Looking For Horizontally Scrolling Games

[Christopher Tumber]

I'm putting together a list of horizontal scroller for "research purposes".

 

Defender, Vanguard and Super Cobra all have the same kind of rough scroll.

 

Defender II has a nice. smooth scroll but the background is really, really simple.

 

Moon Patrol's mountains are a rough scroll, the stars and ground is a smooth scroll.

 

 

Anything else noteworthy?

 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Chris...

 

(There are plenty of games which scroll a whole screen at a time, like Pitfall or Xenophobe - Not those!)

[badbrad]

Vanguard scrolls both horizontally and vertically.

[Nukey Shay]

Is this limited to games that use an actual scrolling playfield like those, or including games like Chopper Command or Barnstorming?

[moycon]

If Defender is included...wouldn't Chopper Command? Seems like they "scroll" the same way. How about Jungle Hunt.

 

BTW can most of these games be considered true scrollers??? I mean they give the impression of scrolling, but the only one that really has definate playfield changes it seems is Super Cobra. The other just have graphics at the top and or bottom of the screen to make it appear that there is movement. If they wern't there or invisible the game would play the same but in Super Cobra if the scrolling graphics were invisible...You crash into a wall.

[moycon]

Also Laser Gates and Fantastic Voyage would be in the same catagory.

[Christopher Tumber]

Is this limited to games that use an actual scrolling playfield like those, or including games like Chopper Command or Barnstorming?

 

Yeah, I'll take those - Chopper Command in particular has a nice looking smooth scrolling mountain at the top of the screen (still a simple design, but very effective)

 

 

Chris...

[krisjohn]

Planet Patrol

[Christopher Tumber]

If Defender is included...wouldn't Chopper Command? Seems like they "scroll" the same way. How about Jungle Hunt.

 

Hey, screen 3 of Jungle Hunt even has parallax scrolling! Good call.

 

BTW can most of these games be considered true scrollers??? I mean they give the impression of scrolling,

 

Well, I'm not really putting together an "Ultimate list of 2600 scrollers" rather trying to look at what's been done before. So anything vaguely related is of interest to me because horizontal scrolling is generally considered such a bugaboo on the 2600.... But "functionality" versus simply a visual fx is definately a valid differentiation (if you don't have to worry about the scroller interacting with anything that certainly simplifies things...)

 

[You can also crash into walls in Vanguard, btw]

 

 

Chris...

[moycon]

How about Gas Hog.

 

Also Dragster to some degree...

and Grand Prix.

[Christopher Tumber]

>Planet Patrol

 

Vertical scroller (unless it goes horizontal scroller later in the game?)

 

>Laser Gates, Fantastic Voyage, Gas Hog

 

Thanks...

 

 

I'm going to stop replying to every post, and just say thanks in advance to everyone who offers suggestions...

 

Also Dragster and Stampede (When you stop to think about it, there's actually quite a few...)

 

 

Chris...

[moycon]

No Planet Patrol is a Hor.

 

The background gives the impressing of movement.

Your ship even has a keen little shadow.

I always thought that game had pretty damn fine graphics.

Also

Desert Falcon has a Zaxxon like scrolling.

And Mega Force...Can't forget Mega Force.

[Christopher Tumber]

No Planet Patrol is a Hor.

 

Sorry, was thinking of Fantastic Voyage (They're all starting to blur.....)

 

 

Chris...

[moycon]

HehHeh That's a double mess up then because I was thinking of Flash Gordon... Not Fantastic Voyage.

You're right FV is a Vert.

FG gives the illusion of both a V and a H

[Nukey Shay]

lol

How about Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Total shiite

 

Laser Blast for a little stop'n'go

Robotank and Battlezone for scrolling in the background.

 

Space Jockey too (though that one is limited to sprites only, I think)

 

And the horror known as James Bond 007

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Bermuda Triangle wasn't mentioned yet I think...

