| This page was updated on: Monday, July 10, 2000 |
High Score Cartridge
for the Atari 7800
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Can you believe this?
A brand new product for the Atari 7800 has been released.
Let's start off this review with a quick history lesson. Back in 1984, Atari had a number of expansion peripherals on the drawing board that would enhance and grow the Atari 7800 ProSystem into a powerhouse gaming & computing device. It was planned that the 7800 would evolve into a video gaming system that had features never before seen in home consoles. One of the planned peripherals was a "High Score Cartridge" that would be capable of saving the top five scores for each Atari 7800 video game.
Atari was sold to Tramiel Technologies Limited in the Summer of 1984 and manufacturing of the Atari 7800 came to a screeching halt after a short 1 month production run. In that time, roughly five thousand Atari 7800 systems had been manufactured at Atari's El Paso assembly lines. Those 7800 systems sat on the warehouse shelves for nearly 2 years until the Summer of 1986. At that time, Atari Corporation finally decided to unleash the 7800 systems to the hungry consumers. However all of the peripherals and enhancements that were planned, including the High Score Cartridge, were canceled and never released to the public.
Flash forward to the Summer of 1999. Curt Vendel of the Atari Historical Society teamed up with Gary Rubio, a former Atari Consumer Electronics Division engineer that worked extensively on the Atari 7800 project. Gary & Curt started to toy around with the idea of resurrecting some of the Atari 7800’s lost glory. Gary still had the original High Score Cartridge ROM code was developed by GCC. Gary & Curt's idea was to utilize the original code that Gary still had in his possession along with some of Curt's electronic knowledge to design and build the Atari 7800 High Score cartridges. After almost one year of work, the fans of the 7800 can finally get a taste of one of the canceled peripheral devices for the 7800.
Now that we have the history out on the table, let's look at the
cartridge itself. It ships in a clear plastic bag with a piece of cardboard at the
top that has been folded over and stapled to seal the bag. It certainly isn't the
most impressive looking way to ship a cartridge, but there is some "retro" feel
to this type of packaging. I remember buying programs for my Atari 800 computer in
1980, and it was not uncommon to see packaging like this. In fact, many of the early
programs for Apple/Atari/Commodore computers were shipped using the same type of
packaging. The foremost example of this style of packaging would be the early
"Adventure" games from Scott Adams.
Inside of the bag is a 7800 High Score Cartridge, a lithium battery, and a manual. The serial number of the cartridge is written on the plastic bag, and on the PCB inside the cartridge.
The cartridge looks just like any other 7800 cartridge, except there is a large female edge-card connector at the top. The cartridge is a "piggy-back" type device. You insert the High Score Cartridge into your 7800, and then plug the 7800 game on top of the High Score Cartridge. If you own an Atari 5200 with the 2600 compatibility module, then you already know what I am talking about.
In March of 2000, when I was first shown some photos of the prototype High Score Cartridges, I was concerned about the edge-card connector on the top of the cartridge. From the photos, it looked extremely flimsy, and I was worried that it would be extremely easy to break this connector right off of the cartridge. I am pleased to say that my concern was proven wrong. The edge-card connector is very strong, and I would be suprised if it ever gets damaged.
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Before you can get started, you must install the battery. That's right: the 7800 High Score Cartridge requires a 3 volt lithium disc battery. The battery is included with the package, and it provides power to the internal 16K of Static RAM that will retain your high scores when the 7800 High Score Cartridge has been removed from the 7800 game console. Installing the battery involves opening up the cartridge, and inserting the disc battery into the open slot on the PCB. It is pretty simple to do, and should take less than a minute to complete the job.
I do not have any information on how long the battery will power the cartridge & save the scores. Luckily, when the battery is getting low, there is a way to change it out, and not lose your scores and settings.
Once the battery is installed, plug the High Score Cartridge into your 7800, and turn it on. When these cartridges are powered up for the first time, you are prompted to "personalize" the cartridge. You are allowed to enter your name, or a short phrase to show that the cartridge is yours. Use your joystick to highlight the letters you wish to use, and hit the fire button to select them.
If you want to change your name or phrase at a later time, you can do so by entering the maintenance mode. Maintenance mode is also used for score management, and deleting old scores.
