2600 Moon Patrol -Arcade

[2600 Moon Patrol -Arcade]

I notice that you're using an old version of Stella for the snapshot of this ROM (version 2.3).

That snapshot is from a little over a year ago. I hate it when people just quote a whole post. It makes a mess, especially when there are pictures involved. It's even more needless when the reply doesn't require a quote in the first place. I'd like to see some discipline about that issue on these boards, but maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine that no one else shares.

 

 

NOTE: Set both Left and Right difficulty to 'A' for music and 3-speed side scrolling control. -Enjoy!

I don't get the "3-speed side scrolling control." I've tried it with the right difficulty switch in both positions and didn't notice a difference. What am I missing? What exactly is different in position A?

 

I agree that this is the definitive version of Moon Patrol for the 2600. I'd love to replace the ROM on my cart with this.

[Superbug]

Now that is just impressive.

[Adventure 1K (2600)]

I like that better. I should avoid any confusion.

[Space Football]

...once you get used to it, Pete Rose Baseball is actually pretty good.

Pete Rose Baseball is the ONLY baseball game I've ever enjoyed. I liked it from the first day I got it and was very surprised. Over the years, I've found myself returning to it every so often. I like it on both the 7800 and 2600. It's also the only baseball video game I've ever been able to win.

[Boxart Thread (Real & Mockup)]

the best of the best is http://www.freelancer-games.com/atari.php?start=0

Yes, those are gorgeous. It doesn't get any better than that. But would he be willing to share the images in a resolution high enough to use with the emulators? I completely understand not wanting to share high-res enough for someone to make knock-offs of his work, but how about a resolution similar to what I've shared? That would be perfect.

[Boxart Thread (Real & Mockup)]

Wow! Excellent job. Thank you for sharing. That's exactly what I was hoping to see.

 

After uploading the Adventure II pics, I made them look better by darkening behind the title a bit. However, by the time I was ready to upload, I could no longer edit the post and didn't want to make two posts with essentially the same boxart.

 

I've made several for the 7800. I would like to have images from Marc or Nonner42 for some of these (especially Sirius and Plutos). I did what I could by piecing together various images and sometimes redrawing portions of them to fill out the larger box area. I'm sure some people won't like the "NEW" sticker I put on the boxes, but I like them and think they fit in well with the official boxarts in my emulator. For my XBox setup, I downsize them a bit more, but I thought 500px tall should make most people happy for other emu setups as well.

 

 

I really don't like my Asteroids Deluxe and I'm not happy with Jr Pac-Man either. It's the layout I don't like, the artwork itself is great. I've seen pics of Marc's layouts of Asteroids and Jr Pac-Man and I like those much better.

 

I've done more for the 2600 which I'll upload later.

 

@ Nabuko78, I didn't know of a contest. I looked through the contest postings and didn't see anything like that. Do you have a link to more info?

 

edit: I don't want anyone to misunderstand me. I'm not taking credit for any of the artwork, only piecing it together into a boxart. The last thing I want to do is offend the artists who did a great job.

[Ature, my homebrew action adventure game for Atari 2600.]

Ok, I have a bug to report. This is not due to the recent changes, it's been there for the past several versions and I forgot to mention it before. Sorry about that.

 

After beating the game two or three times, (meaning you're now working on playing through your third or fourth time in a row), your health acts buggy. It will show no health and sometimes flash one unit of health. You still have some health as far as I can tell, but it's just not showing. Then, if you beat the game again it will crash without showing the end game screen, (or maybe it just crashes before I notice the end game screen), and go to the title screen. From there it's like starting the game fresh. I didn't try playing all the way through again after that. I should do that later.

 

What I did in older versions to get this issue:

• I first saw this the night I was playing on real hardware and played through several times. If I remember right, it would happen about the third or fourth time playing after going to the end game screen. I don't remember if it would ever crash to the title screen though. This was before you added music, so it's been around for several versions.

