Atarimax Maxflash Cartridges (Atari 800XL Accessory)

So Steve at Atarimax is one of the greats when it comes to adapting new technology for use with old technology. Most of his contributions have been to the Atari community, though he has made an awesome product for the Colecovision as well. He was the one who invented the SIO2PC cable which allows me to boot disk images from my PC to my Atari 800XL, or write disk images to actual 5 1/4" disks with my 1050 Disk Drive (for nerd cred I have to mention that my SIO2PC is the serial version. There was no USB version when I bought it. The only way that could be more hardcore would be if I bought the terminal rather than the SIO jack version. Feel free to take a moment and genuflect at my nerdliness). He also programmed APE (Atari Peripheral Emulator) which is the program that allows me to mount disk and cartridge images. All of these software and hardware innovations have breathed new life into the world of 8-bit Atari computing. I recently picked up one of his Maxflash cartridges along with the programming kit, and it has changed the way I use my Atari 800XL...again.

The thing about cartridges is that they work better than disks. They're more durable, they boot faster, and they don't require extra cords and power supplies. You just plug 'em in and they work. So when Steve developed programmable multicarts for the 8-Bit Atari, I immediately added them to my nerd wish list. It took me a while to break down and buy it, but I'm so glad I did.

You need three things to be able to write and rewrite your own custom multicarts for your 8-bit Atari: the programmer cartridge, a flash cartridge, and the maxflash studio software. Here's how easy it is to program the carts: 1) Open the Maxflash Studio software 2) Plug the flash cart into the programmer and the programmer into an open USB port 3) Select the games you want to be on the cartridge 4) Click "Synchronize Cart." The cart will take about 10 seconds to program (more or less depending on the number of games you include and the size of your flash cart) and you're done. Stick it in the cartridge slot of your 8-bit Atari and select the game you want to play with your joystick. You'll be amazed how fast the cartridge works and how quickly the games boot up. You can write all sorts of Atari images to the carts (.atr .rom .exe, etc.) but I prefer .xex files. It seems like I can fit more of them on a cart. Need some .xex Atari games? Look here or here.

So now you know that you need a Maxflash cartridge and the programming kit (sold separately) and the only question is whether to buy the 8-Megabit (not Megabyte) or 1-Megabit cartridge. I bought the 1 Megabit because it was cheaper, but immediately wished I had bought the 8 Megabit. You can fit 6-8 games on a 1 Megabit cart, but you can squeeze 50 or more games on an 8 Megabit cart. You want the 8 Megabit and the Programmer kit. You may have to save a few more pennies, but it's worth it. Oh, and you can save your custom multicart files so you can load the same menus full of games time and time again. I'm telling you, this is a super awesome product. It helps you play Atari games quickly and easily. I've found that some games that lag during play if I load them from disk are much faster and smoother when loading from the Maxflash cart. I love everything about these carts and I will be buying another when I'm done buying parts for the computer I'm using to type this sentence. Steve at Atarimax is a nice dude who has always had great customer service for all his products, and no, he didn't pay me to say that. I'm just an Atari fan who has found that he is the champ of champs when it comes to new tech for the 8-bit Atari. I have given him my business before and I'll happily do it again.

Homebrew Demos for the Vectrex

Included with the multicart were a number of homebrew demos. These are unfinished games or concepts that are somewhat playable in some form or fashion. A few of them are very interesting, so I thought I'd write a little blurb on each one.

Abyss- John Dondzilla- This game looks like a sort of Gyruss mixed with Tempest. You rotate around a segmented cylinder as enemies approach and you blast 'em. The game does not yet have points, sound effects, or collision detection for enemies hitting your ship. It's an interesting demo with a fair amount of promise...provided John decides to do anything with it.

B.E.T.H.- Manu Pärssinen- B.E.T.H. starts out with some of the coolest music I've heard on the Vectrex. Then the game starts with what appears to be ships in bubbles. Your ship will drift up and to the right no matter what you do. It will then explode, leaving you wondering what you've just witnessed. Clearly B.E.T.H. has a lot more work needed before it's a playable game, but the music is cool.

