atari2600 games are not centered or stretched to fit screen

mediamogul

@ozboss said in atari2600 games are not centered or streched to fit screen:

Just some of them are not fitting the screen and have a black bar on the left side.

I'm pretty sure what you're describing is just the original presentation imperfections of some games. Between television overscan and being focused on reducing the amount of RF snow, we never noticed any framing issues when the games were new. However, low development standards in 2600 games was so common that it is even credited as being one of the main contributing factors that led to the video game crash of 1983.

ozboss

thanks for the fast respond i did some further investigation and you are right :) well if that is the way these games are ment to be played im happy

mediamogul

@ozboss

Be sure to check out 'H.E.R.O.' if you never have. It's a personal favorite of mine and one that really pushes the 2600 to it's technical limits.

ozboss

@mediamogul

i did and yes its awesome :D thanks for the tipp though

RetroResolution

I had the same questions myself; I subsequently found that the reasons for this issue are covered in the excellent book Racing the Beam, written by Nick Montfort:

Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System (Platform Studies Series)

mediamogul

@RetroResolution said in atari2600 games are not centered or streched to fit screen:

Racing the Beam

I've been meaning to read that for some time. Ed Fries was so impressed with it that he turned around and wrote 'Halo 2600'. Maybe I'll start it sometime this week.

BuZz

@RetroResolution +1 for the book recommendation. It is excellent.

RetroResolution

Another book on the technical side of retro-gaming that I highly recommend is It's Behind You: The Making of ZX Spectrum R-type, as written by the coder of the immense 8-bit conversion, Bob Pape.

Brilliantly this ebook is free; a little background and a link to the download are on the following page:
http://www.gnomeslair.com/2013/09/its-behind-you-making-of-zx-spectrum-r.html

Direct link to Bob Pape's Bizzley.com:
http://bizzley.com/

BuZz

@RetroResolution Love R-Type on the speccy - amazing port. Thanks for the recommendation - grabbing it now.

RetroResolution

@BuZz enjoy!

edmaul69

@mediamogul love halo 2600. My favorite homebrew. Rom is free to download for anyone reading this. Also the ony atari homebrew i own

RetroResolution

@edmaul69 I'll be grabbing this homebrew as soon as I get a chance - thanks!

Riverstorm

Thanks for the book tips guys, just grabbed some .mobi and .epub versions for some Kindle reading this winter. I have "Ready Player One" at the front of the queue though as recommended by Caver. ;)

RetroResolution

@Riverstorm Ready Player One is an excellent read - fingers crossed that the movie adaptation can do it justice.
Unfortunately I was less enthralled with the author's second novel, Armada.