 

What I did in the current version to get this issue:

• I first played through and collected all items as normal. Once at the end game screen, I reset and played through purposely collecting only the Numen Sword. (I did this so I would have more items to collect after beating the game). After getting to the end game screen, I reset and continued collecting the remaining items (this again confirms that your recent changes work great). I went to the end game screen again and after hitting reset, this is where the health bug appeared. I continued playing and after beating the game with the health bug, the game crashed to the title screen.

[Boxart Thread (Real & Mockup)]

I know there's a thread of cart label mockups, but how about one for boxarts? Since the XBox emulators and several PC emulators make great use of such images, I thought it would be nice to see what people have come up with for games that had no official boxes, (such as prototypes, homebrews, or hacks).

 

I'll be the first to submit a few pics -- this time for Adventure II with a little back-story.

 

I just picked up a Flashback 2 last weekend at a flea market for $1 and some change, (pretty good deal but it was just the unit -- no controllers or power supply). I got into playing a little Adventure II, so I thought it would be nice to put the ROM on my XBox emulator also. Well, it needed a boxart to look real purty, so I scanned the "Adventure Territory" page from one of my old Atari catalogs and put together a pic.

 

Here are 3 variations. My favorite in Orange, followed by the late style Red, and last but not least, Silver.

 

 

edit: The point is to help each other out by filling in our emulator setups, or just showing off boxarts for the fun of it.

[Full Color 7800 Cartridge label replacements I made]

at atari7800.com there are new reproduction prints of original 1984 Warner Holoptic lables that have been made.

I'm not sure I fully understood what you were saying... Will these be made available for the entire 7800 library, and if so, any idea for how much? I may just have to get a collection of duplicates to replace the labels with these. They look pretty awesome and may finally give the uniform look that I've wanted for years.

[Full Color 7800 Cartridge label replacements I made]

I have a Robot Tank Blue & White text label taht is begging to be replaced with an original Activision picture label type...

I would LOVE it if someone made label art for all the 2600 Activision games that had generic screenshot labels. That's another thing I've always wanted to do.

 

Some of the later Activision labels looked great, like Private Eye, Beamrider, Pitfall II, HERO, etc. They made nice art for games on other systems like River Raid, Keystone Kapers, etc. but the 2600 just got the generic screenshot on the label. I'd love to see that nice art make its way to a 2600 label.

 

 

That is an example of a coincidence, not irony. Just FYI.

ZylonBane, stop posting as horseboy!

 

Again, awesome job on the labels, Underball.

[Full Color 7800 Cartridge label replacements I made]

Those are very nice. I especially like your Kung-Fu Master label. I've always wanted to put all the Activision and Absolute games in Atari shells with nice full color labels. Now, I'd hate to mess up a cart because those seem to be the more rare ones and I wouldn't want people thinking I had knockoffs of those games.

 

It always bothered me that my 7800 collection wasn't uniform and the Activision shells felt cheap to me.

[Ature, my homebrew action adventure game for Atari 2600.]

I just played through the latest binary. Thanks for implementing those changes we talked about. It works great and is exactly what I had in mind. Two thumbs up for that! :thumbsup:

[laserman'88 is now here]

The game is much more playable now. You've come a long way. Good job!

[Ature]

It would certainly be possible not to level up the player to level 99 when you already have all items, however, most people will be already level 99 because they beat the game before getting all the items. Perhaps I should not level up the player after winning all the way to 99, but just 1 level or so, so they can replay the game with some challenge involved?

That sounds a bit different than what I was suggesting. What you are suggesting sounds good too, but I'll try to describe my point a bit better.

 

As it is right now, after you beat the game, opened all areas and have all the items, there's really no point to continue at all. All the bosses are dead and you still have all the items, so you can just run straight to the Numen tree again to see the end screen.

 

I think it would be good if after you've beaten the game and it sees that you ALSO have all the items, the game can be started over when hitting reset, but keeping your current level of 99. This would give incentive to play the game again after beating it because you would already be powerful, but you'd have to collect all items, beat all bosses, and unlock all switches again. Other games have incorporated this type of feature, such as Metal Gear Solid. After beating the game, you can play through again with the bandanna for unlimited ammo, or the stealth suit, or the tuxedo etc.

