Lynxpro Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Now that Thomas Jentzsch and OmegaMatrix have done the previously-impossible and have modded the likes of Centipede, Millipede, and Reactor to use the Trak-Ball [in addition to Thomas' earlier Missile Command-TB work], what other titles out there on the 2600 are still begging for Trak-Ball support? Is the holy grail still Crystal Castles? Should we all still stand by our assumptions in that it would take the use of something like the DPC, an ARM, and extra RAM, and a serious code-rewrite to get it to work? What about the likes of Sentinel, Crossbow, Crack'ed, and Shooting Arcade? Would making Atari Football Trak-Ball compatible improve it ever so slightly? Or is it reasonable to say it's way too different from the arcade original to even merit such a suggestion? Should 2600 games with 5200 variants that do support the Trak-Ball received modding consideration? Games such as Super Breakout, the Tempest prototype, Galaxian, the RealSports series, Pole Position, etc? What about third-party games - other than the awesome Parker Bros' Reactor which is now completed - such as Activision's Spider Fighter? [although, like with Space Invaders & Galaxian, I'd have to vote for Paddle support on them over Trak-Ball support]. And then there's homebrew. I've noticed in other threads Bobby Needs Food is mentioned worthy of light gun support. My own personal view is any light gun worthy game would be perfect for Trak-Ball support as well, especially considering the issue with modern LCD screens. Thoughts? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitkraft Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Wait wa??? I wasn't aware of trackball support being added in Centipede Millipede and Reactor. Is that true? Can someone point me to the pertinent threads? Are the binaries released? That would be awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 They're in Why can't the Atari 2600 display better graphics? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAC-MAN-RED Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Beat me to it! Seems to start at the top of page 4. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitkraft Posted October 5, 2015 Share Posted October 5, 2015 Thank you both for pointing me there! That's a whole lot of awesome in one thread! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbrit2 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Golf or Miniature Golf would be kind of cool. It would be like Birdie King. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 The SuperCharger allowed PAL Atari's to produce better quality graphics in the early 80's rivaling home computer displays It was basically a 6K RAM expansion board that multiplied the onboard RAM, well, by a multiple. Modern expansion boards today have zigabytes more RAM and 32-bit coprocessors that allow even more incredible graphical displays. Even a stock Atari with 4K of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM achieved far more impressive graphics bitd than would seem possible because of the zero-RAM graphics card (TIA and later BTIA) operated by CPU power and G-force literally dancing with the electron beam. And it allowed high resolution sprites to be superimposed over low-res semigraphics presenting the illusion of a seemingly much higher resolution base console. Graphically speaking, VCS technology has always been in a league by itself; Jentzsch's 128 byte graphical RAM Pong game illustrates how powerful the graphics architecture is - the Altair had twice the memory but couldn't do much more than play blinky the flashing dot without a RAM expansion board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Wait wa??? I wasn't aware of trackball support being added in Centipede Millipede and Reactor. Is that true? Can someone point me to the pertinent threads? Are the binaries released? That would be awesome! http://atariage.com/forums/topic/243453-atari-2600-trak-ball-games/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 The SuperCharger allowed PAL Atari's to produce better quality graphics in the early 80's rivaling home computer displays... I think you got the wrong thread here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted October 6, 2015 Author Share Posted October 6, 2015 supercharger_starpath_pal_cart_2.jpg The SuperCharger allowed PAL Atari's to produce better quality graphics in the early 80's rivaling home computer displays It was basically a 6K RAM expansion board that multiplied the onboard RAM, well, by a multiple. Modern expansion boards today have zigabytes more RAM and 32-bit coprocessors that allow even more incredible graphical displays. Even a stock Atari with 4K of ROM and 128 bytes of RAM achieved far more impressive graphics bitd than would seem possible because of the zero-RAM graphics card (TIA and later BTIA) operated by CPU power and G-force literally dancing with the electron beam. And it allowed high resolution sprites to be superimposed over low-res semigraphics presenting the illusion of a seemingly much higher resolution base console. Graphically speaking, VCS technology has always been in a league by itself; Jentzsch's 