Baby Blue Azure

*** NEWSFLASH *** THE MAD BOMBER IS OUT ON PAROLE! Sporting a spiffy yellow shirt to blend in with the new society, how will be behave himself now? As part of sentencing, he was to paint all bombs with Activision rainbow colors so the feds would know if he was dropping any new bombs after parole. Thousands and thousands of bombs were painted pretty new colors. But wait, that was getting expensive. So he was given only black paint so the newer bombs are all matte black. Meanwhile, also in 2018, the lone Atari Engineer remaining at 1196 Borregas in Sunnyvale was busy rebuilding the 5200 KABOOM! game. At 1196, there is a rear door to what looks like a utility room with no door knob which can still be opened with an original magnetic sledge card. It still works! On the inside there is lighting (free!) and bathroom (free water!) and there are benches with an original Quantum Pinball (flyback xformer broke) and Atari 800s and 52’s and 78’s and one 2600 - the old style that weighs something like 20 lbs. What’s in that thing? Door stop materials? The engineer, never understanding why the Buckets had lids on the top of them, redesigned the Buckets with sides and the water stands steady on top - slick looking. The score board and title along the bottom was changed to the color purple since this engineer is a 7800 programming guru, everything is purple to him. He doesn’t know 5200 “blue” even though his name is Blue. Not enough, the scoreboard has been blown out to 8 digits and zero blanking disabled, although you only see 7 digits. Somehow the left digit is always blanked, he never found how/where that happens. This game has the rainbow colored bombs. The single-Bucket invincible DEMO version will run to 99,999,999 points and roll-over. Or will it? It takes about 45.5 hours to find out. Good luck with that! I never did it, but I did speed it up with 10000X scoring and it went all the way in a couple minutes! The KABOOM 2018 game is non-invincible, meaning it’s like the stock game. It has black bombs now so they’re easier to see. The Bucket algorithm has been changed - when losing a Bucket the top Bucket peels away first, then the middle and then lastly the bottom Bucket. It should make the game a little easier. Unfortunately, the splash routine is complex, so couldn’t make the splash follow which Bucket is supposed to be splashing. Also, the bonus Bucket has been re-wired to have a new Bucket every 100 points instead of 1000 points. But the game is still too hard. It all comes down to speed. There is an 8 byte Bomb Drop Speed Table at address $B100, but it’s never called. The speed is handled by an ASL command at address $BBD1, but quite frankly, the code is so complicated I can’t figure that out either. The original conversion programmer Paul Willson has done a splendid job on this game. I still go back to it, 35 years later! I spent 3 days scrubbing my original disassembly document. There were a lot of problems with it (sorry!), so now I went overboard to correct those issues and added sprite photos and comments to the program code that I actually understand. I wonder if through the years someone else has completely dissected this game. I’d love to see your work either here or contact me at [email protected] if you’re shy or not on here anymore. I don't know the answer to the trakball question. There's a lot of code here that I don't know what it does. As far as 5200 paddle control, mine works on this game, and unknown on other games. ENJOY THE GAMES! A 5200 paddle controller is highly recommended. I have one - it’s great! /BBA KABOOM_5200_4K_DC07_Disassy5.pdf KABOOM5200DEMO_changelist.pdf KABOOM5200_2018_4K.bin KABOOM5200_2018_16K.bin

Never played any of these. But I loved FAT AXL which spawned the rarest 7800 game ever that no one has ever seen - CASH COW. /BBA

Roger that, good buddy. Yes, I eventually found your Mario on my hard drive by accident. The guys did a great job on Prosys through 1.3G. Maybe the next go-round will fix this. There are other emulators but I have nothing else up and running at this time. SY DOG is 128K so there's a lot of bytes to analyze to fix and/or to change things. There are settings on the Prosys that could alter the result, but I haven't experimented with anything yet. I dropped 7800 this week to work old time favorite KABOOM! on the 5200. It goes out within the next 24 hours. I have one more whack on JOUST I want to finish before looking at SY DOG. /BBABY

