A Real Computer? Exploring the Bally Computer System aka Astrocade

[@toddjohnson5692]

I had programs published in the Arcadian. It actually worked just fine. There was a 48K expansion you could buy (I did) which you had to assemble using wirewrap and other tech of the time. The only issue I had was the controllers would eventually die. The potentiometers would fail and it became impossible to play the games whether in Bally BASIC or machine code. You could create your own machine code programs for the machine as well as BASIC. I got extremely proficient at typing on the calculator keyboard with overlay and could write a new game in about a day or two.

[@ballyalley]

Hey, Todd! I know your excellent Astrocade game. It's "Crown of Zeus" from November 1982. This game is probably the most RPG-like game on the Astrocade. It is for AstroBASIC only. It takes you to a dark decaying castle in the evil land of Sorom. You've been asked, as the best warrior in the land of Beekum, to retrieve the Crown of Zeus which the Scromites have stolen. The crown, when worn, gives the wearer the awesome ability to cause anything he or she wishes to vanish. Apparently the Scromites have not yet discovered the crown's powers. But as you hid in the forest outside the castle, you saw a troop of orcs from the warring land of Machor slip in through the front gate. They surely know the power of the crown and will have to be dealt with... You can read more about Todd's game, here: ballyalley.com/program_downloads/2000_baud_programs/arcadian/programs_a-h/programs_a-h.html#CrownofZeusToddJohnsonAB I'd love to see the AstroBASIC/Bally BASIC programming scene create some new games. Adam

[@toddjohnson5692]

@@ballyalley It has been such a long time. I had to draw the zone pretty much like the maps they made and then translate it into sort of an 'in-BASIC' database of x y z etc that were set to various numbers that let the program know which way it would let you move and what was in each room. The memory would not allow me to put the actual names of monsters etc in the game, so you had a piece of paper that listed each number and what it meant. Glad to see that part of it still lives on :)

[@pauljthacker]

@@toddjohnson5692 I'm a fan of the game as well, and love that you have a whole sci-fi backstory behind it. I've digitally archived many Astrocade tapes. Do you know that the other games in the Gibeleous series--The Rescue Of Catherine, Escape From Rantanam IV, and The Tower Of Machor--are considered lost media? Do you still have a copy of the games and instructions by any chance? You can find my contact info in my channel's About tab, or there's a link to our discussion group at the bottom of the Bally Alley homepage.

[@ballyalley]

I forgot to mention exactly what Paul mentions in his post here about your hopefully-not-lost follow-up to "Crown of Zeus." It would be great if those tapes could be recovered and archived. Also, in August of 2017, I made a video of your game, which you can watch here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/laa2eHhof76topI We played your game as part of the Astrocade high-score club that same month: atariage.com/forums/topic/267047-hsc02-round-7-conan-the-barbarian-the-crown-of-zeus/ It's nice to see that you have fond memories of the Bally console/computer.

[@toddjohnson5692]

@@pauljthacker I'm afraid it will stay lost. Basically, the other games used the same main code but with a different piece of paper to correlate numbers with monsters. And a different set of values in the 'in-line database'. There were many things I wish I could have included in the games but couldn't with the less than 4K RAM. Much of that RAM was taken up by the BASIC module itself. So yup the game wasn't very forgiving (it was intended that you figure out how to plot the rooms and improve with each try) but I thought stating that in the instructions would be too much of a giveaway. And I freely admit it could have used some play testing by others! I especially wanted to add a few more lines to update the enemy strength, but they just weren't there.

[@fatfreddyscoat7564]

Considering the ubiquitous Atari 2600 controller of a single four axis stick with one red fire button, the fact that this Bally controller gives you full X and Y movement control plus a rotational at the same time - IN 1978!! - is beyond impressive and shows great vision too.

[@BillAnt]

Indeed, they were way ahead of the times like their game names xxx 2009/2018/3002. lol

[@racheysdad]

Yes but in reality, it was more tiring to constantly be squeezing the trigger versus tapping on a button.

[@SonicBoone56]

You think that's impressive? Look at the Fairchild Channel F's controller.

[@computeraidedworld1148]

I'm actually pretty impressed. I thought this thing would be really bad, but it is seems quite capable for it's time. What I'd like to see working is that keyboard adding for the 2600.

