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New Xenophobe glitch found?


-^CrossBow^-

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So as I was hinting at in the 7800 controller thread here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/272541-7800-controller-project/page-3?do=findComment&comment=3903422

 

I played a great high scoring game of Xenophobe this morning for the 7800. However, shortly after I scored just over the 1million mark, the game suddenly acted like player 2 had pressed a button to start a game?! And I didn't even have a controller attached to the player 2 port? I continued to play as normally until I finally did die. However, from then on the second player would die, and then start a new game automatically on a new ship?! I plugged the controller into port 2 and was able to control the character and play normally. Once I finally died here, the game stopped automatically stopped starting a new game for player2 at that point and would stay on the scrolling Xenophobe titles and then eventually back to the main title screen and worked normally from there?

 

It took quite a while to score that high but in all the years I've played this game, I'd never seen player 2 just start on its own like that and then continue to auto start when dying. Especially when once I connected an actual controller to port 2 and started moving around it then stopped. Also, if the fire button was somehow stuck down internally in the system on port 2, then it doesn't explain why the player 2 character just stands there and doesn't fire or anything until he dies. So strange...

 

 

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Maybe the glitch has more to do with something with the actual hardware vs emulation then. Again, I've played this game quite a bit but had never just seen player two start by itself. I also forgot to mention that I ran the Diags rom afterwards to see if one of the fire buttons was now suddenly stuck but nothing...

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Maybe the glitch has more to do with something with the actual hardware vs emulation then. Again, I've played this game quite a bit but had never just seen player two start by itself. I also forgot to mention that I ran the Diags rom afterwards to see if one of the fire buttons was now suddenly stuck but nothing...

You are probably correct....real hardware heats up and has a tendency to do weird things....at least that was the case when I had a real console...ahhh those were the days.

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Nice AV mod! No RF snow.

Who are you talking about?

 

 

For the life of me I cannot reach a million highest is 933k, I just tried an hour ago and got 750kish. Do you stay right or left? I try to go left most of the time and come back around to the elevators.

 

Okay, the real secret here is you just go right! yeap...Right. See if you go left, then you are more likely to encounter aliens, especially the rollies hitting you as soon as you walk in. For some reason on 7800 Xenophobe, the aliens are grouped closer to the right on each screen when you first enter. So if you just move right, you are less likely to be immediately hit by an alien upon entering. Doesn't hurt if you start firing just before entering as well.

 

Also...try to keep that poofer gun! It has crap distance yes, but does the most damage to all alien types plus it is easier to hit the ceiling danglers with it because the bullet...cloud...whatever it shoots is larger than any other gun type.

 

Next is that you have to be quick as hell...and when you get to the elevator pay attention to the level words. If say you are on the Gamma level and Gamma is still in red...then you still have aliens on that level to kill. If it is blue, you are good to go to another level of the ship.

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I dont get this game at all.. it looks neat but makes no sense to me.

I just walk around shooting things then after awhile it cuts to the title screen.

Need to watch a video to see how someone plays it.

I usually kill every alein then cant find where to go next then die.

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Okay, the game is really easy...here is a basic rundown of the gameplay...

 

You materialize somewhere within the ship. The first ship only has one floor to it. Start walking to the right. Kill all the aliens you see. If the small creepers stick onto you..just press up on the joystick quickly to shake them off and then shoot them. The ones that roll up into balls and roll around cannot be killed until they unfurl. The only way to kill them when they are rolled up is to use a grenade. Those are scattered around the ship like the other objects you find. To grab objects, just stand over them and press down on the controller. Both fire buttons are needed with this game, so one you use to shoot and the other you use to toss grenades. Grenades are lobbed so you have to judge the distance needed. Additionally, being too close to an alien when you use a grenade can hurt you from splash damage with the grenade as well. The basic idea is to collect the scattered objects for bonus points at the end, and to kill all the aliens on the station. Once you have killed all the aliens, you will automatically be beamed off the ship and the level end title and scoring will come up showing your bonus points. Then there is a brief animation showing you being sent to the next ship.

