What is a Melody Board?
The
Melody is a new circuit board developed by AtariAge that provides
several advantages to the typical circuit boards used for new Atari
2600 homebrew games. Most notably, the Melody can be reprogramed
without being removed from the cartridge, which allows us to offer a
50% trade-in credit on any games built with
a Melody board.
Additionally, should a newer version of a game become available, your
Melody-based cartridge can be upgraded for free--you just
pay shipping!
Melody is based on the same technology used by the even more advanced
Harmony Cartridge.
In fact, a Melody board is basically half of a Harmony Cartridge!
It features an advanced, on-board processor and Flash-based memory that
can be reprogrammed time and time again.
Advantages of the Melody board:
Uses all new,
surface-mount components. Before the Melody,
most 2600 homebrew games used refurbished EPROMs, many of which are 25+
years old. As these parts age, there's always the increased
possibility of failure. According to the chip manufacturer, the Flash
memory on the Melody board has a guaranteed minimum lifetime of 20
years. We expect that the typical lifetime is many times longer.
- Melody boards can be reprogrammed without having to open the
cartridge. Thus, you can "recycle" your Melody-based game and get
a significant 50% credit towards a new game, or, if an upgrade for the
game becomes available you can get the latest version by sending the
cartridge to us and paying return shipping.
- The Melody has on-board RAM and supports every known Atari 2600
bankswitching method up to 32K in size. This includes SARA-based
(Superchip) games
and all the unique bankswitching schemes developed by third-party 2600
game developers. This gives homebrew authors more flexibility in
developing new games down the road.
- The Melody has increased compatibility with the wide variety of
2600-compatible game systems in existence. It's not uncommon to
run into systems that have problems playing a particular Atari 2600
homebrew game for one reason or another (this happens often with the
7800). The Melody board virtually eliminates this problem.
- We can ship Melody-based games more quickly than games built with
traditional boards since we do not need to program the parts and hand
solder components to the circuit board.
Melody Upgrade
AtariAge is now offering the option of upgrading all Atari 2600 games
we
sell with the Melody circuit board. To make sure you get a
Melody-based game, check that the "Melody Upgrade" option is set to
"Yes" when you add a game to your shopping cart, as shown below:
You can upgrade any Atari 2600
game with a Melody board.
If you own a Melody-based game,
you
can trade it in for 50% of its original selling price towards store
credit on a new purchase.
Thus, on a $30 homebrew game you will receive a $15 credit. You
only need to send the cartridge back to us--you may keep the original
game manual.
If a revised version of a game is made available and you own it in
Melody-based form, we will upgrade the game at no charge except for
shipping. Simply send the cartridge back to us and pay for return
shipping and we'll upgrade your cartridge for free. If a revised
manual has been created, we will offer that for a nominal charge.
Please contact us if
you'd like to trade-in or upgrade an existing Melody-based game (or
games).
How do I identify a Melody-based
game?
You can use a small flathead screwdriver or other small implement to
push open the dust-cover mechanism of an Atari 2600 cartridge until the
circuit board is revealed. Melody-based boards will have the word
"Harmony" visible on one side of the circuit board, as shown in the
picture below:
Look for the "Harmony" logo near the
bottom of the circuit board.
Homebrew Author Benefits
As mentioned above, the Melody board supports all known bankswitching
methods. In the past, most homebrew games larger than 4K were
limited to using Atari's standard F8 (8K), F6 (16K), and F4 (32K)
bankswitching methods. Not only does the Melody open the door for
additional bankswitching methods developed by Atari and third-party
companies "back in the day", but it also allows for development of new,
custom bankswitch methods. The Melody also has 8K of on-board
RAM, a huge asset given the Atari 2600's stock 128 bytes of memory.
Additionally, Melody boards can be built with a 128K Flash chip,
replacing the Melody's standard 32K of Flash memory. And if 8K of
RAM
isn't enough for you, up to 64K of RAM can be added instead. This
allows for
a Melody board containing 128K of
Flash memory and 64K of RAM. And if that's not enough, the Melody
can be fitted with an optional
EEPROM chip up to 4MB
in size!
If you're interested in developing a homebrew game using a unique
bankswitching method, or would like to explore using Melody boards with
additional Flash and/or RAM, please
drop us a line.
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