[@eachandeverything9932]

It's very cool. The graphics & sound are vastly superior to the 2600 & arguably better than the Intellivision, Atari 5200, & VIC-20. Unfortunately the Astrocade never caught on, (only about 25,000 were sold) probably because it wasn't really a "computer", was a bit too expensive for a console, ($299 VS $199 for the Atari 2600) & not many games were made for it. My cousin had 1 back in the early 80s & we used to play it when I visited. I have one in near mint condition. I bought it (& a dozen+ games) on eBay back in 2001. The seller said it was "used", but I don't think it was. The original box was worn & tattered, but when I opened it up everything was in the original shrink-wrapping & you could tell it had never been used. There wasn't so much as a nick or smudge on any of the hardware, the joysticks were tight, & all of the games were shrink-wrapped in the original boxes with price stickers on them. I also have a USB "Astro-dater" so I can use the Bally joystick with my PC. (MESS & MAME emulate the Astrocade very well)

[@adriansdigitalbasement]

I had heard of this machine but had never seen it in operation. Thanks for showing it off! Too bad they had never made an official keyboard attachment for that basic cart.

[@JustWasted3HoursHere]

10:19 There was a keyboard attachment called the Z-Grass but it's not known how many were sold, if any. At $599 it probably didn't sell well, if at all. But yeah, a much simplified keyboard for the BASIC cart would have been nice even if it was a chicklet-style one as long as it had all the QWERTY keys.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@JustWasted3HoursHere It looked to me like that 600 price tag included the machine. This basic, at least going by the example in this video is stupidly slow. It might just be slow because of the screen. The space between is going to mess up a lot of basic programs that use print statements to draw the screen.

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

Only a handful were made but they did make them. There were other home brew interfaces made for it to that would allow for such items.

[@juliedunken1150]

@@GORF_EMPIRE i built one my self after watching this video. Let me know if interested

[@GORF_EMPIRE]

@@juliedunken1150 I am.....What exactly did you build?

[@thedungeondelver]

One thing the Astrocade had going for it was amazing sound. It's versions of Gorf and Wizard of Wor are nearly arcade perfect.

[@AmstradExin]

Just hardly anyone used it fully. It's similar to the SN76489.

[@atomicskull6405]

Lower resolution though. The VDP is the same one used in Bally's arcade machines of the time but with less memory.

[@OnyxJaguar]

Unfortunately they share a chip that's in Gorf which has led to many of them being harvested to repair Gorf boards

[@eachandeverything9932]

Unfortunately Gorf was never released for the Bally Astrocade, but Wizard of Wor was. Someone started an Astrocade Gorf homebrew back in 2007, but it was never finished. Someone did make an amazing Astrocade Crazy Climber homebrew.

[@lordevyl8317]

@@eachandeverything9932 I want to see a Berzerk

[@Davidian1024]

This was the first computer I ever had. The way it plays sounds for each character as you list your basic program brings back so much nostalgia.

[@cemmy410]

I *really* like that little controller. It's a shame that later computers like the C64 didn't have simultaneous paddle + joystick input... I can think of quite a few games that would have benefitted from the gunfight style analog aiming!

[@FadkinsDiet]

C64 would be capable of it (using both controller ports), but it would be a hassle to program.

[@Video_Crow]

There was a similar controller on the Sears Video Arcade II, their last rebadged version of the Atari 2600, although there was a switch on the face of the console to choose joystick or paddle input, not simultaneously.

[@MattPilz]

I have an old Interact Home Computer from about the same era and it had a similar concept controller as well with the wheel atop a joystick. I have always felt this was a great design and would've been awesome for Atari as well instead of having to swap controllers to play spinner games - and now that I have an Atari VCS I really dig the classic controller for that which does incorporate this sort of feature into a single controller.

[@80s_Gamr]

Showed this system to my son years ago and when he picked up the controllers he tried using the joysticks with his thumbs. He completely confused, lol.

[@4h0w1e6]

The disappearance of the paddle over the years has been unfortunate. The new Atari VCS "classic joystick" seems to have a twisting joystick that functions as a paddle, and it is PC compatible -- never tried it though. It tried but I could never get the Steam Controller to ever emulate a paddle very well.

[@jakubkrcma]

All I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Such a wonderful machine for the era! The built-in stuff is cool and overall, it just rocks. Going from nothing to this must have been a blast in April 1978!

