Atari 5200 Guy

My question is what could a virus do to a system like the ST that, in common setups, only has the floppy drive? In systems with a hard drive I could understand because a virus normally destroys hard drives. I have not experienced a virus that has destroyed RAM, CPUs, Motherboards, etc.

Would love to try this on my 1040 STe also maxed at 4 MB. But the only way my STe can get anything is with floppies as it has no other options. It does have a second disk drive though. And, yes, it is very underrated. I would have liked to see what more it is capable of.

I couldn't find the free games thread so I'm posting it here. Epic Games store is giving away the Bioshock Collection for PC for FREE! https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/bundles/bioshock-the-collection

Tonight I thought I would research applications in attempts of finding anything to allow writing programs for the Atari ST. I do enjoy writing small programs every now and then. I turned to some magazines to see what turned up before having to turn to Google. Doing a Google searched turned up a recommendation for an app called Tempus. The only one I have on hand is version 1.10 but there are other versions out there. What grab my interest right off the bat were the file types it supported out of the box. Along with standard text files Tempus also supports C, Basic, Pascal, S, and Assembly files and a few more. All of those file types are used to program an ST. The S files I know were used in developing 7800 games so it may be possible to use a single machine to develop for multiple systems. I was loving the colors until I went messing around, clicked on the Fuji logo, and found the Control Panel. Once I clicked on that the app turned black and white. I haven't found a way to get the color back. I have not messed around with it yet as I am trying to locate the manual to it. It does look to be self explaining which helps...it's those extra fine details that I might need to know about. Why am I posting this without using the app first? To let other ST owners become aware of it. Once I learn more about it I will add an update here. For now, though, I need to hit the books.

I thought about making this just a standard forum post but decided instead to make it a blog post. This way I have a document on my findings while learning more about the ST. And now...the rest of the story (I miss Paul Harvey). I was doing research trying to find out if Konami actually went through with releasing some games on the ST computers. One issue of ST Action mentioned it but the next issue that was to continue the story was missing. My research turned up something more and I landed on Vigilante. I also seen the disk label: This disk image (thanks to Atari Mania) says something about a virus warning. Now, I can somewhat understand a virus in the IBM and Apple world of computers because they were a bit more popular in our portion of the world. But an Atari computer getting a virus? Is it possible? Can it destroy the computer? I'm going to keep reading those ST magazines to see if anything turns up. In the meantime if anyone here has more knowledge about those viruses I'm sure that other ST owners here, including myself, would like to know about them p!ease.

While I didn't pick up anything physical I did become attached to my ST. Finally. Cool pick ups everyone! I especially like that clear Vector cart.

I made it to level 3. I grabbed something in level 2 that stopped and changed the enemies to where I could destroy them. There's also a round B thing that can give you bonus points.

Bombjack on the ST kind of reminds me of Bomberman Jack on the NES. Whether they are one in the same or just share similar qualities I can't say but the arcade style game play is fun. I was only able to accomplish a few rounds because, for me, the controls were wonky which I will get to in a minute. The graphics are arcade like as are the controls and sounds however the background music gets repetitive pretty quick. Thankfully the developers were kind enough to give the player an option to turn off that music. Now about those wonky controls. They respond OK until you try to run and jump. With this game it's more like jump and then run. You can jump as high as you want with just a tap of the button but you can't run and jump. You have to jump first and then move left or right. It takes some getting use to. Otherwise there is a fun game hiding here. This game I would recommend to those who enjoy arcade-style game play. Simply collect the bombs before they explode while avoiding enemies. I'm not sure if the game gives bonus items to help you out as I've not made it that far yet. Bombjack is proof that sometimes the smaller games can still be fun.

This review will be short because this is Vroom's younger brother. If you haven't read it already I would suggest going and reading my review of Vroom, then come back here. F1 has new tracks and a few new menu items. Missing is the lap timer. It no longer tracks your lap times. Tracks include Monaco, Spain, and many more that are part of the F1 World Championship...in 1993, making this an official FIA licensed game. The animation is still as smooth as Vroom, sounds are the same, cars are the same, tracks are done up very well. Those who play and like Vroom will feel right at home with F1. Now, get out there and win the F1 World Championship!

And looks like my TV is keeping the PAL palette. My reds are pink but nothing a little tint adjustment can't fix if it bothers me too much.

Ok...fixed now. Looks like I have widescreen now. And here is with just RF. Huge difference. Maybe I can see the games better now.

Yes I'm using RF. I need to get myself an A/V cable of some sort. Maybe I can make one. I only need the video signal as the audio is standard RCA ports.

