Atari Retro Emulator Available for Download

Posted By: Ryan Friday, January 16, 2004 12:16:53 PM

MobileWizardry and Mobile Digital Media (MDM) have announced the release of an official Atari 2600 emulator, named Atari Retro. The Emulator runs a collection of officially licensed Atari 2600 games for your handheld just as they would on an original atari system.

Atari Retro 2600 Palm OS EmulatorThe software collection contains a complete Atari 2600 emulation engine using original cartridge ROM images to give it that classic original feel, with game console quality. Titles include: Adventure, Asteroids, Breakout, Centipede, Missile Command, Pong and Yar's Revenge. Each has been reproduced with absolute authenticity; powered by a sophisticated emulation engine designed specifically for mobile use. The product is officially branded and licensed in collaboration with Atari.


 

Atari Retro 2600 Palm OS EmulatorThe evaluation version of Atari Retro provides the ability to play each game for a total of 15 seconds. Atari Retro was developed using the SHARK development kit - that has enabled the application to be recompiled in native format on multiple platforms utilizing a single, common source code base. Supported platforms include: PalmOS (ARM), Pocket PC (ARM/Xscale), Series 60 (Nokia, N-Gage). A Tapwave Zodiac optimized version also exists customized for analog-full screen enjoyment.

Registration sells for $29.95 USD and is available as a download or on a MMC card from MDM at various retail outlets and online for the same price.

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Yay!

4s @ 1/16/2004 4:05:55 PM #
Yar's Revenge! Hurrah!

Now if they would only make Adventure.

Somebody get this freakin' duck away from me!

<><

RE: Yay!
ardiri @ 1/16/2004 4:13:20 PM #
adventure is included - one of our favourite games in the collection.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php
RE: Yay!
Toysoft @ 1/16/2004 5:07:31 PM #
Come on now! we want to see better ports than 20 year games. How about some of the C= 64 classics eh???

RE: Yay!
xavier @ 1/16/2004 5:29:18 PM #
Try Frodo....runs the c-64 games very well.


RE: Yay!
Beavis @ 1/16/2004 6:23:27 PM #
I'll give it a week before a crack is available that will let us run ALL Atari 2600 ROMS with this program.

RE: Yay!
Strider_mt2k @ 1/16/2004 6:49:10 PM #
That looks very cool!
And Adventure too! :D

Another reason for me to get an OS5 machine!



RE: Yay!
rsc1000 @ 1/16/2004 7:58:17 PM #
While i appreciate the work of the Mobile Wizardy boys - im afraid the most interesting thing about this is that it used SHARK to build for all of the above platforms. As for the emulator itself - it is not a very good deal to pay $30 (!) for a handful of Atari games. These have nostalgia value for sure - but when friends and i recently got together to hook up an old Atari 2600 and play some old classics, we were surprised by how lame these games were compared to how we remembered them. In comparison - C64, Atari ST, and Amiga (not to mention consoles from the early 90s) all hold up much better. The 2600 stuff is just too simplistic. Which is why this is a rip-off. Frodo (C64) and Castaway (Atari ST) are both free and offer a hundred times the entertainment value, with no restrictions (meaning literally thousands of games are available) and the games are much higher quality. So with the many excellent emus out for Palm OS - what the biggy about the most simple of all emus coming out so-o-o-o-o late? Again - props to ardiri and folks for pulling off the multi-platform thing (hey - is their ever going to be a 'shrink-wrap' verasion of SHARK?) - i mean no offence to them with my comments.

RE: Yay!
TreoChick @ 1/16/2004 9:25:24 PM #
$30 for this? THis is very very very expensive.
Good work though guys.

[ www.vicefeed.com ]
RE: Yay!
just_little_me @ 1/16/2004 10:05:31 PM #
Way too expensive for dodgy old games, plus it plays too fast on my T3 - basically useless. Also the 15 seconds available to determine if you would want it or not is ridiculously low...

Great effort MDM...