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

There’s actually an obscure KZbin channel called BallyAlley. He owns EVERYTHING regarding the Astrocade.

[@5thumbs5]

I had one of these. The hand controller was awesome and I got very fast on that multi push keypad. I programmed everything that was in that manual Saved it to audio cassettes. It was a fantastic introduction to basic language. The games were fun too. I would’ve been 12 in 1978.

[@MichaelDoornbos]

I knew more than one person who had these. I remember both the cartridge storage and controller well. Does feel weird seeing you on a Z80 based machine ;-) Having spent much time on the KIM-1 lately, that keypad seems just fine to me. Does anyone REALLY need more than 24 keys?

[@comchia4306]

22:25 that's an adorably smol overlay card. I like how the colour makes it look like a PCB, at least to me. I like that professional aesthetic a lot of computer products had back then.

[@MarkReam]

Great throwback! Love the "10 PRINT" program. I wrote a similar program that can be found in CURSOR V2 I2 P4. Thanks again!

[@bitwize]

My criteria for "computer" is, if the device can be programmed (using the device itself), then it's a computer. Which means many things marketed as game consoles or calculators qualified, including this, the Atari 2600, and the Famicom. If it's capable of running Emacs, then it's a computer worth taking seriously. Calling the cartridges "cassettes" reminds me of Strong Bad's references to "Sega tapes". That eject mechanism seems more sturdy and robust than the one in the NES.

[@zilog1]

I define a computer as something with a CPU, memory, input, and output.

[@jasonantes9500]

I played and still have one of these systems. It hasn't been turned on in years but it's still in good shape. I remember doing the basic programming and it was such a pain. Did a several hundred line one but never could get the tape recording of the programming to work for me. Good memories of playing those games.

[@anthimatter]

It's a lovely system. A very pleasing version of Space Invaders too. Some quality programming there.

[@megaimg]

I had one of this when I was a kid....so sad my parent put in on the dump....Great machine....great games and love the basic cartridge and able to safe my programs to standard tape deck.....love it!

[@craigcohen3682]

Best system. Better than Atari and intellivision. Best games. They did so much with so little

[@Mysticsword]

Looks great! Really cool to see it in action. That controller (like a combination of trigger, joystick and knob / paddle) was really interesting too, I like it.

[@merykjenkins3274]

What a great machine! Although the keyboard is pretty clunky for programming, it's still doable. I remember playing Gunfight on the actual arcade machine in the late 70's when tagging along with my big brother to the arcade. The BASIC function of colouring the screen to show which key mode is genius, that would have been helpful on my VZ. Thanks Robin!

[@Darkk6969]

I thought the "joystick" looked familiar so looked something up and sure enough it was in a scene of National Lampoon's Vacation where the dad and the kids were playing video games while the dad was trying to plan the route on the Apple II computer.

[@theyamo7219]

The stick was similar to the one used on the Fairchild Channel-F

[@johnboissy2621]

The Astrocade was sold at Montgomery Wards in the late 70s - early 80s. My Dad worked in the home improvement dept and picked up one on his employee discount for Xmas 1980. We were hoping for an Atari but quickly realized we had a better system. I wrote many programs in Astrocade BASIC including a variation of Space Invaders... substitute your base for the USS Enterprise and the aliens for asteroids streaming down from the top. My best friend and I were hooked, and that led to further explorations in programming. Bally designed an awesome arcade-style display cabinet for stores... Wards had one on their Electronics dept. BTW... I still have our original system and it still works tho it needs a lil electronic TLC.

[@txtworld]

John, that's amazing ... do you still have your original programs stored on cassette?

[@Those_Weirdos]

I had one of these growing up. The drawing program had a kaleidoscope function and a bunch of other features that I THINK were activated with the number pad. It's been ages, but that's what I recall anyway.

[@codahighland]

Nintendo wanted the Famicom to use cartridges the size of a compact cassette. Their motivation was to make it compatible with cassette cases (for cheaper distribution) and storage (for consumer convenience). I imagine the same is likely true here.

[@MT-mi4zz]

Love it! Surprisingly capable machine for the time. It's a shame it didn't have a full keyboard.

[@rugan0723]

Makes my Timex Sinclair 1000 seem like a pretty capable programming platform! Fun video. Thanks for the look.

