Starpath Supercharger

Starpath Supercharger

The Starpath Supercharger was an add-on module created by Starpath to expand the game capabilities of the Atari 2600 video game console. The device resembled a long game cartridge with a handle on one end. The "Supercharger" interface multiplied the Atari 2600's RAM 49-fold, from its meager built-in 128 bytes to 6,272 bytes, i.e. giving it an extra 6 KB, allowing for larger games with higher resolution graphics. A cord coming out of the side of the cartridge plugged into the earphone jack of any standard cassette player. Games for the "Supercharger" were stored on normal audio cassettes.

By providing these capabilities, the "Supercharger" made the Atari 2600 much more like the low end home computers of the era, aside from the alphanumeric keyboard the console lacked (simple numeric keypads were available from Atari as add-ons, however).

With a small modification, the Supercharger can be used to easily test homebrew code for the Atari 2600 on a real system.

Note that the complete library of games, including the prototype "Sweat", was also released on CD as "Stella Gets A New Brain" by CyberPuNKS (Jim Nitchals, Dan Skelton, Glenn Saunders and Russ Perry Jr),. There were two releases, both sanctioned by Atari and Bridgestone Multimedia (who had obtained the rights to the Starpath library some time ago) - the first release (a limited number not-for-profit release) also included the previously unreleased Atari prototype, "Polo" by Carol Shaw, and the second release included the Supercharger prototypes "Meteroid" (an early version of "Suicide Mission") and Excalibur (an early version of "Dragonstomper"), as well as a number of homebrew games by permission of their respective authors, and the song "Atari 2600" by Splitsville, fully licensed from the band.

upercharger games

All Supercharger games were developed by Starpath.

* "Communist Mutants from Space"
* "Dragonstomper"
* "Escape From the Mindmaster"
* "Fireball"
* "Frogger, The Official"
* "Killer Satellites"
* "Party Mix"
* "Phaser Patrol"
* "Rabbit Transit"
* "Suicide Mission"
* "Survival Island"
* "Sword of Saros"

Known prototypes

* "Labyrinth" (early version of "Escape From the Mindmaster")
* "Sweat: The Decathlon Game"

External links

* [http://geocities.com/hozervideo/atari/carts/stella/brain.html Stella Gets a New Brain V.2 Order Page ]

ee also

* Cuttle Cart


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Starpath Supercharger — Der Starpath Supercharger war ein Spiele Steckmodul der US amerikanischen Firma Starpath für die Atari 2600 Spielkonsole, die die Eigenschaften der Spielekonsole erheblich erweiterte und im Jahre 1982 zum ersten Mal erschien. Das Modul war ein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Starpath Supercharger — модуль расширения для игровой консоли Atari 2600, выпущенный компанией Starpath в 1982 году. Стоимость устройства составляла 44.95 долларов США. Устройство было выполнено в виде удлинённого картриджа с ручкой на конце. Оно добавляло к очень… …   Википедия

  • Starpath — was a U.S. company known for creating the Starpath Supercharger in 1982. The company was founded in 1981 under the name Arcadia Corporation, but it changed its name to Starpath shortly after for trademark reasons (Emerson Radio Corporation had… …   Wikipedia

  • Starpath — war der Name eines US amerikanischen Computerunternehmens, das ursprünglich 1981 von Alan Bayley, Robert Brown und Craig Nelson unter dem Namen Arcadia Corporation gegründet wurde. Kurz nach der Gründung musste das Unternehmen jedoch aus… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Supercharger (disambiguation) — Supercharger can refer to:* A Supercharger can refer to any gas compressor used to pump air into the cylinders of an internal combustion engine, technically including turbocharging. * Supercharger, a 1990 s garage punk band from San Francisco. *… …   Wikipedia

  • PC Atari Emulator — is a software emulator for running Atari 2600 videogame console programs in Microsoft Windows or in MS DOS. The latest versions of PC Atari Emulator released were 2.5 (for MS DOS) and 2.6 (for Windows). PC Atari Emulator was originally written by …   Wikipedia

  • Escape From The Mindmaster — Infobox VG| title = Escape From The Mindmaster caption= developer = Starpath publisher = Starpath designer = Dennis Caswell engine = released = 1982 genre = First Person Adventure modes = Single Player ratings = platforms = Atari 2600 media =… …   Wikipedia

  • Party Mix (video game) — Infobox VG title= Party Mix caption= developer= Starpath publisher= Starpath distributor= designer= Dennis Caswell series= engine= version= released= 1983 genre= Party game modes= 2 or 4 players ratings= platforms= Atari 2600 media=Cassete tape… …   Wikipedia

  • Phaser Patrol — Programmed by Dennis Caswell, Phaser Patrol is the first numbered release by Starpath Corporation for the Atari 2600. This game simulates a space flight in which you must pilot your ship to destroy the Dracon invaders. It makes use of many of the …   Wikipedia

  • Cuttle Cart — The Cuttle Cart (also known as the SuperDuperCharger during development) is an Atari 2600 cartridge developed by Chad Schell. [1] [2] [3] [4] Similar to the Starpath Supercharger, the Cuttle Cart allows ROM images to be loaded via an 1/8 audio… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”