Retro Video Gamer

The Atari XE Video Game System (Atari XEGS) is an industrial redesign of the Atari 65XE home computer and the final model in the Atari 8-bit family. It was released by Atari Corporation in 1987 and marketed as a home video game console alongside the Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega's Master System, and Atari's own Atari 7800. The XEGS is compatible with existing Atari 8-bit family hardware and software. Without keyboard, the system operates as a stand-alone game console. With the keyboard, it boots identically to the Atari XE computers. Atari packaged the XEGS as a basic set consisting of only the console and joystick, and as a deluxe set consisting of the console, keyboard, joystick and light gun.

The XEGS release was backed by new games, including Barnyard Blaster and Bug Hunt, plus cartridge ports of older games, such as Fight Night (Accolade, 1985), Lode Runner (Broderbund, 1983), Necromancer (Synapse Software, 1982), and Ballblazer (Lucasfilm Games, 1985). Support for the system was dropped in 1992 along with rest of Atari's 8-bit computers as well as the Atari 2600 and Atari 7800.

Very cool!  I've always been curious about this system.  I like the look of it. 

Thanks Laird! I always liked the look of the XE.

Me too I need one

Nice article. Your comment regarding the dominance of home computers in Europe and of the NES left gathering dust in branches of Boots on the first page was historically accurate as well as being amusing! Great to see some retro gaming publications know their history. A great choice by including the relatively recent stunning quality homebrew release of Space Harrier too. 

I liked the look and feel of the XEGS but never understood why it was a 64-bit system. I know few games ever used the 128 Kb of the 130 XE but it seemed a step backward to me.

Quote from: "Cryptic33"I liked the look and feel of the XEGS but never understood why it was a 64-bit system. I know few games ever used the 128 Kb of the 130 XE but it seemed a step backward to me.

I assume you mean 64k

Cartridge games don't need as much RAM as tape or disk games as they can load information on the fly so there really was no point giving the system 128k, it would have just added to the cost.

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "Cryptic33"I liked the look and feel of the XEGS but never understood why it was a 64-bit system. I know few games ever used the 128 Kb of the 130 XE but it seemed a step backward to me.

I assume you mean 64k ;)

Nice topic/article 

A couple of reviews of the XEGS

Not bad reviews, I thought the second one was spot on albeit a little too proud of his shoe box lol. Nice find Laird.

List of official XEGS games:

Ace Of Aces
Airball
Archon
Ballblazer
Barnyard Blaster
Battlezone
Blue Max
Bug Hunt
Choplifter
Crime Buster
Crossbow
Crystal Castles
Dark Chambers
David's Midnight Magic
Desert Falcon
Donkey Kong
Eastern Front 1941
Fight Night
Flight Simulator II
Food Fight
GATO
Hardball
Into The Eagle's Nest
Karateka
Mario Bros.
Lode Runner
Necromancer
One-On-One Basketball
Rescue On Fractalus
Star Raiders II
Summer Games
Thunderfox

Released prototypes:

Tower Toppler
MIDI Maze
Xenophobe
Commando
Deflektor
Mean 18
Jinks
Xevious

Not a large libary of games, though they are known titles for the most part and good games to boot!

Quote from: "TrekMD"Not a large libary of games, though they are known titles for the most part and good games to boot!

The XEGS can play all standard Atari 8-bit cartridge games though too, or even disk and tape games if you connect a drive to it.

This is list is just for the specific XEGS branded games.

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "TrekMD"Not a large libary of games, though they are known titles for the most part and good games to boot!

The XEGS can play all standard Atari 8-bit cartridge games though too, or even disk and tape games if you connect a drive to it.

This is list is just for the specific XEGS branded games.

Ah, so that gives it a very large library.  Cool.

These are all the specific XEGS game boxes: (click to enlarge)

There are a couple I hadn't seen before though my favourites were Star Raiders II and Rescue on Fractalus. Nice 

Great looking system, yet another on the wanted list.. Sadly these seem to fetch more than i am currently willing to spend.

A couple of the XEGS prototypes that were discovered a few years ago: Commando & Xenophobe

https://youtu.be/oj6HzcaePaw

https://youtu.be/fWSiZAmfH08

Both look pretty good!  The music in Commando does seem to be a bit slow, though.  The tempo is off from what I'm used to hearing.

Quote from: "TrekMD"Both look pretty good!  The music in Commando does seem to be a bit slow, though.  The tempo is off from what I'm used to hearing.

Precisely what I was about to post!

Quote from: "TrekMD"Both look pretty good!  The music in Commando does seem to be a bit slow, though.  The tempo is off from what I'm used to hearing.

