AUSRETROGAMER

Australia's Retro Gaming and Pinball E-Zine

You are here: Home / Archives for Atari

Atari

Doing The Math on the Atari VCS Classic Joystick & Modern Controller

By

“Have you played your Atari today?”

We have been on a roll lately with product reviews that have surprised us. For this review we test drive Atari’s VCS Wireless Classic Joystick and their Wireless Modern Controller.

Atari needs no introduction for many of you, so we will spare you their history, as it stretches back almost 50 years! The modern Atari company is a very different beast from the one that Ted Dabney and Nolan Bushnell found all those years ago.

With a back-catalogue of awesome Atari IP to choose from, the modern Atari has brought two controllers to the market, one being a throwback to their single button CX40 joystick with a modern twist with their VCS Wireless Classic Joystick, and the other, the Wireless Modern Controller being for the modern gamer that requires total control for their games on contemporary gaming systems. Oh yeah, seeing the Atari logo on a controller is another big selling point!

Atari Wireless Classic Joystick – $104.95 at GAMORY

First cab off the rank was always going to be the joystick! We started our gaming life on a joystick with a single fire-button, so the Atari VCS Classic Joystick felt right at home. We must admit, we were sceptical at first, but upon opening the package, the joystick looked top notch. But looks aren’t everything if the device isn’t much chop. The stick is on the short side, so if you like to grip the joystick by forming a fist around it,  then you are out of luck – unless you have really small hands. However, we never like to grip our joysticks that way, preferring the thumb and index finger control, which works and feels superb on this Atari modern joystick. The fact that the joystick doubles up as a paddle for games like Break Out (and Arkanoid), is another feather in the cap for this modern take on a classic stick. Oh yeah, there is also a second fire-button, which is conveniently positioned on the base for those games requiring two fire-buttons. Remember the orange band around the rubber boot/base of the original Atari joysticks? Well, on the modern stick, the band is replaced with a very cool LED light effect, which immediately makes you smile. Rotate the stick and watch the orange lights glow! It is these little touches that add up to a darn cool joystick for any retro or modern gamer.

Getting a grip!

We much prefer using our thumb and index finger for precision control

The joystick can be connected via USB (micro-USB cable supplied) or Bluetooth – we had a few issues trying to connect via Bluetooth (getting the dreaded unknown device message) on our Dell XPS laptop, but didn’t experience this on our other Lenovo laptop. With that said, once you are connected, you can really only play games that require one or two fire-buttons, which means this joystick is perfect for playing your old Amiga, C64, Amstrad, ZX Spectrum, Atari 2600, 7800, 400/800 and ST games (via emulation).

Love the orange light-up ring!

We tested this joystick on our LaunchBox (RetroArch / MAME) setup playing all of the two button Neo Geo games, and we must admit, the stick was absolutely flawless playing Sonic Wings 2 (Aero Fighters 2) with no lag, just total precision movement and firing, which helped us get very close to our personal best score, which says a lot for a stick we’ve had minimal amount of play time. The stick does have more freeplay when compared to something like the old TAC-2 joystick, but it snaps back to centre quite rapidly, which is exactly what a gamer needs, especially in games requiring ultra quick reflexes with precision control.

The stick is about as tall as the Sega Master System Control Stick

The old school QuickShot is built for a fist grip, whereas the Atari Classic Joystick isn’t!

The Atari Classic Joystick looks retro but has all the modern conveniences, like Bluetooth connectivity – the best of both worlds!

The more we played with the Atari VCS Classic Joystick, the more we grew to love it. It doesn’t knock the TAC-2 off the perch for our favourite joystick of all time, but the advantage of the Atari joystick is that it can be played on a multitude of gaming systems, albeit via emulation (mainly). We were going to test hooking up the joystick to our THEC64 Maxi, but ran out of time for this review. We will be sure to update this post when we do so and tell you all how we fared.

If you are yearning for a joystick to play your (one or two button type) games on PC or Android, then we highly recommend this Atari Wireless Classic Joystick – it is pretty darn awesome!

Atari VCS Wireless Modern Controller – $104.95 at GAMORY

After the awesome experience with the Classic Joystick, the Modern Controller had a lot to live up to!

