Archon 2600

[moycon]

I never understood why this game never got made for the early consoles (Actually it did get made for the Nintendo)

 

Archon

 

Remember that game? Sort of like chess. Man that game was fun. My friends and I used to play the hell out of it on Commodore 64. Can this game be made on the 2600?

[Lord-Chaos]

Anyone ever tried to port this game or to create a game similar to Archon ?

 

It should be possible , because the main graphics is similar to a chess game (=ATARI´s Video Chess) and the battle screen should be possible,too.

 

Maybe a good idea ?

 

Thimo

[Tempest]

Tricky but probably possible (with flicker). I'd think the 7800 would be a better canidate for Archon though.

 

Tempest

[NE146]

I don't see why not.. You'd have a board just like in Video Chess.. Then a battle scene with 2 players just like many a game (e.g. Gunfight). Heck, anything's possible... maybe a little scaled down (or a lot scaled down), but possible.

[mos6507]

I think it's possible but to support a 1-player mode you'd probably be hard pressed to do it in only 128 bytes of RAM.

 

Also, with the video chess kernel, the characters aren't going to be very easy to make out on the board screen, but on the battle screen they'd not have to be striped.

 

It would probably be a good candidate for a Supercharger game, I think.

[CrazyImpmon]

Sorry but I wouldn't even try Archon on a 2600. We all know how well 2600 plays straight chess, and archine is a bit more complicated than chess.

 

I'd start withy 7800 as it has more RAM, can access to 32K without banking and there's plenety of docs so you can easily program Archon 7800 up to 1Mbit if needed.

 

It's too bad there isn't an easy way to port NES version of Archon directly to 7800.

[Lord-Chaos]

Sorry but I wouldn't even try Archon on a 2600.  We all know how well 2600 plays straight chess, and archine is a bit more complicated than chess.

 

I'd start withy 7800 as it has more RAM, can access to 32K without banking and there's plenety of docs so you can easily program Archon 7800 up to 1Mbit if needed.

 

It's too bad there isn't an easy way to port NES version of Archon directly to 7800.

 

But this woul be no challenge.

 

Archon is available for the ATARI 800 (on disc and cartridge)

 

There is even Archon 2 for the ATARI 8 Bit.

 

So a 7800 port would be quite easy,but nothing special.The same with an ATARI 5200 port.

 

The ATARI 7800 has more colors than the ATARI 800 , but even the AMIGA version of Archon doesn´t look so much better , so graphics woul not make much difference.

 

Thimo

[doctorclu]

Don't forget that technically the XEGS was the contemporary to the NES. And Archon was in cart form.

 

Also I think Archon has been made for the palm pilot.

 

Why it never made it to the 2600... good question.

[NovaXpress]

Awesome game, killed many hours with it. I think it was the first hit for Electronic Arts. None of their games made it to the consoles back then.

[Goochman]

Anyone think Archon is possible on the 2600?

[Voch]

I played Archon on the C64. Awesome game.

 

If an Atari 2600 version was attempted, do you think all the different pieces could be reproduced? Each had a different fighting style and health level. Maybe an Archon Lite ("Archon Checkers")?

 

Voch

[The MilkMan]

Archon on C64=Awesome...Agreeed!

Add me to the list that lost many o' hours to this game. Back then, AND today. I was just playing this last night, freaky that this post appeared.

Y'know, I almost would like to see what could be done with this game on a newer system. Wether a PC or game console...as long as the integrity of the game is kept. Not hacked-up and twisted into some other game variation where only the name is the only thing that represents the original game.

[Lauren Tyler]

I remember Archon. I played it a lot in 5th and 6th grade, when we still had Apple 2 computers at my school. I would later find a CGA version for my ancient computer in 1994, and it turned out to be one of the timesucks for me when I was in my room.

[Mayhem]

There is Wrath Unleashed on the PS2; very similar playing but on a hex 3D board instead. Same objectives, same rules, plus you also get to properly fight one on one.

[Robert M]

Anyone think Archon is possible on the 2600?

 

Its possible, but only with potentially heavy flicker on the game board view. The battle mode just combat on steroids which is definitely doable on the 2600. Giving the monsters all different attack modes and strengths and such is no problem at all. The big obstacle is game board with its 3 colors per line, and up to 9 different sprites per line.

