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Planet Bob

A blog by Cybergoth

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Second Fire button on the 2600...

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Cybergoth

Entry posted by Cybergoth ·

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Hi there!

 

I wrote a small test tool for additional fire buttons (very minimalistic, but get's the job done :)) and ran some tests with it.

3do.zip

 

Here's my findings thus far:

Additional Fire Buttons on the 2600:

			   | Works | Reversed | Comment
			   |	   | Logic	|
===================|==================|===================================
Atari 7800 Pad	 | no	|  x	   | Both Buttons work the same
Coleco controller  | no	|  x	   | Second Button has no functionality
SMS Control Pad	| no	|  x	   | Second Button has no functionality
SMS Control Stick  | no	|  x	   | Second Button has no functionality
SMS SG Commander   | yes   |  no	  | NES-Style SMS controller²
Genesis 3-Button   | yes   |  no	  | B = fire, C = smart bomb.
Genesis 6-Button   | yes   |  no	  | B = fire, C = smart bomb.
Amiga CD32 Joypad  | yes   |  no	  | red = fire, blue = smart bomb
Omega Booster Grip | (yes?)|  (yes?³) | To be tested
????????????	   | ??	|  ??	  | To be tested°

² The Auto Fire Adjusting Slider for Button 1 seems to be broken on my
 SG Commader, but I think the test results are still valid.

³ Conclusion drawn both from reading the Thrust 1.2 source and from
 playing the Thrust 1.8 cartridge with the SG Commander, which is
 constantly thrusting when the button is _not_ pressed.

° I assume there's a lot more controllers to test, like several other
 Coleco controllers and various third party stuff.

Note: The version of Z26 I'm using (DOS 1.58) seems to have some weird
  implementation of the booster grip behavior: When one of the grip
  keys is pressed, the highest Bit of INPT0-3 gets set, but it
  doesn't get cleared when the key is released.

 

If someone can run some more tests with the same and/or other controllers, I'd be very interested in the results. It's pretty easy, just plug in the controller, push the buttons and post what you see changing on the screen (using my little tool).

(The tool is just outputting INPT0-INPT5, SWCHA & SWCHB readings - in that order, top to bottom)

 

Attached is also a version of Colony 7 that has smartbombs implemented for

- fire from the second controller port (Use 2nd Joystick or Foot-Pedals)

- fire from the second button of a SG Commander controller. (Left Diff. B)

- fire from any of the two booster grip buttons (Left Diff. A) - untested

 

3do.zip

 

NOTE: Trying a Booster Grip or SG Commander with the _wrong_ switch setting will cause unpredictable smart bomb behaviour!

 

I'd be very interested in feedback how the smartbombs work with the specified or other controllers.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

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vdub_bobby

The 2nd button (A...or C?) on the genny pad can be read by the 2600. It is reversed from the Omega booster grip (I think). Just fire up Thrust+ with a genny pad plugged in to see! :)

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djmips
The 2nd button (A...or C?) on the genny pad can be read by the 2600. It is reversed from the Omega booster grip (I think). Just fire up Thrust+ with a genny pad plugged in to see!

 

Beat me to it. I tested it with my Genesis (Mega Drive) pad and it does work with the C button. B is the main button and C is the secondary (smart bomb) button.

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Cybergoth

My Genesis is with my brother right now (HA! And I have his PSP! :)).

 

Ok, so a 3-Button Genesis Pad in the left 2600 joystick port will properly work the smart bombs on my Colony 7 binary with the left difficulty switch in position B. Way cool! Thanks for confirming! I updated the table above :)

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SpiceWare

Amiga CD32 Joypad - red button = fire, blue button = smart bomb.

 

Also tried a six-button Genesis controller. B = fire, C = smart bomb.

 

both difficulty switches at B for both controllers.

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Nathan Strum

Tried it with the second joystick's fire button on my 2600, and it worked fine. I had to have the left difficulty switch on "a", however. (That threw me for a few seconds.)

 

Also, once the screen rolled for a second, and the red line under the score became very tall - maybe 20 scanlines? After a minute, it rolled again and went back to normal.

 

One other note - in the arcade game, the smart bomb has a blast radius. It doesn't take out everything on the screen.

 

It's looking great though! Very shiny. :)

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Cybergoth
Amiga CD32 Joypad - red button = fire, blue button = smart bomb.

 

Also tried a six-button Genesis controller. B = fire, C = smart bomb.

 

Thanks for those, I just updated the chart above!

 

Tried it with the second joystick's fire button on my 2600, and it worked fine. I had to have the left difficulty switch on "a", however. (That threw me for a few seconds.)

 

I'll see if I can fix that, thanks for reporting!

 

Also, once the screen rolled for a second, and the red line under the score became very tall - maybe 20 scanlines? After a minute, it rolled again and went back to normal.

 

I already fixed that one :)

 

One other note - in the arcade game, the smart bomb has a blast radius. It doesn't take out everything on the screen.

 

The rocket does, the three smart bombs don't. I'm kinda merging both extra weapons of the arcade into one here, especially since I can't visualize the "radius" and since I don't mimic the full rocket behaviour and only support one extra button.

 

It's looking great though! Very shiny. :)

 

I'm hard at work on a real playable/beta version, which I hope to finish within a week from now :)

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Nathan Strum

The rocket does, the three smart bombs don't. I'm kinda merging both extra weapons of the arcade into one here, especially since I can't visualize the "radius" and since I don't mimic the full rocket behaviour and only support one extra button.

Rocket?

 

(Moments pass while I fire up Colony 7 in MacMAME...)

 

Well, whaddaya know? You learn something new every day! :)

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Cybergoth
I'm hard at work on a real playable/beta version, which I hope to finish within a week from now :)

 

Done! See the C7 thread in the homebrew forum :)

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SpiceWare

It's always struck me as odd that the SMS SG Commander works, but not the other SMS controllers. I got to thinking that maybe it works because of how the Auto Fire feature is wired in.

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