Celebrating bad graphics.

[Celebrating bad graphics.]

Bad graphics show us anyone can aspire to be an artist.

 

 

"Timmy, daddy doesn't have time to be a good father now, but if you really want him to love you, you'll help him design these enemies in time to ship the beta to market for the holidays." Castle of Tharrogad for Tandy Color Computer 3, sequel to Dungeons of Daggorath.

 

Bad graphics bring us closer together.

 

 

"You didn't really invite me here to work on my jumpshot, did you?" One on One, for Adam Computer.

 

Not worksafe. Click to view.

 

Bad graphics are why this thread exists.

 

It's time we honored the best of the worst; anyone else have any?

[Playstation 2 - the game to get?]

Psychonauts.

 

Good to see you around again.

[Best 8-bit computer of all time]

Screenshots.

 

 

 

 

 

The Enterprise 128 in action. (click to watch)

 

All shots stolen without permission from the good people here. Pay them a visit if you get the chance. Hundreds of downloads, even if you can't speak Hungarian. It's like AtariAge; the scene is kept alive long after the company's crash.

[Best 8-bit computer of all time]

It depends what you mean by "best".

 

In terms of power, MSX2+ is a great candidate, although I really like the Enterprise 128.

 

Software base? Maybe Spectrum or C64.

 

Overall?

 

A8, baby, A8.

 

Thanks for leading me to a computer I've never met before. Only two things keep it from immediately taking the crown on raw power: it can't run all 256 colors in it's high resolution mode ( I've only seen one color, with shading. ) and there are no sprites.

 

What it can do is harder to find; most of it's games are emulated from other computers...

 

It's a mystery.

 

I'm hooked.

[Pitfall Vs. Montezuma's Revenge]

Montezumas has the much better game engine.

 

But, the pre-release version was half-baked and the release version dumbed down.

 

Pitfall had the (even then) marketing might of Activision behind it.

 

 

That's the sad fact about the gaming industry, then and today.

 

 

Activision or EA can put a dog-turd in a box, pass it off as a game, and it'll still be a raging sales success.

 

Like "Catwoman"?

 

I'll go with Montezuma's Revenge - Pitfall is a gauntlet of repeating screens, stacked side by side. there's little more to see after a single play. I can admire it's purity, but unless all you demand from a game is a series of reflex tests ( Sometimes that's all you need ), it's ultimately shallow - even for what it's trying to be.

[Gameboy Miner 2049er.]

I think I can beat the game in under ten minutes, but that's not going for the maximum score. I may grab a video of it and post it up so that you'll get an idea of the various patterns to use. I move fast when playing, though, so if I can get a video you might have to slow it down some.

 

You can do Station 2 without using the transporters, and it's a lot faster that way. Also in Station 6, there are some possessions you can't seem to get normally--you have to do some crazy jumps to get them.

 

Here's a list of stations: (I do not know all of the BBSB level #'s)

 

1: Slides (Miner 2049er level 2)

2: Transporters (Miner 2049er level 3)

3: Bob's Morning Calisthenics (BBSB 1)

4: Utility Hoist (BBSB level 2)

5: Suction Tubes (BBSB level 3?)

6: Bob's Playroom (BBSB level 4?)

7: Jumping 101

8: Luxury Transporters? (I can't remember right off...)

9: Yukon's Penthouse

10: Acid Rain (BBSB 25)

 

I might have 8 and 9 backwards--I'll flip them if I do. Anyway, grab the emulator from Big Five's website and practice the levels found in the Game Boy cart. Levels 1 and 2 are easy to get to and don't require the special jumping from BBSB. The rest can be reached with controller codes in BBSB.

 

EDIT: What's that palette on, a Super Game Boy?

 

No, a Super Gameboy only gives you four colors for the entire screen. The picture above uses 6. I recommend either emulating your Gameboy carts on a more powerful system, or, if you can find it, there's a cheat device for Pokemon called the Brain Boy ( Aka the Monster Brain) . Like the emulators, it allows you to edit the colors of the background and sprites separately.

 

It's as close as you can get to colorizing the original Gameboy library.

