CV Gus
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Posts posted by CV Gus
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Handsome effort, there. Very good!
Would future efforts have a rocker switch, for up and down? They're not hard to do, and they make Pole Position much more fun.
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Centipede- that was just curiosity, really. If the CV puts the mushrooms down as "tiles" or (as we C-64 folks would say) custom characters, then it could be done easily enough. It's just to see if a better-looking version could be done: if these mushrooms are easily to put in place of the regular ones, and the player's gun is made multi-colored (by "filling in" the eyes), then wouldn't it look very much better?
Gorf- Well, it does seem certain that the CV version could've been much better. Not exactly, of course (we accepted that), but still quite close. The voice synthesis would have been gone, sadly.
When I checked out that YouTube video you mentioned, I noticed "legal hassles" were mentioned there. I was afraid of that: when homebrewing first started, it was just a mickey mouse effort, with a few games. But now that it's picking up steam, and programmers are getting much better at it, we might start getting trouble. Maybe a new effort should be considered- maybe deals with companies that hold the rights to the games? How would that work? It seems as though this now has to be seriously considered.
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If someone wanted to put the MSX version of Arkanoid right onto a CV cartridge (similar to Sky Jaguar), could it be done? Forget about control a moment, unless you want to figure in the Turbo or Roller Controller.
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When will this be ready, and for about how much? What could it do, again?
For Arkanoid, will 2600 paddle controllers be usable?
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Well, first of all, there would be the Space Invaders screen. We KNOW that the CV version could have been better than THAT. Sparkling shield? Problem, maybe, but that is not too important. The whole round looked like it was programmed by someone who had never seen the game. Just look at Space Invaders Collection, in any case.More than that, there is no Gorf sptting out the invaders....very important.
I already said the AstroBattles mission could look dead on minus the shield
sparkle(also very important.)
The look is important. The 7800 shield would sparkle and I can now do it even more closer
to the original using extra cart RAM as a screen buffer. The other thing is the lack of sparkle
on the stars in the CV version.
Laser Attack- By using "stacking," certainly the Laser ships, and "badmitton birdies" could look better. If you don't mind a bit of fading, so could the Gorf robots, a-la Pac Man Collection.Galaxian phase- Ever see the Atarisoft version?When diving in groups the enemies lose there multi colorness(a new word?
)But it is probably the best version out there. The sounds are much better.
I for one never liked the 5200/8 bit version. I think the coleco shines on this.
However, it's still alot of work to make a game like this on the CV.
Space Warp- Looks great as is, but yes, it could have looked more like arcade version. Including the lines.One did not expect perfection in those days.
Perfection no, but a best attempt and not a rush job would have been nice.
I certainly wanted the games to be dead on if it were at all possible.
Flagship- Again, it could have looked more like the arcade version. It looked again like whoever did it had not seen the arcade version.You would have a hell of a time pulling off the big explosion. Sure you could do it but its a lot of work.
My point of all this is that the 7800 would handle it without any special tricks and would take little time to
develop. I had all five missions running on the 7800 in a matter of a week. I could probably finish it up
in a month of straight coding. The CV version would be a lot more work and still miss the mark in places
the 7800 would have no trouble doing naturally.
Astro Battle- Well, as I remembered it, the stars weren't there in the arcade version , screen one. Blue screen. The CV version actually would have looked better without those stars...why could the invaders have not been drawn to look like the arcade ones? No stars, plus that, would've been a tremendous improvement. As for the giant Gorf robot- why not a stationary, or even moving, charcater spitting out one sprite at a time, quickly?
Laser Attack- No, no,nonono, for "stacking" I meant sprites. This is when you "stack" one sprite on top of another for a multi-colored effect, like the enemy soldiers in Front Line. Since, in this case, the enemies did not tilt, this might work. 2 colors/enemy using this, it would be within the 32 limit. Granted, the Gorf robots, this would not work; you'd either have to leave them single-colored, or settle for fading when several line up.
Galaxian- Yes, one might have to accept the loss of multi-colored features in a diving attackers. But the formation would look good, and you certainly wouldn't need 70+ sprites to make the whole thing work, as you suggested. Curious thing- even the C-64 version didn't have that screen.
Sparkling shields- I assume that's due to the 2 color/line/space limit? A pseudo-sparkle could be set up: if a space had blue and white on a line, one or two of the white dots could be turned to blue, in different ways (so it's not 1-2-1-2-1-2, but more like 1-2-3-2-1-2-3). Not perfect, but again, better than straightforward solid.
You're right about it not being a perfect translation, but it could have been a helluvalot closer than it was. And don't forget; the 7800 was a system for after the 5200, which was meant to go up against the CV. Therefore, it would be a third-generation system against a fourth-generation system. The question was: if the CV version was close enough, would a somewhat better 7800 version have mattered? I was not too impressed by the 7800 Robotron against the 5200 version; likewise Ms. Pac-Man.
