Rock the Atari 400 Mini with these 20 games: The Atari 400 Arcade #2: And where to find them!

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Rock the #Atari #400Mini with these 20 games: The #Atari400 Arcade #2:
The Atari 400 Mini is a replica of the original Atari#8bit computer the Atari 400. It’s an emulation box that will be released in late March 2024 and will come with 25 Atari 8bit classics built-in
At this writing only 7 games have been announced with 9 more making an appearance in the promo video. That leaves room for at least 9 more. In this video I show the 20 games that I would add to the this mini-proto Amiga and hopefully Atari will take notice
Game Details
intotheverticalblank.com/2024...
Opening 0:00
Intro: 0:30
Atari Blast 3:16
Ballblazer 4:46
Bosconian 6:16
Commando 7:46
Crownland 9:16
Dimo's Quest in ABBUC Land! 10:46
Donkey Kong Arcade 12:16
Dropzone 13:46
Flob 15:16
International Karate RCX 16:46
Last Squadron 18:16
Ms Pac-Man Arcade 19:46
Scramble 21:16
Space Harrier 22:46
Stunt Car Racer 24:16
Tempest Xtreme (Demo Version) 25:46
Time Pilot 27:16
Vanguard 28:46
X:8 30:16
Zeppelin 31:46
Closing 33:16
Late night fuel support appreciated but not demanded : www.buymeacoffee.com/intothev...
All music, audio / video production. writing and game play by #JeffFulton and or #SteveFulton unless otherwise noted. (c)8bitrocket Studios #
Atari #IntoTheVerticalBlank #Generation Atari
Theme by Brian Travis
Title: Into The Vertical Blank theme Words & music by Brian Travis (c)(p)2021 Taste This Moment Music ASCAP
www.briantravisband.com/
Research: Atarimaina.com Atariage.com Atarilegend.com AtariCrypt MobyGames.com LemonAmiga.com
Find us here:
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[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Notes: Epyx is not EPXY! Game info at: intotheverticalblank.com/2024/01/18/rock-the-atari-400-mini-with-these-20-games-the-atari-400-arcade-2/

[@monolalia]

Those homebrews are brilliant and often so much prettier than the early classics they’re always putting front and centre…

[@triffid68]

Zeropage Homebrew are well worth watching. They cover all Atari machines with frequent 8-bit coverage including hardware news.

[@mechamania]

