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...Tock - Boxing, APF MP1000 1978


Mezrabad

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Well, I wasn't able to bring any chronogaming equipment with me for the summer, but I was able to bring some screenshots that I've finally "processed" and moved to the computer in this place that's hooked up to the net. (Neither of my PCs seem to work with the network here. They've become paperweights.)

 

So . . .

 

Boxing (APF MP1000, 1978)

 

Oh, so, here's the obligatory menu screen.

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Ya gotta love the alliterative appellations. Slugger Sam, Horrible Harry, Jabbing Joe. This game is from a simpler time when such names could cause amusement for us. Heh.

 

Boxing for the MP1000 kinda reminds me of playing something on the TRS-80. Remember how some, if not most, (hell, if not, all) of the games with graphics on the TRS-80 didn't really have "graphics" per se? The were just ASCII characters or rectangles arranged in such a way that looked like graphics? The Tandy CoCo was probably the same way. Anyway, these graphics look like they're made of not-so-little rectangles, just like Tandy's stuff.

 

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Two boxers, differentiated by a slight tan on the left one, start the game out in their corners (er, line segment terminals?) and . . . come out fighting!

 

The stick on the APF controller is squeaky, so since this is actually more action oriented than most of the other games there's a lot more squeaking going on. The stick moves them from side to side, the side buttons launch a punch and pushing the stick forward blocks an incoming punch.

 

Hey, we're looking at the first 2d fighter!!!!

 

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See Mr. Paler stick his arm up like that? I call that the "Mr. Fantastic Punch" for some reason. The way it's animated, it looks more like squares are being added as extensions to his arm than it looks like he's moving it. I should still mention that the animation is pretty detailed, stretchy arms not withstanding. The boxers "dance" from one leg to the other as they "float like a butterfly, sting like ..." um, Mr. Fantastic.

 

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I call this the octopus shot. Overexposing the picture lead to the combining of the two organisms into one eight-legged beast with two heads. Horrible to behold yet impossible not to stare at.

 

This game supports two players and, impressively, supports ONE player. Yes, they've provided the three nemesi mentioned (Harry, Joe, Sam) to pose as punching bags. I'd love to describe them as three delightfully distinct opponents, each with exciting nuances that differentiate them from one another, but it seems I lack a "sense" for such subtlety. Either that or they are all exactly the same. (EDIT from corrective post I made later: Boxing: I mentioned before that there are three AI driven boxing opponents with different alliterative names yet indistinguishable fighting habits. THAT was an incorrect statement. I played it again yesterday and say that each computer opponent has a boxing style primarily concerned with their offense. Horrible Harry punches every 3rd beat. (one, two, PUNCH, one, two, PUNCH). Slugging Sam swings every other beat (one, punch, one, punch) and Jabbing Joe stabs at the air every beat (jab, jab, jab, jab). Just thought I'd mention it as I wasn't kind when I spoke of the variation in opponents before. (Hey, it'd been a month or so since I'd played it. Gimme a break.) END EDIT)

 

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Here's the blocking feature in action. Blocking is when one boxer holds up their hand and the other boxer's stretchy arm extension thing can't penetrate.

 

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Oh and here's what everybody is waiting for. The shot that shows one brute hitting the other so hard it DEFORMS HIS HEAD!

 

Reporter: "Rocky, do you think you've suffered any brain damage?"

Rocky: "I don't see any."

 

This came out in 1978, just two years after Rocky. (Best Picture, 1976) but since my chronomachine couldn't handle going back to 1978 (after having already moved on to 1979) I can quote things from Rocky II even though it didn't come out until 1979.

 

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Makes me want to yell "YO, ADRIAN, I DID IT!!!"

 

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Or if Creed had won . . .

 

From what I understand, when someone is unconscious from being hit in the head many times, they're not really "asleep" so those "ZZZs" are really misinformative. Can anyone give us the details on being unconscious? I try to put a little science into each and every post.

 

We had fun with this, squeaky controllers and all. I can't remember anything about the actual sound effects for the game; it's the squeaky controllers that stand out in my mind.

 

I don't know what I'll look at next. This entry was supposed to be the casino cart (slots!), but I didn't take any screenshots sooo, we'll see what we got.

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You're right, there should be stars and birds floating above the guys head, not Zs.

 

The boxers look hilarious with their arms extended. Like they have limp wrists or something.

 

Maybe they should have called it Nancy boy boxing. :)

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From what I understand, when someone is unconscious from being hit in the head many times, they're not really "asleep" so those "ZZZs" are really misinformative. Can anyone give us the details on being unconscious? I try to put a little science into each and every post.

