A Real Computer? Exploring the Bally Computer System aka Astrocade
Вставка
- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- I was surprised to see the fairly obscure Bally Home Computer System video game console listed as a home computer in the 1979 Popular Science Buyer's Guide. Is it really a legitimate computing platform? Known by many names, including the Professional Arcade, and the Bally Astrocade, we explore the system both as a video game console, and by attempting to program the famous 10 PRINT using its Astro BASIC videocade cassette cartridge.
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: / 8bitshowandtell
One-time donation: paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: / @8-bitshowandtell247
1979 Home Computer Buyer's Guide: • 1979 Home Computer Buy...
End credits music is "Mind Virus" from the album "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs: A Soundtrack" by Bedford Level Experiment: bedfordlevelexperiment.bandca...
Resources / Further Reading on Bally:
8bitworkshop.com/blog/platfor...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bally_A...
ballyalley.com
Index:
0:00 The many names of Bally's console: some history
2:35 A real home computer? BASIC, newsletters, 3rd party
5:48 Videocades, cassettes, cartridges?
8:39 A tour around the system: keypad, ports, expansion
11:29 Specifications + product number
13:13 Controllers + Gunfight + Checkmate
17:26 Calculator + Scribbling
19:07 Space Invaders / Astro Battle 2009
22:05 10 PRINT in Astro BASIC?
28:30 Conclusion: great manual!
30:27 Thanks! - Наука та технологія
Considering the ubiquitous Atari 2600 controller of a single four axis stick with one red fire button, the fact that this Bally controller gives you full X and Y movement control plus a rotational at the same time - IN 1978!! - is beyond impressive and shows great vision too.
Indeed, they were way ahead of the times like their game names xxx 2009/2018/3002. lol
Yes but in reality, it was more tiring to constantly be squeezing the trigger versus tapping on a button.
You think that's impressive? Look at the Fairchild Channel F's controller.
I think they did an amazingly good job with the input system given the limited keypad. Changing the screen background to indicate shift mode was clever.
I thought the same thing! They really seemed to pay attention to detail!
Considering they were an arcade machine makers, they were ahead of the times compared to the other guys.
I had programs published in the Arcadian. It actually worked just fine. There was a 48K expansion you could buy (I did) which you had to assemble using wirewrap and other tech of the time. The only issue I had was the controllers would eventually die. The potentiometers would fail and it became impossible to play the games whether in Bally BASIC or machine code. You could create your own machine code programs for the machine as well as BASIC. I got extremely proficient at typing on the calculator keyboard with overlay and could write a new game in about a day or two.
Hey, Todd! I know your excellent Astrocade game. It's "Crown of Zeus" from November 1982. This game is probably the most RPG-like game on the Astrocade. It is for AstroBASIC only. It takes you to a dark decaying castle in the evil land of Sorom. You've been asked, as the best warrior in the land of Beekum, to retrieve the Crown of Zeus which the Scromites have stolen. The crown, when worn, gives the wearer the awesome ability to cause anything he or she wishes to vanish. Apparently the Scromites have not yet discovered the crown's powers. But as you hid in the forest outside the castle, you saw a troop of orcs from the warring land of Machor slip in through the front gate. They surely know the power of the crown and will have to be dealt with...
You can read more about Todd's game, here:
ballyalley.com/program_downloads/2000_baud_programs/arcadian/programs_a-h/programs_a-h.html#CrownofZeusToddJohnsonAB
I'd love to see the AstroBASIC/Bally BASIC programming scene create some new games.
Adam
@@ballyalley It has been such a long time. I had to draw the zone pretty much like the maps they made and then translate it into sort of an 'in-BASIC' database of x y z etc that were set to various numbers that let the program know which way it would let you move and what was in each room. The memory would not allow me to put the actual names of monsters etc in the game, so you had a piece of paper that listed each number and what it meant. Glad to see that part of it still lives on :)
@@toddjohnson5692 I'm a fan of the game as well, and love that you have a whole sci-fi backstory behind it. I've digitally archived many Astrocade tapes. Do you know that the other games in the Gibeleous series--The Rescue Of Catherine, Escape From Rantanam IV, and The Tower Of Machor--are considered lost media? Do you still have a copy of the games and instructions by any chance? You can find my contact info in my channel's About tab, or there's a link to our discussion group at the bottom of the Bally Alley homepage.