That’s because those games were made without the help of 40 years of history on which to build, and, more importantly, hundreds of millions of people have known those games, not those homebrews. Games such as _Asteroids, Space Invaders, Missile Command, Pac-Man, Centipede, Pole Position, Donkey Kong,_ _Robotron,_ _Defender,_ and etc.-along with deeper, cult classic “computer games,” such as _Zork_ (a command-based text adventure RPG), _Rogue_ (spawned “rogue-likes,” using ASCII graphics), _Ultima_ (the _Elder Scrolls_ of the ‘80s into the ‘90s, and perhaps the earliest well-known “JRPG”), the _Apshai_ series (“graphic” dungeon crawler), _Oregon Trail_ (the game that made survival games a thing), _Ancient Art of War_ (tower defense), _Lode Runner_ (first commercial game with a _Mario Maker_ level editor),_King’s Quest_ (point-and-click puzzler),_ _Mail Order Monsters_ (spiritual predecessor to _Pokémon_ collector games), and 1985’s _A Bard’s Tale_ (an early dungeon crawler that’s grown into, well, you might’ve heard... )-were all made at a time when genres had yet to be defined and when programmers were exploring what could be done with text and 8-bit audio and graphics, across what were _very different_ platforms. The differences among games on Apple II, Atari 8-bits, Commodore VIC-20 and 64, TI 99, IBM PC and its clones, and Spectrum computers-from A/V to the size of the games-were all huge, compared to today, as well - even more than differences among early game consoles, whereas games on consoles from Dreamcast and X-Box to PS5 and X-Box Series generations can look and sound almost exactly alike - and often do... While they might have the advantage of knowing all that those pioneering games did, in terms of game theory, graphical mechanics (for instance, game layers that led to parallax scrolling and “3D” drawing that was replaced by polygons), and audio scoring (notably the way music changes in _Pitfall II,_ when you die, when you get smaller achievements (like making it checkpoints, which were new at the time, or collecting gold), when you ride the flying balloon, and when you finish main quests (finding your cat)), were all being invented, not improving upon about 30-45 years of intense competition among game devs, using combinations of all those advancements. That’s not to say advancements don’t still occur, which would be silly, but “video games” were still a very blank slate, in 1979, when the Atari 400/800 dropped. Today, things learned from then heavily influence most games, and we’re seeing newly learned ideas used on hardware with greater constraints, to push the limits of that hardware, given what we learned over basically half a century. However, *most importantly,* people _know_ those older games and have a nostalgic tie to them, whereas they generally don’t with homebrew games. The vast majority of 400 Mini buyers are getting it for that nostalgia, and to use their old computers in an easy way, without trying to hook up old hardware to HDMI, or even to play them from a distance, not a desk. Mini consoles like this also “bring that history to life,” to remember or experience for the first time, to get a vivid idea of what using an Atari 8-bit computer-the ones with _the first ever separate audio and video processing chips (which led to graphics and audio boards, especially when audio took a huge back seat to video and was often an afterthought (they’re not called “audio games” for a reason). Without the original hardware, those seeing the 400 for the first time won’t get to experience Atari 8-bit advances such as “Serial I/O,” a hot-swappable, daisy-chaining input/output standard that allowed multiple peripherals to be connected to a singe port, at once-and _*_not all connected and turned on _before booting up_** your computer,* in order to work-although they will get to re-experience what Atari’s Serial I/O port led to - Universal Serial Bus (“USB”). All that said, those games are out front and center because they sell this system to masses of people - which gives homebrew developers the opportunity to have their works seen/played by *far more* people than they are, currently. Even though I still have an 800, an 810 floppy disk drive, and a 410 cassette tape drive, I’ll be much more likely to check out the 8-bit homebrew scene, with The 400 Mini, as opposed to getting out all that gear, hooking it up to a CRT or converting the signal. Even with all that done (as it is), just finding and using the media in a form that the original hardware can connect to and interpret, in order to get a homebrew file playing on that 800 is a huge PITA, and so I’m excited to check out a lot of the homebrew/indie scene, as much as I am to play _Ultimas II-IV_ and _Alternate Reality: The City,_ a personal favorite that really shows off what the POKEY audio chip could do, besides to take processing load off the GPU, which was the original purpose. Plus, the 400 Mini is built to easily play disk and cassette-based ROMs like those, which is most awesome, to me. Either way, those old games are the best route to getting those at whom it’s mainly targeted-and (to show) their kids-to see Atari 8-bit homebrews. When the game list is finished, people will be arguing about what games from the 8-bits’ heydays that should and shouldn’t be on it, not what homebrews are there - and that will determine a lot about who grabs these. Even games like _Shovel Knight,_ as popular as it’s become, doesn’t have a top-ten-selling pop song about it, like Pac-Man does... That song sucking is beside the point... lol... Hope that helps, and Cheers!

[@monolalia]

@@mechamania Whew, quite the history lesson! I… knew all this. :) I started out with a b&w Pong console, then the VCS; mate across the field had a Coleco; dad borrowed an Apple II; eventually I got to play Archon on a 600 XL; some other guy had the first C64 I got to see (with Donkey Kong). Ultima IV, (Net)Hack, The Guild of Thieves are among my all-time favourites (Zork not so much… maybe Trinity. I feel similarly about Trinity and Zork as about Last Squadron and Berzerk, lol!). I just wish the smexy fancy homebrews got their time in the spotlight too. Even if none of that is likely to impress those who weren’t there or not involved enough to really see the difference. And maybe that makes loading home ports of recognisable arcade titles like Asteroids and Centipede onto Retro-Thing No. Eleventy more profitable than showing off what you else you can wring out of 45-year-old (emulated) hardware. Not saying they shouldn’t be there. But *interesting* it ain’t anymore (to me!)