Thank you, SIO2! Sorry for the delay(s), I've been working JOUST and SCRAPYDOG full time for the last month. I thank SIO2 for bringing us SICK PICKLES. He invested a lot of time on this and it's deeply appreciated. It may have been the 7800's answer to KABOOM! back in the day. I am pleased SIO2 also took the time to review my stuff and actually approved this posting. Since this was a hack to an earlier version being sensitive to the people who purchased the final version and since everyone knows I don't build/sell carts, SIO2 has given me a chance to post SLICK PICKLES based on SICK PICKLES. Surely there's nothing wrong with SIO2's game - I just have some personal preferences I added to the game - like Invincibility. We know that's my Hobby Habit aka Hobbit. I changed the scoring font, numbered the Purple Pickle sprites as I found there were 3 of them. Removed the spare pickle indicators as we don't need these. So then what happened? Now invincible, the game quickly became boring. Now instead of dying when you hit the Purple Pickle, you get penalized with point deductions. Pickle2 has twice the deduction of Pickle1, and Pickle3 has triple the deduction of Pickle1. That means the strategy is if you have to touch a Purple Pickle, aim for the Purple Pickle1 and not the others. And at the last minute, to avoid confusion with negative scoring numbers like 999999, I rail at 000000 so that your score doesn't go below 000000. This way it is relatively straight forward to capture 4000+ points in this version. And finally the game says BUY SICK PICKLES, because that's what we all should do! Photos: NTSC bin: SLICKPICKLES_6D9F.bin NTSC .a78: SlickPickles_48K.a78 Enjoy this version which can be used as a trainer to gain higher scores on SICK PICKLES. Try it and see! /BBA

I ditto Trebor's comments. IMHO, this is Innovative Leasure re-defined in 2018. We are re-living the "Atari experience" live right here on Atariage. The amount of effort (and attention to detail) invested in this title is phenomenal. Progress is progress, and "stepping on toes" should be tolerated. Many thanks to Bob starting this up and Kurt W following through. Always remember, there's no schedule to this project, so take your time! /BBA

OK, so I've downloaded Prosystem 1.3G and it runs Trebor's version of SCRAPYARD DOG so I can play it for the first time on an emulator. But if I change 1 byte, the game won't play as an .a78 or bin. G173's SD Mario hack won't play on PS 1.3G either. By the by, I compared Trebor's .a78 with the one I had and it's 100% identical. So no surprises there. I played to a few hundred points and I like the game for the time spent on it. The challenges are to fix the main character - I would never pick the nose on the title screen or in-game, and sections of the game are too difficult. It seems the format of this game would be easy to make invincible but that would be too easy to play. We'll see what I find. This demo shows how easy the game is, I guess (is it invincible?): I am currently building a disassembly of SPRAPYARD DOG. It currently weighs in at 533 pages, and is in document check now. There are 583 JSR's which seems like a lot for what this game does. I notice there appears to be some dead code in the game so this project could be harder than anticipated. I downloaded A7800 emulator as I need a more sophisticated method to support 64K (and above) games. Geez, you guys put a lot of work into this! I have to decide whether I'll operate in OSX or Win. I wonder if XP is considered a "modern" OS? It's not clear to me what is the minimum OS is, in OSX or Win. To avoid duplication of effort, I wonder if anyone on here, or off here, has ever attempted to decode this game before. If so, let me know here or at [email protected] Thanks! /BBA

Hey fans, we have another JOUST game, just spawned today. By the by, I updated the JOUST IS BROKE bin on that thread and only one download so far. Is everyone sleeping? Kind of disappointing. Maybe the game is too, but I doubt it. I laugh every time I play it. Here's the top ten features for this new one: 1) Ever wanted to play speed JOUST? Now you can play GT-R FAST. Whether it’s Nissan GT-R or Mercedes GT-R, now you will experience S P E E D in JOUST GT-R! Even the lava flow is fast - beware! 2) Added GT-R and INV (invincible) to the title screen logo. 3) On the title screen press select (emulator cursor U,D,L,R) and you will see the all-new Pterodactyl Race Cars speed by. Led by Jeff Gordon #24 and Danika #07 toodling along. 4) Change ‘PTERRY WAVE’ message to a full ‘PTERODACTYL WAVE’ message. 5) Change scoring for PTERODACTYL KYLL from 1000 to 2000 with the brand new 1000+1000 scoring stamp. The eggs will be flying with the all-new egg wrap-around. Looks like a pinball game with up to 8 “balls” flying & bouncing all around. As long as the eggs don’t touch any ledges or the volcano, you will receive 1000 bonus points when you collect them airborne. 6) Disabled the High Score Cart (HSC) with the new play parameters. 7) Added © BLUAZ 2018 copyright to the volcano, which is erased the first time the Player scrapes the top of the screen. Moved the ‘WAVEnnn’ message to under the top ledge per arcade spec. The decision is made to have the ‘WAVEnnn’ illuminated full time to support photo ops. 9) The Terrible Troll Hand reaches higher than ever. If he gets a hold on you and you can’t get away, “swim” towards the volcano cliff and pump away at the fire button as fast as you can. You can always break away from his grip. 10) The game shall be invincible, as at these incredible GT-R speeds you won’t have control over what is happening. And the gravity is quite heavy in this game. The levitation variable down is $228B (up is $22A4), but couldn’t figure out how to control the control, so now it must be a feature. JOUST GT-R NTSC bin: JOUST_GTR_DE94.bin JOUST GT-R NTSC .a78: Joust_GTR_32K.a78 ENJOY THE NEW RENDITION! /BBA

