Popeye Arcade 8-bit conversion

[+darryl1970]

 

There is animated water on the 3rd level, I just noticed it tonight.

 

Got pictures of those other two errors? I'm really curious about those.

The Sea Hag error is barely noticeable, since she flashes on screen so quickly. However, fixing the frame results in garbage on Level 2.

 

After clearing the ship screen, the line to the left of Popeye's head is where the screen RAM was being written, on the "Toot!"

 

I found a glitch that made it to the production release. I COULD NOT punch a bottle in this position on the ship screen. That has been fixed by Playsoft!

[Tempest]

Odd that fixing that sea hag error glitches out level 2. I wonder why? Thanks for sharing, I'm always interested in stuff like this.

 

Btw does any home version have the dropping skulls? I'm going to guess no.

[+darryl1970]

Odd that fixing that sea hag error glitches out level 2. I wonder why? Thanks for sharing, I'm always interested in stuff like this.

 

Btw does any home version have the dropping skulls? I'm going to guess no.

The NES version does have the skulls, which was HUGE to me! All of the Mario Bros versions, including the ORIGINAL NES Mario Bros, was missing the icicles; Donkey Kong was missing the third screen on NES, along with other issues. I was sure the NES would lack the skulls also, but I was pleasantly surprised!

 

NES Popeye, is the most accurate. I updated the graphics in that also. I modeled the sprites more after the A8 update, because the arcade has super-high resolution sprites for the time. Also, the NES sprites aren't as tall as the arcade. However, the layout of the NES 8x8 sprites allowed for some wider poses. This also allowed the punch to be drawn better.

Edited November 26, 2015 by darryl1970

[Tempest]

All of the Mario Bros versions, including the ORIGINAL NES Mario Bros, was missing the icicles;

 

Not true. The Apple II version has the icicles, although it was never officially released. It was heavily pirated back in the day though so everyone had it.

[+darryl1970]

 

Not true. The Apple II version has the icicles, although it was never officially released. It was heavily pirated back in the day though so everyone had it.

Ah! Interesting. I played that version, but I do not recall if I ever played it long enough to find out! I guess I'll have to now!

 

I know Mario Bros XE is excellent, and I found a Mario Bros hack of the NES version which includes them. The NES one is EXCELLENT, except Mario's jump has been altered to be controllable in mid-air.

If it wasn't for that, it would be almost dead-on now!

[Level42]

While things are being improved:

 

I've always disliked the "stairs" or "ropes" on the ship level. Those huge blocks gave the screen a "2600" feel....

On the arcade version they are still pretty blocky but look about half as wide as on the A8 version.

Would it be possible to change them to look more like the arcade version ?

Just a suggestion...

[+playsoft]

darryl1970, on 26 Nov 2015 - 2:45 PM, said:

After clearing the ship screen, the line to the left of Popeye's head is where the screen RAM was being written, on the "Toot!"

ShipScreen.png

 

And if you correct the screen address, you end up with a bottle here:

 

 

It is too much of a coincidence that it ends up on the correct screen row for bottles; one row higher or lower and it wouldn't move. It does use the wrong bottle character though (there's a left one and a right one) and it goes off left straight away. It may well be triggered by Bluto jumping on the see-saw as that was when it occurred last time.

 

Suffice to say there is a bit of code in there which either didn't get updated properly when it became a 16K RAM game, or that should have been removed but was missed because it has no noticeable effect writing to unused (or missing) RAM.

[FifthPlayer]

NES Popeye, is the most accurate.

 

I just finished watching the comparison video (see page 1) and it looks to me like the NES version is the best adaptation period. It's even better than the Amiga version which was a port off the C64, which itself was a poor translation of the game.

 

The A8/5200 version is definitely in the top three, especially after the makeover you guys have given it.

Edited November 26, 2015 by FifthPlayer

[+darryl1970]

 

Not true. The Apple II version has the icicles, although it was never officially released. It was heavily pirated back in the day though so everyone had it.

What a TEDIOUS task it was to muddle my way through that dog-slow version, all the way to Level 15.

However, it is very thorough. Somebody did an excellent job.

[Tempest]

Yeah it was SLOW but it was also the first version I played so I didn't mind. Lots of Apple games were slower than their arcade counterparts so that wasn't unusual. It's also a prototype so it might have gotten some refinement before release.

 

The programmer was Jimmy Huey, so he realty knew his stuff.

[doctorclu]

Here is Popeye Arcade Version 10, with the latest (last?) punch sprite.

PopeyeArcadeV10.zip

 

That was a good version. Either I have gotten good at this game over the years or the punching of the cans mechanism was improved.

 

One thing I've never been a fan of in this game was the "death" sound. Is that arcade accurate?