Disc Duel- Jon Dondzila- This is one of the better and more promising games in the homebrew demos section. It's clearly an attempt to recreate a certain scene from Tron, and it does a fine job. Two of the buttons move you right and left, another throws your discs, and another causes you to raise both hands and make an electrical arc between them. Not sure what that's supposed to do, but it looks cool. Your opponent never moves, which either means this was intended as a two player game, or that part of the game hasn't been written yet. There are no sound effects for the game yet, and there are things that are clearly just not done yet. Even so, it really looks and feels like a decent Tron game, which is an accomplishment considering how many crappy Tron games there are.

Vecsports Kingpin- Manu Pärssinen- This is an interesting little bowling game that looks pretty close to a completed product. It defaults to 4 player mode, and I'm not sure you can play it as a single player. In order to bowl, you watch the arrow that scrolls back and forth across the lane and press the button when it's lined up where you want it. It's more tricky than you think, and it's genuinely hard to get a strike (I never got one). Clearly Manu Pärssinen is having some cool ideas. He'll be one to watch in the Vectrex homebrew community.

Nonagalf- Manu Pärssinen- This is a miniature golf game that's playable. It features only one hole, which is why it's still in the demo stage. The one hole is reasonably challenging, and the controls are fairly accurate yet forgiving. I would love to see more of this game.

Spike Goes Skiing- Andy Coleman- This is a game by the creator of my multicart. This game is a beta version, which means it's pretty much done and in play testing mode. It's another way in which Spike is being redeemed by homebrewers. The game is very similar to the old Skiing game from Activision for the Atari 2600, but rather than a regular skier, you control Spike. In the first stage, you maneuver through a slalom course with nice, wide gates. Once you cross the finish line, you enter a stage similar to Preppie. You have to cross a busy street, pick up your skis, and bring them back to where you started. Once you pass that stage, you'll hit the slalom course again, but with narrower gates this time. By this point, I usually died so I don't know what lurks beyond. This is a decent fully-fledged skiing game and by far the most playable thing in the homebrew demos section.

Vexperience- Manu Pärssinen- This was intended as a two game cartridge. It features another version of B.E.T.H. with the same impressive intro, and is as unplayable as the other one. It doesn't even look like the same game. The second game is Vec Sports Boxing, which features two large boxers and no collision detection as of yet. The boxers are somewhat comically animated, and I'm not sure how well this game would work if completed, but it's another stab at a non-space shooter, so there's that.

Yoehl- Manu Pärssinen- This game feature two screens. The first looks a little like Commando, but instead of shooting at solidiers, you're chasing down a Space Invader. Once you catch the guy, you'll go through a cool transition screen and he'll be at the top of the screen shooting three projectiles at a time while you shoot only one back. There is no collision detection yet, but it's an interesting demo nevertheless.

Ztagger- Manu Pärssinen- I don't know what this is. You're in a rotating ship that shoots at the Playstation button symbols that crawl slowly across the screen. There's no collision detection and seemingly no point. At least not yet.

2D Narrow Escape (Vectrex Game)

Narrow Escape is one of the few games that makes use of the 3D viewer, a rare accessory for the Vectrex. Because practically nobody owns one, and very few have been smart enough to rig up a DIY version, the 3D games go largely unplayed. A guy named Fred Taft was nice/smart enough to turn Narrow Escape, previously a 3D only game, into a 2D game playable without the 3D visor.

Narrow Escape looks pretty cool. You pilot a ship that looks like the drop ship from Mine Storm. On either side are walls that look a little like library stacks (I used to be a librarian). Touching the walls results in death, hence the narrow part of your escape. You must successfully capture fuel cells, blast enemies, and make your way to the big boss. I've never made it to the boss, but I've had plenty of fun along the way. Some of the collision detection seems a bit wonky, which is probably due to the conversion to 2D. Sometimes it's hard to know when you're on the same level as what you're trying to shoot, but the same could be said for Blue Max and Zaxxon, so it's not a huge problem. Narrow Escape is a good title that I am grateful to see in 2D form. Now if only someone could figure out Crazy Coaster.

Vectrex Pong (Vectrex Games)

Vectrex Pong is an astonishingly simple pong clone. It doesn't feature a two player mode, it's just a one player game in which your opponent is a wall. No matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as the wall. It's relentless. Anyway, this game seems more like a simple test concept that Chris Salamon trotted out before unleashing his vastly superior Frogger clone.