It really isn’t fair to compare the joystick with the modern controller, as they couldn’t be further apart in aesthetics, controls, buttons and their use. Where the joystick can only really be used on games that don’t require too many buttons or multi-analogue input, the modern controller is right at home to be used on most (if not all) modern video games.

Just like the joystick, the controller can be connected via Bluetooth or cable (micro USB cable supplied) to your PC or via Bluetooth with an Android device. The detection and setup was a cinch. For comparisons, the Atari VCS Modern Controller is closest to the Xbox Series X|S / Xbox One controllers, so if you are familiar with those, then the Atari controller will feel right at home.

Atari vs Xbox

Face-off!

Since we do love our Xbox Series S controller, holding and using the Atari one to play games on our PC felt familiar and comfy. The triggers are just as clicky and the analogue sticks were equally as good. The D-pad is great and I prefer it to the clicky Xbox Series S controller. The Atari Modern Controller is great in hand, with smooth to touch surfaces – oo’er! We obviously love anything with a nostalgia inducing Mt Fuji logo, which is great to see dead centre on this controller. There is a feature that we didn’t understand which was the ability to switch the controller between PC or Xbox mode – we couldn’t figure this out, so if anyone has, hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Both the joystick and controller charge quite quickly and hold their charge for a fair few hours – we only had to charge them once while using them during this review (and they still have charge juice left!).

If you are after a modern controller to play on your PC, be it Xbox Game Pass games, AntStream, Prime Games, Steam, emulators and anything in-between, then you should check out the Atari Modern Controller. And if you are a sucker for the Atari brand, like we are, then you may not need too much convincing.

Where to buy:

Both the Atari VCS Classic Joystick and Modern Controller are available at GAMORY.

Too Cool For School!

 



Disclaimer: The Atari VCS Classic Joystick and Modern Controller were kindly supplied by GAMORY for this review.

The 2021 Christmas Gift Guide

By

The silly season is upon once again! After the last couple of years we’ve had, we reckon it is time to spoil ourselves and our loved ones on some stuff that will spread the cheer.

With the millions of things out there, we thought we’d give you a hand at picking some cool geeky items in this year’s gift guide. So no matter if you are a retro or modern gamer, into emulation, pinball, a Star Wars fan or into comics, we have you covered.

Anbernic RG351V $209.99 (via Amazon)

LENOXX Bluetooth/Turntable Retro Music Centre $179 (via Catch)

The Legend Of Zelda Game & Watch $69 (via Catch)

Arcade1Up Mortal Kombat II Midway 12-in-1 Legacy Series Arcade Machine $770 (via Catch or Amazon)

Pinball : A Graphic History of the Silver Ball $31.96 (via The Book Depository)

The Best Of Archie Comics $23.14 (via The Book Depository)

LEGO Star Wars Darth Vader Helmet $71.20 (via Amazon)

Pixel Frames Street Fighter II – Car Scene 9×9 inches (Big) Shadow Box Art $45.59 (via Amazon)

Game and Watch Display Stand $9.50 (via Etsy)

Exploded PS1 – Art Print Poster (A4 size) $20.00 (via Etsy)

Enhanced Wireless Controller Super Mario – Nintendo Switch $89.00 (via Amazon)

Hyperkin M07280 RetroN 77 HD Gaming Console For Atari 2600 $103.70 (via Amazon)

TheVIC20 – Full sized VIC20 with working keyboard $260.64 (via Amazon)

LEGO Super Mario Master Your Adventure Maker Set $42.87 (via Amazon)

NOTE: Prices correct at the time of publication



Awesome Pop Culture Art Works by Pappas Pärlor

By

There is no shortage of awesome and talented artists in this world. The latest artist to capture our attention is Johan Karlgren, aka: Pappas Pärlor.

Johan’s creations are unique as they are refashioned framed art pieces injected with very clever pop culture themes and franchises, including popular Star Wars and video gaming characters.

Check out all Johan’s art works here. Here are our favourites:

source: Pappas Pärlor



Retrogaming Magz, Comics and Books!

By

Planes, trains and automobiles? No, magazines, comics and books, the retro gaming kind!

