CV Super Cobra Not Compatible with Super Action Controllers?

[ColecoFan1981]

http://my.stratos.net/~hewston95/RTM29/RTM29.html

 

I was reading this link about the various home ports of the 1981 Konami arcade game, Super Cobra, and one of the problems with the ColecoVision port is that it does not support the Super Action Controllers. I'm wondering if you folks here think differently than the reviewers in the above link?

 

What could we do as ColecoVision fanatics to make Super Cobra compatible with the Super Action Controller?

 

Thank you,

 

 

 

Ben

[NIAD]

It doesn't make sense that it wouldn't work with the Super Action Controllers, but then again, anything is possible. Do you have the Super Cobra game and at least one working Super Action Controller to test and verify that the article writer is indeed correct in his statements.

[NIAD]

OK, it was bugging me so I decided to test Super Cobra out using the Super Action Controllers and the article writer was correct... the firebuttons to shot the gun and drop bombs does not work. This holds true when playing on a CV or an ADAM Computer, but the funny thing is that after all 5 copters are lost, the game asks the user to press a button to continue the current game and pressing the Yellow (top most) firebutton on the SAC does work.

 

After this, I decided to test all the other Parker Brothers games with the Super Action Controller and found that Montezuma's Revenge is NOT compatible with the SAC as well. The game displays a skill level select screen, asks the user to input 1, 2 or 3 depending on what skill level they wish to start on and it will not accept any input choice from the SAC.

 

Sounds like a newly pinned thread could be in order to deal with incompatibilities and other bugs that are found... I'd even volunteer to maintain all the information in an editable Post #1. While the ColecoVision FAQ is a good reference, none of the following issues are included that I have found:

 

Q*bert's Qubes © 1984 Parker Brothers - Intermittent game lock-ups that happen for no apparent reason.

Montezuma's Revenge © 1984 Parker Brothers - Not compatible with the Super Action Controllers on a CV or ADAM.

Super Cobra © 1983 Parker Brothers - Not compatible with the Super Action Controllers on a CV or ADAM. Also, not compatible with the ADAM Computer, but a patch was developed in 2013 by Nanochess which corrects this issue.

Defender © 1983 AtariSoft - Not compatible with the ADAM Computer, but two patches have been developed (in the mid-80's by unknown and in 2013 by Nanochess) which corrects this issue.

 

From this short list, it is very apparant that Parker Brothers has issues with quality control, but I forgive them seeing as they released some outstanding games for the ColecoVision.

 

 

.

Edited March 3, 2013 by NIAD

[ColecoFan1981]

On 3/2/2013 at 7:53 PM, NIAD said:

OK, it was bugging me so I decided to test Super Cobra out using the Super Action Controllers and the article writer was correct... the firebuttons to shot the gun and drop bombs does not work. This holds true when playing on a CV or an ADAM Computer, but the funny thing is that after all 5 copters are lost, the game asks the user to press a button to continue the current game and pressing the Yellow (top most) firebutton on the SAC does work.

 

After this, I decided to test all the other Parker Brothers games with the Super Action Controller and found that Montezuma's Revenge is NOT compatible with the SAC as well. The game displays a skill level select screen, asks the user to input 1, 2 or 3 depending on what skill level they wish to start on and it will not accept any input choice from the SAC.

 

Sounds like a newly pinned thread could be in order to deal with incompatibilities and other bugs that are found... I'd even volunteer to maintain all the information in an editable Post #1. While the ColecoVision FAQ is a good reference, none of the following issues are included that I have found:

 

Q*bert's Qubes © 1984 Parker Brothers - Intermittent game lock-ups that happen for no apparent reason.

Montezuma's Revenge © 1984 Parker Brothers - Not compatible with the Super Action Controllers on a CV or ADAM.

Super Cobra © 1983 Parker Brothers - Not compatible with the Super Action Controllers on a CV or ADAM. Also, not compatible with the ADAM Computer, but a patch was developed in 2013 by Nanochess which corrects this issue.

Defender © 1983 AtariSoft - Not compatible with the ADAM Computer, but two patches have been developed (in the mid-80's by unknown and in 2013 by Nanochess) which corrects this issue.

 

From this short list, it is very apparant that Parker Brothers has issues with quality control, but I forgive them seeing as they released some outstanding games for the ColecoVision.

