You're welcome. Thank you for your kindness, Tim! 😀
@Meebzorp5200
Жыл бұрын
If you look at a 2600 woodie on an angle, you can see what appear to be two speaker grills where speakers would have been mounted on the underside. They could be passed off as heat vents but they have that classic discreet oval shape of speaker grills from that era. Pong units had audio built-in like this, so it makes sense that the first gen 2600 VCS would have it as well. In the end I think it was a better choice to pass the audio through to the TV since hearing sound from a pong unit always felt kinda crappy and people may have something better to hook it up through like amplifiers. Of course, stereo TV didn't really come along until the mid-80s and I think we had to wait until the 16-bit era to get actual stereo separation within games.
@jayme69
Жыл бұрын
Wow! Mind blown with the possibility of a stereo 2600 with inbuilt speakers. Great video as always Jon! Keep up the awesome work :-)
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
🤯 Thanks, Jamie. I feel like I might have even undersold the importance of this prototype. I can imagine a universe where these are a dime-a-dozen in bargain bins just like Combat!
@xxnoxx-xp5bl
Жыл бұрын
Nice. Always fun to have another rom :-)
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Add it to the pile, but also, add it to your faves! 😉
@ecwnikos
Жыл бұрын
thanks jon another game to add to my new flashback.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
You bet!
@miketendopower
Жыл бұрын
This could have been a great launch title. I wonder what other treasures are still hidden?😮
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
That's the cool thing, right? If this then WHAT ELSE! 🤯
@syntaxerror9994
Жыл бұрын
I've seen AV mods for the Atari that replace the RF output with composite connectors that separate the audio channels into the red and white cables respectively. It's actually not that hard to do as the Ataris RF output circuitry is just merging the two audio channels together. And doing this kind of mod can be done on ANY Atari except the later versions of the 2600 jr that used a SOC instead of separate 6507/RIOT/TIA chips.
@paulwalsh2344
Жыл бұрын
Ahhh Jon you do have a way of showcasing gems !
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
I will take that as a compliment! 😀
@kenwheeler3637
Жыл бұрын
I love it when these old gems are unearthed. I can easily see this as one of the early games for the system.
@ButterSpider3
Жыл бұрын
Wow. This is very cool! Great gem find! I have already downloaded the rom and I hope to give a try tonight or tomorrow!! 😎 thanks for the heads up!
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Hope you enjoy it!
@steveafulton
Жыл бұрын
Very cool! These are the types of things that make being and Atari fan in 2023 worthwhile.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
You nailed it, Steve.
@tpeezy3042
Жыл бұрын
Reminds me of an old electronic hand-held called Sub Hunt (I think.)
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
I had to go looking it up. Sub Hunt was an Intellivision title, but there was a handheld called Sub Chase. Might that be it? Looks cool!
@tpeezy3042
Жыл бұрын
@GenXGrownUp yep, it was Sub Chase!
@michaelbloom5342
Жыл бұрын
I have a couple of 7800's that use the same TIA as the 2600. I stereo modded them years ago, and once you hear it, there's no going back to mono. It's not a difficult mod at all. In addition to the trivial Composite mod output, for stereo you'll need two caps, two resistors. That's all it takes. The stereo sound truly is amazing. And hearing 7800 Commando in stereo? WOAH. There's not a better console port out there, especially when you use Genesis controllers to play it. Absolutely outstanding game.
@thetommygunshow
Жыл бұрын
That kinda looks like fun.
@michaelcreamer4901
Жыл бұрын
Imagine finding a prototype of the Atari 2600 with the speakers in place. It is remarkable how much was planned for this system at the onset. I think I would have loved playing this game when I was kid. I wonder if it will ever be part of a Flashback Atari package. It also makes me wonder how many other titles were scrapped for one reason or another that could have become a classic game. #JONSTRONG
@GasFayce
Жыл бұрын
Fascinating history, never get tired of Atari content! Loved that shirt by the way!
