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280 Zzzap / Dodgem.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published November 1, 2012.

This video is a look at a 2-for-1 cart for the Astrocade. It's 280 Zzzap / Dodgem...for the Astrocade! These games are not great! Find out just how not great by watching!

280 Zzzap is a Night Driver-style game, while Dodgem is not like the Dodgem you might've played on the Atari 2600, it is instead an overhead driving game. The goal for both games is just to go as far as possible before time runs out. One thing I neglected to mention in my neglectful review is that the collision detection isn't that precise, which makes the game easier than it could've been. You might notice in the video that the car will overlap the poles on the sides of the road in 280 Zzzap, and yet it does not crash. Miraculous fenders!

All in all, this is definitely a cartridge with two games on it.


280 Zzzap! / Dodgem.
By Bally Mfg. Corp. Cartridge #2001. 1978
Game Overview.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published June 21, 2017.

The 280 Zzzap! / Dodgem (cartridge #2001) is a 2K game released by Bally Mfg. Corp. in 1978. It was re-released three years later by Astrovision Inc. in 1981. It is part of the Action/Skills Series and was programmed for the Astrocade by Jay Fenton. The first game on the cartridge is a port of the B&W 1976 arcade game Datsun 280 Zzzap by Midway Manufacturing Co.

"Two different high-speed car races demand quick response and raw courage. Enter your racing time into the computer-- floor the accelerator-- and go for speed and distance. 280 Zzzap challenges you to hold a road filled with dangerous hairpin turns! Dodgem puts you up against other cars driven by the computer. The sharper your driving skills, the more mileage you'll get!"

280 Zzzap! / Dodgem is a relatively easy to find cartridge for the Astrocade. It probably will play best on real hardware, as it uses the knob to move your car left and right. The game can be played under MAME emulation using a mouse, but I'm not sure how well that will work.

On October 12, 2016, I spent about one day disassembling 280 Zzzap! / Dodgem. If Z80 programming interests you, then maybe you'll enjoying browsing the disassembly: The Zzzap / Dodgem video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Zzzap / Dodgem game overview, by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Artillery Duel:Type-In BASIC Program vs. Cartridge.
Game Comparison.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published January 30, 2017.

The original Bally Arcade/Astrocade BASIC version of John Perkins' Artillery Duel (first published in the May 19, 1980 issue of the Arcadian newsletter on pages 58 and 59) is compared to the 4K cartridge release of the game (part #5005) released by Astrocade Inc. as part of the Action/Skills Series in 1982.

Artillery Duel is such an outstanding game that Astrocade, Inc. reprinted it in the "AstroBASIC" manual (this is the manual that comes with the BASIC cartridge that includes the build-in interface). Both editions of the "AstroBASIC" manual's re-printing had errors which were corrected in the Arcadian newsletter.

Instructions from the "AstroBASIC" manual:

"Artillery Duel is an intriguing game submitted courtesy of the Arcadian, a monthly newsletter serving the Bally BASIC programming hobbyist and published by Bob Fabris. This program sets up a random mountain scene and adds two gun emplacements. As each player's turn is taken, he adjusts the knob for barrel elevation, moves the joystick to add or reduce the number of gunpowder bags (by whole bags sideways; by tenths back and forth). Then when ready, pull the trigger. There is gravity and a random wind. The gun recoils and fires the shell. There is an explosion when it lands. A gun is destroyed when less than half a gun remains (the repair crew can replace a gun barrel). The program uses all available space, so don't enter lines 3 and 4. Be sure to exercise the joystick to see how the variables work."

Summary of Artillery Duel cartridge:

"Square off for an exciting duel of skill and cunning as you plan and carry out the destruction of your opponent. Check the wind, make critical adjustments to barrel angle and powder charge, and fire. The final explosion leaves no doubt as to the winner. Random terrains ensure that every game is different! A fantastic party game that's absolutely addictive for two players or teams."

The Artillery Duel video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Artillery Duel:Type-In BASIC Program vs. Cartridge., by BallyAlley (archive.org)

Artillery Duel.
Game Review.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published May 19, 2012.