So I get an "F" as in "Florida." Thanks for being patient with my self-made quiz. Good thing you have a good sense of humor. RPD does a great job, and you do too, IMHO. I see you on uTube as well. True, I almost never test my new-fangled "junk" on hardware or A7800 em. My life is already a mess, so I don't use MESS. But you're right, I should attempt the others, if I ever had the time for that. The Prosystem 1.3g can be found here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/124215-prosystem-emulator-update/page-7 Whew, that's been around for a while (2015), so now I have that and can try that, thanks to you. From the comments that people have made, I could some day whack that game and perhaps make it more playable. It helps me to have an emulator that actually shows the game on the screen ! Again, thanks. /BBA

Thanks, Trebor. I am running Prosys 1.3f on XP and your version of DOG.a78 works like mine - it doesn't (whole screen = 00, Black). Are there special settings you have to make to have it work? I have other games that are 1 Meg and it seems they all work. I can run dumps and see if yours matches mine 100% but obviously that won't prove anything. On the off-subject of "weather," sorry for the confusion. When I said CA, I was referring to CAlifornia, not CAnada. The fog on the central coast holds the temps down and people flock over here to enjoy 30-40F cooler temps. QUIZ, So if Trebor is in Florida and that RPD guy who sometimes mutters to himself on this blog is also in Florida, are Trebor and Oz Necserced one of the same? Ah Ha! Have a good weekend guys. I am working a new speedy JOUST GT-R game right now but it has a bug that I don't understand. I may have to cut one feature out of it and then I'll try to get it released on Monday. Hint: it looks like a pinball game with up to 8 balls at once! So while we wait for RPD's new pin we could be playing this. /BBA

Way cool, Trebor. Downloaded and wonder if G173 can ship his latest Mario hack of this either here or off-line (if the little guy is shy). Up late tonight? Aren't you in Germany? I'm having late lunch on the CA coast right now. Sunny day, 71.5F right now. Warm for where I am.

Hey Bob, great to hear Kurt W is making fantastic progress for you and us. I've been enjoying watching the code changes in extreme detail and hopefully my feedback off-line has helped you. Hang in there, you'll get this one to the finish line. I wish we had JOUST documented like you have your BABY. At least you have a chance to know what's going on! To me this could be a "super" game for all-time with fans playing this for many years to come. GO RPD GO! -BBA

I never really liked the EGG WAVE in JOUST as it's so tedious and no Pterry's showing up. So I changed it the way I like real eggs in real life. EZ OVER EGGS WAVE, because the wave is "easy over." The EGG WAVE now shows up and there's all the dozen eggs. Quickly thereafter, bing,bing,bing (12x) and you have 10500 bonus points without doing anything. Love it. I am working on another bin with this included. Will share when I can. Photos:

Does anyone know where I can find FANDAL who was here many years ago exposing the JOUST PG easter egg? He obviously is smarter than me cuz I wouldn't have cracked the easter egg without him. I wonder if he has a complete disassembly or if he can tell me how the lava flow proc works. I know where the lava flow proc is and can stop it but I want to make all 3 flows occur immediately upon the start of the game. Also want to know how the game determines which enemies and when they are displayed. It seems that he has a web site but I don't know the language. If you know him or if you are shy or not on here you can contact at [email protected] Thx, BBA