[moycon]

It took you guys over 3 years to jump on the Archon band wagon??

 

Jeeze.

[Flack]

If you liked Archon be sure to check out Archon Ultra. I picked up my copy a few years ago when bargain bins were all the rage -- by now I'm sure it's made it to all the big Abandonware sites. If I remember correctly my original came on two floppy disks, so it can't be that big of a download.

 

Basically, Archon Ultra is just a VGA reworking of the original. It looks nicer, sounds nicer, and supports online play (if by online you mean dialup and/or null modem connections, hah).

 

[NovaXpress]

The big obstacle is game board with its 3 colors per line, and up to 9 different sprites per line.

Wouldn't the old venetian blinds trick work just fine?

[Voch]

If you liked Archon be sure to check out Archon Ultra.

 

linky. Home of the Underdogs is a great page.

[+johnnywc]

Here's a quick demo of one possible way to do the board in Archon. It's using the venetian blind technique on the playfield:

 

- playfield is reflective

- playfield registers have to be loaded on each line

- one color change at the beginning of the line, one in the middle

- background color cycles from light to dark

 

For the pieces, you would need to also do a similar approach (venetian blinds). At most 5 sprites would have to be displayed on a scanline.

 

Timing will be tight, and PF0 might have to be dropped to save time (the pieces are 16 pixels wide; could be cut down to 12).

 

Anyway, this game was one of my favorites. I'll see what else I can do with this. Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

[Gateway]

Here is a link to a discussion a while back, about Archon and similiar games such as

 

Silicon Warrior

, from the Homebrew Section. IIRC, there were some proofs of concept done in that thread too.

[+johnnywc]

Here's another version running on PCAE. This one has smaller squares (16x8). Advantages is that PF0 is no longer needed (more cycles!!!)

[+SpiceWare]

one color change at the beginning of the line, one in the middle

Actually, looks like you only need the color change in the middle.

[Robert M]

Here's another version running on PCAE.  This one has smaller squares (16x8).  Advantages is that PF0 is no longer needed (more cycles!!!)

 

Yes, that is swell, but just try adding the possible 9 different game piece sprites on the middle line of the board, and don't forget to add the 3 markers for the power squares. Plus remember that those 9 game pieces can be any of 2 colors and they are not white or black. So if you use the sprites for the game pieces, then you can not use the missles at all for the game board.

 

It could be done, but the flicker will cause siezures IMO. If anyone can design for that worst case display scenario, then the remainder of game is a breeze.

 

A better course of action would be to design and Archon-like game that captures the feel of Archon, but is designed with the limitations of the VCS system in mind.

 

Cheers

[+johnnywc]

 

Yes, that is swell, but just try adding the possible 9 different game piece sprites on the middle line of the board, and don't forget to add the 3 markers for the power squares.  Plus remember that those 9 game pieces can be any of 2 colors and they are not white or black.   So if you use the sprites for the game pieces, then you can not use the missles at all for the game board.  

 

Thanks for the input. First off, I'm not suggesting that doing this would be trivial or even possible. The POC for the board is just step #1 (if the board couldn't be done, then why do the rest?? ). Your points are all legitimate concerns and probably why this hasn't been done yet.

 

Some ideas:

 

- power squares don't have to be marked. this can be documented instead since these never change (anyone who's played Archon knows what 5 squares are power squares)

- although 9 pieces on one line are possible, it is highly unlikely (as is 8 and 7). On average there will be between 4 and 5. Flicker would need to be used for some cases, but I'm sure the "average case" could be displayed without sending anyone to the ER.

- I think the missiles might be able to be used for the game pieces. The board I'm displaying is using just the playfield and the background (the playfield color alternates between black and white).

- how does Video Chess display 8 pieces on one line? I know about the venetian blinds trick - but are missiles used along with the player graphics? Does it flicker? This could be a good example to work off of.

 

A better course of action would be to design and Archon-like game that captures the feel of Archon, but is designed with the limitations of the VCS system in mind.  

 

I completely agree with you on this. It would be naive to think that a game written for a much more powerful system (800xl, C64) would translate to the 2600 without *any* concessions. Maybe a 7x7 board would make things much easier (PF1 is no longer needed for the board in this case).