7800 Pro Gamer

It's a tough game that demands you play it, learn and get a little further every time you play. If anybody knows more than I presented about the 7800 development of Tower Toppler let me know, because I found very little.

Ok guys, it was a tough tower to climb but I toppled another game. This one was exciting because I've never beaten this game before where Midnight Mutants I've completed about a half dozen times or more. Again, I appreciate any feedback or criticism. I did a little more editing in this video. First, I died a lot on the last two towers so I cut the repeated deaths. I was getting bored watching me die in the same spot three or four times so I saved you all the time. But I still have the unedited gameplay of anybody needs proof I beat it in one sitting lol I also edited the audio and cut where I coughed, cleared my throat or sniffled. I have some congestion so sorry if I sound worse. I hope you all enjoy my journey of beating the whole 7800 library and my second episode: Tower Toppler!

@RickR thank you for the explanation that makes sense. And I think your right the Sally chip is often referred to as the CPU. I also by no means am saying that a game with occasional slow down is bad, I love keystone Koppers! I was just curious why some games seemed to run better than others.

You know I've noticed slowdown in games where I doubt there should be any. The 7800 runs Robotron flawlessly and I've seen it display incredible amounts of visuals and run smooth as butter. But the other day when playing keystone Koppers I noticed slowdown on screens where all three levels had obstacles and the crook. Maybe it's because there is some pretty looking backgrounds instead of black but I would think the 7800 should still be fine. Could that be an effect of 7800basic using a lot of resources?

It seems like a lot of people are using 7800basic but honestly I don't know. I believe I saw somewhere that Bob is still doing all his stuff in assembly but again, I'm not positive.

Oh I can't wait to get my next paycheck and place my order! Too many cool things coming out at once but I'll definitely be grabbing this!

Roughly 10 homebrew a year the last 3 years when you include AtariAge, video61, and a few of the independent games like gambler and frankodragon. Not a bad average for a console that's over 35 years old. Bob said he wasn't making anymore!? That's horrible news, he's like the godfather of the 7800 homebrew scene!

You know I see know reason to split them anymore. It's amazing how many good games the 7800 got despite the hurdles it face, but we are lucky to see so many excellent games coming today. Not many consoles get a second chance to shine like the 7800 has!

Thank you. I had to add the corrected video. It's only my second video ever so I guess I learned a valuable lesson. Double check your information before spending hours on something! Lol Your post actually made me realize that I made a mistake so thank you very much! And thank you for the kind words! Thanks!

Guys I messed up. I miscounted so I spent the whole morning fixing the video and reposting it. One game was bumped and another got a fairly high spot that wasn't listed before. I'll edit the original post and post the new video in this comment as well. I hope there's no more errors, I triple checked. Sorry 😔

Two days ago I asked members of 3 Atari Facebook groups to post their top five 7800 games. I then scored those games, giving their number one pick 5 points, number two 4 points, number three 3 points, number four 2 points and number five 1 point. Using this system, I then tallied the points that each game received to come up with the top 10 7800 games according to the community. I placed no restrictions on what could be chosen. Retail games, homebrew games, hacks, physical copies, digital only, and everything in between. Whatever they wanted to submit, I scored. I'm hoping that this will be the definitive top 10. Over 50 different games received at least 1 point, and dozens of people participated. I made a quick five minute video posting the results that you can see here: Edit: the top video is the correct listing. Somehow I messed up my count. I can't delete the other video but it's unlisted. I'll leave it here for now! Tomorrow morning I will write out the top 10 for those who would rather not watch the video. Let me know what you guys think. And remember, this was a collaboration of several people, this isn't my personal list. But I'd love to hear what's missing and what seems to be overrated in your opinions! Thanks guys!

Thanks @socrates63 for the kind words. I wanted to make a video I'd be interested in watching, but honestly I've never done anything with videos and voice overs before. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I plan on spreading information and facts about the 7800 because a lot of it seems lost to time. Hopefully the next videos will be just as good for you. The 7800 can be extremely disappointing if you go in expecting something like the NES. Due to a combination of Ataris owners at the time, Nintendo's death grip on exclusives and the video game market itself, the 7800 stuck to classics in it's early years, computer ports in mid life and just crazy off the wall games at the end! But there's a lot of really good games from each period that you'll get to discover. Also thanks for making me aware of the I/O high score challenge that's something I'd love to participate in.