[@fitfogey]

How cool. I’m old school and know about many machines but have never heard of this one. Thanks Robin.

[@McLovin_2007]

People often point out that Bally cartridges look like cassette tapes, and I've also noticed Atari 2600 carts look like 8-track tapes. The gaming industry tends to borrow things from the music industry. Games appeared on CD's a few years after we had music on them.

[@lunarmodule6419]

What a different game system. Thank you.

[@Schule04]

Interesting machine, looks kind of similar to the Fairchild Channel F. According to wikipedia the basic interpreter has to use part of the video ram for storage because the machine only has 16 bytes of memory which aren't used for the screen...

[@bitwize]

Reminds me of the TI-99/4A. That had only 128 words (256 bytes) of CPU memory; BASIC programs had to be stored in the 16 KiB of video memory and you had to go through the video controller to get at it. The 32 KiB RAM extension gave you more CPU RAM to play with, but that was expensive to obtain.

[@chiroquacker2580]

I have a Channel F sitting next to my Astrocade. They do share a lot of design elements...so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if Bally intentionally copied some of them. Even the shade and texture of the faux wood grain is quite similar. The biggest difference is that the Astrocade is wider than it is longer and the channel F is longer than it is wider.

[@falksweden]

A detail, but it was a nice scrolling effect in the calculator when adding to history.

[@stevesopenrocket]

I had one of these and taught myself basic. Had a blast!

[@antonnym214]

Robin, you are a steely-eyed missile man! This is a great find, and very cool that it still works, other than the key bounce problem. I was 18 or so and already owned a TRS-80 model I when this came out, but never heard of it. Interesting stuff! It would have driven me NUTS to try to develop on that calculator keyboard! Almost as bad as programming on the ZX-80 membrane keyboard, which I have done! That $600 add-on, by the time you pay for that, unless you are a developer, it would have been more economical to get a Vic 20, which had a very nice keyboard and a better BASIC (I owned one of those, too). All good wishes.

[@matturban9103]

One of my Uncles had a Bally Astrocade. He let me borrow it for a while. Years later he loaned me his Sega Genesis.

[@80s_Gamr]

Loved mine as a kid. I have a few now including one complete in box. I also have one of the 21 prototype carts made as they were developing Pac-Man (Those played normal Pac-Man, with that name being correct on the title. There were a few more made with mods to choose the number of men and for a set 99 men used during testing)... which was eventually released as "Munchy" and "Muncher" after losing a lawsuit with Atari over using the name as Atari already had the rights for home console use. Given that they Bally distributed the game here in America they felt they should've had a right to use the name for use as well with their own system. The courts didn't agree unfortunately.

[@alpaykasal2902]

That 'Computer' font, the wood paneling and gold trim, what a beauty!!! Better than beige boxes if you ask me.

[@randomizzer2389]

I hadn’t play them games for about 37 years now. I was always fascinated with older consoles as a kid in the 80’s.

[@FredBedderhead]

I had one of these, if you select scribbling and 0 players it will do a kaleidoscope

[@fallinsideahole]

re: cassette similarities: I have a small collection of videocades that I got at a yard sale years ago and they were all stored in cassette cases with the reel brake tabs broken off and the manuals inserted like j-cards football 3002 is a great name

[@me_fault]

Could audio cassettes fit nicely under the Bally top, as well as videocades?

[@X-Soft]

I think Bally ordered the production of the relatively expensive casting mold in an EARLY stage of the development time-segment when they wanted to deliver the system with an internal audio/data cassette recorder to let the user load "apps" into internal RAM (there would have been enough space to integrate PLAY / REWIND buttons right to the eject button into the case by adding additional rectangular holes. Then they changed to a ROM-based design (and saved manufacturing costs and some amount of internal RAM this way) and did not change the case to save ( a lot of ) money - otherwise stating "insert videocade" in even SMALLER letters in order to fit the new text into the predefined width of the label.

[@piwex69]

That Interact One-8 must have been the inspiration for the Amstrad CPC464 and later Spectrum 2+ form factor. Look at that tape drive location. Pure geniuses.