Vector Vaders (Vectrex Game)

This is the grandaddy of all Vectrex homebrew games. It was the first major stride in keeping the Vectrex alive and well into a new decade and years beyond. Before the title screen comes the exciting announcement, "Over 12 years have passed since the release of any new Vectrex game...things change."

You can't underrate the impact of this game. It inspired like-minded Vectrex lovers to keep the machine alive by finding ways to create new hardware and software. Vectrex collecting simply would not be what it is today, and I would not own my wonderful multicart if John Dondzila hadn't swung the gates open with this game.

Much as I'd like to say that Vector Vaders is a fantastic game that pushed the boundaries of the system, it's not true. This is a simple Space Invaders clone that's full of flaws. It's blinky and slow. It seems like your shots take forever to land and your ship moves at a snail's pace. This is nothing compared to newer Vectrex homebrews. I respect this game for all it stands for, but I genuinely dislike it as a game playing experience.

V-Frogger (Vectrex Game)

V-Frogger is a version of Frogger, the classic arcade game, adapted for the Vectrex. It's been said many times, but there are things the Vectrex can do and things it definitely cannot. V-Frogger is a concept you wouldn't expect to work, but it does much better than you'd think.

Crossing the street is fairly simple, but getting that upper right spot across the river can be difficult. V-Frogger certainly keeps the spirit of its arcade counterpart, but I'd say it's a bit more difficult than any other version I've ever played. All in all it's a great effort and hopefully an omen of more good things to come from Chris Salamon, the game's creator.

Spike Hoppin' (Vectrex Game)

Spike Hoppin' is another John Dondzila creation (did I or did I not tell you that he was the man?). In keeping with a tradition for homebrew programmers to try and find other things the Vectrex can do, Spike Hoppin' is an attempt to bring Q-Bert to the Vectrex.

One again, this is a homebrew game that provides a level of redemption for the Spike, the poor old mascot of the Vectrex. Let me say that this game has a certain learning curve. I didn't like it at first because I couldn't tell where Spike was going to jump. It was much like my first attempt at playing Q-Bert in which I kept jumping off the top of the pyramid on accident. Anyway, once you get the hang of the controls, Spike Hoppin' is a very fun game.

As if the gameplay wasn't enough, John Dondzila added voice synthesis. Whereas Spike's voice sounded like a chain smoker in Spike, his voice is higher and cuter in Spike Hoppin'. There are a few glitches, but this is generally a very fun and very well-written game.

There's also an easter egg in this game. If you press buttons 1 and 3 at startup, and then press button 4, you'll be taken to a hidden Centipede clone, which is actually more playable than John lets on with his intro to the game. It's a very nice surprise.

Rockaroids Remix (Vectrex Game)

Rockaroids Remix is a sequel to Rockaroids, John Dondzila's Asteroids clone. The remix version features a better ship and runs even faster than the original Rockaroids! John Dondzila does not mess around with Asteroids. If you like the slow, plodding pace of the first few levels of Asteroids, this is not for you.

In order to cope with the increased pace, the collision detection has been altered somewhat. Whole asteroids that have yet to be shot will pass right over your ship, which is an eerie feeling in later levels when several of them do it at once. Don't expect the same from asteroids that have been shot. They will always destroy you on contact. Although it's a difficult game to just settle into, I appreciate the grown up pace of Roackaroids Remix. If some Rockaroids was good, more is even better.

Patriots III (Vectrex Game)

I don't know where this sequel to John Dondzila's Patriots came from (or where Patriots II went) or if it was written by the man himself. John has been known to release tweaked versions of games he has previously released, so it would not be out of the question that he would have created this. Even so, I see no mention of it on John's site, which leads me to believe someone else made it from John's template.

Patriots III is essentially the same as the first Patriots game, but with improved graphics and worse controls. Patriots had crisp controls which I really appreciated. Patriots III has sloppy controls that don't get anywhere close to the edge of the screen (a problem in the first Patriots game that seems worse in this sequel).

The improved graphics give you more realistic cities and missile bases. It adds a third base, so you have more firepower than before. The pregame screen and the point counting screens are impressive, but the most impressive graphics in the game are reserved for the game over screen. I'll let you play the game and lose, so it doesn't spoil the surprise for you. All in all, Patriots III looks better and plays worse than the original Patriots.

