🚀 go-pugleaf

This is a review of the new Atari 5200 Advanced Video Entertainment
System. I bought mine from May Co., a department store, for $249.
So far they are the only one to have it, everyone else keeps saying
"any day now!".

The 5200 console is a sleek black thing with a slot in the center
of it in which to plug the cartridges. In the lower right corner is
the power switch. All other controls are on the controllers. A local
repairperson for Atari claims that internally it is essentially an
Atari 400 computer with 16K of memory, but with a different 6502
chip.

The 5200 comes with two multi-function controllers, I have only seen
pictures of the ColecoVision, the 5200 controllers look functionally
the same. The joystick is also a paddle (knob), it has a keypad with
12 buttons (0-9, #, and *). It has 4 fire buttons, 2 on each side.
All of the games that I have only use the lower button. The fire
buttons are one of the worst things about the 5200; they are small
and aren't easy to press, you want to use the tips of your finger
or your fingernails. There are is also a row of 3 buttons along the
top of the controller above the joystick which are recessed so that
you don't accidently press them; start, pause, and reset. Start does
what its name implies, pause allows you to freeze the game, reset
clobbers the current game. All of the buttons on the controller are
made out of some spongy substance. They have no auditory or tactile
feedback. The joystick doesn't have any spring to cause it to return
to center, it just stays where you left it. It has a rubber skirt
or boot around it to keep out dust and such from the mechanics, it
seems to impede the movement on my controllers; one is slightly
difficult to get all the way over to the left, the other has some
resistance when you push it all the way over to the right. None of
the games that I have use the paddle so I don't know how that works.

The games that I have are Super Breakout, Galaxian, Space Invaders,
Missle Command, and Star Raiders. The games that I am missing are
Pac-Man and Asteroids. Centipede, Tank, Qix, and Defender are the
games that are due out next.

Star Raiders is easily the most involved and very engrossing.

I can't say much about Super Breakout, it's just Breakout, there
are 4 different variations (it's fun).

Galaxian has amusing audio effects. By using the numbers on the
controller's keypad you can play skill levels 0-9. 9 is pretty
intense.

Space Invaders is probably my current favorite. It has 12 different
versions of the game involving combinations of 5 lives or 3 lives,
slow or fast enemy bombs, and "home-in" bombs. Unlike the VCS it
doesn't have invisible invaders or wiggling bombs.

Missle Command is probably my 2nd favorite. It has a "skip wave"
option that allows you to skip up to a more difficult wave. It
also has a practice mode that has only smart missiles (and you
can also skip up to more difficult waves).

Overall I'd give the 5200 a "pretty good". I can't rave about it.
The controller fire buttons are a real problem. Another thing that
I find aggravating is that the games are inconsistent in how they
operate or use the controller, Galaxians starts a game by simply
pressing a digit key, some of the games keep the highest score of
all games played somewhere on the screen, some only allow controller
#1 to start the game, some let the person with the highest score do
it. I also can't understand why Galaxians, Super Breakout and Space
Invaders all use the joystick to control the paddle/ship when it can
only move horizontally. I would much prefer using the paddle, one
often finds they are pushing the joystick diagonally instead of
horizontally and because of it the cursor moves more slowly.

While the graphics are better than the VCS I wouldn't say that they
are astounding. You can often see the blocks that objects are composed
of, in Missle Command when the missiles are coming down their paths
are a sequence of small squares instead of a line (my tv screen isn't
real big either).

All of the games except for Star Raiders are Trak-Ball compatible.
>From the picture it looks like the Trak-Ball is another console with
the track ball in the center of it and according to the game instructions
you must always plug it into the controller #1 plug.

None of the Atari literature that came with either the console or the
games says anything about an adapter that will allow one to use the
VCS cartridges with the 5200 although the magazines and salespeople
in the store say there will be one. Because of this I'm tempted to
get the ColecoVision.