[@chuckmuziani6262]

I purchased mine from JS&A (Joseph Sugarman & Associates - you might remember him from his sunglasses commercials - he had to shut down his main mail order business due to legal issues, some of which included the chaos with the Bally computer) back in the day. I had to wait, along with anyone else who order one, for many months and months before I would receive the unit. Production delays and other chaos was the cause for the delay. It came with two controllers, which were quite innovative. I had a different Basic cartridge but it was similar. I don't remember if my Basic cartridge had the audio interface... I don't think it did. I had planned on purchasing the physical base unit as well (it was a Bally keyboard base, not a ZGRASS) but it never made it to production AFAIK. It was a fun device back in the day!

[@61pwcc]

What a fascinating video! I always wondered why more of the arcade game makers didn't get into the Home Computer market. It is VERY IMPRESSIVE what this machine was capable of in 1-9-7-8!!

[@dave4shmups]

Great and informative video on this classic console!

[@AndyHewco]

I like that multipurpose joystick. It is a shame the basic cart doesn't have a connector for adding a keyboard, assuming there isn't another way, as that numpad would take ages to write a program with.

[@ricande]

The entire bus is on that expansion port. You only need some logic and a keyboard to make it work. Maybe a bit-shift register and a buffer. Put that together with an arduino or something similar that can drive a PS/2 keyboard and Bob's your uncle.

[@gregolsson4370]

The "keyboard" is so much like the remote control on a Jerrold TV remote we used in Canada to access cable TV. So crazy!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I had a cool uncle who had the cool basement that included this system and a pool table to play. As kids we were not allowed to go down there and play without an adult but loved shooting the gun when we got to go down there. Thanks for the memory!

[@LeftoverBeefcake]

I know there are lots of KZbinrs out there with tons of Patreon supporters, but I think that's the first time I've seen someone with a list that's larger that can fit in RAM, nice! :)

[@4h0w1e6]

I remember wanting one of these when I was a kid. We had a volunteer computer teacher in the early 80s (pretty remarkable for rural school), and I wasn't able to sell her on the idea of my first computer purchase being the "Astrocade".

[@ImpetuouslyInsane]

Geez, Bally was so damn diverse way back when. Pinball manufacturing, owning the first chain fitness center, slot machine manufacturing, arcade machines, they even owned the Six Flags theme parks. I actually worked for them in 2013 and they weren't long for this world beyond that. They were bought by Scientific Games a couple years after I left.

[@CoachOta]

So good to see this overview of the Bally. I remember seeing ads for this in Electronic Games magazine as a kid but I'm not sure I ever saw it on store shelves. If I had seen it, my memory must be really eclipsed by Atari, Mattel and Coleco in those early days. I'm surprised that it continued to be in production for as long as it was even with various name changes.

[@eachandeverything9932]

You probably wouldn't have seen it on store shelves. I believe only 50,000 were manufactured & only 20,000 were sold. (VS 2 million Colecovision, 2 million Magnavox Odyssey 2, 3 million Intellivision, 15 million C64, 30 million Atari, etc)

[@tarstarkusz]

The one thing I really like about the Mattel Intellivision is its appliance like build quality and it regular 110v cord. I hate these wallwarts. As long as they are plugged in, they just sit there and cook. But at least it is hard wired and not easy to lose.

[@jamesburke2759]

holy crap this thing is awesome. the music in that tron style game is great!

[@ovalteen4404]

Back when I was a kid, that L.T. movie scared the crap out of me. Especially when the E.B.I. was after them.

[@eachandeverything9932]

I bought one of these on eBay in 2001 and it was mint in box, never used. (still have it) I also have an ultra rare 75 game Astrocade multi-cart made by Ohio Labs. It has 5 tiny DIP switches to select different games.

[@chiroquacker2580]

I have to admit that I got my Astrocade mainly because I think it is the most beautiful game console ever made. The fact that it was the Neo-Geo of it's day is pretty cool too. For a 1978 vintage console the graphics and sound are fantastic. I have a video game multicart but haven't dabbled in any computing with it.

[@Di3mondDud3]

I love your channel, you have so much neat stuff and an amazing amount of skill locked away from your past. At least in the eyes of a 22 year old. I struggle in the dos prompts of my windows 98 gaming rig xD

[@craigcohen3682]

I owned one of these. I loved it. They did the most with the least.

