Good Deal Games - Classic Videogame Games INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW
Lance Ringquist

Operator of Video 61 -- the long-time Atari supporter
concerning the re-release of the elusive 7800 Monitor Cartridge.

MT> Is the 7800 Monitor Cartridge a development tool for creating games for the 2600, the 7800, or both?
LR> You can do both. 2600 mode: 8k and also you can do up to 16k in 7800 mode.

MT> Can multiple games be stored internally within the Monitor Cartridge?
LR> You can do more than one program in each mode. It just depends on how good of a programmer you are. You can divide up the ram into any size you want to in each mode. You'll need to program your own menu, and divide the ram like you would partition a hard drive.

MT> What hardware, other than the 7800 itself, is needed to operate the 7800 Monitor Cartridge?
LR> You simply need the monitor cartridge itself, plus you need two 2600 keypad controllers -- all three types of keypad controllers work, the actual ones for Code Breaker, Brain Games, Basic Programming, etc. The Star Raiders keypad works, as well as the Sesame St. Kids controller also. This will actually turn your 7800 into a miniature development kit for the 2600/7800, giving you full keyboard input into your game machine,

MT> Any game code created is saved within the RAM of the Monitor Cartridge. Is there a way to output A rom or binary image for use with emulators or to produce new cartridges? More precise, can the Monitor Cartridge connect to a personal computer via any type of device or interface?
LR> I am unaware of any way to connect this to a computer, but we might be able to reproduce any game a person came up with. It all depends on how it was written. It would have to be done on our board. Our board was designed with Atari's help to work with the encryption code. I am sure some one out there could find a way to dump their program to a PC, and into an emulator. But they would have to be careful not to pass it around, or sell it, because it resides in our program. Our program is a copyrighted program, and we would view that as an infringement. This cartridge and software was meant to be a low end development kit towards the end of the 7800 cycle. Atari and Harry Dodgeson were hoping to see some amateur programmers come up with something that we could publish. Atari did not want to publish anymore games, and they handed that end over to us.

MT> What type of documentation comes packaged with the 7800 Monitor Cartridge?
LR> The documentation is extensive. Much of it comes from Atari -- schematics of the machine, plus complete architecture of the machine. Much of this is what came with the actual atari ST development computer, plus a lot of Harry's own comments. If you ever wanted to see what an actual developer gets from a game manufactorer, this is your chance!

MT> What level of expertise is recommended for the Monitor Cartridge? Is this something a beginner or novice could utilize? What type of programming language, et cetera ...
LR> Anyone with knowledge of 6502 machine code can do this. No basic, as it must be a machine style code. The Atari8 code books are a real good for this. They are kind of hard to find these days, but watch auctions etc. The atari8 assembler/editor cartridge and manual is a good one, How to program in 6502 machine language is another one. Dear Atari gives some good information. Some of these are still availible. Also, my 14 year old son, when he was 7, first tried this cart and he managed to turn our T.V. screen pink, and got the sounds of the tank in Combat to come out of the television, so even beginners can have some fun. Harry put a demo of the beginnings of an unrealesed 7800 game he had in the works for people to view, and to spur on some development of new games.

MT> Who would actually manufacture that cartridges?
LR> We have 4 cartridges in production right know. We are actually making them for another major project which I am not at liberty to discuss yet, but we will make a announcement if we are succesfull! The manuals are the hard part. We cannot deviate from the original license, so it is time consuming and expensive. We (Video 61) make the cartridges.

Good Deal Games thanks Lance for taking time to help answer our questions and help ease our curiosity about the upcoming re-release of the Atari 7800 Monitor Cartridge -- Thanks Lance!

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