By the way- why were the colors used for the 5200 Ms. Pac-Man, esp. in maze 3, what they were? If there were 256 colors to choose from, couldn't the programmers have come up with something more like the arcade version? Or was there a limitation?
A problem was that the CV and 5200 did things differently, so it was hard to say which was better. Clearly, it depended on what game you were talking about, and what that game required. It would be interesting to see what an Opcode-programmed version of Robotron: 2084 or Qix would look like on a CV.
For a CV Centipede- can anyone replace the standard mushrooms with this for a screenshot?
012345678
1***PP***
2**PPPP**
3*bbbbbb*
4PbbbbbbP
5PPPPPPPP
6***bb***
7***bb***
8***bb***
And of course, the player's gun could have been 2-colored, too...
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CV Gorf was by no means the best a CV could do.
The CV could not get much better as the hardware does not allow for multi color sprites.
In fact it would be a coding night mare. You can pull off Astro Battles as the invaders
are only one color each, you can just get away with it in Lazer Attack....maybe.
In the Galaxian mission you are going to have serious trouble getting 25 multi color
object for the galaxians. The galaxians are 3 colors each. That means you will need
3x24 sprites, or 72 sprites or 2.25 time more sprites than the hardware can do.
Then you need to place the sprites so there are never more than four on the
same line.
The 7800 needs but a simple list. It also has more colors to choose from and 8
palletes to draw from.
Do do the sparkling shields and warp lines would be close to impossible on the coleco.
It could be faked but you'd be able to tell it's not right.
The 7800 with extra RAM on cart would do this easily.
Well, first of all, there would be the Space Invaders screen. We KNOW that the CV version could have been better than THAT. Sparkling shield? Problem, maybe, but that is not too important. The whole round looked like it was programmed by someone who had never seen the game. Just look at Space Invaders Collection, in any case.
Laser Attack- By using "stacking," certainly the Laser ships, and "badmitton birdies" could look better. If you don't mind a bit of fading, so could the Gorf robots, a-la Pac Man Collection.
Galaxian phase- Ever see the Atarisoft version?
Space Warp- Looks great as is, but yes, it could have looked more like arcade version. Including the lines. One did not expect perfection in those days.
Flagship- Again, it could have looked more like the arcade version. It looked again like whoever did it had not seen the arcade version.
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Well, the idea behind this thing is: you just plug in a regular 9-pin joystick, and the module into a 5200.
It works fine with a 7800 controller, and hopefully others. Again, the contacts in the joystick itself must be of very good quality. I guess even a 7800-5200 adapter is something, though.
The other design- the one that needs a battery, but is used the same (plug it into a 5200; plug regular joystick in to module), can be used with a CV, 2600, or most others. So- if I can get those relays I need, then I'll just build one of each. Once I do, then I'll try to post the plans for both.
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Opcode- is it necessary for that game to use an upgrade module? If you can cram 128K into a CV cartridge, would that not be enough? A minor compromise in graphics is no problem for a CV owner.Graphics aren't the problem here. In order to keep gameplay as intact as possible, more RAM than the CV currently offers is necessary.
Also, as you said, the CV cannot read analog stuff. The module can solve that too, though using an adaptor.
I understand that some people don't like the idea of expansion modules, but just consider that Coleco was planning a similar solution back in the day. The Super Game Module was suppose to offer not just a tape drive, but also more RAM, otherwise how could they load the games from tape to the CV? So probably Coleco was aware that 1KB was too little, even for the time. Today cartridge size isn't an issue anymore, but more RAM is still necessary, and there isn't an simple way to add RAM to CV cartridges, at least not work RAM.
Part of it may be that "upward" expansion modules, traditionally, have rarely, if ever, done well. The Sega 32X and Sega CD are examples, and even the Starpath Supercharger for the 2600, while good, didn't exactly set the video world ablaze. The Supergame Module was supposed to have expanded the memory (but nothing else), up to 256K. It was also supposed to have used a sort of "wafer" staorage system.
It's a crying shame that the CV did not allow for analog control. This is a real hassle.
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I attempted several modifications- with this design, you cannot use a CV controller.
The problem is, contrary to what a schematic might imply, that the "common" in a CV controller must be connected to positive. With an Atari 5200, the common is negative.
As a result, the only controllers that will work with this thing are those with EXTREMELY good contacts- and so far, the only one I have, really, is a 7800 Proline. Wicos might work, if they live up to their reputation. 2600 standard and TAC-3s do not, at least not very well.
