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Jess Ragan

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Everything posted by Jess Ragan

  1. Jess Ragan
    I mean, yeah. Nano ported a Dreamcast diagnostic tool to the ColecoVision, and you know that couldn't have been easy at all.
  2. Jess Ragan
    I guess I should ask if there's any plans to support peripherals like the Super Controller dial, the roller controller, the steering wheel, etc. A homebrew game that uses analog control could have a lot of promise! Bit Corporation made a Breakout clone called Strike It for the ColecoVision, but it loses something without the instant response of a dial.
  3. Jess Ragan
    Thanks for the advice. I'll have to figure out if I can make this work with my art style. Also, it's weird that I can just drag and drop any old drawing I've done, and Tursi's software spits out a ColecoVision ROM. The original CV designers probably wished they had that kind of power at their fingertips!
  4. Jess Ragan
    After the announcement of a BASIC compiler for the ColecoVision, I got the urge to mess with the system and see what I could do with it. I haven't given CVBasic more than a cursory look, but I did find Tursi's graphics converter and ran a few test drawings through it. The original picture, based on Heiankyo Alien, is on the right. The ColecoVision version is on the left, and is littered with artifacting and striping that leaves the image looking compromised. What's the best way to limit or eliminate the artifacting entirely? I saw the title screen for Nanochess' game Camelot Knights, and that image was heavily shadowed, but also crisp, with little evidence of the ColecoVision's visual limitations. What's the trick to making images pop on the ColecoVision? Heavy outlining seems to help, but are there any other tips that will reduce color clash and result in a more professional look?
  5. Jess Ragan

    Brazilians have the strange but admirable ability to push electronics well past their limitations. You hand a Brazilian a Sega Genesis and they'll hand it back to you as the world's most efficient power plant.

    1. r_chase

      r_chase

      I also say the same about their music as well. From samba to DnB, they even combine them.

  6. Jess Ragan
    Holy (Oscar) Toledo! Does this man ever sleep? While everyone else is sleeping, he's making diagnostic tools originally designed for the Dreamcast.
  7. Jess Ragan
    I've got PNG to BMP converters (including Paint Dot Net), but not PNG to ColecoVision converters. Is there a way to convert BMP to a ColecoVision format?
  8. Jess Ragan

    It's weird that Saved by the Bell was originally designed to re-launch the career of Haley Mills, but was way more successful without her.

  9. Jess Ragan
    Not to say that I'll make games or anything crazy like that, but how does building tile graphics work on the ColecoVision? Instead of each 8x8 tile being two colors like it is on the Spectrum, each horizontal line of an 8x8 tile can be two colors? That's kind of weird. Also, does anyone have a direct link to a PNG converter? There's some software on ColecoVision.dk, but a lot of those links are broken, and the file I did manage to find was in .TAR format. That's a Linux thing... I was looking for Windows software.
  10. Jess Ragan
    For those claiming that success has corrupted Nintendo, no, they've always been this way. Here's an ad posted in Electronic Fun and Games, circa 1982. Nintendo learned early on (with MCA vs. Nintendo) that aggressive litigation is effective, and doesn't hesitate to use it to protect its interests. Beyond that, their business tactics have historically been pretty draconian. Remember the NES era, when third parties were limited to five games per year, and each game was bound by a two year exclusivity contract? Personally speaking, I don't pirate Switch games, because the system is still actively supported, and it would be more inconvenient to download them from a shady torrent than to just buy the damn things from an official source. But if I have no reasonable means of legally obtaining these games, yo ho ho. I'll shed no tears over downloading that Little Samson ROM. If Taito wants to SELL it to me, all they've got to do is put it on a digital storefront.
  11. Jess Ragan
    Look. I like the Atari 5200. I prefer the feel of its games to what's on the ColecoVision... they're just brighter and move more smoothly. But really, I get why people wouldn't want to support the Atari 5200. It wasn't popular in 1982, and it's not popular now, for the same reasons. You can get the benefits of Atari 5200 games from an XL/XE, without the annoyance of floppy analog joysticks. Theoretically, many of those games could be converted to the Atari 5200, but there's just no rational reason to backport these games. There probably won't be a rational reason to backport, until someone whips up a program that converts XL/XE games to the Atari 5200 automatically. (That's a good idea, someone should do that.)
  12. Jess Ragan

    Look, all I'm sayin' is that if you put the arcade cabinet on the box, or make the box INTO an arcade cabinet, the game inside had better feel like the arcade game.

    1. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      ***Thought maybe someone else would ask,  but OK ...Gotta do it myself***

       

      Curious now,  What game are you referring to?  Or is it a general statement?

    2. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Possibly something Coleco...Although Homebrew Star Castle Arcade had the game cab foldout dealy in the box...And my Zaxxon for ADAM,  my tape spun too fast and died in my arms ...But what did I do with the box?  Hmmm...Prolly find it somewhere...someday...

    3. Jess Ragan

      Jess Ragan

      It was Coleco specifically.

  13. Jess Ragan

    Starfield hates Mondays. And any other day when his game doesn't sell, which would be the other six.

    1. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Time to lower prices maybe?   IDK

  14. Jess Ragan

    You wanna know how "fun" it is to replace the D-pad in a Switch Lite? Hint: not very. So many tiny screws! So many ribbon cables!

