Atari 2600 Centipede Hack/Hombrew?

[twallstbroker]

I always loved Centipede for the Atari 2600 and played it for hours growing up.  However, I felt it needed some tweaking to make it great and more similar to the arcade version.  I know the Atari 2600 had its limits but the Activision programmers could do wonders with the Atari 2600.  They could do things with the Atari 2600 that it was never intended to do graphically.  If there is a good hacker/programmer out there that could make some small changes to the Atari 2600 Centipede - I would want to see the following:

 

1) Make the Big Block that shoots at the bottom of the screen a little smaller & Diamond shaped - preferably yellow in color to contrast against the other items on the screen.

 

2) This is a game where I think a nice box screen border would help it look more like the arcade.

 

3) Make the mushrooms look more like mushroooms. 

 

See my ideal version of Atari 2600 Centipede as it should have come out (picture).  Hopefully, some programmer can answer the call and create a BIN file to download.

[Arenafoot]

On 1/29/2021 at 5:52 PM, twallstbroker said:

I always loved Centipede for the Atari 2600 and played it for hours growing up.  However, I felt it needed some tweaking to make it great and more similar to the arcade version.  I know the Atari 2600 had its limits but the Activision programmers could do wonders with the Atari 2600.  They could do things with the Atari 2600 that it was never intended to do graphically.  If there is a good hacker/programmer out there that could make some small changes to the Atari 2600 Centipede - I would want to see the following:

 

1) Make the Big Block that shoots at the bottom of the screen a little smaller & Diamond shaped - preferably yellow in color to contrast against the other items on the screen.

 

2) This is a game where I think a nice box screen border would help it look more like the arcade.

 

3) Make the mushrooms look more like mushroooms. 

 

See my ideal version of Atari 2600 Centipede as it should have come out (picture).  Hopefully, some programmer can answer the call and create a BIN file to download.

I agree with you!

 

Have you ever played (or seen) the GCC Millipede prototype for the 2600? The graphics are awesome for that time!

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Arenafoot

[+splendidnut]

Hmmm, mushrooms that look like mushrooms, and a screen border?  Sounds like you are looking for the Atari 7800 version of Centipede.  Or if you don't care about the border, the 5200 version.

 

It would be a somewhat difficult task to do better looking mushrooms on the Atari 2600.  The current version uses playfield pixels (4px wide) for them... which would have to be converted to sprites to gain resolution.  And then you'd have too many sprites on a line.  Lots of flicker

 

It could potentially be done using a 32-char text kernel... but it would still be flickery, and would it really be worth the effort?  You're really talking about a rewrite from scratch as opposed to a simple hack.  It might be a fun project for someone to do.

 

Activision games looked great because they really focused on what creative things they could do within the hardware constraints.  They really designed the games for the hardware.

Edited February 4, 2021 by splendidnut

[+DrVenkman]

These aren't graphics hacks, but there are Trak-Ball hacks for these already which makes them EMINENTLY more playable and enjoyable. See the first post in this thread for links. 

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/243453-atari-2600-trak-ball-games/

[Thomas Jentzsch]

On 1/30/2021 at 12:52 AM, twallstbroker said:

1) Make the Big Block that shoots at the bottom of the screen a little smaller & Diamond shaped - preferably yellow in color to contrast against the other items on the screen.

 

2) This is a game where I think a nice box screen border would help it look more like the arcade.

 

3) Make the mushrooms look more like mushroooms. 

3) is definitely not feasible and the other two only with compromises.

I am sure Atari would have done what you suggest if it would have been feasible.  

[+SpiceWare]

On 2/4/2021 at 8:01 AM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

3) is definitely not feasible and the other two only with compromises.

 

yep:

 

1) is doable, as seen in the GCC version of Millipede that @Arenafoot posted, but will increase flicker:

 

 

2) is doable as well but, as seen in this quick hack of Centipede, it would look crappy due to the HMOVE bars on the left. Plus it likely will have to remain the same color as the mushrooms due to kernel timing constraints:

 

 

 

3) no way José

 

Back in the day my first take upon seeing a friend's kid brother playing 2600 Centipede was yuck as I'd already moved onto computers with my VIC 20 and was used to playing Video Vermin.  Now that I'm familiar with the ins-and-outs of 2600 development I can appreciate Centipede for the excellent accomplishment that it was.