(However, the first design- the one that uses a AA 1.2V NiMH rechargeable battery (others will also work) and six relays, two of them "normally closed," works with just about anything.)
The problem is clearly the resistance. So little current goes through, that anything less than superb contact points will cause problems.
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Hmm if it's too slow try some gearing in there. That would be cool to try out.The single biggest problem with building a proper CV paddle controller is that, unlike the Atari or Commodore systems, the CV does not have anything for actual analog input. Anyone can build a paddle controller for them: all you need is a decent potentiometer and to know where what wires go where (pins 5, 7, and 9).The Turbo module and Roller Controller both need 6V power input, and all they do is "pulse;" the faster you spin them, the more pulses result, and the more quickly the whatever-it-is will move. This is NOT the same as analog, unfortunately, and the interrupt-trouble Opcode mentioned is outside my experience.
However, there is an obvious exception to this rule: have you ever tried Turbo or Slither with the little wheel on a Super Action Controller? With Slither, try it with CV port 1, and then 2- see what happens.
A while back, I built a crude no-power paddle controller for the CV- it was actually like a crummy Atari VCS Indy 500 controller. It would have to be, for a CV. It was based on the SAC wheel circuitry. Would an Arkanoid paddle controller do this? It would require more contacts/spin than a SAC wheel, or it would be too slow to react.
The two designs used: one, a pair of relays (magnetism), and the other used brushes, like the Indy 500 paddle.
Opcode- is it necessary for that game to use an upgrade module? If you can cram 128K into a CV cartridge, would that not be enough? A minor compromise in graphics is no problem for a CV owner.
Actually, that is what it used, albeit indirectly. A small center point was what the "dial" was turning; the magnets or contact points were along the edges. In the case of the magnets, you cannot put them TOO close together.
Within my budget (for the keypad on my latest module...a thrown-out portable phone), the best I could do is to have the dial, a larger center point, for the wheel, and a smaller part you'd hold. Again, it would work as the wheel in a SAC, only quicker. The bigger the wheel, the more "clicks" you can have per turn.
How much "K" is needed for Arkanoid? Isn't there an MSX version; how much does it use?
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The single biggest problem with building a proper CV paddle controller is that, unlike the Atari or Commodore systems, the CV does not have anything for actual analog input. Anyone can build a paddle controller for them: all you need is a decent potentiometer and to know where what wires go where (pins 5, 7, and 9).
The Turbo module and Roller Controller both need 6V power input, and all they do is "pulse;" the faster you spin them, the more pulses result, and the more quickly the whatever-it-is will move. This is NOT the same as analog, unfortunately, and the interrupt-trouble Opcode mentioned is outside my experience.
However, there is an obvious exception to this rule: have you ever tried Turbo or Slither with the little wheel on a Super Action Controller? With Slither, try it with CV port 1, and then 2- see what happens.
A while back, I built a crude no-power paddle controller for the CV- it was actually like a crummy Atari VCS Indy 500 controller. It would have to be, for a CV. It was based on the SAC wheel circuitry. Would an Arkanoid paddle controller do this? It would require more contacts/spin than a SAC wheel, or it would be too slow to react.
The two designs used: one, a pair of relays (magnetism), and the other used brushes, like the Indy 500 paddle.
Opcode- is it necessary for that game to use an upgrade module? If you can cram 128K into a CV cartridge, would that not be enough? A minor compromise in graphics is no problem for a CV owner.
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Interesting.
Sorry, PacmanPlus- yours is an awesome Super Pac-Man! But why are screenshots of 7800 games always so bad looking?
CV Gorf was by no means the best a CV could do. Many 1983 games were clearly rushed out; just look at Victory. Bleah. The 1982 games were, overall, of better quality. But the 7800 could no doubt handle the motion better: that was its strength. Still, the CV could've had a much better version. As for Centipede, for example: I myself designed better-looking mushrooms, and they do follow the rules.
But again, what about a complex scrolling background? What were the weaknesses of the NES and 7800 (aside from sound)?
For the 7800: THE %@#$&*!! TRAMIELS!
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I am glad to hear that you liked the game so much, Gus. And BTW, impressive score on PM Plus.It's funny that when you guys are starting to get excited about the game, for me it's like an ex-girlfriend. The excitement is already gone, we keep just a cordial (but distant) friendship now. In the other hand, I am getting involved in all kind of orgies with Arkanoid and DK these days...
Glad you liked it- it has been further modified at the DP; it now includes the part about the ghosts and the territories, as well as how the orange ghost will usually try to avoid you (except in the lower left of the maze).
Are the holding positions- those places the ghosts will not go- here, too?
Just now, on Youtube, I saw Super Pac-Man for the 7800. Is the blocky look because the 7800 has trouble with screenshots, too? Will there be a CV version in the future?
