ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Stream

[+swlovinist]

My favorite game of all time finally coming to the 2600.  I cant wait! 

[intergalactic419]

First time viewer live. Thanks for the show, was fun. Really looking forward to the release of Robot Run 2600. I just recently ordered an Edladdin 78, but I think I need the twin 78 for this. Any confirmation the twin 78 double joystick will function on this to replicate the arcade setup? Or do I need two twin 78's to play the coming 4 player sports games that were mentioned haha. How far off is that quadtari that was shown? So many big drops in this episode!

 

Also the key code was great. Finally a solution to stopping my kids from taking my games!

 

 

[+Nathan Strum]

I can't confirm the Edladdin Twin 78 will work on the 2600, but based on its description it should.

 

I'd be happy to test it out if they want to send one to me.  

 

For the key code, we were inspired by opening sequence from WarGames.  

 

 

(And in case you're wondering, yes - Robotron actually is in the movie. But you'll have to figure out where.  )

 

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

12 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said:

I can't confirm the Edladdin Twin 78 will work on the 2600, but based on its description it should.

I'd be happy to test it out if they want to send one to me.

 

Ooh, if someone's handing out Edladdin Twin 78 controllers, please put me on the list too!!

 

There's someone on FB that let me know they have an Edladdin Twin 78 and is going to test out the demo version of Robotron: 2084 when it's released and report back. I'll try to remember to update here or on the show.

 

11 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said:

(And in case you're wondering, yes - Robotron actually is in the movie. But you'll have to figure out where.  )

So you're saying that next year's secret Champ Games reveal will be yet ANOTHER game featured in War Games?  

 

btw War Games is one of my favourite films ever! I'll have to watch it again soon, it's been a while.

Edited May 14, 2020 by ZeroPage Homebrew

[Albert]

18 minutes ago, Nathan Strum said:

I'd be happy to test it out if they want to send one to me.  

I have one, and you can bet your ass I'll be testing it!  Robotron is one of my favorite arcade games, and I have a mint, fully restored (down to the bare wood) Robotron cabinet.  I played the hell out of that game in arcades when I was in my early teens, and got reacquainted with the game years later as we had one in our Ion Storm office. 

 

This is a game I never really expected to see on the 2600 executed as well as John has done here.  Pretty remarkable!

 

 ..Al

[Albert]

10 minutes ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

btw War Games is one of my favourite films ever! I'll have to watch it again soon, it's been a while.

Same...  And it played a fun role in the Ready Player One book as well!

 

 ..Al

[+Nathan Strum]

2 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

There's someone on FB that let me know they have an Edladdin Twin 78 and is going to test out the demo version of Robotron: 2084 when it's released and report back. I'll try to remember to update here or on the show.

I really need to just make my own controllers again. With proper leaf switches too. Not icky-clicky ones. 

Quote

So you're saying that next year's secret Champ Games reveal will be yet ANOTHER game featured in War Games?  

He found us out, John! Now we'll have to do something other than Tic-Tac-Toe.   (When I reviewed WarGames many years ago on my old MacMAME.net site, I listed all of the arcade games shown in the film.)

Quote

btw War Games is one of my favourite films ever! I'll have to watch it again soon, it's been a while.

Mine too. I watched it last weekend. I'm going to go through the Blu-ray special features tonight or tomorrow. (It also has one of the best director's commentaries I've ever heard.)

 

You should also check out Colossus: The Forbin Project, which is finally on Blu-ray. Not as good as WarGames, but a similar theme and pre-dates WarGames by over a decade. It's a fascinating time capsule of what they thought technology would become from 1970's point-of-view. In some ways, they weren't far off.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Nathan Strum
Because Tic-Tac-Toe is funnier than Sub-Roc-3D

[intergalactic419]

1 hour ago, Albert said:

I have one, and you can bet your ass I'll be testing it!  Robotron is one of my favorite arcade games, and I have a mint, fully restored (down to the bare wood) Robotron cabinet.  I played the hell out of that game in arcades when I was in my early teens, and got reacquainted with the game years later as we had one in our Ion Storm office.

Somehow I had never played Robotron before. I was working out east and had a big block of time to kill in between appointments last summer and found Billy's Midway Arcade in NJ. Had a great time playing and spent a lot of time on Robotron which is awesome. Really unique experience with the control set up. Billy was a cool guy and spent a lot of time talking about the machines and the hobby. He keeps his machines in great working order and I hope to get out there again when traveling.

[+sramirez2008]

2 hours ago, Albert said:

I have one, and you can bet your ass I'll be testing it! 

You and me both Al. I plan on testing this ASAP with my Edladdin Super Twin. My son will also help me test. Robotron is his favorite arcade game.

[+sramirez2008]

2 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

For the key code, we were inspired by opening sequence from WarGames.  

 

 

(And in case you're wondering, yes - Robotron actually is in the movie. But you'll have to figure out where.  )

 

All I see is that beautiful Asteroids cabinet. 

[David Marcoot]

Robotron to this day is unmatched in sheer intensity and player focus, there is so much going on. I never imagined the 2600 could do this as for it and Tempest are works of modern art. 

Now can they do the follow up Blaster which had ever greater hardware needs in a specialized chip for 3d effect.?

 

 

This might be the best 2600 port of all time. amazing.

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

I just found out today that Imagic also had a 'Patch Score' like Activision did! Instead of patches they would give out an 'iron-on award decal' at one achievement, an 'Imagic Experts Club T-shirt' at 3 achievements and an 'Imagic Experts Club jacket' at 6 achievements!

