343 replies to this topic

[EricDeLee]

I still love the fact that this is released on an actual game cart... (or designed to look like one).
I'm amazed that this product can be made of this quality at such a cheap price.  This flies directly in the face of some people that have visited these boards and scoffed at such an idea.  Obviously, Zaku HAS to be making some sort of profit.  So it shows that a game can be produced nowadays at a fraction of the cost others have said it would take.  This is proof that it does not have to cost $50 for a bare circuit board cart nowadays.  That point was argued by many back when I brought up the EOTB discussion.  I am very interested in seeing this cart in person.  It would be cool to possibly see photos of it without the sticker.

[Curt Vendel]

Wow!!!!   What a cool game - basically a Sonic take on gameplay - I love the evil penguins! :-)

You just gave me a reason to get back into the Lynx, I know what I'm going to purchase this month!


Nice work.


Curt

Clean Larry, on Fri Oct 2, 2009 5:29 PM, said:

October 02, 2009

Super Fighter Team and PenguiNet are overjoyed to announce the completion of Zaku for Atari Lynx! This new and completely original shooter was in development for six years - and the results of that time investment are beautifully captured in the Zaku gameplay video that's been newly added to the official Zaku website! Featuring previews of several different stages and boss fights over a piece of music direct from the soundtrack, its a delicious taste of what's to come.

Check out the new video, and while you're there, sign up for the Zaku mailing list so you can be directly informed of the game's approaching release date!

*** CHECK OUT THE NEW ZAKU GAMEPLAY VIDEO! ***

Thank-you everyone for your attention, interest and support! Never let dreams die!

[Turbo Laser Lynx]

Amazing achievement man!

The game looks great in the video, the best cartoon graphics on the Lynx by far. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that professional cart, those Lynx carts were always so neat.

JOY!

[Battlezone]

To have the classic curved cartridges with a new released is enough to buy a lot of brand new Tournment cyberball at 0,01 Euro/USD and replace the T.Cyberball chips with the ones of the new game

Edited by Battlezone, Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:38 AM.

[the.golden.ax]

Is it for sale yet, is it for sale yet, is it for sale yet

AX

[EricDeLee]

Battlezone, on Mon Oct 12, 2009 6:37 AM, said:

To have the classic curved cartridges with a new released is enough to buy a lot of brand new Tournment cyberball at 0,01 Euro/USD and replace the T.Cyberball chips with the ones of the new game

I wonder if any of the chip sticks out the back of the curved cart they are showing. That is doubtful, but it crossed my mind.  
It makes me really wonder what can actually be done for EOTB.  I mean if they can do this, at this price... couldn't EOTB be done at a great price... kinda like this?  EOTb as a curved cart would be AMAZING.  VERY unlikely but amazing.

[Clean Larry]

EricDeLee, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:35 PM, said:

I wonder if any of the chip sticks out the back of the curved cart they are showing.

What we have produced looks just like an Atari cart. No chips are visible.

[Tom-Lynx]

EricDeLee, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:35 PM, said:

I wonder if any of the chip sticks out the back of the curved cart they are showing. That is doubtful, but it crossed my mind.  
It makes me really wonder what can actually be done for EOTB.  I mean if they can do this, at this price... couldn't EOTB be done at a great price... kinda like this?  EOTb as a curved cart would be AMAZING.  VERY unlikely but amazing.

With today's technology.... NOTHING you create for the Lynx would need to stick out beyond a curved lip cart.

[the.golden.ax]

Tom-Lynx, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:49 PM, said:

EricDeLee, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:35 PM, said:

I wonder if any of the chip sticks out the back of the curved cart they are showing. That is doubtful, but it crossed my mind.  
It makes me really wonder what can actually be done for EOTB.  I mean if they can do this, at this price... couldn't EOTB be done at a great price... kinda like this?  EOTb as a curved cart would be AMAZING.  VERY unlikely but amazing.

With today's technology.... NOTHING you create for the Lynx would need to stick out beyond a curved lip cart.

My thoughts exactly... I mean, after all back in the day Atari was making them nice and flat... we have come a LONG way since then so anyone who was motivated enough like Super Fighter could get someone to do it given enough incentive. I really hope this kicks off a trend.

