Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective

By Player/Missile

A retrospective of the Atari 8-bit home computer systems, the magazines that covered them, and a somewhat chronological review of games as they arrived on the platform.... more

4.6

2020 ratings

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FAQs about Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective:

How many episodes does Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective have?

The podcast currently has 45 episodes available.

Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective episodes:

October 20, 2020Ep. 24: Jul 1982: Typo Attack
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.
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
iCompute!
Compute #26
Fred D’Ignazio interview on the ANTIC Podcast
Inverse ATASCII review of LJK’s Data Perfect
Creative Computing
Creative Computing Vol 8, #7
APX Catalog
APX Summer 1982
Carol Shaw’s Calculator source code hardcopy
OCR text of calculator source
ANTIC, the Atari 8-bit podcast
Eaten by a Grue
Byte
... For 18 more links, see the show notes
...more
1h 15min
December 08, 2019Ep. 23: Jun 1982: Quarxon
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.
Introduction
Stef Animal's Bandcamp page
Stef Animal's Pico-8 game: The Spooky House
Pico-8 virtual machine (a "fantasy video game console")
XLXE Podcast
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
ANTIC
Antic Vol 1, #2
Atari Connection
Atari Connection Vol 2, #2
Byte
Byte Vol 7, #6
Full text of De Re Atari
... For 14 more links, see the show notes
...more
1h 48min
March 14, 2019Ep. 22: Special Episode: Phase 2
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.
Tech Section
Omnivore, my 8-bit reverse engineering platform
...more
6min
September 29, 2017Ep. 21: May 1982: Fujirun
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.
Introduction
KansasFest!
Richard Broadhurst's Programs
Astroblaster
Carnival
Frogger
Phoenix
Emulated hardware arcade port of Circus
Tech Section
Omnivore, the Atari 8-bit Binary Editor
Magazines
Atari 8-bit magazines
ANALOG
Analog #6
Antic Podcast Interview #214: Ron Hartman of K-Byte Software
... For 13 more links, see the show notes
...more
1h 30min
October 14, 2016Ep. 20: Apr 1982: Jumpman
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!
Introduction
KansasFest!
Chris Torrence's Softalk Apple (video) Podcast
I'm a guest on Antic Episode 33!
Atari 8 bit ads
Intellivisionaries
Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984
Article and photo of Mark Reid winning the 1983 Atari Star Award
Listener Written Programs
Wade's windowing system in Action!
MAME Cabinet
MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread)
More details on MAME cabinet
Tech Section
Omnivore, the Atari 8-bit Binary Editor
AtariAge forum post announcing Omnivore
Jumpman Level Editor for C64
... For 19 more links, see the show notes
...more
1h 44min
March 31, 2016Ep. 19: Mar 1982: Getaway!
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.
Introduction
Omnivore, the Atari 8-bit Binary Editor
Player/Missile Blog
AtariAge forum post announcing Omnivore
AtariAge forum post with Wade's new Getaway! level
Dan Boris's Atari Disk Explorer
Atari Disk Explorer on github
Feedback
San Leandro Computer Club
SLCC home page
AtariAge forum post: 1200XL Owners Club (serial tracker)
Atari Party 2016! Saturday, Jul 30, 2016
Vintage Computer Festival West, Aug 6-7, 2016
Listener Written Programs
Tom Raidna's Windows IDE & code builder for his TUI (Text User Interface)
MAME Cabinet
... For 48 more links, see the show notes
...more
2h 27min
December 09, 2015Ep. 18: Feb 1982: Flight Simulators, Part 2b
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.
Introduction
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Pictures from the AtariAge booth at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo
XEGS Cart-by-Cart Podcast
They Create Worlds Podcast
They Create Worlds Blog
Feedback
Interview with Dona Bailey, Centipede co-creator
Hidden Maze from Compute!'s First Book of Atari Games
Wikipedia article on maze generation
Bill Kendrick's maze generator web game
Bill Kendrick's printable mazes
Bill Kendrick's 10-line BASIC maze generator
San Leandro Computer Club
SLCC home page
Listener Written Programs
RetroChallenge in January!
MAME Cabinet
... For 33 more links, see the show notes
...more
2h 13min
October 19, 2015Ep. 17: Jan 1982: Shamus
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.
Introduction
Ten Pence Arcade podcast
San Leandro Computer Club
Feedback
Interview with Dona Bailey, Centipede co-creator
MAME Cabinet
MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread)
More details on MAME cabinet
Tech Section
Python program to split ATR/XFD images
My half-finished game Air Defense
Source code to Air Defense
ATasm, a Mac/65 cross assembler
2015 ABBUC Software Contest
Magazines
... For 16 more links, see the show notes
...more
2h 18min
September 01, 2015Ep. 16: Dec 1981: Flight Simulators, Part 2a
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.
Introduction
Thanks to Wade from Inverse ATASCII for the ANALOGs & Flight Simulator II
AtariAge forum thread: 2 worthy video game podcasts
Internet History Podcast By Brian McCullough
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
XEGS Cart-by-Cart Podcast
ANTIC Podcast
Feedback
The History of 8-bit Computer Games in The USA #1 : CGW Nov/Dec 1981
Sprite Castle, the C64 game review podcast with Rob O'Hara
No Quarter episode 89: Arcade Draft #1
No Quarter episode 123: Arcade Draft #2
Listener Written Programs
The Space Invaders TRS-80 'Bootleg' Project
MAME Cabinet
MAME cabinet progress (AtariAge forum thread)
More details on MAME cabinet
... For 35 more links, see the show notes
...more
2h 40min
July 31, 2015Ep. 15: Nov 1981: Reversi II
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.
Introduction
California Extreme Arcade/Pinball show July 18 & 19 2015
CA Extreme twitter
Pictures from CA Extreme
KansasFest
KansasFest
More from Rebecca Heineman: Antic Interview #64
Steve Mayer: Antic Interview #65
Mark Pilgrim's Dive Into Python
Ringtones from Atari 8-bit games
HackFest
Podcasters Summit
Retro Computing Roundtable Ep #105
Carrington Vanston from Retro Computing Roundtable
John Leake from RetroMacCast
John Linville from The CoCo Crew
Ken Gagne from Polygamer
... and also from Indiesider
Kevin Savetz from ANTIC The Atari 8-bit Podcast
Michael Mulhurn from Retro Computing Roundtable
Mike Whalen from Electric Dreams BBS Podcast
... For 43 more links, see the show notes
...more
1h 51min

FAQs about Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective:

How many episodes does Player/Missile - An Atari 8-bit Retrospective have?

The podcast currently has 45 episodes available.