Do you turn based artillery games? You know the ones, where you have a cannon and your opponent has a cannon and you shoot at each other across some sort of hilly terrain? If so, then you will like Artillery Duel! On the Astrocade!

This is an early title in the artillery genre, but it is still fun and has variable wind, randomly generated terrain, and just is generally a ballistically good time.

One slight complaint with the gameplay is that you can only adjust the angle of your cannon in 5 degrees increments. That said, it's only a complaint in theory, because in practice I never feel like I have a lack of control over where my projectiles go. I guess it would just feel better psychologically to be able to adjust it in 1 degrees increments. :)

Artillery Duel has great presentation and gameplay, and is an excellent title in the Astrocade's library. Not a system seller perhaps, but if you have an Astrocade already and like this type of game, it's definitely one to keep an eye out for.


Astrocade Game Cartridge Packaging.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published April 2, 2010.

Sorry about the jumpy audio levels and general rambling blabbery in this video, just wanted to show some Astrocade game packaging. I don't have any packaging for 3rd party games, so unfortunately I can't show that. But I can show the Bally packaging! Hopefully this will be of a little bit of interest to someone somewhere. :) Just wanted to try changing it up from my standard videos.

Sorry about the video quality, too, I don't have a video camera, I just used the video capabilities of my Canon A620 still camera.


Astro Battle.
Game Review.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published January 29, 2010.

Just some gameplay footage with commentary, very bad attempts at humor and general dorkiness.

Astro Battle was originally titled as Space Invaders.


Bally BASIC Demo.
By Bally Mfg. Corp.
Functional Series. 1978. Video created BallyAlley.
Video published August 28, 2016.

This cartridge has a small (about 6") chain attached to the top-front. This cartridge was made in limited quantities and only distributed to dealers, as was also done with the Dealer Demo cartridge. The first 4K is a "crippled" version of Bally BASIC that doesn't have access to the keypad or hand controllers- except #3: all the inputs are disabled. The remaining 4K of the cartridge is a program written in BASIC

The Bally BASIC Demo video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Bally BASIC Demo, by Bally Mfg. Corp. (archive.org)

Bally Dealer Demo.
By Bally Mfg. Corp.
Functional Series. #6001. 1978.
Video created BallyAlley.
Video published August 28, 2016.

This 4KB cartridge was not sold to the general public and was only produced in limited quantities. The only public sales began in 1983 and came from ABC Hobbycraft (who acquired Astrocade's remaining inventory). The cartridge runs about two minutes and features the "built in" software of the Bally console. Written by Dick Ainsworth.

The Bally Dealer Demo video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Bally Dealer Demo, by Bally Mfg. Corp. (archive.org)

Bally Pin.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published April 8, 2011.

Bally Pin is also known as Astrocade Pinball.

Bally Pin is kind of like "pin the tail on the donkey" except it's pinball. And what a fun game! OK, it might not have the CRAAAZY sound effects and gameplay of some of the other Astrocade titles, but it's still cool. When I first played this game I actually wasn't really into it, I thought the graphics were meh and the control you had in the game was not that good.

So, I didn't play it for a while, but one day gave it another chance, and really played it this time, and amazingly, after actually putting a little effort into learning how to play it, it's a much better game! lol The control you have with the flippers is actually quite good, it's just that the flippers are pretty small, so you have to be really precise. Also, the tables are kind of tricky as well. They might not look it, but the bumpers are pretty close to the flippers, especially on the far left of the boards, so you have to be careful where you shoot.

And as a bonus for the people who read these descriptions....OK fine, this is something I meant to say in the video but somehow forgot....notice anything that happens when you hit a ball through the spinner on the right? Well, the bumpers actually shift over. No really, check it out, you can see them actually change position slightly. This is cool! Gives the fairly simple tables some variety.

All in all, Bally Pin is a game that really grew on me, and is a pretty solid little pinball game for the solid little Astrocade.


