Tempest Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Holy crap! Two updates in a month? I'm on a roll! This time around I've reviewed all the Amiga prototypes that were released back in 2010 (ok, so I slacked a bit). Check out reviews for 3-D Genesis, 3-D Ghost Attack, 3-D Havok, S.A.C. Alert, and Depth Charge. On a side note, let me know if you see anything weird, I'm using a new editor and I'm not sure I've got all the quirks ironed out yet. http://www.atariprotos.com/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Oops, just noticed the last paragraph for Depth Charge is missing. I'll have to fix that tonight. The history of Depth Charge is interesting. It was originally planned to be a cassette based game for the Amiga Power Module (a Supercharger type unit), but unlike the other Amiga Power Module games, it was never planned to appear on a Power Play Arcade multicart (see this page for more information). It’s not known why Depth Charge was scrapped, perhaps it wasn’t shaping up as well as Amiga had hoped? Whatever the reason, Amiga dropped the game when the idea of the Power Play Arcade carts came into existence and never looked backed. In the end, none of the Amiga Power Module or Power Play Arcade games made it out the door due to Amgia’s decision to stop with the games and focus on a little computer that they’d been developing instead... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm not clear on how Depth Charge was to work as a two-player game. Would the two players (submarine, ship) alternate and play against the computer, or was it planned to have a split-screen and the two players compete directly against each other? I realise that the prototye is very unfinished, but perhaps there is an advertisement or some design documents surviving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 I'm not clear on how Depth Charge was to work as a two-player game. Would the two players (submarine, ship) alternate and play against the computer, or was it planned to have a split-screen and the two players compete directly against each other? I realise that the prototye is very unfinished, but perhaps there is an advertisement or some design documents surviving. I have no idea either. The blurb I saw indicated that both players would 'have their own screen'. I'm assuming that meant some sort of split screen deal, but I suppose it could also mean that it needed two TV's somehow. Maybe that's why they scrapped it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky Man Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Nice reviews, Matt! But I noticed that some of the text in the 1st two paragraphs of S.A.C. Alert is a different size than the rest of the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Nice reviews, Matt! But I noticed that some of the text in the 1st two paragraphs of S.A.C. Alert is a different size than the rest of the review. Bah I must have missed one. I'll fix that. BTW can anyone who is handy at analyzing code take a look at 3-D Ghost Attack? I have a feeling that there may be more functionality in the prototype than what we can see. I found out that 3-D Havok was actually more complete than the reproduction manual said. The manual said that after the HERO screen the collision detection breaks and you can't do anything, this is not true at all. It also said the fuel and gred gauges didn't work, which is also not true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 What I have noticed on AtariProtos is that there is no section for either the Lynx or the Atari ST computers, Tempest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 1, 2014 Author Share Posted August 1, 2014 What I have noticed on AtariProtos is that there is no section for either the Lynx or the Atari ST computers, Tempest. Really? I guess I never noticed. Interesting. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted August 6, 2014 Share Posted August 6, 2014 Really? I guess I never noticed. Interesting. No, there is not. It would be great to add them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 No, there is not. It would be great to add them. Feel free to start your own site and put them there then. I have no time or inclination to do so. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Really? I guess I never noticed. Interesting. Damn you. I almost spit coffee all over my desk. Thanks for the laugh. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 Feel free to start your own site and put them there then. I have no time or inclination to do so. True, you have no time right now. But who knows? Maybe in the next year or two you'll change your mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 7, 2014 Author Share Posted August 7, 2014 True, you have no time right now. But who knows? Maybe in the next year or two you'll change your mind. No, no I won't. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSchoolRetroGamer Posted August 7, 2014 Share Posted August 7, 2014 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+stephena Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Does anyone know how the bankswitching for these ROMs work? I've looked at it a little, and while I can create bankswitching code in Stella that will 'work', it will be from analyzing the single ROM. So it won't necessarily be precisely how the bankswitching is supposed to work, only an approximation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 Thanks, Tempest. If they were released, I have not been able to find them until now. All I could find is that they would be released after a certain amount sold, then nothing happened. I have wanted to play 3-D Genesis. Got nice red blue glasses. Just want to see how hard it is to adjust a tv to make 3D work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 8, 2014 Author Share Posted August 8, 2014 Thanks, Tempest. If they were released, I have not been able to find them until now. All I could find is that they would be released after a certain amount sold, then nothing happened. I have wanted to play 3-D Genesis. Got nice red blue glasses. Just want to see how hard it is to adjust a tv to make 3D work. Yeah I don't know when they were exactly released or if they officially were. I think someone may have just dumped the repros, not sure on that. I got my roms off AtariMania. I tried to make the 3-D glasses work (I had a spare pair that came with something else), but I'll be damned if I could. 3-D Genesis seemed to be the worst, while Ghost Attack seemed to work best (although not very well). I'm using an S-Video modded 2600 so maybe that had something to do with it. If I relaxed my eyes like I was looking at one of those Magic Picture things then it kinda sorta worked, but even then it was bad. I'm interested in heard what other people find. I'm still interested in seeing if there's some hidden functionality in Ghost Attack. Although that one is the least complete, something tells me that there's more to it than what can be seen in the repro. Don't trust those manuals either, I found Havok to be completely playable even though the manual said it wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted August 8, 2014 Share Posted August 8, 2014 I think the trick is adjusting the red so that it shows up on the red covered eye and disappears thru the blue covered eye. I don't think the red is dark enough or the right shade to disappear completely so that makes it difficult if not impossible to see the effect. I've been interested in making a 3D game, but even with green/purple glasses I couldn't get one of the colors to completely cancel out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 No, no I won't. not to be a smart ass, I love your site, but why amiga proto and not st? and no I am not trying to get crap started here just curious. I am sure there are places out there with ST protos. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 not to be a smart ass, I love your site, but why amiga proto and not st? and no I am not trying to get crap started here just curious. I am sure there are places out there with ST protos. I think he is talking about Atari 2600 prototypes made by the Amiga company, not something for the Amiga computer. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Exactly. These aren't Amiga computer protos, they're 2600 protos made by Amiga. As for why no ST, Jaguar, Lynx, etc., at one point I had very ambitious ideas on what I would cover, but as time moved on I found I had less and less free time so those had to be scrapped. I still plan on doing some other sections on the site (5200 vs 8-bit for example) but those are low priority. Also ST sucks! Amiga forever! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prosystemsearch Posted August 10, 2014 Share Posted August 10, 2014 Exactly. These aren't Amiga computer protos, they're 2600 protos made by Amiga. As for why no ST, Jaguar, Lynx, etc., at one point I had very ambitious ideas on what I would cover, but as time moved on I found I had less and less free time so those had to be scrapped. I still plan on doing some other sections on the site (5200 vs 8-bit for example) but those are low priority. Also ST sucks! Amiga forever! Whats not to like about the ST(besides the varying degrees of squishyness on the keyboard and the iffy sound when compared to Amiga)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 10, 2014 Author Share Posted August 10, 2014 Whats not to like about the ST(besides the varying degrees of squishyness on the keyboard and the iffy sound when compared to Amiga)? That's a topic for another thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimefighter Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Maybe someone would like to step up and volunteer to be the official reviewer for Lynx, Jag & ST protos? I'm sure Tempest would accept the help of contributors with the Atariprotos site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 I think if someone wants to do Atari ST or Jaguar stuff, they should start another page. There's plenty of room for other pages out there. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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