When I saw the name Hot Wheels pop up in the tons of ST images I found I thought, "Cool! Hot Wheels has a racing game on the ST". So I thought I would try it out. Then the title screen appeared. Not the Hot Wheels I was expecting but looks good at least. I grabbed the controller and tried it out. It's another top down racer and it doesn't look half bad but it is a bit jittery. And it has tons of settings you can perform. But don't take my word for it...see for yourself. So what's the catch? As good as it looks the drone cars can sometimes get confused. I raced a five lap race, crossed the finish line, and then...waited. I kept hearing the other cars bumping into something or each other. They never came back around after waiting for five minutes. I pressed the escape key in hopes it would exit the race which it did without question. I tried the same race again and noticed something weird. Take a look. For some reason the drone cars would circle around the finish line after completing a single lap. Whether it is just on this track or other tracks I have yet to discover but will update with what I discover. Other than that it is a simple and fun top down racing game and I find the chubby cars visually appealing. This is one ST game I would recommend as long as it isn't taken seriously.

I have tried many games. Some with great success, some with not so great results. Overall I have come to a conclusion on how I see the ST computers. Close to the end of the ST production run I was heavy into the 386 computer scene. Good old' MS-DOS commercial and shareware games kept my time occupied. I never knew nor heard about Atari making ST computers at all. Atari simply didn't exist. In hindsight that was a good thing. I managed to learn the IBM PC side of computing. Games I had and would read about were very much hit and miss. A ton of weird games that made you wonder why you even wasted time on them when you had better games. Countless nights figuring out the latest SSI release or finding those hidden areas in Wolfenstein 3-D. Breaking into buildings and tapping phones in Covert Action or building the biggest railroad empire in Railroad Tycoon. Those PC games gave me knowledge I needed when I finally approached the ST. That might sound weird to some but the whole reason why I asked for a 386 in the first place was to learn how to program games. I had QuickBASIC for that. So to warm up to the ST I wanted to explore what games it got. I was surprised to see many of those old IBM games I played on the ST. My research started with five games: Space Station Oblivion, which I have yet to really get into, Super Cycle (beat this one one week after I got it), SimCity, Buggy Boy, and Test Drive. The first two I bought, the last three are disk images. The time between playing those until I pulled the ST back out a few days ago is about two years. I was serious this time. I was either going to find games I liked or were at least interesting or the ST was simply going to be a collection item. I don't see the point of owning a system if I'm not going to enjoy it. I've found at least 30 games I enjoy on the ST, only a few I remember from the 386 days. I wake up in the mornings and I want to play the ST. I don't want to go to bed because I have to turn off the ST. The ST has grown on me fast. Games like Vroom, Goldrunner, Nitro, Spellbound...all make the ST worth having around. But just like those old 386 games the ST was also plagued with weird games. But also like the 386 the early games felt like learning tools with most of them not that great. It's to be expected since it can take a while to learn a new system and to pull all the tricks out of it. The ST is a fine system but, unfortunately, was not as well received here in the U.S. as it was in the U.K. and other countries. I first had to resort to STart magazines to see what all the American ST got. I ended up resorting to ST Action, a UK-based magazine that reported ST games in great detail. Once I read a few of those I had a list of games to go find. I quickly became an ST sleuth hunting down what works and what doesn't. At the end of the day I have a strong connection to my STe now. I also know know what games I want to keep an eye out for in the wild should I ever get that lucky. The ST turned out to be a nice machine. Maybe not as well received as the XL/XE line but still a great staple. I love my ST.

I had a blast with it. Might want to duck tape a couple of.pillows to your body for those unexpected flying lessons. 😉

While going through some ST game images I came across the words "Vroom". No explanation. I have already seen some weird games on the ST so far so why not. Couldn't be any worse than some I've tried so far, right? In goes a blank disk, on it goes Vroom which I assumed was some sort of racing game with motorcycles. Disk done and to the ST I go. Insert disk, power on. Once I saw the title screen and heard the music my spidey senses started going off. What did I just feed my ST? Where did all this fancy stuff come from? I grabbed the controller and figured out how to navigate the menu selections. Start Game! First track is Fuji. Nice. All those years of playing Pole Position should serve me well, right? Wrong. Remember the tight hairpin left turn most have went too fast around and ate a billboard? This game splits it into two short turns! And there's hills and single lane sections and cars stop or slow down unexpectedly in front of you. I must have a sick sense of humor because I would sometimes hit a car in front of me or a sign, go airborne like K.I.T.T., only to land and break my car or crash into another sign or a tree. At times it was comical. This game is absolutely beautiful and comes with digitized sounds and music. Controls are simplistic since you really only have five switches to worry about when using the joystick. The mouse is used for some race modes of which I have yet to try out. My only issue is that the game's colors are for a PAL system and are a bit off on a NTSC system. Those with a TV/Monitor capable of handling the cycle differences might be OK with the faded color look. Those without such a display might not be able to enjoy the game. Speed? This game is fast! The ST doesn't slow down at all or at least I never noticed it. So grab your ST and go VROOM! I highly recommend this one. I may have just found my reason to keep my ST out. I forgot to write the rules to the game. Silly me. They are actually simple. The far right bar in the HUD display is your fuel. There is a little black line on that bar showing your fuel level. Keep an eye on it because if you run out then it's game over. Races are won by passing the required number of cars per track. The first track requires 8 cars to be passed. Each track after that increases the number of passes by 3. An easy way to tell is to watch your HUD display. It will display cars of two colors: green and red. Green cars are the required cars and reds are extras. Try to maintain at least one red car in you pass count before you cross the finish line. Learn the tracks. Sometimes going slow through the curve portions and then opening it up on straights can benefit you.

