Comparing Atari 7800 with SNES

[ptw-ace]

Hi everyone... Today I was looking at some stuff on the SNES via the Internet and ran into this game called "Top Gear 3000"... It's a typical racing game, but the game engine is very fast due to a co-processor on the cartridge to draw the roads on the fly. When I looked at the game play, it reminded me of the Atari 7800 game "Motor Psycho" where you race these tracks and even find yourself flying in the air when you hit a ramp. I was thinking the 7800, although not as fast as the SNES with a co-processor, really does hold its own when comparing both games.

 

 

 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

The 7800 is a very flexible system.  It's not limited to the processors it has been given (6502, TIA, MARIA, RIOT).  It's memory can be expanded upon through the cartridge as can it's sound abilities.  I'm betting if more time was taken that cartridge slot could also handle an additional CPU to work along side the 6502.  The 7800 is limited only by the imagination and willingness of the person developing for it.  And I also bet that, with a little bit of reworking, the 7800's sound abilities and expansions could handle a different sound processor besides POKEY.  

The SNES is an OK system but still suffers from some slowdown issues on some games when too much is going on onscreen at one time...something the 7800 doesn't have a problem with.  The original Top Gear is my favorite.  Spent a lot of hours on that one.

[TrekMD]

Very well stated, kamakazi.  I think a game like Rikki & Vikki demonstrates what the 7800 is capable of if the effort is made to use the system's full capabilities and through expansion with more RAM and hardware in the cartridges.  Here is a video of the game...

 

 

[RickR]

It's kind of frustrating how the 7800 got buried by Atari's financial issues. 

In the ideal "What-if" scenario, Atari would have never released the 5200 and went with the 7800 instead.  It probably would have been on the market later than the 5200 was.  But man, wouldn't that have been something? 

 

[ptw-ace]

15 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said:

The 7800 is a very flexible system.  It's not limited to the processors it has been given (6502, TIA, MARIA, RIOT).  It's memory can be expanded upon through the cartridge as can it's sound abilities.  I'm betting if more time was taken that cartridge slot could also handle an additional CPU to work along side the 6502.  The 7800 is limited only by the imagination and willingness of the person developing for it.  And I also bet that, with a little bit of reworking, the 7800's sound abilities and expansions could handle a different sound processor besides POKEY.  

The SNES is an OK system but still suffers from some slowdown issues on some games when too much is going on onscreen at one time...something the 7800 doesn't have a problem with.  The original Top Gear is my favorite.  Spent a lot of hours on that one.

Same here... I remember renting the original Top Gear from Blockbusters or Movie Gallery. I enjoyed it; definitely a memorable game, real fast pace and great music.

8 hours ago, RickR said:

It's kind of frustrating how the 7800 got buried by Atari's financial issues. 

In the ideal "What-if" scenario, Atari would have never released the 5200 and went with the 7800 instead.  It probably would have been on the market later than the 5200 was.  But man, wouldn't that have been something? 

 

I can't tell you how long I wished and wondered why both the 7800 and 5200 never really caught on... Both systems had way better hardware than the any of the game console that came afterwards; the NES, the Sega Master System. I think in the thick of the business aspect, Atari just kind of lost focus and tons of money due to the arcade crash of 84. To be quite honest when I compared SNES "Top Gear 3000" with 7800 "Motor Psycho" looking at how they both performed, personally I believe the Atari 5200 has a really get chance of pulling "Top Gear 3000" style graphics where with some clever programming, it might be possible to hit a sweet spot in performance... That was really where my head was when I begin looking at both games.

13 hours ago, TrekMD said:

Very well stated, kamakazi.  I think a game like Rikki & Vikki demonstrates what the 7800 is capable of if the effort is made to use the system's full capabilities and through expansion with more RAM and hardware in the cartridges.  Here is a video of the game...

I totally agree... The 7800 and the 2600 are more than deserving of extra hardware on the cartridge that really pushes the system and adds better ranges of graphics, sound and AI. I like the added music to the game; something that was very much needed on the 7800 in comparison to the 2600 sound chip. It sort of reminds me of "Gimmick and Batman Return of The Joker" for the NES by "Sunsoft". I think the cartridges for those games used extra ram and a sound chip that added more channels. I'd love to see more great games released for that system with better graphics and sound.

 

 

[nosweargamer]

I'll give you one comparison where the 7800 won: Ballblazer 7800 versus Space Football SNES. It amazed me that BB, which was made years earlier on the technically weaker system, was soo much smoother and more enjoyable than Space Football. 

Fun Fact: My review of Space Football ended up getting quoted in The SNES Omnibus Vol 2. Yup, in a strange way, it's my fault that the 7800 got mentioned in a book about the SNES! 

 

BTW, from my experience, I believe that two things killed the 7800.

1) The sale of Atari in 84, which shelved the system until 86. instead of coming out before the NES, it came out after.

2) The lack of NES style games in it's prime. They started with arcade ports, that although good ports, the games were starting to feel a bit old and tired to the general public. Then they ported computer games that didn't appeal to the general public (Ace of Aces, Fight Night, Impossible Mission). It got some NES style games at the end of it's life (Midnight Mutants, Ninja Golf & Alien Brigade were all excellent), but by then the 16 bit era was beginning and it was too late.

However, saying killed is a little much. The system had a solid life, decent size library, and was able to outsell the Master System in the States during it's prime.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

Yep.  The 7800 never got the chance to strut its stuff.  There's not a single 7800 owner that has yet to see what that system is fully capable of.

Space Football is the SNES of Ballblazer?  Never knew that.  I thought that game seemed a bit familiar.  I liked it.  The SNES developers, first and third party, seemed to be hellbent on using one of the graphics mode of the console a LOT, although I forget which mode that was.  It was one of the system's highlights, though, because you could essentially create a 3D-like environment complete with scaling.  

I still say the 7800 is by far one of the best consoles made from a technical point of view.  And speed wise, depending on the game, the 7800 can hold its own against even the mighty SNES.

[dauber]

I dunno...I'm a bit biased because I've yet to be impressed by any of Nintendo's consoles, but on the other hand, I don't think it's fair to compare the 8-bit Atari 7800 to the 16-bit SNES.