 

 

.

I'm sorry if I'm 10 years late in responding to this, but I still thank you for filling me in.

 

I wonder how all this can be corrected to make it work properly with the SAC? Super Cobra was an 8K ROM release, which may explain why it doesn't.

 

~Ben

Edited November 11, 2023 by ColecoFan1981

[Captain Cozmos]

On 3/2/2013 at 10:53 PM, NIAD said:

OK, it was bugging me so I decided to test Super Cobra out using the Super Action Controllers and the article writer was correct... the firebuttons to shot the gun and drop bombs does not work. This holds true when playing on a CV or an ADAM Computer, but the funny thing is that after all 5 copters are lost, the game asks the user to press a button to continue the current game and pressing the Yellow (top most) firebutton on the SAC does work.

 

After this, I decided to test all the other Parker Brothers games with the Super Action Controller and found that Montezuma's Revenge is NOT compatible with the SAC as well. The game displays a skill level select screen, asks the user to input 1, 2 or 3 depending on what skill level they wish to start on and it will not accept any input choice from the SAC.

 

Sounds like a newly pinned thread could be in order to deal with incompatibilities and other bugs that are found... I'd even volunteer to maintain all the information in an editable Post #1. While the ColecoVision FAQ is a good reference, none of the following issues are included that I have found:

 

Q*bert's Qubes © 1984 Parker Brothers - Intermittent game lock-ups that happen for no apparent reason.

Montezuma's Revenge © 1984 Parker Brothers - Not compatible with the Super Action Controllers on a CV or ADAM.

Super Cobra © 1983 Parker Brothers - Not compatible with the Super Action Controllers on a CV or ADAM. Also, not compatible with the ADAM Computer, but a patch was developed in 2013 by Nanochess which corrects this issue.

Defender © 1983 AtariSoft - Not compatible with the ADAM Computer, but two patches have been developed (in the mid-80's by unknown and in 2013 by Nanochess) which corrects this issue.

 

From this short list, it is very apparant that Parker Brothers has issues with quality control, but I forgive them seeing as they released some outstanding games for the ColecoVision.

 

 

.

I've disassembled all of those and I gave you the QBert Qubes source.

So have at it fellas.  Start fixin


 

[Captain Cozmos]

Well S&&T!...I just can't stand to see an emoji cry.

I'm looking into this.

So far I have found that this does not use the standard poller and uses the Controller Scan instead.
It uses bits to determine direction as well as firing.

This is what I am seeing so far, I may be wrong on all of this but who knows.

I disassembled this partially before when I was confirming about what the original patch did many years ago.  Which was move everything from $6000 to $7000

I may have mentioned this when I worked on Centipede.

 

Well, there might be a conflict because I am seeing other things overwrite the $7000 area where this was patched to.
Remember, all of this is preliminary and I am working on the original Scramble and not the patched.

If this is the case with the overwrite then I am just reiterating my stance on disassembling the whole game, changing what needs to be then assembling it properly.
Sometimes you can get away with a patch and sometimes it might work up to a point but either way, I am taking a gander.  I have a lot on my plate as always.

One of the issues I have run into is that this is Parker Brothers which deviates from Coleco norms and standards set up in their programmers manual.

So, give me some time.  Unless you want to take a crack at it.

 

Being as this is not a job I do have to prioritize.

BTW, This is 99% patterns scrolled through Register 4.  Not a whole lot of moving parts and at 8k

 

If I had to pick routines to make a great side scroller then this would be it.

The pattern set and everything is tied to the NMI just right.
Whomever wrote this did a good job, they again, did not use the Coleco manual so it may have created conflicts when future expansion came out like the ADAM or the SAC's

 

 

O3 Cozmos

Edited November 13, 2023 by Captain Cozmos

[NIAD]

I don't recall who originally patched Super Cobra back in the 80s to get it working on the ADAM but can only assume that person did something similar to what Nanochess did more recently in his patch circa 2013. I know this doesn't help re the issues experienced when playing using a SAC controller, but since this is a thread about Super Cobra, this might be interesting for someone and then they won't have to search the forum to find it. The patched rom to make it playable on an ADAM is here

 

(AdamArchive.Org) - The home for everything ADAM

 

 

Super Cobra
Patch for the ADAM Computer
by AtariAge Member Nanochess

As said before, the Super Cobra game has a mess in RAM memory access that prevents it from working in the Coleco ADAM as it requires the 1K RAM mirroring of Colecovision.

