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Champ Games - Galagon (aka Galaga) 2600


johnnywc

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It's amazing how these arcade conversions for the Atari 2600 are out-performing the more powerful console and home computer ports. You guys are absolutely amazing! This is by far, the best arcade conversion of Galaga I've seen. I know this to be true because I suck at this version just as much as the arcade version. :D

 

I can't wait for this to show up in the AA store. This is a must-have!

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Working on my android phone (connected to my TV) through Retroarch and Stella core

... Awesome! As always, I'd prefer to pay something to AA and Johnny for a ROM download of the full version, but for this, if necessary, I'll accept the added living room clutter...

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It's amazing how these arcade conversions for the Atari 2600 are out-performing the more powerful console and home computer ports.

Actually the CPU is much stronger now but the graphics chip is still much weaker. But because it is also very flexible, the extra CPU power helps a lot.

 

Plus very talented developers and designers of course!

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Seems to be a bug in Stella that crept in. We're looking into it.

 

For what it's worth, I downloaded Stella 6.0.1 last night, plugged in the NTSC version, and the colors seemed fine.

 

In other news, I played Galaga for the first time in Stella, and, holy cow is this thing even better than advertised. That wouldn't have seemed possible, but I mean wow, the convoy even expands and contracts like in the arcade (as much as the 2600's sprite replication tricks allow for anyway). Little details like that are why we keep salivating for new homebrews. Great job!

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Absolutely incredible. Thank you for posting the demo.

 

Some info for others:

- It works fine for me with a standard Harmony cart.

- it does not work on the Uno cart or on the flashback portable or Flashback 9.

 

Thanks so much. This one will be on my list to purchase at PRGE this year.

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Does anyone notice if the big dipper and Orion are in the starfield like the arcade? I've tried and thought I saw the dipper once.

 

I don’t know if they are in this Galaga, but I do notice the 3 stars that make Orion’s belt a lot.

 

The Big Dipper and Orion are in Champ Games Scramble, along with one more constellation - even correctly colored - for instance Rigel is a blue supergiant and Betelgeuse is a red supergiant.

You need to get through all five stages and kill the Base to see these constellations replace the regular stars.

Edited by iesposta
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Some info for others:

- It works fine for me with a standard Harmony cart.

- it does not work on the Uno cart or on the flashback portable or Flashback 9.

 

Galaga uses a new variant of the CDF banking scheme (CDFJ). The only emulators that currently support it are Stella 6.0.1 (and later) and 6502.ts / Stellerator. The R77 is based on the current Stella 6.1 codebase and will run it fine; the same holds true for the recently updated libretro core. As for cartridge emulators, only the Harmony cart can currently run the ROM (the necessary Harmony CDFJ driver is part of the ROM image).

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"Demo" wow

Truth be told I have never been a big fan of Galaga. It just wasn't a machine I liked growing up and I wasn't good at it and didn't really care to improve. That being said, I love this game and it is an instant buy soon as it comes out. I really enjoyed playing it with an Atari joystick controller. Maybe it's because it's an amazing shooter on the Atari, maybe it's because I assumed this couldn't be done, or maybe I'm just older and recognize how good a game this is... maybe just maybe I'm becoming a Galaga fan. Thank you for building this!

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Wow, this is mindblowing. I'm amazed you got that many moving sprites and starfield on the screen without everything turning into flicker hell. The unusual thing I noticed is the galagans pull out from formation a little faster than the Arcade or NES version. Otherwise its about as perfect as you can get it. Awesome job!

Edited by WildBillTX
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I was waiting for this port to happen since I first heard that Galaxian got a port to the 2600 in 2011-ish. I was always wondering about one thing "Is Galaga playable on the 2600?" Besides, we are making new innovations for the 2600 every year (Still thinking about AtariFMV), so it could be done. All I have to do is wait...8 years for this port to finally exist.

 

Galaga is currently my 2nd favorite Namco franchise (Was Number 1, but that had since been moved down to 2nd in 2017.), and it is quite shocking that it never got a real port to the classic game console. I loved the game a lot, and I'm quite happy that the game is finally ported to the 2600.

 

Man, if I actually owned a 2600, I would have payed actual money for the game. But using Stella is good enough, I suppose.

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i really wonder how you all can have them running - i tried on Stella, Mame/Mess and Javatari, and nothing at all.... :S

 

Galaga uses a new variant of the CDF banking scheme (CDFJ). The only emulators that currently support it are Stella 6.0.1 (and later) and 6502.ts / Stellerator.

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Awesome as usual John!

 

I know this game uses CDFJ driver.

But how did you achieve ennemies movement with very limited flickering?

 

For example, in this screenshot ennemies move orizontally, the ship moves vertically and fires but there isn't any flickering!

post-12528-0-14971500-1560086493.png

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I've never bought a Homebrew game for my systems before... so how long on average could/will it be before this makes it to a cartridge and or into a box? Just curious, as I will buy this as soon as there is a way for Champ Games to take my money... amazing.

 

MrBlackCat

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Thank you everyone for the kind words on Galaga, we're glad everyone is enjoying the demo! It looks like the NTSC and PAL60 demos have been downloaded almost 500 times in less than 2 days - pretty amazing! :)

 

Awesome as usual John!

 

I know this game uses CDFJ driver.

But how did you achieve ennemies movement with very limited flickering?

 

For example, in this screenshot ennemies move orizontally, the ship moves vertically and fires but there isn't any flickering!

attachicon.gifpost-30-0-95807700-1558017183.png

 

Thanks Philsan! The enemies in formation are all drawn using 1 sprite each frame; this is done using the same technique that was used for Atari's own Galaxian back in the 80's. The trick involves repositioning the sprite mid-scanline while changing the # of copies to display up to 8 sprites on the same line. You can actually do more, but we went with 8 so we could move the sprites left and right, plus we needed the extra cycles to draw everything else, including the enemy flying down (using the other player), the stars (using the ball) and up to 2 missiles (using the missiles) without flicker. Of course we re-use each of these sprites as we move down the screen to draw more stars, more missiles, other enemies in flight, your ship, the tractor beam, the score, status area, etc. all without flicker if they are vertically separated. :D

 

I've never bought a Homebrew game for my systems before... so how long on average could/will it be before this makes it to a cartridge and or into a box? Just curious, as I will buy this as soon as there is a way for Champ Games to take my money... amazing.

 

MrBlackCat

 

Hello there! We are planning on a release in the fall of 2019 while we polish up the game and create the box/manual/label, etc. The release may coincide with the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, the weekend of October 20th, depending on whether Atari Age will be in attendance along with Champ Games. Stay tuned for more info and thanks in advance for your support, it is greatly appreciated! :D

 

Wonder if you wanted some label art idea I drew some time ago but never used it.

 

That looks really good! Dave Dries has already been commissioned to do the label/box/manual for Galaga, but I'm sure he's monitoring this thread and will appreciate your ideas. Thanks!

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