Whiich classic ATARI 2600 could be done better ?

[trusty]

cough***choke***cough!!!!!

HOLY CRAP!!! THIS IS GREAT! Looks like I need to start filling my cart!

Now this is something I would like to get into! I currently build mods for FPS games using Maya and other apps. I never thought of doing anything with the 2600!

 

You do know, that you all are going to be the cause of my divorce!!! LOL

[Nukey Shay]

Ah...but we also have Ebivison's game with little fishies...much more close to arcade paccey, even if the board/characters don't look the same.

[NE146]

Ah...but we also have Ebivison's game with little fishies...much more close to arcade paccey, even if the board/characters don't look the same.

 

Yep.. and it was precisely the frustration of not being able to acquire the Ebivision version that got me wondering "what if a 2600 Pacman was made using MsPacman as a template" (it actually kept me up some nights ) and thus I started my little email campaign back in 99 which eventually got me in touch with Rob.. who then shocked me by actually beginning to hack Mspac into Pacman!! (matter of fact I still got some early versions he sent me) Thanks Rob

 

So in a strange sense Ebivision is sort of responsible as well for the hack

[Rob Mitchell]

Problem with atari space war is the that the sun really didn't exert much of any gravitation pull...also the fact that you went so damn fast once you got up to speed killed it. A few tweaks and it really could be a fantastic version of space war, but it's just mediocre now.

 

The original PDP Space War allows for three (or maybe more) degrees of solar gravity .. which makes it interesting. What other tweaks would you suggest?

 

ANOTHER LOSER: Sprintmaster! It could have been a worthy successor to Indy 500 and even better .. But the designer put in brake control and never included an option for the driving controllers! Plus the cars can only turn through 8 angles whereas Indy 500 cars turn through 16 angles .. so even Thomas' DC hack suffers.

 

So take out the Sprintmaster cars and put in the Indy 500 cars with DC control .. that would make it playable.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[NE146]

What other tweaks would you suggest?

 

Hmm for Space Wars! Easy just take a look at the arcade game. You could put variations where you can thrust and stop on a dime (i.e. no momentum). You could make it so you can fire a couple more shots in rapid succession (like in Asteroids). Or you could make damage to your ship in increments (rather than dying in one shot). Also.. something much more simpler: How about making the background BLACK (yknow.. like space?) the way it is now, you're moving ships along a grass field I think all of those would be good variations Speaking of which, how many variations did the arcade game have again? I remember 9 or 10 numeric buttons where you punched in the variation you wanted to play...

[Nukey Shay]

You're probably referring to Cinematronix's Space Wars

[Rob Mitchell]

I remember 9 or 10 numeric buttons where you punched in the variation you wanted to play...

 

I think most of the variations are on the Vectrex version which is based on the Centronics arcade Space Wars.

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Witchfynde]

Speaking of which, how many variations did the arcade game have again? I remember 9 or 10 numeric buttons where you punched in the variation you wanted to play...

 

That probably makes for a couple of dozen variations...

 

I remember whenever we went to the beach in Galveston we'd always stop at the same restaurant, and for a few years there they had Space Wars...nice.

[raindog]

Yep, Ebivision gets the credit for pissing me off enough to do the Ms. Pac hack which AtariAge now sells as "Pac-Man Arcade". Though certainly it never would have occurred to me if Frank hadn't made his mock-ups that resulted in me thinking about 2600 hacks in the first place

 

Rob

[raindog]

Oh, and in all fairness, I don't know whether it would be possible to write a good 2600 Pac-Man if you actually did stick to all of Tod's restrictions (6 weeks and 4K of code), but I'm pretty sure Ebivision's game is 4K while Ms. Pac-Man and therefore my hack are 8K.

 

Doubtless having someone work on it who really liked Pac-Man would have helped though!

 

Rob