 

Following Ikrananka's dump I've changed carefully each access to $6000-$63ff to be at $7000-$73ff (the other way looked more difficult), I've tested it in BlueMSX with internal RAM changed to 8K, so it also should work fine over a Coleco ADAM.

 

Indeed was an interesting challenge and a nightmare to check every byte and double-checked just to see I didn't miss any bytes.

As a note of warning, there are 192 different bytes patched, if you miss one then you'll see strange effects in the game.

If anyone publishes a patched ROM, please DON'T give me any credit. It is only my little contribution to the community.

 

Address
   Original byte
              New byte
$0007 = $63 -> $73
$0009 = $60 -> $70
$0027 = $60 -> $70
$00DA = $60 -> $70
$010B = $63 -> $73
$0179 = $63 -> $73
$017C = $63 -> $73
$0184 = $63 -> $73
$0189 = $63 -> $73
$018C = $63 -> $73
$01C2 = $63 -> $73
$01D1 = $63 -> $73
$01E3 = $63 -> $73
$01E9 = $63 -> $73
$01EC = $63 -> $73
$01F8 = $63 -> $73
$01FB = $63 -> $73
$0203 = $63 -> $73
$0206 = $63 -> $73
$0383 = $63 -> $73
$0779 = $63 -> $73
$077C = $63 -> $73
$079A = $63 -> $73
$07AD = $63 -> $73
$0890 = $63 -> $73
$089A = $63 -> $73
$08B4 = $63 -> $73
$08BF = $63 -> $73
$0919 = $63 -> $73
$091C = $63 -> $73
$0928 = $63 -> $73
$0932 = $63 -> $73
$093D = $63 -> $73
$0942 = $63 -> $73
$0947 = $63 -> $73
$094C = $63 -> $73
$0951 = $63 -> $73
$0956 = $63 -> $73
$0960 = $63 -> $73
$0965 = $63 -> $73
$096A = $63 -> $73
$097F = $63 -> $73
$0982 = $63 -> $73
$098D = $63 -> $73
$09AE = $60 -> $70
$09DB = $63 -> $73
$09E3 = $63 -> $73
$09F1 = $63 -> $73
$09F6 = $63 -> $73
$0A0F = $63 -> $73
$0A2B = $60 -> $70
$0A3B = $63 -> $73
$0A41 = $63 -> $73
$1482 = $63 -> $73
$149B = $63 -> $73
$14B5 = $63 -> $73
$14C2 = $63 -> $73
$14C9 = $63 -> $73
$14CC = $63 -> $73
$14D4 = $63 -> $73
$14DA = $63 -> $73
$14E6 = $63 -> $73
$14F0 = $63 -> $73
$14F6 = $63 -> $73
$1504 = $63 -> $73
$150A = $63 -> $73
$150D = $63 -> $73
$1512 = $63 -> $73
$1533 = $63 -> $73
$1546 = $63 -> $73
$154B = $63 -> $73
$1550 = $63 -> $73
$157C = $63 -> $73
$15A3 = $63 -> $73
$15A9 = $63 -> $73
$15B2 = $63 -> $73
$15C0 = $63 -> $73
$15C6 = $63 -> $73
$15DE = $63 -> $73
$15E1 = $63 -> $73
$15E4 = $63 -> $73
$15E7 = $63 -> $73
$15EA = $63 -> $73
$15ED = $63 -> $73
$15F9 = $63 -> $73
$1646 = $63 -> $73
$1654 = $63 -> $73
$166E = $63 -> $73
$168C = $63 -> $73
$1695 = $63 -> $73
$1698 = $63 -> $73
$16D4 = $63 -> $73
$16FA = $63 -> $73
$16FF = $63 -> $73
$1747 = $63 -> $73
$176A = $63 -> $73
$1774 = $63 -> $73
$1777 = $63 -> $73
$177A = $63 -> $73
$177D = $63 -> $73
$179D = $63 -> $73
$17A0 = $63 -> $73
$17CD = $63 -> $73
$17D6 = $63 -> $73
$1803 = $63 -> $73
$1813 = $63 -> $73
$1821 = $63 -> $73
$1833 = $63 -> $73
$1839 = $63 -> $73
$1840 = $63 -> $73
$1856 = $63 -> $73
$186A = $63 -> $73
$18AE = $63 -> $73
$18BA = $63 -> $73
$1900 = $63 -> $73
$190E = $63 -> $73
$1923 = $63 -> $73
$1926 = $63 -> $73
$1985 = $63 -> $73
$198E = $63 -> $73
$199B = $63 -> $73
$19A4 = $63 -> $73
$19B4 = $63 -> $73
$19C1 = $63 -> $73
$19FB = $63 -> $73
$1A05 = $63 -> $73
$1A0D = $63 -> $73
$1A12 = $63 -> $73
$1A1B = $63 -> $73
$1A23 = $63 -> $73
$1A42 = $63 -> $73
$1A9E = $63 -> $73
$1AA5 = $63 -> $73
$1AAC = $63 -> $73
$1AB3 = $63 -> $73
$1ABA = $63 -> $73
$1AC1 = $63 -> $73
$1AC8 = $63 -> $73
$1ACE = $63 -> $73
$1AD3 = $63 -> $73
$1AD8 = $63 -> $73
$1B13 = $63 -> $73
$1B2F = $63 -> $73
$1B45 = $63 -> $73
$1B5B = $63 -> $73
$1B7F = $63 -> $73
$1B99 = $63 -> $73
$1B9F = $63 -> $73
$1C0A = $63 -> $73
$1C12 = $63 -> $73
$1C24 = $63 -> $73
$1C27 = $63 -> $73
$1C2D = $63 -> $73
$1C32 = $63 -> $73
$1C37 = $63 -> $73
$1C3E = $63 -> $73
$1C43 = $63 -> $73
$1C63 = $63 -> $73
$1C69 = $63 -> $73
$1C6F = $63 -> $73
$1C74 = $63 -> $73
$1CCA = $63 -> $73
$1CD8 = $63 -> $73
$1CEB = $63 -> $73
$1D5B = $63 -> $73
$1D63 = $63 -> $73
$1D74 = $63 -> $73
$1D79 = $63 -> $73
$1DCD = $63 -> $73
$1DD7 = $63 -> $73
$1DDF = $63 -> $73
$1DFF = $63 -> $73
$1E09 = $63 -> $73
$1E14 = $63 -> $73
$1E1A = $63 -> $73
$1E1E = $63 -> $73
$1E30 = $63 -> $73
$1E38 = $63 -> $73
$1E3C = $63 -> $73
$1E3F = $63 -> $73
$1E44 = $63 -> $73
$1E49 = $63 -> $73
$1EA5 = $63 -> $73
$1EAF = $63 -> $73
$1EB8 = $63 -> $73
$1ECC = $63 -> $73
$1EEF = $63 -> $73
$1EF4 = $63 -> $73
$1F13 = $63 -> $73
$1F65 = $63 -> $73
$1FA5 = $63 -> $73
$1FA9 = $63 -> $73 

