Zeelay

The idea of making an easier SwordQuest game is excellent, and the symbols that you drawn work very well. I would say that the challenges are a LOT easier ! And to me, they are not too easy, they are just fine. The original game was so hard that it is a real pleasure with your new version to solve the clues in less than a week (in fact in about one hour). Did you give a name to the rooms and items ? I would like to have the names of this four symbols, I am not sure what they are : (I see a Christmas tree, a firework, the waves of the sea and a kind of svastika or a little character ?) SwordQuest was one of my favourite game, Swordquest Jr will be one of my friend's ! Great job.

To me the Atari illustrations from the catalog could have been drawn by John Farman. See these pictures, coming from another videogame book. Does the style of these illustrations seems close enough to you ?

Note : This message is first written in french because it is about an event that will occur in France, then it is google-translated in english, just below. LET'S START IN FRENCH... Salut à tous les Fans d'Atari. Le Festival Retroplay est heureux de présenter sa quatrième édition sur le thème ATARI, qui aura lieu les 22 et 23 octobre 2022. Parmi les 150 flippers et machines d'arcades qui seront mis à disposition des visiteurs et les nombreux stands consacrés aux consoles et micros rétro de toutes marques, vous trouverez deux stands spécialement dédiés à Atari, et découvrirez un artiste qui fera un mini concert avec son Atari VCS. Une exposition Atari (1972-1993) Les visiteurs pourront apprécier une présentation de l'ensemble des machines domestiques produites par Atari, micros et consoles produits durant cette vingtaine d'années, allant de Pong à la Jaguar. Tous ces systèmes seront exposés en vitrine, accompagnés d'accessoires et de jeux… et cerise sur le gâteau, grâce à Atarimania, des protoypes jamais commercialisés seront visibles pour le plus grand plaisir des aficionados. Concours Pac-Man Pour commémorer les quarante ans du championnat mondial de Pac-Man (1982), les visiteurs pourront, moyennant une participation de 2 €, réaliser leur meilleur score pour tenter de repartir avec une console Atari 2600. Le concours se jouera le samedi sur Pac-Man 8K (pour gagner une Atari 2600) et le dimanche sur la version originale (pour gagner une Atari Woody avec le jeu Pac-Man original en boite). Mini concert Zeelay fera une prestation musicale de 30 minutes en compagnie de sa VCS. L'artiste nous promet un blues totalement revisité, ce qui devrait ravir les amoureux de la Techno, du Blues et bien entendu de l'Atari 2600. Exposition Atari : http://atarivcs.free.fr/retroplay-2022-exposition-atari-50-ans.htm Concours Pac-Man : http://atarivcs.free.fr/concours-pac-man-revival-1982-2022-retroplay.htm Concert Atari VCS : http://atarivcs.free.fr/zeelay-en-concert-electro-techno-blues-a-retroplay-synthcart.htm Le festival comprend de nombreuses autres facettes, pour en savoir plus sur Retroplay : http://www.retroplay.fr À bientôt… Igor. ...AND NOW IN ENGLISH (Google translated) Hello all Atari Fans. The Retroplay Festival is pleased to present its fourth ATARI-themed edition, which will take place on the 22nd and 23rd October 2022. Among the 150 pinball machines and arcade machines that will be available to visitors and the many stands devoted to retro consoles and microphones of all brands, you will find two stands specially dedicated to Atari, and discover an artist who will perform a mini concert with his Atari VCS. An Atari exhibition (1972-1993) Visitors will be able to enjoy a presentation of all the domestic machines produced by Atari, micro and consoles produced during these twenty years, ranging from Pong to the Jaguar. All these systems will be exhibited in showcase, accompanied by accessories and games… and icing on the cake, thanks to Atarimania, prototypes never before marketed will be visible to the delight of aficionados. Pac-Man Contest To commemorate the forty years of the Pac-Man world championship (1982), visitors will be able, for a participation of 2 €, achieve their best score to try to leave with an Atari 2600 console. will be played on Saturday on Pac-Man 8K (to win an Atari 2600) and on Sunday on the original version (to win an Atari Woody with the original Pac-Man game in the box). Mini concert Zeelay will perform a 30-minute musical performance with his VCS. The artist promises us a totally blues revisited, which should delight lovers of Techno, Blues and of course of the Atari 2600. Atari exhibition: http://atarivcs.free.fr/retroplay-2022-exposition-atari-50-ans-en.htm Pac-Man contest: http://atarivcs.free.fr/concours-pac-man-revival-1982-2022-retroplay-en.htm Atari VCS Concert: http://atarivcs.free.fr/zeelay-en-concert-electro-techno-blues-a-retroplay-synthcart-en.htm The festival includes many other facets, to learn more about Retroplay: http://www.retroplay.fr See you soon… Igor.