I forgot to mention exactly what Paul mentions in his post here about your hopefully-not-lost follow-up to "Crown of Zeus." It would be great if those tapes could be recovered and archived. Also, in August of 2017, I made a video of your game, which you can watch here:
ua-cam.com/video/_uSGE2JYzl0/v-deo.html
We played your game as part of the Astrocade high-score club that same month:
atariage.com/forums/topic/267047-hsc02-round-7-conan-the-barbarian-the-crown-of-zeus/
It's nice to see that you have fond memories of the Bally console/computer.
@@pauljthacker I'm afraid it will stay lost. Basically, the other games used the same main code but with a different piece of paper to correlate numbers with monsters. And a different set of values in the 'in-line database'. There were many things I wish I could have included in the games but couldn't with the less than 4K RAM. Much of that RAM was taken up by the BASIC module itself. So yup the game wasn't very forgiving (it was intended that you figure out how to plot the rooms and improve with each try) but I thought stating that in the instructions would be too much of a giveaway. And I freely admit it could have used some play testing by others! I especially wanted to add a few more lines to update the enemy strength, but they just weren't there.
I had heard of this machine but had never seen it in operation. Thanks for showing it off! Too bad they had never made an official keyboard attachment for that basic cart.
10:19 There was a keyboard attachment called the Z-Grass but it's not known how many were sold, if any. At $599 it probably didn't sell well, if at all. But yeah, a much simplified keyboard for the BASIC cart would have been nice even if it was a chicklet-style one as long as it had all the QWERTY keys.
@@JustWasted3HoursHere It looked to me like that 600 price tag included the machine.
This basic, at least going by the example in this video is stupidly slow. It might just be slow because of the screen. The space between is going to mess up a lot of basic programs that use print statements to draw the screen.
Only a handful were made but they did make them. There were other home brew interfaces made for it to that would allow for such items.
@@GORF_EMPIRE i built one my self after watching this video. Let me know if interested
@@juliedunken1150 I am.....What exactly did you build?
I'm actually pretty impressed. I thought this thing would be really bad, but it is seems quite capable for it's time.
What I'd like to see working is that keyboard adding for the 2600.
It's very cool. The graphics & sound are vastly superior to the 2600 & arguably better than the Intellivision, Atari 5200, & VIC-20. Unfortunately the Astrocade never caught on, (only about 25,000 were sold) probably because it wasn't really a "computer", was a bit too expensive for a console, ($299 VS $199 for the Atari 2600) & not many games were made for it.
My cousin had 1 back in the early 80s & we used to play it when I visited. I have one in near mint condition. I bought it (& a dozen+ games) on eBay back in 2001. The seller said it was "used", but I don't think it was. The original box was worn & tattered, but when I opened it up everything was in the original shrink-wrapping & you could tell it had never been used. There wasn't so much as a nick or smudge on any of the hardware, the joysticks were tight, & all of the games were shrink-wrapped in the original boxes with price stickers on them. I also have a USB "Astro-dater" so I can use the Bally joystick with my PC. (MESS & MAME emulate the Astrocade very well)
One thing the Astrocade had going for it was amazing sound. It's versions of Gorf and Wizard of Wor are nearly arcade perfect.
Just hardly anyone used it fully. It's similar to the SN76489.
Lower resolution though. The VDP is the same one used in Bally's arcade machines of the time but with less memory.
Unfortunately they share a chip that's in Gorf which has led to many of them being harvested to repair Gorf boards
Unfortunately Gorf was never released for the Bally Astrocade, but Wizard of Wor was. Someone started an Astrocade Gorf homebrew back in 2007, but it was never finished. Someone did make an amazing Astrocade Crazy Climber homebrew.
@@eachandeverything9932 I want to see a Berzerk
All I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOW! Such a wonderful machine for the era! The built-in stuff is cool and overall, it just rocks. Going from nothing to this must have been a blast in April 1978!
