Andromeda Stardust
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Posts posted by Andromeda Stardust
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I'm confused... Is this getting released for Christmas 2012 or not? IMO, the Christmas wrap boxart looks awesome! If this is anything like Stella's Stocking (my first Atari homebrew), I'll want one!
I'll need to get Reindeer rescue as well at some point.
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What game is that?You mean something like this?
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That skull is awesome! I've not played infiltrate, but the way you guys talk about it makes me want to...
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How about an Xmas ET game? Instead of ET, you play Santa, and instead of pits, you drop down chimneys?
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I'd bet that thing overheats if you try to game or do serious multithreaded computations on it.
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The Fairy Unicorn is merely a horse with wings and a horn. Oh, and you can ride/fly on it, but you must be 6 inches tall because the horse is tiny.
I like the idea of bus-stuffing the VCS and using the ARM processor already inside the Harmony to do it. Would it be possible for a ROM to directly interface the ARM processor inside the Harmony? Maybe someone could reflash the Harmony with a special boot-loader that auto-loads a massive ARM game off the SD card. The 70 Mhz ARM spits the graphics data directly into the TIA as a continuous stream of updated background colors, completely bypassing the CPU! 70MHz ARM and an unlimited rom size could even serve full motion 160x192 video frames to the Atari at 60Hz!
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I noticed a pattern with Atari Homebrew games. Many of them are clones of popular games from later consoles which have been remade for Atari. I know a lot of them have totally different names for copyright reasons. I'll list a couple examples:
WIP Princess Rescue by Sprybug = clone of NES Super Mario Brothers
Strat-O-Gems = clone of Genesis Columns
Chetiry = clone of Tetris
I just thought since many new 2600 homebrew games emulate other popular console/ arcade games, it would help people searching for fun homebrews to pair them with the games that inspired them. If we produce a running list of homebrew clones, then people who liked the originals might also enjoy their Atari retro-clones. Just a thought...
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I haven't noticed any green-ness on my TV but then again, I wasn't really paying attention. Also, for the full cart release, the colors and scanline counts will need to be tweaked for PAL regions. Just my two cents, but I think big/little Mario would stand out better with red/blue overalls instead of Brown. Either way, the sprites look awesome!
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Hey, thanks. It annoyed me that I couldn't tell when I left the Atari on since all my other consoles had LEDs, so when I refurbed my new-to-me 4-switch Atari by replacing the 5V power regulator and "chicklet" capacitor (I was having snowy display issues; see my first post at Atariage), I added a 12V LED to the 9V leads in between the power switch and voltage regulator. I also stripped the stock RCA cable and replaced it with a real coax RF jack on the back. They had red, yellow, and green LEDs with built in resistors at Radio Shack; I was going to install yellow, but when I asked my fiance's input, she suggested green. My NES also has an LED mod since the original red LED burned out for reasons unknown, so I replaced it with one of those ultra bright blue LEDs from Radio Shack.Nice LED on your Atari bro.
Yeah, SMB v6 is the latest version Sprybug has made public. It includes world 1 only. I volunteered as a beta tester, so Sprybug sent me SMB v9 (early title screen and worlds 1-3) and later PR v1 (Princess Rescue, tentative and possible official future cart release title to avoid trademark infringement on behalf of the big "N" - it includes all worlds 1-4 plus a nicer title screen, Princess sprite, and hard mode). That's why I was able to post a playthrough video of World 2. I've not even seen worlds 3-4 yet, as I've sort of stopped playing Princess Rescue for the time being, because if I play it too much now, I'll get tired and not have anything to look forward too when it releases on a real cart. When everyone started complaining that Genesis "C" button wasn't operating properly, I fired up my Harmony cart and demonstrated otherwise. There's still at least one other member, KevinMos3, who also posted a "victory" video (so I know he has access to the PR_v1 ROM), and claimed to have problems using a Genesis controller on an Atari Jr, so there may still be some bugs to iron out to ensure this ROM is compatible with all Ataris, including the later 7800 and Jr models. I do own one 6-button Genesis controller which I bought as a player 2 spare, but I've not yet dug it out and tested it on my Atari (I currently have no 6-button Genesis games, as I'm really not into the Fighting genre which mostly used the fancy controllers and was hugely popular in the early 90s). The 6-button Genesis controller does have a much more sophisticated logic chip in it, so it's possible the "C" button detection algorithm may not work properly on a 6-button Genesis gamepad. Remember, the Genesis controller was from a much later generation, and never designed to be backwards compatible with the Atari, nor visa-versa, so the fact that it works at all on any Atari VCS model is really pure luck. I think when the Sega guys designed the Master System and Genesis/Megadrive, they looked to the existing pinouts for older consoles for inspiration, and the older Atari camp just lucked out with a great controller design that actually worked. It wasn't until years later that homebrewers figured out that the Atari could actually be programmed to detect a second action button, a feat that couldn't be pulled off with even the 7800 controller.Well that explains it I have version 6.
