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Tennis und der Überlay


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You: Didn't we just play Tennis yesterday?

 

Me: Oh, no, that was Table Tennis and this is Tennis.

 

You: I see. Well, what's the difference?

 

Me: For one, this game uses the videogaming technological breakthrough known as The Overlay, in parts of the world that speak German this would be Der Über-lay (though, probably not), which, to my mind, sounds a lot more exciting.

 

Yes, writing in the style of a Platonian dialog was never my strong suit… now let's move on.

 

When I get my scheisse together I'll have a screenshot of the Über-lay (which is now starting to sound like pig-latin for the word "luber") for Tennis. Don't hold your breath for it, but it will get here. (Okay, I'm an idiot. It took me waaay too long to figure out how to add that screenshot.)

 

The main gameplay in Tennis is the same as Table Tennis. You deflect the ball and try to wiggle it past your opponent while being ready to deflect it again if your opponent manages deflect it and wiggle it back to you. Again, you're using your "ENGLISH" control here to control the up/down motion of the ball while the game controls the left/right motion depending on if the ball is deflected. The difference from Table Tennis is a) The Scoring is like real-world Tennis and b) There are actually service boxes to abide by, ie you have to serve the ball to a certain corner of the screen when you first send it out. Of course, the system doesn't do any of this for you, all of the rule keeping in this game is done external to the system. You have to be able to add numbers and play without cheating to get through a game with an honorable equal.

 

This game doesn't use Cart #1, because the Überlay actually has a line down the middle of the screen, so it uses Cart #3 which is exactly like Cart 1, only without the line.Let me tell you, we must've "gotten better" at this system because we had more fun playing this than we had playing Table Tennis yesterday. Maybe it was the colorful Überlay or maybe we were just resigned to tolerating these games with better humor. Regardless, we had some fun, for about 10 entire minutes!

 

Would we have missed Ultraman to play Tennis? No way.

 

Current Score: Ultraman: 2, Odyssey: 0

 

 

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This is a picture of the actual game being played. A real screenshot! The Ball Spot is elongated because of the time spent exposing the film. The shots with flashes were even harder to make out.

 

Next game is: Football, a simulation of an abstraction of game you have to pretend you're playing.

 

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Hi

 

I thought Odyssey cannot display sprites but only dots but on the screenshot, I saw two tennis players on the screenshot.

 

Does Odyssey can display sprites or you added them on the screenshot?

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Hi

 

I thought Odyssey cannot display sprites but only dots but on the screenshot, I saw two tennis players on the screenshot.

 

Does Odyssey can display sprites or you added them on the screenshot?

 

 

That "screenshot" is actually a scan of the Odyssey's overlay for the game Tennis. (A painstakingly composited scan as the overlays are all too big for my scanner.) Those players never move from their spots. The Odyssey Overlays are like what the Vectrex system used to add color. It is a sheet of plastic that clings to the video screen. All the action takes place behind it.

 

If I can get a good picture of the Odyssey in action with the overlays on it, I'll post it.

 

EDIT: There, above is an actual screen shot of the game in action. You can see that the overlay just adds a little flavor while the Player Spots and Ball Spot does their thing underneath.

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I was surprised that the overlay looked so dark on the screen. I suppose it makes sense, given that the background was black, but I was expecting that bright green color to stand out more. Was it like that with all the games? Or maybe this picture doesn't have enough quality or lighting conditions?

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Actually, a lot of them were dark, but not as dark as this picture. I took this without a flash. it really depending on how you set the lights up in the room. There's a video of me playing "Prehistoric Safari" on YouTube somewhere that gives a good look at how the overlay looks, moves and can be lit.

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