[Captain Cozmos]

8 minutes ago, NIAD said:

I don't recall who originally patched Super Cobra back in the 80s to get it working on the ADAM but can only assume that person did something similar to what Nanochess did more recently in his patch circa 2013. I know this doesn't help re the issues experienced when playing using a SAC controller, but since this is a thread about Super Cobra, this might be interesting for someone and then they won't have to search the forum to find it. The patched rom to make it playable on an ADAM is here

 

(AdamArchive.Org) - The home for everything ADAM

 

 

Super Cobra
Patch for the ADAM Computer
by AtariAge Member Nanochess

As said before, the Super Cobra game has a mess in RAM memory access that prevents it from working in the Coleco ADAM as it requires the 1K RAM mirroring of Colecovision.

 

Following Ikrananka's dump I've changed carefully each access to $6000-$63ff to be at $7000-$73ff (the other way looked more difficult), I've tested it in BlueMSX with internal RAM changed to 8K, so it also should work fine over a Coleco ADAM.

 

Indeed was an interesting challenge and a nightmare to check every byte and double-checked just to see I didn't miss any bytes.

As a note of warning, there are 192 different bytes patched, if you miss one then you'll see strange effects in the game.

If anyone publishes a patched ROM, please DON'T give me any credit. It is only my little contribution to the community.

 

Address
   Original byte
              New byte
$0007 = $63 -> $73
$0009 = $60 -> $70
$0027 = $60 -> $70
$00DA = $60 -> $70
$010B = $63 -> $73
$0179 = $63 -> $73
$017C = $63 -> $73
$0184 = $63 -> $73
$0189 = $63 -> $73
$018C = $63 -> $73
$01C2 = $63 -> $73
$01D1 = $63 -> $73
$01E3 = $63 -> $73
$01E9 = $63 -> $73
$01EC = $63 -> $73
$01F8 = $63 -> $73
$01FB = $63 -> $73
$0203 = $63 -> $73
$0206 = $63 -> $73
$0383 = $63 -> $73
$0779 = $63 -> $73
$077C = $63 -> $73
$079A = $63 -> $73
$07AD = $63 -> $73
$0890 = $63 -> $73
$089A = $63 -> $73
$08B4 = $63 -> $73
$08BF = $63 -> $73
$0919 = $63 -> $73
$091C = $63 -> $73
$0928 = $63 -> $73
$0932 = $63 -> $73
$093D = $63 -> $73
$0942 = $63 -> $73
$0947 = $63 -> $73
$094C = $63 -> $73
$0951 = $63 -> $73
$0956 = $63 -> $73
$0960 = $63 -> $73
$0965 = $63 -> $73
$096A = $63 -> $73
$097F = $63 -> $73
$0982 = $63 -> $73
$098D = $63 -> $73
$09AE = $60 -> $70
$09DB = $63 -> $73
$09E3 = $63 -> $73
$09F1 = $63 -> $73
$09F6 = $63 -> $73
$0A0F = $63 -> $73
$0A2B = $60 -> $70
$0A3B = $63 -> $73
$0A41 = $63 -> $73
$1482 = $63 -> $73
$149B = $63 -> $73
$14B5 = $63 -> $73
