Atari Compatibility

Is the BASIC in the new Ataris the same as the BASIC in the 400 and 800? In other words, will the games and programs for the 400 and 800 run on the new XL and XLD computers? Also, how many player/missiles do the new Ataris have?

Dennis Heckman

Although some changes have been made in the newer models, BASIC is still essentially the same. Programs written for the older models should run on the XLs, provided the programmer has followed Atari's rules regarding the ROM jump tables. Some ROM routines have been moved in the newer models, and a direct call to a ROM routine which has been moved will yield unpredictable results.

The new Atari XL computers have four players and four missiles, as did the older models.