Actiplaque on Xonox carts

[Actiplaque on Xonox carts]

I'm jealous. I only remember even seeing a single Xonox cart back in the day, and don't have one in my collection, with or without bleed-through. I've got some horrendous looking Activision carts though.

[Defender 2/Stargate dificulty]

"Two sticks?"

[Kangaroo]

Was the screen where you punch the stack of monkeys out from under the cage removed? I could have sworn I saw it in the 2600 version before.

-Yeah, it was removed-ninja'd-. I thought I remembered it as well.

 

Here's the third and final screen before repeating with increased speed. They did make it quite convoluted, though most of the jumps are easier than the second screen.

[Kangaroo]

The platforming portions of this game are much harder on the VCS version than they are on the arcade game, due to the fact that your roo doesn't jump as far when jumping horizontally on the VCS.

[Kangaroo]

The trick with the "dot" is to pass under it and make it descend just before you reach a ladder, so that it will be falling down the screen at the same time you are traveling up(or down.) If the dot is off the screen when you reach a ladder, back off a bit and wait for it to appear before you proceed so it will not be taking you by surprise.

 

Basically, you need to split your concentration between monitoring the dot's position, and watching for thrown apples so that you can duck or jump as appropriate. It's rarely necessary to punch the monkeys. Until you've mastered the other aspects of the game, ignore the monkeys themselves, and just be aware of the thrown apples.

 

--edit-- Note that you do need to punch monkeys later on IIRC, just not often on the first screen.

[Kangaroo]

Jump to ring the bell. After a short delay, more fruit will appear. You can ring the bell for more fruit 2 or three times.

 

Collecting all of the available fruit before ascending the end stage ladder without the bonus timer running out can be a good challenge.

 

Unlike Donkey Kong, there is actually a reason to go back down(more fruit.)

 

The monkeys are throwing apples in the arcade version.

[New Atari Console that Ataribox?]

"It's time for your photo."

Feargal, "Crap, I'm only half shaven!"

"Well, the photographer is leaving, so it's now or never."

[Sand Castles]

The main sprite is very cute. There is quite a bit of variety in the levels, which keeps my interest.

[Check out Super Cobra Arcade for the Atari 2600]

I never knew that there were actually versions of Super Cobra without Super Cobra's strange 'rocket propelled' bomb physics.

[Invisible Maze Demo]

Thanks, Stephen. I updated my Stella.

 

Version 1.1 of Invisible Maze did fix the '10000' hang in Stella and MAME. I did see a single hang upon player collision with the wall in the dark, resulting in a continuous buzzing noise.

 

Version 1.3 seems to work correctly. I was able to complete the three levels, and enjoyed what there is so far.

No crashes during play, but the single time that I allowed the timer to reach 0 to see what would happen, while I got the "GAME OVER" screen, neither up, fire, nor reset would do anything at that point, unlike when a wall collision occurs.

 

Speaking of wall collisions... sometimes when a collision occurs, the death sound and animation is cut to a fraction of a second flash and 'beep,' although the game does seem to properly return to the title when this happens. I haven't noticed whether or not GAME OVER displayed when this happened. I've seen it at least 3 times at this point.

 

-edit-

 

Having let the timer run out 2 more times, the hang at GAME OVER didn't happen again.

[Invisible Maze Demo]

Cool idea. It's interesting how the player and timer color is chosen based on when you start the game during the title's color cycling. Was that deliberate?

 

Will you be adding pursuers, maybe a slow enemy that only travels in the dark, and/or an enemy with a speed closer to the player's that only travels in the light? You might have the slow enemy end the game if it catches the player, and the fast enemy only reduce the timer.

 

The demo seems to hang in MAME .185 and Stella 4.7.2 when the timer reaches ~10000. Or was that intended to be 0 on the timer? Reset doesn't reset the game at this point, nor does the fire button have any effect. I've seen it hang at 10002, 10001, and as in this screen shot from MAME.

 

In Stella, when hung, the timer continued to animate as if it was forever rolling over the ones digit while trying to reach 10000, but never actually getting there.

[Donkey Kong XM Pre-order and demo]

That bug also exists in the original arcade game. Under the right circumstances, you can make it to the top of the first screen having jumped one or more barrels with no point value displayed during the jumps and no points awarded. IIRC, it seems to happen most often when the jumps are late(but still successful in clearing the barrel,) when the barrel is closest to the player.

[Trying to mod a Quick Shot 1 for the 7800]

Also, if you have a multimeter and haven't done so already, you should test for a bridge at the point indicated. from the red wire(or pin 5) to the yellow wire(pin 9) you should see approximately 1240 ohms. If you don't, your fire buttons are not going to work.

[Trying to mod a Quick Shot 1 for the 7800]

The above is what you have now as far as I can tell, if the last picture that you posted is the latest. I'm making an assumption, as I'm not absolutely certain what is going on under that electrical tape.