$14C2 = $63 -> $73
$14C9 = $63 -> $73
$14CC = $63 -> $73
$14D4 = $63 -> $73
$14DA = $63 -> $73
$14E6 = $63 -> $73
$14F0 = $63 -> $73
$14F6 = $63 -> $73
$1504 = $63 -> $73
$150A = $63 -> $73
$150D = $63 -> $73
$1512 = $63 -> $73
$1533 = $63 -> $73
$1546 = $63 -> $73
$154B = $63 -> $73
$1550 = $63 -> $73
$157C = $63 -> $73
$15A3 = $63 -> $73
$15A9 = $63 -> $73
$15B2 = $63 -> $73
$15C0 = $63 -> $73
$15C6 = $63 -> $73
$15DE = $63 -> $73
$15E1 = $63 -> $73
$15E4 = $63 -> $73
$15E7 = $63 -> $73
$15EA = $63 -> $73
$15ED = $63 -> $73
$15F9 = $63 -> $73
$1646 = $63 -> $73
$1654 = $63 -> $73
$166E = $63 -> $73
$168C = $63 -> $73
$1695 = $63 -> $73
$1698 = $63 -> $73
$16D4 = $63 -> $73
$16FA = $63 -> $73
$16FF = $63 -> $73
$1747 = $63 -> $73
$176A = $63 -> $73
$1774 = $63 -> $73
$1777 = $63 -> $73
$177A = $63 -> $73
$177D = $63 -> $73
$179D = $63 -> $73
$17A0 = $63 -> $73
$17CD = $63 -> $73
$17D6 = $63 -> $73
$1803 = $63 -> $73
$1813 = $63 -> $73
$1821 = $63 -> $73
$1833 = $63 -> $73
$1839 = $63 -> $73
$1840 = $63 -> $73
$1856 = $63 -> $73
$186A = $63 -> $73
$18AE = $63 -> $73
$18BA = $63 -> $73
$1900 = $63 -> $73
$190E = $63 -> $73
$1923 = $63 -> $73
$1926 = $63 -> $73
$1985 = $63 -> $73
$198E = $63 -> $73
$199B = $63 -> $73
$19A4 = $63 -> $73
$19B4 = $63 -> $73
$19C1 = $63 -> $73
$19FB = $63 -> $73
$1A05 = $63 -> $73
$1A0D = $63 -> $73
$1A12 = $63 -> $73
$1A1B = $63 -> $73
$1A23 = $63 -> $73
$1A42 = $63 -> $73
$1A9E = $63 -> $73
$1AA5 = $63 -> $73
$1AAC = $63 -> $73
$1AB3 = $63 -> $73
$1ABA = $63 -> $73
$1AC1 = $63 -> $73
$1AC8 = $63 -> $73
$1ACE = $63 -> $73
$1AD3 = $63 -> $73
$1AD8 = $63 -> $73
$1B13 = $63 -> $73
$1B2F = $63 -> $73
$1B45 = $63 -> $73
$1B5B = $63 -> $73
$1B7F = $63 -> $73
$1B99 = $63 -> $73
$1B9F = $63 -> $73
$1C0A = $63 -> $73
$1C12 = $63 -> $73
$1C24 = $63 -> $73
$1C27 = $63 -> $73
$1C2D = $63 -> $73
$1C32 = $63 -> $73
$1C37 = $63 -> $73
$1C3E = $63 -> $73
$1C43 = $63 -> $73
$1C63 = $63 -> $73
$1C69 = $63 -> $73
$1C6F = $63 -> $73
$1C74 = $63 -> $73
$1CCA = $63 -> $73
$1CD8 = $63 -> $73
$1CEB = $63 -> $73
$1D5B = $63 -> $73
$1D63 = $63 -> $73
$1D74 = $63 -> $73
$1D79 = $63 -> $73
$1DCD = $63 -> $73
$1DD7 = $63 -> $73
$1DDF = $63 -> $73
$1DFF = $63 -> $73
$1E09 = $63 -> $73
$1E14 = $63 -> $73
$1E1A = $63 -> $73
$1E1E = $63 -> $73
$1E30 = $63 -> $73
$1E38 = $63 -> $73
$1E3C = $63 -> $73
$1E3F = $63 -> $73
$1E44 = $63 -> $73
$1E49 = $63 -> $73
$1EA5 = $63 -> $73
$1EAF = $63 -> $73
$1EB8 = $63 -> $73
$1ECC = $63 -> $73
$1EEF = $63 -> $73
$1EF4 = $63 -> $73
$1F13 = $63 -> $73
$1F65 = $63 -> $73
$1FA5 = $63 -> $73
$1FA9 = $63 -> $73 