I'm restarting this challenge of beating every 7800 game that has an ending, seeing every arcade screen and beating the CPU in every sports game. But this time instead of charting progress in forum posts, I'm going to do it all on video. Here is the first game that I beat on my journey, Midnight Mutants. Feedback is appreciated. Let's beat up the 7800s library!

I can respect that. Really isn't much reason for physical releases these days. If you ever change your mind I can get you in touch with somebody who could handle all the production. I played quite a bit yesterday and it seems solid. I'm not sure what the point of the princess is. Just bonus points? I got myself stuck once and was gonna point it out but the dragon came and freed me pretty quickly. Overall it's very challenging and fun. Programming seems very solid.

This game is awesome! It needs to be on a cart. Good job. If I encounter any issues I'll update this post.

Awesome!

This looks like an interesting take on asteroids type gameplay. So your shield is essentially your lifebar? It looks like it could be fun. Hope to see it for sale soon!

Well march is coming to an end and AtariAge still has to ship their new releases. But why wait forever to get something new on your 7800? I'm going to list a couple more games you can find today and probably receive before AtariAge ships their new releases. Here we go! Klax - The homebrew heaven over at good deal games has you covered with some puzzle goodness. It might not be the 90s anymore but there's still time for Klax! Alpha Race - SiO2 has done a great job with this port of a unique shooter. Race around the rectangle avoiding obstacles and blowing up enemies. It's a lot more challenging than you would expect but very rewarding to get good at. Roof Pooper - No this isn't a joke. Well it is but it's an actual game on an actual cartridge. You can reach frankodragon at frankodragon1@yahoo.com to request this title and it's as fun as it is silly. Not really a looker but people always want to play it when they see it on the shelf. Just beware, hit a cop and you'll "now poop in jail". Keep an eye on ebay too. Time to time a homebrew game will find its way on there that most have never heard of. Prices can get wacky but it's cool to see what other people have made in the years since the 7800 left the market. If AtariAge doesn't ship by the end of next month I'll be back with three more alternatives!

So growing up everybody was giving me their hand me down Atari stuff, so I had two wood grain models and a Vader at one time. I honestly have no clue what happened to those, probably still in my parents attic somewhere. I did buy my first 2600 Jr for a steal two or three years ago. I got it to hang on the wall in my game room as art. I've since removed it from the wall but it looked cool up there for a time. I do like the look of the Jr but I always just used my 7800 even when I had the other 2600s. My aunt's and uncles would see me playing Atari and bring me boxes full of games, controllers and consoles just to get rid of them. It was one of those all or nothing deals. I don't think releasing the 2600 Jr was a bad idea at the time and I believe it sold decently. Mind you I'm basing that on something I remember maybe reading a long time ago about it's sales. Lol. It had a sleek look and there was fun to be had especially if you were short on cash. I mean it brought the fun back with a real joystick and classics galore.

Mines the same too! Nice find for as long as I've had this game I never noticed that

@CrossBowvery interesting story thank you for sharing it! The time referenced in my Atari collection story was about 87 to 91. In 1991 we got a Sega Genesis that took the Ataris spot in our play room. I was very young so I have no clue how many stores carried games. My mom worked at Toys r Us so I vaguely remember a few Atari tickets but it's fuzzy. Everything I mentioned about buying games was from my mom's memories of the time. For my aunt's and uncles especially video games was a fad that their kids out grew and they were no longer interested in so giving the stuff away made sense to them. I asked my mom about the games we were given and she told me my aunt was letting us borrow her stuff so I better still have it if she asks for it back lol

