What 2600 titles could/should have Trak-Ball support added?

[Omegamatrix]

Another minor update:

• added racket shadows; maybe this helps a bit too
• corrected the scaling; now the ball moves correctly (but still in larger steps)
• adapted ball size and top and bottom walls to corrected scaling

 

Thomas, these are all good changes. I tried it in emulation and my first thought was that it still felt hard to judge when the ball is hitting the ceiling and bottom.

 

 

I'm wondering if you will try to make the ceiling or bottom tile white for a brief moment during impact. It would give it an appearance of one of those light xylophones, which IMHO would suite the game.

 

 

[Lynxpro]

 

Yes, the 2600 version of Football looks nothing like the arcade version. Basketball on the other hand looks very similar.

 

Mitch

 

Let us remember - for comparison purposes - every 5200 RealSports title supports that console's Trak-Ball controller natively.

[iesposta]

Have we given up, burned out, on adding Trak-Ball to games?

I just played the "B-" Activision Tooth Protectors for the first time, wishing I could move around faster with control (like a Trak-Ball adds). It really is like Missile Command (with teeth and food) when you just try to protect that last remaing base tooth, hoping to earn another.

 

I know there are good "Menu - choose a game" programs.

I would love to buy "Trak-Ball Collection 1" and "Trak-Ball Collection 2" hint, hint, Al?

 

I can sell anyone "The Complete 2600 Trak-Ball Collection", but it will be in the $120 range because I will have to buy a Harmony and SD card and print a label and stick that over the Harmony one.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

On hold. For now, I have another long overdue project which I want and have to to finish first. And I am sure eventually Al will put the hacks on carts.

 

Tooth Protectors (Activision???) looks like a paddle, not a Trak-Ball game.

 

BTW: As soon as Manuel comes back to me, there will be a Colony 7 TB version become available.

[BigO]

BTW: As soon as Manuel comes back to me, there will be a Colony 7 TB version become available.

Looking forward to that.

[Andromeda Stardust]

On hold. For now, I have another long overdue project which I want and have to to finish first. And I am sure eventually Al will put the hacks on carts.

 

Tooth Protectors (Activision???) looks like a paddle, not a Trak-Ball game.

 

BTW: As soon as Manuel comes back to me, there will be a Colony 7 TB version become available.

I am all for cart versions of the CX-22 ROMs. I never did get Colony 7 but I am thinking I'll wait for a trackball release.

 

Also Millipede and Centipede TB are must haves. Running them off Harmony menu is a pain in the ass due to being incompatible with Trackball inputs and hot swapping the controllers is a pain.

 

I think perhaps a 3-in-1 cart menu with a boot screen (use select to toggle selection and reset to start game) might be a good idea for people who have multiple trackball controllers or don't know which version they have, especially "CX-80" owners. The menu plus three games will fit on a 16kb ROM for 4kb games, or a 32kb ROM for three versions of the 8kb games. That way no returns based on "I didn't know what type of trackball I had" issues. So 3-in-1 TB versions of any of the old Atari games (4k or 8k) should work, and Colony 7 is 8kb so all three trackball variants should still fit a 32kb ROM.

[BigO]

 

Also Millipede and Centipede TB are must haves. Running them off Harmony menu is a pain in the ass due to being incompatible with Trackball inputs and hot swapping the controllers is a pain.

I don't know if it's the condition of my console switches or if the Harmony menu could use a little better debouncing routine, but yeah, a pain all the way around for use with that type of trackball.

[Lynxpro]

I am all for cart versions of the CX-22 ROMs. I never did get Colony 7 but I am thinking I'll wait for a trackball release.

 

Also Millipede and Centipede TB are must haves. Running them off Harmony menu is a pain in the ass due to being incompatible with Trackball inputs and hot swapping the controllers is a pain.

 

I think perhaps a 3-in-1 cart menu with a boot screen (use select to toggle selection and reset to start game) might be a good idea for people who have multiple trackball controllers or don't know which version they have, especially "CX-80" owners. The menu plus three games will fit on a 16kb ROM for 4kb games, or a 32kb ROM for three versions of the 8kb games. That way no returns based on "I didn't know what type of trackball I had" issues. So 3-in-1 TB versions of any of the old Atari games (4k or 8k) should work, and Colony 7 is 8kb so all three trackball variants should still fit a 32kb ROM.

 

 

I was just thinking about multicart options for the Trak-Ball games the other day.

 

Does anyone know if Amiga's 2600 code for their multicart game menu launcher has been disassembled and available for use? Or has anyone created a similar scheme? Otherwise, I guess the other option would be to offer a cartridge with a physical selector switch.

 

It would definitely be great to have each game cartridge have the option of using CX22, CX80/ST Mouse, and Amiga Mouse versions. It would probably also be less of a headache for Albert too.

[Lynxpro]

Another title that was recently mentioned either in Trak-Bombers or AtariAge's own Facebook group as worthy of Trak-Ball support was Atlantis.

[Andromeda Stardust]

 

 

I was just thinking about multicart options for the Trak-Ball games the other day.

 

Does anyone know if Amiga's 2600 code for their multicart game menu launcher has been disassembled and available for use? Or has anyone created a similar scheme? Otherwise, I guess the other option would be to offer a cartridge with a physical selector switch.

 

It would definitely be great to have each game cartridge have the option of using CX22, CX80/ST Mouse, and Amiga Mouse versions. It would probably also be less of a headache for Albert too.

Dip switches are a cool idea, but would necessitate a custom PCB in addition to routing out the carts. Then the DIP switches only add cosmetic defects to the cart no matter where the hole is. 3-in-1 TB multicarts with a very basic menu (Select and Reset to toggle option and start game) would be much cleaner looking and less of a headache for Albert to produce.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Another title that was recently mentioned either in Trak-Bombers or AtariAge's own Facebook group as worthy of Trak-Ball support was Atlantis.

Atlantis doesn't even have any targeting cursor. How should it profit from a TB

[iesposta]

 

Tooth Protectors (Activision???) looks like a paddle, not a Trak-Ball game.

 

Except it is not a paddle game, and it is not Tooth Protectors.

What is the Activision "mouth" game?

It is a joystick moves player all over the screen. Fires up when moving up. Fires down when moving down. Really detailed "food" item sprites also.

[iesposta]

Plaque Attack by Activision.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

That may work. I'll put it on my list of potential conversions.

[iesposta]

That may work. I'll put it on my list of potential conversions.

 

•Plaque Attack. Thanks for adding to your list.

 

•Missile Control was an obvious Missile Command hack, but very different game play but not very different sounds.

And look, you made the NTSC conversion!

Maybe this would be easier since it started out as Missile Command?

Missile Control (NTSC Conversion) (2001) (Thomas Jentzsch).bin

Missile Control (1983) (Video Gems) (VG-01) (PAL) ~.bin

 

There's more Missile Command hacks from companies in the 80's trying to make a buck.

Robot something-or-other replaces the lines with tripled sprite robots, but that is kind of too close to Missile Command and kind of dumb.

 

But Missile Control with Trak-Ball seems like I would play that after I tired of Missile Command TB.

[yell0w_lantern]

I still think that Oink! would benefit from trackball support. Empire Strikes Back or Haunted House could be interesting w/TB support as well.