Why no homebrew love?

For the good ol' 5200.

To me, it screams 80's arcade goodness, but so many possible titles like Mappy, Elevator Action, Galaga, Bosconian, Zookeeper, Make Trax, Bubbles, and Rally-X are not available.

One day when I learn to program...

I wrote an article about the 5200 homebrew scene and chose the top 10 homebrew games (it still hasn't been printed) and it was a tough one to write. The main reason we don't see a lot of homebrew releases, I believe, is that there are a lot of conversions being made from the XL/XE systems. Since there are so many XL/XE games, the focus has mainly been in converting those games and not in releasing homebrews. Of course, that's just my impression. I may be wrong. If you go to Good Deal Games, you'll find a ton of conversions for the system released in cart. Even with this, there are certain games that have not seen release, like Mr. Do! The XL version is superb and could easily be converted to the 5200 but, for some reason, it hasn't been.

I'm curious to know your top 10 homebrews for 5200. I have been to Good Deal Games and even ordered a couple like Jr. Pac Man and Battlezone, but there are many like Mappy, Make Trax, Bubbles, Zookeeper, et al that have never seen the light of day. I am seriously going to delve into 5200 programming language and see what I can do. I just wonder if I do create something like Make Trax, how will it get published?

You can talk with Michael from Good Deal Games. He may be able to help you get a game published. You can start by trying conversions from XL games first to get your feet wet, so to speak.

The controllers have become the Achilles" heel for the Atari 5200. Everytime the 5200 is mentioned it is always the same "The games are awesome and the controllers are junk".

The cost to replace the controllers seems to prohibit folks from investing more into the system.

It seems that the Nes and compilation discs for newer systems could also be hurting sales.

On the Nes Elevator Action and Galaga actually play quite well. They are farily common so the price is not to high.

The Sony PSP has fantastic conversions of Qix, Space Invaders, Phoenix and Elevator Action on one UMD(Taito Legends Power-Up). They are arcade perfect and portable.

On the go gaming really seems to be the wave of the future.

I would really like to see that article some day TrekMD!

You'll see it soon, Ice. We expect to have things done by May and then the magazine should be coming out later.

Super!!!!!

In the meantime, the next issue of Retrocade Magazine will have several reviews I wrote.

That is cool! Now that NP is gone. I am down a monthly magazine. So I will have to check into Retrocade Magazine.

When and where will I be able to read this article. Online, or in printed paper format?

Also, I personally feel the 5200 controller achilles heel issue is overblown. There are enough easy methods of refurbing these, plus adapters and 3rd party options from wico and another company. The 5200 simply is overlooked when it comes to homebrew love.

Once the magazine is ready, I'll let you know. Insofar as Retrcade, you can check their web page: Retrocade Magazine.

I haven't found the 5200 controllers to be as awful as people say. I have a pair of controllers with gold contacts (from Best) and a pair without modification. The Best ones are better but the others are not so terrible. There are certain games for which a Wico stick is better, though.

I grew up on Odyssey 2 controllers. Adapting is no problem for me either.

I do not own any Wico adaptors as they have always been out of my price range.

The trouble with all the science fiction written about the 5200 controllers is they have had almost thirty years to bad mouth the system and joysticks.

A friend of mine told me his dad bought them one new for Christmas for him and his brothers. He said one controller would not work when they unwrapped the system.

It is those kind of stories that have saturated the internet and led folks to believe the 5200 is such an awful console.

It also had a limited market as it was only released in North America. That didn't help its case either.

Forgot about that. Valid point.