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Setting up Astrocade Emulation Using MAME.
By BallyAlley (Adam Trionfo).
Video published February 3, 2019.

This tutorial explains how to setup the Bally Arcade/Astrocade console, a game system released in January of 1978. Although the tutorial focuses on how to install MAME on a Windows system, the information in this video can be transferred for use by Linux and Macintosh users too.

The steps required to get the MAME emulator up and running with the system ROMs are explained. Setting up and changing the keyboard mapping for use with joysticks is covered. Use of alternate inputs, such the Knob (paddle) and 24-key keypad are gone over in a cursory manner (these details may be explained in future videos).

The main idea of this video is to get a user playing games as quickly as possible. Anyone who has only a limited knowledge and prior-use of emulation, or has some knowledge of how to use emulation, but has never used a Bally Arcade/Astrocade console before today will benefit from this short video. After the instructions in the tutorial have been followed, any user of a Windows system should be able to use the MAME emulator to run Astrocade software. The main focus here is on how to use video game cartridges, the primary method that most users loaded games onto their real hardware.
The four built-in programs are covered:
  1. Gunfight
  2. Checkmate
  3. Calculator
  4. Scribbling
Some short gameplay examples from the following cartridges are provided here:
  1. Astro Battle (aka Space Invaders)
  2. Cosmic Raiders (a rare game from Astrovision)
  3. Crazy Climber (a homebrew game)
  4. Galaxian (aka Galactic Invasion)
  5. Incredible Wizard, The (a clone of Wizard of Wor)
  6. Ms. Candyman (a third-party game)
  7. Treasure Cove (a third-party game)
In a future installment, I'll show how to set-up keyboard mapping so that the Bally BASIC cartridge can be easily used during emulation. I'll also show how to setup MAME so that ICBM Attack, a game that uses a rare analog joystick called the Spectre controller, can be played using a mouse or trackball.

If this video helps you get started in the Astrocade world, then please share it with others who might enjoy taking a peek into the library of games for this underdog console that was only ever released in America and Canada.

The "Setting up Astrocade Emulation Using MAME" video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. "Setting up Astrocade Emulation Using MAME," by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Loading and Saving Astrocade "AstroBASIC" "Tapes" using MAME Emulation.
By BallyAlley (Adam Trionfo).
Video published April 25, 2019.

This tutorial explains how to load and save Bally BASIC programs in the Astrocade emulator in MAME. Specifically "AstroBASIC" programs are loaded on the emulated Bally Arcade/Astrocade console, a game system released in January of 1978. The steps required to get the MAME emulator up and running with the system ROMs are explained in a previous tutorial called "Setting up Astrocade Emulation Using MAME."

The main idea of this video is to get a user loading programs from "tape" (actually WAV files archived on BallyAlley.com) as quickly as possible. After the instructions in the tutorial have been followed, any user of a Windows system that has at least version 0.208 of the MAME emulator setup can load and save software to and from "tape."

Some short examples from the following type-in programs are provided here:

Loading:
  1. 4D2 (Video Art, Machine Language)
  2. Electronic Blanked (Video Art, BASIC)
  3. M-III Plus (Video Art, BASIC)
  4. The Pits (Game, BASIC)
  5. Astro Zap 2000 (Game, BASIC)
  6. MOD 2 (Graphic Demo, BASIC)
Saving:
  1. THANKS.WAV - A short 2-line BASIC Program that's supposed to say "THANKS, 'JUST DESSERTS!,' but I noticed just before uploading this video that I misspelled DESSERTS as DESSETS. No program runs without an error, right?
Note: Occasionally during this video, the screen "flashes." This doesn't happen when using the software. This is a side effect of the Open Broadcaster Software that I used to make this recording. Rest assured, when you run MAME and follow these steps your screen will have none of the flashing.

The "Loading and Saving 'AstroBASIC' 'Tapes' using MAME Emulation" video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. "Loading and Saving 'AstroBASIC' 'Tapes' using MAME Emulation," by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Loading Blue Ram BASIC "Tapes" using MAME Emulation.
A Bally Arcade / Astrocade Video Tutorial.
Video created May 14, 2019 by Adam Trionfo.
Video published May 15, 2019.

