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gliptitude

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Posts posted by gliptitude

  2. Posted

    I have the repro light pen and art master and animaction. Have had a lot of fun with it, though it can be quite tedious at times. It's difficult to be precise. Both programs have crazy limitations, but i've actually found the art master animation mode to be more useful than animaction. The stuff i've been doing in art master can't be done in animaction.

     

    It would be sweet if somebody developed a new animation cartridge for the vectrex.

  3. Posted

    I look into this every now and again. I've often wanted something to tinker with creating GB/GBC romhacks and homebrews, but I usually don't get too far into the buying process. It seems most of the good GB/GBC flashcarts are out of production, stupidly expensive, and/or require tons of hardware/software I don't have. Looks like the time to get in on that game was about 15 years ago... :-/

     

    This looks current and reliable:

     

    http://r4-3.com/ez-flash-iv-mini-gba-card-ez4-for-nintendo-gba-ds-ds-lite-p-19.html

     

    At $38 including shipping that's about half what I paid 6 years ago for a GBA flash cart that stopped working after a year or two.

  4. Posted

     

    EzFlash IV has a few weaknesses, like not supporting 256mbit roms and lack of rtc, but is overall one of the better cards for the system--especially since the M3 family is no longer available. It won't do b/w or color games in 'legacy GB mode,' however GBA does have software emulators for them in GBA mode.

     

     

    What exactly does it mean to support or not support "256mbit roms"? I have an EFA gba flash cart that I bought years ago, but it no longer connects through the USB port, so I'm stuck with the last stuff I wrote to it. I seem to remember "256" appearing often when I was writing files to it in the past. Mainly trying to run the various emulators. Can I do this on the EZflash IV?

  5. Posted

    I'm not an expert on the technology, but one thing I'm aware of that is some advantage to the new programmers is that the cartridges can be bigger than the originals. I believe the originals were 16K and most new games are 32K, a couple of them larger than that I believe.

    The machine always was able to handle up to 32k in one bank, it's just that no original game back in the day came anywhere near filling that. The largest commercially released game was 8k, and the unreleased Dark Towers was 12k. Since then, homebrew has filled the void heh... and a few games do use bankswitching to deliver 64k in total.

     

    Pretty much no idea what any of this means, except that 32 is larger than 16, which is larger than 8, smaller than 64. I'd just imagined that technological progress made RAM or ROM or memory or whatever more accessible, and that one of these things was inside of the cartridges. I don't understand how a cartridge interfaces with a console, or how one could compensate for the other. What's bank switching?

  7. Posted

    I bought Recycledgamer's SNES pad a few months ago. Although I use it all the time I've actually had a problem that the buttons are not as responsive as they should be. The compact layout of the SNES pad makes it great for a majority of Vectrex games, and the orientation of the corresponding buttons is acceptable. Not the ultimate Vectrex controller, but pretty darn good.

  8. Posted · Edited by gliptitude

     

    As for the reason, I'm guessing its just that it's not that easy to get Vector monitors, and the Vectrex was handy.

     

    I think you can do this with some Osciloscopes as well...

     

    desiv

     

    Cool. Since my last post I did see on the Zektor website that it works with oscilloscopes. ..I started looking at "vector monitors", "xy monitors" and oscilloscopes on ebay. I noticed a majority of oscilloscopes are small screens, maybe 5".

     

    ... Then I searched net for "huge oscilloscope" and eventually found an instructable for converting old televisions to oscilloscopes.

     

    http://www.instructa...scope/?ALLSTEPS

     

    I remember reading that the original Vectrex production was kind of out of convenience using a stock of regular BW television monitors which were modified to be vector displays. I wonder how reliably this could be done by a diligent hobbyist. ... The article I linked doesn't specify that this monitor could take an xy signal and display it. I have no idea how particular of a capability that is. He is just demonstrating its use as a waveform audio display...

  9. Posted

     

    As for using the Vec as a monitor for original vector games, it's the (From memory here, so might be wrong) Zektor ZVG???

    With that and Vector MAME, I think you can play any of the old games on that screen...

     

     

    Wow, this is awesome! ... What would be the reason for using a Vectrex in this setup though (rather than a vector monitor)? ... Would setting it up this way involve rededicating the Vectrex to this purpose, and separating the Vectrex monitor from its console?

  10. Posted

    The Vectrex actually has an Asteroids clone BUILT-IN to the console. It's called Minestorm and it's pretty sweet. There have been a couple other homebrew Asteroids clones also. ... Protector is absolutely amazing, better than any other version for me.

     

    I'm not an expert on the technology, but one thing I'm aware of that is some advantage to the new programmers is that the cartridges can be bigger than the originals. I believe the originals were 16K and most new games are 32K, a couple of them larger than that I believe.

     

    Not sure what you know about the Vectrex atarilovesyou, so you can let me know if I'm stating the obvious. But I think the Vectrex is pretty capable of doing what you are talking about. There was someone working on a Battlezone clone, but I think that person kind of disappeared. I believe there was someone else who worked on a Tempest clone. (If not there are a couple of great Tempest-like games in the original library with Web Wars and Bedlam).

     

    You might check out this vector/vectrex forum:

     

    http://vectorgaming.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=vectrex

     

    It's a small community, but there are definitely people there interested in the subject and people who would be able to tell you the history of this sort of thing.

  11. Posted

    Thanks for replies guys. PM sent to PsychedelicShaman.

     

    Does the vecmulti use a standard GCE cartridge shell? I've actually got an empty, never used shell at home. I figured I might have a use for it at some point.

     

    No Desfeek it's not Battlezone. It's an original game of my design. We intend for it to have a unique overlay, which I am in charge of producing and which will make it kind of a pricey title (unfortunately custom screen printing and die cutting is a pretty big deal). Can't tell you anything more right now. I'll let you know when there is an official announcement, which could be soon. Could be 8 months to a year before it is released though.

