2013/7/16: Atari 7800: Mean 18, Scramble

[Atariboy]

You simply need to update Stella to get it to work.

Scramble by Champ Games is DPC+ Melody enhanced. Basically there's an ARM processor incorporated into the cartridge to expand upon the capabilities of the 2600. Sort of a Super FX chip for the Atari 2600.

Such games only started to happen about a decade ago. So an older Stella installation isn't going to have those capabilities implemented since they didn't exist at the time.

[Eric]

Thanks for the comprehensive response. I had a feeling it was something like that. But it’s always better if you can find someone who knows what’s going on before starting to apply the scientific method.

[Eric]

So: I'm upgrading several machines. As a result I was finally able to play this Scramble version for 2600. It's amazing what is possible, because it's excellent. My question is: how much of this was possible and never came to fruition because of corporate laziness back in the day. Would this version have been possible in the 80's or is understanding that came in subsequent years responsible for how good this version is?

[VideoGameCritic]

Eric,
I know memory limits really constrained Atari games back in the day. I think they had 4K to work with? And definitely schedule constraints.

So... is there a functional Scramble for the Atari 2600? If so, I'd like to play it on native hardware.