Brickyard / Clowns Review.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published March 21, 2010.

Hmmmm, two games on one cart? How bad could it be? In this case...not that bad, but not great either! Brickyard is a Breakout-style game, while Clowns is a classic bouncing clown game. Both feature fine control, but nothing that compelling. Brickyard is, for me, the more interesting game, as the ball physics (does it really have physics?) and paddle control are more developed than Breakout. But the sound and color scheme hold it back.

This isn't the best Astrocade cartridge, but it also isn't the worst. It's...decently OK. :)


Christmas Special.
by Lance F. Squire.
December 2008.
Video published to BallyAlley on April 24, 2009.

On December 23, 2008, Lance Squire left this message on the Bally Alley Yahoo discussion group, "If we've all been very good, and a little lucky, Santa may leave us something under the tree Christmas Eve. :)" On Christmas Eve, Lance then left this message, "Santa has left something in the Files area! Enjoy!" The "something" turned out to be a demo that Lance had written. The demo is a house surrounded by trees with Santa on his sleigh that is pulled through the air by three reindeer. Over the next few days Lance made some improvements to the demo.

This is 1:14 minute video of Lance Squire's homebrew cartridge Christmas Special. This video footage was published to BallyAlley on April 24, 2009. The video is a low-quality (352x240) 10.2 MPEG file. At some future Christmas, I'll capture this video in a better resolution and give an overview of this demo.

The Christmas Special video can also be viewed and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Christmas Special, by Lance Squire (archive.org)
This video was originally available here on BallyAlley.com. So as to not break many links to this video, the video is still available here. However, it's recommended that you view the video on YouTube or download it directly from Archive.org. Here is the link here on BallyAlley.com:
  1. Christmas Special (BallyAlley.com)

Color BASIC.
VHS Demonstration Footage.
Created circa 1980/1982.
Video published July 18, 2006.

This Color BASIC video is from an "Arcadian Promotional Video" VHS tape found in the Bob Fabris Collection. This excerpt is from about fifteen minutes into that 23-minute video (here's a link to that complete video on YouTube). This excerpt was uploaded to BallyAlley.com on July 18, 2006. It was originally 6:36 minutes long and 68MB in size. Lance Squire shortened this video down by about four minutes (he took out a middle portion), so now it's mostly just a quick demonstration of the Color BASIC cartridge, a "homebrew" modification of Bally BASIC. This video is a low-quality MPEG that is 2:41 minutes long and 28MB. In 2006, this video was just barely a manageable download size for many Internet users.

Comments on Color BASIC by Richard Degler from the "COLOR BASIC Manual" that he wrote in 2008/2011. That manual is available here.

"Since this 2-chip cartridge was discovered in the 'Robert Fabris collection' along with RAINBOW v.2 and the ADS Monitor V2.0 EPROMs (with the same handwriting on all their labels), along with letters and a printout of the Color Basic Demo programs taped on the Arcadian Promotional Video, we can safely conclude that Larry Hanson [...] was the author of all three of these (except that Color BASIC was a small modification of Bally BASIC written by J. Fenton - and was probably NOT the 4-color Basic Jay was working on, which became the Extended Basics).

"Color BASIC is based on the original Bally BASIC, including the 300 baud interface code, with a couple of exceptions. There are now only EIGHT lines (by 26 characters) of text available on screen. However you can set the Background Color and the Foreground Color - plus two additional colors - for each of these lines separately now! The bottom 5/13ths of the screen (as well as the border) is the same color as the top line - and hides the Basic listing. Although a smaller size is actually usable, the code runs much faster since there is no need to interlace it with (and un-interlace it from) the screen display!!"

Click here for stills from this video.