Probably because its on a PAL machine or emulator

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "TrekMD"Both look pretty good!  The music in Commando does seem to be a bit slow, though.  The tempo is off from what I'm used to hearing.

Probably because its on a PAL machine or emulator

I didn't realize the change to PAL could also affect the sound.  I always thought it was limited to video.

Yes, it can make music sound slower if it hasn't been optimised specifically for PAL.

Quote from: "The Laird"Yes, it can make music sound slower if it hasn't been optimised specifically for PAL.

Interesting!

Quote from: "TrekMD"

Quote from: "The Laird"Yes, it can make music sound slower if it hasn't been optimised specifically for PAL.

Interesting!

This because they often just slow down all the timers for 50hz

Quote from: "TrekMD"Very cool!  I've always been curious about this system.  I like the look of it.  :78:

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "TrekMD"Not a large libary of games, though they are known titles for the most part and good games to boot!

The XEGS can play all standard Atari 8-bit cartridge games though too, or even disk and tape games if you connect a drive to it.

This is list is just for the specific XEGS branded games.

I bet it can't play Gorf.

Quote from: "TrekMD"

Quote from: "The Laird"Yes, it can make music sound slower if it hasn't been optimised specifically for PAL.

Interesting!

That is because NTSC is 60 cycles per second. So the interrupt is usually based of this for
the music timer. So at the PAL 50 cycles it would be slower as it clicks ten time less per second.

Quote from: "Gorf"

Quote from: "TrekMD"Very cool!  I've always been curious about this system.  I like the look of it.  :78:

That's right, you had said you had this.

That's a lot of reviews!  Nice!

Nice to see an article on it, just a few things:

1) The article makes it seem like the XE computer line was created after the 520ST and 7800 re-introduction. The XE Computers were introduced at the January '85 alongside the STs, and actually started shipping in March - way before the retail release of the 520ST that Fall.

2) The XEGS did not compete against the 2600JR/7800, it was specifically targeted to the "high end market" (for people who wanted a game console that could also convert into a computer) to place the company in all three levels of the market (low (2600), mid (7800), high (XEGS)). In the US is was mainly marketed in electronics chains and computer stores.

3) There were only several ads comparing the XEGS to the NES, mainly because of it's computer expansion capabilities. Again, the intent was in boxing in the NES from all three market levels vs. the XEGS directly competing against the NES. The 7800 was the one positioned to directly compete against the NES.

Quote from: "martyg"Nice to see an article on it, just a few things:

1) The article makes it seem like the XE computer line was created after the 520ST and 7800 re-introduction. The XE Computers were introduced at the January '85 alongside the STs, and actually started shipping in March - way before the retail release of the 520ST that Fall.

2) The XEGS did not compete against the 2600JR/7800, it was specifically targeted to the "high end market" (for people who wanted a game console that could also convert into a computer) to place the company in all three levels of the market (low (2600), mid (7800), high (XEGS)). In the US is was mainly marketed in electronics chains and computer stores.

3) There were only several ads comparing the XEGS to the NES, mainly because of it's computer expansion capabilities. Again, the intent was in boxing in the NES from all three market levels vs. the XEGS directly competing against the NES. The 7800 was the one positioned to directly compete against the NES.

Thanks for the reply Marty and correcting me on the first couple of points :(  There is actually a thread (//http) with loads of those adverts in here.

I will be doing another article on the XEGS soon for somebody else it looks like, so I was going to speak to you about that anyway!

XEGS is a system that has been elusive for me to find for quite a while. Saw one on Craigslist a couple years back complete for some crazy low price like $30 and didn't get to the seller in time. Still kicking myself.

Quote from: "sloan"XEGS is a system that has been elusive for me to find for quite a while. Saw one on Craigslist a couple years back complete for some crazy low price like $30 and didn't get to the seller in time. Still kicking myself.

That was quite the deal.  Gorf had a XEGS he wanted to sell.  You may want to contact him to see how much he wants for it. 

Quote from: "TrekMD"

Quote from: "sloan"XEGS is a system that has been elusive for me to find for quite a while. Saw one on Craigslist a couple years back complete for some crazy low price like $30 and didn't get to the seller in time. Still kicking myself.

That was quite the deal.  Gorf had a XEGS he wanted to sell.  You may want to contact him to see how much he wants for it.

Apparently the XEGS is much harder to get hold of in the US than it is in Europe.

Quote from: "The Laird"Apparently the XEGS is much harder to get hold of in the US than it is in Europe.

Y, I have never seen one in the wild in all my years of game hunting. That and TG-16. People just hold onto them around my area, I guess.

My latest video takes an in-depth look at the highly under rated Atari XE Games System. I talk about the console, the history and show you some of the best games! I even included a few genuine adverts for the console!