JLM

RE: Yay!
ardiri @ 1/17/2004 4:58:04 AM #
> I'll give it a week before a crack is available that
> will let us run ALL Atari 2600 ROMS with this program.

would like to see it - but, i dont think its possible :)

i know for sure, that we only have the opcodes that are required for the 7 games within the bundle included. so, if you do figure out how to replace the roms; you need to first find out if it uses opcodes which the 7 current games dont :) then, due to the nasty nature of the atari 2600 hardware; some of the games have customized blitter/control support - so, those customizations may not work on other games.

there will be more atari retro packs.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: Yay!
ardiri @ 1/17/2004 5:01:06 AM #
> As for the emulator itself - it is not a very good
> deal to pay $30 (!) for a handful of Atari games.

i have been collection opinions about the pricing arrangement and will be presenting them to MDM when i meet them at the PalmSource developer conference. it is important to realize, that while we have developed the application; we are not the ones that put the price point on it. there are some hefty royalties due to Atari on this (yes, they make the MOST money) and that could explain the pricing structure.

> Come on now! we want to see better ports than 20 year games.

Atari Retro was our test bed - to ensure that SHARK could deliver 'device pushing' technology (yes, emulating an Atari 2600 is very difficult). rest assured; this isn't our only project - there are many more emulators coming (did i say GameBoy/GameBoy Color/GameBoy Advance) that will use this exact technology.

> it plays too fast on my T3 - basically useless

yeah, i guess running at 60fps is just.. too much :) it plays *exactly* how it used to on the original Atari 2600; maybe you've been playing too many badly programmed palmos games that expect to run at 10 frames/second.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: Yay!
Coujeaux @ 1/17/2004 10:39:23 AM #
If you guys had thought up doing an Atari 2600 emulator, why not emulate the Atari 800xl/65xe systems? If I remember correctly (this is going back twenty years for me) these computers could run the 2600 cartridges. Also, you'd have disk-based games that could be run. I love CaSTaway and Frodo, but I'd also love to see an 800xl emulator. This Atari 2600 emulator just doesn't grab my attention, regardless of the price.

Also, if Atari wants royalties why don't they sell the cartridge/disk images and have the emulators free?

BTW, does anyone know of an 800xl emulator in the works for the Palm or even a disk archive?

RE: Yay!
allemande @ 1/17/2004 1:20:27 PM #
>>>yeah, i guess running at 60fps is just.. too much :) it plays *exactly* how it used to on the original Atari 2600; maybe you've been playing too many badly programmed palmos games that expect to run at 10 frames/second.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php<<<
bla bla bla...
why don't you quite boasting and start writing a 'real' game for once before all those high quality titles from PPC start invading POS and you'll be out of your job.

2600 emu ain't it. It's a freeware in PPC.

you want example? try out doing this...
http://www.pocketmatrix.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11048&start=45

RE: Yay!
ardiri @ 1/17/2004 1:39:32 PM #
> why don't you quite boasting and start writing a 'real' game for once
> before all those high quality titles from PPC start invading POS and you'll be
> out of your job.

we've done quite a bit of work 'pushing the boundaries' - and, we are working on other projects. including an enhanced 3D engine (gang warefare does look nice - i agree). atari retro was a contract; that is, something we got paid for, not something we developed for our hobby. i'm sure you'll complain when liberty is updated within the same engine.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: Yay!
allemande @ 1/17/2004 5:11:34 PM #
I'll complain for sure if it costs $30.
RE: Yay!
ardiri @ 1/17/2004 6:17:06 PM #
> I'll complain for sure if it costs $30.

we have no control on the pricing of the software we write for 3rd parties; especially in the Atari Retro case. as for a new gameboy/gameboy color emulator? i dont know pricing, but, with the USD in the state it is in, it might be better to sell it in euros :) $30 isn't worth like it used to be.. the USD dropped a whopping 25% over the last year.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: Yay!
allemande @ 1/17/2004 7:04:08 PM #
well, maybe you should move your overpriced ass to India or get outsourced.
RE: Yay!
Tuckermaclain @ 1/17/2004 11:02:08 PM #
Allemande, you act like an immature, socially inept child. This is your norm at PIC. Nobody's asking you to buy the software. Ardiri was nice enough to offer insightful comments (as he frequently does) on this site. He did nothing to provoke a response like yours. Your behavior is like that of an acne-laden adolescent who likes women but hasn't yet learned how to talk them. Your angst then forces you to act like a general annoyance to all around you. It's not really your fault, I suppose. Is this close? If I'm wrong and your really an adult, then you may have some issues to work out. Perhaps if you dislike Palms you might be happier after you remove PIC from your brower's favorites list?