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoyed. Thanks!
@Asterra2
Жыл бұрын
Pretty wild. The gameplay actually places it above a few of the launch titles so it would definitely have fit right in. Also, that analogy about siblings is very good, but I'm more impressed that you took the time to stress how important this advent is. Hidden video gaming history pretty much never gets to reach that far back-further back even than the release of the Atari VCS itself. I never even knew the VCS was going to have built-in speakers. Which means there's a topic on the development of the VCS hardware that nobody has done a decent deep dive on yet.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching and for the kind words, Asterra2. 😀
@ThomaniacsRetrogamingZone
Жыл бұрын
Really interesting game! Never would have thought that Combat has stereo sound output. Incredible!
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Who knew?!
@Asterra2
Жыл бұрын
Did a little reading, and it seems that Indy 500 and Street Racer were also designed with stereo sound in mind. On that topic, I was always really impressed with how forward-thinking Atari was to have two voices in their console. It was of course unprecedented, and given that the focus of the design was, first and foremost, "CHEAP", two voices felt uncharacteristically extravagant. But when you understand the context of their attempts to provide a stereo experience, it suddenly makes sense. Clearly they felt it would be simpler to double the voice channels than to give a "stereo position" flag to one voice, and that may well be the whole reason why the VCS has two voices.
@CP200S
Жыл бұрын
Jon, your enthusiasm on those small pieces of software art and nostalgia is contagious.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for saying that. I'm sure you can get a shot to clear it right up, though! 😜
@CP200S
Жыл бұрын
@@GenXGrownUp I already got a gun and a cup of tequila, now I just have to find out the right translation to your sentence. Not native speaker here. (Kidding just about the gun)
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
@@CP200S Contagion leads to sickness, but is prevented by an injection (aka shot) - Just bad wordplay!
@CP200S
Жыл бұрын
@@GenXGrownUp Oh of course, but in that case even though I don't drink, I prefer the tequila instead of the vaccine. 😅
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
@@CP200S That'll clear it up for sure. Eat the worm! 🪱
@tomz500
Жыл бұрын
This maybe was another cut back that Atari had to make when the console was originally made for distribution by Sears I believe? Sears wanted it under a certain price and certain cuts were made, maybe too many cuts were made which possibly included cutting stereo. Nolan Bushnell immediately started desiging the new Atari that was maybe ready for release in time for Christmas of 1978? He wanted to replace the terribly stripped Atari VCS that was stripped only for Sears with this new super Atari but Ray Kassar wanted to keep going with the original Atari. So Nolan and Kassar fought, maybe physically, about this being released and Nolan was fired/quit. So the new Atari ended up becoming the Atari 800 computer then maybe modified to become the Atari 5200 almost four years after it was designed. This next Atari in 1978, I don't know what it was even going to be called, maybe also was intended to have stereo sound.
@sammy61187
Жыл бұрын
What an awesome concept definitely have to check this out keep up the awesome work
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! Will do!
@bryede
Жыл бұрын
It was very unusual for '70s consoles to have the capability to send sound to the TV and it was considered more cost effective to include an internal speaker. I'm not sure what the event was caused Atari to change their design, but it must have been some advancement in RF modulators.
@BriansManCave
Жыл бұрын
Quite interesting! I never knew about that stereo feature 😎👍
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Me neither.
@orus68
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the info!
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
You bet!
@EarmonkeyMusic
Жыл бұрын
Cool. I use Stella too so I need to check it out. I have a question for you on video capture and Stella when you have time too. It sometimes does weird things and I'm guessing you've experienced that. Could be a framerate issue.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Sure, happy to help. You can ask here or drop me an email at jon@genxgrownup.com
@edwardmclaughlin719
Жыл бұрын
In Atari world kind of like finding an unfinished Beatle song, riff or jam.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
That's a great analogy, Edward. Thanks for watching!
@astra6712
Жыл бұрын
What a Great Game for the time it was programmed!
