SoundGammon Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 (edited) Just realized that the different types of the invaders are nameless! After all these years! We should start a contest for naming the 6 different types of invaders and pick the best! Edited June 18, 2014 by SoundGammon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Aliens never have names. That's why you can kill them at all ages. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+xucaen Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Then let us name the err.. things we shoot from.. I nominate "Bobby" for the Space Invaders guy.. Now that leaves Centipede, Millipede, Galaxian, Gorf, Gravitar, Asteroids... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raticon Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Lets just name them after prominent people in the leadership of Atari that made all those terrible decisions back in the day that had our beloved Atari die and later be resurrected as the monster it is today. Our revenge will come one "zap" at a time . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyperboy Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 How about after the Brady Bunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strudders Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 Mmm. My try: Lop Ear Hunchback Jumping Jack Splits Cyclops Tap Dance 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jetset Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 John Paul George Ringo . .. ... ??? Hall Oates 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godzillajoe Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 (edited) Those aren't aliens, they're ships. http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/brv43t/space-invaders-what-if-life-were-more-like-a-game- Edited June 18, 2014 by godzillajoe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freewheel Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Inky, Blinky, Pinky, Dinky, Winky... and Clyde. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiddlepaddle Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Actually, there are only three proper types in the real (original) Space Invaders, and they are called: 1) the little ones 2) the middle size ones 3) the big ones In the 2600 adaptation, they're all pretty much the same size, so they're called: 1) the top ones 2) the second from the top ones 3) the middle ones 4) the second from the bottom ones 5) the bottom ones 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IHATETHEBEARS Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 The second row always reminded me of AT-ATs - or at least the Scout Walkers. The fourth row always reminded me of jumping jacks - like another member already mentioned. And the fifth row always reminded me of the ghosts in Pac-Man after a power pellet had been eaten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I did a quick ROM hack yesterday to do what I wanted to do 34 years ago... fix the graphics to make Space Invaders look like Space Invaders. It's probably been done already, but I wanted to take a shot at it. Can't do pixel perfect because all sprites (with the exception of the top row of aliens) is wider than 8 pixels, and the 2600 has "fat" pixels, but I gave it the old college try. It always made me wonder why Atari would shell out so much cash to secure the rights, only to turn around and have their engineers come up with such dorky stand ins. I think my ROM hack came out pretty good and it certainly "feels" a heck of alot more "Space Invader-ish". invade_mod.bin 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I continued the hack and replaced the explosion and adjusted the player a bit. invade_mod.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundGammon Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Try Nukey's hack! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accousticguitar Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 I did a quick ROM hack yesterday to do what I wanted to do 34 years ago... fix the graphics to make Space Invaders look like Space Invaders. It's probably been done already, but I wanted to take a shot at it. Can't do pixel perfect because all sprites (with the exception of the top row of aliens) is wider than 8 pixels, and the 2600 has "fat" pixels, but I gave it the old college try. It always made me wonder why Atari would shell out so much cash to secure the rights, only to turn around and have their engineers come up with such dorky stand ins. I think my ROM hack came out pretty good and it certainly "feels" a heck of alot more "Space Invader-ish". Rick Maurer actually tried to get the Atari art department to help him with designing the invaders but was unsuccessful and ended up doing them himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbeliever Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 ....how about "helicopter guy" for the top row? But I've never considered these little guys having names. If that happened, I probably would feel sorry for them, not shoot them, and lose horribly. Nope, I'll keep them anonymous so I can blast them outta the sky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Try Nukey's hack! Actually just ran into it a few minutes ago and played a few rounds... pretty sweet hack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Mo Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Rick Maurer actually tried to get the Atari art department to help him with designing the invaders but was unsuccessful and ended up doing them himself. If he wanted to do the arcade style he could easily have copied them without the help of the art dept. They're not exactly complicated. As to the VCS Invaders, my brother and I had nicknames for them. I remember the ones on the second row from the top we called "Romper Stompers" (after a toy from Romper Room) and the third row were like Monkey Men or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 But I've never considered these little guys having names. If that happened, I probably would feel sorry for them, not shoot them, and lose horribly. Nope, I'll keep them anonymous so I can blast them outta the sky. Then don't watch this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Bonnie, Clyde, Inky, Stinky, Enos, Wild Bill, Billy, Ned, Alf, Calamite Jane, Bo, Daisy, Boss Hog, Stan, Laurel, Eustace, Jim-Bob, Cletus, Ralph, Nelson, Kenny, Stewie, Ned, Smithers, Norton, Rik, Niel, Vivian, Mike, Jerzy, Wilma, Bobby, JR, Pam, Ellie, Alexis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 If he wanted to do the arcade style he could easily have copied them without the help of the art dept. They're not exactly complicated. As to the VCS Invaders, my brother and I had nicknames for them. I remember the ones on the second row from the top we called "Romper Stompers" (after a toy from Romper Room) and the third row were like Monkey Men or something. It just seemed odd to me that Atari would go through all the trouble of spending alot of money to secure the rights to do the game only to change the graphics so drastically. If I were in the coder's position at that time, I would have opted to go for as close to the arcade look and feel as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Maybe they did try the arcade graphics - but they just don't look right at the 2:1 pixel ratio and the 8 pixel Player size is limiting as well. The 2600 version animates "better" than the arcade. You see right away that the 2600 one is animated but have to look more closely to notice with some of the arcade characters - although of course they're somewhat smaller and higher res. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_L Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Maybe they did try the arcade graphics - but they just don't look right at the 2:1 pixel ratio and the 8 pixel Player size is limiting as well. The 2600 version animates "better" than the arcade. You see right away that the 2600 one is animated but have to look more closely to notice with some of the arcade characters - although of course they're somewhat smaller and higher res. I always thought the Atari versions of the aliens looked cheesy. All the animations are simply mirrored, and the coder did it wrong according to what I'm hearing. One could make a sprite, and when displaying it simply mirror it, but when I did my hack, there were two separate sprites with the 2nd one being a simple mirror of the first. The coder also complained that he had to squash it from 7k down to 4k and complained about that process. He could have simply done the mirroring in hardware and several of the sprite animations could have been done via hardware rather than 2 ROM images, thus freeing up some precious ROM space for more code, or, he could have done 4 frame animations instead of two by combining mirroring with 2 different sprites (and their corresponding mirrors). Other tricks could have been done, but they may not have been discovered yet, and Atari milked 4K ROMS for all they were worth thus constraining the options the coder had, but even my simple hack made it look 100 percent better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unbeliever Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 I've always enjoyed the VCS Space Invaders myself, finding them "unique" from the arcade version, each with their own "personality", as it were. Having played the Space Invaders arcade exclusively during my younger years, it was a nice change when I went home to practice on my VCS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 The 2600 animations aren't mirrored - OK, 1 or 2 of them appear that way but the ROM actually contains all the images so it's done in software. It really is a bit of a feat that it all fit in 4K - most other system's SI versions or clones are significantly bigger and have the advantage of an OS that does some of the housekeeping load not to mention more advanced hardware allowing the same graphics to be produced with somewhat less coding work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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