Thank you James for the info. This is great news. If I receive my QuadTary copy before Nathan publish his Surround version for QuadTari (which is not sure since I live in France, and the shipping is pretty long here), then I will probably hack Surround 4 into Surround 4QT. I don't know how the Gemini adapter works, but I assume that it won't work because the hack of Surround-4 that I made requires a hacked 2600 console, using the PB2, PB3 and PB4 pins from the RIOT (see below in the red frame "Not used") :

Thank you johnnywc, In fact, I plan to afford a QuadTari and I already had a look how to program it in the idea to adapt Surround4. If I have any difficulty to program the QuadTari, I will send you a message for help Igor. P-S : Sorry to "m.o.terra kaesi", Surround4 doesn't already work with QuadTari... but maybe later...

I followed your idea and added a dedicated topic to Surround 4, in the hack games section:

This hack allows four players to play Surround at the same time. BE AWARE that it requires a modified 2600 console with four joystick ports. The four players are divided in 2 teams : blue vs green When a player hurts a wall, it gives one point to the opposite team. Variation number 2 has a more tron-like skin : (other variations have not been checked) Surround 4 : http://atarivcs.free.fr/Surround 4.bin

Here is a schematic of this console hack (working with Surround4). http://atarivcs.free.fr/Surround 4.bin Blue are the original joystick controllers Red are the additionnal joystick controllers Note that the additional controllers (2 and 3) have no fire button. VERY IMPORTANT, To have it work properly : - all the buttons of the console must be placed up The advantage of this hack is that SWCHB (players 2 and 3) works the same way as SWCHA (players 0 and 1).

Yes it could be hacked, but I am not sure how the paddle-triggers of players 3 and 4 would react on classic 4 paddles games.

Yes, by hack, I mean modified games (commercial or not, homebrew or not). In the case of Asterix/Taz or A-Team/Saboteur, the gameplays are still the same, which is not what I am looking for. I am looking for modified games, where the graphic-kernel is basically the same, but the gameplay have been really changed. It is not a problem to consider the hundreds of pirates games (Zellers and other), but as far as I know, the gameplays of these games are still the same. Like I said in my first post : For example, we could reuse the graphic-Kernel of Surround to make a Qix or a Game of life. But I am looking for a game that have actually been modified in a such way.

I don't think that it is possible without adding more electronic components because SWCHA and SWCHB are completely used. (my challenge here was to hack the console without adding any electronic) However, the two original ports are unchanged, so it is possible to plug a savekey on one of them and still have three ports free for joysticks.

Thank you Al Here is photo of the back of the console.

Yes Alex, you are right, so I have no way to be sure if it is the sun, a misprint or anything else... A good test, would be to let another console in the sun (but protected from rain - ie: in the Veranda) and see what color it gets with time. Unfortunally, I don't want to spare my other Jr-Vader

If the uv of the sunlight has yellowed the logo, shouldn't the with plastic in the cartrige port have also turned just a little bit yellow too ? On this console, it is still pretty white.

Here is a photo of the serial number label. All the back of the console has been dirted with white-pink paintings, like if the console has been dropped on fresh painting. Fortunally, the label is still readable : S.N. 464 AI 041657 I've never seen any 2600 Jr that has the Secam palette. Anybody can confirm this information ? To me, at this time, I would say no. I have two of them and both are Pal. However, the youtube-video is very interesting : The thing that I didn't know is that you can play without the AC-power plugged : The TV gives the power through the Scart ! I will have to try this, if it works with my Scart-consoles, it would be very convenient ?

Thank you for your suggestions. Here are some more infos... If doesn't look like discolouration (if it was so, logo and text would be even whiter - instead of orange) nor fro ma smoker's home (the orange is very vivid, in fact more than the photos that I have published) To me it looks like a specific edition, or maybe a misprint. The orange really seems to be factory-made. I haven't already played it, but it comes from Europe, so I suppose Pal. As far as I know, the Jr-Vader model have only existed in Pal (Am I right ?) One more time, my photos don't perfectly match with the console itself. In fact, it is the regular black, like any other Atari 2600 Jr. Yes, it might be. Yes, that is what I plan to do I will post more photos when it will be done...