The homebrew industry is just plain great. Tonight...I try my modified 9-pin controller-to-5200 adapter. If it works, then CV controllers should work, too!
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Here's the review, at least at this point. If you don't like something about it, please let me know.
All scores are "10."
Opcode’s ColecoVision Pac-Man Collection, here at last, after a few years’ delay. A CV cartridge with not one but THREE games, this was one of the most eagerly awaited homebrew games ever. Containing Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and Pac-Man Plus, the big questions are: does it live up to the standards set by Space Invaders Collection, and was it worth the wait? Of course- but first, a brief background of these games…
Journey back with me, if you will, to an America before the Age of the Internet, before MP3 players, before cell phones that could do anything but cook dinner, before television with hundreds of channels…
Before a ruined economy. Before anyone had even heard of Indiana Jones, or Mr. T; when if you received more than five broadcast television channels you were doing well. Before political correctness and the Rush Limbaughs were everywhere. When a teenager’s first car did not require a Japanese Ph.D in physics to repair. When jobs were plentiful. When LPs were still around. When Disco was not yet dead. A different time, the start of a new decade…a different atmosphere and attitude…
1980.
It was the year Luke Skywalker discovered a terrible secret and Reagan first took office.
It was also the year when something odd appeared in the arcades: a game with a little yellow ball moving through a blue maze eating dots while being chased by colorful ghosts. It seemed to be a more colorful variation of an earlier game called “Dodgem,” but wait- here you could eat a large dot, and turn the tables on the frightened now-blue ghosts! And look- BONUS PRIZES!! ESCAPE TUNNELS!
This game would become one of the most successful ever.
It was Namco’s Pac-Man, released in this country by Bally/Midway .
The all-time King of Video Games, Pac-Man would earn who-knows how many millions of dollars, spawn a number of sequels direct and indirect, a cartoon series, a Christmas special, enough merchandise to sink an aircraft carrier, and even a cereal. The game was originally called Puckman, but an obvious bit of vandalism made the name change quite necessary.
Obviously, the massive success of this game caused a number of similar games to appear in the arcades: Ladybug, Mousetrap, Marvin’s Maze, the truly weird Fitter, and many others; some inspired, some outright rip-offs.
But there was something about Pac-Man dedicated players soon discovered: since the ghosts were programmed to react in certain particular ways, it was possible to develop patterns for the game that would allow a kid to play for up to a few hours on a single quarter. Since this was something any self-respecting arcade owner was not happy with, soon a number of fiendish programs appeared, all designed to cut playing time. There were also a large number of Pac-Man rip-offs, often identifiable by different names, more tunnels, or the like. All of these were illegal, although it was easy to find them back then, especially since there were many mini-arcades and more video machines to be found back in those days. There was also one program meant to make the game tougher that was legal; more on that later…
Of course, there were sequels, the best known being the pretty-colored game called Ms. Pac-Man. Contrary to popular belief, Namco did not develop Ms. Pac-Man; they developed Super Pac-Man instead. With some hacker help, Bally/Midway itself produced Ms. Pac-Man, who would become the all-time Queen of the Arcades. Move over, Chun-Li, Lara, Toadstool, Tina, Sophia, the lot of you; that little yellow ball with the bow topped all of you combined!
The feminine look was deceiving, though, because the game was much more difficult than her predecessor. It had not one but FOUR mazes, the prizes moved through the mazes, and, worst of all, the ghosts were programmed to move at least somewhat randomly, so patterns were mostly useless. In spite of this, Ms. Pac-Man proved so popular, she can still be found in arcades to this day!
Earlier, I mentioned a legal speed-up program for Pac-Man. It was hard to find (I myself, in spite of being in countless arcades, even Dutch and English arcades, back then, have seen it in one and only one place), but if you did it was certain to take you by surprise. It was Pac-Man Plus, and at first it didn’t seem to be any different. Sure, the maze was now green, the prizes looked different, and the ghosts looked different and each had a little leaf on its head when it turned blue, but other than that…then, you’d play it.
The first thing you noticed was that when you ate a prize, not only did the ghosts turn blue, but when you ate them you’d score 400, 800, 1600, and then a whopping 3200 points! And this could happen TWICE per screen! WOW!
Uh, then you’d eat a regular energizer, and notice that not only did the maze and regular dots sometimes all turn invisible, but…usually one of the ghosts did NOT change color; so, so much for grouping them close to you, or chasing one over an energizer. You also realized that the overall difficulty was higher than in Pac-Man. Normal patterns did not work, although there were those, the ones that did not use the energizers that were effective, such as the Lee Pattern.
