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Tornadoboy

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Everything posted by Tornadoboy

  1. That was my thought too, I've played both the NES and arcade versions but this one seems to have much better color and detail!
  2. I can see that being handy if someone wanted to use the Geneve 2020 as a coin operated arcade game platform! I've had fantasies of hooking up a 4a in a arcade cabinet with Microsurgeon and having it play on an Exidy Max-A-Flex like coin timer, I've always wanted to play Microsurgeon with Robotron-like controls! Personally I wouldn't waste my Geneve 2020 for that particular game, but for others who want to make games from scratch it would just be a matter of the monitor, connecting the controls to the joysticks and the coin switches to keys of the keyboard, so if it's not too much of a headache you might want to have it still be able to output that type of RGB if one wants it to.
  3. Yep, I'll be watching like a hawk how this develops. Ok my thoughts, questions, prayers, mindless babblings... Probably stupid questions: - How backwards compatible will it be with the standard 99/4a? I've never seen a Geneve and have no idea how compatible it was, personally my interests center around the original 4a, particularly Basic, X-Basic and cartridge software. I get the impression it's going to be but I thought I'd ask. - Will it be speed adjustable? In other words, can you speed up or slow down the performance to accommodate software that either runs best at a normal 4a speed or would benefit from significant speed increases? - What will the default boot be like? Will one have a chance to pick TI basic? Would it be possible to also have XB or one of the improved XB versions, editor assembler or all three be selections? - Will I be able to install the F18 VGA chip in it? I have the older version I bought a while back but haven't installed yet. - Any ballpark guesses on the price? Over/under $200? Other thoughts: - LOVE the idea of it being modular, that'll make any possible future hardware corrections/improvements much easier to implement without having to start completely over. Perhaps what seems impractical now someone will later find a clever way to make it work after all or discover a cheaper substitute for an otherwise expensive part? Etc. I have nothing specific in mind, I'm just a guy who loves keeping as many options open as possible! - I like the idea of this being a stand alone console, the PE is kind of a beast and at least for me desk space is at a premium, not to mention most of what I'd need a PE for is going to be built into this anyway. It is a great idea to keep the cartridge and expansion port though regardless, again, flexibility. Personally I want to set it up on my computer desk and have it loaded up with pretty much every program in existence, so I'll never have to touch it other than the keyboard and power switch. Want to play Tunnels of Doom? Go to the right menu and run it. Want to play Cavern Quest in XB? Go to the right menu and run, etc, and not have to fumble with a gazillion cassettes, disks and cartridges.
  4. At one point someone on KLOV was working on a JAMMA (an arcade cabinet wiring standard) adapter for Coleco's, I don't know if there were ever actually produced though. https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=247145&highlight=colecovision I was thinking of trying to turn a TI 99/4a computer into an arcade game for Microsurgeon and set it up with a coin timer like Exidy's Max-A-Flex system, but it sounds like this system would work a lot better given the potential! I'm sure the subject has been beaten to death in this thread, but any projections on cost yet? Just the general range?
  5. Among other things I think this system would be great hardware for people to develop their own actual coin operated arcade games on, it's RGB compatible and designed to support games of the kind that came during the arcade industries best years. It's been done before with other systems like the Atari 400 and Amiga, but they didn't do well because either the hardware wasn't quite up to it or the quality of the initially released games was very poor. Wiring it up inside an arcade cabinet should be very straight forward, the joystick inputs can be wired to the controls of the panel and the coin switches just wired to some of the keypad buttons, as far as the games the only difference between an actual arcade version and a home console would be it would need one-coin-per-play, attract modes and optionally high score tracking programmed in.
  6. They're illegal to own actually, but if you turn it over to me I promise I'll never tell anyone you had it.
  7. If you want to add some enhancements to Kung Fu Master you might want to check out this unreleased prototype sequel to the original, it might give you some ideas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efr9EQkbCSQ&t=198s For the record nope it hasn't been dumped for MAME yet.
  8. Frankly if I didn't already know this was a new port of the game if someone showed me this video I would have thought it was an actual arcade PCB running with some sound and background issues perhaps due to some bad ICs, you're really nailing the look of the original game! Oh and more annoying suggestions for me Spy Hunter is another one while already having a good CV port would be FANTASTIC enhanced for the new hardware, and given the game play there's a gazillion new things you could add to it to make it even better! New enemy cars, new weapons, new roads, the possibilities are endless. It did get a sequel in the arcade but Spyhunter 2 has gone down in history as easily the worst sequel to a popular game, they could hardly have made it worse if they tried, so SH is in need of some lovin!
  9. The ideas I was working on were basically to keep the game play like the original but add a whole lot of new characters and scenarios, like going into caverns with falling stalactites you have to shoot and low ceilings you have to be careful not to hit when jumping, also instead of going uphill you go downhill at one point and have to backwards jumps over boulders rolling down the other way, also having level bosses of some kind would be cool. It's all ideas that of course could be implemented in the original but with all the additional things I was thinking of it might as well be a sequel, not to mention you have the excuse to make serious changes to the background. Back to Galaga - How about a bonus round where you take on a formation of the Space Invader aliens? Or to be funny have one where you're in the game Carnival and shooting the targets with the Galaga ship?