Can't spend the hour watching the video right now so I'll save it to watch later.   

I just finished wathcing this!  Very nice video, Laird.  I can see you really like Star Raiders II.  I was also disappointed with the sound effects for Desert Falcon and Dark Chambers on the XEGS. I was expecting something more impressive than what the 7800 offers.

Quote from: "TrekMD"I just finished watching this!  Very nice video, Laird.  I can see you really like Star Raiders II.  :1:

Dark Chambers and Desert Falcon are both better on the 7800, which is the more powerful machine, but the XEGS does have the superior sound chip. Dark Chambers is an excellent game though and very impressive technically, really pushes the machine in terms of sprites. I do feel Desert Falcon could have been better but it's still a good game.

The sound is what I was not impressed with.  As you say, the XEGS has a better sound chip!  It should have had nicer sound.  You have to wonder what happened there.

Quote from: "TrekMD"The sound is what I was not impressed with.  As you say, the XEGS has a better sound chip!  It should have had nicer sound.  You have to wonder what happened there.

I know the programmer of Dark Chambers, he helped me with the Retro Gamer article I did on the XEGS. He was telling me that basically it was a one man project and Atari wouldn't pay for somebody to do the sound on it, so what you got was that!

Quote from: "The Laird"

Quote from: "TrekMD"The sound is what I was not impressed with.  As you say, the XEGS has a better sound chip!  It should have had nicer sound.  You have to wonder what happened there.

I know the programmer of Dark Chambers, he helped me with the Retro Gamer article I did on the XEGS. He was telling me that basically it was a one man project and Atari wouldn't pay for somebody to do the sound on it, so what you got was that!

Why am I not surprised?! 

Here are some better/longer videos of some of XE specific games:

That version of Battlezone does look very good.

Some more XEGS specific games:

Ah, Food Fight!  That's a fun game.  I have it on my 7800!

Quote from: "TrekMD"Ah, Food Fight!  That's a fun game.  I have it on my 7800!

Funny enough all those games I just posted are on the 7800 too!

Yes they are.  I do have them all too.   

The problem was the XEGS was it was just an Atari 800XL (as is the Atari 65XE) in a swanky new case format, and the Atari 800XL is not much better than the Atari 800 from 1979 (it has a few more screen modes that are of bugger all use battling the 'all 16 colours on screen' ease of the rival CPC and C64 machines but it does have 256 instead of 128 colours).

Was never going to compete with even the best programmed C64 games most of the time (be it games like Salamander or Rocket Ranger).

Having said that it did have access to some wonderful games, like Rescue on Fractalus, Star Raiders 1 and 2 and Gyrus etc. The bundled games were probably the worst possible choices they could have made. Had they bundled Rescue on Fractalus and stuck it next to an NES with the usual type of tile based 2D 3rd party games it would have made the XEGS look superior to the NES.

However games like Popeye or Donkey Kong do highlight the low sophistication of available screen modes and the Atari version of sprites.

It's a cool machine though, and with the right games it would be just as enjoyable as an NES or SMS at the time. It is a victim of its time though, by the time the XE machines and XEGS console came out EU and US software houses had long since abandoned writing high quality (technically speaking) games and moved on. The Atari 8 bits are powerful but very awkward to program to a level that matched 3rd generation C64 and CPC titles pushing those rivals to the max.

You make some very good points MadCommodore. I have wanted one but agree it is not much better then the older Atari computers.

Agreed, for me I see no reason to add one to my collection other than the fact they look cool lol..

Anything with a detachable keyboard looks awesome I think, I would buy one for the styling because unlike the disastrous C64 GS games console (which covered over the disk drive and cassette port and the internal keyboard connector still on the motherboard) it can still be used in the same way as an Atari 65XE.

Being honest the keyboard is quite poor being the same as on the XE computers, but I would love to modify one with a cart port on one of the sides, front or back (so you can put a monitor on top of it) and try and hack together an Atari 800XL keyboard into the external keyboard casing

To be fair if you compare Uridium on the NES with the unofficial Atari XE version called Oxygene, just depends how much time you are prepared to spend on the machine but it can be expanded nicely (I think you can still use an Atari touchpad with Technicolour Dream 256 colour paint package for example). Sadly in the EU console did very badly before the 16bit models were released and the US only had eyes for the NES at the time.

Good point about the detachable keyboard pal. Do you own one?

It's been a while since something got posted here.  I found this video today by accident with 10 games that are listed as the best for the system.  Anyone with a XEGS want to comment?

Here's a video from the guys from Into the Vertical Blank that looks at some Atari 8bit Re-pro Prototype Carts: Tower Toppler, Super Pac-man, Berzerk, & Xenophobe.