Let's cut out the introduction and get right to it. Be advised that most of these picks are based on images I've transferred back to disks when possible. Bubble Ghost - a game I once played on GameBoy, this game involves guiding a bubble through single screen mazes filled with obstacles that can burst your bubble. Pop the bubble and it's game over. Very colorful and enjoyable. Buggy Boy - The ST is the only system I've come across that has this simple little driving game. Collect flags, gain more time while avoiding rocks, walls, and water. Lacks the computer controlled vehicles found in the arcade but the real of it is here. Spellbound - This side-scrolling adventure game has you solving levels to advance. You can carry only one item at a time and falling from high places can hurt you as well as the enemies in the levels. And you only have one life. Plan your strategy carefully. Atax - A vertical shoot 'em up with a few elements from the likes of Gradius. Colorful and sounds good. Everything in the game is a hazard including the environment objects. GODS - This side scrolling adventure is one I owned for a 386 PC. The ST version looks and sounds really great and takes advantage of the hardware in a good way. Each level is huge and includes enemies, bonus items, and hidden areas and objects. Nitro - A neat top-down racing game that I am not very good at...but I keep coming back to this one. Populous - A one on one strategy game where you have to modify the landscape for your people to populate and prosper. As you people grow the more problems you can create for your enemy from floods to creating a volcano. Gets a bit sluggish on the ST when too much is going on but still fun. Vroom - An impressive F1 racing game with a view from the driver's seat. Easy to pick up and play. Can be challenging. Amazing speed! F1 World Championship (Domark) - Believe it or not, Vroom has a brother. This one doesn't track lap times. Game mechanics and goals are the same. More to come as I discover them. I have a LOT more to try out. What's your favorite Atari ST games so far?

Not sure if it is a 520 or 1040 but it is either an F or FM. I didn't see, or I missed, the Jaguar controller ports. And I don't think that the video was that old. Maybe mid to late 2000s.

I was watching a video on volcanoes and spotted an ST being used. It's at the 16:30 mark.

OK. Teach me where you see the jumper setting please. I'm curious. Also, can you change the date and time on any ST and it remember it even after it's turned off?

Hopefully I don't step on toes (not trying to BTW) but here goes. If I didn't defend the console like I continue to do then I wouldn't be known as the 5200 Guy here. I learned a lot about the system over the decades from malfunctioning systems I'd find in the wild. I'd repair them, get them to where the controllers at least try to respond, and try to play the games that came with those systems. The controls would be erratic, buttons would fail again, it was a learning experience. My first conclusion was maybe the 5200 wasn't as good as I remembered it but hold that thought. After communicating to Video 61 sometime after 1998 about a 5200 I found, again, in the wild. By the end of the phone conversation I learned the truth behind the 5200. It had an iron curtain and one I never seen. The 5200 I received on Christmas Day as a kid never gave me any trouble until it literally blew a resistor by 1987. For 5 years solid, every day that machine got used. The one I had was well cared for and appeared to be a solid system. Many times after that, when I would find 5200 systems in the wild, my perception of the 5200 slightly changed. I always chalked up the poor controller conditions to neglect or misuse. I never, never, knew the 5200 had such a dark history to it until shortly after 1998. The joysticks would work, some had torn boots, a few people tried to repair only to end up destroying the flex circuit, but all of them...the buttons no longer worked without a lot of cleaning. But once working again the systems I found worked great. This issue was something I never experienced with my original 5200. I have no clue why other than using it day after day kept it from failure. That's the only theory I came up with. I know it is in the history books as a failure. I've heard from reliable resources just how much the system cost Atari in the end having to replace blown TV sets, controllers, consoles, all of that adds up quick. Do I think it is the perfect system? No. I don't. In 1982 it was my first game console and an Atari I kept asking for. I couldn't complain. I was one of the lucky few. The system I have now, with 4 controllers, is a pain in the rear to keep in working order. If it is not used at least weekly the controllers start to fail. It is not a system that will manage to last for generations to come. I just don't see it happening. But...my love and passion for the system are all I have to offer it. When it works it has a hell of a library of games to enjoy. It's library also documents a huge amount of what arcade games were popular in the early 1980s. I know I can't change its history. I have retreated to that much and I have accepted its poor history. It should have never been released as the public received it. But if I can find a way to combine its history with my history to encourage finding a way to enjoy the system and share it with other gamers then I will or would like to try. I am simply holding up to my claim that I will defend it to my last breath. There is a lot that I don't yet know about the system's history. From a business perspective it bombed, for an 8 year old kid it was best the ride of my life.

Well, if Lemmings is now an endangered species I'm sure we had nothing to do with it. 😉

Lemmings!! I use to purposely make spots for those guys to fall to their demise. I never played the game seriously.

Barnstorming Atari 2600 Difficulty: Game 3, Difficulty A/A High Score: 54.05 May 15, 2022

Classic arcade game? Aren't they all classics by now? Do they even make arcade games any more?