Episode Guide¶
8-BIT VS 5200 PART 2: Q1 1983
01:57:19 53.7 MB Production date: 04/29/22
5200 coverage in magazines from January through March 1983. Plus a special bonus look at a NY Times article about Warner's stunning December 1982 earnings shortfall caused by Atari's massive financial loss.
1982¶
DEC 1982: MAGAZINES, PART 3
01:29:46 41.1 MB Production date: 03/31/22
Coverage of a few magazines I missed last time. Live plays of two games, tips to speed up disk drive I/O, and articles on how automation has changed TV and film production.
DEC 1982: MAGAZINES, PART 2
01:57:18 53.7 MB Production date: 12/10/21
Coverage of Atari Connection, APX, Byte, C&VG, Micro, Softside, Page 6 & Atari I/O for Dec 1982. Another Chris Crawford article on game design, a review of Steve Wozniak’s US Festival, and will Forth become the official language of the podcast?
DEC 1982: MAGAZINES, PART 1
01:48:44 49.8 MB Production date: 11/19/21
Coverage of Antic, Compute!, Creative Computing, Dec 1982. Chris Crawford on Legionnaire, first rumors of the IBM PCjr, and two articles predicting the future: Compute! does OK while Creative Computing gets a bunch of whammies. Also: Bullwinkle’s restaurant, sexism and mansplaining about whether educational software should ask kids their gender, and Bahrain doctors, video games & epilepsy.
8-BIT VS 5200 PART 1: 1982
01:50:41 50.7 MB Production date: 10/20/21
In a special multi-part series comparing the 8-bit computers to the 5200 console, this first episode focuses on 1982. Scanning the regular magazines for mentions of the 5200, I also scour other magazines for both 8-bit and 5200 coverage. Only in this special series will you hear article summaries from these periodicals: Electronic Games, JoyStik, Video Games, Video Games Player and Atari Age Magazine.
NOV 1982: BYTE, CVG, CGW, MICRO, SOFTLINE, SOFTSIDE
01:29:14 40.8 MB Production date: 06/02/21
Coverage of the remaining magazines for Nov 1982.
NOV 1982: ANALOG, COMPUTE!, CREATIVE COMPUTING
01:13:15 33.5 MB Production date: 05/07/21
Format experiment: splitting magazine coverage across two episodes and separating game reviews to their own episodes.
OCT 1982: WORM WAR I
01:59:38 54.8 MB Production date: 04/17/21
A friend gets his first game published in Computers & Video Games! 6 other magazines this episode, and I try to dissect my first kernel game, Worm War I. Or is it 1? It’s a super important distinction.
SEP 1982: DELUXE INVADERS
02:34:15 70.6 MB Production date: 02/20/21
Strap yourselves in for coverage of 11 magazine issues including a tiny bit on the large magazine Byte -- there’s an article on Star Raiders strategies that I can’t pass up. Game review is of Deluxe Invaders, which is a high quality Space Invaders clone. Oh, and there’s a discussion of a game called Hazard Run and its ties to a bad TV show and a worse flag.
AUG 1982: REAR GUARD
02:37:52 72.3 MB Production date: 11/09/20
Adding a new magazine to the coverage: Softline, a games-focused magazine published by the people responsible for Softalk. Also a review of Rear Guard, a game that’s appeared in full-page color ads for many months in magazines.
JUL 1982: TYPO ATTACK
01:14:42 34.2 MB Production date: 10/20/20
Just a regular ol’ episode talking about magazines, learning typing during the pandemic, and if we’ve finally seen the end of creepy William Shatner ads for the VIC-20.
JUN 1982: QUARXON
01:47:50 49.4 MB Production date: 12/08/19
Phase 2 begins with the usual magazine coverage and a review of Quarxon, a two-player shoot-each-other game with prominent use of Display List Interrupts. In the tech section, I use Omnivore to discover how these DLIs work.
SPECIAL EPISODE: PHASE 2
00:05:47 5.3 MB Production date: 03/14/19
Introducing Phase 2 of the Player/Missile extended podcastimatic universe. The magazine coverage will stay the same, but instead of a typical game review, I will focus on reverse engineering to discover interesting game programming techniques used by the authors of these classic games. I intend it to be a tutorial on the use of Omnivore, the desktop application I've designed that includes many reverse engineering tools, including a built-in emulator and debugger.