Patriots (Vectrex Game)

Patriots is another excellent John Dondzila creation. A simple glance at the picture at the left will tell you that this is a Missile Command clone. I tend to not like Missile Command because I'm bad at it. My Dad, on the other hand, was blessed with insane Missile Command skills. Anyway, Patriots (so named because of the Patriot missiles in use during the Gulf War) is a Missile Command clone that I can actually play. As you shoot one missile, its explosion will take out nearby missiles as well. It's not that the game is easy. The action ramps up very quickly and as you advance through the levels, you'll find yourself constantly firing on a frightening number of enemies. Patriots captures the spirit of Missile Command and does it in a way that the Missile Command challenged like myself can enjoy. This is a whole lot of fun and a perfect clone of a classic game.

Hangman (Vectrex Game)

Another homebrew game by Andy Coleman. Hangman is as simple as you think it is, and yet the words aren't simple. They tend to be video game-related, but don't expect it to be easy. I had to try and guess "Xevious" in one round, and that uses a few lesser-used letters. Hangman is a simple pleasure for the Vectrex, but I found myself really enjoying it. Andy Coleman has taken simple concepts and executed them well, which is a nice thing for a vintage system. Hangman won't be anybody's favorite game, but you'll have fun playing it.

City Bomber (Vectrex Game)

City Bomber is a game by the creator of this Vectrex multicart, Andy  Coleman. It's a simple yet effective game. You fly a plane across the screen and can drop 1 bomb per run. The bombs will level the column in which you dropped it down to the ground. You have to get rid of the tallest parts of the building first, as your plane will get lower and lower with each pass. If you fail to get rid of a building, your plane will smack into it and explode. If you level all the buildings, you'll pass to the next level. Your plane stops for a quick celebration at the end of each level, and who do you think is piloting the plane? Spike. This is yet another game in which the mascot of the Vectrex world is saved through inclusion in a game much better than his self-titled debut.

City Bomber is not complex, but chances are you'll die a lot before you really get the hang of it (Hint: don't try to do the thing you do with other bomb dropping games in which you assume a bomb will stray a bit from where you dropped it. Bombs drop straight down from wherever you push the button, so plan accordingly). I found I really enjoyed this game though it is not as complex as some of the other Vectrex titles. It's well executed and although it's simple, it does exactly what it's supposed to do.

All Good Things - Spike's Water Balloons (Vectrex Game)

Spike's first game for the Vectrex was a piece of crap (the ill-fated self-titled Spike). Luckily, guys like John Dondzila took it upon themselves to salvage Spike's reputation by putting him in games like this excellent Kaboom! clone.

Kaboom! is one of the best Activision games for the Atari 2600. It's frantic bomb catching action is captured in Spike's Water Balloons. One nice addition to this game is the ability to kick balloons you missed with your head. It's a bit hard to time the kicks, so it's best to get them with your head.

The downside of this game is that it gets almost impossible after the third level. Even so, this is a really nice game for the Vectrex and a welcome change from all the space shooters.

One addition to the All Good Things cartridge is a hidden game called 23 Matches. You can access it by holding button 2 as you scroll through the games. It's a simple game in which you pick 1,2, or 3 matches at a time from a group of 23. If the computer leaves you with matches to pick up at the end, you lose. If you force the computer to pick up the last match, you win. It's a fun game, but not very technical. It's just a nice little bonus for those patient enough to find it.

All Good Things - Vectris (Vectrex Game)

Because you can play Tetris on many other systems, why would you ever want to play it on the Vectrex? I don't think there's an answer other than, "Because I can."

Vectris is another John Dondzila creation, and it's not one of his better ones. The nature of Tetris and its many shapes which occupy the screen turn Vectris into a blink-filled affair. You can't see the bottom half of the L-shaped piece in the picture to the left here, and that's pretty common for Vectris. It's just really blinky and although it is a playable port of Tetris for the Vectrex, I'd recommend playing Tetris on another system if you need a fix (I highly recommend Acid Tetris, which is a DOS game you can play on DosBox).

