Sabertooth

Congratulations to @Smell Dawg, the winner of our Series IV giveaway and Tempest Dad Hat! Thanks to everyone who participated! The Series V prize will be announced shortly.

Yesterday's Atari Podcast was with the dev and producer for NeoSprint. Interesting the dev talked about what a challenge it was to get the Switch port locked in at 30 FPS.

Casual gameplay only of Xenophobe (7800) on the 2600+. I was spoiled by the Lynx port, so this never got a ton of play. Lack of character choice and clunky controls make this somewhat hard to recommend. But it does fill a gap in the 7800 library.

I downloaded this one. It's fun, but pretty difficult. Also, due to the limitations of the emulator the VCS version is limited to TIA sound. If you've heard the Yamaha version, you know what we're missing. Still, not bad considering $8.99.

Release Date: 4/5/24 Retail: $8.99 Developer(s): Darryl Guenther (20th St Arcade) Publisher: John Hancock Official Site Synopsis: Your goal in Block'Em Sock'Em is to control John Hancock through 25 different levels to destroy boxes of the same color. Your aim is to get the block counter below the goal number with a limited number of tosses. If you toss a colored block and it hits another color, then your block will change to that color.

Welcome to the official topic for Block'em Sock'em: 7800

Release Date: 4/12/24 Retail: $2.99 Developer(s): Set Sail Games Publisher: Set Sail Games Official Site Synopsis : Tile Cross is a precision puzzle game where every move counts. In order to advance to the next level, you must traverse over every tile - but only once! The levels become more difficult as you progress - with more tiles, more complex level layouts, and more stacked tile switchbacks! Become the ultimate Tile Crosser!

Welcome to the official topic for Tile Cross

Release Date: 4/12/24 Retail: $7.99 Developer(s): Set Sail Games Publisher: Set Sail Games Official Site Synopsis : Tanks, But No Tanks is an updated take on a classic top-down arena tank shooter. This multiplayer madhouse will keep you on your toes as you balance collecting coins on each map with shooting projectiles at your foes. Upgrade your tank’s weapons, armor, and special abilities in between rounds with the coins you accrue. Use your joystick to aim your bullets and shoot your way through each foe. Just be sure that you don’t ricochet a bullet right back toward yourself! Use a diverse weapon set, ranging from deployable turrets to teleportation projectiles to cause extra mayhem on the battlefield!

Welcome to the official topic for Tanks, But No Tanks

The SERIES IV Giveaway winner will be announced Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 9:00 am PST. Details for SERIES V will be posted immediately after. Thanks to everyone for your patience.

RLM shows us a possible story for Qomp3.

My exploration of the VCS's PC-MODE continues with the re-release of Balls Of Steel from Atari & Big Boat Interactive. Played on a stock 8GB VCS using Steam via ChimeraOS.

I watched the first two episodes in the middle of the night (up with a cold). I like the TNG tie-in for this season's MacGuffin. The first episode was a little over-the-top with the action, but I like the lighter vibe they seem to be going for this year.

Boxes are included, as with the Plaion re-release of Berzerk and release of Mr. Run & Jump. They are also including instructions this time! Here's a sample from "Ben at Plaion."

@Atari 5200 Guy glad you've been able to get Debian up and running. The cool thing about PC-Mode is that it doesn't require any modification to the original system specs. So the integrity of the VCS doesn't need to be compromised. I've been having a lot of fun playing Steam via ChimeraOS on my VCS. I have three VCSs (because there are three colorways of course), but I'm intentionally using my stock 8GB VCS for testing & talking about it, because I think it's cool to test the unmodified base spec. Increasing the RAM to 16GB or 32GB really improves performance and is easily done, so I may compare performance side-by-side eventually.

More fun with PC-Mode and ChimeraOS. This time it's Moose Life*(2020) by Llamasoft.