Seriously though--I am a physician. I sense some disturbing anger within you. You might want to seek help from a mental health counselor.

Just my board-certified professional opinion.

RE: Yay!
SKA @ 1/18/2004 10:49:54 AM #
whatever you say doc. The web is bigger place than you think. And this is not the only place people shows up.

http://www.pdarcade.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=5673#5673

RE: Yay!
Admin @ 1/18/2004 8:33:33 PM #
allemande is ska
RE: Yay!
blue9 @ 1/18/2004 8:49:19 PM #
Check out SKA's profile, it gave me a chuckle :D

In allamande's [ska's] defense...
RAMdŽd @ 1/20/2004 1:02:44 PM #
Allemande, you act like an immature, socially inept child....

...Just let me say-- that's no act.




______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

what a rip off

dangerpalm @ 1/17/2004 12:41:46 PM #
I bought the card because I wanted to try it, and now its available as a download. I hate card based games. Having to change cards in and out. I think I should get the download version for free. Has anyone else actually played this? The included games run ok, but the interface is terrible. There is no full screen option. The actual game area takes up less than 1/3 of my Tungsten T3 screen. And Ardiri, this one is just for you. What the hell were you thinking when you added that horrible loud beep everytime ANY button is tapped. Even when the games are muted, to get to them you have to tap other buttons and hear that friggin beep. Really bad looking out there. The price isn't that bad, I'll give you that. 7 games for $30.00 is a good deal. If you don't like the 2600 then don't buy it. The beeping is a major sore point, the small playable area sucks, and the new downloadable version makes me feel like I got ripped off for being an early adopter. Not good business. Those are my thoughts, not yours, get your own...

RE: what a rip off
ardiri @ 1/17/2004 6:23:42 PM #
> The actual game area takes up less than 1/3 of my Tungsten T3 screen

1/3?

320x192 = game play area, this is in que with the typical design of 'Tungsten' high res devices. doing the math, at 320x320 - the game play is technically using 60% of the display, nearly double the 1/3 of what you talk about.

now, i know you want landscape 480x320 mode; and, this is what we do on the tapwave zodiac (its actually 480x288). however, this is using the graphics API's provided by tapwave; which, is supposed to use hardware accelleration to make it possible. the Tungsten|T3 actually has a slower blitter when in landscape mode (any game can show this), coupled with the fact we would have to scale from 160x192 --> 480x288, and the bad key layout of the device - is it worth it? probably not.

time is also another factor; adding our own scaler for 480x320 screens wasn't feasible within the development budget. we could have done a 320x384 version (but, perspective will be off). handling the dynamic input area isn't the best thing either.. maybe something for an update - but, v1.0 is fixed with what you have now. and, it works fine for our beta testers and the people who originally reviewed the product.

---
Aaron Ardiri
PalmOS Certified Developer
aaron_ardiri@mobilewizardry.com
http://www.mobilewizardry.com/members/aaron_ardiri.php

RE: what a rip off
rsc1000 @ 1/18/2004 4:01:17 PM #
>>did i say GameBoy/GameBoy Color/GameBoy Advance)

Cool-e-o. Ardiri - i would think that some company like Tapwave would have been pushing this from the get go. Imagine Tapwave pushing this as a major product - giving it more push in fact than other titles: "Tapwave not only has better games than Gameboy advance - but it also plays games for Gameboy Advance!". Should come bundled with (in ROM) the next Zodiac!

New Introductory Price

ChipKerchner @ 1/23/2004 2:51:14 PM #
Handango has a special introductory price, unfortunately the Palm version doesn't seem to be listed (it had been, now it's not. Dunno, maybe it's the search engine).

Introductory Offer: Get 15% off for a limited time!

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