This tutorial explains how to load and save Blue Ram BASIC programs in the Astrocade emulator in MAME. Specifically Blue Ram BASIC programs are loaded on the emulated Bally Arcade/Astrocade console, a game system released in January of 1978. Although the tutorial focuses on how to use MAME on a Windows system, the information in this video can probably be transferred for use by Linux and Macintosh users too.

The steps required to get the MAME emulator up and running with the system ROMs are explained in a previous tutorial called "Setting up Astrocade Emulation Using MAME:"

Loading Blue Ram BASIC "Tapes" using MAME Emulation

The main idea of this video is to get a user loading programs from "tape" (actually WAV files archived on BallyAlley.com) as quickly as possible. Anyone who has only a limited knowledge and prior-use of emulation, or has some knowledge of how to use emulation, but has never used a Bally Arcade/Astrocade console before today will benefit from this short video. After the instructions in the tutorial have been followed, any user of a Windows system that has at least version 0.209 of the MAME emulator setup can load and save software to and from "tape."

Some short examples from the following BASIC programs are provided here. Notice that in the case of AstroZap and Outpost 19, these are the improved Blue Ram BASIC versions of the original "AstroBASIC" games.

Loading:
  1. AstroZap, (Game, Blue Ram BASIC) - By George Moses. 198x. - "Astro Zap" is similar to the commercial arcade game "Space Zap" by Midway, or the Bally Arcade's own "Space Fortress" cartridge. The Blue Ram BASIC source is unknown, but the AstroBASIC version was first printed in: ARCADIAN 4, no. 9 (Jul. 06, 1982): 88.
  2. H-9 Art Program (Video Art, Blue Ram BASIC) - By Stanley Kendall. 1984. Found in Ken Lill's tape collection.
  3. Outpost 19 (Game, Blue Ram BASIC) - By WaveMakers. 1984.
  4. Viper Test Pattern (Video Art, Blue Ram BASIC, ViperSoft BASIC) - By Alternative Engineering. This was released on a tape with Viper 1 RAM Expansion, BASIC Express, The 3, no. 3 (July/August 1981): 26-27., ARCADIAN 4, no. 2 (Dec. 07, 1981): 19. - Description from The BASIC Express newsletter, "This program puts up a gorgeous ever-changing pattern on the screen. You would swear that 32 different colors are on screen at the same time."
Saving:
  1. RBRTEST.WAV - A short 2-line BASIC Program that's supposed to say "BALLYALLEY.COM" but I noticed just before uploading this video that I misspelled ALLEY as ALLY. No program runs without an error, right?
The following information about the Blue Ram RAM upgrade is from the "Bally/Astrocade Game Cartridge and Hardware FAQ," 1.82 (July 14, 2016) by Paul Thacker, Adam Trionfo and Mike White.

Blue Ram - Perkins Eng.

The Blue Ram, designed by Perkins Engineering, was the hardware peripheral that became the biggest news in the Astrocade's history in absence of the Add-on (Z-GRASS) unit. The Blue Ram plugs into the 50-pin connector on the back of the Astrocade and expands the programming capabilities of the Astrocade. Available either fully assembled or as a kit, it was originally released in June, 1980 as a 4K unit. Over the next couple of years the memory capacity increased, so several different versions exist (4K, 8K, 16K and a small handful of 32K versions). Several confirmed accessories for this unit were released, including: keyboard, printer interface, modem interface, EPROM burner and BSR controller. The Blue Ram could be switched into a mode that simulated a cartridge; several of the third-party game cartridges were programmed using this unit and either the Machine Language Manager cartridge or the Blue Ram Utility.

The "Loading Blue Ram BASIC 'Tapes' using MAME Astrocade Emulation" video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. "Loading Blue Ram BASIC 'Tapes' using MAME Astrocade Emulation," by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)
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