The Color BASIC VHS demonstration video can also be viewed and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Color BASIC VHS demonstration video, created by Bob Fabris/Larry Hanson (archive.org)
This video was originally available here on BallyAlley.com. So as to not break many links to this video, the video is still available here. However, it's recommended that you view the video on YouTube or download it directly from Archive.org. Here is the link here on BallyAlley.com:
  1. Color BASIC VHS demonstration video (BallyAlley.com)

Conan the Barbarian (Prototype).
aka Quest for the Orb.
By Astrocade, Inc. (Unreleased).
For the Bally Arcade/Astrocade.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video Overview created by BallyAlley.
Video published August 9, 2017.

This is a video review of the prototype game Conan the Barbarian for the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. This is an 8K prototype cartridge that never had an official release. It was to have been released by Astrovision, Inc. in about 1982 or 1983.

There is quite a bit of information known about this cartridge, which had three different names during its development: "King Arthur's Adventure," "Conan the Barbarian" and "Quest for the Orb."

Conan the Barbarian seems to have first been mentioned in a 1981 Astrocade, Inc. catalog. I have extracted the text from the Conan ad from page 30 of the catalog:

"Fearsome monsters give chase through a series of mazes as Conan, armed with his sword, battles them. Various levels allow you to play this adventure game with skills ranging from novice to professional. See how many monsters you can get."

Here is the text from an ad when the game was going to be called Quest for the Orb:

"Ancient scientists of the lost civilization Morte managed to extract the essence of the universe and fuse it into a single precise object-- the Orb. You must find the Orb, hidden in the castle's labyrinth, and return it to its owner, the White Magician.

"Demons, monsters and traps are threats along the way. Beware the powers of black magic, cursed items and other evil influence. In your aid are spells given to you by the White Magician, along with other magic items and weapons strewn along the way. Ancient treasures are hidden here also! Fare ye well, adventurer, in your quest for the Orb!"

After reading this game description, there is no doubt that this Astrocade game was meant to be based on the game Orb Quest.

The Conan the Barbarian video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Conan the Barbarian game overview, by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Cosmic Raiders.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published August 26, 2011.

Cosmic Raiders is kind of like Defender. Or at least inspired by Defender. Like Defender, it's got nice scrolling shooting action, a radar...well that's it. But that's a lot! Instead of a smart bomb, Cosmic Raiders has a shield pick-up that allows you to smash the enemies to bits just by flying into them! That is a lot of fun. A lot of cosmic fun.

I think this is the 3rd game I've "reviewed" that starts with the word 'cosmic.' Not bad.

I am terrible at this game, but it's still fun. I think the control is good, the graphics and sound are good...just a good amount of good. Actually, some of the sounds are awesome, which is not unexpected from the Astrocade and these arcade-style games.

There's not too much to this game, just shoot shoot shoot. To advance to the next stage you have to destroy a specific number of bad guys. This number increases as the game goes along. The enemies also get more plentiful, and faster.

Can you keep up with the action? You might think you can, and maybe you actually will...for a while. But not forever. You will eventually be doomed, DOOMED! But it's OK cause all you have to do is hit the reset button and play again! Good ol' video games. They always have the right answers.


Crazy Climber.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published July 24, 2011.

Crazy Climber was made by Nichibutsu, and released in the arcades in 1980. It took 31 years, but it's finally on the Astrocade! The world can finally exhale. And cheer! Cause it is a really great game.

Now, there are limitations to what can fit on a small 8K cartridge, so this version of Crazy Climber is missing many of the dangers you would face in the arcade. But that doesn't affect how awesome the game is.

You'll still have plenty to deal with as you climb your way up the four skyscrapers. Crazy Climber tests your reflexes and patience. But once you finally reach the top of the first building, and then the 2nd, and on and on, you really feel a sense of accomplishment!

Climb crazily with Crazy Climber!


Dog Patch.
Game Overview.
Released by Bally Mfg. Corp.
1980.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published January 31, 2017.

Dog Patch, a 2K cartridge, originally was released for the Bally Arcade / Astrocade in 1980 by Bally Mfg. Corp. This was the last cartridge released by Bally. This game is part #2010 and is part of the Action/Skills Series. In 1981, Astrovision, Inc. re-released this game. This is a home port of the 1978 B&W arcade game by Midway Manufacturing Co.