MAY 1982: FUJIRUN
01:29:18 40.9 MB Production date: 09/29/17
The hiatus is over. With my new slimmed-down post-production, I now plan to get back to regular episodes. For this one, it's the usual magazine coverage and some talk about the retro-computing projects I've been doing in the last year.
APR 1982: JUMPMAN
01:43:28 47.4 MB Production date: 10/14/16
The culmination of the first "season" of the Player/Missile podcast is a review of my favorite game and the announcement of the project undertaken by Kevin Savetz and myself to reverse engineer the game. We're sponsoring a level design contest, and there's still time to enter! Oh, and I'm taking a hiatus until I can collect the physical magazines. You can help out with your contributions!
MAR 1982: GETAWAY!
02:26:50 67.2 MB Production date: 03/31/16
Game review of Getaway! and interview with the author Mark Reid. The program won the Atari Star Award and the $25,000 prize in 1983. I also introduce Omnivore, the 8-bit binary editor that I've been working on during the hiatus. Kevin Savetz has a guest review of the APX Spring Catalog, and we add a new section to the podcast, the countdown to the Tramiel takeover.
FEB 1982: FLIGHT SIMULATORS, PART 2B
02:12:19 60.6 MB Production date: 12/09/15
Part 2b of the flight simulator roundup with Chris Olson, reviewing helicopter sims and the all-time classic F-15 Strike Eagle. Plus: an update on speeding up Star Raiders.
JAN 1982: SHAMUS
02:17:42 63.0 MB Production date: 10/19/15
The universe of games really begins to expand in 1982. From here on out we'll have a huge selection of choices to talk about, and Shamus by Cathryn Mataga leads us off. Also, an interview with Michael Portuesi who is both a published author in Compute!'s books and a listener to the podcast.
1981¶
DEC 1981: FLIGHT SIMULATORS, PART 2A
02:39:54 73.2 MB Production date: 09/01/15
The first half of the military flight simulator roundup with Chris Olson. I've included a bonus tech section at the end discussing a clever display list technique used by the MicroProse sims. Guest reviews: Michael Glaser of the XEGS Cart-by-Cart podcast covers SoftSide and Kevin Savetz summarizes the APX Winter 1981 Catalog.
NOV 1981: REVERSI II
01:50:17 50.5 MB Production date: 07/31/15
Two new magazines for the coverage: Computer Gaming World and my first magazine from the UK: Computer & Video Games, and two guest reviewers of magazines. An overview of KansasFest from the Atari point of view, and a review of the APX game Reversi II.
SPECIAL EPISODE: GAME DRAFT #1
01:34:37 43.3 MB Production date: 06/25/15
Jack Nutting of the Retro Computing Roundtable, Victor Marland of Ten Pence Arcade, Wade Ripkowski of Inverse Atascii and Kevin Savetz of ANTIC join me for a 5 round draft of Atari 8-bit games.
OCT 1981: MISSILE COMMAND
01:47:43 49.3 MB Production date: 06/02/15
Summary of Bill Kendrick's Atari Party 2015 and review of the excellent port of Missile Command. In magazine coverage, I've added MICRO: The 6502/6809 Journal, and new contributor Michael Glaser takes over SoftSide Magazine.
SEP 1981: FLIGHT SIMULATORS, PART 1
02:10:26 59.7 MB Production date: 05/04/15
Flight simulator roundup where Chris Olson and I review 5 noteworthy civilian aircraft sims on the 8-bits (military sims will be the subject of part 2). Also added Byte to the magazine to the coverage due to the serializiaton of De Re Atari.
AUG 1981: INTERVIEW WITH JAMES HAGUE
01:49:34 50.2 MB Production date: 04/10/15
Interview episode with game developer James Hague who was published in ANALOG and Antic magazines, is the author of Halcyon Days & maintainer of the Giant List of Classic Video Game Programmers. Atari Party 2015 is just around the corner!
JUL 1981: INTERVIEW WITH CHUCK BUECHE
01:29:56 41.2 MB Production date: 03/20/15
Interview episode with Chuck Bueche, tech section on Star Raiders and the Atari 8-bit executable format, guest magazine coverage of Softalk, and the Atari Party: Davis CA, May 2, 2015!
JUN 1981: INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL CURRENT
01:38:41 45.2 MB Production date: 03/03/15
Interview episode with Michael Current, maintainer of the Atari 8-bit FAQ and the Atari History Timeline; also covering the magazines from June 1981. Tech section on building Star Raiders, MAME cabinet update, and the Atari Party: Davis CA, May 2, 2015!
