If you have been to any Atari 7800 web page and read the Webmeister’s system overview, you’ve seen it before: Doom and Gloom. Waxing Poetic. Longing for the CGI-rendered shadow lands out a tear-stained window. Phooey. All articles opine about the inauspicious start to the Prosystem’s life cycle. And… like everyone else’s page, you can read my take on that in a second. But nowadays, the 7800 running a race starting on its left foot in 1984 doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all about THE SCENE, man, THE SCENE. The Atari 7800’s game library is being fleshed out nicely by a middle-aged army of incredible hobby programmers, making what the cool kids call: Homebrews. Check my top 10 list. No, seriously, check it. I DARE YOU. There’s hardly room for Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede anymore. The library has almost tripled in size, largely thanks to competent homebrew games, hacks, prototype discoveries, and bug fixes that make the middle 1980’s Atari programmers look like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. Don’t take my word for it, take a look at these screens. Some games even look like ugly Genesis games. It’s uncanny. Also! More cool nerds are making peripherals, hardware, save keys, new controllers, camecarts, etc. It truly is the best time to be a 7800 fan… read more >