  15. Jess Ragan
    I'm thinking about building my own little arcade cabinet. I've already turned a wooden box into a housing for the cabinet, and I've got a small Android tablet that will fit into it. The big problem is finding a controller that will fit inside the front of the housing. I've got several options, including... https://www.amazon.com/Acxico-Joystick-Switch-Momentary-Fixing/dp/B083XY33VD/ This cute little number. It costs thirteen dollars but looks like it would work pretty well when coupled with a handful of small buttons and an encoder. It would take some drilling, but worse than that, it would be expensive... thirty five dollars for the stick, the buttons, and the encoder. Size may also be an issue for the cabinet I'm building. In addition to all that, I don't know how it feels, and won't know until I buy it and test it for myself. https://www.amazon.com/10x10x9mm-Momentary-Square-Tactile-Switch/dp/B00E6QM2F0/ These are both tiny and cheap, which I like. Unfortunately, they're so small that they're difficult to solder to without melting the whole joystick. Buttons and an encoder would be a necessary added expense. https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Joystick-Functions-Compatible-Nintendo/dp/B0C1S94MD4/ This is tempting! It's a Chinese micro joystick with all the buttons, and an encoder is unnecessary as all that tech is built into the stick. On the down side, I can't test it to see how it feels, and Amazon reviews suggest that it's barely satisfactory as a joystick (although I can't imagine it being worse than the Namco Museum arcade cabinet from MyArcade). Also, I'd need to shave a few millimeters off the sides to make it work with my current set up. (not shown) I could also harvest a hat switch from an old analog PC joystick, but I don't know how well that would work as a long-term solution. If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear 'em! Because man, I am low on options, particularly cheap ones.
  16. Jess Ragan

    Holy crap, changing a tire is hard. I don't even have the stupid thing off and I'm already exhausted.

    1. Show previous comments  9 more
    2. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      One for Jess, Joe, Thanatos and the gang...So a jumper cable goes into a bar.  The bartender says,  "I'll serve you,  but don't start anything"

    3. jd_1138

      jd_1138

      Changing a flat becomes infinitely easier if you invest in a small trolley jack ($35 new at Harbor Freight or Wal-Mart). Also get a $14 20 inch breaker bar with an impact socket (3/4 or 19mm usually but can be a different size) and use it to easily loosen the lugs instead of struggling with the included factory s--t tire tool, then a few easy pumps of the jack under the jacking point and it's off the ground, finish zooming the lugs off with factory tool. Just don't use the breaker bar to re-tighten the lugs as it's easy to overtighten. Even if you just do the call AAA thing (which I recommend having a membership in) and let them do it or tow you, I'd still buy the proper equipment to make it easy in case you're ever out of phone range, phone is dead, wait time too long, etc. I believe every able bodied person should be able to change a flat. 

    4. x=usr(1536)

      x=usr(1536)

      @jd_1138: longstanding rule in my family: you can drive a car when you know how to change a flat, handle a dead battery, change the oil, and operate a manual transmission.  My wife and I have already made this a stipulation for our kids.

  17. Jess Ragan
    I haven't updated, so that could very well be the problem. Thanks for letting me know!
  18. Jess Ragan
    It's a nifty emulator. Glad you're enjoying it... I know I am. (Still kind of hurts the eyes, though.)
  19. Jess Ragan
    It does work now. Speed was a little iffy, but it started running at the proper speed with a little tweaking. Thanks! That was driving me nuts.
  20. Jess Ragan
    I'll give it a shot later today. Thanks for the heads up!
  21. Jess Ragan

    You know what's pretty good for Time Pilot? One of those SNK Neo-Geo controllers by 8BitDo. It's like they were MADE for it. I wonder if they'd lend themselves as well to Gyruss?

    1. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Probably :)

  22. Jess Ragan
    Astro Fighter is a bit like Astro Blaster, except with a store brand feel. For what it's worth, I like Astro Blaster very much, and am grateful they included it in the Sega Genesis collection for the PSP.
  23. Jess Ragan
    Spider-Droid is the Froggo clone of Amidar with slightly changed graphics. Demolition Herby is unique, and does scratch an Amidar or Qix itch.
  24. Jess Ragan
    So, so very bad. It barely functions as any kind of game, let alone a port of the arcade game Amidar. I tried playing it on an emulator recently, thinking "Oh well hey, it can't be as bad as everyone's been saying," and no, they were absolutely right on the money with this one. It feels so woefully primitive and retrograde, like it was excreted from the robo-buttocks of the robot from Lost in Space, then poured into a cartridge. I have a hard time believing this game was written for the Atari 2600. It feels like the target hardware was a single vacuum tube, or a banana with a resistor stuck in it. At least Pac-Man, for all its arcade inaccuracy, tried to give us gameplay to go with those blocky mazes and flickery ghosts and weird, unpleasant noises coming out of the 2600. Amidar is just so painful to play, and it looks like it's causing the Atari 2600 intense pain to create, as though it was about to burst into flames to prevent itself from bringing this soulless monstrosity to life. It's like arcade Amidar if it had been written on punch cards. Everything's so blocky, so ugly, and yet the Atari 2600 runs it like it's about to have a nervous breakdown. Why so much flicker? Why are the sprites so indistinct and so far from the original? Why are the pigs who were turned into piggy banks now chickens who weren't in the arcade game? I think the guy who made it just shook his Atari 2600 violently until a game fell out.
  25. Jess Ragan

    Some of those Parker Bros. games for the Atari 2600 were like, epically bad, man. Amidar feels so creepily primitive and robotic, like someone fed the arcade game into a UNIVAC.

    1. Show previous comments  2 more
    2. LS650

      LS650

      To be fair, Parker Bros also put out some good 2600 games: Q*bert, Popeye, ESB, Frogger, Gyruss...

    3. GoldLeader

      GoldLeader

      Star Wars Arcade Game, Montezuma's Revenge...

    4. Jess Ragan

      Jess Ragan

      http://kiblitzing.blogspot.com/2024/03/thirty-six-years.html

      My thoughts on the Yuzu situation. Maybe it's too early for a Switch emulator, but someday, when the system is long dead, one WILL be necessary.

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