Starpath Supercharger
The Starpath Supercharger was a plug-in game module from the US company Starpath for the Atari 2600 game console , which significantly expanded the game console's features and was first released in 1982. The Supercharger was developed by Bob Brown, a former Atari engineer. The module was a normal game plug-in module, but it contained a considerably larger memory than the usual game modules and thus increased the internal memory of the Atari 2600 from 128 bytes to 6,272 bytes. This enabled more extensive games with a higher graphic resolution to be played on the platform. A cable at the back of the cartridge had a small oneProvided a jack plug that was plugged into a regular cassette recorder . The games could be loaded from the additionally sold program cassettes into the memory of the Supercharger and then played.
Starpath sold a number of games specially made for the Supercharger. The best known was the game Phaser Patrol , which was delivered together with the Supercharger. All games for the Supercharger were developed by Starpath.
The Supercharger was distributed in Germany by Unimex from Wiesbaden . The device was sold under the name " Unimex Supercharger SR 3000 ". The instructions for the games were translated into German and some of the titles of the games were also transferred: For example, the American game Communist Mutants From Space simply became Attack from Space in German .
Today, the Starpath Supercharger is one of the most sought-after collector's items among collectors, as it can be used to connect a CD game collection published by Cyberpunk Entertainment to the Atari 2600.
Games for the supercharger
- Communist Mutants From Space
- Suicide Mission
- Escape From The Mindmaster
- Dragonstomper
- Rabbit transit
- Fireball
- Frogger
- Killer satellites
- labyrinth
- Party mix
- Phaser Patrol
- Survival Island
- Sweat: The Decathlon Game
- Sword of Saros
Well-known prototypes
- Labyrinth (early version of Escape from the Mindmaster)
- Sweat: The Decathlon Game (later published as Summer Games by Epyx )
compatibility
The Supercharger is compatible with the Atari 2600 , Atari 2600 Jr. and the Sears Video Arcade console.
Due to the shape of the Supercharger, the module did not fit into the ColecoVision Expansion Module # 1, which was used as an adapter for the ColecoVision console in order to play Atari 2600 games. However, if you removed the housing of the supercharger or used an extender, the supercharger could be operated on the ColecoVision (the extender was sent by Starpath to customers who contacted the company about this disadvantage).
The supercharger did not work with many Atari 7800 consoles that are actually compatible with the Atari 2600. Only a few early console models were able to properly address the supercharger.
Individual evidence
- ↑ TeleMatch No. 5/83 - August / September (8/9), page 33 - advertisement.
- ↑ Goodman, Danny: "Starpath's Supercharger for Atari". Radio-Electronics 54 (6) (June 1983), pages 65-67.