[@JohnDoe-ec1mz]

Absolutely Amazing !! Put these games in an arcade cabinet and I wouldn't mind drop in a quarter ot two !! I got an 800 in 1982 but always LOVED the look of the 400 (so futuristic, I thought ... & still do).

[@cavalleri]

They're getting my money anyway, but if Atari included some of these I would be over the moon. Especially Ballblazer. God I played a ton of that growing up.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

We've already pre-ordered two of them, so we know how you feel!

[@ThisIsPete]

Great picks, including a few from the homebrew scene I've not come across before!

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Ahh Pete, I never thought we could stump you! =) How ya doing, man? I really enjoy the Page 6 videos.

[@errollleggo447]

Never seen crownland before, pretty amazing.

[@triffid68]

Nice video! Prince of Persia is another absolutely amazing Atari 8-bit conversion.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

I only didn't add it because I'm terrible at it. It made a bad video to watch. That happened with a few others or I would have had 25. Part 2 is coming up and it will be included there.

[@triffid68]

@@IntoTheVerticalBlank I remember playing it on a friends PC around 91. I was amazed at how realistic the character animation was. I couldn't get the hang of using the keyboard or a clunky flight sim type controller. Wanted to use my Atari joystick or similar since then and now Ill do so with the 400 mini!

[@Valkron11]

Just got mine today. Looking forward to your follow-up video! 😁

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

Great video and most importantly great selections. The NTSC colors in some games don't really help though. Here is a list of really great games with great graphics/music....for your next video! = ) Commercial releases. 1. The Extripator. Maybe the best Tech demo/Game for the Atari 8bit line that only needs 36k of memory 2. Excelsor. Great use of the color tricks and hardware sprites 3. Dar Chambers. A much better version of Gauntlet 4.Tanium. Split screen shoot'em up 5. Deimos. A Montezumas style adventure 6.Rockman. Great platformer with great music (commercial release in Eastern Europe) 7. Phantom. Adventure 8. Time Slip. Split Screen (x3) shoot and avoid 9.Stealth. 10. CAVERNIA 11. Encounter 12. Into the Eagle's Nest 13.Karateka 14. Landscape 15. SMUS(commercial release in Eastern Europe) 16. VICKY(commercial release in Eastern Europe) 17.Technus - Technologic Soldier(commercial release in Eastern Europe) 18.Wloczykij(commercial release in Eastern Europe) 19. Zone RAnger Homebrews. ALBERT, ARCADIA, ADAM IS ME, ARCADIA XMAS, ASSEMBLOIDS, BATTLE EAGLE(2v), DARK KEEP, BETTY ISSUES, BISCUITS IN HELL, BOMBER, BOMB JACK or GACEK,BREAKIT22,BUBBLE SHOOTER, CALLISTO, CASTE DEFENDER, CYTRIKS, HELI IN THE CAVE, Hobgoblin, DRUDARIUM, DITCH, FINAL ASSAULT 1.1, FRUITY PETE, FLOB 1.0, FALLEN KINGDOM, FLOWERMANIA, GRAVITY WORMS, , GUARD, HAR'EM RC, GREAT GREEN ADVENTURE 1&2, JIM SLIDE XL, LAST NINJA 2, LAURA ADVENTURES, LINE RUNNER, MARBLED, MIGHTY JILLOFF, NIBBLY, NIGHT KNIGHT, OCEAN DETOX, ONESCAPE, PANG, OXYGENE BE, PRINCE OF PERSIA, RGB, RIDICULOUS REALITY, RODMAN, SKYSCRAPER, STAR VAGRANT , THETRIS, TIME WIZARD, TUBE BADDIES, Remakes:ZAUBERBALL 2023,MONTEZUMAS REDUX, MOON PATROL REDUX,INTERNATIONAL KARATE RC & RCX,BRUCE LEE RETURN OF FURY, PACMAN ARCADE, RETRO DSCHUMP, TIME SLIP 2022, POPEYE ARCADE, DONKEY KONG JR ARCADE, MARIO BROS XE WIP: FLIMBO QUEST, WONDERBOY, ABYSSUS, RIPPER

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Nice! Some of those are in the plan for the video!