Last weekend we tweeted a couple of teaser photos of a number of magazines in our collection and promised that we would share more. Well, here they are! Relocating this stuff is always a chore, but the amount of nostalgia we get is priceless, so it is always well worth it.

For those keen observers, you will note that there are no photos of our most favourite 80s mag, Zzap64!, but rest assured, those issues are well preserved and didn’t require relocating. We hope these images bring back great memories for you too!

All images copyright of ausretrogamer.com



The Retro Gaming Vault – September 2021

By

It’s spring time! What better way to welcome the warmer weather than to delve into a deep corner of our retro gaming vault and dig up a few nostalgia inducing images from our past!

For September, we have your nostalgia covered with Neo Geo, Vectrex, PC-Engine, Commodore 64, Atari Jaguar and old school Nintendo items to name just a few! Enjoy the trip down memory lane and we’ll see you next month for more vault shenanigans!

All images are copyright of ausretrogamer



 

Classic Atari 2600 Video Games in 3D

By

Graphic artist Mauri Helme has quite amusingly created 3D animations of classic Atari 2600 video games, including Pitfall, River Raid, Frostbite, Keystone Kapers and the infamous E.T.

Imagine playing these on your trusty old Atari VCS/2600 😉


source: Mauri Helme



story source: laughingsquid

LEGO 8-Bit Trip 2 – Awesome Stop Motion Animation

By

Amazing Swedish band Rymdreglage have followed up their 2009 LEGO 8-Bit Trip stop motion video (which took them 1,500 hours to make!) with an even more awesome LEGO 8-Bit Trip 2!

The Trip 2 stop motion video pays tribute to some of the most iconic video games of all time in super duper 4K resolution – it is oh sooo lovely!


source: rymdreglage



Atari VCS River Raid in MagicaVoxel Glory

By


We love River Raid on the Atari VCS/2600. Heck, we love it on pretty much every other 8-bit platform.

When we saw Mauri Helme’s tweet about a gorgeous looking River Raid made with MagicaVoxel, well, we can say that it was an easy question to answer.



7 Ways Playing Retro Games Can Improve Your Overall Well Being

By

When it comes to relaxing and unwinding, video games make a great choice. Whether you like online competitive multiplayer games or meditative single-player experiences, there is a massive variety of options when it comes to choosing a video game to play. In this article, we’re going to look at 7 reasons why playing retro games, in particular, can help improve your overall well-being.

1. They improve hand-eye coordination

It’s well established that video games can help improve your hand-eye coordination. Intuitively, this makes sense, as gamers need to manipulate a controller with their hands while looking up at a screen. These improvements are not insignificant either – research has shown surgeons who play video games perform better at surgeries than surgeons who don’t!

You might think that modern, fast-paced competitive games like Call of Duty or Fortnite would be a good choice for this. Still, many online games require significant time (and sometimes financial) investments to remain competitive. Meanwhile, retro games such as Battletoads or Ghosts ‘n Goblins offer a hard-as-nails challenge that you can pick up and put down at your leisure

2. They provide a distraction

Though this psychological trick isn’t unique to video games, they are a great way to take your mind off real life. Video games are arguably one of the most fantastic forms of escapism, as they are interactive. Many video games put you in the role of the hero and give you great agency in how you wish to achieve your goals. Many games allow you to create your custom characters, allowing you to escape and immerse yourself even further in the world. We love going to back to Spider Solitaire Challenge for our quick distraction fix.

3. They provide a sense of community

Online games, in particular, took off in a big way in the past year, thanks to global lockdowns that restricted social gatherings for many. Plenty of popular modern games, such as Animal Crossing, Fortnite, and Pokémon Go, have built-in social elements that help players feel connected. However, there are just as many communities built around retro games. Many of these communities have been running for years. Every popular retro game has a forum or Facebook page with a thriving, active community where you can engage with your fellow players in the online world.

Nowadays, it’s even possible to play many retro games online, such as spider solitaire online. These websites may or may not sync up to online leaderboards or other communities to allow you to play these traditionally single-player games competitively against others in a low-stress environment at your leisure.

