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b*NX VS Q*Bert


christo930

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I always though the Coleco version of Q*Bert was very well done. The 7800 version is excellent and has larger more colorful graphics. But I noticed the huge difference in ROM size. The 7800 version is 48k while the Coleco version is 8k. The 7800 ROM is 6 TIMES the size. The 7800 version is much better graphically, but that seems to be a huge difference. I'm not particularly good at either version and so I don't get very far in the game. So is there stuff I am just never reaching?

For reference, the arcade ROM appears to be 72k

 

It's just a curiosity. I also noticed Pac Man collection for Coleco is 128k while Pac Man collection for 7800 is 32k

 

Obviously, modern games don't have the same pressures of keeping the ROM size down (though both collections are modern) etc.

 

Is it the tools? Like does working with one development setup create larger roms?

 

I'm just curious of why games that appear to be so similar have several multiples of each other.

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I don't know about b*nQ. But I am pretty sure that the 7800 Pac-Man Collection has both TIA and Pokey Sound versions in the ROM (now the newest version) that might account for part of the size difference. I am sure you will get better answers from the veterans here.

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I don't know about b*nQ. But I am pretty sure that the 7800 Pac-Man Collection has both TIA and Pokey Sound versions in the ROM (now the newest version) that might account for part of the size difference. I am sure you will get better answers from the veterans here.

 

Yet is only 32k while the Coleco version is 128k.

At first I thought it might be quirks in the system, but there are two examples that are the opposite of each other.

I would guess the sprite sizes aren't that big a deal since the Coleco presumably uses 1 bit per pixel while the 7800 would use 2 bits per pixel for 4 color sprites (3 + NC)

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I can't address these specifically, but I can say definitively that two different programmers can EASILY produce programs that behave similarly, yet the code can be completely different.

 

In a typical software development team (albeit from 30 years ago), the "best" programmer is often 50 times better than "average", including speed of coding, quality of code produced (bugs), and efficiency of the resulting program (see "The Mythical Man-Month" for some really interesting information about software development).

 

In other words, one programmer will do it way better AND way faster than another. Also, when tons of memory is available, preserving it may not even be on the radar.

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I can't address these specifically, but I can say definitively that two different programmers can EASILY produce programs that behave similarly, yet the code can be completely different.

 

In a typical software development team (albeit from 30 years ago), the "best" programmer is often 50 times better than "average", including speed of coding, quality of code produced (bugs), and efficiency of the resulting program (see "The Mythical Man-Month" for some really interesting information about software development).

 

In other words, one programmer will do it way better AND way faster than another. Also, when tons of memory is available, preserving it may not even be on the radar.

 

This is probably why software that used to come on a disk today comes on multiple DVDs to essentially do the same stuff. Maybe it's 10 times better, while being many orders of magnitude bigger. Just how many times can basic applications be improved.

You generally see this EVERYWHERE! There is actually a productivity law that is very analogous, the square root law, called "Price's Law" where 1/2 of the productive work is done by the square root of the employees.

 

I thought that there may be specific reasons in these cases though. It's probably a fluke.

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You generally see this EVERYWHERE! There is actually a productivity law that is very analogous, the square root law, called "Price's Law" where 1/2 of the productive work is done by the square root of the employees.

 

 

I mentioned this at work the other day to one of my co-workers, and it's true there. Our office has 4 of 25 people in our position. Because of geography dividing our offices and not caseload, we are carrying half the caseload at our office and the other 21 workers carry the other half between them.

 

As for the difference is sizes in ROMs, I second the opinion that without needing to preserve space, I doubt it is given a ton of thought unless that is built into the "challenge" for a programmer (PacMan 4K, etc.). It's like packing to go camping with a tent in a car vs. in a massive RV. In the car, you're trying to decide if you have room for extra batteries, and in the RV you're trying to decide if your queen bed needs spare blankets. With no real restrictions, you don't conserve space.

Edited by Atarifever
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The rom could be filled with ZEROS or mirrored as well.

 

I have a 16K Coleco Donkey Kong cart and a 24K Donkey Kong Cart.

They have some actual differences, not so much seen visually. But a few bug fixes. Grabbing Items on girds above Mario was fixed etc.

 

Certainly no 8K of changes.

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