Oh my god, based on this video, I think I actually really love this system. Being born in 1983, it was a bit before my time, but I think if I was a child in the 70s, I would have been really drawn to this little quasi-computer wonder. From the physical design of the console itself and controllers to the writing in its ads, manuals, and Arcadia community newsletter, everything about the Bally Computer System oozes charm.
For its time - in that pre-Nintendo Wild West era of no industry-wide controller standards - the Bally controller is fantastic. It had an N64 / Wiimote-esque trigger button decades before those consoles, and the 8-direction, rotatable knob provides so many movement options. As someone who cut his first gaming teeth on the Atari 2600 and NES, the simple but extremely versatile approach to the Bally Computer controller is honestly mind blowing. So many companies of its day added far too many buttons and knobs, but Bally actually stripped its interface down (and I would say, to good effect). I honestly think the handheld trigger design choice blows the Atari joystick controller out of the water, and with one or two more button inputs, could have even given the NES controller a run for its money.
Regarding the latter, I think (if in an alternate dimension, where the Bally Computer Arcade system was a resounding commercial success ), I think the Bally and Nintendo controllers could have co-existed in their own spaces and thrived. They would each offer different strengths, in terms of control options. In that alternate dimension, I'm imagining a later version of the system releasing with a "nunchuck" with added buttons, and it would have been great. Also worth noting is the ability to play with up to 4 players, which was just so ahead of its time. It wouldn't be until 1996's N64 that 4 player control inputs were available on mainstream console. Just incredible.
The sound effects (as in, sound samples, not music) - particularly the shooting sound on Gunfight - are better than anything I'd ever heard in an Atari game, or even most Nintendo games for that matter, and the music was pretty clear and crisp - especially for a system that was developed in 1977. Checkmate's dynamic use of musical tempos to denote rising tension was also pretty clever. The usage of music in that way seems like a no brainer to gamers born in the 80s or later, but little quirks like that were probably fairly novel or even revolutionary at the time.
The number of colors are likewise impressive for it's time. The graphics, in general, have a lot of interesting and generally eye pleasing things going for it. I was particularly impressed by its smooth vertical scrolling and decent frame rates. The quality and resolution of the onscreen text was pretty great, and font types were simple and easy to read. And what can I say about the built in Painting app? It looks fantastic and as a child, I would have found it to be pretty mind-blowing. I loved Mario Paint. If I was a child of the 70s, I'm sure this would have hit me in the same way.
It's sad that the keyboard never released for it, as I think it would have really helped to unlock the full potential of the system and would have surely greatly amplified its already vibrant indie developer scene. Even still, the on-board calculator-style input with overlay is definitely serviceable enough, if not ideal. I imagine that, given enough practice, one could program on it blindfolded, but it's nevertheless clunky and not at all on par with a standard keyboard input. It is what it is. I think Bally really did do the very best with what it has. That said, I really love how the screen changed colors to match the shift type being used when typing in BASIC. Not only is it simple, clever, and visually pleasing, I can imagine it being pretty useful - it's always good to know if what you're inputing is correct, particularly at a time when graphical cues were not at all a thing.
I'll admit that, going into this video, I expected trash, so - imagine my surprise when what I saw was treasure. All in all, I'm very impressed with the Bally Whatever Its Name Is Computer System. It's a shame that it never got the mass market love that it deserved. And thanks for sharing and giving us a look at this state of the art wonder machine from the 1970s!
This was the first computer I ever had. The way it plays sounds for each character as you list your basic program brings back so much nostalgia.
I *really* like that little controller. It's a shame that later computers like the C64 didn't have simultaneous paddle + joystick input... I can think of quite a few games that would have benefitted from the gunfight style analog aiming!
C64 would be capable of it (using both controller ports), but it would be a hassle to program.
There was a similar controller on the Sears Video Arcade II, their last rebadged version of the Atari 2600, although there was a switch on the face of the console to choose joystick or paddle input, not simultaneously.
I have an old Interact Home Computer from about the same era and it had a similar concept controller as well with the wheel atop a joystick. I have always felt this was a great design and would've been awesome for Atari as well instead of having to swap controllers to play spinner games - and now that I have an Atari VCS I really dig the classic controller for that which does incorporate this sort of feature into a single controller.
Showed this system to my son years ago and when he picked up the controllers he tried using the joysticks with his thumbs. He completely confused, lol.