Due to the popularity of Pac-Man, soon there was a home version announced by Atari for the Atari VCS (2600) back in 1981, and the excitement it generated was truly tremendous. We scooped it up, and then…
They could feel the disappointment all the way to Andromeda.
The game was AWFUL, so bad, that to this day it makes the Top Ten Worst Games Ever lists. Adding insult to injury, even the Odyssey 2 had a better game, K.C. Munchkin, which they were forced pull after Atari sued (to this day, one wonders if they had the legal right to do that- was it not Namco’s place, or possibly Bally/Midway’s, to sue?). While Atari did stage an amazing comeback with the 2600 version of Ms. Pac-Man, they’ll never be forgiven for their Pac-Man fiasco!
Obviously, when the 5200 was released against the ColecoVision in 1982, it had a version of Pac-Man, too. True, the ghosts were single-colored and the controllers were terrible, but overall it was quite good. Atari, with its Atarisoft division, also released a number of versions for numerous home computers.
Here one must mention a peculiar bit of trivia: Atari had a commercial showing off its 5200 version against the one for the ColecoVision. The only problem was, that was the 2600 version played on the CV 2600 adapter- they were mocking their own version! Even stranger, an unreleased 1983 prototype for the CV from Atarisoft was discovered that was SUPERIOR to the 5200 version in every way!
So much for history. Now, for the review.
Opcode’s CV Pac-Man Collection is, quite simply, an almost unbelievably accurate arcade-to-home translation of all three games. He has not only met the standards achieved by the Space Invaders Collection, but may well have exceeded them.
First of all, there are the title screens. Big, colorful words COLECOVISION streak together from top and bottom, then NAMCO, and then, the actual title screen: PAC-MAN COLLECTION.
The words are on a metallic-looking plate, done in such a way as to make it look as though the CV can show more colors than it actually can. A tiny hand can point to Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, and OPTIONS. If you OPt to use OPcode’s OPtions (couldn’t resist), you can choose number of lives, Japanese or American versions, alternate names, normal or hard difficulty, or even how many credits you get for the two coins you insert (for a “normal” version, go with 2 coins/one credit).
Meanwhile, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are there, sometimes blinking their eyes; but, best of all, an electronic version of that goofy Buckman and Garcia song “Pac-Man Fever” plays- and it is amazingly good, even haunting, at times; “Wolf” has done an incredible bit of work there!
Note: If you want to play Pac-Man Plus, press the numbers 7, 5, 8, and 7 during this title screen. Those would match PLUS on a telephone dial.
Since there are three games, I will first review those things they all have in common, rather than going through them three times.
First, the graphics: as you might have guessed, they are superb. The ghosts are multi-colored and, unlike most pre-NES versions, they are ROUNDED, not squared. Ms. Pac-Man looks like she does in the arcades, even more so than in the 7800 version, and the prizes are multi-colored, too.
To fully appreciate this, one must remember that a CV sprite can only be one color, and if more than four line up left to right, they can flicker and disappear. Therefore, if you want a multi-colored sprite character, you must combine two or more in order to do this. In some cases, like the enemy soldiers in Frontline, or the red and green monsters in Space Panic, you can “stack” two or more sprites, thus creating a multi-colored character which will not create more flickering, since its component colors do not line up horizontally, but this will not work with the ghosts or Ms. Pac-Man in these games. Therefore, in Pac-Man, you could have up to nine sprites lining up (assuming two-color ghosts), and even more in Ms. Pac-Man! This would create an intolerable amount of flickering, even worse than in Burgertime.
But by using a quick flickering method, Opcode has greatly cut down on this. The flickering is never severe, and nothing ever disappears. Ever. A weakness of the CV has been mostly overcome here, and the results are unbelievable. Incidently, if you watch this game on Youtube, remember that the flickering there is nothing like in “real life.” This alone boosts the “Graphics” score up to 10.
Of course, there are certain limitations. Pinky has either gotten a tan or become a huge Prince fan, because here he is purple. In fact, the colors are at times noticeably different than in the arcade versions, but this is simply due to the fact that the CV has a 16-color palette, and those arcade colors are not available. The information is all on the right side of the screen, just like Coleco’s 1982 Ladybug, and for the same reason: the arcade screen is taller than it is wide, as opposed to the home screen. The prizes, while they all look good, are usually not as colorful as their arcade counterparts, and may even look different than they do on the side; the pears and Galaxians are examples (the pears look better in the maze!). Also, some prizes look better than others: apples, peas, pretzels, and oranges merely look good, while bread, pancakes, and lemonade look absolutely fantastic.
In all three games the mazes are arcade-exact as far as shapes, proportions, and number of dots are concerned, unlike most other versions. If there are seven dots somewhere in the arcade version, be assured there are seven in this version, too. This makes the game play here just like the arcade. The mazes for Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus also look like their arcade counterparts, although the mazes in Ms. Pac-Man are single-colored. More about this later.
