 The Supercharger and a few game boxes | |
| Design firm | Starpath |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Starpath |
| Introduced | August 1982[1] |
| Discontinued | 1984 |
| Cost | 69.95 US$ (included one game: Phaser Patrol)[1] |
| Type | Expansion peripheral cartridge |
| Memory | 6 KB RAM |
| Connection | Cable earphone jack for cassette |
The Starpath Supercharger (originally called the Arcadia Supercharger) is an expansion peripheral cartridge created by Starpath, for playing cassette-based proprietary games on the Atari 2600 video game console.[2][3][4][5]
The device consists of a long cartridge with a handle on the end, and an audio cassette cable. It adds 6 KB to the Atari 2600's 128 bytes of RAM (increasing it 49-fold to 6,272 bytes of RAM),[6] allowing for the creation of specially compatible games which are larger and have higher resolution graphics than normal cartridges. A cable coming out of the side of the cartridge plugs into the earphone jack of any standard cassette player, for loading all Supercharger games from standard audio cassettes.
- ^ a b Upgrades Atari Capacity:Arcadia Sets 'Supercharger Unit, By John Sippel, Page 32, Billboard, 21 Aug 1982, ...comes to market later this month...
- ^ Yarusso, Albert. "Companies: Starpath". AtariAge. Retrieved December 3, 2010.
- ^ Grand, Joe; Thornton, Frank; Yarusso, Albert (2005). Game console hacking: have fun while voiding you warranty. Syngress. pp. 393, 504. ISBN 1-931836-31-0.
- ^ Carless, Simon (2005). Gaming Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools. O'Reilly Media. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0-596-00917-8.
- ^ Herman, Leonard (1997). Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames. Rolenta Press. p. 277. ISBN 0-9643848-2-5.
- ^ Games Department: Atari VCS, By Dan Gutman, ANTIC VOL. 2, NO. 2 / MAY 1983