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C64 vrs Atari 800XL

Anything to do with New Zealand Classic or Vintage Computing not covered in the other forums

Re: C64 vrs Atari 800XL

by Carcenomy » Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:30 pm

For another angle on it, consider this. Both my 800XL and XEGS were donations from equally nostalgic nerd friends who couldn't find anything interesting to use them for. Conversely, another friend (a whippersnapper of 21 even) had a bit of a play with my working Commodore 64 and has decided he wants to own one for himself because it's that neat... this is a computer that is nearly a full decade older than he is! I wish I had a rational explanation for this phenomenon, but I really don't...
Just the local Commodore hobo and middle-aged PC hoarder.
eisa on Trademe. A lasting reminder of a Compaq fetish when I was younger.
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Re: C64 vrs Atari 800XL

by WelshWizard » Mon Nov 28, 2011 10:52 pm

I still have to experience the full benefit of the C= , Found plenty to do with the A8's, but most systems from the 80's have earned a place in history, even the MSX systems.
I have even heard that some techies are trying to fit a sid chip to the A8, I suppose because they think they can do it, but most of the reason for the love of a C64, C16 , or A8 is because of there short comings and benefits of what they did get right.
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Re: C64 vrs Atari 800XL

by Harvey » Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:33 pm

For comparisons, I prefer to look at the software - and let them (the games) tell the story?
But even this method has to be viewed with caution - because more often than not, you are comparing the quality/competency of the programmer(s) responsible.
The ultimate test, has to be the same programmer doing both versions - of which "Dropzone" comes to mind.
I think it was first written on the Atari 800? I have not done any side by side comparisons - but like a classic SNES to Megadrive comparison, the Atari version looks better (better choice of colours - because you can choose from a wider colour range), and it has a larger screen size. Dropzone is by far the best Defender game, because the official Defender from Atari - was very disappointing indeed, when it first appeared.
An unfair test, would be to look at Zaxxon - because I thought Ron Fortier's effort was not up to scratch - for the Atari's, whereas the Synapse version on the C-64 was a very faithful rendition. The same could be said for "Blue Max" - which looked way better on the Atari, and so it was poorly converted for the C-64.
A favourite game of mine is "Bristles" - and I would expect it to appear almost identical for both C-64 and the Ataris. I have only seen and played the Atari version.

Anyway - an early landmark groundbreaking game for the early Atari 400/800 computers, was "Star Raiders" which is like putting you in control of a space fighter, within a Star Wars movie - this was real-time fast paced 3D action/simulation - and it used a low graphics mode and was programmed in only 8K. Now was there any equivalent to Star Raiders, on the C-64, BBC, Spectrum, etc etc?
Maybe only "Star Wars" for the Atari ST/ Amiga comes to mind? I think Star Raiders came out about a year or two after the movie Star Wars?

I did end up buying a C-64 - at a time, when games software for the Atari 8-bit computers started drying up...

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