 

If a ship has more than one level to it, you will come across elevators. Stand in front of the button on the left or right of the elevator door and press up to activate the button. The elevator will come down or come up depending on where it starts from and your relative floor level you started from. Walk to the middle of the elevator and then just press up or down on the controller to change floors. Each floor will have a name such as Alpha...Gamma...Delta...etc. If the name of the level in the elevator room is red, there are still aliens on the current floor to get rid of. If it is blue then that level is clear of aliens.

 

You have a set time to clear out the aliens on each ship. If you fail to clear them out before time runs out you will know as the game will sound an alarm with the screen flashing red. A few seconds after that starts, you will automatically be beamed off the ship and your points collected. You will lose out on some bonus points failing to clear out the aliens.

 

Most ships also have a console marked self destruct that you can activate in the same way as the elevator call button. But doing this will not net you much bonus points at all, in fact, you may not get any now that I think about it.

 

And you continue on with each ship getting more complicated with more aliens, more larger and harder to kill aliens and more floors. Eventually the ships level out and they become randomized but that is the jist of the game. You play until your health runs out.

 

I guess you can think of Xenophobe as a side view Gauntlet in space. Only with a max or 2 players at once on the home console ports, (Arcade allowed 3 players at once).

Edited by -^Cro§Bow^-
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Those screenshots were not on a console I use MESS on my PC...Have done so for years..I haven't had a console since 1994.

 

A7800 has some noteworthy improvements over what is available under MESS/MAME. At the very least, the default/raw color palette has normalized saturation levels:

 

post-18-0-48792600-1512694277.pngpost-18-0-54497300-1512694281.png

 

Additionally, it features improved timings, light gun and paddle controller emulation (Via mouse), and a few other controllers too.

 

The "A7800.exe" file can be dropped and launched in the same folder as MESS(MAME), or installed in its own folder from the directions provided in the link.

 

Ports for Linux and OS X are available as well.

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A7800 has some noteworthy improvements over what is available under MESS/MAME. At the very least, the default/raw color palette has normalized saturation levels:

 

attachicon.gif0000-50.pngattachicon.gif0002-50.png

 

Additionally, it features improved timings, light gun and paddle controller emulation (Via mouse), and a few other controllers too.

 

The "A7800.exe" file can be dropped and launched in the same folder as MESS(MAME), or installed in its own folder from the directions provided in the link.

 

Ports for Linux and OS X are available as well.

I do have this file and I do use it....best emulation I have ever seen.

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Wow that is crazy!

Ever miss playing a real Atari?

actually not really...for some reason my console kept burning out the voltage regulator attached to the heat sink...got real annoyed with it so I just gave it and all the games away.

to me, emulation today (A7800) is identical without all the hardware problems....and last but not least...those painline controllers were the worst. Now I play with 3 different controllers which suits me just fine.

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So as I was hinting at in the 7800 controller thread here: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/272541-7800-controller-project/page-3?do=findComment&comment=3903422

 

I played a great high scoring game of Xenophobe this morning for the 7800. However, shortly after I scored just over the 1million mark, the game suddenly acted like player 2 had pressed a button to start a game?! And I didn't even have a controller attached to the player 2 port? I continued to play as normally until I finally did die. However, from then on the second player would die, and then start a new game automatically on a new ship?! I plugged the controller into port 2 and was able to control the character and play normally. Once I finally died here, the game stopped automatically stopped starting a new game for player2 at that point and would stay on the scrolling Xenophobe titles and then eventually back to the main title screen and worked normally from there?

 

It took quite a while to score that high but in all the years I've played this game, I'd never seen player 2 just start on its own like that and then continue to auto start when dying. Especially when once I connected an actual controller to port 2 and started moving around it then stopped. Also, if the fire button was somehow stuck down internally in the system on port 2, then it doesn't explain why the player 2 character just stands there and doesn't fire or anything until he dies. So strange...

 

 

Exact same thing happens with my Xenophobe cart!

 

I was thinking there might be a hardware issue with my 7800 console; it has some minor glitches with some 2600 games, and Tower Toppler exhibits some behavior or other (it's been a while, I forget) that renders it unplayable.

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