Retro games to combat pandemic anxiety 2

4. They challenge us to try harder

Video games often provide a challenge to the player in the form of hurdles that they must overcome. These challenges can come in the form of puzzles that must be solved, daily events that need to be completed sequentially, or challenges requiring the player to master the game’s intricacies. Like Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts or Ninja Gaiden, some games even embrace this and build their game around being intentionally tricky. These challenges teach players to persist and reward endurance, valuable skills for video games and public life.

5. They help improve our vision

It might come as a surprise to some gamers who were warned that they would end up with square vision if they stared at the TV for too long. Playing video games can help improve vision for people with visual impairments! Studies have shown that people with cataracts showed improvements in their vision after playing certain video games that require quick reflexes. It’s believed that these games require an extreme amount of attention from players because they are fast-paced and require players to identify threats quickly.

6. They provide pain relief

Believe it or not, video games have been shown to provide pain relief, not in the form of a distraction or escapism, but as a mild form of literal pain relief. Playing video games can cause the brain to release endorphins, the feel-good chemicals that provide pain relief and make us feel happy. It is the same effect as what happens when people exercise. It is described as the “runner’s high.”

7. They keep your brain sharp

Dr. Kawashima’s Brain Training for the Nintendo DS made a case for puzzle games helping people keep their brains active – particularly the elderly and people at risk of dementia and memory loss. However, you can choose from plenty of retro puzzle games. They all meet the same essential criteria for keeping your brain sharp. These games provide challenges in the form of memory tests, mathematical puzzles, and logic challenges. There is scientific evidence backing the premise that playing these types of games regularly helps prevent a decline in mental acuity.

Conclusion

There is a growing body of evidence that playing games can positively impact our overall well-being. It is far from being the time-waster many people once viewed. Retro games, in particular, provide a sweet spot of ease of use, fun, and challenge without being overbearing or requiring too significant a time investment to reap the rewards.



15 Atari Facts You May Not Have Known About

By

Gotta love video gaming related facts! Here at ausretrogamer HQ we absolutely love digging around and finding all kinds of video game related facts, especially the more obscure and lesser known ones. Since June is ATARI month, for this new ‘Did You Know’ series, we kick things off with 15 facts about the iconic Atari, which you may or may not have known (or perhaps forgotten about)!

Was it all fun and games at Atari? I would have given an arm and a leg to had been part of this great company that brought video games to the masses. If only I was born in a different era and resided in California back in the 1970s.

There has been much written about Atari – from well known facts to myths and even fan fiction. We set the record straight on a few unknown (and well known) historical facts at the once mighty Atari.

Fact 1. First video game to have background music
To contrary belief, it wasn’t Namco’s Rally-X that first featured background music (BGM), it was beaten to the punch by Atari’s Cannon Ball – an Owen Rubin developed game. Unfortunately, the feedback was not great from location testing. Arcade operators disliked the BGM, citing it as being annoying. Sadly, the game was never mass produced.

Fact 2. Space Duel was the first multicolour vector game
Another contradiction in video gaming folklore – Tempest was not the first multicolour vector game. That gong belongs to Space Duel – another Owen Rubin game. To rub salt into the wounds, Owen Rubin’s colour vector generator code was used by Dave Theurer in Tempest. Owen never received any credit for his effort.

Fact 3. Missile Command was going to be called Armageddon 
Atari had designs and cabinet prototypes created for Armageddon, later to be renamed by Gene Lipkin as Missile Command.

Fact 4. The Last Starfighter
In 1984, when Atari was being carved up and sold, two games in development based on the film, The Last Starfighter were redone to become Star Raiders II and Solaris.

Fact 5. The naming of Yars’ Revenge 
Howard Scott Warshaw (from E.T. fame) named his game Yars’ Revenge after Ray Kassar (Ray spelled backwards). The ‘Razak’ solar system was also based on Ray’s surname, with the letters ‘ss’ replaced with a ‘z’ and the surname spelled backwards. Very clever indeed!

Fact 6. Championship Soccer / Pele’s Soccer
Championship Soccer, aka: Pele’s Soccer was the first video game to license a sports personality, the lovable Brazilian soccer maestro, Pele!

Fact 7. The Atari and Nintendo deal
Atari was in talks with Nintendo in regards to their Family Computer (Famicom). The deal would be for Nintendo to design the printed circuit boards and engineer all the electronics, while Atari would design the console case and packaging. Basically, Atari would be selling Nintendo’s product for them in the USA and the rest of the world under the Atari brand. Imagine if this deal had gone through.