[gozar]

All of the Mario Bros versions, including the ORIGINAL NES Mario Bros, was missing the icicles;

The 2600 version has the icicles. It's limitation was only one bad guy could be on a floor at a time, so you could flip one over, and it stopped the upper level enemies from continuing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[+darryl1970]

The 2600 version has the icicles. It's limitation was only one bad guy could be on a floor at a time, so you could flip one over, and it stopped the upper level enemies from continuing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The 2600 version has the Slipice, but it doesn't have the icicles. Most people do not even know the icicles exist, because they do not appear until level 15 or so (Slips my mind atm)

 

Here's a video of the icicles in action. It really adds to the game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYQ0t4s4nC0

[gozar]

That's awesome! I guess I better play the arcade version more. :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[+Cafeman]

NM, I posted a reply in wrong thread.

[+darryl1970]

That's awesome! I guess I better play the arcade version more. :-)

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it is definitely a game that gets better the more you learn the hidden nuances.

[Level42]

Finally tried this Popeye version and I love it, awesome work.

 

I know this is probably too far for hacking code, I've always missed the vertical scrolling of the screen when Bluto jumps down a level, and vertical scrolling when Bluto flies across the screen after Popeye hit him after getting some spinach.

 

That effect always impressed me as a kid in the arcades and I always thought it wouldn't be too hard to do on the A8 considering it's hardware scrolling capabilities ?

[+darryl1970]

Finally tried this Popeye version and I love it, awesome work.

 

I know this is probably too far for hacking code, I've always missed the vertical scrolling of the screen when Bluto jumps down a level, and vertical scrolling when Bluto flies across the screen after Popeye hit him after getting some spinach.

 

That effect always impressed me as a kid in the arcades and I always thought it wouldn't be too hard to do on the A8 considering it's hardware scrolling capabilities ?

I always thought that was cool too. Actually, the Atari has registers that will offset the screen.

Likewise, I think Atari is known for it's smooth scrolling.

However, I think maybe Playsoft told me he tried implementing that, but there was an issue.

 

I know the arcade version only moves the screen. It don't think all of the characters move with it, but I thought it had something to do with certain things moving.

 

Anyway, two of my biggest issues with the game would be way more than a hack.

1. I hate that Brutus always floats to the right side of the screen when punched. I'd love to see him bounce around the screen.

2. Brutus has really poor AI, and he's really easy to manipulate.

3. Popeye can't punch in the air.

 

I think we kind of left it at the sweet spot, where it improves it while playing on the strengths that were already present.

Playsoft made some pretty sweet changes for not decompiling the code. Pretty impressive. I had fun drawing the characters around an 80's console color and resolution limitations. It was really fun to see how 1 pixel could really change an animation.

[almightytodd]

When I first saw the coin-op version of this game back in the day, I was amazed at the sophistication of the graphics and the animation. It was like "playing" an interactive cartoon.

[beamrider66]

Incidentally - I've recently made a port of Popeye for the Vic-20 (32K). It's feature complete from the arcade (apart from the Skulls).

 

 

http://www.vintageisthenewold.com/popeye-amazing-port-for-the-commodore-vic-20/

 

http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7630

 

 

(I intended to add the skulls but the Vic's limited resolution caused it to degenerate into a blocky mess at times).

Edited December 14, 2015 by beamrider66

[+darryl1970]

When I first saw the coin-op version of this game back in the day, I was amazed at the sophistication of the graphics and the animation. It was like "playing" an interactive cartoon.

I felt the same way! Exactly!

[+darryl1970]

Incidentally - I've recently made a port of Popeye for the Vic-20 (32K). It's feature complete from the arcade (apart from the Skulls).

 

 

http://www.vintageisthenewold.com/popeye-amazing-port-for-the-commodore-vic-20/

 

http://sleepingelephant.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=7630

 

 

(I intended to add the skulls but the Vic's limited resolution caused it to degenerate into a blocky mess at times).

That is very impressive. I love it!

 

Is there an NTSC version? I couldn't get it to run, and realized I needed to run in PAL mode.

Edited December 14, 2015 by darryl1970

[Level42]

Woo-hoo, even the VIC-20 has the scrolling screen, no way the A8 cannot do it ;)

 

Impressive work Beamrider, but please take out the possibility for Popeye to go UP the central ladder.....the game never intended to have that "feature";)

[beamrider66]

Thanks, guys.

It (should) works on NTSC or PAL (with 32K) although I don't have a real NTSC machine to test it on. Yes, I realised later about going up the ladder but I played the Revision F on MAME which does allow it. I may include that change if/when I do an update.

I'm conscious that I don't want to hijack this thread so if you have any feedback/requests queries etc could you please make them over at the Denial forum? Thanks

http://sleepingeleph...opic.php?t=7630

[MARIO130XE]

I felt the same way! Exactly!

 

 

When I first saw the coin-op version of this game back in the day, I was amazed at the sophistication of the graphics and the animation. It was like "playing" an interactive cartoon.

 

 

OMG yessssssssssssss. the same for me. My 1st moment on the Nintendo cabinet playing Popey I'll never forget. The HIRES Sprites, the colours, the sound, the big fat BASS...... I want a Popeye Cab my whole life but it's hard to get in germany.