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Champ Games - RobotWar: 2684 (aka Robotron:2084), 2600


johnnywc

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7 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Ohh, I missed this thread. Thank you Darrell.

 

It's one of the reasons I bought a 7800, been bummed out that it was never released.

 

 

Quote

I don’t normally play via emulation, but after watching Willie’s “Arcade USA” video, I did the same with our PS4 controllers and Stella. My younger son really got into playing Robotron this way.?

 

 

Hadn't seen that one, will check it out after work.

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53 minutes ago, SpiceWare said:

I have a couple Playstation controllers paired with the Mac mini that drives my TV.

 

I went into Stella and configured the right analog stick of controller 0 as joystick P1:

 

I can now play Robotron 2084 using both analog sticks, works great!

 

Now we just need to get @GroovyBee to resurrect his GB-XC1 Playstation controller interface so we can do this on real hardware!

Thank you for testing this out Darrell! I was looking at a usb XBox 360 controller the other day and wondering if it was possible to configure to work on Robotron: 2084. I'll definitely give this a go next time we play.

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First let me pick my jaw off the floor. This is impressive!! I would have never thought Robotron would have existed on the VCS.

 

Am I the only one experiencing control issues in Stella? The SELECT key doesn't seem to work for me. Also, I can't seem to fire missiles. Even when I place the left difficulty on A, the continues to fire in the direction I was pressing when I set the left difficulty.

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38 minutes ago, DEBRO said:

Am I the only one experiencing control issues in Stella? The SELECT key doesn't seem to work for me. Also, I can't seem to fire missiles. Even when I place the left difficulty on A, the continues to fire in the direction I was pressing when I set the left difficulty.

It is me. My Stella had the fire button configured to a different button than normal.?‍♂️

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1 hour ago, SpiceWare said:

 

It's one of the reasons I bought a 7800, been bummed out that it was never released.

 

I have a total control plus playstation/playstation 2 to dreamcast adapter so I can play wireless and with two sticks, they are cheap and contain allmost nothing, they used to come with a plug so you could hook up a 9V power adapter for the wireless controllers that requires 5V, but guess the manufacturer saw the long threads of people complaining about the adapter "not working" so now they've removed the 5V regulator since no one figured out how to use it anyway and it was probably the most expensive part, I believe these are still being manufactured and sold by ems, and recently another company released a ps3/ps4 to dreamcast adapter,

 

so there are allready companies that could spit out an ps to atari adapter quickly if enough people showed interest,

 

write ems if you want an ps/ps2 adapter

http://www.hkems.com/m_main.htm

 

write brook if you want an ps3/ps4 adapter

https://www.brookaccessory.com/detail/47613739/

and inform them about this new game that will make alot of people want/need one

 

or any of the other millions of these adapter companies

 

I want both ? but any would do since this beast would take care of the rest and add wired xbox360 controller support

https://www.psxcare.com/universal-adapter-ultimate-for-xbox360-xbox-one-ps2-ps3-ps4-kontroller

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7 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

Thank you for testing this out Darrell! I was looking at a usb XBox 360 controller the other day and wondering if it was possible to configure to work on Robotron: 2084. I'll definitely give this a go next time we play.

Does anybody know if you can hook up an Xbox 360 controller to the Retron 77 using the USB wireless dongle?  I've gotten it to work on Retropie but was wondering if anybody had tried this... it would be a great way to play Robotron on the big screen! :D 

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This is a fantastic port, but I've noticed a bug with the dual joystick implementation.

 

If I'm shooting downwards, I can't move to the left diagonally up or down. Same thing with shooting down left diagonally. If I shoot down right, I can't move to the left at all.

 

Granted, I assume you've noticed this already and are working on a fix. Hope to see a second demo with this annoying bug fixed...

 

Please disregard everything in the strikethrough text...

Edited by bluswimmer
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1 hour ago, bluswimmer said:

If I'm shooting downwards, I can't move to the left diagonally up or down. Same thing with shooting down left diagonally. If I shoot down right, I can't move to the left at all.

 

Just confirmed that this works OK for me in Stella using both analog sticks on a PS3 controller

 

Are you by chance playing it via keyboard? If so you could be hitting a rollover limit.

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Found this thing, but I have no Idea if you can read two sticks from one port?

https://www.8bitdo.com/retro-receiver-genesis-mega-drive/

 

but also found this, which I didn't know about

 

If it's correct and it doesn't work, this should work:

https://www.8bitdo.com/retro-receiver-snes/

https://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/snes_to_db9/index.php

Edited by Lillapojkenpåön
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I have an X Arcade tank stick . I believe they still sell these although they are a bit expensive . It has Usb output . Maps to keyboard . 
This would work with Stella don’t know if it could be Configured to real hardware or retron 77

 

https://shop.xgaming.com/collections/arcade-joysticks/products/x-arcade-tankstick-trackball-usb-included?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp_uPg_rH6QIVXgiICR2QwQZ3EAAYASAAEgK_TvD_BwE

 

 

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1 hour ago, SpiceWare said:

Just confirmed that this works OK for me in Stella using both analog sticks on a PS3 controller

 

Are you by chance playing it via keyboard? If so you could be hitting a rollover limit.

I am playing via keyboard, but the strange thing is that the bug only crops up in those specific directions... I've tried to replicate the bug using some other games, but no luck so far.

 

Scratch that, I've managed to replicate the bug in other games. Likely a Stella issue, considering all other direction combos seem to work fine.

 

Wait, yeah, scratch that again! My keyboard is just stupid, apparently. Please ignore me. I swapped over to WASD for the second control stick and things seem to work fine now.

