'm thinking anything that's risen above 100 dollars on eBay would be clear cut winners at the 29.99-49.99 price range. But having talked to Vinnie I think Planet Smashers enhanced with improved audio is a winner, Ninja Golf would be incredible, and I'd like to see a Food Fight Recharged release on VCS, Switch, Steam, etc with a 7800 cart release similar to Mr Run and Jump! Plus there are a ton of homebrew that deserve the treatment too. Even if licensing is a concern just throw out games you'd be interested in and let Atari worry about the license!