The disappearance of the paddle over the years has been unfortunate. The new Atari VCS "classic joystick" seems to have a twisting joystick that functions as a paddle, and it is PC compatible -- never tried it though. It tried but I could never get the Steam Controller to ever emulate a paddle very well.
I have fond memory of this machine as I had one as a kid. Parents got it for me around '81/'82. We had intended to get a Atari 2600, but the ability to "program your own games" (according to the salesman at computer store) convinced them to get the Bally.
To their credit, I had a great time with it. The games were pretty good for the time, the cassette sized cartridges were cool, and joysticks were a very clever design. Even as a pretty young kid, I spent quite a bit of time typing in simple programs (I had the BASIC cartridge) from the included book that had lots to choose from.
A few years ago, I bought a white one (which I understand are fairly rare) and a all-in-on cart.
Thanks for this video and the respect for the machine.
I knew more than one person who had these. I remember both the cartridge storage and controller well.
Does feel weird seeing you on a Z80 based machine ;-)
Having spent much time on the KIM-1 lately, that keypad seems just fine to me. Does anyone REALLY need more than 24 keys?
re: cassette similarities: I have a small collection of videocades that I got at a yard sale years ago and they were all stored in cassette cases with the reel brake tabs broken off and the manuals inserted like j-cards
football 3002 is a great name
Could audio cassettes fit nicely under the Bally top, as well as videocades?
I'm really surprised how good the noise chip sounds for what it is. Great find and awesome video as always!
I have one branded as the Bally Arcade. I picked it up from a thrift store around 10 years ago. It came with quite a few cartridges, along with the BASIC cartridge. Can't remember if any of the overlays came with it. It on my list of things that need to be repaired. It only works for 3 or 4 minutes before crashing. It's either overheating or has cold solder joints. This video has renewed my interest in it. I saw some plans online to expand its memory.
A machine well ahead of it's time.
If you look at it, it was kind of like the NEO-GEO AES of its time
We had this when I was a kid. I'm trying to remember why we'd hit reset after entering the program instead of running via the keypad, but I do know that we had more than one accidental 'Eject' after typing in a program from a magazine.
My family had this when I was a kid, and I forgot we did until I saw the cart with “Gun fight” on it. Swore to the stars it was a VIC. This was back in 92, so I think it came with a bunch of stuff from an auction.
If not for this video, I think my memory of this computer would have been lost to early childhood fantasy.
I had one of these. The hand controller was awesome and I got very fast on that multi push keypad. I programmed everything that was in that manual Saved it to audio cassettes. It was a fantastic introduction to basic language. The games were fun too. I would’ve been 12 in 1978.
22:25 that's an adorably smol overlay card. I like how the colour makes it look like a PCB, at least to me. I like that professional aesthetic a lot of computer products had back then.
That keypad reminds me of the wonderful HP-35 , the first pocket-sized scientific calculator. I was lucky enough to find one in good condition on Ebay for only $50, so I rigged up a LiPO battery pack, its been my daily driver ever since. The firmware has been reverse engineered too, so you can run a pretty faithful simulation of it on even the lowliest Arduino!
What a great presentation! That two-value randomization trick to get 47/92 is so simple, yet genius. Thank you for taking the time to put this video together.
My friend had this system and I remember playing the gunfight game with him all the time, I couldn't remember the name of the system so I am happy this video came out.
That game looked awesome for kids to sit there and play for a long time. Just trying to get the other guy. Fun times.
My parents (I was 5 years old at the time in 1978) were early investors in the Bally company. I think they bought stock then precisely because of this product announcement. In 1980 a certain popular video game came out that had an association with Bally and they made a windfall in dividends!
My criteria for "computer" is, if the device can be programmed (using the device itself), then it's a computer. Which means many things marketed as game consoles or calculators qualified, including this, the Atari 2600, and the Famicom.
If it's capable of running Emacs, then it's a computer worth taking seriously.
Calling the cartridges "cassettes" reminds me of Strong Bad's references to "Sega tapes". That eject mechanism seems more sturdy and robust than the one in the NES.
I define a computer as something with a CPU, memory, input, and output.
It's a lovely system. A very pleasing version of Space Invaders too. Some quality programming there.
