Which colors to use on 2600 as C=64-Blue?

[Which colors to use on 2600 as C=64-Blue?]

I fiddled with it a bit. I guess I'd say:

 

NTSC:

$86 Blue

$8E LtBlue

 

PAL:

$D6 Blue

$DE LtBlue

 

Commodore Colors

 

-Paul

[Thoughts on Dodge-em]

536 Boo-yah!

 

-Paul

[2600 Lord of the Rings on cart challenge...]

Hehe. I did today.

 

-Paul

[Thoughts on Dodge-em]

I love dodge em, but I was able to flip the score pretty easily. But with the difficulty switches, it's a real challege. I'm glad you posted that.

 

I managed to get 351 on expert.

 

-Paul

[2600 Lord of the Rings on cart challenge...]

I was looking for that the other day. You can find it here:

 

Bankswitching Info

 

-Paul

[Which colors to use on 2600 as C=64-Blue?]

From the Stella mailing list:

 

"It is simply 16 cropped and connected screenshots of colors.bin running on

Mac Stella, with the odd numbered colors (which Mac Stella erronously

displays) removed. As such, its accuracy is limited to however acurate

Mac Stella is."

 

You can probably find colors.bin and run it on an emulator that supports PAL color (like PCAEWin) to get the PAL colors.

 

NTSC Color Palette

 

-Paul

[how are high resolution games possible on 2600?]

The Atari basically has a 40x192? resolution background (very low res), two 8 bit wide bitmapped sprites, a three box/line/box things you can move. The game "Frogs and Flies" illustrates this perfectly.

 

The "sprites" are high resolution compared the background. There are only two bitmapped ones, but you can copy them multiple times on one screen. Programmers later started using multiple copies of the sprites not just for the "players" but also for backgrounds and other stuff, making games appear to have better resolution. For example, the text in Basic Programming is made by copying and changing the shape of the sprites many times during one draw of the screen.

 

-Paul

[Favorite Cartridge Style?]

I've always liked the Tigervision cartridges. I like the shape and the white and colored plastic.

 

-Paul

[Rare vs. Common]

Some of my favorite rare ones are:

 

Quadrun

Rescue Terra I

X-Man (not really fun, but funny)

Wall Ball

Mangia

 

A couple of my least favorite are:

Music Machine

Chase the Chuckwagon

 

-Paul

[New 2600 prototype...or not?]

It's probably a prototype, but personally, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on anything like that unless I saw the board inside the cartridge. Xevious is a standard 8k ROM which can easily be put on a modern Chris Wilkson bankswitching board. So you could build the same thing that's in that auction for about $10.

 

Most prototype auctions appear to be legitimate, but I've seen a few that look really fishy.

 

-Paul

[2600 Hardware Collection]

Here's what I don't have:

 

working 7800 (never can find them)

4 switch 2600 (don't like them as much)

kids controllers, light gun, steering paddles(hope to get these soon)

 

A few cool things I do have:

 

2 Wico Trackballs

128 game menu-driven multicart (homemade)

Cuttle Cart (awesome)

Commodore Paddles

2600 6-slot pushbutton cartridge switcher

Atari 1040ST w/80286 board (runs DOS under TOS!)

 

-Paul

[Atari DC comics]

Also, the following games had their own comics:

 

Yars Revenge

Centipede

SQ Earthworld

SQ Fireworld

SQ Waterworld

 

Anyone know if there are any others?

 

-Paul

[Atari DC comics]

Q: Which Atari 2600 games did the Atari Force mini-comics come in?

A: This actually the only FAQ in this document.

#1 - Defender

#2 - Berzerk

#3 - Star Raiders

#4 - Phoenix

#5 - Galaxian

 

Atari Force FAQ

[What's so special about this auction?????????????]

There's definitely something VERY special about this auction:

 

Auction

 

-Paul

[Cartoon]

Speaking of toons, check this out:

 

Homestar Runner

 

They have Atari references in several of the toons (In Search of the Yellow Dellow) and throughout the site.

 

-Paul

[Alpiner - anyone remember it?]

Well I'll be... This is from the Chisolm Trail manual:

 

"1. Turn the computer ON and wait for the master title screen to appear. Then slide the module into the slot on the console.

 

2. Press any key to make the master selection list appear. To select the module, press the key corresponding to the number beside CHISHOLM TRAIL.

 

NOTE: To remove the module, first return the computer to the master titles screen by pressing QUIT. Then remove the module from the slot..."

 

Appearently you don't have to do this, because I've been turning it off to take the cartridge out for years.

 

-Paul

[What program do you use to take screenshots?]

The biggest problem is that many Atari games use flicker to appearently display several things at once. So a screen shot will be missing half (or more) of the action. Here's my patented process for getting good screen shots with PCAEWin:

 

In PCAEWin run the ROM, then stop it when you want to capture. Open up the debugger, and click the "->Line" button and enter 200 (you may have to do this twice to get a good screen.) Save a screen capture. Then click "->Line" button again and type 200. Save a second screen capture. Then open both up in Photoshop and paste one of the shots on top of the other. In the layer window, set the top layer type to "lighten".

 

-Paul

[Stella List]

Atari70s: I think you may be jumping in a little too fast. Even the playfield demo requires that you have a pretty good understanding 65xx assembly. And assembly is VERY different from the high level languages you have experience with.

I went into the playfield demo with quite a bit of experience programming Commodore 64 (6510) assembly, and it was still tough.

 

My suggestion would be to get an intro book on 65xx assembly language. I learned most of what I know from the Commodore 64 Programmer's Reference Guide, which you can find on Ebay often. And there are many other books on this topic which you can probably find on Ebay or at thift stores.

 

-Paul

[Cart Commander vs. Excel]

I just downloaded the program and I'm impressed. I think I may switch over.

 

My suggestion is to add a few custom text fields that we can name whatever we want. This would add a lot of flexibility and free you from taking requests for new fields.

 

-Paul

[My Atari Basic Programming Challenge]

Emulator save-states are the easiest way to save the program. I'm not sure about the other emulators, but in PCAEWin, just stop the emulation and choose "Save Game". It'll save the state of the entire machine in a 24k file.

 

-Paul

[Best of the oldies]

I'd say Warlords.

 

-Paul

[Game Creators Please Read]

Honestly, right now I'm planning on going with Hozer Video. Randy takes care of the orders and shipping which saves me more time and really makes $11 a bargain. I would consider the board w/ EPROM deal, except that I don't want to mess with shipping anymore.

 

I am thinking about upgrading the label quality, though. I'm considering using an online bumper sticker printer to get my labels done. Looks like they'll cost $3 a piece 300dpi full color, and they should be about as durable as you can get.

 

I've been just printing my manuals on nice-looking card stock from Kinko's using a good ink jet. Probably costs about $1 when you consider the ink cartridges.

 

I don't really expect to sell anything close to 200 cartridges. Counting current orders, I've only sold about 20 Testcarts in four months. I expect to sell more of my Synthcart and Marble Craze game, but probably not more than 50.

 

-Paul

[Where can I buy Atari joysticks?]

You can get kits to rebuild them at Best...

 

Best Electronics

 

-Paul

[The Activision Quest rolls on!]

Somehow I pulled 5.91 on Dragster today!

 

-Paul

[Synthcart Nearing Completion!]

Atari minds must think alike. The background colors you see in the screen shot cycle continuously. I'm also planning on adding a mode that removes the text from the screen and cycles colors based on what note you're playing.

 

-Paul