Edited by bluswimmer
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We'll be checking out an Exclusive WIP Update to Robotron: 2084 on today's (Wed May 27) ZeroPage Homebrew stream LIVE on Twitch at 6PM PT | 9PM ET | 1AM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!


Games:

 

1664270641_20200527-LetsPlay.thumb.jpg.387a599b9bfb7ed43e047299f0d51d14.jpg

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On 5/17/2020 at 9:31 PM, johnnywc said:

Hmmm, I'm not sure - can you kill multiple grunts with one shot in the arcade?  If so, I can easily change this.

My point wasn't that you can kill multiple GRUNTs but rather that they clutter up into a single space and I was meaning to ask if the cluttering was intentional, although I don't know if this was the case in the arcade version. Certainly in the 7800 version I've seen them get very close to each other but most the time they were still distinct.

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22 hours ago, Tangentg said:

My point wasn't that you can kill multiple GRUNTs but rather that they clutter up into a single space and I was meaning to ask if the cluttering was intentional, although I don't know if this was the case in the arcade version. Certainly in the 7800 version I've seen them get very close to each other but most the time they were still distinct.

As a lifelong arcade Robotron player, to me there's nothing more satisfying than rounding up an entire level worth of grunts, standing to one side of the screen, then just tearing into that blob of indistinguishable figures. Yeah, they overlap into a terrible mess, but it's great.

 

As a gamer and a developer, I'm stunned by the quality of these ChampGames titles. Spectacular. If only life could have been this good when Atari released Pac-Man.

Edited by Bradsco
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Would this SNES joypad to Atari converter work, allowing you movement with the directional control and the shooting with the four face buttons? https://www.raphnet-tech.com/products/snes_to_db9/index.php
I wouldn't due to the need for a joystick to be in the left controller port as well as the right. One directional pad or stick per controller. One controls character direction and the other the firing direction.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

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On 5/30/2020 at 2:52 PM, Prizrak said:

I wouldn't due to the need for a joystick to be in the left controller port as well as the right. One directional pad or stick per controller. One controls character direction and the other the firing direction.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

Would it be impossible to read two sticks from one port without overlapping bits? If so couldn't you make a version that reads them every other frame?

character direction

firing direction

character direction

firing direction

 

EDIT:

Or what if you got two 8bitdo receivers, and paired one dual stick controller to both of them, I'm gonna sell my edladdin and do some testing

Edited by Lillapojkenpåön
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I missed the live stream, I work during the airtime, does anyone have that updated WIP on them they can upload for me??? BTW, still no dice on Flashback 9 HDMI, I tried reloading the ROM and it still won't work, looks like I'll have to reacquire the Harmony Encore for my 2600 adapter for my 5200, BUMMER! Yet more proof that the Flashback 9 is NOT all it's cracked up to be, no Galagon demo (it didn't work on FB9 either) and now this, both won't work on FB9, that's it!

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Regarding the borrowed 7800 sounds, I kind of really hope you don't end up keeping them. I always thought the sound effects were the weakest aspect of the otherwise excellent 7800 port. They come across rather wimpy compared to the punchy arcade sounds.

 

My only other complaint would be the motion of the Hulks. They move too smoothly compared to the arcade Hulks, that moved in chunky steps.

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Nobody let me know of either the WIP update as talked about by @ZeroPage Homebrew on the most recent live stream I missed the broadcast of as it aired during my work schedule (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm weeknights), and where I can find it or about why this great game won't work on my Flashback 9 HDMI, I'm still waiting to play it but can't because it won't work on the FB9 and I don't yet have the $$$ to reacquire the Harmony Encore so I can play both it and also the demo to Galagon, in which also will not work on the Flashback 9.

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Nobody let me know of either the WIP update as talked about by [mention=37205]ZeroPage Homebrew[/mention] on the most recent live stream I missed the broadcast of as it aired during my work schedule (7:00 pm to 10:00 pm weeknights), and where I can find it or about why this great game won't work on my Flashback 9 HDMI, I'm still waiting to play it but can't because it won't work on the FB9 and I don't yet have the $$$ to reacquire the Harmony Encore so I can play both it and also the demo to Galagon, in which also will not work on the Flashback 9.
There's no WIP binaries other than the first one they released for the initial reveal on ZPH. Robotron will not work on anything other than Stella emulator and the Atari 2600 (VCS) via Harmony due to bank switching method used by the game that relies on Harmony to work. Stella is able to get around this by emulation. Other games like Galagon and WoW Arcade will also not work on any of the flashback devices.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

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3 hours ago, Prizrak said:

There's no WIP binaries other than the first one they released for the initial reveal on ZPH. Robotron will not work on anything other than Stella emulator and the Atari 2600 (VCS) via Harmony due to bank switching method used by the game that relies on Harmony to work. Stella is able to get around this by emulation. Other games like Galagon and WoW Arcade will also not work on any of the flashback devices.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

It's a bit more than the "bankswitching method".  These games use the ARM chip on the cartridge to provide extra processing power and memory - allowing the ARM to do a lot of grunt-work for forming a display that would otherwise be impossible on the '2600.  In other words, it's effectively a powerful coprocessor which opens up the machine to games which were not previously possible.

 

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It's a bit more than the "bankswitching method".  These games use the ARM chip on the cartridge to provide extra processing power and memory - allowing the ARM to do a lot of grunt-work for forming a display that would otherwise be impossible on the '2600.  In other words, it's effectively a powerful coprocessor which opens up the machine to games which were not previously possible.
 
Thanks Andrew, I neglected to mention that [emoji6] Those 3 games I mentioned in particular are ARM games.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

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