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I'm sorry people are having problems. It works flawlessly with my hardware setup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm_cpH806Ss
4-Switch Woodgrain Atari (manufactured in 1980)
Harmony cart
"PR_V1.bas.bin" by Sprybug
Original Sega brand 3-button Genesis controller
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Earlier in this thread, I posted a playthrough video of World 2 and I was using the Genesis pad the entire time. I run, walk, and shoot fire balls in the video. I wonder if Sprybug sent me the same ROM version via PM that he sent you guys. Maybe he has made some edits that caused it not to work properly, and sent you guys a different ROM? If my ROM has a different checksum than yours, it would explain some things. Sprybug needs to compare the "PR_01.bas.rom" or whatever rom he sent me to the others, because the "C" button works fine on my Atari with Harmony.
I plug in the Genny controllerwith the power off, then hold button "B" while booting the Atari. This allows me access to the file menu in joystick mode. I select the filename "PR_01.bas.rom" by tapping the "B" button, and wait for the game to load. Run/shoot works properly on my 4-switcher by following these instructions, and I don't see why it wouldn't running on another Atari with identical hardware/ROM.
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You can hook up virtually any system to any TV. Everyone knows that. I could hook up my Atari to the RF jack on my shiny new LCD TV, or I could wire a Wii console up to an RF adapter + 75/300 impedance converter, and use it on a black and white 1950s vacuum tube dinosaur. The only compatibility issues that arise come from using a light gun on a non-CRT screen, or incompatible standards like using a PAL console on an NTSC TV, etc.because magnavox marketed it wrong. leafing people thinking it would only work on a magnavox tv. This was before vcrs so people didn't know that you could hook up stuff to you're tv.
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It worked on my 4-switch Atari with a 3-button Genny pad. The guy who I PM'd about the issue had an Atari Jr. Compatibility between Atari models could be an issue even if it wasn't back in the day, because during the lifespan of the Atari, there were no games in existence that supported 2-button action for Genesis pads. 100% compatibility between Atari Jr, 7800 and 4/6 switch models would have meant nothing because zero games originally supported the Genesis pad, if that makes any sense. I'm pretty much positive that the Genesis "C" button works on Princess Rescue (PR_v1.bas.bin) via Harmony cart with 4 and 6 switch Atari models. If you are using a 4 or 6 switch Atari with a first party 3 button Genesis pad, then it should work in theory; at least it did for me.I've been having issues with people getting the Genesis controller to work on the real machine. It works on Stella but not on a real Atari for some reason. I'm expecting some Genesis controllers to come in any day now so I can test it out on the real machine and see if I can find what's going on. the final release will be fixed.
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I think you are referring to "Le voyage dans la lune" by Georges Melies, 1902, which became quite popular recently after the success of the movie Hugo. Worth checking out both movies if you didn't already!
Yeah, I couldn't remember the title or year. But if it's from 1902, it probably was a silent era film at first then had sound added in as I had mentioned before. I was first exposed to it in the form of brief clips during a documentary about the events leading up to and including the moon missions.