AX

[karri]

the.golden.ax, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:35 PM, said:

Tom-Lynx, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:49 PM, said:

EricDeLee, on Tue Oct 13, 2009 7:35 PM, said:

I wonder if any of the chip sticks out the back of the curved cart they are showing. That is doubtful, but it crossed my mind.  
It makes me really wonder what can actually be done for EOTB.  I mean if they can do this, at this price... couldn't EOTB be done at a great price... kinda like this?  EOTb as a curved cart would be AMAZING.  VERY unlikely but amazing.

With today's technology.... NOTHING you create for the Lynx would need to stick out beyond a curved lip cart.

My thoughts exactly... I mean, after all back in the day Atari was making them nice and flat... we have come a LONG way since then so anyone who was motivated enough like Super Fighter could get someone to do it given enough incentive. I really hope this kicks off a trend.

AX

It would be very nice to have a 512k flash cart with a 128 byte serial EEPROM and 16k non-volatile SRAM. This would run anything created for the Lynx so far including EOTB. Putting all this electronics into a package like Zaku would be the perfect solution for future Lynx releases. You could produce a large amount of blank carts. Then you could program then on-demand, apply a nice sticker and have a professional quality cart.

The SRAM would be fast and big enough to hold adventure game inventories and track where the objects are. The SRAM could also hold modified scenery after explosions for Worms-like games. The EEPROM is good for hi-scores.

I am sure that there are many programmers out here who would love to see their beloved work in a cart like this.
--
Karri

[TailChao]

karri, on Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:22 AM, said:

It would be very nice to have a 512k flash cart with a 128 byte serial EEPROM and 16k non-volatile SRAM. This would run anything created for the Lynx so far including EOTB.

While would add compatibility with Atari's backup scheme used in EoTB, I believe FRAM would be a better choice. Putting a battery in a thin card like the Lynx's is never a good idea, and most other non volatile types of memory are slow, expensive or both. FRAM is affordable, small, and the only cost is having to write back the contents after they are read.

[karri]

TailChao, on Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:09 AM, said:

karri, on Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:22 AM, said:

It would be very nice to have a 512k flash cart with a 128 byte serial EEPROM and 16k non-volatile SRAM. This would run anything created for the Lynx so far including EOTB.

While would add compatibility with Atari's backup scheme used in EoTB, I believe FRAM would be a better choice. Putting a battery in a thin card like the Lynx's is never a good idea, and most other non volatile types of memory are slow, expensive or both. FRAM is affordable, small, and the only cost is having to write back the contents after they are read.

I had no idea about FRAM. This is really cool. An FM1808 chip 32k x 8 bit would work with EOTB directly.

--
Karri

[Atarifever]

I was trying to figure out why I was so anxiously awaiting this game when it dawned on me: this is the first entirely new 16 bit shooter release I've seen since that generation (my favorite) ended.  This is a new, new 16 bit shooter videogame in the year 2009.  Awesome.

Edited by Atarifever, Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:20 AM.

[matashen]

Atarifever, on Wed Oct 14, 2009 11:18 AM, said:

I was trying to figure out why I was so anxiously awaiting this game when it dawned on me: this is the first entirely new 16 bit shooter release I've seen since that generation (my favorite) ended.  This is a new, new 16 bit shooter videogame in the year 2009.  Awesome.

Not 16Bit, The Lynx is an 8-Bit Machine (Mikey)

[TailChao]

karri, on Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:55 AM, said:

I had no idea about FRAM. This is really cool. An FM1808 chip 32k x 8 bit would work with EOTB directly.

Yes, it's an extremely useful type of memory.

matashen, on Wed Oct 14, 2009 2:32 PM, said:

Not 16Bit, The Lynx is an 8-Bit Machine (Mikey)

Bitness is kind of an outdated term nowadays, but I still consider the Lynx 16-Bit under the same context as the TurboGrafx-16. Mikey is kind of a moot point in the way most consoles were classified at the time. But I'm sure someone can argue that the Lynx is 32-Bit because of the Multiply/Divide registers   .

[Atarifever]

Listen, I'm sure tech people can argue all day over if the Jag is 64 bit, if the TG-16 is 16 bit, if there really are 64 bit machines, if the lynx was 16 bit, etc.  However, games from the 16 bit era consoles and the NES era consoles are very easy to tell the difference between.  Lynx games look more like TG-16 games than they look like NES games.  That makes this a release of a 16 bit shooter to me.