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Rob Mitchell]

Alpha Beam with Ernie scrolls stars after you locate the four letters in the ship. (I played this with my daughter over the weekend.)

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[davidbrit2]

There's also Decathlon and Track and Field, though they don't use very impressive scrolling. Cosmic Commuter does a fair job of sprite based scrolling.

 

I also remember some weird side scroller that featured the UFO from Laser Blast. You would fly above and below ground and blow up various things. What was it called? Exocet?

[a light in the black]

subterraena

[MagMax667]

SW: The Empire Strikes Back fits into that category, and maybe Grand Prix.

[moycon]

I dunno though. Christopher you stated that Super Cobra was a terrible scroller for the 2600 but reading through the list that has been amassed..It's the only 2600 game with a srolling changing landscape that when touched will kill you as well as having missles and gas tanks to interact with...every other game has graphics at the top and/or bottom of the screen that consistantly scroll the same graphics patern over and over, and objects between the graphics that you have to avoid (cows, spaceships, alligators) ....Even Vangard....While it's true if you dip below a certain level you will die...It just doesn't seem to be the same.

 

You could take Asteroids and program some graphics at the top and bottom of the screen and call it Asteroid Tunnel Shoot'Em Up and even make it so if you "touched the top and bottom of the screen you'd lose a life but it still in my opinion wouldn't be in the same calibre as Super Cobra. I don't think you're giving credit where credit is due. Sure it's slow and choppy...But it's the only example of it's kind on the 2600 that I can think of.

 

I'm not like I said a programer but I'm going to assume by the dozens of examples of these "quazi"-scrollers, and the one example like Super Cobra, that making a true landscape scrolling game isn't as easy as you are making it out to be. I think of Super Cobra like a horizontal River Raid... Shoot the bad stuff but also avoid the evil landscape. All the others are like a horizontal Demon Attack..Dodge and shoot and don't so much worry about the top and bottom it's just for looks.. (Except for Vangard) That said, I'd still love to see what the programers came up with for Scramble and Cosmic Avenger and why they were never released.

[ZylonBane]

Space Jockey too (though that one is limited to sprites only, I think)

Nope, it has full scrolling terrain.

 

I'll add--

Road Runner

Donald Duck's Speedboat

Krull (horse-riding sequence)

MotoRodeo

RealSports Football

RealSports Soccer

Snoopy and the Red Baron

Sentinel

Sinistar (horizontal and vertical)

He-Man

Super Challenge Football

Marble Craze

Dolphin

Mountain King (H & V)

Time Pilot (H & V)

 

Umm, okay I think I'll stop now.

[Nukey Shay]

It doesn't matter if the scrolling area actually interacts with your character (i.e. kills you). As Chris pointed out earlier, the P/M used for fine scrolling can be used to cover the entire height of the screen if you wanted (height is irrelivant, since the VCS has no video Ram to store the image anyway). If a game does it more effectively, the same method could be used anywhere on the screen.

[moycon]

Oh man Mountain King. How could that be forgotten!!?? That is an awesome scroller that suffers from the same thing Super Cobra does. The thin lined graphics (Like Super Cobra terrain comprised of a bunch of thin lines) and very slow movement. But still what a great game. Didn't that cart have some kind of memory booster on it??

[MegaManFan]

Oh man Mountain King. How could that be forgotten!!?? That is an awesome scroller that suffers from the same thing Super Cobra does. The thin lined graphics (Like Super Cobra terrain comprised of a bunch of thin lines) and very slow movement. But still what a great game. Didn't that cart have some kind of memory booster on it??

 

It's a CBS game. Most of them have "Ram+" stamped somewhere.

[moycon]

If it irrelevant Nukey then why are there not more Horizontal games like Super Cobra?? It seems so easy to do. Why didn't they make River Raid scroll the other way?? Why didn't they just make Pitfall and Keystone Capers scroll?? Man someone needs to start producing some of these games. I guess they just wern't popular back then.