I just bought a record player not even a month ago. First one I've had since the one I owned as a child wore out during the 80s. Already purchased a number of items. There's a ton of unexplored territory there waiting to be discovered. Wish me luck on the journey...There are lots of old movies and old games (exactly like old music or books) that the newer generations don't appreciate simply because they never had a chance of being properly exposed to them since it's already impossible to keep up with the never ending flood of incoming new stuff.
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Not technically a silent film, but there was a hilareous French movie about a voyage to the moon. The audio was later dubbed over with voice, and the French dub was much longer than the English dub. They built a giant cannon to launch the craft up to the moon, and it got stuck in the moon's eye socket! Then they got chased by alien midgets and leapt off the surface and parachutted back to Earth. Classic stuff, and heralded as the first ever Sci-Fi movie. I first watched it in it's entirety in 2006 on youtube, knowing full well that the Americans got there first...
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Please bear in mind that some people are only interested in current generation games, and the fact that these people exist is very healthy for the retro gaming market. If ~50% of the gaming public never sold their old games when the new systems came out, and people didn't clean out their garages full of old unwanted hardware for chump change, then our coveted retro gaming/collection hobbies wouldn't exist, and emulation would be the only way to enjoy anything from the past. On the flip side, if the majority of gamers stopped buying new systems, the market would collapse, and video games of any kind would eventually cease to exist, except as untouchables in museums. So, for the market to be healthy, there needs to be a steady supply of old school and new school gamers. Some of us are both! I've got a shiny black deluxe Wii-U preorder waiting for me at GameStop come November.
I just bought my first record player the other day, a USB-powered turntable. Pulled a box of my mom's & dad's (may he rest in peace) old records the other day, and my mom last night heard sweet music that hasn't graced her ears in 30+ years! Now I'm going out purchasing reissues of old albums on vinyl, as well as some discontinued vintage pressings, even though the new albums are 2-3x as expensive as their respective CDs (many of which I already own). Next, I'm probably going to rip the vinyls back to CD-Rs so I can listen to them in my car. It's not as weird/oddball as it sounds, really...Even when they buy a older console, they still looking for ways to get better graphics, and then complain that the picture isn't looking that good on they're flatscreen lcd tv. Maybe i'm the odd ball here, but i do like rf interference and the fuzzy pictures the console produced back then. Heck i even recorded cd's onto tape reals to get that old sound. -
PM sent.Correct, the game is supposed to auto-detect on bootup. I understand it works fine in Stella, but there seems to be an issue on real hardware. I have no problem using the Genesis controllers with other 2-button hacked games. That's why I'm wondering if you've gotten a Genesis controller to work on real hardware with this ROM. I'm thinking it's a bug-report matter. -
That's awesome! It's neat that sprybug's version has a bunch of stuff the original SMB didn't, like backwards scrolling, Jr battles, and an animated princess. What did Sprybug's original sprite (not my mock-up) look like?Yes.
and thank you. I started out trying to make it a bit more literal of a translation from SMB 2/3. Then since there are 2 sprites for the princess in the ROM, I had the idea of making her start out more sad looking and perk up once she realizes she's been rescued.I second that about getting used to the physics. Although, I find using a joystick to be just as easy. However, the joystick I use is either a Slik Stik or a Starfighter (both by Suncom) and they are both much better for precise control than a standard Atari joystick. I have also been using an NES pad that I converted for Atari. I used to die in the cheapest places, like jumping to the pipes at the end of 1-2. I kept coming up short because I felt like I would over-shoot it. Finally I realized that I just needed to jump while walking normal speed and not hold back at all. It's the perfect distance for this type of jump. Getting used to the handling is everything.
