List of stereo games

[+davidcalgary29]

I was browsing an old document written by Craig Nelson in which he stated that (aside from Klax and parts of Xenophobe), the list of games using stereo was essentially unknown. Has anyone compiled a complete list now? I always thought parts of Toki were in stereo, too.

[sage]

yes I checked quiet some games for Stereo wen doing the stereo and attenuation sound patch for handy core. But I guess I lost it.

Was quiet easy to check, as I just had to look for each rom in the emulator if the register(s) were accessed.

[+bhall408]

This is a pretty old topic...

 

Did such a list ever end up getting created?

 

If not, I'll work one up and share it.

 

 

A related/side topic, is how many lynx home-brews end up designing for stereo?

 

Is there any down side to always enabling/allowing stereo in an emulator? (vs giving a choice to always force mono, even if game uses stereo)

[sage]

yes.

lost it.

ask the developers. but i guess all that use the modplayer at least might use attenuation registers for music (lynx 2 stereo feature)

yes, it sound better. anyway, there is no way to "allow" it in the emulator. either you use a fixed emulator core or not.

[+bhall408]

yes.

lost it.

ask the developers. but i guess all that use the modplayer at least might use attenuation registers for music (lynx 2 stereo feature)

yes, it sound better. anyway, there is no way to "allow" it in the emulator. either you use a fixed emulator core or not.

 

 

OK, I'll work it up then (have started a google sheet).

 

While I'm at it, figured I'd track which require rotation (Gauntlet, etc) and which support comlynx.

 

As to sound in emulators, what I meant, is there a user experience reason that you'd reasonably want to disable (or force to be mono).

 

I'm not saying there is a case, but I could imagine stereo being done so poorly you'd rather it be off/mono when playing. I've seen this in very early stereo pop music recordings.

[sage]

Define "Stereo game".

 

initializisng teh register does not really mean that its used as part of the game-play. Klax uses it for the music, does that count?

[+bhall408]

Define "Stereo game".

 

initializisng teh register does not really mean that its used as part of the game-play. Klax uses it for the music, does that count?

 

Unless the register had been previously used for something else (by Lynx I or early Lynx II, before stereo support), then seeing it initialized at least means the title was "aware" that it existed.

 

Could be worth noting which support it for music and which for game play, but I guess I was thinking binary -- either the title took advantage of it, or it didn't.

Edited January 31, 2019 by bhall408

[sage]

so? then all games which use an updated version of the epyx tools set it up to a default value without actually using. would call that a stereo game. but sure. classify as you want.

[+bhall408]

Well, from a player point of view, I'd think you'd want to know which games actually used stereo, which may just require playing them all, or a fancier static analysis than just seeing if the register was touched at all.

 

From an emulator point of view, I guess you just support stereo and call it a day.

[Serguei2]

Lemmings is in stereo.

[+bhall408]

I'm not done, but so far here are the ones I consider "stereo" (as in they make use of it which you can notice with headphones on)

 

Battle Wheels

Dirty Larry: Renegade Cop

KLAX

Lemmings

Lynx Diagnostic

RoadBlasters

Robo-Squash

Robotron: 2084

Xenophobe

 

Of those, Robotron probably sounds the best!

Edited February 16, 2019 by bhall408

[+davidcalgary29]

Lexis?

[+bhall408]

Lexis?

 

 

Are you sure?

 

I have trouble with that one, because it hangs/won't start in the emulator I have that does stereo (OpenEmu) and will play (but not in stereo) in the others. I have a cart coming that I got on eBay, but it hasn't arrived yet.

[Songbird]

Ponx uses stereo: you can hear the ball bouncing from side to side while it pans across the speakers. That was implemented all the way back in 1999 but I was (and am) very happy with the result.

 

Remnant also uses stereo, as you have left/right lasers firing from your ship.

 

I want to say CyberVirus also supports stereo, but I'd have to play it again to confirm...

[+davidcalgary29]

 

 

Are you sure?

 

I have trouble with that one, because it hangs/won't start in the emulator I have that does stereo (OpenEmu) and will play (but not in stereo) in the others. I have a cart coming that I got on eBay, but it hasn't arrived yet.

 

No -- it's been a long time since I played this one (hence the question mark).

[+bhall408]

Ponx uses stereo: you can hear the ball bouncing from side to side while it pans across the speakers. That was implemented all the way back in 1999 but I was (and am) very happy with the result.

 

Remnant also uses stereo, as you have left/right lasers firing from your ship.

 

I want to say CyberVirus also supports stereo, but I'd have to play it again to confirm...

 

 

Thanks for the additional data Carl..

 

I've added Ponx & Remnant as supporting stereo.

 

If you get a chance to check out CyberVirus, let me know and I can add that too.

[+bhall408]

 

No -- it's been a long time since I played this one (hence the question mark).

 

OK -- if anyone can confirm this (Lexis doing stereo sounds), I'm happy to add it to the list. If not, I'll get around to it once I have a way to check it out myself.

[Songbird]

Confirmed: CyberVirus supports stereo. So does SFX, but only during the title screen music.

 

Lexis does not support stereo, and neither does Champ Rally or Loopz.

[+bhall408]

Thanks for clearing up Lexis...

 

For extra credit, if you could survey your games as to how many players can play "locally" (on 1 device, for example there could be a chess game that supports 2 players where you pass the device back and forth, or similar) as well as via ComLynx (2-N devices), I'm tracking that too.

[Songbird]

Really need a separate thread for multiplayer support, but here are the details on Songbird games:

 

CGE 5th Anniversary: 1 player

Championship Rally: 4 players via comlynx

Crystal Mines II: Buried Treasure: 1 player, but also supports RAM download of a single level

CyberVirus: 1 player

Lexis: 1 player

Loopz: 2 players via comlynx

MegaPak: 8 players via "pass the device" for High Roller mini-game. Other mini-games are 1 player.

Ponx: 2 players on one Lynx, where player 1 uses joypad and player 2 uses the buttons

Remnant: 1 player

SFX: 1 player

 

[sage]

Thanks for clearing up Lexis...

 

For extra credit, if you could survey your games as to how many players can play "locally" (on 1 device, for example there could be a chess game that supports 2 players where you pass the device back and forth, or similar) as well as via ComLynx (2-N devices), I'm tracking that too.

the (hidden) bonus game in lynx reloaded features 4 players on one unit.

[+davidcalgary29]

Othello is unique in that one player can use the LGSS cart while another uses an Othello cart.