Overview from the Astrocade release of the Dog Patch manual:

"A real down-home skeet shoot! the target spins through the air as you raise your shotgun and fire. Good shooting keeps the target bouncing between the players. An explosive 12-guage juggling act builds a big score! Blast the target past your opponent to score points. Play long or short games and vary the number of targets. 1 or 2 players."

The Dog Patch video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Dog Patch, by released by Bally Mfg. Corp. (archive.org)

Galactic Invasion.
Captured Video Compared to TV screen.
Astrovision, Inc.
Action/Skills Series. #2011. 1981.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published April 22, 2017.

This is the Astrocade game Galactic Invasion. The video was shot using my Canon Powershot SX60 HS on a tripod. I did this to show the difference between video captured directly from the Astrocade or played under emulation and compared it to what you actually see on the TV screen. If this video were captured directly, then you'd see the overscan area, which isn't visible here.

The Galactic Invasion comparison video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Galactic Invasion Comparison, by BallyAlley. (archive.org)

Galactic Invasion.
Game Overview.
Astrovision, Inc.
Action/Skills Series. #2011. 1981.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published March 16, 2010.

Yeah! A great arcade game for the Astrocade! Galactic Invasion is a nice version of Galaxian. Of course, it's on the Astrocade, so there's a lot fewer bad guys, and it's really low-res, but despite one flaw (what could it be?) it's an exciting game with great graphics and incredible sound.

Summary of Galactic Invasion from the game's manual: "Alien ships come at your missile launcher from every direction. They peel off from their formation singly or in groups of two or threes. The more aliens you destroy, the more of their reinforcements attack. Each ship is piloted by a highly skilled captain capable of maneuvering with incredible agility. Realistic sounds add to the intensity!"


Grand Prix / Demolition Derby.
By Astrocade, Inc.
Game Overview.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published August 20, 2017.

Grand Prix / Demolition Derby is a 4KB cartridge released by Astrocade Inc. in 1981. It is cartridge #2014 and is part of the Action/Skills Series. There is a label variation called simply Grand Prix. These two games were programmed by Bob Ogden and Rickey Spiece. Scot L. Norris did the audio for this game.

Grand Prix/Demolition Derby is a very common cartridge, but if you don't have it, then it is included on every multicart that has been released for the Astrocade over the years. Neither of the main games on this cartridge requires the knob, so both games play fine using the MAME Astrocade emulator.

According to a letter sent to the Arcadian in January of 1979 by Glenn Pogue, the Grand Prix / Demolition Derby cartridge was supposed to be released by Bally on March 16, 1979, but I don't think that there is a Bally release of this game.

Here is the description of the game from the manual's cover:

"Four challenging courses in race car driving excitement! Jockey for position at Le Mans or go for broke on a dangerous Rally track! There's a constant trade-off between speed and maneuverability! Varying skill levels upgrade the challenge and the fun. Here is all the excitement of formula-style racing! The competition gets hotter as players improve their skills! 1 or 2 players."

Though the manual says that there are four courses, there are only three of them. Also, this game isn't limited to just two players, as from 1 to 4 players can play both games on this cartridge.

Someday, I'd like to try a four-player game of Grand Prix/Demolition Derby at a large gaming get-together. I bet this game would be sure to please the crowd!

The video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Grand Prix / Demolition Derby, Overview by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Incredible Wizard, The.
Game Review.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published August 19, 2010.

Astrocade to the rescue! To the rescue? Of what? I don't know. Maybe rescuing you from boredom! Anyway, this game is The Incredible Wizard, which is actually just Wizard of Wor! This is a wonderful version with sharp graphics and while it's missing a couple things, the sound is rich and powerful and just GREAT. All this is just my opinion of course. But check it out, see if you agree or not! :)


Incredible Wizard, The.
Game Footage.
Released by Astrocade Inc.
Action / Skills Series. #2017. 1982.
Written by Scot L. Noris, Thomas McHugh, and Julie Malan.
Video created BallyAlley.
Video published October 25, 2016.