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Now we are ready to try the High Score Cartridge with a few 7800 games like Joust, Dig-Dug, and Galaga. Power off the 7800, and insert a game cartridge in the edge connector on top of the High Score Cartridge, and turn the 7800 back on again. Joust was the first game I tried, and initially, everything looks the same. So, I played a game, and after the game was over, I was prompted to enter my initials into the high score table. Entering my initials next to my score was just like a coin-op arcade game. You use the joystick to highlight letters, and the fire button to select them.
Once I entered my initials with my score, the game went back to the "attract" mode. The Joust logo was on the screen, and then the game went into it's usual demonstration. However, now that I have the High Score Cartridge installed, the high scores for Joust come up during the "attract" mode just like a coin-op arcade game.
So, I turned off power to the 7800, and walked away for a few minutes. When I came back and turned the 7800 back on again, the High Score Cartridge retained the score I had just entered. As I mentioned above, I don't have any idea how long the battery in this unit will last. I would suspect several months or possibly even a year, but I have no way of proving that without more testing.
Next, I tried Dig-Dug, and the exact same thing happened. I was prompted for my initials at the end of the game, and the score would show up during the "attract" mode.
When I tried Xevious, it even played some music while I entered my initials. That was a very nice touch, and gave the High Score Cartridge an added "arcade" feel.
I also tried Centipede, Food Fight, & Robotron: 2084. It worked fantastic. I was really pleased with this cartridge, and I looked forward to testing it with more games.
Then, I tried Donkey Kong, and Donkey Kong Junior. They didn't work at all. Neither did Tower Toppler, RealSports Baseball, Desert Falcon, Hat Trick, and many other 7800 titles.
I guess the big question at this point has to do with
compatibility. Does the 7800 High Score Cartridge work with all 7800 game
cartridges? Sadly, the answer is no. If the game cartridge itself does not
contain the code necessary to work with the High Score Cartridge, then the High Score
Cartridge cannot store the scores. Only nine games are known to have the code needed
to function with the High Score cartridge. Those games are:
The games listed above are nine of the original ten games that Atari developed for the 7800 back in 1984. All of the other games for the 7800 may not have the code to function with the High Score Cartridge. Atari did not include it in later games because they had scrapped the High Score Cartridge project. There may be other games that might work with the High Score Cartridge, but the titles listed above are the only nine games that are known to be compatible.
It is interesting to note that Pole Position II (CX7808) is the only game of the original 10 titles for the 7800 that does NOT work with the High Score Cartridge. There are two variations of this cartridge -- one with a black & white label, and one with a gray label. I tested both variations with the High Score Cartridge, and neither one of them would work properly.
7800 High
Score Cartridge Back In Time |
Conclusion:
The usefulness of the 7800 High Score cartridge is limited by the quantity of games that support saving scores. This problem is due to the short-sightedness of Atari's management back in the 80's, and not the High Score Cartridge itself.
Having said that, the 7800 High Score Cartridge functions extremely well with the games that are supported, which are some of the most popular titles available for the system. I detected no problems whatsoever during my testing, and I was very pleased with the performance of this unit. As someone who still uses his 7800 on a regular basis, I consider the cartridge to be well worth the $60 price tag despite the limited compatibility.
On the negative side, I was not happy at all with the user manual, and that did bring the final "Back In Time Rating" down by ten points. The manual did have most of the appropriate information, but it had a "hurried" feel to it. In fact, the manual looks as if it was quickly thrown together at the last minute, with little or no consideration for appearance. There were a TON of spelling mistakes, along with some significant errors in grammar. I also would have liked to have seen some photos to go along with the instructions for disassembling the cartridge & changing the battery. Like I said above, I had no trouble taking the cartridge apart, but I'm sure that not everyone will have the same experience I did. There is only one photo in the manual, and having some additional photos & screen captures could have made the manual easier to understand.
There is one issue to remember about the High Score Cartridge. I have been informed that you should NOT leave your 7800 High Score cartridge plugged into the Atari 7800 ProSystem console when it is not in use. Supposedly, this will quickly drain the battery in the High Score Cartridge, which will cause the loss of your personalization settings, and your high scores. The battery powers several of the bus lines on the High Score Cartridge, which eventually tie into the static RAM that is used for storing the scores. If the High Score Cartridge is plugged into a 7800 that is not turned on, the power will eventually make it's way into the main bus of the 7800 motherboard...hence the power drain.
The 7800 High Score
Cartridges can be purchased
from B&C ComputerVisions and Video61.
For more information, visit the
Atari Historical Society web site