Great throwback! Love the "10 PRINT" program. I wrote a similar program that can be found in CURSOR V2 I2 P4. Thanks again!
(Hopefully I'm correct on this)
Fun Fact: Bally, as you know, had the licensing rights to distribute Pac-Man for the arcades; later on they wanted to make an official port for their own machine, the Astrocade, BUT they didn't have the license for the _home ports_ as that was already given to Atari(soft), so they had to change the name to Muncher
You are correct on that one. :)
Magnavox Odyssey2 also made a version of pacman and called it K.C. Munchkin. :)
Atari sued them in to the ground on that one.
Yep. If Bally was able to release Pac-Man for the Astrocade, it might have saved that system. (or at least made it a bit more popular) Atari 2600 Pac-Man is awful. (some people attribute it & "E.T." to helping cause the "Video game crash of '83)
I understand the programmer had only 4 weeks to complete the game, but they could've at least got the colors right. (like...black background & blue maze)
I played and still have one of these systems. It hasn't been turned on in years but it's still in good shape. I remember doing the basic programming and it was such a pain. Did a several hundred line one but never could get the tape recording of the programming to work for me. Good memories of playing those games.
Hello, what good memories, I had that equipment and I learned Basic in it. Thank you for sharing such good memories.
What a great machine! Although the keyboard is pretty clunky for programming, it's still doable. I remember playing Gunfight on the actual arcade machine in the late 70's when tagging along with my big brother to the arcade. The BASIC function of colouring the screen to show which key mode is genius, that would have been helpful on my VZ. Thanks Robin!
Loved mine as a kid. I have a few now including one complete in box. I also have one of the 21 prototype carts made as they were developing Pac-Man (Those played normal Pac-Man, with that name being correct on the title. There were a few more made with mods to choose the number of men and for a set 99 men used during testing)... which was eventually released as "Munchy" and "Muncher" after losing a lawsuit with Atari over using the name as Atari already had the rights for home console use. Given that they Bally distributed the game here in America they felt they should've had a right to use the name for use as well with their own system. The courts didn't agree unfortunately.
I thought the "joystick" looked familiar so looked something up and sure enough it was in a scene of National Lampoon's Vacation where the dad and the kids were playing video games while the dad was trying to plan the route on the Apple II computer.
The stick was similar to the one used on the Fairchild Channel-F
Love it! Surprisingly capable machine for the time. It's a shame it didn't have a full keyboard.
The dynamic music concept in the Checkmate game is exceptional. Really simple but a great effect, the intervals between the player note ranges are musically pleasing, and it also serves as audio feedback for what other players are doing.
Looks great! Really cool to see it in action. That controller (like a combination of trigger, joystick and knob / paddle) was really interesting too, I like it.
There’s actually an obscure UA-cam channel called BallyAlley. He owns EVERYTHING regarding the Astrocade.
I had one of these growing up. The drawing program had a kaleidoscope function and a bunch of other features that I THINK were activated with the number pad. It's been ages, but that's what I recall anyway.
Robin, you are a steely-eyed missile man! This is a great find, and very cool that it still works, other than the key bounce problem. I was 18 or so and already owned a TRS-80 model I when this came out, but never heard of it. Interesting stuff! It would have driven me NUTS to try to develop on that calculator keyboard! Almost as bad as programming on the ZX-80 membrane keyboard, which I have done! That $600 add-on, by the time you pay for that, unless you are a developer, it would have been more economical to get a Vic 20, which had a very nice keyboard and a better BASIC (I owned one of those, too). All good wishes.
It probably doesn't have a long enough delay on power-on for everything to stabilize, or no delay at all. Usually there is a little primitive timer which will cause reset to be held for a little while after power-on to get around this.
The Astrocade was sold at Montgomery Wards in the late 70s - early 80s. My Dad worked in the home improvement dept and picked up one on his employee discount for Xmas 1980. We were hoping for an Atari but quickly realized we had a better system. I wrote many programs in Astrocade BASIC including a variation of Space Invaders... substitute your base for the USS Enterprise and the aliens for asteroids streaming down from the top. My best friend and I were hooked, and that led to further explorations in programming. Bally designed an awesome arcade-style display cabinet for stores... Wards had one on their Electronics dept. BTW... I still have our original system and it still works tho it needs a lil electronic TLC.