 

If this is how things currently stand, you need to:

 

1. Cut the ground trace at the two points marked in pink.

2. Remove the black jumper wire from point A, and the green jumper wire from point B.

3. Connect the orange wire to point C.

4. Reconnect(without the diode this time) the end of both resistors with a jumper wire from point D to point E.

5. Run a jumper wire from point E to point F in order to restore ground to the directional switches.

 

 

After you've tested successfully, you might want to wrap the end of those resistors in tape or heat shrink for reliability.

[Trying to mod a Quick Shot 1 for the 7800]

We need another picture, preferably of the whole board, to see where you currently stand.

[Trying to mod a Quick Shot 1 for the 7800]

It's a little confusing using the color codes, because they are not all the same between the examples that you have shown. Pin 6(orange if your joystick uses Atari's standard) needs to be connected to the 'other' side of both fire button switches(the sides without the resistors.)

If I'm interpreting you correctly, you also need to disconnect that side of each switch from ground if you haven't already done so.

[Work in Progress: Sky Scraper 2115]

As for the blocks being invisible, they shouldn't be. They are supposed to be the teleport blocks but they seem not to be showing up. Are the colors cycling on your system?

 

 

No. I updated my MAME to 0.185 and still no cycling.

 

I tried the game on Wii Prosystem to see what you are talking about. I do see the teleporters and the cycling bricks there.

 

[Work in Progress: Sky Scraper 2115]

Is the block I'm standing on supposed to be invisible?

 

The missile is invisible when it is on the same row as the player in MAME 1.83.

 

I seem to be warping to another level with no warning(not stepping on ? block) on a regular basis.

 

This is a quite enjoyable action puzzler so far. Good work. It'll be nice to see it on cart some day.

[DK Arcade 2600 - Playable Demo!]

Am I the only one that is getting a scrambled image when playing this on Stella?

Is there a setting I'm missing? Hmm.

Which binary(s?) Which version of Stella?

 

DK23Arcade2600.bin and DK20141011BcDemoH.bin both work just fine here on Stella 4.7.2.

[.bin by Flush (32K demo)]

That logo is cool. If I didn't know better I'd think it was being produced by a C64 or maybe even medium-res EGA rather than a 2600.

[7800 controller malfunction]

You didn't tell us if you have any controllers that don't exhibit this problem. Have you tried unplugging the joystick to see if it stops and ensure that the problem isn't with the port or otherwise on the 7800 side rather than the sticks?

 

Examine the joystick port and check for bent pins.

[Ms. Galactopus - Complete!(?)]

It's already a very cool game. My only disappointment is that the babies are unaffected if you hit them while they are still moving with the Ms.

[Epic Adventure]

I don't have a solution for it, but I'm seeing it here in Stella as well. The game is less 'Epic Adventure,' and more 'Earthquake Adventure.'

[Coleco Games]

-snip-

Coleco didn't cut corners on the Coecovision version of DK because it was the flagship game for the console they were trying to sell.

 

I agree with your post except this statement. Sure, DK CV looks good, and the sound isn't bad, but the control is sloppy choppy. I'm no DK master, but I can do more than 20 screens on Crazy Kong or Donkey Kong, and DK CV is the only major console release version where I find myself unexpectedly falling off the end of girders. And then there is the nice bug where you can fall through either of the elevators. Frankly, while it wouldn't be my first choice of DK over all- I'd rather play 2600 Donkey Kong with its tight controls over DK CV any day. IMO, they cut corners on QA testing, especially when compared with other CV games which tend to have good controls IME.

[Battlezone Vs. Robot Tank]

My impression of Robot Tank after a couple of games, is that it's a solid game for a short play session. Unfortunately, most of the environmental effects don't add to my enjoyment of the combat. Night just makes me wish it was day, because frankly seeing the other tank is what makes this type of tank game fun. I do like the 'feel' of the snow(daytime) effect, but at night it is insult to injury. And night doesn't add to the challenge, if you use the radar and time your turns, you'll hit the other tank with your first shot every time. Does Robot Tank become more challenging after the third wave? Frankly I was ready to play something else right around the time that the 2nd wave was completed. Is there a story behind the bumpety-bump? Did the robot tank hobble your tracks or something?

 

Battlezone on the other hand, still has enough challenge to keep me on my toes. It almost always takes me a couple of games to get in the zone and make it past ~56,000 points and solidly into the super tanks. I like that you have to keep track of more than one target in order to not get shot in the rear or sides. Battlezone keeps me coming back for one more play. With Robot Tank, I kind of want to hold myself to just one game so as to not wear out its welcome. Back in the day, the Battlezone graphics were really impressive and I still like them, though Robot Tank is also no slouch as far as graphics are concerned.