@R4D4_
Жыл бұрын
Wow! That. Is. Amazing! Literal buried treasure has been found. I hope it'll eventually be available in cartridge form.
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
I'm glad I'm not the only one who really feels how important this is to Atari history! Thanks for watching, R4 D4! 😀
@mat_wal
Жыл бұрын
I thought that really, all cartridges are stereo, technically. The 2600 has 2 sound channels both of which have the same capabilities. This is yet another manifestation of the fact that the Atari is really a "Tank" console whose implementation was cleverly exploitable (and malleable!) to an infinity of other things. It seems clear to me that the designers intended that one channel would be for each player, and as we know now, those channels would be routed to built-in speakers. So then if you are a 2600 programmer, unless you only use one channel, you are in a sense always writing stereo audio games. It's just that except for Combat, Air-Sea Battle and some others, no one was consciously mapping those channels to mean anything.
@rushmore3927
Жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
You're welcome, Rush More. Thanks for your kindness & generosity! 😀
@RemoWilliams1227
Жыл бұрын
Would have been super neat if the Atari had built in stereo speakers.
@tornadotj2059
2 ай бұрын
Stereo works on the 2600+. I found this out playing Medieval Mayhem. Now I need to try Combat and Air Sea Battle on it. And now I want to try testing with the GSP!
@GenXGrownUp
2 ай бұрын
Oh, yeah? That's great to know.
@tornadotj2059
2 ай бұрын
@@GenXGrownUp So I tested Combat on the 2600+, no stereo sound. I searched for a while through my literally hundreds of carts and believe it or not I could not find a copy of Air Sea Battle. When it's not 100 degrees outside I'll try again, I really need to sort them anyway.
@HeroJournalism
Жыл бұрын
Interesting; I have Sonar Search for the Fairchild; while graphically primitive, it's actually more fun to play to me than the Battleship boardgame, because of it's sonar mechanic. But I don't get how the sonar in your video's game works - the clips of the sonar sound you included don't seem to change; I just hear two different tones, going off intermittently at the same rate. In the Fairchild game, the length of your sonar beep tells you how far/close you are; but in your audio clips, I can't detect any change? Can you explain that a little more?
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
The short, constant ping is the "outgoing" ping, and is irrelevant. As I was trying to explain (and maybe didn't do well enough), is the RETURN ping - that longer tone - tells you something is nearby. The stereo effect lets you know nearby which player, left or right.
@matthewbarry4464
Жыл бұрын
My first thought when I heard the audio "it's in stereo?"
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Good ear, Matthew! 👂
@tomz500
Жыл бұрын
Okay, as a kid I remember always saying to myself "Why does it look like there are 2 round cut out slits in the top of the Atari like there should be 2 speakers there?"
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Life has come full circle! 😆
@MrSlomo67
Жыл бұрын
Wow, the most cutting edge tech was stereo! lol
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Right?!
@intel386DX
Жыл бұрын
only NTSC TIA have stereo, PAL TIA is mono :( . BTW there have to be a way to mod NTSC consoles for stereo A/V :)
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
There definitely is!
@chrishensley5384
Жыл бұрын
Pac Man 8K is Amazing!
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
It is.
@theoriginaljrest
Жыл бұрын
It's too bad this isn't on the Atari 50th Anniversary Celebration on the Xbox.
@tobyCornish
Жыл бұрын
maybe it is the incessant pinging that kept it from being released...
@Adjel1
Жыл бұрын
😂
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
Like music to my (old) ears.
@multishit6664
Жыл бұрын
lol your tee shart might as well say dehumanizing
@GenXGrownUp
Жыл бұрын
🤔
@chrismayer3919
5 ай бұрын
My adult self finds SONAR fascinating, yet my 6 year old self would’ve likely found it boring and/or frustrating.
@GenXGrownUp
5 ай бұрын
I totally get that, and kind of feel the same way about it. But considering the other games released in '77, this might've been one of the more sophisticated (had it released, of course).
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