7800 Pro Gamer

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 like arcade ports, so the 1st era and the current era are my favorites; however, that 3rd era was quite interesting.

I like the 3rd era the best because I read about those games alot in GamePro, it actually showed that even with the Big N's dominance the 7800 is still alive and had these interesting games.
I also like the recent homebrews as they do show off the full abilities of the 7800 with the POKEY sound chips.  They're an expensive investment though...
Sadly the only physical carts I've come in contact with were from the 1st era, still real good games but they gave people the impression that Atari only 'did' old arcade ports from the early 80's. 😞
 

I got my first 7800 probably about 1990.  I still can’t remember exactly when I got the darned thing but I know I already had a NES with over 50 games.  My story to my receiving a 7800 is here somewhere.
Anywho my first games were arcade ports with the exception of Ballblazer.  That included Ms. Pac-Man, Centipede, Galaga, Xevious, Joust, Asteroids, Food Fight.  What I got it the 7800 that Christmas included a bunch of games for it marked way down.  And I spent a lot of time on it.
Today I have a rather large 7800 library I honestly never intended to have.  Jinks is a top favorite coming in second behind Asteroids. I prefer Commando on the 7800 over the NES version as it is more colorful and more faithful to the arcade.  Tower Toppler I find fun, my favorite port of Donkey Kong is on the 7800, and I would classify Super Skateboarding a hidden gem.
All of my 7800 games except for Super Skateboarding are published by Atari.

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.

I like your defined eras. I had a C64 followed by a 128 during my high school days. Never had an Atari console, but logged many, many hours on my cousins Sears heavy sixer. I like games from all the eras. If I had to chose a favorite it would be the 1st era, although these days I only purchase homebrews. I have all of the OG games that I want for all of my consoles.
 
The 7800 is unique in its library of games. Where else can you play a round of golf while battling ninjas. Love that game. Of course I played tons of Impossible Mission on my C64, so I had to have it for the 7800. I have the original and the updated “Possible” Mission too. I think most of the 7800 library is worth playing/owning. It’s too bad the console was pushed aside and forced to debut as late as it did. But at least we have the talented homebrew authors today to show how capable a console it really is.

I also had the 7800 when it was new back in the late 80s and for me it began with mostly the arcade ports. Although it was mostly those that I didn't already own for the 2600. So it was games like Pole Position II (That it came with lucky me!), Xenophobe, Crossbow, Rampage... stuff like that. You know, the at the time more modern arcade games.
But then I only really played on my 7800 for about 2 years before turning to the PC darkside. Once I got back into retro game collecting and playing again, it is now strongly all about the 5th era or modern homebrews for me on this system as that is largely what I play on it most now.
 

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

I liked the Third Era. Midnight Mutants is a great game, and so is Scrapyard Dog. Bigger games meant greater challenges. Those were definitely big games.

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!

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!

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!

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!

Got mine!

Got mine!

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!  

I have mine ordered!  Make sure you check your spam folder I waited 3 days thinking I didn't get a response, but video 61 responded extremely fast, it just went to my spam for some reason. So I accidentally waited 3 days I didn't have to which was completely my fault!
Also those boxed lot deals are fantastic. You guys already beat eBay and then you give deals on top of that, it's just incredible.  Video61 is the best kept secret for Atari collecting and I don't think it needs to be a secret! 
And as Vinnie said on the Atari 7800 Forever Podcast, now that AA is part of the mothership, Video61 is now the largest independent provider of Atari homebrew* around!  Think about it.  Best electronics doesn't deal in homebrew, and for as good as GoodDealGames is, they don't create anything or have much exclusive but Video61 does!   Congratulations guys keep up the great work!

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!  

I hope you get well soon.  There are some nasty viruses going around that are not COVID. 

I wish I felt better for it. Honestly yesterday (Saturday) was much worse for me.  Losing my voice, sore throat, congestion, etc.  But I look forward to doing the podcast for you guys and I'm glad Vinnie carried the show because I was not at 100%.  I still had fun pitching in my thoughts and trying to not let the NyQuil take over lol I felt like it turned out pretty good. 
One thing I'm going to throw out there is that there will be a poll on my channel, but I'll put the word here too.  Vinnie pitched the idea of renaming the podcast.  He started atari7800forever.com 20 or more years ago as one of the only places on the internet to give reviews, articles, guides and more for the 7800.  It's his legacy, and while crossbow and myself have contributed in the past and recently, Vinnie really deserves all the praise for the awesome website and creating the podcast.
Vinnie told me he felt that since we cover VCS stuff, Atari news and basically everything else, that the Atari 7800 forever podcast name is no longer correct and is misleading.  As in we don't just cover 7800 stuff. So my question to you guys is, do you think we should change the name?  He suggested the Atari Network Podcast but maybe we could come up with something else?  Let me know your thoughts here and I'll have a community poll on my YouTube channel later today or tomorrow morning. 
Oh and I will not be changing my channel name or personal moniker I promise.  That was the one and only change to the Atari Network!

I think it's a no brainer to release any of the games they still own licenses for with POKEY sound.  Something like "Impossible Mission" with the speech added.  Any of the arcade ports with different/good sound. 
 

This is a great topic. I think the XP line needs to focus on rarities and protos. This was the stated intent, but so far we only have a handful: Saboteur, Aquaventure, Save Mary and Fatal Run. The rest have been commons, except for Yars' Return - which should have been left on the Flashback.
For the 7800, here is my wishlist:
Atari properties:
Planet Smashers
Alien Brigade
Ninja Golf
Games with potential licensing issues:
Mean 18
KLAX
Sirius
Plutos
Toki
Rampart
Missing In Action
It's not clear whether the US-based XP manufacturing partner contemplated the 7800 when they made their boards for XP. I think it's more likely that we see something from Plaion with the lower cost commodity line. Of course, now that Atari owns AA, they probably have access to those boards too.

I have mine ordered!  Make sure you check your spam folder I waited 3 days thinking I didn't get a response, but video 61 responded extremely fast, it just went to my spam for some reason. So I accidentally waited 3 days I didn't have to which was completely my fault!
Also those boxed lot deals are fantastic. You guys already beat eBay and then you give deals on top of that, it's just incredible.  Video61 is the best kept secret for Atari collecting and I don't think it needs to be a secret! 
And as Vinnie said on the Atari 7800 Forever Podcast, now that AA is part of the mothership, Video61 is now the largest independent provider of Atari homebrew* around!  Think about it.  Best electronics doesn't deal in homebrew, and for as good as GoodDealGames is, they don't create anything or have much exclusive but Video61 does!   Congratulations guys keep up the great work!

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!