I had a 7800 as a kid and I was recently reminiscing of what my old collection used to look like. And if I'm honest there wasn't a whole lot of 7800 in my 7800 collection. Almost all of my games were hand me downs from aunts and uncles, family friends etc that found out we had an Atari. They would bring me boxes of joysticks, paddles, 2600 cartridges and sometimes 2600 consoles. Because of this I had a cardboard box of nothing but controllers and like 3 copies of Pac man, space invaders, combat, asteroids, and all the other common 2600 games. I couldn't even name them all off. Those stayed in a box(s) on the shelf. Then I had one of those Atari media center things full of my favorite Carts. For 2600 this is where I held breakout, super breakout, Canyon Bomber, Night Driver, Yars Revenge, Keystone Cappers, and Pitfall to name a few. This is also where my unboxed 7800 games was stored. I remember having Pole Position 2 (of course), Ms Pac man, donkey Kong, donkey Kong Jr, Mario Bros, and a few others. Then we had a few boxes games. My mom sent away for a copy of Chase the Chuck Wagon and always told me that was a special game, that's why we had kept the box. And I had to ask her to open it and handle it for me because she insisted it was rare. My mom was a genius looking back. So of course I had "my special games" too. These were games I refused to throw the box out for. Hell some were still shrink wrapped because we already had loose copies of the 2600 games and my mom found them for a buck at some store. So CIB games we had were Chase the Chuckwagon, Solaris, Rampage for the 7800, Double Dragon for the 7800 and Asteroids for the 7800. We had like 2 sealed copies of Pac Man (I remember opening one just because) along with a few others. I've never had any game collection like my original Atari collection. It was such a mish mash of new and old, opened and sealed, working and non working. Maybe that's part of the reason why it sticks out to me. It felt different, it felt fun and wild and exciting to see what was being donated to my collection or finding random carts at garage sales. Hell I remember my mom ordering rampage and double dragon from a catalogue and me waiting everyday hoping the mail would bring them. It felt like an eternity waiting. This was my 4 -6 year old mind and experience with the 7800 so I'm curious how other people's collections grew or what their experience with the 7800 was. It's always fun to share stories so let me hear yours!

Oh wow I'll have to see if my copy says that or not. Good eye.

I know many of us are anticipating the new homebrew titles from AtariAge that will be (supposedly) shipping the end of this month. I think for a lot of people AtariAge is the beginning and end of 7800 homebrew. Well I'm here to tell you, there are some fantastic titles that can be found for those willing to seek them out. So I'm going to list a few of my favorites from 3 alternative resources. If I miss any then please share them with us! Also, while they aren't technically apart of AtariAge proper, I won't be listing items sold by users on AtariAge either. Although there are some great games to be found this way, you still have to visit AtariAge and search the forums for those, which is a likely next step from the AA store. And also, for the purposes of this list, I will be listing hacks and unreleased stuff as well. Ok onto the list. Let's start with Video61 Atari Sales offerings: Putt 18 Miniature Golf - This game won't be for everybody, but you do get a lot of bang for your buck. 5 courses full of unique holes and obstacles await you. The graphics are on the basic side but if you can get beyond that I'm sure you'll be pleased. Venture 7800 - Once again this arcade conversion is complete and adds 2 more levels with more unique rooms to conquer. I feel that video 61 packs good quantity into their games and I haven't felt cheated yet by a short or shallow depth game from them. This is probably my favorite of theirs. Animal Keeper - Okay this game is nuts. If you enjoyed zoo keeper then you'll know what to expect. The game is chaotic and crazy and super addictive. The poopy brown labels on the physical cart was an odd choice though... Ok onto another favorite of mine, Good Deal Games and their Homebrew Heaven! Plutos / Sirius - These were two unreleased titles that were found and finished by the community and they are great space shooters to boot! Right now GDG is the only place to find them. Get them while you can! Scramble - This is technically a Hack of another homebrew but it's a fun challenge. Challenge is the keyword as you'll need the skills to see anything past the first level. And finally, 2600connection has some offerings. Well 2, but I'm not gonna talk about the game Pineapple... GoSub - But I will talk about this fantastic title! GoSub is a maze game where the walls mean death and the enemy(s) is relentless. It's capped off with a great final boss and its a great time all around!

I wasn't aware of the arcade but a friend told me about it and I looked it up on YouTube. It looks nuts. I don't know if I'd be any good at the arcade game but animal keeper seems to be my speed. I made it to level 34 with continues and I was able to make it to level 18 without a game over.