 

edit: I paid $30 for mine, brand new. Odds are you can get it cheaper now, since no one seems to have heard of it...

 

edit: The lights and the darks of the background were originally reversed for the Gameboy port of Miner 2049er; most improvements won't be as dramatic.

[Gameboy Miner 2049er.]

How does it compare to the original ports?

 

It doesn't--you're playing Bounty Bob Strikes Back. No, seriously, that's the truth.

The controls are the same as BBSB, and all but the first two levels are taken from BBSB. The other major difference is that you gain an extra life for every 10,000 points scored.

The levels do not wrap around--once you finish level 10, the game ends no matter how many lives you have left.

 

In spite of all that, it's still an awesome game.

 

EDIT: If you're having trouble beating this version, remember that in BBSB, you can make short jumps by jumping straight up then waiting a split second to push the d pad. It works here, too, and it makes the difference between winning and losing.

 

I owe you my thanks. I finally made it to level 4, which is further than I've made it in either of the two games for the 5200.

 

I realize that means I suck at this game.

 

But it also means the Gameboy game isn't as hard as it's reputation suggests...

 

Except for the first level.

 

And the fourth.

 

The slides need to go.

 

[Mortal Kombat 3 SNES prototype????]

can u post all mk3 picture from that magazine plz, the graveyard was in the original version of the game, the reason why it was removed was because the 16bit snes and genesis board didn't have enought memory to support the entire data so they have to remove something from the game and they end it up removing the graveyard from the game.

 

but there is one thing that i still don't understand why they didnt aded on ultimate mortal kombat 3 ????????

 

Same reason Sheeva was cut.

[Best 8-bit computer of all time]

Said with class, but there's only one way to settle for true gentlemen to settle this...

 

[Best 8-bit computer of all time]

For raw power, the MSX2+ might take it.

 

# Processor: Zilog Z80 compatible running at 3.58 MHz or more (5.37 MHz versions were available)

# ROM: 64 KB

 

* BIOS + Extended BIOS (32 KB)

* MSX BASIC V3.0 (16 KB)

* DiskROM (16 KB) (optional, very common)

* Kun-BASIC (16 KB) (optional)

* Kanji ROM (optional)

 

# RAM: commonly 64 KB (on Japanese computers)

 

* Memory mapped (4 MB/slot max)

 

# Video Display Processor: Yamaha V9958 (aka MSX-Video)

 

# resolutions: 512×212 (16 colours out of 512)and a 256×212 video mode with 19268 colors.

# sprites: 32, 16 colours, max 8 per horizontal line

# Hardware acceleration for copy, line, fill, etc.

# Interlacing to double vertical resolution

# A vertical scroll register

#a horizontal scroll register

#128k video RAM

 

# Sound chip: Yamaha YM2149 (PSG)

# Optional sound chip: Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL) (MSX-Music)

# Clock chip RP5C01

# 3.5" Floppy disk drive is very common

[Gameboy Miner 2049er.]

Didn't like this version of the game, and certainly didn't like the ColecoVision version.

 

Tell me a little more? I'm new to the series. Gameboy version was my first...

[Gameboy Miner 2049er.]

How does it compare to the original ports?

 

 

On the original Gameboy.

 

 

Custom pallette.

 

Thanks goes to thomasholzer for the topic idea.

[Retrogaming Times Monthly #43]

I'll second it, but I think the reviews in "the many faces" are more about the author's nostalgia than comparing all the 8 bit systems available to the collector today.

 

There's no other reason to include the 7800 ( briefly test marketed in 1984, released in 1986) and exclude the Famicom. ( released in 1983, brought to America in 1985 )

 

No offense to the author, who's attention to detail is second to none, but it's the work of a fan, not a historian.

 

Edit: Rereading my original words, I sounded like a Disney villain. I've hopefully removed the inflammatory parts - my criticism is sincerely meant, but I acknowledge the author's right to ignore it if he chooses - what he does should never stop being fun for him.

 

That said, I'd kill to see the NES, Master System, and Gameboy at least acknowleged in the lineup of classic ports along side the other 8 bit machines, or for someone to offer to take them on as Lost Faces.