Debian should be pretty straightforward. Just use one of those drives and fast USB enclosure, goto PC mode and plug it in. As long as it's a fast enough drive/enclosure, you will be good to go.

Yes. You'll have to run it in PC-MODE.

Let's get the word out about this Recharged Squad Challenge! The more people participating the more fun the challenge! Spread the word and invite friends to play!

Yoomp! ATARI VCS/ATARI 8-BIT/ATARI 400 MINI Controller: MODERN CONTROLLER / CLASSIC CONTROLLER / PLAYER'S CHOICE Difficulty Level: Normal/Level 1 Start Play on: Real Hardware/Emulation is OK ✔ Squad Challenge ends 11:59 pm PST APRIL 30, 2024 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 April 1 through April 30, 2024. 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 This is a Club VCS Exclusive Challenge. All Club VCS players are welcome! Play Rules This is a special cross-platform challenge. Games may be played on real hardware or using emulation. Choosing which controller to play on is part of formulating your strategy. Enhancements, rewinds and hacked versions of this game are not allowed. Difficulty Level We are playing YOOMP for the Atari 8-bit computers! Start the game at Level 1 and play until game over for the highest score possible! 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 unfair 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 26th Club VCS Recharged Squad Challenge!!! For this challenge, we're celebrating the release of the ATARI 400 MINI by playing the Atari 8-bit game YOOMP! Play on the VCS via Atari 50, on real Atari 8-bit hardware, on the 400 MINI, or using your A8 emulator of choice! Yoomp! is the winner of the 2007 ABBUC software competition. Like a combination of Trailblazer and an often-seen demoscene effect, you fall down a tube, landing on each square progressively in a rhythmic manner. Landing on certain tiles will have certain effects, such as making the screen quake, decreasing the brightness or forcing you to jump. Navigating the tube itself is a matter of planning ahead and compensating for your limited movement capabilities. This game is freeware and can be downloaded on the Yoomp website. Start at LEVEL ONE and take the game as far as you can for the high score! Club VCS Recharged Squad Contest This game is the fourth title in our fifth Club VCS contest giveaway! Prize details will be announced shortly. This time we're going a full 12 rounds with the winner announced in January 2025! 1) All challenge participants will receive one (1) entry for each challenge in which they submit a valid score! 2) The top scorer of each challenge will receive two (2) additional entries - for a total of three (3) entries in a single challenge! 3) On Twitch or Youtube? Stream or record and post your ClubVCS high score attempt for one (1) additional entry in each round. You must post a public link to the video in the Challenge. This contest is open to everybody, including Atari I/O Moderators, with a U.S. or Canada mailing address. It's really easy, all you have to do is participate be a Club VCS member and participate in our Recharged Squad Challenges.

Congratulations DAMON! Congratulations @damon! He takes the win in our Berzerk: Recharged Challenge! @damon makes his Recharged Squad Challenge debut with a stunning first place finish of 185,080. I danced around Evil Otto enough to eek out a second place score of 130,680. @Mockduck takes third on the podium with 104,960. @Cryptocoffee13 and @Atari 5200 Guy round out the board with 67,880 and 26,315, respectively. As the winner of this round @damon will receive three entries! @Atari 5200 Guy receives one entry, plus a bonus entry for sharing his attempt on YouTube! That's two (2) entries total! Everyone else will receive one entry! I'd like to encourage @damon to post this high score on the Scoreboard so we can make sure this Challenge continues on! I hope you all enjoyed this round and Berzerk: Recharged. This is probably the most divisive title in the series. From the art style, to the pacing, to the twin-stick approach, there is a lot that doesn't feel like Berzerk. That said, absent the weight of it's namesake there is a fun game here. NOTE: Series Five of the Recharged Squad Challenge continues with a special cross platform celebration! Be There!

Casual gameplay of Eggomania on the 2600+. A special thank you to @Ballistik who sent me this cart (and Karateka) as a part of his channel's giveaway.

Out now!