     

    ... I don't know if you saw my thread asking for damaged GCE overlays? The screen printer needs these to experiment with. If you have any you might sell me cheap please let me know.

  12. Posted

    Yes I'm aware that his newest cart supports Animaction rom, but he is sold out and not taking new orders. I certainly intend to buy from him (for this and other purposes) and have already talked to him and gotten on his list. No idea when he will be selling again though and I am looking to move forward right away.

  13. Posted

    I'm trying to get my hands on Animaction for the Vectrex. Box and manual are not neccesary.

     

    There is one on sale for $65 + shipping on ebay, more than I am willing to pay. I might pay $40. Also have some other Vectrex stuff for trade, CIB games. For straight trade I'd consider LNIB Berzerk or Rip Off. LNIB Spinball is available, but more valuable than $40 to me. Some other CIB games in less than like-new condition. Possibly straight trade my converted vectrex SNES pad. Ask if interested!

     

    See the forum thread with my screen name in the title for some reference on my dealings on here.

     

    I have been prototyping a new game for the Vectrex using (in addition to hand drawn concept images and text) Art Master video demos of the gameplay, which I video tape and then send to the programmer for review. It's hard for me to imagine that there are very many people getting as much use out of Art Master as I have been getting. However, there are some pretty significant things I could do with Animaction that I can't do with Art Master, so I need your help!

  15. Posted

    I need your bent, cracked, scuffed and stained original Vectrex screen overlays!

     

    You would be contributing to an interesting project. I am working with a screen printer friend of mine to figure out how to make quality Vectrex repro (and homebrew) screen overlays.

     

    The printer needs the old donors to experiment with, to figure out the appropriate ink to use and also to source the new material we'll need for fresh prints.

     

    I'd pay what we agree they are worth. Eh, donated overlays would also be accepted.

     

    Message me directly or post in this thread. THANKS!

  16. Posted

    I've quickly immersed myself in the Vectrex universe and PROTECTOR remains in my top 4 of all the games I've played. (played all of the originals except for Animaction, half of them with overlays, played Dark Tower, Space Frenzy, I,Cyborg, Thrust, Moon Lander, Rockaroids, Nebula Commander) I say "top 4" because each of the games up there have their own niche, but Protector is definitely the one I play the most. (top 4 for me is: Web Wars, I,Cyborg, Bedlam and Protector.) If you can't shell out 12.50 for the the cart you are a jerk! It is insanely fun addictive game. Better than the original Defender! It's an essential Vectrex game and easy to acquire.

  17. Posted

     

    Do you find eBay's new "Add to Cart" option confusing? I just had an eBay user flip their lid over the assumption that I was selling all 24 overlays for $12.99 total (wouldn't that be nice!). After explaining that I was using eBay's "versioning" option (i.e., the drop down list in a single auction where you can add "versions" of an item to your cart), they freaked and claimed they were reporting me for false advertising.

     

     

    I discovered your ebay auction a week or two ago and I DID initially mistake the item as being a full set. Yes I thought the price was quite low for such a set, but it wasn't until i tried to add the auction to my "watch list" that i realized what you were selling for that price. At that point the site prompted me to select a particular overlay.

     

    It's hard for me to discern the quality of your overlays from the pictures. I'd highly recommend providing pics of each overlay with the matching game running behind it.

    • Like 1

  19. Posted

     

    The Atari boxes are among my favorites, too. The "montage" paintings they used for their Warner-era releases always had all kinds of interesting things going on inside them, and as I said in another thread about them, they "served as a visual aid to prime my imagination, giving me a mental image that I could impose on the more primitive audiovisuals of the actual game as I was playing it". Some people like to criticize them because they don't reflect what the game really looks like, but in my opinion that criticism misses the point.

     

     

    That's exactly how i feel about game art. The disparity between the fabulous images and the actual game is a huge style point in my opinion. As long as there is some sort of payoff, I don't mind if the art offers way more than the game could possibly live up to. It makes it seem like magic, like rubbing two sticks together to produce fire, or like Sea Monkies heh.

  22. Posted

    my collection is nearly complete, nonner

    except if u are selling some empty boxes

     

    I have some boxes I might sell. I've ended up acquiring them en route to getting the respective overlays, which is all i really want. Some are minty and others are not. I'm a little hesitant to sell the minty ones apart from the game/overlay/manual though, as they are more valuable all together in that condition. Possible trades could involve my CIB for your non minty loose and other stuff. IDK.

     

    What boxes do you need?

  23. Posted · Edited by gliptitude

    heh, old stuff here that i am replying to, but I noticed that you seemed to be pursuing Polar Rescue minus the box. I have CIB and don't care to be collecting boxes. If you want just the box to complete your incomplete cart/overlay I might trade for something. I'm reluctant to trade the manual, but might consider. Loose overlays would be good trade prospect. Would like Pole Position overlay (repro ok), or maybe other more common overlays that I don't already have. Overlays I'd be interested in are Pole Position, Web Wars, Star Castle, Rip-Off, Armor Attack, Bedlam, maybe others. Not sure how you value any of this. I'd be willing to negotiate that. I like money/trade combos, either one of us including money to make it balanced.

  25. Posted · Edited by gliptitude

    "Star Fire Spirits" is available on John Dondzilla's website in cartridge form for $20 (part of Vecmania compilation). Vecmania is available for free download on that site. His website is current and he ships fast. I don't know when this compilation was released, but Star Fire Spirits is not described as a "demo" on the Vecmania page.

     

    http://www.classicga...m/vecmania.html

     

    I think it says on his site that all of his software is available for free download, so I don't know that ROM availability is any indication of the project's status or level of completion.

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