All Good Things - More Invaders (Vectrex Game)

More Invaders is basically Space Invaders for the Vectrex. I was never too big on Space Invaders. I preferred the vastly superior Galaxian. So if you take a guy who isn't too big on Space Invaders and give him a sluggish Space Invaders clone, he's probably not going to care for it too much, and I don't.

I found the game to be too slow and a little buggy. My shields would disappear at times, and would still block my shots even though I couldn't see them. The old shooting through your shields trick doesn't really work because your shield will simply disappear if you try to shoot it. Also, I know that the last invader is supposed to go crazy fast at the end, but I've never seen one go nuts like it does on More Invaders. Oh, and the v-shaped invaders are much harder to hit than their pixel counterparts. More Invaders just isn't a whole lot of fun. It pains me to say it because of my regard for John Dondzila, but More Invaders is more miss than hit.

All Good Things - Rockaroids (Vectrex Game)

John Dondzila is the champ of champs when it comes to Vectrex homebrews. He really pioneered the industry and remains one of the elder statesmen and overseers of the movement. His website, Classic Game Creations, is one of the best places to find homebrew Vectrex games on the web. In 1996 he released All Good Things, a cartridge with four of his homebrew games on it. I'll review each of the games individually, but I wanted you to know about John, what a champ he is, and what a great resource his site is.

Rockaroids is the first game on All Good Things and it brings a much needed Asteroids port to the Vectrex. The Vectrex was built to play games like Asteroids, so it's interesting that it took 13 years and a dedicated fan to make it happen. Anyway, Rockaroids plays exactly like the original Asteroids. You rotate your ship with two of the buttons, fire with another, and activate the thrusters with another. I would have preferred rotating the ship with the joystick, but the buttons work fine. One thing I noticed about Rockaroids right away is that the asteroids seem to be moving much more quickly than normal. It's like you're starting the game on the higher levels, which is nice if you're an accomplished Asteroids player. All in all, this is a very faithful and much appreciated port of Asteroids for the Vectrex. I would have done a couple things differently, but nothing major.

Tour de France (Vectrex Game)

Tour de France is the clear winner out of all the unreleased Vectrex games. It's unique, it's inventive, and most of all, it's playable. This could have easily been a decent commercial release. The fact that it wasn't was probably mostly due to the early demise of the Vectrex in the video game crash of 1983 (I find the crash to be absolutely fascinating. If anyone has a good book recommendation about the period, I'd be glad to hear about it). Anyway, this is a fully-realized game that's easily better than commercial games like Star Hawk.

The game begins with the opening fanfare from the French national anthem. Your cyclist starts out slowly at first, but as you shift gears you'll find yourself flying down the road, passing other cyclists, dodging banana peels, and attempting to pick up water bottles. You'll smoothly scroll past trees, telephone polls, guardrails, and other appealing scenery. As you pass the Arc de Triomphe, your cyclist will raise his arms in triumph, even if he lost. The whole thing is nicely animated and fun to play. This is a perfect example of a non-shooter that works on the Vectrex.

The downside of the game is that it does suffer from some blink and collision detection issues (I swear I passed through some of my opponents rather than around them). There are no sound effects as the game gets underway, and the silence is a little eerie. Even with these few warts, I found Tour de France to be a whole lot of fun. I'll be playing it again real soon.

Pitcher's Duel (Vectrex Game)

Pitcher's Duel is an unreleased Vectrex game, and it's not hard to see why it never reached the public. On the plus side, the players are nicely animated, especially for a Vectrex game. The batters have a smooth swing, and everything looks fine on the surface. Once you get beyond the surface, you find flaws that make this game a total turd.

Let's be honest, there really weren't that many decent baseball video games in the pre-NES era. They all seemed to have problems with some aspect of the game or another, be it pitching, batting, or fielding (most games suffer from impossible fielding). Pitcher's duel suffers from poor pitching and batting. The fielding is done automatically, which is nice. Even so, sometimes your automatic fielders will fail to pick up a sure double play or fail to throw a guy out on an infield hit. I've seen worse fielding in baseball games of this era, so I'll let it slide.

The first big failure of Pitcher's Duel comes when you're pitching (you always pitch first). You'll find that you have two options: 1) Throw the ball right down the middle where you'll give up sure hits, or 2) Throw the ball ten feet off the plate. If you move the joystick ever so slightly in any direction as you pitch, the ball will fly wildly in the direction you pressed. Sometimes the batter will still swing, but mostly you'll throw a lot of balls. How can this be a Pitcher's Duel when the pitching is so impossible? I dunno.