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

@@IntoTheVerticalBlank I bet they were! Your first list goes way deeper than any other video I have watched on this platform. I have been digging the 8bit software archives for decades and my impression is that not many if not most retro gamers don't really know the size and quality of the available library (games, demos, music and prgs).

[@ubiased23]

Excellent list. But would like to see more such as: 1. Alley cat 2. Draconus 3. Zybex 4. Ninja 5. Karateka

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

All coming on the 2nd and third video

[@lurkerrekrul]

Tempest Extreme - A game that if it's not included, you'll never be able to play on the Atari 400 mini. Well, not the full version anyway.

[@swapd0]

Playsoft and Shanti77 games for the Atari 8bit are amazing.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Right? I need to do a video just on their other ones!

[@DTM-Books]

Games made for the 1MB upgrade will be playable? That means we can play Space Harrier! Whoo Hoo!!!

[@RetroSouls-ChipTunes]

Atari 400 was my first Computer after seeing StarRaiders displayed at my local game shop. I then I bought the 600xl,800xl and the then I bought STfm, Ste I love the fact that the Atari is still getting new Demos and games till this day. I cannot wait for the Mini but I would like to know what Emulation is will be using? maybe Atari Win but I hope it will be Altirra... Nice Video mate 😎👍👍 from a Atarian Fanboi .

[@nostalgicforthe70s18]

Hi its David from the Xegs and Atari 5200 podcasts. Very informative video. Gonna need to track down these great games to try out on the 400 mini.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Hey David!!! You NEED ONE! =)

[@paulwestphal7336]

Hey David!

[@nostalgicforthe70s18]

Hi Paul, long time not talk. I hope you are well. Do you still have your website?@@paulwestphal7336

[@paulwestphal7336]

David, I can send you some rare stuff

[@paulwestphal7336]

Nice! I should do a rare game review for it

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

You should!

[@paulkelly5035]

I am hoping Atari BASIC runs on the Mini with a way to save/load programs to a USB drive.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Definitely it should. There are all kinds of good basics to run and compile even into good games. Look at Turbobasic XL and Fastbasic.

[@TheAtariNetwork]

People have been asking what games are worth playing with the announcement of the 400 mini and I dont know what to tell them. I think im gonna send them your way! I need to learn more about this stuff myself...

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Send 'em over!

[@joshuaharper4439]

Where do you get ball blazer Zepplin and space Harrier thanks

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Search here: They are all available: www.mushca.com/f/atari/?idx=6

[@GarryGri]

So are you going to be able to load your own ROMs to the 400 mini or is it just preloaded games?

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Load on any ROMS your can find! Yes, it's a feature, not a hack either.

[@VIC-20]

Last Squadron is a Terra Cresta clone

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

checking it out...Very close. Terra Cresta more space oriented, but yes, very close. The A8 didn't get good games lie that as often at the 64.

[@DTM-Books]

This is an excellent video and I highly recommend all of these new indie/homebrew games for the Atari 8-bit home computer. I already have all of these ready for the 400 Mini when it arrives, and I do believe it will play the 1MB games, so hooray for Space Harrier and Atari Blast! I also highly recommend viewing all of the following Vertical Blank videos on Atari 800 games for more classics and hidden gems. If you grew up on these computers like me, you’ll be thrilled to see what software coders have been cooking for the past 25 years. We have many new arcade translations, a mountain of ports from rival computer platforms, and many new originals build exclusively for the Atari. What a time to be a fan. Everyone should buy the 400 Mini when it is released. Let’s make this a huge success! Next up on our wish list: a portable mini-Lynx that plays multiplayer games and a mini-Jaguar that plays all commercial and indie titles. If we want that to happen, then the time to open our wallets is now.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

You rock, sir!

[@paulwestphal7336]

Take a look at Pogo Joe

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

Oh man, it just didn't make the 30 game cut for platform games #1 (out tomorrow) but it will be in part 2

[@lukaszwilk1341]

You have bad palette set its too green try to change pal ntsc or artifacting

[@Carlb328]

This is a retro system, so I don't understand why almost all these games are modern.

[@IntoTheVerticalBlank]

These are meant to impress non-Atari 8bit people. The next 2 video will have more classics