[@bcostin]

This is cool! The BASIC is a lot nicer than I thought. For some reason I expected something more like that sad "Basic Programming" cart for the 2600. Maybe it's the tiny keypad that fooled me.

[@lynntfuzz]

Such good memories. I was a little girl and my Dad brought home this giant box wrapped in gold paper for Christmas. My favorite gave was the football game.

[@dsyoungblood1972]

I remember Z-Grass programming language being brought up in an old arcade console magazine and they portrayed it as if it were a miracle language. I'm curious if the third party games were written in Z-Grass. Looking around years after I saw a source that indicated it was only used internally by Bally.

[@paulstubbs7678]

One great feature, lots of technical info, nothing hidden, unlike other systems.

[@Jordan4Ibanez]

That Rock'n Wrestle cassette instantly got Rock'n Roll for Amiga stuck in my head :P

[@ykkzm2743]

It could only be purchased by parallel import to Japan. I played a primitive Star Trek game written in basic. I regret having disposed of it.

[@TechGorilla1987]

​@0:30 - The reason I chose a Magnavox Odyssey 2 over an Atari (much to my fathers surprise) was that it also came with a B.A.S.I.C cartridge and a keyboard. It also played games which was a plus.

[@douggale5962]

That Z80 is just hammering the framebuffer to animate that space invaders? Very nice work. That is pretty bandwidth intensive for the time.

[@Trance88]

I can tell this thing is BETTER that a 2600. I like the built in drawing program. It's kind of like a digital Etch-a-Sketch of sorts. That would've been mind blowing awesome in 1979-80.

[@alpaykasal2902]

Oh wow, you mentioned Avenger on the Vic20 and just took me back to my childhood.

[@noneofyourbusiness8658]

wow, they used some art designs from the comic Space Family Robinson: Lost in Space, in the Cosmic Raiders 2009 they used the space station where the Robinson's live and travel and in Solar Conqueror 2018 they used the means of transport that the Robinson's use to visit planets or go into space, and the copies are not even redesigns, that is the way they looked in the comics, for example the space station has 2 entrances in the base where the flying transport are stored and you can see that in the drawing they used, also the flying transports are 4 seaters, with 1 entrance in each side, is like if they copied it from existing comic panels just adding some effects (dont remember the space station being able to shoot rays from that side, that was originally hydroponic gardens for them to have fresh food), wow, i had forgotten about that comic series for nearly 30 years, is kind of nice to see they got some use after cancelation

[@MultiBRETTER]

Now finally I know why in every movie, the cursor makes a bleeping sound while typing when they show an advanced cryptic computer interface 😂

[@tarstarkusz]

I wish this had seen a larger and longer lived game library. From the early games, the astrocade games look a lot better than the Atari 2600. But we will never really know what the astrocade could do in the right hands the way we knew with the 2600. The library is small and never really sold that well.

[@tarstarkusz]

@@lordevyl8317 Problem is, there isn't much of an audience for it. There are probably a hundred times or more the number of people who currently play 2600 games than astrocade games. To give you an idea of the difference, the average millennial or even zoomer gamer is aware of the 2600, even if they have never seen one in person. It is not only a gaming icon, it is a cultural icon. Whereas even when it was brand new, most people never even heard of the Astrocade. I was in my 20s when I first heard about it and that was only because I was into what was then called "Classic Gaming" in the mid 90s.

[@lordevyl8317]

@@tarstarkusz That's true, but there have even been recent homebrew games for the Fairchild Channel F, and less people still have those than the 2600 as well

[@tarstarkusz]

@@lordevyl8317 The Fairchild Channel F (this was a system I did know back in the 80s because my cousin had one) only has a few homebrew titles. I know John Dondzilla did one, a pac man clone I think and there's a couple others. But the 2600 has probably 100 in the last year. Plus, the 2600 has another characteristic that makes it particularly suitable to homebrew. That's the fact that adding RAM or processing power is both possible and makes a HUGE difference. This is largely down to the way the 2600 works. Unlike basically all of the other systems BITD, the 2600 is a real time device and it does a scanline at a time under the control of the program. BITD, the 2600 ran nearly all of the logic of a game in the brief time the scanline goes off the bottom of the screen and the time it reaches back to the top. This really limited the logic of a game, that and the severe lack of RAM. By using an arm chip inside the cartridge, you can just use the 2600 as a graphics chip and do all of the logic running at speeds a 100 times faster than the 6502 variant in the machine. Some amazing games, far beyond anything made BITD have been released for the 2600. Check out Scramble and Mappy as examples. This just isn't possible on other systems because they don't work the same way.