John, that's amazing ... do you still have your original programs stored on cassette?
Makes my Timex Sinclair 1000 seem like a pretty capable programming platform! Fun video. Thanks for the look.
Nintendo wanted the Famicom to use cartridges the size of a compact cassette. Their motivation was to make it compatible with cassette cases (for cheaper distribution) and storage (for consumer convenience). I imagine the same is likely true here.
I had one of this when I was a kid....so sad my parent put in on the dump....Great machine....great games and love the basic cartridge and able to safe my programs to standard tape deck.....love it!
Best system. Better than Atari and intellivision. Best games. They did so much with so little
Interesting machine, looks kind of similar to the Fairchild Channel F. According to wikipedia the basic interpreter has to use part of the video ram for storage because the machine only has 16 bytes of memory which aren't used for the screen...
Reminds me of the TI-99/4A. That had only 128 words (256 bytes) of CPU memory; BASIC programs had to be stored in the 16 KiB of video memory and you had to go through the video controller to get at it. The 32 KiB RAM extension gave you more CPU RAM to play with, but that was expensive to obtain.
I have a Channel F sitting next to my Astrocade. They do share a lot of design elements...so much so that I wouldn't be surprised if Bally intentionally copied some of them. Even the shade and texture of the faux wood grain is quite similar. The biggest difference is that the Astrocade is wider than it is longer and the channel F is longer than it is wider.
The space invaders fire sound effect sounds like the first two notes of the Ghostbusters riff.
I bought an Astrocade a few years ago, and must confess I did so mostly because it is in my opinion the most beautiful game console ever made. And yes, I play it as well using a multicart. It's basically the Neo Geo of the 1970s
A detail, but it was a nice scrolling effect in the calculator when adding to history.
How cool. I’m old school and know about many machines but have never heard of this one. Thanks Robin.
That's awesome to see it still working. Great video!
Thanks for the video! This system seems to have been designed with love. They put a lot of effort into making what they could just that extra little bit nicer. It's wonderful to see!
Really cool. Great to see one workin. One of these was in National Lampoon's Vacation. Shame they weren't sold in the UK. Looking forward to seeing more on this.
That 'Computer' font, the wood paneling and gold trim, what a beauty!!! Better than beige boxes if you ask me.
That Interact One-8 must have been the inspiration for the Amstrad CPC464 and later Spectrum 2+ form factor. Look at that tape drive location. Pure geniuses.
The cartridge cassette size might also allow the storage slots to hold both the carts and any cassettes.
Maybe they designed the form factor of the machine at a time when they weren't so far into developing the machine yet and might have still planned to go with an internal tape deck instead of cartridges like some of the systems of the time did.
@@silkwesir1444 When I first saw the slot labeled cassette I thought it was an internal tape drive. Or a combo slot for a ROM cart or a tape.
I used to have a friend who had one of these. We used to also program in several games that were available in magazines at the time
I like that multipurpose joystick.
It is a shame the basic cart doesn't have a connector for adding a keyboard, assuming there isn't another way, as that numpad would take ages to write a program with.
The entire bus is on that expansion port. You only need some logic and a keyboard to make it work. Maybe a bit-shift register and a buffer. Put that together with an arduino or something similar that can drive a PS/2 keyboard and Bob's your uncle.
I think my family still has one of those somewhere. with the Actual "Balley Computer system" logo. We had a whole loaded deck full of cartridges too I think. Probably where I legit first played Space invaders too, as I recognize it so well! Even though we had the later game consoles with the NES and SNES, that one was something of a novelty still.
People often point out that Bally cartridges look like cassette tapes, and I've also noticed Atari 2600 carts look like 8-track tapes. The gaming industry tends to borrow things from the music industry. Games appeared on CD's a few years after we had music on them.
Absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing.
This is one of the console’s in my old collection. Loved it! Based upon a scaled down version of Bally’s arcade hardware of the day. I recall at one point there was to be an expansion for this system that would’ve brought Z-Grass graphics and larger memory, thus making it much closer to the arcade hardware. It was an expensive console when it came out and the only place we could find it here in Milwaukee was Marshall Field’s.