Naturally, all of the intermissions are here, too.
Sound is also terrific, although not quite the same as the arcade version at times- the wahca-wahca-wahca is more like wehca-wehca-wehca, for example, but again, this is due to the CV sound system. Listening to this game is every bit as satisfying as looking at it. Especially good is the sound after you eat a ghost! And, again, the title screen music is so good, it would boost the “Sound” score up to a 10+, if that was allowed.
Control is also superb. No other version I’ve ever played has the incredibly smooth control of this cartridge; the best way to describe it is “as smooth as liquid silk.” Not even Pepper 2 responds this well.
And now, the individual games…
Pac-Man. This, Opcode’s version, is one of the absolute best anywhere. It leaves behind the 2600, 5200, Namco handheld, Atarisoft computer, NES, and even Atarisoft CV versions. True, the colors are a bit different (such as the purple ghost), but aside from some minor improvements in sound and graphics, not even the X-Box 360 or Playstation 3 can give you a better arcade-to-home experience than this version. The famous blue maze, as mentioned before, is shaped just like the arcade version, the dots are all properly accounted for, the length of time the ghosts stay blue (or if they don’t), the fact that they stay blue longer after the intermissions (for one screen), which, again, are all here- the sound, the side tunnels, the behavior of the ghosts…it’s all here. This home version is about as close to perfect as one can possibly achieve on a CV, and that is much closer than anyone would’ve suspected. What’s more, you even have the option of playing it as “Puckman.” From what I’ve been able to ascertain, even the old patterns used on the original arcade machines will work here.
Ms. Pac-Man. The first thing you’ll likely notice is the fact that this version has single-colored tunnels, instead of the multi-colored ones that gave the arcade version its distinct look. The reason for this? Because it is impossible to make the mazes both multi-colored AND arcade-perfect on a CV or most other earlier systems. While most other programmers would have chosen the multi-colored look (as seems to have been the case with the 5200 version), Opcode chose the proper shapes and numbers of dots. (If you wish to try to do both, just remember that on each line in a single space a CV can show any two, but ONLY two, colors, and if you want a black background, then you can include only one other color besides). This game is an interesting example of how different programmers approach the same problem in different ways.
As a result of Opcode’s decision, the CV version of Ms.Pac-Man plays exactly like the arcade, unlike many other home versions.
What’s more, all four of the mazes still look quite good, and the dots are the same colors as in the arcade version (as close as a CV will allow, anyway). The moving prizes are superb, and move just like their arcade counterparts. I’ve also noticed that the sound effects are even closer to the arcade version than in Pac-Man. All three of the intermissions are present and accounted for, too, and once again “blue time” for the ghosts increases after one- for one screen, anyway.
An interesting thing about this game is that, once you finish the fourth maze four times, the game then cycles you through the third and fourth mazes for the rest of the game (as in the arcade), but the first time, and then every other time after, those mazes will have different colors (red for the third and purple for the fourth). If you are not expecting this, you may think that new mazes were added, but none were; only the colors are different.
This is probably the most challenging of the three games on this cartridge, and, just like in the arcade, you’ll find that the third maze is the most difficult. Overall, with the authentic game play and superb-looking characters, this is one version that cannot disappoint.
Pac-Man Plus. THE reason I bought this cartridge. As I mentioned earlier, I’d only seen this game in one place, back in 1983. Luckily, thanks to YouTube and an old book on video games, I was able to brush up on whatever I may have forgotten.
Sure enough, this game is about as accurate as I can possible tell, and playing it reminded me of how much fun it was back then. All of the weird quirks designed to make it so much trickier are present and accounted for, and it really is a near-perfect translation of the lesser known arcade game- yes, not all of the ghosts always change when you eat an energizer. Yes, sometimes the maze and dots do disappear. Yes, the prize does act as a double-point energizer. Best of all, the Lee pattern, which is described in Gamestar’s guide on arcade games, ACTUALLY WORKS here. This is proof that Opcode must have studied the games here very closely, so not only do they look and sound great, they also play so very much like the arcade versions, too. And it really is fun, earning 3200 points by chomping a ghost.
Since the maze is as it was in Pac-Man, except for being green, it looks just like it did in the arcade version. The odd look of the blue ghosts has been accurately reproduced here. The prizes all look good, but some more so than others, as mentioned earlier. Sound is also, of course, as good as in Pac-Man. Overall, then, it is about as flawless an arcade-to-home translation as one could possibly want, and with the different options you can choose, this game can be easier or even more difficult.