[matashen]

Atarifever, on Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:13 PM, said:

Listen, I'm sure tech people can argue all day over if the Jag is 64 bit, if the TG-16 is 16 bit, if there really are 64 bit machines, if the lynx was 16 bit, etc.  However, games from the 16 bit era consoles and the NES era consoles are very easy to tell the difference between.  Lynx games look more like TG-16 games than they look like NES games.  That makes this a release of a 16 bit shooter to me.

very interesting thoughts about

[sd32]

Atarifever, on Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:13 PM, said:

Listen, I'm sure tech people can argue all day over if the Jag is 64 bit, if the TG-16 is 16 bit, if there really are 64 bit machines, if the lynx was 16 bit, etc.  However, games from the 16 bit era consoles and the NES era consoles are very easy to tell the difference between.  Lynx games look more like TG-16 games than they look like NES games.  That makes this a release of a 16 bit shooter to me.

Good point, and games like Battlewheels and Blue Lightning are even more impressive than a lot of 16-bit home console games. Double Dracon on Lynx looks closer to the Megadrive port than to the NES, Master System and 7800 ports.
Platformers on Lynx usually feature numerous layers of pharallax and huge sprites without the amount of slowdown and flicker the NES generation games had. On the other hand, the Lynx resolution is closer to that one of the NES generation as is the number of colors it displays on screen at once, and as is the number of channels of sound (just 4), even if they are pretty nice.
Anyway as it was already said, the bittness talk is pretty pointless.

[karri]

Back to the topic.

When can we expect to be able order a Zaku cart?

These LARGE characters are so cute. It is amazing that nobody has used the screen like this in a Lynx game before.
--
Karri

[Ninjabba]

cant wait to order this gem as well, that trailer shows incredible stuff on the lynx. Why o why weren't they exploiting our beloved console in the past is all I wonder when looking at that trailer.

[Battlezone]

Come on! Come on! All we need is ZAKU!!!

[Clean Larry]

October 16, 2009

Your eyes popped out at the screenshots.
Your heart raced from the video preview.
You were amazed by the final product design.

After witnessing these things, a single question sprung into your mind:
"When can I get it?"

Today, I'm happy to say that greatness is right around the corner.

Zaku, the crazy-fast new shooter for Atari Lynx, will make its public debut on October 24, 2009 at the Classic Console and Arcade Gaming Show in Cleveland, Ohio. A copy of the game will be up and running during the show, playable by all attendees. Toward the end of the day, that copy will be given away for free as a prize to one lucky person, compliments of Super Fighter Team. For more information about this event, please visit the ccagshow.com website.

But that's not all...

We will also begin taking orders for Zaku on October 24, 2009, at the price of only USD$40.00 each + shipping and handling. As part of our continued effort to satisfy our customers, we will not be taking pre-orders for this game. Instead, all orders will be shipped out as soon as possible, once payment has been received. No waiting means you'll receive the game sooner, thus being able to enjoy it sooner - just another quality service we at Super Fighter Team are happy to provide.

Don't get too comfortable, because Zaku is coming. And it's going to open up your Lynx to a whole new world of possibilities.

[EricDeLee]

Holy crap!  I think I need to make a trip to Cleveland now.  
Would you be giving away that copy on Sat?
I'm trying to firgure out how to schedule this in between a 10K run and a Halloween Party.
Also... is the version at the show that you will be giving away any different than the other releases?

[Clean Larry]

EricDeLee, on Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:48 PM, said:

Holy crap!  I think I need to make a trip to Cleveland now.  
Would you be giving away that copy on Sat?
I'm trying to firgure out how to schedule this in between a 10K run and a Halloween Party.
Also... is the version at the show that you will be giving away any different than the other releases?

* The game will be on display at the CCAG show, along with flyers and an e-mail sign up sheet (for our product mailing list), but orders will be handled strictly through our website. Anyone attending the event in Cleveland will have an early opportunity to try out the game and have some fun with it.

* The event takes place on Saturday, thus the prize will be awarded on Saturday. It will be up to the CCAG organizers to determine how the prize will be won, though it will likely be through a video game tournament of some kind.

* The copy of the game that will appear at the event is a final retail copy, the same as what will be shipped to customers upon ordering.

[EricDeLee]

Clean Larry, on Fri Oct 16, 2009 4:54 PM, said:

* The copy of the game that will appear at the event is a final retail copy, the same as what will be shipped to customers upon ordering.

That's what I really needed to know!  6 Hours of driving time would have been brutal with my schedule for that day.  
I will sit back and just place an order I suppose.  I have to do that 10K for sure... so I didn't want to miss out of it (even though it is going to kill me!)