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Bump n Jump - closer look


iesposta

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I just took a close look at Bump n Jump by Mattel for the 2600.

I liked the arcade game a lot and was thinking about doing another version for the 2600.

I played it a bit in MAME, noting the sprites, score, speed, indicators, music, sounds, etc.

I then played the Atari 2600 version, and was surprised at how good it actually is!

 

I can't really think of how I would improve it.

It has in-tune, arcade music. I couldn't do better.

Sound effects are spot on.

Acceptable scrolling.

Lots of sprites with no apparent flicker. I couldn't do that. Watching it in Stella with debug colors, it has intelligent P0, P1 switching so nothing flickers. When it is about to have 3 sprites in a horizontal row, it adjusts to keep one above the other so it doesn't need to flicker.

Between stages has a full screen of text and stats.

A more detailed playfield and sprites with more than one color would just be "paint" and aren't really necessary as it uses color very well.

The game control is a bit less than the arcade, as in the arcade you can slow down in a jump to land on cars. The 2600 version doesn't seem to allow that.

 

It is the highest numbered M-Network game and I can see that they really knew what they were doing at the end of this company.

All in all, it is really perfect for an 8K game. (It dumps to 16K, but the first 8K is empty.)

 

Thoughts?

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2600 Bump 'n Jump plays well enough, but it has always come off as kind of "sterile" to me, unlike the Intellivision version. I'm thinking the sprites, roadway and colors could all stand to be changed/updated somehow. Smoother, more round edges here and there with maybe some grain in the road or some different patterns off to the sides? Multicolored sprites would go a long way in jazzing it up if possible. I'd rather see some minor flicker ala the new Pac-Man as a sort of compromise in getting the game to be more colorful...

 

And flicker be damned, but Burgertime needs a serious facelift. ;)

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I agree. Sprites could definitely be updated.

There is always room for another similar type of game. Who doesn't like bumping cars off the road? And jumping on to cars and across water hazards?

 

It is just that a redo would fall short (in batari Basic). Assembly with DPC+ or bus stuffing may allow improvement, but I'm not an assembly programmer.

 

A hack is complicated by the fact that the game is really pushing the limits as it is. Think of it like Millipede. It would be great to hack in analog track ball support, but it is maxing out the hardware as it stands now. No cycles to spare.

Flickering looks best on black. Take the original 2600 Pac Man. You can barely see the ghost monster colors on the colored background. Bump n Jump has a gray or lt tan road. Flicker will be bad on a light background. A black road would be best.

 

I've got to return to Q*Bertari or Satans Hollow and see if I can tolerate the necessary flickering. With clever planning I can try to keep Satan's Hollow baddies separated in flying formations to minimize flickering. And I've thought up another way to track the qube colors (my first attempt should work,but sometimes the round ends with one color not changed and I can't think of why that happens.

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I've got to return to Q*Bertari and see if I can tolerate the necessary flickering. And I've thought up another way to track the qube colors (my first attempt should work,but sometimes the round ends with one color not changed and I can't think of why that happens.

 

Yea!!!!!!! :-D

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