There is also one more thing here- it is not enough for a game to merely have great graphics and sound; it also needs that one thing that makes a good arcade-to-home translation truly great: the essence of that game. This is the element that truly recreates the experience of the arcade game, as much as possible, be it from 1978 or 2008, it doesn’t matter. It can be an experience and memory of a game an older gamer played in the arcades back in 1975, or a game a little kid enjoyed playing at the Laundromat a few years ago when mom did the wash before taking him and his brother for ice cream afterwards. Since almost all arcade games have a very limited lifespan in the arcades, some as short as a few months, then any home version that can capture that essence is truly something special…because that is all that will remain of it from then on. Pac-Man Collection has it, especially with Pac-Man and Pac-Man Plus, and that is why I stand by my statement that not even the modern systems can give you a better experience. The graphics and sound might be somewhat better, that is true, but that’s really about it. And that’s what makes this game a real achievement.
Finally, there is the cartridge, instruction booklet, and the box itself. No cheap, tacky half-effort here; what you have is exactly what you would've expected from a large company. Everything is of top quality, which does tend to show that maybe the hope of the future will once again come from small cottage industries. It has to start somewhere. So, to everyone involved in this project: congratulations! This effort scores a perfect 10.
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Well, I never did say that the CV pounds the 7800- I merely said that, compared to the CV or 5200, the 7800 did not seem to be that much better.
For example, I know that no way can the CV give you an equally good version of Desert Falcon- but it probably can give you a good enough one, if the 2-color/space/line limitation was observed. I'd guess the same for the 5200, too. And not-as-colorful enemies.
The problem is, while- thanks to Opcode- we are learning more about what a CV can do, there is no such programmer for the 7800. The NES had its limits pushed to the fullest (Japanese way), but not the 7800.
And therein lies the problem I'm having here with all of this.
For example, scrolling. Just which system could do it better? Tower Toppler for the 7800 seemed as good as anything I've seen on the NES. Could Sirius have looked better, just as CV Burgertime did not have to have so much flickering? Was it system limitation, or programmer (or time, or budget) limitation?
On-screen movement? Judging by the flickering in Bubble Bobble for the NES, probably the 7800 (fairly simple playfield).
But would that have changed on a complex background? Maybe the 7800 could do a better version of Asteroids or Space Duel (simple background), but not so a game like Lifeforce?
You can list how they do things differently (the 7800 "everything is an object"), but for the final result, which comes out on top? If you list the color and resolution of the CV and 5200 individually, the 5200 comes out `way ahead, until you combine those features- then, much of that advantage is lost. So it's not just individual attributes, it's a combination in many cases.
If one merely goes by the 4-sprite/line limit of the CV, for example, then one can only conclude that a version of Ms. Pac-Man, with all multi-colored characters, would have an intolerable amount of flickering and disappearances. But we all know that this is NOT the case, because the CV has speed to make up for most of this.
I myself did not believe the kind of scrolling in Matt Patrol. If the green hills were "molded" to look like the Lunar City, but were never higher than the hills were, could that have worked? If far away enough from the edges, could more colors have been used? Just how good a version could it have been? Stagger the sprites on two of the UFOs, and you'd not have any more flickering.
In other words, in any comparison, one system may have it over the other, until another factor is required (complex background?), in which case the advantage is lost. But which is it?
Incidently- was that version of Xevious the best a 5200 can do? Surely not!
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Well, I asked these questions largely because I'm writing a review for this game at the Digital Press. Since my cartridge seems to be a bit "unusual," it seemed a good idea to find out how, so I wouldn't mention something that most others do not have. This is why the Zero-skip option is not mentioned, for example.
A few nights ago, I beat 150,000 points on PM+. There are times the Lee Pattern works exceptionally well. But Opcode, this is the single best homebrew game I've ever played. It was well worth the wait.
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Oh, you're wrong there- I do listen, but what he mostly described was how they do things differently- which is not the same as inferior or superior.
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Anytime.
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But did it, really? From what I can sort out from Vigo's comments about the 7800, I'm not all that sure that it was really THAT much better than the CV or 5200. It would be interesting for an Opcode and his 5200 equal to tell us what the relative abilities actually were to the 7800.
For example, Desert Falcon. We know about the choppy CV scrolling for Zaxxon, but if you designed the screens so no more than two colors (it would still look good) ever entered a space-line, wouldn't you have a smooth scrolling CV version? Maybe the enemies wouldn't be as colorful, but would that matter? And what kind of a version could the 5200 handle?
By the way- Upon checking the 5200 version of Ms. Pac-Man, I noticed that the maze colors did not seem to match those of the arcade version at all, in two of the mazes, at least. But they were multi-colored. Why was this, a limitation of the 5200? I understand the mazes in the CV version, but not here.