In this context, the ZZZs correspond to snoring, so the scientific question here is, "can a person snore when they're in an unnatural unconscious state?"

 

I did some web searches on snoring and comas:

 

According to encyclopedia.com, "Snoring is rough, vibratory sounds made in breathing during sleep or coma."

 

wikipedia.com's entry on snoring states:

 

"Snoring is the act of breathing through the open mouth in such a way as to cause a vibration of the uvula and soft palate, thus giving rise to a sound which may vary from a soft noise to a loud unpleasant sound. This most commonly occurs during sleep, or immediately after death."

 

If a dead person can snore (presumably from externally induced pressure on the diaphragm), then it's safe to assume that a person who is knocked unconscious could also potentially snore. So the ZZZ's are not unreasonable.

 

QED :)

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If a dead person can snore (presumably from externally induced pressure on the diaphragm), then it's safe to assume that a person who is knocked unconscious could also potentially snore. So the ZZZ's are not unreasonable.

 

QED :)

 

Cool! That makes absolute sense, if they are breathing then they can snore. Heck, I've snored while I was wide-awake (at the dentist during a root canal).

 

I wonder if unconscious people dream? I've never actually been "unconscious" through head trauma, but I've seen someone pass out from pain (No, not while I was torturing them.). They said it was different than being asleep, but that's all I remember.

 

Thank you, TROGDOR, for your resourceful research and your erudite explanation. :)

 

But, ya know, stars or birds might've dispelled any possible ambiguity. :lol:

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Thanks for the cool screenshots. I remember drooling over an APF Imagination Machine when I was a wee lad. Very neat to see some APF screenshots.

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"Snoring is the act of breathing through the open mouth in such a way as to cause a vibration of the uvula and soft palate, thus giving rise to a sound which may vary from a soft noise to a loud unpleasant sound. This most commonly occurs during sleep, or immediately after death."

 

"But he just said 'Whoo!'"

"No... that was air escaping from the folds of his fat!"

 

JR

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"Snoring is the act of breathing through the open mouth in such a way as to cause a vibration of the uvula and soft palate, thus giving rise to a sound which may vary from a soft noise to a loud unpleasant sound. This most commonly occurs during sleep, or immediately after death."

 

"But he just said 'Whoo!'"

"No... that was air escaping from the folds of his fat!"

 

JR

 

:lol:

 

Futurama Audio Clip

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Ok, I just jumped through quite a number of entries to read your comments on these APF games. I managed to play some of them and I wanted to read your opinion before moving over to other systems.

 

I expected more of Boxing, to be honest. Better yet, I expected more of this system. All games ended up being much more basic than I thought, given the machine's hardware specs.

 

I don't get why they did the fighter's arms stretch like that. It looks like they're handicapped in some way.

 

There's something that you mentioned that doesn't make much sense, probably because you simply forgot about it by the time you wrote this entry. The 3 computer-controlled fighters are actually quite different, at least on the emulator. One barely punches, another never stops punching (he's a pain to beat), and the last one is something in-between those two.

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Oh, on the "ZZzZ" discussion above, I don't understand your gripe with it. I think it can apply to both being asleep or having lost consciousness. Of course they're not the same thing, but it's just simply implying that the person isn't conscious. I don't think it has to necessary mean the person is snoring - more likely just an indication that the person is still breathing and not dead. :P

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On 11/4/2012 at 11:06 AM, Nelio said:

Oh, on the "ZZzZ" discussion above, I don't understand your gripe with it. I think it can apply to both being asleep or having lost consciousness. Of course they're not the same thing, but it's just simply implying that the person isn't conscious. I don't think it has to necessary mean the person is snoring - more likely just an indication that the person is still breathing and not dead. :P

 

Oh, I think I was making reference to the idea that I only saw "ZZZs" as something people do when they're asleep, but it was pointed out to mean "snoring" which can happen if someone is asleep or knocked unconscious (different from sleep in a few ways, but I'm no doctor.)

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On 11/4/2012 at 10:59 AM, Nelio said:

There's something that you mentioned that doesn't make much sense, probably because you simply forgot about it by the time you wrote this entry. The 3 computer-controlled fighters are actually quite different, at least on the emulator. One barely punches, another never stops punching (he's a pain to beat), and the last one is something in-between those two.

 

I had remembered they were different, but I hadn't remembered enough about their differences to write about them. I just now made an edit to the entry, though I can't remember if what I just wrote was something I read elsewhere in the intervening years or if it was something I'd figured out on my own. My brain bugs me sometimes.

 

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