D.A.K.

wow wow wow wowowowowoow! Been checking here every day for the new demo! All the firing issues are GONE! I can now nuke an entire fleet as it flies in with just 1 ship as on the arcade. Just.... Masterful. This is gonna kill when released! It already kills! Superbe! Haven't checked CHALLENGE STAGE out again yet, really in a hurry but I will very soon & report back!

johnnywc: Kinda off topic but have you ever played Deluxe Galaga on Amiga or WARBLADE on PC? Edgar M. Vigdal, the programmer, was a friend of mine for many years. We met online via Amiga scene in the 90's, he was from Norway. His last project was working on WARBLADE II but he passed away a few years ago. 8( It became "WARBLADE" for the PC when he decided to do the PC version due to him not wanting to use the name "GALAGA" for copyright issues. WARBLADE for PC is the best version of the game & what interested parties should get. WARBLADE is an excellent game! I still play it often! It's like GALAGA but a super version with a store and weapon upgrades, mini games and it goes on and on and on! I had an artist friend who actually came up with the name WARBLADE. In the 90's, we were trying to do a Genesis version with Edgar but it never happened. However, my artist friend had done artwork and we even had a version for AGA Amigas using his graphics. It looks like he was paired with another artist for the sequel WARBLADE MK II. It's such a loss that Edgar passed away. Anyone who likes GALAGA or it's sequel GAPLUS will love this game. It's totally worth the purchase. http://emv-software.weebly.com/products.html

SPICEWARE: I stand corrected, I didn't look at your location - I assumed you were with the Oregon guys, it seems they have a big retro scene out there. I live in central Illinois. It would still be quite a drive for me.

SPICEWARE: Hah! That display is crazy! I live in Illinois. I'm jealous of you guys out West! You're always having retro fests! We never get anything where I live. JOHNNYWC: Awesome name! You went back to the old DOS CHAMP GAMES title! So cool!

johhnywc: Actually... It's not bad on a CRT at all to rotate it so long as you degauss it correctly. I used to work in the arcade business and I still have a degaussing coil which really worked magically! When we would change out monitors in arcade games, the same monitor might go in either a vertical or a horizontal game so we would install it, turn it on, and then run the degaussing coil on it. Basically, it's a big circle magnet with magnet wire around it. You plug it in and hold it in front of the monitor. The colors go crazy and you slowly pull away while going in a circular motion. Voila! When you finish, the monitor will be "magnetized/calibrated" for that rotation and all the colors will be correct! If you don't do this, when you rotate a CRT monitor, the colors will go weird. I used to do this with my 1084s as well even! I had a 1084s stuck in my pacman cocktail arcade game for a long time as it's RGB was the exact same as arcade RGB so I could literately plug it right up and it would work. I was always rotating monitors back in the day! It even works on regular TV sets. Basically, I've never seen a CRT monitor/tv it doesn't work on. (Rotating then degaussing.) But I understand... Most people don't wanna do this! Also, I don't know how the new HDTVs work but I assume they don't need to be degaussed at all as there are many tv mounts that allow for rotation. I even have one, but haven't hooked it up yet. To me, it's a dream to be able to rotate my big TV so I can play stuff in the correct aspect ratio. It's really cool too playing something like the arcade version of GALAGA while standing in a living room and having it displayed on a TV that's over half your own height! Can't wait for the next demo version! Your work is absolutely magical, I am in awe.

FujiSkunk & Albert: Thanks for the info!!! Good luck fixing it Albert. I love the site btw.

OP: Is there a reason I can't edit my previous post? I would like to fix the formatting errors. When I created it, they weren't there. Thanks!

johhnywc: Oh. Duh. I can't believe I didn't realize the switches toggle autofire! It seems a bit better but it still seems maybe a bit slow? I dunno but it just seems a tad off for some reason. The challenge stage is harder than the arcade, it seems more difficult due to the firing but maybe it's just that the screen isn't as tall as the arcade. That's another thing I was wondering. I know at this stage it would be impossible to implement screen rotation, but has anyone ever done a 2600 game with a rotated screen so that you can have a very tall aspect ratio like many older arcade games? It's easier to scroll vertically on the VCS, right? If there was an advantage to scrolling horizontally, I'd think making a rotated game would be cool and maybe able to perform some things that couldn't be done vertically but again, I'm under the assumption vertical is easier so it would actually be harder to make a rotated game if so as it would be scrolling horizontally. (I realize the star field really doesn't count as "scrolling" but I think you know what I mean. I mean for other games in the future.) However... As many Galaga players know, on the arcade challenge stages, you can use the HIGH SCORE text at the top of the screen to aim. Your left fire should pass through the H and your right fire should pass through the S on the 1st challenge stage. This is described in this article HERE. Is there any way objects could be placed at the top so we have a way to calibrate our aim like on the arcade? I especially use the HIGH SCORE for aiming on the 3rd Challenge stage with the weird new aliens in it. Will you be updating the demo with fixes and new implementations of features? Thanks for listening! You're doing an amazing job, can't wait to see the final version but it's fun as Hell to test the demos too!

Greetings! I just filled out a new account to make this comment! 8) I had an old account here years ago but I've lost the information & don't know the email used. Anyhow... First off, congrats on the ridiculous in quality insanity which is GALAGA for the VCS! 8) With just a few small tweaks here & there, it will easily be the best home version of the game for any console! Wow! What an accomplishment!!! As an avid player of the arcade game (I even own an arcade GALAGA cocktail!) I would like to bring up a small issue. The firing seems a bit off. For those of us with fast fingers who rapidly tap the button, on the arcade, you can time your shots when you tap. If you tap quickly twice, two shots very quickly will fire. The 2600 version fires 2 shots at the exact same rate, as if it expects the user to hold the button down. I'm sure I'm not describing exactly the issue but all I can say is the firing is off, it's not as fast or responsive. The timing of the firing is crucial in the arcade game, I can't believe no one else has pointed this out. It would be awesome if in the final version, this could be fixed. Maybe you can have the autofire "hold the button down" style be an option that can be selected from the main menu? Like have FIRING: ARCADE or AUTOFIRE and if AUTOFIRE is selected, there should still be a way to control the rate of the firing. I think on arcade games that have the autofire hack, you can set the rate by basically firing your 2 shots at the rate you wish and then holding the button down. From that point on, it fires at that rate. Looking forward to having this in my library. I have multiple Atari 2600's, a Colecovision with the 2600 adapter, a Coleco Gemini, an original Supercharger somewhere and one of the last Cuttle Carts produced. I plan on getting back into things and getting a Melody cart soon. BTW Mappy is FREAKING AWESOME AS WELL!!! My God that game is beautiful!!! I can't believe it's the VCS! P.S. - OH YEAH!!! DOES THE BEE TRICK WORK ON THIS?!?!?! IF NOT, IT HAS TO BE INCLUDED!!! 8) [GALAGA BEE TRICK DESCRIBED HERE]