Are you hot-plugging the Genesis controller after loading the ROM? I believe it will only work if the Genny controller is plugged in when the ROM loads. Hold down "B" button to access the Harmony menu in joystick mode.Speaking of controllers, a Genesis controller would be great, but I've not been able to get the C button to work with this game. Has it worked for you? I've tried a few different types: a Sega brand regular 3-button Genesis controller, a Sega six-button controller, and a 3rd party Genesis controller. The second © button hasn't worked with any of them for this game. I play on a real Atari with my Harmony cart, BTW.
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There are two problems at work here. First is lag. The CRT screen instantly updates the picture as the composite or RF signal is streamed to the TV. On an LCD, the entire frame is stored into a screen buffer, which is then used to refresh the entire panel once the data is scaled and processed. At a bare minimum, this adds 16.67ms (1/60 sec) of lag, plus an additional length of time required for scaling the image to fit the pixel array, which varies per TV set. Generally, on a good TV or gaming monitor, this frame delay occurs so rapidly that it escapes human perception. Second, the electron beam that scans across the CRT screen is strobed at 60Hz, so the instantaneous flash of light is at least an order of magnitude brighter than an LCD, which keeps the pixel illuminated for the entire duration of the frame.
When you pull the trigger to shoot at the duck, the NES blacks out the entire screen on the following frame. Then the following frame, a white box is illuminated where the location of the duck is. If there are more targets onscreen, each target draws a white box on successive frames.
As an example, you pull the trigger to fire at the duck.
Frame 0: pulls trigger (no hit detection)
Frame 1: blacked out screen
Frame 2: white rectangle for Duck #1
Frame 3: white rectangle for duck #2 and so on if there are subsequent objects on screen.
There is no scanline counting or detailed timing involved with hit detection. That may be possible, but would likely prove too difficult to program. During the screen draw, the Zapper sends a signal if it detects light. If a signal is detected, there is a flag bit on the zapper pin. When the screen draw is finished, the NES tests for this flag, and if it is set, a hit is detected. Pointing the Zapper at a light bulb rarely works with Duck Hunt because if a "hit" is detected on the first frame, the user is cheating (ie lightbulb) and this counts as a miss. Frame 2 is the first duck, so "1- miss", "2- hit" counts as a hit for Duck #1. Likewise, "1- miss" "2- miss" "3- hit" counts as a hit for the second duck in "two ducks" mode. Pointing at a light bulb would yield "1- hit" "2- hit" "3-hit" and the game logic detects this as cheating and counts it as a miss. Other games developed by third parties may not check for the light bulb cheat, but I know for a fact the light bulb cheat does not work for duck hunt.
Because all HDTVs exhibit some amount of frame lag, the Zapper cannot anticipate this and the game will almost always return a "miss." Even homebrew games cannot anticipate this effect because the amount of lag is unknown as it varies from one HDTV to the next. Furthermore, the Zapper is designed to detect the high-intensity strobe pulse of a CRT screen and is likely not sensitive enough to pick up the relatively dimmer flicker-free LCD backlight. I hope that helps explain how the zapper works. Go to a thrift store and buy a cheap used CRT. Zapper games can be addictive and are a lot of fun!
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Exactly! Like how in my previous post (if anyone actually read past all the bickering higher up on this page) I mentioned that as a teenager, I dismissed all music that existed before 1980 (I was born in 1981). Every person has their preferences, but nobody should diss the stuff without trying it. I was guilty of dismissing Atari for years before I bought one.You know, on one hand I could say that dismissing pre-NES games is silly, but on the other hand, I'm guilty of doing the same thing on other subjects. For example, there was a time, quite a few decades ago, where westerns were all the rage at the movies and on TV (I'm thinking Bonanza and the likes, which I see re-released on DVD today) and today I easely dismiss westerns as "too old to be relevant", in the exact same way those young retrogamers are dismissing pre-NES games. So I can relate, I guess.
