my 2600 can't play Kool-aid man?

[Csonicgo]

What type of VCS are you using? It seems that some of the later 2600s and 7800s are incompatible with Kool Aid Man. The code to position the score display is pretty wierd. On some 2600s this results in the score digits being positioned on top of each other. This constantly triggers the collision detection, and therefore Kool Aid Man constandly bounces around uncontrolable.  

 

The same thing happens on the emulators too. In z26 we have to cheat a bit to get Kool Aid Man to play properly.  

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

 

When I saw this, I was shocked.

 

Ok, on the back of my 2600, I have...

 Manufactured for Atari, Inc. by

TRW Electronic Components 

Company in Taiwan

Model No. CX-2600 A

FCC No. TV-707

S.N. 81624343

 

What the heck is going on here? Can someone give me some info on this?

[hepcat]

A possible non-technical solution: Check the difficulty switches. I think they turn pause on and off for this game.

 

--Jason

[Csonicgo]

I just noticed something about my serial- the first two digits tell the year, correct? the first two digits are 81.... but it's a 2600 A!

 

:twilight zone music plays:

[moycon]

Adjust your difficulty switches and try again. That might be your only issue. Altho I have heard Kool-Aid wont play on some 7800's.

[Csonicgo]

Well, I was talking to the the tech dude, he thinks I have either a pirated atari or a prototype....

[vanman]

i dont get it, i start off Out of control, then I get sugar, then After the song stops I lose control agian Help!

[Csonicgo]

I plugged up my other atari- it's working fine now--- the other atari is now known as "possessed".

[Eckhard Stolberg]

No, we're not talking about the messed up graphics in the title screen when you start up the VCS with the difficulty switch, that serves as a pause switch in Kool Aid Man, in the 'pause' position. We are talking about the problem where Kool Aid Man is constandly bouncing in the top left corner on some consoles.

 

The problem happens, because Kool Aid Man uses some unusual code to position the sprites for the score display. On some 2600s this results in the score digits being positioned on top of each other. Therefore the game constandly detects a collision between the sprites and behaves as if Kool Aid Man was constandly colliding with the thirsties.

 

For me this happens on one of my PAL 'long rainbow' 2600 Jrs, and on all my PAL 7800s. All these consoles were manufactured in China after 1989, so I was suspecting that it might be a small difference in the TIA chips that were used at the time. But since the problem occurs for Csonicgo on one of his 2600-As as well, it might be caused by something different.

 

Vanman, what model of the VCS do you have problems playing Kool Aid Man on?

 

BTW, judging by the screen shots of Anteater the same code for positioning the score digits is used resulting in the same incorrect positions on the emulators. I don't know if there are any problems with playing the game though, since I've never seen it in action.

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg