Atari didn't expect their Video Computer System to last as long as it did. The company figured they would need a new game system by 1979, three years after the Video Computer System's development was complete. In 1977, Atari's engineers began work on this new system, using the existing Video Computer System as a foundation. The new system's CPU would be a MOS 6502, compatible with the Video Computer System's MOS 6507, but also more versatile. The graphics chip would be an upgrade of the Video Computer System's custom Television Interface Adapter. The new chip, dubbed the Color Television Interface Adapter, would provide higher resolution and a lot more control over objects on screen.
Eventually it became apparent the Atari Video Computer System would still be marketable beyond 1979. At the same time, however, the home computer market was growing, and Atari decided they neeeded something to compete in the new market. So, the idea for a new game system became the idea for a new computer line. After the engineers were finished, the first of Atari's 8-bit computers, the Atari 400 and the Atari 800, were born.
So if Atari's 8-bit computers have a compatible CPU, and the CTIA is just an upgraded version of the TIA, then the 8-bits can play all of the games in the Video Computer System's library, right? Well, not necessarily. While a good amount of code can move virtually unchanged from one system to the other, there are just enough differences between the TIA and CTIA, including some capabilities of the TIA that the CTIA does not have, to make porting a non-trivial task. While it may not involve quite as much work as writing an adaptation from scratch, porting a VCS game with the intention of preserving as much of the original look and feel as possible does require enough effort that few programmers have tried.
That is why AtariAge and AtariOnline member Phaeron's work is particularly impressive, for he has ported not one, but three games! Starting with the code of the Atari VCS originals, Phaeron has created 8-bit computer versions of Atari's Midnight Magic and Activision's Seaquest and Stampede. The ports look, sound and play as much like the 2600 games as the computers can allow, which, despite the differences under the hood, is pretty darn close. Some may wonder why Phaeron didn't seek to flesh out the games as he ported them, adding fancier graphics and other bells and whistles offered by the 8-bit computer line. That simply wasn't the goal. The goal was to prove the 8-bits really can do everything the Video Computer System can do, even if it takes a bit of hacking to make it happen. In that, Phaeron succeeded, and as a happy side effect, Atari 8-bit owners get three more great games to play.
Grade for all three: A.