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Anyone think Ballblazer is possible on the 2600?


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Thanks,

I'm now optimizing the code so it will be smaller and I'll be able to add more features.

I'll add music if there is enough rom space left. Sound effects are a must-have I guess, so those should be added first.

I've not thought about PAL yet, but if I can make a PAL-version by just changing some parameters in the assembler, then that should be no problem.

If you want, I could try and make the music a very small routine.

In my Mappy TIA Music Demo, I took the 1 minute 20 second song data of 8668 bytes down to 823 bytes, and ended with a thought to cut 122 more bytes out.

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/233403-mappy-tia-music-demo-enjoy/?p=3150703

Video down below that.

Plus Ballblazer tune minus repeating parts is less than 5 seconds.

 

I had an hour of reply I just lost when I went looking for that link, saying you not only proved Ballblazer could be done but topped that with Ballblazer in a game all in 4K, and that the 2008 & 2015 Pac-Man 4K are masterpieces, but the new Pac-Man 8K is about to become the greatest overall 2600 game of all time.

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Thanks,

I'm now optimizing the code so it will be smaller and I'll be able to add more features.

I'll add music if there is enough rom space left. Sound effects are a must-have I guess, so those should be added first.

I've not thought about PAL yet, but if I can make a PAL-version by just changing some parameters in the assembler, then that should be no problem.

 

Wow!!! I just found this thread. Man, now I really wish I could have attended the PRGE. :thumbsup:

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  • 1 month later...
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I used to play this on the 7800 in the late 80s. Before I got the nintendo ( I got it several years late due to my parent's financials.).

 

This was by far my favorite game on that system, and to have it on the 2600 in a version this good is amazing. Just found out about it.

 

Can we make custom carts for it ? Did anyone setup a proper label ?

Edited by tradyblix
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Wow, another year has passed... I've been very busy at work, working on a new product for the last year (and still not finished since requirements grew...). So not much time (and maybe I'm just lazy).

If I continue, I think I should go for 8K instead of 4K.

Edited by roland p
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icon_mrgreen.gif

 

But even so, you are still right - I've owned, and liked, Ballblazer for 20+ years, but take away the fantastic audiovisuals and there isn't a great game underneath. A good game, but not great.

 

What do you mean? Someone released basically the same game in 2015 and called it 'Rocket League', and many think it's the greatest thing ever ;)

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Wow, another year has passed... I've been very busy at work, working on a new product for the last year (and still not finished since requirements grew...). So not much time (and maybe I'm just lazy).

If I continue, I think I should go for 8K instead of 4K.

 

Heh heh yes why not.. In kid's layman's terms, 8K is more stronger and more powerful than 4K. So if it enables extra game logic, detail, and allows for more rules and things - then definitely use 8K. And especially if it removes frustration and roadblocks. There's only so many times code can be refactored and compacted before the effort to get 1 more byte means a complete re-write. <- that's my experience in programming BBS software in the 80's. Fitting in spinning cursors and clock routines and stuff like that. I assume it also applies here.

 

I think we've seen enough 2K and 4K magic. It can be too limiting. For real. Leave the notion of "Look! It's only 4K!" to the democoder scene. Put it behind you and expand your horizons with new possibilities. In today's day and age (even on the VCS) bigger games are fully the norm. They're also acceptable, because, well, many great games are 8K.

 

Of the official Atari-Sears releases the number of games for each memory size:

 

2K - 41

4K - 36

8K - 65

16K - 31

 

Forgive me for lecturing.

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If I continue, I think I should go for 8K instead of 4K.

Looking at it another way, Ballblazer is a 1984 title. Judging by my ROM directory... in 1983, a little less than half of the games were >4k. In 1984, >4k games outnumbered 4k games 8:1. There's no doubt in my mind that a period 2600 Ballblazer game would have been >4k.

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That looks utterly fantastic :)

 

One point, if you go past a player on the right, the reflected view for the other player should show you passing on the left. In the video, it passes in both views on the same side.

At what timecode was that?

 

 

This also works great on the Flashback Portable, in case anyone was wondering. :)

 

Indeed I was :D

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