 

You would be pleasantly surprised at what a jumbled mess this game is.
Not the least of that it just goes into the game by turning the Colecovision on.
No title screen, not press button to start, just goes.

The Ram is messed up, the tables are all over the place but it does achieve it's goal.

What I need to change is in an area that the whole thing does not need disassembling because now I have come across a jump table that actually relies on the data being in a certain place on the rom.
If I had to, I could fix anything before that then update the addresses manually but the controls and memory I may fix in the next couple of days and then release the fixed binary for testing.
 

Unless I can come up with a patch for the scrambled table then I might not release the source on this one.

 

O3 Cozmos

[Captain Cozmos]

OK, resolved a few table issues and basically how the controller works in this game is call the BIOS routine names CONTROLLER_SCAN.

Apparently Controller Scan is not much more than using "IN ($FC)" then whatever is returned in the A register is put into memory location $73EE

Despite Scramble looking at $63EE does not matter because of the remapping of the Colecovision circuitry.

When it came to ADAM, the BIOS is mapped into RAM where $63EE actually exists.  CONTROLLER_SCAN does not give a crap because it is hardwired to $73EE no matter how you slice the system up.

 

Super Cobra is now looking at $63EE on the ADAM where it can be full of any number.  Regardless, it was not going to ever be updated.
So, when it was patched it $7000+  The game worked but when it comes to the SA Controllers is where the mystery comes in.

I do not know how they are set up and that is one reason why I disassembled Rocky.  I just never got around to looking for the subroutine because I wanted to add that music to the pause and I got sidetracked.

So, I will revisit Rocky when I get an opportunity to find out what is jamming up the system.
If I have not mentioned it earlier, my hunch is that because the SA Controllers are not in BIOS that they are game specific.  Why the first two buttons work also depends if you used the POLLER or mapped them direct.