The "keyboard" is so much like the remote control on a Jerrold TV remote we used in Canada to access cable TV. So crazy!
I remember Z-Grass programming language being brought up in an old arcade console magazine and they portrayed it as if it were a miracle language. I'm curious if the third party games were written in Z-Grass. Looking around years after I saw a source that indicated it was only used internally by Bally.
Great and informative video on this classic console!
I had one of these and taught myself basic. Had a blast!
I recently picked one of these up, and glad to learn even more about it!
Great intro to this system. Thanks!
I purchased mine from JS&A (Joseph Sugarman & Associates - you might remember him from his sunglasses commercials - he had to shut down his main mail order business due to legal issues, some of which included the chaos with the Bally computer) back in the day. I had to wait, along with anyone else who order one, for many months and months before I would receive the unit. Production delays and other chaos was the cause for the delay. It came with two controllers, which were quite innovative. I had a different Basic cartridge but it was similar. I don't remember if my Basic cartridge had the audio interface... I don't think it did. I had planned on purchasing the physical base unit as well (it was a Bally keyboard base, not a ZGRASS) but it never made it to production AFAIK. It was a fun device back in the day!
I had no idea the Bally Astrocade ever attempfed to be anything other than a game console. Very cool to see that it was capable of more than just games.
Really interesting machine and a great video, thanks Robin! The documentation says it has 2 bits power pixel, but I saw more than 4 colours on some of those screens (Gunfight and the invaders game in particular). I guess it has some kind of attribute system or scan line interrupt going on.
What a different game system. Thank you.
One of my Uncles had a Bally Astrocade. He let me borrow it for a while. Years later he loaned me his Sega Genesis.
I think Bally ordered the production of the relatively expensive casting mold in an EARLY stage of the development time-segment when they wanted to deliver the system with an internal audio/data cassette recorder to let the user load "apps" into internal RAM (there would have been enough space to integrate PLAY / REWIND buttons right to the eject button into the case by adding additional rectangular holes. Then they changed to a ROM-based design (and saved manufacturing costs and some amount of internal RAM this way) and did not change the case to save ( a lot of ) money - otherwise stating "insert videocade" in even SMALLER letters in order to fit the new text into the predefined width of the label.
VERY interesting, followed along with your BASIC lines on my Pi-RiscOS Box using 8-Bit BBC BASIC. Love the outro.
So good to see this overview of the Bally. I remember seeing ads for this in Electronic Games magazine as a kid but I'm not sure I ever saw it on store shelves. If I had seen it, my memory must be really eclipsed by Atari, Mattel and Coleco in those early days. I'm surprised that it continued to be in production for as long as it was even with various name changes.
You probably wouldn't have seen it on store shelves. I believe only 50,000 were manufactured & only 20,000 were sold. (VS 2 million Colecovision, 2 million Magnavox Odyssey 2, 3 million Intellivision, 15 million C64, 30 million Atari, etc)
I hadn’t play them games for about 37 years now. I was always fascinated with older consoles as a kid in the 80’s.
I love your channel, you have so much neat stuff and an amazing amount of skill locked away from your past. At least in the eyes of a 22 year old. I struggle in the dos prompts of my windows 98 gaming rig xD
The one thing I really like about the Mattel Intellivision is its appliance like build quality and it regular 110v cord. I hate these wallwarts. As long as they are plugged in, they just sit there and cook. But at least it is hard wired and not easy to lose.
Fantastic! I have never heard of this computer system before. Thanks for the video.
Very interesting video. Thanks for posting 👍🙂
What a fascinating video! I always wondered why more of the arcade game makers didn't get into the Home Computer market. It is VERY IMPRESSIVE what this machine was capable of in 1-9-7-8!!
I had a cool uncle who had the cool basement that included this system and a pool table to play. As kids we were not allowed to go down there and play without an adult but loved shooting the gun when we got to go down there. Thanks for the memory!
Surprisingly good for the time. the keyboard wasn't that much worse than using a membrane kb on a Sinclair/Timex ZX-80. What do you want from the days when most home computers cost about double and were kits and/or had no appreciably graphics or sound. And the build quality couldn't have been too bad since it still actually works.