Still, we all can agree on one thing- with the Tramiels running things, the 7800 never had a chance. Hell, they would've doomed the NES.
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If the 5200 was so much better, why wasn't this reflected in the games? Why wouldn't Atari have just stuck with the 5200, instead of trying to match a third-generation CV with a fourth-generation system? Why were Pac-Man, Joust, Dig-Dug, and Galaxian obviously better? Who does that for an inferior rival system?Oh you're right! Atari never made bad decisions.
The first bad one was making the 5200 an A8 based machine. It should have leapfrogged that technology.
At very least the 5200 should have added another sprite chip with HW scrolling.
At that time, I bought a CV instead. Why? Those controllers truly pissed me off and I already had an 8
bit with a good deal of the games at the 5200 release anyway.
Well, bad decisions are one thing, but THIS? Nothing they did at this point really added up, unless Atari was so hopelessly disorganized that one section had no idea what the others were doing. They never had a unified plan. Even in a small company, this is bad; for a company as big as Atari back then, this is a recipe for sure-fire failure of massive proportions!
Think about it- no matter what they did, something had to go down- for the count. Release the 7800? Betray the 5200 owners, and get a bad reputation for loyalty.
Stick with the 5200? So much for the 7800, then.
Release the Atarisoft CV games? They were better than the 5200 versions (not good, since Joust, Pac-Man, and Dig-Dug were popular games), so the CV would've sold better yet. Don't release them? A lot of time, money, and effort gone.
Quite frankly, I'm beginning to believe in that rumor about how the 7800 was supposed to have been Atari's next system, but the 1982 release of the CV forced them to quickly come up with something to go against it- which is why the 5200 was "an Atari 400 without a keyboard." It might also explain why a 1984 system was compatable with the 2600, but not a 1982 system.
Overall, I prefer the 5200 to the 7800.
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Return it? Why? I like it just the way it is. I can choose one of three "regular" dot colors for PM amd PM+, albeit clumsily, I don't mind the Galaxian and key colors, and I like the skip-ahead option. It's great the way it is.
This Pac-Man even blows the doors off of the NES version.
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The unfinished Joust, maybe.
Omega Race. Graphics are horrible, but the play is good.
Snake-Pong on Bienvenu's/SET's Amazing Snake.
Baseball and Football.
Rocky Boxing.
Opcode's CV version of Yi-Ar Kung Fu?
Tournament Tennis (Imagic).
I do not know if you can count Blackjack/Poker, since I'm not sure what exactly you mean.
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Ten-Four, thanks- mine is yellow and purple for the Galaxians, and the keys are always different.
With mine, you do not have to press both "0" buttons- just one.
Since I can skip ahead, out of curiosity I skipped ahead about 256 screens in Pac-Man- it starts over, but with "garbage" on-screen.
With Ms. Pac-Man, it was at about screen 134 or so. I recall the arcade version had odd things happen on screen 127, like the maze being upside-down, but with the dots in proper place- finish it, and 99 free games would come up, assuming you hadn't had enough of the game by then...
.By the way- are the "holding positions" from the arcade versions here, too- the places where the ghosts will not go?
It seems as if maybe I got a bit of an oddball cartridge here...and I am very, very happy with it, esp. the dot color "option" I have!
(For some reason, I can't shake the feeling that something else is hidden in this game, too.)
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Well, last week I went over those old magazines from 1982, 1983, and 1984, the only conclusion I can draw is that the 7800, which must've been in the works at least in 1983, was intended to go up against the CV. It was not supposed to go up against the NES, since again, there was absolutely no mention of it anywhere. Remember, Nintendo originally approached Atari to market it here in America, so Atari could not have thought much of it back when the 7800 was supposed to have been released, even if they had known of it beyond a mere abstract.
The whole way Atari dealt with the 5200 and 7800 was doomed to failure. Once they released to 5200 to match the sudden threat of the CV, they sealed their own fates: either stay with the 5200 until the 7800 became pretty pointless, or release the 7800 and dump the 5200 (angering Atari owners- bad for business).
Look at games like Robotron: 2084, Ms. Pac-Man, and Centipede- for crying out loud, Ms. Pac-Man and Robotron had only been released for the 5200 in 1983, and now they launch the 7800, dumping the 5200, with the same games in 1984 that weren't THAT much better?
If the 5200 was so much better, why wasn't this reflected in the games? Why wouldn't Atari have just stuck with the 5200, instead of trying to match a third-generation CV with a fourth-generation system? Why were Pac-Man, Joust, Dig-Dug, and Galaxian obviously better? Who does that for an inferior rival system?
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ColecoVision Arkanoid...
in Opcode Games
Posted
Sheesh, where does it all go? How many screens are there in that game?
So 128K is the practical limit for a CV?