128 byte graphical RAM Pong game illustrates how powerful the graphics architecture is - the Altair had twice the memory but couldn't do much more than play blinky the flashing dot without a RAM expansion board. Were you meaning to post this in the Why Can't the Atari 2600 display better graphics? thread…? http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178563-why-cant-the-atari-2600-display-better-graphics/page-1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 I think you got the wrong thread here. Tom the fact that you had any kind of graphical display let alone multiple hues and a high resolution ball angling around with a graphical score in 128 bytes is fantastic and a testament to the graphical power of the TIA design. Fairchild architecture graphics had nothing on that despite 2K of (write only) screen memory. Were you meaning to post this in the Why Can't the Atari 2600 display better graphics? thread…? http://atariage.com/forums/topic/178563-why-cant-the-atari-2600-display-better-graphics/page-1 Juxtaposition Lynxpro, like PolePosition And Enduro's graphics beat it by leaps and bound with those surreal pastel sunsets fading slowly into dusk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Gangster Alley could stand trackball support as well as Bugs maybe. Crystal Castles for sure though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Tom the fact that you had any kind of graphical display let alone multiple hues and a high resolution ball angling around with a graphical score in 128 bytes is fantastic and a testament to the graphical power of the TIA design. Fai Thanks, but this is the thread about games which should have Trak-Ball support too. Or are you hijacking this thread like we did with the other one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 It would take a lot of rewriting, but I think Decathlon with a trak-ball where it goes on spinning the ball instead of wiggling the stick would be so much better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 Thanks, but this is the thread about games which should have Trak-Ball support too. Or are you hijacking this thread like we did with the other one? C'mon my posts would have to be serious What would it take to add Trak-Ball support to 128 byte RAM Pong? Could you fit it on the direct page if you swapped out the sound and score subroutines or ditched the Fibonacci algorithm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 It would take a lot of rewriting, but I think Decathlon with a trak-ball where it goes on spinning the ball instead of wiggling the stick would be so much better. Decathlon does work with the trak ball. It is a must have for it. My best score was over 11,000 points in it using the trak ball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 6, 2015 Share Posted October 6, 2015 It would take a lot of rewriting, but I think Decathlon with a trak-ball where it goes on spinning the ball instead of wiggling the stick would be so much better.Nah, that would kill too many trak-balls. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidbrit2 Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 It would take a lot of rewriting, but I think Decathlon with a trak-ball where it goes on spinning the ball instead of wiggling the stick would be so much better. You can utterly DEMOLISH Decathlon with the Track & Field controller. Hold down one of the buttons while tapping the other and you'll turn into Usain Bolt. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynxpro Posted October 10, 2015 Author Share Posted October 10, 2015 Decathlon does work with the trak ball. It is a must have for it. My best score was over 11,000 points in it using the trak ball. Like with many games, it works with the Trak-Ball in Joystick Emulation. That's quite different than hacking the game to support the Trak-Ball natively which is what we are discussing. It's a very big difference, like analog vs. digital controllers although it's simulated analog on the 2600/7800/A8 versus true analog on the 5200. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 (edited) Someone mentioned Star Wars - The Arcade Game in the other thread. How about Challenge of Nexar? Edited October 27, 2015 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Nathan Strum Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Nexar would rock with a Trak-Ball™. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Someone mentioned Star Wars - The Arcade Game in the other thread. How about Challenge of Nexar? Yeah, I'm working on SW right now. Won't be soon, but I've made some progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Yeah, I'm working on SW right now. Won't be soon, but I've made some progress. I'll have a look at Nexar. Seems possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted October 31, 2015 Share Posted October 31, 2015 I'll have a look at Nexar. Seems possible. Done! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted November 1, 2015 Share Posted November 1, 2015 More ideas: Marble Craze Oystron Threshold China Syndrome Death Trap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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