Check out Super Cobra Arcade for the Atari 2600

[Gray Defender]

Super Cobra Arcade is a huge upgrade over the recently released Scramble for the Atari 2600. It's super fun and challenging!

 

[Shawn]

Very nice review.

[eebuckeye]

Really nice and thorough review!

[Gray Defender]

Thanks guys. It helps having the inside advantage so to speak with having great open communication with the games developer.

[+johnnywc]

Thanks guys. It helps having the inside advantage so to speak with having great open communication with the games developer.

Great job Glenn, and thank you for all the help with the testing!

[LidLikesIntellivision]

Some of us are playing Scramble in AA. I hope Super Cobra will be picked for the next High Score Competion. It seems even better than Scramble!

Edited November 5, 2017 by LidLikesIntellivision

[darthkur]

That looks great. Damn good job. Looking forward to trying it out.

[Jinks]

Nice game. The flicker is too much for me.

[+SpiceWare]

Based on the funky looking numbers across the top, the video capture software is only recording at 30 frames per second which greatly exaggerates any flicker in the game. It looks significantly better in person.

[Jinks]

Based on the funky looking numbers across the top, the video capture software is only recording at 30 frames per second which greatly exaggerates any flicker in the game. It looks significantly better in person.

That would explain it. Looks amazing for a 2600 game.

[Gray Defender]

Darn it, sorry about that. It wasn't my intention to misrepresent the graphics in the game. I will definately pump up the fps in future recordings.

[+SpiceWare]

I will definately pump up the fps in future recordings.

Do note that YouTube also has an issue of downgrading 60fps videos to 30 fps when viewed at lower resolutions like 480p. You can see that in this video of Juno First @2:28. When viewed at 720p60 the titlescreen looks good, but it's mangled when viewed at 480p:

 

One way to help with that is to use Stella's Phosphor Mode like Nathan Strum did for this video. Phosphor Mode makes it look better than it does on real hardware, but is still much closer to real than the exaggerated flicker seen in your recording. Stella's Phosphor Mode has seen some recent changes (see notes for release 5.0) to make it closer to real, so you'll probably have to play around with the settings to find what works best for a YouTube recording.

[Gray Defender]

Thanks for that tip, great points. I'll be using phospher mode on going. I could have used my video capture software from the real hardware as well, but I thought it did not look as well. Also keep in mind John Champeau will be releasing the ROM at the end of this month so people can download and try it out for themselves.

[Shawn]

Thanks guys. It helps having the inside advantage so to speak with having great open communication with the games developer.

 

I agree. I've worked with John in the past and he's a consummate professional.

[+Nathan Strum]

Super Cobra Arcade is a huge upgrade over the recently released Scramble for the Atari 2600. It's super fun and challenging!

 

Great review! Thanks for the compliments about the packaging - it was quite a daunting task to follow up the amazing work Dave Dries did for Scramble.

 

It's nice to get a look at it in your video - I have yet to see any of it in person. Hopefully after Al gets back from Florida...

 

John did an amazing job on Super Cobra Arcade. After looking at some of the other versions out there, I think John's is the best home port available:

 

 

Do note that YouTube also has an issue of downgrading 60fps videos to 30 fps when viewed at lower resolutions like 480p. You can see that in this video of Juno First @2:28. When viewed at 720p60 the titlescreen looks good, but it's mangled when viewed at 480p:

 

One way to help with that is to use Stella's Phosphor Mode like Nathan Strum did for this video. Phosphor Mode makes it look better than it does on real hardware, but is still much closer to real than the exaggerated flicker seen in your recording. Stella's Phosphor Mode has seen some recent changes (see notes for release 5.0) to make it closer to real, so you'll probably have to play around with the settings to find what works best for a YouTube recording.

 

Recording videos with Stella 5 has become a bit of a chore, because of those changes. Previously, with Phosphor Mode on, I could just record 30 fps out of Stella and it would look fine - any graphics that flickered would remain persistent enough to be picked up during their "off" frames. So 60 fps recording wasn't necessary.

 

But with Stella 5, despite a lot of fussing around with the settings, the persistence isn't high enough to hold over from frame to frame without adding unwanted trails behind everything (since it holds over multiple frames at higher values).

 

What I have to do with Stella 5 is capture at 60 fps (which required finding a different capture utility), then, so that YouTube won't mess things up when converting to 30 fps, apply an "Echo" video effect in Premiere Pro that holds the brightness of each frame over for one additional frame - effectively recreating the way Stella used to mimic phosphor. So even if every other frame gets chopped out (which is what YouTube does converting from 60 to 30), all of the graphics still show up.

 

I think I need to put in a feature request for Stella to reinstate the old Phosphor Mode as an option.

[fluxit]

I never knew that there were actually versions of Super Cobra without Super Cobra's strange 'rocket propelled' bomb physics.

[Keatah]

Pro-level review for a pro-level game. No ridiculous antics, no screaming, no annoying music, no begging for subscribers.. Almost a video-training manual.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Recording videos with Stella 5 has become a bit of a chore, because of those changes. Previously, with Phosphor Mode on, I could just record 30 fps out of Stella and it would look fine - any graphics that flickered would remain persistent enough to be picked up during their "off" frames. So 60 fps recording wasn't necessary.

 

But with Stella 5, despite a lot of fussing around with the settings, the persistence isn't high enough to hold over from frame to frame without adding unwanted trails behind everything (since it holds over multiple frames at higher values).

Do you think something is wrong with the new phosphor mode or is it just a recording issue? I am always open to better ideas.

[Rom Hunter]

Excellent review and what an amazing conversion job!

Hats off again.

[+Nathan Strum]

Do you think something is wrong with the new phosphor mode or is it just a recording issue? I am always open to better ideas.

 

 

It's not necessarily wrong, it just doesn't work well when recording at 30 fps. When I have a moment, I'll PM you about it.