[Consoles worth buying just for co-op play?]

Neo-Geo co-op games include:

 

Metal Slug (series) - think Contra if it didn't take itself too seriously. Eating too many health-ups instead of sharing turns you overweight, enemies laugh when they kill you only to scream in terror when you continue. It also has some of the best 2D artwork ever seen - stores have displayed the third game in the series in order to sell new X-Boxes after it was ported.

 

I'll skip the vertical shooters and side scrolling brawlers, all of which seem to include 2 player simultaneous co-op. Here are three others worth checking out.

 

Fatal Fury 1 - allows two players vs. 1 computer. Not a great game, or even a good one, but this option alone keeps it from being a total loss.

 

Blue's Journey - average platformer at best on one player. Most reviews aren't as charitable. But, like Fatal Fury, it's potentially worth the asking price for you. It's one of the few platformers on any system designed from the ground up to support 2 player simultaneous play.

 

Blazing Star - considered the best pure shmup on the system, it's a console exclusive. A ridiculous amount of ways to play the game and great graphics, plus you don't have to go it alone. Good luck finding one.

[Just curious -]

Are you talking about love between players (in an online setting), love between non-player characters, or love between players and NPCs? It would help to establish this to continue this thread properly.

 

Not in an online game at all. Think single player storyline, scary as that might be to some.

[vote against the game]

If that removes Jumping Jack from the list, I move my 3 to Dizzy. Otherwise, I mean them twice as much now.

[Just curious -]

Are there any games where two people meet, fall in love, and aren't ashamed to admit it? Not counting porn.

 

Or are some emotions off limits to explore when forcing a player to experience another life, however artificial it may be?

 

You know the industry is immature when the best written examples of flirting are spoken in Simlish.

[Power Trips.]

In Pac-Man, it was all about the pill - suddenly the rules changed, and you were the predator.

 

In Altered Beast, the player was invited to break the game. Zombies, giant insects, three headed wolves, they all shattered like glass once you stopped wearing pants.

 

Sonic 2 just let you speed through the stages like they weren't even there....

 

Since then, I can't think of any game that was intended to let the players have super powers that everyone in the game wasn't prepared to deal with.

 

Am I forgetting any, or has the "player goes mad with power" school of gamer rewards been abandoned outside of cheat codes and sandbox titles?

[vote against the game]

Hi,

 

determined by the previous ports from zx (jetboy, jet set willy 2007)

I would like to translate to a8 another title.

 

I would like ask for voting:

 

"which game from that list you DON'T want to see on a8"

 

everyone has 3 points. If you want to vote against the game, you may give it

1,2 or 3 points, or give one point to three different games.

 

at the end of the year I will choose 2-3 titles that had received the least

of the votes, and from those choosen I will choose the title for porting.

 

1. 1943

2. Manic Miner

3. Pheenix

4. Knight Lore

5. Dynamite Dan

6. Jumping Jack

7. Hobbit

8. Saboteur

9. Dizzy

10. Seymour

 

This topic is valid to the end of the year

 

I invite you to take a part in the game.

 

--

Jesli temat jest nieczytelny po angielsku niech to ktos poprawi. po polsku jest tu: http://atariarea.krap.pl/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5418

 

3 to Jumping Jack, assuming you mean the lyrical Spectrum game and not the other 2-3 games with the same name.

 

It looks too easy for you.

 

Save it for someone new to programming.

[Requiem for the Atari Generation....]

Do what I do.

 

Hook the kids by giving them lots of classic games at once, even the bad ones. Laugh at the games that deserve it with them.

 

Be surprised when they start recommending a few.

 

I learned to respect Adventure from someone who wasn't even born when the crash happened after he called me a shallow graphics whore. ( How was I supposed to know the ducks and the cracker in the game moved faster than Defender? )

 

He believes ( as I do ) the limitations of a machine bring out the best in a programmer. The games programmers play to make a game in an old school machine is often just as exciting as the game itself.

 

But very few people know these limitations.

 

Even here.

[Incorrect and funny video game moments from tv]

What does stretch plausibility is the idea of an eight-year-old who thinks a Turbo Express is an awesome Christmas present... in 1997.