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Ah, shucks... This is no different from the pirate "TV Games" Famiclones (PowerJoy, etc) they sell at the malls. Nintendo has been fighting them for years. Basically, they shut one kiosk down, and another one opens elsewhere. But there is a silver light at the end of the tunnel. If the pirate companies now have a working AOAC (Atari On A Chip), that opens up the possibilities for legitimate hardware clones, just with a cartridge slot instead of a crap-ton of included games. I'm all for an Atari clone, and with the glut of games still floating around on the market, fresh hardware (even if it's cloned) will put a much needed boost in the used cart market. Whether advanced homebrew games like BoulderDash will work on cloned hardware has yet to be seen.
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Good question. The slow vertical movement was not an issue in my opinion. If you take the original pac-board, which is taller than it is wide, and compres the graphics so that it is wider than it is tall, then the vertical movement will appear slower even though if it was the same speed as the uncompressed board. That would provide more accurate and balanced mechanics than artificially speeding up the vertical movement so that it matches the horizontal movement. A bunch of people complained and so he changed it, but I suspect that the original movement had timings more accurate to the original arcade board. I still need to load both ROM versions into my Harmony cart and try it myself. If the game play on Pacman 4k turns out balanced and not too difficult when it releases in the Atariage store, I may just sell my old Pacman Arcade (melody enhanced) back for store credit. Seriously, I had no idea of this games existence.
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That's really neat. When you say "Princess sprite slightly altered," did you edit the princess sprite yourself? It looks even better than the one I suggested a while ago. I wish it had the princess tune from the original super Mario Brothers, but if Sprybug is running out of ROM space like he claims, I can understand that the full tune wasn't included.Concerning the hard mode, I'm rather indifferent on the manner of implementation. I like the idea Stardust had about being able to select a world if in hard mode. I also like the idea of a person being able to access it at a later time, like with a code, but I realize that may take up resources you don't have. Using a switch like you suggested would be a good alternative, and people would have to just use the "honor system" hehe. I really wouldn't mind knowing that the hard mode is there if I flip a switch, and could choose to only flip that switch when I return to the game later, only after having beaten it in the past.
Just for fun, here's a video of the final battle and end sequence:
Warning: Don't watch if you don't wanna know!
BTW, I don't like the idea of "demo" roms in public and full version on a cart. I think it's bad for the homebrew community, but I won't derail this topic with all the reasons why. Those of us who buy carts have the added benefit of owning an actual cartridge that we can play on our real Ataris. That's sufficient.
I had a similar problem when playing it originally. Using a Genesis controller will help with the running mechanics. The thing is, the physics are not exactly the same as what you would expect in Super Mario Brothers. For one, a quick tap on the jump button will jump the same height as a longer press. Also, the jump trajectory is not parabolic either. Once you learn the game, and stop expecting it to respond exactly like SMB, you'll get used to the controlls, and the platforming elements will become easier.I have played the entire world 1 a lot of times but it is very hard even the speed of Mario after jumping and landing on small platforms is too fast and frantic. In World 1-2 I often died at the end of the first part (the 4 small platforms with the flower... at this part I have sweared many times)!
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No!!! It was a joke...more like 8min, but it felt like 8hrs.
Nah, we will lock you in a private theater, eyelids peeled back in true "Clockwork Orange" fashion, and force you to submit to a 10 hour viewing session of "Trololo" everyday for 6 months. That movie was pretty sick, btw...
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When will the AtariVox Be available?
in Atari 2600
Posted · Edited by stardust4ever
Apparently, it was in the store until recently, so somebody's apparently been making them, unless the store still had old stock laying around and recently sold out. It doesn't bother me too much as I wasn't planning on buying one in the first place. How does the AtariVox work through a joystick port anyhow? I though joystick ports were strictly input connectors, and wasn't aware that it was possible to output information to an accessory device through the 9-pin connector. I mean, the pinout for the joystick port contains 5 digital inputs, 2 analog inputs, plus GND and +5VCC, so how does the Atari communicate with it? Also, I believe the Melody boards feature a lot of advanced audio/save features as well, and newer homebrews could utilize modified Melody boards, like for instance the "save" feature in Chetiry. The only Vox-enabled game I'm interested in is Strat-O-Gems, but I believe it will run fine without the AtariVox, just with reduced sound effects.