Sorry for the delay, but I locked myself out of my account. JOUSTbroke2 Top Ten New Features: I have arduously cleaned edge connector contacts, re-slobbered on the solder, and re-wired my broken JOUST game. This is the best I can do to get a working & functioning JOUST game. Sadly, Hurricane Flo has filled all Volcano craters in the universe with water and this game commemorates this horrible storm. The newly ejected Buzzard Riders arrive soaking wet but quickly dry off and ready to battle. 1) The JOUST logo titlescreen changed to have word ‘BROKE’ added so we know this is the broken version. Once we commence playing, we will quickly see it is broken. 2) Powered by the Pete Gaston Easter Egg, press SELECT (U,D,L,or R cursor on the emulator), and the PTERODACTYL graphics move in counter-directions. Cool! Once the game starts there is a new message PTERODACTYL MODE, so we know what’s coming next! 3) Thanks to GorfCadet’s concept for scoring PTERODACTYL KYLLs, we now have dual scoring - scoring for points and scoring for KYLLs. 4) Game is invoked in the highest level - EXPERT. You cannot change this setting. Now the Troll Hand shows up immediately in Wave 01 and he’s grabbing higher than ever! But frustrating for him, the Player now walks on air over the Lava Pits - forever. That’s the new technology for 2018. 5) From the start of the game the PTERODACTYL is pulling off all new pranks, including stealing the first egg. After returning from extinction millions of years ago, the PTERODACTYL’s have discovered a new use in life - Pterodactyl Pilfering. For the first time you will see up to 4 PTERODACTYL’s on-screen at once. Without major overhaul, that’s the most you will ever see. 6) As the initial messages suggest: “PREPARE TO WIN” not “PREPARE TO JOUST” ! You will never lose this game! 7) As part of a remnant of the Pete Gaston Easter Egg you’ll see BLUAZ WAS HERE message at the bottom of the play screen. I tried everything I could to expand this display string from 14 char to 16 char, but couldn’t do it. It’s cleared when the player goes to the top of the screen, which temporarily erases all messages. The “SCORE nnnn:0” and “NICE JOUSTING!” messages return as soon as another PTERODACTYL is kylled. In One Player Mode, the Player 2 scoreboard is overwritten with JOUST JUICED to remind us back in the day when everyone was rejoicing JOUST, I called it JUICED as you had to be, to really enjoy the game. In Two Player Mode, the Player 2 scoreboard appears as normal. It’s like magic! 9) The Lava bridge was forcibly taken out. But the Players and eggs don’t fall through. I don’t know why nothing falls through, but it’s a great effect to be able to walk on free air. 10) When you kyll the PTERODACTYL, he says BYE ! or BYE !! as there are 2 explosions for the 3 PTERODACTYL’s. You are now awarded with 2000 points for the PTERODACTYL KYLL. A new stamp was constructed for this feature. I was trying to make a 1000+1000=2000 stamp which almost worked (and now does on newer version of my JOUST). But for this version with the BYE explosion graphics, the single 2000 stamp is better. Re-enjoy the game !!! The pix: The NTSC bin: JOUSTbroke2_NTSC_CA07.bin The a78: JOUSTbroke2_NTSC_32K.a78 Meanwhile, I have reviewed the 48K PAL JOUST and successfully reduced it down to 32K. But there must be RAM conflicts as my broke version isn't convertible to PAL yet. -BBA

Does anyone have a version of this DOG that works on an emulator? We need it! G173 and I both need it. Or if you're shy or not here, pls send it to [email protected] Thanks, BBA

Greetings SIO2. Dear Sir, At this juncture, would it be "legal" to modify and/or post modifications on AA to this great game? In other words, do you approve? THX, BBA

Hey Fans! I saw the posting of the 7800 JOUST video by GORFCADET, laughed, and didn't know there was so much interest in 7800 JOUST. I blew the dust off my old JOUST and it's broken! Oh no! What to do? SHARE IT, OF COURSE. The game starts off with Wave 01 approximately correct, ignoring all of the PTERODACTYLS flying around. Clear the non-PTERODACTYLS and you're off to Wave 02. Thing is will you ever clear Wave 02? Doubt it. You can try. The game is invincible so you can practice your PTERODACTYL kill skills...forever - virtually. The broken 7800 JOUST files: JOUST_broken_32K.a78 JOUST_broken_E43A.bin Photos: ENJOY!

Hey fans! This is a WIP (Work In Prustration). Back in the day someone was looking to have double heroes on GALAGA and would pay for the effort. I never got paid, but I did it anyways. Earlier this year spent an evening drumming up what I have and include it here. I QUIT. If anyone wants to pick this project, you're welcome to it. There are 2 versions - Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 has double hero & firing and generic/original GALAGA formations (boring). Type 2 also has double hero & firing and new SPACE FORCE formations (exciting). Type 2 needs work as it honks up the challenge stages. But I think it would be easy for someone to figure it out. I give a clue at the bottom of the changelist. Here is my updated disassembly: GalagaDisassembly9.rtf Here's the current change list: GALAGA (shipedit)_changelist.pdf Type 1 Files: GALAGA_dualhero_type1_32K.a78 GALAGA_dualhero_type1_EB3A.bin Type 2 Files: GALAGA_dualhero_type2_32K.a78 GALAGA_dualhero_type2_E9E5.bin Photos: ENJOY! Now off to the next game. BBA

Good Job. Reminds me I should work on GALAGA to have double fire power.