 

Now, if I were an A%% that ran Coleco I might say...Well, they should have bought a license and a programmers manual.

Instead, independent programmers may have looked at other systems that used $6000 or just did not care, could not tell the future or whatever the excuse was.

 

As far as NIADS comment on pressing a button after game is over.  I'll take a look and get back to you but I would suspect that the behavior is tied to any value other than zero will start the game over.  I'll let you know down the road if I find something out.

Now, I will try to fix this for the ADAM.  You have to find someone else to work on other systems but my patch, if any, may end up working universally.
Then again, who knows what addresses the other system are using but I can't spend a whole lot of time on these side projects.  I have other things I am working on that I have to get back to.

Peace

 

 

O3 Cozmos
 

edit:

I'm not sure but throughout my rants and techno babble I think I have been referring to the game as Scramble and not Super Cobra.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Captain Cozmos

[ColecoFan1981]

2 hours ago, Captain Cozmos said:

OK, resolved a few table issues and basically how the controller works in this game is call the BIOS routine names CONTROLLER_SCAN.

Apparently Controller Scan is not much more than using "IN ($FC)" then whatever is returned in the A register is put into memory location $73EE

Despite Scramble looking at $63EE does not matter because of the remapping of the Colecovision circuitry.

When it came to ADAM, the BIOS is mapped into RAM where $63EE actually exists.  CONTROLLER_SCAN does not give a crap because it is hardwired to $73EE no matter how you slice the system up.

 

Super Cobra is now looking at $63EE on the ADAM where it can be full of any number.  Regardless, it was not going to ever be updated.
So, when it was patched it $7000+  The game worked but when it comes to the SA Controllers is where the mystery comes in.

I do not know how they are set up and that is one reason why I disassembled Rocky.  I just never got around to looking for the subroutine because I wanted to add that music to the pause and I got sidetracked.

So, I will revisit Rocky when I get an opportunity to find out what is jamming up the system.
If I have not mentioned it earlier, my hunch is that because the SA Controllers are not in BIOS that they are game specific.  Why the first two buttons work also depends if you used the POLLER or mapped them direct.

 

Now, if I were an A%% that ran Coleco I might say...Well, they should have bought a license and a programmers manual.

Instead, independent programmers may have looked at other systems that used $6000 or just did not care, could not tell the future or whatever the excuse was.

 

As far as NIADS comment on pressing a button after game is over.  I'll take a look and get back to you but I would suspect that the behavior is tied to any value other than zero will start the game over.  I'll let you know down the road if I find something out.

Now, I will try to fix this for the ADAM.  You have to find someone else to work on other systems but my patch, if any, may end up working universally.
Then again, who knows what addresses the other system are using but I can't spend a whole lot of time on these side projects.  I have other things I am working on that I have to get back to.

Peace

 

 

O3 Cozmos
 

edit:

I'm not sure but throughout my rants and techno babble I think I have been referring to the game as Scramble and not Super Cobra.

Yes, Scramble and Super Cobra are almost similar. Both games were produced by Konami and released in 1981, and both games were initially released in U.S. video arcades through Stern Electronics. Scramble takes place in outer space, while Super Cobra takes place high in the air.

 

I remember playing the Tomy Tutor port of Scramble ages ago.

 

~Ben

Edited November 14, 2023 by ColecoFan1981

[Captain Cozmos]

All of my tests show this has been fixed.

 

I disassembled most of the game.
I rewrote the controller routine.

I updated all ram addresses to use the $7000 space

I also padded it to 9k because of my changes went over 8.

Test all you need to then get back to me.

 

I tested it in emulator and on a real ADAM with a SA controller as well as a standard one.  It works for me loading with an ADE.
I ordered a new AtariMax that should delivered in the next few days so I can be more cartridge accurate and not just ADE loading.

 

If you run into an issue then let me know, maybe I missed a decimal somewhere.

 

So, here you go.
Fixed after 40 years by yours truly,
My gift to the community.

Like, Subscribe, Promote, send me pizza and/or scotch.

 

O3 Cozmos

Super Cobra (SAC Patched).rom

Edited November 14, 2023 by Captain Cozmos