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Venture Reloaded


Omegamatrix

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Ladies and Gentlemen, 

 

As seen at PRGE and on ZeroPage Homebrew, this is Venture Reloaded.

 

812951545_TreasureScreen.thumb.png.3155cb2c9dff7159dfcb9eb5a83cd8ed.png  1939564899_Level3.thumb.png.18c19dc1bb64e7f1812099c033df216e.png

 

765933673_SkeletonRoom.thumb.png.b86f9015efbb3802741a130fd93a8fb8.png1767012523_TrollRoom.thumb.png.469b7ddaf44ad9309f653ca694e5f5d4.png

 

  

 

 

NEW - Dec 14, 2019 - Latest and greatest rom RC3 is below!!!

 

 

Venture Reloaded (RC3).zip

 


This is a hack, not a homebrew. Everything has been updated and new content has been added. The earliest a cart release will happen is next year through AtariAge.

 


If you are using Stella than you must enable Phosphor to eliminate flicker. This is found in the display tab of the game properties.

 

Phosphor.png.8ed2bf4561c4209f3d12ccb41309ad7c.png

 

 


You can also configure Stella to use a SaveKey to auto-save your highscore. In the controller change the P1 controller to SaveKey.

 

SaveKey.png.1f35e941a292720e3becc693c9ce968a.png

 

Have fun with this!!! If you do get all the treasures please be sure to post a picture of the Treasure Screen in a spoiler with your score. Congrats to all who participated in this challenge. We have now passed the cut-off date for entries. ?

 

 

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It’s a vast improvement over the original 2600 release. I alternated between this and the coin-op at PRGE and couldn’t believe how stiff the controls were on the arcade unit: I kept killing Winky when he got stuck on the walls of the room. Maybe it was just that machine. In any case, I really like the addition of the room names.

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Gave it a few tries on actual hardware (4 switch woody) via Harmony Encore an UnoCart.  The ROM worked well on both multicarts.

 

I'll have to spend more time playing, as I'd like to try to get all of the treasures.  Love what you've done so far.  The animation is smooth and the background tunes are good too.:thumbsup:   

 

VR.jpg

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Now THIS is the kind of stuff I dig. :) Venture was one of those games back in the day you just couldn't help but comparing to its Colecovision counterpart and knowing you had the inferior version with plain repeating 2 stages and no music (compared to the pretty amazing-for-its-time soundtrack on the CV). This fixes a lot of that right off the bat. Awesome sauce

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13 hours ago, Omegamatrix said:

You can also configure Stella to use a SaveKey to auto-save your highscore. In the controller change the P1 controller to SaveKey.

With the internal build of Stella, the SaveKey is autodetected in this case.  We really need to get the 6.1 release done.

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This is really, really good.  I have a few comments and criticisms, though.

 

First, I think I found a bug: It's possible to walk through top walls by pressing up against it (and firing?).  If the wall is against the top of the screen, then you get stuck in the wall and slide to the right (slamming into any enemies in the way), otherwise, you just pass right through and get stuck outside the level.

 

210492975_SkeletonRoomupperwall.thumb.jpg.e80d7f312dfaa25eb24633cd61662695.jpg54536795_EscapedtheGoblinRoom.thumb.jpg.6ed6009f844204e180a0dac73b1cff60.jpg

 

Possible bug: the timer bonus at the end of each stage is wrong (instead of multiplying the points you got in the round by the number on the timer, it just adds 100 points per bonus left).

 

The game doesn't award you any points if you shoot a monster before you pick up the treasure in the room.  I know that's how it worked in the original Atari 2600 version, but that's not how it works in the Colecovision or arcade versions, where you always get points for shooting monsters.

 

Scoring is very low in general.  I played an entire game, clearing 13 rooms (i.e., the first three levels and then the Goblin Room the second time around), and only got 5900 points total.  Meanwhile, I got over 11000 points in the arcade version from just the first four chambers normally, and 7500 from turning on cheats and just picking up the four treasures and shooting nothing.

 

598779224_Venture2600FinalScore(firstgame).thumb.jpg.8f9884ea0fd411bc5525899ffb05500d.jpg1544577137_ArcadeScoreafter4chambers.thumb.jpg.469bef597c3bf7ea5a7e2b8f57d5f21b.jpg

 

I really do like that the treasures change even when returning to the same chamber the second time around.  I only saw the lyre in the Goblin Room and the pennant in the Skeleton Room, but I'm 99% sure the arcade version doesn't do that and 100% sure the Colecovision version doesn't do that.  Edit: The arcade version *does* do that, I see.  I never noticed before!

 

One final criticism: I really, really, don't like the map screen music.  I know the 2600 doesn't have great sound hardware and can't play certain notes, but it's much more off-key than the rest of the game's music, especially the final note.  Is that still being worked on?  (Suggestion: the arcade game has different map screen music, maybe that would work better?)

 

Overall, though, this is amazing.  Absolutely amazing.

Edited by Raiu
Arcade version comment
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2 hours ago, Raiu said:

First, I think I found a bug: It's possible to walk through top walls by pressing up against it (and firing?).  If the wall is against the top of the screen, then you get stuck in the wall and slide to the right (slamming into any enemies in the way), otherwise, you just pass right through and get stuck outside the level.

 

I was able to replicate this bug consistently by pressing up + right against the top while while firing and then switch quickly to left + down while firing. If you switch directions at just the right time on the bounce against the wall it'll push you through!

 

(WATCH AT 60FPS FOR FULL QUALITY)

 

Edited by ZeroPage Homebrew
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Really like this a lot!

However I also think the map music is unusual. But I’m sure exactly what should  change.  Listening again, that’s okay. 

 

Also, off key notes don’t bother me as much as the timing of the notes. I heard some odd timing.

•On the tune before the arrow pickup, after 7 notes it waits just a little too long.

•On game over tune, the last group of notes should play faster (if possible).

 

If nothing ends up being changed regarding the tunes, that would not change my desire for this at all. 

Edited by iesposta
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Simply amazing! Yet another modern hack or homebrew that'll have you never wanting to play the original again. Instant purchase for sure.   :)

 

Regarding the music, I like how it's been suited for the VCS... right when you think it should or does go a little off-key, changes up into a slightly different melody. Didn't notice anything wrong with the timing (wasn't obvious to me anyway) and was playing on a 7800. 

 

First try, was only 4 treasures away from collecting them all. Difficulty ramps a bit slow *maybe*, but that's how I'm used to it anyway. 

 

Absolutely love the attention to detail. Font graphics for the rooms, room scaling, animation between levels, stair stepping sounds, background music, and how articulately the treasures are drawn, etc. Very clever all around. LOVE IT!!   :love:

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I'm excited to see this. Growing up I had no idea that Venture was an arcade game first; learning that the 2600 version was a port was a surprise, then a little bit of a disappointment. But, I've still sunk plenty of time into it, always trying to best my personal score. Quite amazing to see that they could have done so much more on the system and get it much close to "arcade perfect."

 

One note, I tried this now on my Atari Flashback Portable and it doesn't work. Just get the "Venture Reloaded" title screen for a moment, which seems to be stuck in a boot loop (the title disappears, then it shows up again. Just keeps doing that no matter what you press, apart from going back to the start menu). 

 

I haven't looked into it, but I imagine the AFP is hackable with a new version of Stella that might be more compatible? Either way, I'll just try it on my PC instead :P

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