 

By making the result of hitting reset be dependent on what you've accomplished (items and game beaten), if you still have items to acquire then you could keep on playing to find items just as it is now. That part of the current game is perfect. I like how you can hit reset after beating the game and continue your quest to find any remaining items. But if you already have everything it would be nice to start from scratch but with your level still at 99.

[Ature]

Love the colored map. It looks sexy.

Thanks yuppicide. BTW, after zipping up the PSD (map with solutions) file it only comes to 141k in size. So, if anyone wants it I can PM it to them no problem.

 

You know what it needs now?... the map done in a classic art style (painted or water-colored). I would love to do that, but I'm afraid I'm too rusty with handling a brush and it would take me waaaay too long to do it.

 

@ beoran, GREAT job on that manual. I love what you did to the map; how you covered the secret areas and number-labeled locations with your proper names.

 

Would it be too much trouble to add a feature where if you have already collected all the items and you beat the game, when you hit reset you start a new game, but with your level intact? Would it be possible to add a check for whether you've collected all items and beaten the game, so when you hit reset you get a different result than a normal reset? This way, if you're still missing items, you could just keep playing like it is now, but if you've done everything, you get to play a new game with the incentive of already being leveled up. (I think I really butchered my grammar in that paragraph)

 

edit: Update: I just played through the 7-8-10 binary and did not encounter that sound bug when I hit reset. So either it's fixed, or I just didn't trigger it.

 

I can hardly wait to see what people will come up with for a label (if you post a label contest).

[Ature]

Thank you for that map. If you don't mind I'll use that map, after covering up the secret areas, as the map in the manual I'm working on.

Sure, go right ahead. I had the color situation with the boss in the Top Left screen backwards. I've updated the post with the correct colors for when you enter the room without sword drawn.

 

However, I went a step further and made the map as a Photoshop PSD file with layers. This file has the map with opened areas, unopened areas, enemies, items, switches, and solution labels, each with its own layer. The map has each screen separated like a grid for easier reference.

 

@ beoran: I'll PM you this file. If anyone else wants this, it's 1.75MB which is too big to be sending multiple people on my dialup connection, but I can send png's with solutions shown and not shown.

 

For example, here is the map with NO paths open, Bosses & Switches SHOWN, common Enemies NOT shown, Secret Switches NOT shown, Items NOT shown:

 

With the PSD file, you'll be able to make any combination you want and you can easily erase hidden areas.

[Ature]

Thanks for the map. It looks great and really changes how I view the game. As for being a spoiler... I'm not trying to brag, but not for me. I pretty much had it mastered after having played through the game a few times and having collected all the items.

 

For the label, you might want to ask Atariboy2600 (who does great work), or just post a label contest.

 

edit: I added color to your map and resized it to the proportion you see when playing the game. Now we have an excellent black & white version that makes the elements clearly visible as well as a color version. Also, I made a map that shows all the enemies and switches but I'm not uploading it right now. If people would like to see it, I can upload it as well, but since it's more of a spoiler than the one made by beoran, I will just wait and see if someone wants it.

 

On another note: I noticed that the switch on the bottom of the map below the palm trees can now be accessed by land after doing something. Is this a feature you changed? I've included the way that I used to flip the switch below in a spoiler button. If readers other than beoran want to see an alternate way to flip that switch, you can click below too.

Before, I would flip that switch with legendary strike.

 

 

Also, I've noticed that if you enter some of the boss screens with your sword drawn, the background is a different color. For example:

• The background of the boss screen (that's at the bottom of the map in the ocean) will be red instead of black. The same color of red as the boss.
• The boss screen in the top-left corner of the map will be purple instead of red-brown.
• Is this intentional?

And lastly, I found a bug and a somewhat bug.

• Bug: After beating the game with the latest binary, I hit reset to continue playing. The end game music flubbed up and played a constant tone for the rest of the time until I exited the game.
• Somewhat bug: You can get stuck in the yellow-green block if you enter the screen from the left side and move between the top and bottom blocks toward the enemy. He will shoot you and knock you up into the block so you have to reset the game to get out. This is not a big deal because a person can simply learn from that mistake and not do it again. Since you can reset the game without losing all your progress, I wouldn't really call it a bug. More of a slap on the hand. Here is a screenshot of what I'm talking about:
  

[What is this world coming to?!?!?]