I just found this 2600 Jr Vader. The curious thing about it is the orange logo... and also the texts. Have you ever seen it ???

Hello, I have designed a hardware-hack for the Atari VCS, and my friend "The Silly Walker" made it. Thank you Manu ! This VCS now has two additional joystick port, so we can play four players at the same time. The main idea was to not use any additional electronic component (chip, microcontroller, etc.). So I have only used the five buttons of the console (except the on/off) plus three unused pins on the TIA for a total of eight bits (four directions for each new player). "add left controller" is the additional left controller. There is also an "add right controller" at the opposite side. For a complete presentation of the console, you can visit this page Overview of the console : http://atarivcs.free.fr/console-atari-2600-hacked-02-4-joysticks-en.htm I have hacked a game to be able to play four players, and since these additional joysticks have no fire-buttons (only four directions), I choosed to hack Surround into "Surround 4". Surround 4 overview: http://atarivcs.free.fr/atari-2600-hacks-en.htm Surround 4 Binary (NTSC): http://atarivcs.free.fr/Surround 4.bin You can see four people playing this game at the same time (Select level two has a black background to look more like Tron): Video of four players at the same time : http://atarivcs.free.fr/surround4.avi Igor.

6 months later and still no answer ? That kind of hack really must be rare Igor.

Hello, Here is a hack from Circus Atari, one of my favourite game on the 2600, but I never been fond of the little characters jumping on the trampoline. So why not having the rounded bad guys from Pengo ! They slide on a trampoline on the ice and use their hands to kick the clouds in the sky ! This game works in NTSC (see above, left), PAL and SECAM (above right) with the right colors. To do that, I have defined a common palette, so it is not necessary to maintain two (or three) versions of the BIN. I plan to write an article about this technique, it might interest some other programmers. In all cases, the game runs at 60 Hz. Binary download : http://atarivcs.free.fr/Pengo 2 - Sno-Bees' Balls.bin More info about this hack : http://atarivcs.free.fr/atari-2600-hacks-en.htm#Pengo_2_Sno-Bees_Balls Enjoy ! Igor. P-S : I am not quite sure about the name of this hack. I fear someone might be disapointed to not find pengo in the game. In another hand, if we don't mention "Pengo" in it, some people won't understand that these two character come from Pengo. I recently discovered myself that they are called "Sno-Bees".

Hello Arenafoot, Yes, I had to change the url because the atarivcs server has closed by itself (error 500). I will try to get it come back, but for now I have moved the website to vectrex.free.fr Concerning the "Pengo 2 : Snow Bees' Balls", I wasn't sure for the name this is why I haven't already posted about it at AtariAge However, I hope that you will like it ! Circus Atari is a pretty good game (a sort of Breakout revisited), but I never been fond of the characters (They look too small to me). so i tried different things before having the idea to put the bad guys from Pengo in it. Igor.

Hello, I am looking for some hacks that re-use a graphic kernel, but to do a different game : the gameplay is totally (or very much) different from the original game. So far, I have found only 3 games that have been hacked this way : - Elk Attack (from Pengo) - Radar Lock (from Solaris - well it's not really a hack, but it reuses a part of the code) - Knightmate (from Video Chess) Does anyone here knows more games that have been hacked like this ? Thanx Igor.

Hello, I have taken photos and written an issue about the twelve boxes that have a different color (or illustration for Pac-Man) between PAL and NTSC. Some of you might be interested by this : http://atarivcs.free.fr/atari-2600-vcs-boites-pal-ntsc-couleurs.htm It is written in french only, but the most interesting part are the pictures. Igor.

Hello 4ever2600 and TrekMD I have added a fifth hack. It is pretty much the same graphics as the original SI... but with a kind of different gameplay. In fact, it is a pack of three hacks with the same idea : getting Space Invaders harder and harder ! Igor.

(I hope that I am in the right place to post this) While I was hacking Parker's Frogger, I found these interesting lines : LDA $DE CMP #$10 BNE LF0E9 LDA INPT4 BMI LF0C0 LDA $DD ROR BCS LF0BD LDA INPT5 BMI LF0C0 I noticed the presence of INPT4 and INPT5, which means that the joystick's buttons are been watched. It is stanged, because they shouldn't, since the games only use the four directions. Then I understood that when the games ends and the music starts ($DE = #$10), if you press the button, then the game starts again... and you don't have to bend to your console to press GAME RESET. In a two player mode, both players have to press their buttons to do so (This cannot be done when you switch on the console). As far as I know, it has never been mentioned in any booklet manual. Igor.