Hacks and Rip-Offs

[Hacks and Rip-Offs]

I just looked at Brick Kick, it plays like a very crappy version of Pengo.

Brick Kick is also known as "Peter Penguin" and came out in Germany under the name "Jagd auf Diamanten-Frisco".

But I did never know it's a clever hack of Pac-Man...

[Hacks and Rip-Offs]

Last one for today is Enduro.

Original is - again - made by Activision. Quelle sold the game "Super Ferrari" in Germany which is an Enduro hack.

The sounds were a bit changed - the pitch of the crash sound depends now on your speed, the mountains in the background and the cars look different, and they left out the copyright notice and inserted "Super Ferrari" instead.

[Hacks and Rip-Offs]

Next hack is Keystone Kapers.

The original is from Activision, as everyone knows.

There is also a quite crappy Starsoft hack called "Hey Stop!" or in Germany "Wachroboter jagt Jupy".

The colors were changed, the great graphics were taken out due to the color changes and there are no extras to collect like money bags or suitcases for bonus points. The bouncing balls have been changed into yellow bouncing rings, the criminal to chase is now a green alien and the policeman is now a robot. Due to the removal of the collectible extras the gameplay also changed a bit.

[Hacks and Rip-Offs]

Next one is a hack series:

 

Original game is Space Jockey by US games, a crappy but fun shooter also found on the 32-in-1 under the name "UFO".

The first hack is not a true hack. It is Air Raid by Men-A-Vision. It uses (nearly) the same game engine and it uses the same sound effects, but it scrolls vertically (the background horizontally). The game variations are also nearly the same as in Space Jockey.

The second hack is about the crappiest one I have ever seen, it is "Gefecht im All" from Quelle/Starsoft. They took Space Jockey, removed the scrolling ground, re-did the sprites so they look even uglier and changed some of the sound effects. Some of the new sprites look like these things you put over the cheese that it doesn't smell in the whole room (in Germany we say "Käseglocke"), and others look like some blocky guys sitting on houses. The player sprite is the upper half of a UFO.

[Hacks and Rip-Offs]

In the Post-Crash era, our mail order "Quelle" also sold Atari 2600 Games under their label. They had German titles and I think were mostly aimed at children. Quelle sold these games until let's say 1993 or 1994 since the 2600 became popular again after 1989 in the former GDR after the Berlin Wall was torn down.

Most of the games were simply (mostly crappy) older games from the "Crash time", others were hacked Activision games. I don't know if they even had a license for this, but no one cared since it already was Abandonware then.

 

So, here we go:

"Dschungel Boy" (aka Tom Boy) is a hack of Pitfall! making it somewhat easier. There are no walls in the lower level. The graphics have been hacked: The rolling logs are now snakes, the poisonous snake is now a spider (look at it closely on the attached pics), the crocodiles in the ponds have been replaced with stones, so it's easier to come across these ponds.

 

EDIT: Look at the pictures from bottom to top.

[Anyone likes Keystone Kapers?]

There is also a hack with other colors and sprites and sound - errm P/M graphics, it's called "Hey! Stop!" or in Germany "Wachroboter jagt Jupy"

[Best Atari Football?]

The old 2k one with these blocky players which is also on the 32in1.

[Atari Monitor]

If you don't find an Atari monitor cable, you could get one for the C64. (But watch out as it has to have a 5-pin DIN plug!)

The pinouts are compatible. I tested it, my father built me a LCA cable (composite, separate chroma and audio as the Commodore 1084S monitor has a separate Chroma In and this gives a better picture quality) and it works on my 800XL and on my C64. Alternatively you could use the SCART-cable for the A8 and build a SCART-to-cinch (composite) adapter to hook it up to a composite monitor (a TFT screen with a composite in (or even SCART) will work nicely)

[NEW "cas" and game covers(labels) site....]

Hey cool, this is a way to transfer the files from the forum to my real Atari... convert the XEX to CAS, the CAS to WAV, record them to cassettes and use the Cassette-To-Disk-Copier from the LDS "C" Emulator package to transfer it to disks...

[Asymmetric Squarewaves]

Off Topic:

 

If you want to avoid the numbering of the formulae in LaTeX, simply append an asterisk to the eqnarray.

 

You write:

 

begin{eqnarray*}

Your equations

end{eqnarray*}

[Super Mario Clone being written now]

Great! Absolutely great! I'm really looking forward to it.

 

EDIT: Could you send me a disk with the game when it's completed? Don't panic, I live in Germany, that won't be too expensive. I have no means of transferring software to my Atari.

[Super Mario Clone being written now]

As your exams are now over... Do you still work on the Mario clone?

[So my wife takes the kids to get their pics taken...]

kawaiiiii!

[LCD TV doesn't like Pong]

Our newer TVs (a Schneider from 1998 and a Thomson from 2003 (CRT, 100Hz, 16:9 PAL, NTSC compatible)) don't like my Pong console (it's such a Pong-in-a-chip-powered console), haven't tried my 2600jr (big rainbow) though. My 1987 ITT TV in my room as well as my Hauppauge WinTV Theater card as well as the 1991 TV in our kitchen can manage everything.

[PCAE Win Problems]

Yeah, but PCAE has Netplay support, Z26 doesn't. I already tried reinstalling PCAE, but it doesn't work.

[PCAE Win Problems]

I can't start PCAE Win 2.6. After starting, I get the following errors:

 

 

First this one:

 

Then this one:

 

Then multiple times errors like the first one, with other addresses, and finally:

 

 

Then the program exits.

 

My config:

ASUS P4PE Deluxe

Intel P4 HT 3,06GHz

1GB RAM DDR333 Samsung CL2,5

Windows XP Pro SP 1

GeForce 4 Ti 4600 128MB VRAM

 

Any ideas?

[Compatible EEPROMs]

I'll only have time for it in summer. I'll tell you.

 

Ready/Busy held high, WE held high? Is this different in the 27c64s? If so, I'll have to use extra NOT gates, I believe.

[Compatible EEPROMs]

Voltage won't be the problem, I could use some Lithium batteries to provide the correct voltage.

Problem is pinout and access times. The 27 series has another pinout than the 28 series, so I'll have to make an adapter. The 28 series also has a lower access time. (However, if this access time is still below the original 2600's ROM access time, it will be fine)

[Compatible EEPROMs]

The AA Store sells these circuit boards: http://www.atariage.com/store/product_info...products_id=218

 

They take 2764, 27128 and 27256 type EPROMs.

 

Are there compatible EEPROMs? What's their name and who makes these?

[Homebrew controllers based on 2600 Keyb. Controllers]

Thank you all. Now there won't be anything in the way for my project ^^

 

EDIT: Can I use normal microswitches or do I have to "unbounce" (don't know the word, in Germany we say "Entprellen" bzw. "prellfreie Schalter") it?

[Homebrew controllers based on 2600 Keyb. Controllers]

Thanks, are there schematics of Keyboard Controllers out there?

[Homebrew controllers based on 2600 Keyb. Controllers]

Hi there!

 

Can you tell me how Atari 2600 Keyboard Controllers (Kids Controllers, Video Touch Pads) data is fed into the 2600? Since they have 12 buttons, but the Joystick ports are only 9-pin.

Are the numbers mapped to the directions (1 - up left, 2 - up, 3 - up right, 4 - left etc.)? If so, how are the buttons "5", "*" and "#" mapped?

 

I wanted to get such an empty cart w/EPROM socket off Atari Age store, write the Synthcart to an EEPROM and then build a controller with 24 keys which is basically two Keyboard Controllers in one.