KevinMos3

Of all the labels submitted in the label contest, that one was my LEAST favorite. No offense to anyone. I think if the red were darker, (like the later Atari boxes), I'd pick that one. As it is now, I'd probably pick silver even though I still don't like it at all.

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.

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:

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

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.

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).

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.

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. 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:

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.

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

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

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. 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.

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.

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.

Looks good. Thanks for sharing!

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.

I can't believe I stayed up all night making it! Must be the obsessive compulsive coming through.

That sounds like a good idea to me.

I too agree. It looks really good, but man is it hard!

I agree with most of the posts here, but there's one that I haven't seen mentioned... Double Dragon

StanJr did the hard work of mapping out the game and writing a guide. They are hosted on his site that he linked to earlier in the thread. I put the two together into a Microsoft Word *.doc file so you can print it out and have the guide and images handy if you like. Please note that this is Stan's work. I just put the two together to make referencing the guide and maps a little more convenient. Private Eye guide.zip

Thanks! Yeah, I played it through, but not on real hardware so I did have save-states for hard spots. I'm not skilled enough yet to disassemble. The map will need prettied up at some point. I was hesitant to post and glad you approve. P.S. We finally have a game for the Atari with the missing element that would have kept the company alive.

Too late! So where can I apply for a refund? I'd like my attention back please. P.S. I love the new death animation. edit: I made a map of the game. It's zipped so if people don't want to see it, they won't have to. This map exposes hidden places and areas affected by items. I don't know if there are more hidden areas, but all the ones needed to complete the game are shown. It does not tell you in what order you need to find the keys or items, so a little figuring out is left to the player. I also don't tell you which items you need to use to activate certain things. That's easy enough to figure out and I didn't want to completely ruin the experience. If you don't mind some spoilers, then download, unzip, and enjoy the map. If you want to find your own way around the game, then by all means DO NOT open this map. Items shown on the map: Winged boots Cleated boots Whistle (or would that be a recorder or flute?) Candle Bible All Keys Panky the Panda map.zip

I'm not sure exactly how to describe this, but I've had a problem with controllers since I first started using Stella, (back when it was still at 3.0), up till now with version 3.1.2. It's not my particular controller, because I've used 4 different ones with the same result, (a digital Propad 8, and 3 digital-analog combos -- one by Thrustmaster, one by GameElements, and one by Logitech). The only combo controller that works right is the Logitech because you can turn off the analog part. If the D-Pad is seen as a "Hat", the control wants to see only one direction at a time making moving up/down while moving left/right impossible. However, this isn't the issue I'm posting about. The issue I'm referring to is hard to explain because it happens so fast I'm never quite sure what I'm doing that triggers it. I see it all the time when I play Double Dragon because of the way I move around with a lot of diagonals and direction changes. I can be going in a direction (maybe up or down) and then try to move Left or Right and the character will just stand in place, but the walking animation will still happen, (like the player character is just walking in place). When this happens I can continue to hold in the given direction all I want and the character will just stand there "place walking." If I then press Up or Down in addition to Left or Right, the character will move Up or Down, but still not Left or Right. When this happens, I have to move in the opposite direction of what I'm trying to go (Left or Right), and then I can continue to play as normal until this happens again. This is not a problem with the game because it does not do this on other emulators or on real hardware. It does this whether I'm using the digital controller or the Logitech combo with analog mode turned off. I hope that wasn't too confusing. I wish I could make a video of when it happens, but I don't have software for that.

BP version... Dark humor... I get it! *Said in the voice of Fry (just watched the new season premiere of Futurama tonight).