My dad got one circa 1979 about a year before I was born. I played it for years while I was growing up. Ours definitely said Bally computer system with the two heads on it.
holy crap this thing is awesome. the music in that tron style game is great!
Geez, Bally was so damn diverse way back when. Pinball manufacturing, owning the first chain fitness center, slot machine manufacturing, arcade machines, they even owned the Six Flags theme parks. I actually worked for them in 2013 and they weren't long for this world beyond that. They were bought by Scientific Games a couple years after I left.
Good Memories, Thank you for the Video 👍👍👍✌
I know there are lots of UA-camrs out there with tons of Patreon supporters, but I think that's the first time I've seen someone with a list that's larger that can fit in RAM, nice! :)
Very cool, I always wondered about this system!
I remember wanting one of these when I was a kid. We had a volunteer computer teacher in the early 80s (pretty remarkable for rural school), and I wasn't able to sell her on the idea of my first computer purchase being the "Astrocade".
@0:30
- The reason I chose a Magnavox Odyssey 2 over an Atari (much to my fathers surprise) was that it also came with a B.A.S.I.C cartridge and a keyboard. It also played games which was a plus.
I bought one of these on eBay in 2001 and it was mint in box, never used. (still have it)
I also have an ultra rare 75 game Astrocade multi-cart made by Ohio Labs. It has 5 tiny DIP switches to select different games.
I had one of these, if you select scribbling and 0 players it will do a kaleidoscope
0:14 It'd be a pretty rough Home Computer without a real keyboard.
3:03 300bps is the speed of the Commodore cassette drive.
4:55 The drawing of the Little Terrestrial alien looks like a copyright violation!
6:52 I wonder how many people jammed audio cassettes into that slot!
15:02 "2200" - I assume you edited out the 15 hours of gameplay!
17:37 Emulates a paper-tape desk calculator.
26:13 The Blue shift key turns the screen pink.
27:24 Even makes cheesy 1970's "computer" noises while it runs!
27:55 The characters are only six pixels wide = 26 characters per line, with 11 lines. I guess they smooth-scrolled it to show off that it's a bitmap, though they could still jump-scroll it to make it go a lot faster.
30:34 How many bytes are left for BASIC programs after the bitmap screen? Does the bitmap always use two bits per pixel, or can it be set to use only one? From what's written at 11:57, it looks like there are only 560 bytes available to BASIC programs (4096-11*8*40-16), minus whatever the BASIC interpreter itself needs. This is even tighter than the ZX81!
31:52 That sure seems like a lot of patrons these days!
Actually, Bruce, there were 1760 bytes available for BASIC programs. The way it worked: They interleaved every bit of the program along with the display itself; BASIC used all the even-numbered bits, and the display the odd-numbered bits. The interpreter would read out two bytes, drop all the odd-numbered bits, and assemble the results into a single byte of code. This was rendered invisible by setting two of the colors to be the same as the other two, such that colors 01 and 11 would be the same (white), so the presence, or lack, of a bit for BASIC had no effect on the screen. Additional memory was scavenged by using fewer lines vertically, only 88 instead of the full 102. This managed to squeeze out 1760 bytes of RAM for BASIC programs. The downside was that most of the graphics system's power was unavailable. You were essentially limited to two colors, in 160x88 resolution. Also, the BASIC was a lot slower than it would otherwise be, because of all the extra bit manipulation that had to be done.
The keypad always reminded me of the TI-30 calculator. It was one of the charms of the system, and one of the reasons I've always wanted to own one.
Yes, I actually looked into that a bit (for the follow-up video that I still haven't made!) and found that the Bally's keypad is extremely close to the TI-1250 in particular. Physically it seems to be identical, and even for the key labels, of the 24, 17 are identical, 3 more are just in slightly different positions.
Never heard of this machine but it looks amazing for it's time!
I owned one of these. I loved it. They did the most with the least.
@15:32 this game features destructible environment! That was way ahead of its time I guess.
This is cool! The BASIC is a lot nicer than I thought. For some reason I expected something more like that sad "Basic Programming" cart for the 2600. Maybe it's the tiny keypad that fooled me.
Thanks you, what a great system. Never heard before of it.