The Incredible Wizard, an 8KB cartridge, is a port of the arcade game Wizard of Wor.

"Challenge the Incredible Wizard and his creatures in their own environment: treacherous dungeons! Slip through the magic door to the other side of the dungeon, but prevent the super monster from escaping through it. Shoot the Incredible Wizard and experience the tremor of the entire dungeon as his magic wavers. Become a Worlord and play Worlord Dungeons-- even go all the way to the PIT. Fantastic sounds and bonus plays make the Incredible Wizard just like coin-op games!"

This recording of The Incredible Wizard was originally created on a Bally Arcade/Astrocade. The RF output of the Astrocade was run into an Ambery Coax to composite demodulator model RFDM2. The output of the demodulator was run into the MyGica HP Cap X. The device does not allow any video settings to be made. The interference that happens continuously throughout the video is in the original file and did not occur after the upload to YouTube. I had hoped that someone could tell me that there were some adjustments to be made to this MyGica device, but noone was able to help me fix the issue I was having. In December of 2017, I replaced the MyGiga capture device with the much better Framemeister XRGB-Mini.

The Incredible Wizard video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. The Incredible Wizard, by Astrocade Inc. (archive.org)

Ms. Candyman.
By L&M Software (Andy Guevara).
Video Overview.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published June 20, 2017.

Ms. Candyman is a 4K cartridge released by L&M Software in 1983. It was programmed by Andy Guevara. Ms. Candyman is the sequel to 1983's Candy Man, which was released on tape.

This is the description of the game from an advertisement: "Real arcade action with joysticks, 1 or 2 players and 3 levels of difficulty. More than 20 screens, each faster than the one before. Full screen display in exquisite detail. Ms. Candyman must pick up all of the lifesavers as quickly as possible while avoiding contact with the Ghosts & Goblins. During the first half of a screen the Ghosts or Goblins will try to catch you. During the 2nd half of a screen the Ghosts or Goblins will take up protective positions to keep you away from the life savers. Each contact costs Ms. Candyman one life and she will nose-dive head first off the bottom of the play field. A wrecker or ambulance will carry her off."

The Ms. Candyman video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Ms. Candyman video overview, by Adam trionfo (archive.org)

Muncher.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published May 15, 2010.

Whoo! The Astrocade does it again! This time, a very nice conversion of Pac-Man! It lacks the official license, and while it of course isn't totally accurate to the arcade, it is much much closer than the Atari 2600 version! This game looks and controls very well. The sound effect are kind of jarring, but they are OK as well.

Waka waka waka waka waka!


Raster Test.
By "Sdw."
Home Program. 2018.
For the Bally Arcade/Astrocade.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published July 20, 2018.

Raster.bin test, by "Sdw," for Bally Arcade/Astrocade. The video compares the raster.bin program running in MAME 0.2.0.0 against the program running on real hardware from an EPROM cartridge.

This is a machine language program running as a cartridge. "Sdw" wrote this program just a day or two after hearing about the Astrocade. Not a bad beginning, right?!?

When "Sdw" sent me this program, he gave me these comments:

"My conclusion so far is that MESS probably does per-line updates of the graphics, so that means that you can probably count on it to check for tearing caused by mid-frame graphics update, but it is not accurate enough to do things like cycle-timed rasterbars.

"I did make a test with rasterbars, since I couldn't find any info on exactly how many t-states per line the Z80 is running in the Astrocade, I had to time it by eye and on a per-line based emulator it's probably a far from accurate.

"Do you have a flash-cart available so you can quickly test a .bin file? Or do you have to write it manually to EEPROMs? Anyway, if you have a quick way of testing, I'd be interested on what output the following .bin produces.

"It should produce a nice raster image with some colorful bars on the top half of the screen, and alternating black-and-white lines on the bottom half, all stable.

"I strongly suspect though that the timing I've guessed from running in MESS is off, and that you get bars that are not perfect straight lines, but broken, and probably non-stable timing meaning they kind of move around as well."