While the computer has no problem hitting the ball, you'll more than likely find it to be a herculean task. You have to move the cross hairs to where you think the ball will be going. It's unclear how early or late you need to swing the bat, but I played through the game three times before I got a single hit. The field is clearly slanted toward the computer, and that takes a lot away from any potential fun you might want to have with this game.

Add to those problems the fact that players are very poorly animated in the overhead view where the fielding is done (they look like squares when standing still and butterflies when moving), the poor sound effects (the ball makes no sound when hit, and the crowd sounds like chirping birds and waves crashing on the beach), and the unclear rules of the game (the computer got a three run lead on me in the first inning once, and the game over screen came up?!) and you've got a real mess on your hands. I would give this game the dreaded steaming pile rating if it weren't an unreleased game. As it is, I'll give it...

Mine Storm/ Mine Storm II (Vectrex Games)

I'm going to review Mine Storm and Mine Storm II in a single review because they are, for the most part, exactly the same. Mine Storm II is merely Mine Storm with a bug fix. Mine Storm was the pack-in game for the Vectrex that was literally packed into the system. It boots up in the absence of a cartridge. The problem with Mine Storm was that if you passed the 13th level, the game would just crap out. Any customer that called to complain was sent a free copy of Mine Storm II, which allows adept stormers of the mines to reach untold heights. Other than the 13th level bug fix, the two games are identical.

Mine Storm is an Asteroids clone, and the argument could be made that it is actually better than the game that inspired it. Your ship in the center of the screen looks super cool in comparison with the Asteroids triangle ship. Three of the four buttons have functions in Mine Storm. You can shoot, move across the screen with thrusters, or trust fate and warp. Warping will sometimes drop you right on top of a mine, but it's usually quite useful in escaping magnetic mines...for a while anyway. You'll come across a few different varieties of mines as you advance through the levels. Some will chase you down, others will shoot at you, and others will just drift around aimlessly.

The gameplay is super smooth, and the game turns from good to great with some of the included features. First of all, the game opens with ominous music. It sounds like "Happy Birthday" in a minor key. The music sets the tone for the game, and it's absolutely perfect. Each level opens with a nicely-animated drop ship dropping the mines onto the screen. The sound effect are all perfect, especially the thruster sound, which could not be replicated on any other system. Somehow it's much easier to mash the button and fire off shots in Mine Storm than it is in some of the other games on the system. Everything about Mine Storm works exactly like it's supposed to (except the level 13 thing, which was fixed in Mine Storm II. Very few people ever made it to level 13, therefore the Mine Storm II cartridge is very rare. I have never made it past level 7, so I never would have gotten my free Mine Storm II cart if I was playing this back in the day). Mine Storm is made up of great parts, and it's still greater than the sum of those parts.

Dark Tower (Vectrex Game)

Dark Tower is an actual factual RPG/adventure game for the Vectrex that was completed but never officially released. It's one of a few Vectrex prototypes that lives on through emulation and multicarts.

Dark Tower seems like a decent idea, and it's actually executed better than you'd think. You wander through forests with different types of trees as you collect items like gold (no idea if you can ever spend it) and keys. The keys will eventually allow you entrance into the Dark Tower, which very few have had the patience to approach. As you wander through the overworld, you'll come across boxes which lead to a sort of underworld. Sometimes you'll find bags of gold in them, sometimes a wizard will tell you "be gone," and sometimes you'll be tossed into battle against minotaurs which peek out from behind walls and throw things at you. You need to throw things at them and kill enough of them to return to the overworld. Another way of getting out is to die. You'll respawn above and since you have lots of lives (seriously, I don't know how many you have, but it's a lot) it's no huge loss. You'll replay the minotaur thing a bazillion times before it's all done.

I never made it to the end of the game, so who knows what lurks in the later levels? Probably more monotony. Unfortunately, Dark Tower never seems to get more fun or interesting. It looks about as good as a Vectrex game can look, but with vintage games, looks are cheap and gameplay is everything. Ultimately, Dark Tower is a whole lot of promise and not much in the delivery.