PacManPlus

I don't believe there is anything, for *this* title only, that the XM could have added to. The sounds for the arcade game are very primitive, so the sound chips wouldn't be needed much, the extra memory wouldn't have helped much here either. The graphics for the video part were ripped directly from the arcade game. The only thing the XM could have value added was High Score saving. So, to answer your question, I don't believe any improvements from the XM would have been useful for this game to get more of an arcade experience.

Will do - thank you

Hey Bill: just out of curiosity, are there points on the Circuit Board where we can pick up the 4 USB lines (+5v, Ground, +D, -D), in case we want to make a standard USB port on the unit instead of going external? (like where the cart slot is...)

I just wanted to take this moment to say "thank you" to everyone that was so nice to me at PRGE. It was the first time I was ever there, and I am VERY appreciative. It was GREAT to finally meet some of you, and see others whom I haven't seen in quite a long time. So, again, thanks guys. You make me want to keep doing this. So once Stranger Things is done, I plan on starting my next 7800 game (or continuing one that I already started)

Thanks for the info, guys... Ok. SCAA does not auto-detect as it was done before I knew about that. Having said that, it is currently compiled for $450 (it's just changing a 'constant' which references the address), so we should be fine once it comes out.

Thanks, guys - holy crap! That's me playing it in the beginning of the video. My God, I need to lose all that weight I've gained... ...and remember, this game would have been dead in the water without Kurt's pinball physics code. That gave me the kick in the butt I needed to finish the game. I *still* need to go through his commented code to see how it was done.

Hi guys... I thought he meant video of it being played at the show thanks, Trebor!

BTW, some of the original Atari programmers / engineers were there. Tod Frye was there, and I had no idea until I saw him. Didn't have a Pac-Man cart for him to sign so it was a missed opportunity.

As long as the XM addresses the Pokey at $4000, and I can only speak for Super Circus Atari Age, but if I understand it correctly you can get SCAA on a standard 32K cart (without the Pokey) and plug it into the XM and it will work. Please note however that if you plug that same bare cart into a non XM machine, not only will you not get sound, but it will also not play correctly as I rely on the Random Number generator of the Pokey for that game. Can't speak for Froggie though.

Thanks, guys... and thanks @mksmith, as I see you gave me a shout out in Arkanoid... Thank you for that

It was made available at PRGE. As far as I know, 30+ were sold. I signed 5 of them I believe they will be in the store shortly thereafter. There is a video of the game being played although I don't know who posted it (I'm in an airport at the moment).

Ah - I thought you took the picture from there (oops). A LOT of people were playing Arkanoid... I think you have a hit on your hands!!!!

...I must have just missed you, man. Ill see you today though!

Once it's out and I pick up one, I'll design a cart shell and 3-D print a few; I'll try and maintain the original outside shape while reworking the interior for this new layout.

Guys - Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest had a background of 160A (3 color), while the sprites are 160B (12 color). There are two sizes of sprites (8x16 and 8x32). The backgrounds are all 16x16. The 'Bentley Editor' does not do music. It does graphics, tile and sprite placement in levels, colors, and which zones do parallax scrolling. It helped me a *lot* during development. Huge thanks go out to @jwierer for doing that. I am (slowly) working on a project now, but if you guys can wait I will try to change two things about the engine in Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest to be more fitting for this game: The sprite width (to 12 or 16, need to check) and the ability to scroll the opposite direction. I also have a TIA sound version of Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest, but there is no background music (only sound effects). I have had difficulty combining TIA and Pokey sound, as doing all 6 channels each frame seems to run out of time. I know I'm doing something wrong, as I'm certain Commando does all 6 channels. Anyway, my new job has me learning a bunch of stuff I've never worked on before (Dell 'Boomi' being one of them, although that seems straight forward), so I've been concentrating on that. Bob

Judging by the video above, we're more than half-way there with the Crystal Quest engine... Most of the things done in that video can already be done with that engine.

Thanks, guys... I appreciate that

ahem...

Damn. Wish I could have seen you at the one that is close to you at least. It would have been nice to meet you in person... I will be at PRGE... I'm starting a new job next week and they already know about this trip (and Florida's Free Play in November) so hopefully nothing will get in the way.

I would think it would be more like something that would plug into the 'expansion port' (for those consoles that still have them) like the laser disc was supposed to, being that it would just be a video/audio/power pass through like the 2600 adapter for the 5200 was.

Off topic (please forgive me) - but your username reminds me that I am *dying* to find an original Linn LM-1 (that I can afford to buy) Ok, thread derailment over.