 

I've added these now to my list of to-do scores. Here's the list:

 

Imagic Gold Thumb Hall of Fame (2600 Version Scores): Ref 1, Ref 2

• Atlantis (125,000 Points)
• Cosmic Ark (30,000 Points)
• Demon Attack (100,000 Points)
• Dragonfire (25,000 Points)
• Fire Figher (2:38)
• No Escape! (10,000 Points)
• Riddle of the Sphinx (30,000 Points)
• Star Voyager (35)
• Trick Shot (37)

Does anyone know if any other Atari 2600 developers besides Imagic and Activision have achivevement scores like this?

 

 

Edited May 15, 2020 by ZeroPage Homebrew

[Thomas Jentzsch]

30K in Cosmic Ark??? Good luck!

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

2 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

30K in Cosmic Ark??? Good luck!

I was thinking I could do it with enough practice, I just got 9630 on my first game using the keyboard as a controller.

 

But.... the highscores on this page say otherwise... hmm

http://highscore.com/game/?g=732&enterscore=1

[+D Train]

6 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

 

But.... the highscores on this page say otherwise... hmm

Aw, you can do it!

[+Nathan Strum]

8 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

I was thinking I could do it with enough practice, I just got 9630 on my first game using the keyboard as a controller.

 

But.... the highscores on this page say otherwise... hmm

http://highscore.com/game/?g=732&enterscore=1

Or here: 

 

 

But it's nice to have goals.   

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I found that this is a game which is best played in the morning, when our reflexes are best. 

 

True story: This was one of the few games I had as a kid. And even then the meteor waves became way too fast for me. But I wanted to know all the "beasties". So I used my Fischertechnik electronics, put two photo cells at the left and right of the TV screen and used relays to make the ship fire left and right automatically. Eventually even the relays where not reacting fast enough anymore. I found out that I could increase the voltage to make them faster and overpowered them as much as I dared. This allowed further progress, but still wasn't fast enough to see all "beasties"... I only found out after I return back to the 2600 in ~2000.  

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

9 hours ago, Nathan Strum said:

But it's nice to have goals.   

Looks like at least two people in the world have done it... so there's hope?
 

EDIT: I don't think there's hope.. I make it to around the 10000 mark each time with just about full life and the asteroids ramp up in difficulty so much it reduces my life to zero in a matter of 30 seconds.

Edited May 16, 2020 by ZeroPage Homebrew

[+Karl G]

12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

I found that this is a game which is best played in the morning, when our reflexes are best. 

 

True story: This was one of the few games I had as a kid. And even then the meteor waves became way too fast for me. But I wanted to know all the "beasties". So I used my Fischertechnik electronics, put two photo cells at the left and right of the TV screen and used relays to make the ship fire left and right automatically. Eventually even the relays where not reacting fast enough anymore. I found out that I could increase the voltage to make them faster and overpowered them as much as I dared. This allowed further progress, but still wasn't fast enough to see all "beasties"... I only found out after I return back to the 2600 in ~2000.  

That is some epic-level clever cheating there. Kids these days have it easy being able to cheat via ROM hacks and emulators. 

[Lillapojkenpåön]

On 5/15/2020 at 12:46 AM, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

 

Ooh, if someone's handing out Edladdin Twin 78 controllers, please put me on the list too!!

I have one of those, and I'm surprised I've not seen anyone complain about how horrible the joysticks are that they use, I believe they are for industrial machine use, made to be easy to hold in one direction for longer periods of time. They're impossible to do any kind of serious precision gaming with, everything about them feels wrong, the lack of resistance, hard to hit the diagonal spot, how far you have to move the joystick to push the buttons, and that there is no stop there, you can move it alot further after that, if you're moving right and want to go left you have to move the joystick 90 degrees!!! ok rant over.. I've been so pissed at that thing since spending $179 plus international shipping, plus custom fees..

Selling it for the price of the most expensive pro gaming arcade sticks kinda makes you think that's what you're getting, but the main part is not even meant for gaming. ?

[+sramirez2008]

@ZeroPage HomebrewJames did I hear Tanya correctly towards the end of yesterday’s show? Did she say that she would like to pick up an Atari Video Music player? I’d love to have one too, I think their cool, but a bit too pricey.

 

[+Nathan Strum]

1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

@ZeroPage HomebrewJames did I hear Tanya correctly towards the end of yesterday’s show? Did she say that she would like to pick up an Atari Video Music player? I’d love to have one too, I think their cool, but a bit too pricey.

 

I would think (being completely ignorant of programming), that it would be possible to make a 2600 version, if you could make an audio interface that connected through the cart and would pipe signals into the 2600 that it could understand and process into visuals.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

This was presented at Revision demo party by AA member @SvOlli a few years ago.

 

 

[+sramirez2008]

@ZeroPage HomebrewJames I think you should add a "Reveal hidden contents" section with links to all of your retro gaming t-shirts. Watching the replay of tonight's Twitch stream and I love your Asteroids t-shirt.?  

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I suppose you now understand why I cheated at Cosmic Ark using electronics as a kid.  

 

Watched you wondering about cheating at Cosmic Ark too. It would work, but you have to keep your energy level up. For each missed shot (or meteor hit) your lose some energy.

 

But you can still cheat by collecting one beastie and going back to the meteor shower. That will increase your energy. And you can lose the beastie on the same planet again. And so on.

 

BTW: The planet defense eventually gets to an insane speed too, just somewhat later than the meteor showers. ?

 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch