Asteroids: why 8Kb and then such a bad port?

[+FujiSkunk]

Doesnt early arcade games for mame have to be recreated due to the origionals being all hardware logic and no ROM programable CPU?

 

Yes, if they chose to do so. At one point the MAME maintainers decided they wanted to focus only on emulation, not simulation. Pong was in the MAME list for a while, but then got taken out, since it has no computer code to run through MAME's virtual microchips. It's been a while since I downloaded the latest MAME, so I don't know if that's still the case.

 

On that subject, wasnt Midways "dont know the name but its Outlaw on the 2600" the first arcade game to use a programable processor?

 

Gun Fight, and yes. Sprint 2 was Atari's first CPU-controlled game (I thought I remembered it being Asteroids, but Google says otherwise).

Edited June 27, 2012 by FujiSkunk

[+wood_jl]

Personally, I think it's better than the 8-bit version. Drab colors, same gameplay......... maybe it's just me.

 

 

I thought the same thing, too. The A8 game was still tons of fun at the time, but when aren't more colors a nice thing?

[ZylonBane]

I played this one

 

http://yourentertain...arge-070209.jpg

 

Christ, seriously? He meant which game variation, not which cartridge variation.

[Arkhan]

I played this one

 

http://yourentertain...arge-070209.jpg

 

Christ, seriously? He meant which game variation, not which cartridge variation.

 

I know.

 

I was just being an ass.

 

I'm not sure which one I played as a kid. It was one of the variations that did have a ship. I always thought the shield mode was kind of dumb.

 

Lately, I do game 4 though, since I've read that's the "best one"

[R.O.T.S]

I think people would be disappointed but not surprised back in the day to discover it was not vector graphics but i have not heard many other complaints about it, it looks nice and is colorful and to be honest i think Asteroids on the Atari 2600 wins with playability -it has to be one of the most playable games on the system in my opinion.

[davyK]

My brother and I played a hell of a lot of Asteroids - game 6 (or 39 for 2 player) has fast rocks, hyperspace and extra life every 20K. We played this a couple of times EVERY DAY for a least a year (1982-83)!!

 

Game 8 (or 41 for 2 player) is the same except there are no extra lives which is great for when you get too good and games last too long. Diff A all the way of course - you need the enemy ships.

 

Remember - you can use the fast game select to get to the 2 player variations quickly by holding down select and reset at the same time - I remember thinking this was so cool back in the day!!

Edited July 3, 2012 by davyK