 

Johnny Turbo is crying.

 

I met kids who thought a dedicated Master System/Game Gear portable was a great present...in 2007.

 

They liked it better than their DS.

[artists wants help making a 2600 game]

Looks like a graphics-modified Rally-X. Wasn't there a Rally-X demo/game in progress?

 

To the poster: do you have a weblink for this project? I have a friend who is extremely into T/A's and would be interested in learning more about this project (I'm interested myself), totally apart from the Atari aspect.

There were a couple, one of which was mine (screenshot posted.)

 

First off, the 2600 can't display detailed graphics like that. Look at the screenshot for a better example of what the game may actually look like.

 

Also, on the 2600, the smoke probably couldn't be more than just flickering blocks if you want them to fill the screen, and even that would require some sort of RAM cart, as the RAM requirements of the smoke alone, never minding the rest of the game, would exceed the 2600's available RAM.

 

EDIT: The cars look funny in the shot, probably due to Stella's phosphor effect - they bodies actually align with the wheels when you play the game.

 

What about if you reverse Pac Man, and lay down a fading trail of smoke colored bricks? I know it's cheap, but back then, they didn't have internet message boards to share notes. You hotdogged the game in order to ship it in time and keep your job, then you trusted in the imagination of your audience to carry the concept through, with an able assist from the cover art.

 

It makes a worse game, but it's more authentic to the times.

 

Edit: Other possibility would be to design an arcade game with steering wheel based on the 6502 or the better known (by programmers) 68k chip.

 

 

Atari was using both at the time, and judging from the amount of time the arcade division put into race game crashes (this crunch appears in another game) and chases with the law while smuggling moonshine, they would have loved to have had the license.

 

Your design would be no trouble.

 

Another edit: Only handicap is both were in b/w. The only color in arcade games came from screen overlays, until Namco released Galaxian in 1979.

[It's a great time to be a "1 gen back" Gamer]

I have to say that this dismissal of the Wii controller is probably a bit harsh. I, for one, think it's amazing. The Wii is the first console I have bought in the 1st-gen in many, many years at for me it lives up to the hype. I love the controller and the Wii Sports and the waving it around like a sword, etc. Just for what it's worth. I am not usually a 1st-gen guy at all, but I played one round of Wii Tennis (with AtariAgers, even!) and was hooked. To me, the experience is worth the cash.

 

Of course this is coming from someone who spent the better part of his day playing Jr. Pac-Man on the 2600.

 

I have a good reason for hating the Wii controller.

 

My hands shake.

 

Just a little. The legacy of medical malpractice. You wouldn't notice it if we met.

 

I can't use the Wiimote. It took both hands, it felt like wrestling someone else trying to type into the onscreen keyboard at the same time, as the selected keys flashed around too fast to choose the correct one except by chance.

 

This was the same day I destroyed a hardcore gamer on Streetfighter 2 & 3, and found most of the stars on Mario 64's ghost house. I have no troubles with the DS touchscreen.

 

I genuinely like the Wii, but if it continues to succeed, I may not be able to play the generation that follows it at all.

[Stupid question about the SMS]

Weren't the Sega Master system cards SG-1000 holdovers? The SG-1000 could display 32 sprites, same as the Colecovision.

 

Also, how many Colecovision games display all 32 sprites?

[Homebrew Controllers: Modernish 5200 and Vectrex Digital]

Someone was (I think) asking about proportions and reaching the keypad. Here's maybe a better sense of scale than the earlier pictures.

 

I'm not a huge person; just under 6 ft and not strangely proportioned. I can span an octave + 1 on a piano keyboard if that gives anyone a frame of reference (its a serious stretch to get +2).

 

 

The controller measures roughly 5.75" x 3.5" x 1.125"

 

If I were a 5200 collector, and you found a way to make it black, I imagine at least $150-300 for the time and effort to handcraft it. Is this closer to the fair price you're trying not to reveal? I wonder if it wouldn't be easier for Songbird or Atari Age to look over your design, pay you a set amount, and manufacture them at a price the market can afford.