MAY 1981: EASTERN FRONT (1941)
01:00:14 27.6 MB Production date: 02/14/15
Magazines from May 1981 and a review of Eastern Front (1941) by Chris Crawford, and the triumphant reinstatement of the tech section of the podcast because I've found a manageable topic. Also, info about the Atari Party 2015 which I will attend and give away a Raspberry Pi.
APR 1981: GEM DROP (HOMEBREW)
01:24:56 38.9 MB Production date: 01/08/15
Magazine coverage for April 1981 but jump ahead in time to cover our first homebrew game, Gem Drop by Bill Kendrick. Bill also invented one of the first software-driven graphics modes, called Super IRG, and we have an interview with him to talk about it.
MAR 1981: SABOTAGE
01:35:11 43.6 MB Production date: 11/23/14
In addition to the usual magazine coverage for March 1981, we look at the Apple ][ game Sabotage, converted to run on the Atari. I talk with Paul Hagstrom to get background knowledge on the Apple hardware, and get the inside story on the Sabotage conversion by the guy who did it, AtariAge user Shamus.
FEB 1981: JAWBREAKER
01:06:26 30.4 MB Production date: 11/07/14
This episode reviews the game Jawbreaker by John Harris and covers the February 1981 magazines Compute #9, Creative Computing Vol 7 #2, and introduces coverage of SoftSide Magazine. Anacronisticly included is coverage of my trip to the Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2014.
JAN 1981: CAVERNS OF MARS
01:45:16 48.2 MB Production date: 10/12/14
Welcome to January, 1981! Finally going month-by-month, Episode 4 includes the first ANALOG issue, Compute #8 and Creative Computing Vol 7 #1 and a review the game Caverns of Mars published first by APX then by Atari itself. And in my first interview, I talk with with Mike DesChenes, the co-founder of ANALOG Computing!
1980¶
1980, PART 2: SPACE INVADERS
01:04:14 29.4 MB Production date: 09/17/14
Finishing off 1980, Episode 3 includes coverage of the remaining 6 months of Creative Computing and Compute magazines, and a review of the game Space Invaders published by Atari.
1980, PART 1: SUPER BREAKOUT
00:45:19 20.7 MB Production date: 08/27/14
Welcome to 1980! Episode 2 includes coverage of the Creative Computing and Compute! magazines through the first half of 1980 and a review of the game Super Breakout by Atari.
1979¶
1979: STAR RAIDERS
01:05:40 30.1 MB Production date: 08/03/14
Welcome to 1979! Episode 1 includes a brief summary of the technical specifications of the Atari 400 & 800 that were first released at the end of the year, discussion of Creative Computing issues starting from April and the very first Compute! magazine, and a review of a game original to the Atari 8- bits and destined to become an all-time classic game: Star Raiders.
Introduction¶
INTRODUCTION
00:29:04 13.3 MB Production date: 07/15/14
In the inaugural episode of Player/Missile, I introduce myself, talk about my background with the Atari 8-bit systems, what the podcast will be about and what it won't be about, and describe the format of the subsequent episodes.
Game Review Possibilites¶
1982¶
Miner 2049er (DLIs, reuse players)
Fort Apocalypse (scrolling, DLIs)
Alley Cat (reuse players)
Choplifter (straight Apple ][+ port)
Preppie! (how do the enemies move?)
Nautilus (multiple scrolling areas, DLI for title screen)
Astro Chase
Galahad and the Holy Grail
Floyd of the Jungle
Shadow World (uses ANTIC mode 5 for many enemies)
Qix (8-bit 8k vs 5200 16k version)
Centipede (8-bit 8k vs 5200 16k version, ANTIC mode 5)
Air-Raid (APX) (simple scrolling game, multiple horizontally positioned enemies
1983¶
M.U.L.E.
Livewire!
Mountain King
Caverns of Khafka
Orc Attack
Neuromancer
Quarxon
Zeppelin
Murder on the Zinderneuf
Blue Max
Monster Smash!
Lode Runner
Archon
Rally Speedway
River Rescue
Pole Position
1984¶
Boulder Dash
Bruce Lee
Zenji
Zone Ranger
Pastfinder
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Bacterion!
Seven Cities of Gold
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
Spelunker
Decathlon
Gyruss
1985¶
Star Raiders II
Rescue on Fractalus!
Ballblazer
Hardball!
The Great American Cross-Country Road Race
Elektra Glide
The Goonies