I hope "Sdw" found this video helpful. It's always fun trying new homebrew software, especially tests like this one which try to push the boundaries of what can be one of the Astrocade hardware.

The Raster Test video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Raster Test Overview, by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Sneaky Snake.
By New Image.
Game Overview.
Released in 1983.
Video filmed with Canon Powershot SX60 HS camera.
Video created by BallyAlley.
Video published April 30, 2017.

Sneaky Snake, a game based on Centipede, is a 4K machine language cartridge released by New Image in 1983. It is one of the few homebrew cartridge games that was created on its host console (i.e. not a computer system-- unless the Astrocade is a computer-- is it?!?). It was programmed on an Astrocade by Dave Ibach and assembled using the General Video Assembler, a Z80 assembler released on tape in 1982 for an Astrocade with at least 4K of expansion memory (such as the Blue Ram or Viper). Even the EPROMs used in the cartridge were created using an EPROM burner hooked up to an Astrocade!

Sneaky Snake may be the hardest to find cartridge on the Astrocade system. Either that, or ICBM Attack. Luckily, Sneaky Snake is included on (I think) all of the various releases of the multicarts for the Astrocade. Plus, it plays just fine under the Astrocade emulation included in MAME.

In the Bally/Astrocade Game Cartridge and Hardware FAQ, Michael White says that Sneaky Snake was released on September 24, 1983 at the Astrobash. Some versions of this cartridge have the label glued or taped over an original Bally MFG. CORP. label because Sneaky Snake used salvaged cartridge cases.

The Sneaky Snake video can also be watched and/or downloaded from the Internet Archive:
  1. Sneaky Snake game overview, by Adam Trionfo (archive.org)

Solar Conqueror.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published March 11, 2011.

Conquer the solar system! Actually, lots of solar systems! There's some unkind dudes with a DEATH RAY ready to destroy your planet! So of course, you have to conquer them! And their solar systems! The Astrocade has the power!!!!!!!

This is another fine game for the Bally. It kind of looks like Asteroids, but feels like Geometry Wars -- it's way ahead of its time! Or Geometry Wars is living in the past! Probably both! -- has a little Yars' Revenge going on if you squint real hard, it's got it all!

This game features smoooooooth control, some cool graphics where every enemy features multiple colors and nice animation, and of course, AWESOME Astrocade sound effects. I don't get tired of these. Turn up the volume when you play this game and conquer!!!

YELLING!!!!!

But really, this is a good game. In my opinion. :)


Space Fortress.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published March 17, 2010.

Another great arcade conversion for the Astrocade! Bring the frantic excitement of Space Zap to your home! Just make sure to call it Space Fortress. This is a simple fast-reflexes kind of game. Check out the Space Zap page at KLOV to see how the arcade original looked: I actually played this in the arcade as a kid. I remember finding it towards the back of the arcade, in that dimly lit area where the older machines went to die. Poor thing. :) It was a lot of fun to play just a simple game that relied totally on fast reflexes. You could get a good work out on that thing!

My memory is that it was a monochrome game. But on KLOV it says while it was black & white, there was a color overlay. Most likely my memory is faulty, but maybe it's possible the overlay had been removed somewhere along the way. Either way, it was a fun game, and it's nice to place a version at home, although it was more fun to smash the large buttons of the arcade machine.

Too bad Bally never released a home Space Zap controller. :)


Treasure Cove.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published August 21, 2010.

Rescue the treasure of a sunken Spanish galleon in the safety of your home! Only the Astrocade has the power to make it happen!


War.
Video created by Nice and Games.
Video published November 10, 2010.

The first Astrocade cartridge release since the mid-80s, War is an excellent looking and playing version of the arcade classic Warlords! This game plays great, and has excellent computer AI, so the single-player experience is awesome, for those times when you can't get a few people to play some Astrocade with you. :) It all comes in a really nice looking DVD case with great artwork, manual, and liner notes. Awesome stuff!

As always, check out www.ballyalley.com for all your Astrocade needs!

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