  10. Maybe have them spawn out of the center of the screen, some facing and heading upwards and others downwards, or even have the same ones randomly change direction? That way both players would be doing their own battles against the aliens while having to worry about getting shot from the opposing player. If you want an idea for a whole new game I suggest a sequel to Moon Patrol, perhaps called "Mars Patrol" or something, I've always thought that game deserved a direct follow up! I once played around making one myself using Yo Yo Game's Gamemaker program and got a little ways into it but gave it up because I didn't have the spare time.
  11. Well, since you're asking for ideas... - For DK 2-player mode, how about having a mode where one player would be able to control Donkey Kong himself? Perhaps rolling and throwing the barrels at will? - Perhaps this would be too tough to implement, but for two-player Moon Patrol how about having a "race" feature, where it's split screen with the upper half showing one player's course and the lower showing the other's? - For Zaxxon how about sort of an obstacle course, where one has to navigate narrow passages and such, rather like a 3-D version of what Scramble does at one stage? - For a Galaga two-player option, how about a competitive/war mode, with one player at the top of the screen shooting down and the other on the bottom?
  12. How about this: http://nivelleringslikaren.eu/ti994a_basic/ It should be able to handle basic and XB at least.
  13. My two cents... Arcade: - Frenzy - Crazy Climber - Exidy games Venture, Mouse Trap, Pepper II and Fire One. - Bump 'N' Jump - Mr. Do and Mr. Do's Castle - Elevator Action - Ikari Warriors - Qix - Spy Hunter - Looping - Demolition Derby (Midway) Other computer / console: - Rogue (PC Dos) - Astro Smash (Intellivision) - Yar's Revenge (Atari 2600) - Hard Hat Mac (PC) - Squish'em Sam (Colecovision) Sequels / enhanced versions of existing TI games: - Slymoids - Microsurgeon - Chisholm Trail - Protector II
  14. I've seen that around too, although I'm not getting my hopes up because I see cool projects like that show up on the internet all the time and far too often they wither and die on the vine or the creator just makes one for himself and never sells and/or releases the board patterns and parts placements for them. Hopefully that's not the case with that particular board as it would be AWESOME to have a plug & play Vectrex board for Asteroids cabs, I've always thought a lot of the games were more than arcade worthy and hopefully it'll spark the creation of new ones designed for coin-op cabs. I'm tempted to get a Vectrex32 module and take a crack at making my own too, but I've already got a gazillion other projects far ahead of that one. But since I'm already going to take half the parts off my logic board for IC sockets and recapping it's not a huge leap for me to strip it entirely for a scan, I've done it for other boards, but again I won't take the risk or waste the time if it's already out there somewhere.
  15. I've seen that around, and it's certainly useful for IC location and general parts placement, but it doesn't really help with the foil pattern.
  16. Whichever one works the best! Mine is like a 3GE, my ultimate goal is to make a Vectrex arcade cabinet using a Battlezone monitor I have, but I'd rather not cannibalize an original Vectrex if I can at all avoid it, the one I have is in rather nice shape aside from needing the buzz kit and a recapping.
  17. Is there a picture or scan of the logic board's bare foil pattern available somewhere? I've got to take mine out to replace all the caps and IC sockets, and I was thinking while I'm at it of stripping it entirely, taking some scans of the bare board then reassembling it so the PCB pattern is available to reproduce, experiment with etc, but I won't bother if it's already been done.
  18. Would it be a big task to also add RGB output to it of the type compatible with arcade monitors? I've often thought about using a 994/a as a hardware platform for making a custom coin operated arcade game, which in theory shouldn't be too tough since things like the coin input switches and stuff could just be wired to keyboard keys, and given the speed of this upcoming FPGA it would work all the better for games akin to the ones of the 80's. Also while it wouldn't be coin operated I've always thought Microsurgeon would be great to play in a Robotron-style cabinet with two joysticks.
  19. Just thought I'd give this thread a quick nudge, I'm anxiously awaiting for this to pan out! Any updates?
  20. I seem to vaguely remember a text game simply called "Sex Maniac", but I don't remember the particulars. The one for the PC that always cracked me up was Astrotit, which was like the game Astrosmash except with a dick for the player and various obscene objects coming down like boobs and vibrators (which batteries fell out of when shot) instead of asteroids, it was pretty well made for it's time and I've wished someone would make an updated version.
  21. It probably wouldn't have helped you anyway, the input signal Cinematronics monitors take is very different from that of Asteroids monitors, if they can be used at all they'll need some kind of board to convert the signal.
  22. I've got most of the guts of a Battlezone I was working on minus the PCBs, someone gave me an extremely beaten up cab I was going to restore but I think I'm just going to take the monitor and build my own Vectrex cab, I've just got to chase down a Vectrex logic PCB.
  23. Why you son of a bitch bastard just kidding I figured it wasn't on purpose Just thought I'd throw the idea out there, I never pretended to know what I was talking about and knew there was probably a good reason nobody has come up with a smaller replacement, you may toss the idea in the trash and go about your way
  24. If you do a PEB version,would it be possible to have it also replace the interface card and fire hose cable with something much smaller and more flexible?
  25. This is sooooo awesome and so badly needed!
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