Anyone interested in a $10,000 Atari?

 

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 230481863700

I was offended by that auction. It looks like he had it listed, but then read an article that has nothing to do with what he's actually selling and came to the conclusion it was worth $10k, so he relisted it. I take from his description that he never really cared about his Atari, but now that he thinks he's found out how high the demand is for such a rare working system, he wants to get rich quick. I find myself being offended a lot by ebay auctions and sometimes even flea market sellers. "Oh, this is vintage and extremely RARE!"... no you saw some listing claiming it had a rating of rarity = 1. That means it's NOT rare. I encountered a flea market seller today with a box full of combat and ET carts thinking he had some really rare stuff. I couldn't convince him otherwise.

 

It shouldn't bother me but it does. I was so obsessed with Atari as a kid and it seems I'm being priced out of my own hobby at times. Games are meant to be played and should be owned by gamers. They shouldn't be treated like a coin or stamp collection. That's just my opinion and a real pet peeve.

[50 Copies of FailSafe Now Available!]

I'm very tempted... just need to do a bit of work for some cash first.

[laserman'88 is now here]

I can't seem to hit anything. My bullets just go through the bombs without registering a hit.

[Ature]

I am not sure, but I think someone should make a walk through for this.

 

I started to make screen captures to make one big map, but got bored of doing it.. more fun playing.

I'm out of town right now, but when I return home I plan to make a map for this game.

Nevermind. I posted a reply without refreshing the page in a while so I didn't see beoran's response about generating a map from the source.

 

 

 

Dear yuppicide, i've uploaded a new version (look at the top of the thread) whihc should prevent ythe player from being kicked off the current screen by an enemy. I'd still love to here about the room where you got stuk, though.

I was concerned that without being knocked off the screen, it might be easier to die from an ambush. Sometimes being knocked off was helpful. However, after playing for a few minutes in Stella, I've not yet run into a murderous situation. I'll spend some time playing it on my harmony cart when I return home. BTW, the intro music is a nice addition.

[Uppa Creek!]

Here are some screenshots:

 

Not including them in your post is a good way to get a paddle used on you by other members.

Feel free to edit your first post and add these if you want.

 

Nice game. Keep up the good work.

[Ature]

I say find a way to port your Eruta ideas to the Atari.

 

But seriously, I just played through the game on my harmony cart. I really enjoyed it. I've killed every boss I could find (including the final boss Ikaza) and rescued my beloved (does he/she have a name?) at the Numen tree. I hit reset and continued searching for more items.

 

I have 6 items at the bottom of the screen but I'm not sure what they all are.

• One of them is the Numen Shield.
• There's the Numen Sword.
• Another is the Numen book.
• Another one is the Book of Striking (was that issued by a union?).

I don't know which icons are for those last two listed, but I know they're there. Now I need to figure out what the other two items are. Are there more than six items in the game or do I have them all? Also, is there a max to how much you can level up, because I think I've reached it?

 

Three ideas:

• The boss that guards the Numen Sword is too close to the color of the background and I could hardly see him at all on my TV. I just had to strike wildly and used all but one of my Numen leaves to beat him. It would be nice to make him a color that you can see more easily.
  
• It would be good to make your manual into a doc file so you can use images from the game to let people know what the various items look like.
  
• Would it be possible to add an inventory screen or a pause screen by toggling the Color/BW switch? Just a screen so you could see your level and how many points are needed to reach the next level.

You mentioned in an earlier post that you were thinking of adding music to the title screen, ending, or the game itself. I think this would be a nice addition (especially at the title and ending).

 

Again, great work.

[New Atari-themed 7800 Wallpaper that I really like a lot.]

Looks good. Thanks for sharing!

[Terrance & Phillip]

Maybe I should continue working on this instead of "I Like Bacon"...

I would always prefer a good platformer for the 2600 like T&P, but that's just me. You've made a lot of progress on the bacon game in such a short amount of time so far be it from me to tell you what to work on. Hopefully we won't have to choose and we'll see you finish/polish both games.