AtariAge Forums: AtariAge Forums -> atari2600land's Blog

So, I'm not one that cares all that much about Adult Swim. The only shows I care about are Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force (and the Brak Show, before the morons cancelled it.) but I've added another one. I was flipping through the channels when I came across "Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job." After watching it, I have become obsessed with finding it on DVD and watching it over and over again. The particular episode I came across was the one with Patrick Duffy's Mannip. After wondering if it really was Patrick Duffy, I found myself glued to the set until it was over. To be fair, I came across the same episode that aired earlier and wondered wtf? (the same episode but it was the ending with the part with the "local access" program), but it was the airing @ the 4am hour that got me hooked on the show. I wonder why they keep airing Squidbillies when it's clear there's not going to be any new episodes. And I really can't stand King...

Company: Kemco
Release Date: June 2001 (launch title)
Size: 32 Megabits
NP's rating: 2.5/5 (vol. 145 p. 119)
ESRB rating: E

Finally, a game I can agree with the rating NP gave! After playing this for a half-hour, it's kind of an interesting game, but I noticed a few flaws, one of them being the helpful turn warnings stay on longer than needed, making the car go into the grass (or beyond the side of the track). Another one is that the cars seem like they speed up after the first lap. I know this because I made a simple oval track in the track editor (yes Virginia, there is a track editor) and sure enough, the cars did speed up after the first lap. Why? Even with these few major flaws, it's better than GT Advance Championship Racing. While most of these launch titles I most definitely will not play ever again, I can see myself maybe wanting to play this again, which is a huge compliment coming from me. After this one, I only have one more launch title: Army Men Advance....

Now you can actually see what I look like...well, kind of. I drew a picture of myself, scanned it and voila. This after a comment made that it's time for a new profile picture. My hair is always messed up. I try to comb it down as best I can when I go outside, but there seems to always be a part of the hair that sticks up funny. And my moustache is less filled out than my picture shows. And I forgot to add my shoulders, so I quickly drew those in, and it made me look like I have a tank top on, which is fitting because it's supposed to be 70 degrees on Saturday, or so they say. And I ran out of lollipops. I tried eating a chocolate one, but god, have you tried a Chocolate Tootsie Pop? I can describe it in one word: Barf! They should just make a whole bag of red ones. I mean, who eats Orange and Grape ones? Anyone?

Company: Midway
Release Date: June 2001 (launch title)
Size: 32 Megabits
NP's Rating: 2.5/5 (v.145 p. 119)
ESRB Rating: E

For those of you following along at home (or at work where you're not supposed to), you may have noticed a trend in my GBA Chronogaming blog section: I don't like very many of these games. Well, you can add this list to the sucks pile. Basically what it is is random button-mashing, hoping (and it does get your hopes up) that one of the punches hits the computer. Once I got knocked out in round one and the countdown started, i turned it off in disgust. Mind you this was even on easy mode. I am really wondering whether I should continue this. I mean, the GBA is an amazing handheld system, but as it turns out, I guess I don't like very many games for it. The only games I've even come close to liking are Konami Krazy Racers, Super Mario Advance, and ChuChu Rocket.

up next: Top Gear GT Championship

I actually had Bank Heist, so I don't need to look for it. I just forgot to put it on the list. Jawbreaker arrived today. It was in kind of bad shape. The end label was missing, and the game didn't want to work at first. So I cleaned it a little bit. Got the title screen, but once I pressed the reset switch the game zonked out on me. I finally got it working another cleaning later. This is another case of a game being easier using buttons on a keyboard in an emulator than by using a joystick and playing in real life. Anyway, poor Mom. She went up to Portland with my sister's family. Here it is 5:30 and she's still up there. And then it takes an hour to drive back to Salem, and then Mom has to drive back home. She just called me to tell me she's still in Portland. Luckily, I was awake at the time. I had just gotten up from sleeping on the couch and my ear hurt. The pain was intense at first, but then it went away. How weird.

While I was finished with the program, I wasn't completely thrilled with it. The "press 1 to go first" and "press 2 to go second" messages stayed on throughout the whole game. So, I went back to programming the game. It took about an hour or two, but I finally got those messages off once play begins. So, now I'm happy with the way things have been going regarding this game, but if I look at the game for a longer period, I might see some things I want to change. I'm a perfectionist, even when it comes to programming games nobody except me will play. So if you have a TI-83+ or compatible calc, you can program the game here. And for those of you who don't have one, I've included a screenshot of the game at the end. The main reason I bought my TI-84+ is to program games on it. I had a TI-83+ once, but I sold it to someone on this forum (I don't remember who, though.)

Company: KonamiRelease Date: June 2001Size: 64 MegabitsNP's rating: 5/5 (v.146 p.114)ESRB rating: T - mild violence, animated bloodThis game is not worthy enough to use to wipe my butt with. It's another one of those games where I can't pass level 1. And you only get one life? Fail. How is one supposed to defeat the poison worms on the ground if you can't whip them? How in the hell are you supposed to know when that stupid Earth Demon is going to attack? Why is the game so f---in' hard? This has to be one of the worst video games I have ever played, not just in this blog, but for all my 27 years of life. I have to go now, I'm going to play E.T. and Pac-Man on my Atari 2600.up next: Either Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 or Top Gear GT Championship Racing.

I've updated atari2600land.com with a list of 2k games. Right now, I seem to be fascinated with 2k Atari 2600 games. I just think it's cool that you can make a game that only takes up 2 kilobytes and have it be fun at the same time. Case in point: Bowling. And what's more, I think it's better than the Wii Sports version because you can steer the ball after you throw it. And, you don't have to swing your arm at a sensor bar. I also enjoy programming 2k 2600 games. Case in point: Video Pencil. I know, the title of the topic is Virtual Pencil, but I meant video. Since the name of the game doesn't appear in the binary, I guess I could call it Granny's Grapefruit Garden and no one would be the wiser. Maybe I should PM Shawn Sr. and see if he'd like to publish this. It'd be the first 2k game published since, I guess Wizard, which wasn't released at all. I don't know, when was the last professional 2k 2600 game made (and which one was it)?...

I gave up on NES programming. It's too hard. So instead what I'm going to do is try to port NES games to the 2600. Since the only drawing program on the VCS is Stell-a-Sketch, I'm trying my hand at porting Videomation to the 2600. Basically what Videomation is is Mario Paint for the NES. After a few hours of tinkering, I got the music for the title screen working. It's the same song as the NES version, but in a different key. Once you press fire, you can draw. Move the marker with the joystick and press fire to put the marker to the paper. Pressing the reset switch erases your picture. But I have a little problem. The only diagonal direction you can use is up+right, and I'm wondering why that is, so if any bB users can take a look at my code and see what the heck I'm doing wrong here, I'd very much appreciate it. I've also attached the binary so you can see what I'm talking about. Up next for this project is being able to change colors with the...

OK, so I thought I'd begin NES programming by making a simple blue screen as my first project. After downloading tons of different emulators and apps, and reading tons of sites about NES programming and what to type, etc. I can't even do that simple task. Now, I am a visual learner, and I learn by examples: tweaking them to fit my needs, etc. And I can't really do that because some sites say to do different things. My ultimate goal is to make a version of Zoop for the NES. I think that would take about 50 years now, and that's if I ever figure out what the heck i'm doing wrong. So basically this blog entry is a cry for help.