Fact 8. Naming the Atari 7800
After the Atari 5200 debacle, the marketing department at Atari would not dictate the functions or features of the new Atari 7800. However, they did come up with the product name by adding 2600 to 5200. Absolute genius (Ed: stop being sarcastic!).

Fact 9. Burying Atari
Atari could only wish they could bury the E.T. myths. When the decision was made to close the El Paso (Texas) plant, truckloads of unused and faulty stock was being ferried to the Alamogordo, New Mexico city dump. The deal was to dump the goods and steamroll them. As the media got wind of this, it was made out as if Atari was trying to “cover up” and they became the media whipping boy with the video gaming woes of the early 80s.

Fact 10. Cloak & Dagger
At the end of 1983, Atari was manufacturing upgrade kits to turn rival Williams’ Robotron:2084, Defender, Stargate and Joust cabinets into a new Atari game called Cloak & Dagger. Cloak & Dagger (originally titled Agent X) was designed to plug directly into the existing power supply in these games. Indeed, this was very cloak and dagger like of Atari. By the way, the movie of the same name was a gloried Atari advertisement.

Fact 11. Clandestine sale to Philips 
Without the knowledge of James (Jim) Morgan at Atari, Warner Bros. management (Manny Gerard and Rob Newman) were surveying Atari at the request of Steve Ross (Warner Bros head-honcho). The staking out of Atari was to take visual inventory and current status of projects for a possible sale to the Dutch electronics giant, Philips. There were a series of talks between Steve Ross and Wisse Dekker (Philips CEO), but in the end, after being burned by the Magnavox Odyssey, Philips chose to walk away from the deal.

Fact 12. First Nintendo, then the Amiga Hi-Toro
It seems that Atari had a knack of getting itself into some wheeling and dealing, but ultimately, choosing to opt out of certain deals. After the Nintendo deal fell through, Atari struck a gentleman’s agreement with the Amiga Corporation in early 1984. The ‘Letter Of Intent’ between Atari and Amiga had Atari advancing $500,000 to  the cash strapped Amiga Corporation so that they could continue developing the ‘Lorraine’ chipset. Atari was never interested in acquiring Amiga, they just wanted to get their hands on the chipset that Jay Miner and Joe Decuir had created. The chipset was going to be used in Atari’s arcade machines, consoles and home computers. Dave Morse’s intention was always to find a buyer for his fledgling and struggling Amiga Corporation. This is where Commodore stepped in and the rest, as they say, is history. Hindsight is always 20/20!

Fact 13. Shedding Atarians
The gravy train at Atari was coming to a screeching halt. Under James Morgan’s NATCO (New Atari Company) cost saving plan, Atari’s ranks shrivelled from 7,800 employees in January 1983, to an astounding 1,500 by the end of May 1984.

Fact 14. Atari MindLink – Bionic Breakout
Atari was always at the forefront of product development. Atari’s MindLink product was a headband controller that controlled game play by the player just looking at the TV screen and ‘thinking’ about moving an object. There was no extra sensory perception going on here, the MindLink controller would  read the resistance of the muscles in the player’s forehead and interpret them into the appropriate joystick or fire button signals. Was it ahead of its time, it sure was. The market did not take the product seriously so Atari chose not to pursue production of the MindLink.

Fact 15. I, Robot – The last Atari, Inc. Coin-op 
The final coin-operated game under the Atari, Inc. banner was I, Robot (1984). Created by Dave Theurer and Rusty Dawe, I, Robot was the first commercial arcade game to feature filled 3D polygonal graphics. Sadly, only 750 machines were produced, with even less being sold. If you have one in your possession, hold onto it, it is worth a small fortune!

With a vast amount of information out there on Atari, we cross referenced facts, myths and misinformation with the definitive book, Atari Inc. – Business Is Fun by Curt Vendel and Marty Goldberg. If you weren’t aware, Curt Vendel is an Atari historian (since the mid 1980s) and has the largest Atari collection in the world. Curt has collected vast amounts of Atari paperwork and other memorabilia over the last few decades. His intimate knowledge of Atari is second to none.

image sources: various