World's First 2600 Dancepad by Eduardo

[Eduardo]

This is my first attempt to create a 2600 Dancepad, but it Works!

http://groups.msn.com/ATARI2600UNACONSOLAU...oto&PhotoID=239

 

Now all we need is a good Dancing game

[Godzilla]

hahahahaaaa... just try video simon for the 2600. same damn thing :-)

just play some cd in the background and play 2600 video simon. there u go.

 

make it really challenging, make a dance pad out of the keypad controller and play 'holey moley' w/ a cd playing in the bg

[Eduardo]

heh I've been playing with Frogger and Ms Pacman to test it, I'm sure there are other games like Simon where this thing can bring classic gaming to a whole new level LOL

[MegaManFan]

Now of course the real litmus test will be Decathlon or Track & Field..

[Godzilla]

isnt there an adaptor that lets u use nes controllers on the 2600 (like their excerise pads?)

[Eduardo]

Decathlon! good choice!

 

after reading your post I plugged in Decathlon, my first time was like over 20 secs, then after a couple of games the best I could do was like 16 secs but i nearly had a heart attack in the process LOL it just looks so easy using the joystick, once u start using your legs it's a whole different story now if u excuse me I need to drink some water phew.

[ZylonBane]

http://www.atarihq.com/museum/2678/hardwar...e/footcraz.html

 

http://www.atarihq.com/museum/2678/hardwar...re/joyboard.jpg

[Eduardo]

The footcraz has all contacts aligned horizontally.

The joyboard has just two places where to apply pressure.

 

I used a "diamond" configuration, similar to what you can find in a real Dancepad. I was aware there are other footcontrollers, It's not like i'm claiming that this is the first foot controller, I'm saying this is the first Dancepad that works with an Atari 2600.

[ZylonBane]

Sooo.... got someone lined up to code "Dance Dance Stella"?

[Eduardo]

LOL@Dance Dance Stella, um or wut about Bust a Groovy

 

This is the tip of the iceberg for all those music nuts out there, you know who you are

[Christopher Tumber]

Sooo.... got someone lined up to code "Dance Dance Stella"?  

 

Now that you mention it...

 

... It's a little earlier in the development curve than I'd wanted to go public with this, but just in case someone gets all inspired to start working on something, they should be aware there's already a project in the works.

 

This is a collabrative effort between Andrew Davie, Paul Slocum and myself.

 

Working title is currently: DiscoTech

 

The original idea is to incorperate the Dancing Baby demo and Paul's music into a dancing game. Controller's would be joystick, keypad or (hopefully) NES Power Pad (with interface, obviously). Though Eduardo's design may be a better option to a Power Pad interface (which looks like it may need an external power supply). There would also be a variety of levels with the Dancing Baby as the penultimate level (or something).

 

The attached binary:

 

- Uses only joystick control.

- Isn't synched to the music.

- The main display (ie: dancing baby) is not integrated yet.

- It also may or may not work on real hardware.

 

 

Chris...

disco.zip

[+karri]

Hi,

 

I created Swingbirds for the Lynx for Carl Forhans ALPE contest 3 years ago http://songbird.atari.net/alpe.shtml . The idea was to use animated full-screen sprites that are synced to the music.

 

You can see how the dancer move on another page I created for fun a long time ago. http://geocities.com/SiliconValley/Hardware/2441/

 

Now I also have an ABC-notation music interpreter written in 65S02 assembler for the Lynx that can handle 4 channels and it has built-in sync support for the graphics.

 

I have the Bust-A-Groove CD for the PlayStation and it is a great game.

 

In Swingbirds you had three dancers that you could start or stop. Joypad for dancer 1, B-button for dancer 2 and A-button for dancer 3. Whenever the spot is turned on a dancer you stop her.

 

If you create a nice dance program I may be interested in doing a port for the Lynx. I can also give away my ABC-code if you are interested.

 

--

Karri

[Rob Mitchell]

Re DiscoTech ..

 

Really catchy tune ..

 

Suggestions:

 

Percent accuracy

Pause (puff puff)

Other tunes

Toggle off the baby (I don't like dancing babies.)

 

I could see dancing to the Video Light Mode though ..

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Godzilla]

discotech hahaha... the 2600 shows its 70 roots more than ever!

[kingpong]

Controller's would be joystick, keypad or (hopefully) NES Power Pad (with interface, obviously). Though Eduardo's design may be a better option to a Power Pad interface (which looks like it may need an external power supply).  

 

If one is going to go through the trouble of making a Power Pad interface, I would suggest doing the same for PSX dance pads. Rather than having to track down a Power Pad, PSX dance pads can be found everywhere for $10-15.

 

I don't see how a joystick is really going to work though, unless jumps are not allowed. I suppose you don't really need the ability to hit multiple directions at once, but I would expect that ability to be there and the songs to utilize it.

 

I've been wondering for months when someone would do a DDR clone for the 2600. I'm surprised it took this long actually, given the simplicity of the gameplay. Of course, that doesn't mean it will be the most trivial game to write.

[Paul Slocum]

If one is going to go through the trouble of making a Power Pad interface, I would suggest doing the same for PSX dance pads.  Rather than having to track down a Power Pad, PSX dance pads can be found everywhere for $10-15.

 

Modern consoles use a serial interface for their controllers which would be much more difficult to interface to the 2600.

 

-Paul

[SLotman]

Just curious, how did you built it?

 

I would like A LOT to know this, since I'm doing a "dance dance" clone for MSX also - and since Atari joysticks works on MSX... =)

 

Of course, there is an adaptor for PSX controllers for MSX, but it costs $50, which is way expensive =P

[Eduardo]

I used 4 arcade buttons attached to a plastic cover, I increased the area of contact by adding 4 circular lids, it's not a very strong design by i just weight around 140 lbs and the buttons are taking the abuse well so far, this is a picture of the device flipped on it's back before wiring it where you can see what's inside:

http://groups.msn.com/ATARI2600UNACONSOLAU...oto&PhotoID=237

I used the cheapest materials available handy, my main goal was to make it cheap and fast to build for my personal use, so it's a silly design but it works

 

There are at least two other people that are already working on their own designs to addapt them to 2600 pinout so you will see improved versions of other Dancepads by other members floating around any soon.