[@lordevyl8317]

@@tarstarkusz There were three that came out last year. All by Arlasoft

[@tarstarkusz]

@@lordevyl8317 I was just looking at some of his C64 releases.

[@themaritimegirl]

That keypad appears to have been lifted straight off a Texas Instruments TI-1200 calculator, with a few keys re-labeled. Complete with the horrible key bounce that plagues TI calculators of that era.

[@CarsandCats]

Fantastic! I have never heard of this computer system before. Thanks for the video.

[@andrewclark8630]

Quite impressed with this for the 1970s. Looks almost better than the VIC-20 I got in 1982.

[@KingMob4313]

This was a very powerful gaming machine for the time, I am absolutely impressed.

[@GoatTheGoat]

I have one of these consoles/computers. I've never fired it up. Thanks for the demo.

[@jocketf3083]

Thanks for the video! This system seems to have been designed with love. They put a lot of effort into making what they could just that extra little bit nicer. It's wonderful to see!

[@atariboy9084]

I have both version of Bally Home Computer System Astrocade and one of them I got only in NYC at the time as I was living there. And still have both working with games.

[@craigcohen3682]

Best system I ever owned. They did so much with so little.

[@generalkilbabathemadmansch3602]

The controller looks awesome

[@rootman28]

I had one of these and did a lot of basic programming, saving to cassette. Had every issue of the Arcadian newsletter. Fun games too. Wore out a couple of the pistol grip joysticks.

[@GeorgesChannel]

Great episode. Actually this is a great Basic plattform for programming for its time. Too sad it did not come with a proper keyboard.

[@ashwadhwani]

The cassette size was to be able to use cassette racks or carry bags common in those days :)

[@Jordan4Ibanez]

Checkmate literally uses your direction to make music, fascinating

[@MikeJones-do1xv]

Remember when I was about 13 in 1983 Montgomery Wards at Oak Park Mall in Overland Park, KS had a huge stack of them on clearance for $24.99 each. I had to have one and begged my parents enough to finally buy it. Sold it years ago and made a huge profit.

[@DavidWonn]

Huge improvement over the Atari 2600 Basic Programming cartridge! I only had one keyboard controller for whatever reason, so I'd have to frequently swap it out of the player 1 and 2 ports to code anything. This system would have been a massive upgrade for me.

[@GaryLASQ]

Wrote my first computer program on this in 1978. Had a subscription to the Arcadian.

[@botteu]

Fascinating ✨

[@drlegendre]

The action in Space Invaders is really quick, much better port than typically encountered in those days.

[@10p6]

Nice Video. Please do a followup with tape loading saving. It is interesting to see the expansion port has access to the full address space as having 16K to 64K Ram, along with a keyboard would have made it a decent computer for 1978.

[@aikisteven0616]

My best friend back in my younger days had one of these. It had some pretty cool games. I had no idea it was programmable though. Still quite the nostalgia trip!

[@TransCanadaPhil]

oh and I thought the ZX Spectrum was rough for typing in programs with its keyboard :-O

[@postal_the_clown]

Cool to see the Arcade again. Mine became a victim of downsizing. When I picked it up at a thrift shop, though, it came with a cassette course on Morse Code. I preferred the Channel F.

[@davecool42]

17:40 Oooh the fancy smooth scroll up though!

[@meatpockets]

I noticed at 1:19 it mentioned a cable address and never heard of that before and went down a rabbit hole. I found that it was a unique code (like a URL today) for receiving telegrams. TIL

[@unsystematic-]

I recently picked one of these up, and glad to learn even more about it!

[@chinossynthesizer705]

I like the picture of the head is their any old system that had unique old art like that.

[@8bitrocketstudios]

What an awesome system to explore.

[@raoullangner-macmillan7655]

Thanks you, what a great system. Never heard before of it.

[@MidnightThunderYT]

This video is really cool!

[@randy7894]

drawings and their restricted functionality is pretty awesome. I would hang it in High Res in my living room. Lovely 70's art stuff.

[@themaraudershideout3010]

Very cool, I always wondered about this system!