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Bally Alley Astrocast: Episode 17 - News, Updates, List All Cartridges

Bally Alley Astrocast

Release Date: 02/12/2021

Bally Alley Astrocast: Episode 19 - Astrocade Newbie with Brian (Ballistik Coffee Boy) show art Bally Alley Astrocast: Episode 19 - Astrocade Newbie with Brian (Ballistik Coffee Boy)

Bally Alley Astrocast

In episode #19 of the Bally Alley Astrocast podcast, the host, Adam, talks with his friend Brian, the host of the "Ballistik Coffee Boy" YouTube channel. Brian has no previous experience with the Bally Arcade console and he explores it with Adam for the first time and talks about what he thinks of it. Since Brian lives locally to Adam, they both look at the console together in person. Recurring Links  - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website - By Chris Federico Show Notes We have limited show notes again for this episode. If there's something in the podcast that you want to hear more...

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In episode #18 of the Bally Alley Astrocast podcast, the hosts, Chris and Adam, cover two games written in Bally BASIC called "Cross Country Racer" and "Star Wars" by Doug Shaeffer, an amateur Astrocade programmer. These games were archived, along with other programs, by Paul Thacker in February 2022 from an Astrocade collection bought on Ebay by Nate Reeder in January 2022. Paul says, "These seem to me to have been made for personal use rather than with a goal of publication, but there's still some cool stuff in here [...]." Also covered is one piece of feedback and some recent updates to the...

info_outline Bally Alley Astrocast: Episode 17 - News, Updates, List All Cartridges show art Bally Alley Astrocast: Episode 17 - News, Updates, List All Cartridges

Bally Alley Astrocast

I play a bit of catch-up to bring the podcast semi-current and also to get me back into the podcasting mood. I cover all of the my Bally Arcade/Astrocade videos from 2020 about the Astrocade. I go over all of the updates to the BallyAlley.com website dating back to February 2020. I list all of the Astrocade games on cartridge and BASIC that have been covered so far in previous episodes. Plus, I talk about the cartridges that still need to be covered in upcoming episodes.

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In episode #16 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Kevin Bunch interviews Andy Guevara. The interview took place Saturday, May 16, 2020. Andy wrote three programs that were released on cartridge for the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. The first cartridge was Machine Language Manager (MLM), released by The Bit Fiddlers in 1982. L&M Software approached Andy due to his machine language skills and a collaboration got underway that produced Ms. Candyman and Sea Devil, which were both released on cartridge in 1983. Andy also wrote some additional software: Chicken and the Goldfish Demo were released on tape,...

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In episode #15 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam conducts a user interview with David Kindred. David got his Astrocade console in 1981 when he was 11 years old. He learned to program in Bally BASIC, which caused a spark that eventually ignited into a flame that drove David to college where he studied computer science and information technology. He worked for 25 years as a computer programmer, beginning with Fortune 500 companies, before he moved into IT management, where he works to this day.

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  In episode 13 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam and Chris review the Bally Arcade/Astrocade game "Cosmic Raiders," a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up. "Cosmic Raiders" is a game released in 1983 on an 8K cartridge by Astrocade Inc. It is part of the Action/Skills Series and is part #2019. It was written by Bob Ogdon, Scot L. Norris, Julie Malan, and Lisa Natting. "In deep space lies the alien sector Larkin. You are there on a mission to obtain energy sources that have been seized by the evil Larkins. Radar and a superior guidance system help you avoid attacking fighters and...

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In episode 12 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam is joined by his good friend, and sometime-co-host, Chris++. Adam and Chris review the Bally Arcade/Astrocade game "ICBM Attack." This is one of the very rare third-party programs that was released on cartridge. This 4Kb game was released in 1982 by Brett Bilbrey, Mike Toth and Marian Nalepa (Spectre Systems). It requires a special controller called the "Spectre Handle" to play the game. Recurring Links  - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website - By Chris Federico "ICBM Attack" Notes ICBM Attack by Spectre Systems - Video...

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In episode 11 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam is joined by his 25-year-old son Dominic. Dominic discusses his memories of growing up with an Astrocade in the house in the late-to-mid-nineties and early 2000s. Adam and Dominic review the Bally BASIC/"AstroBASIC" game Hamurabi. Recurring Links  - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website - By Chris Federico Some Astrocade News/Updates In this short episode, we decided not to cover any updates, as very few were made since our last recording. Introduction Notes - Pictures of Ward Shrake's Astrocade multicart from the early 2000s. -...

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In episode 10 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, Adam and Chris++ review the modified version of the "AstroBASIC" game Gobblers. They also discuss just a few of the many updates to the BallyAlley.com website since March 2017. Finally, they talk about some of the recent occurrences in the Astrocade community. This is the first full-length episode in over 2 1/2 years; thanks to all those Astrocade fans who kept pestering Adam for another episode. Recurring Links  - Bally Arcade / Astrocade Website - By Chris Federico Some Astrocade News/Updates - BallyAlley's YouTube Playlist -...

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More Episodes

In episode #17 of the Bally Alley Astrocast, I play a bit of catch-up to bring the podcast semi-current. I also made this episode to get me back into the podcasting mood. I cover all of the Bally Arcade/Astrocade videos I made in 2020 about the Astrocade and I make brief mentions of the ones about the Atari, Amiga and TI-99/4a computers. I go over all of the updates to the BallyAlley.com website dating back to February 2020. I list all of the Astrocade games on cartridge and BASIC that have been covered so far in previous episodes. Plus, I talk about the cartridges that still need to be covered in upcoming episodes.

Thanks to "Quinn Tech Retro" on YouTube and Chris++ for inspiring me to make this episode.

Recurring Links 

Where are the Show Notes?

I always spend far too long creating the show notes. For now, they're on an extended hiatus until I find more time to devote to them. If there's something in the podcast that would want to hear more about and a search on the Internet won't turn it up for you, then contact the Astrocade discussion group on Groups.io.

Feedback

There is no feedback covered in this episode,but we would love to hear your thoughts and comments about this (or any) Astrocast episode or about your history with the Bally Arcade/Astrocade. The best way to contact us is via email at BallyAlley or through via the Bally Alley Discussion Group at Groups.io.

Next Episode's Coverage

Astrocast #17 was supposed to cover the material in the "AstroBASIC" manual. That was recorded, but it didn't turned out the way I hoped that it would sound, so the "AstroBASIC" manual overview has been put off until I can cover it with a co-host. Episode #18 will cover a BASIC game and maybe a cartridge game too. Right now, I'll see what sounds interesting to me when I'm ready to record the new episode.