2600 side scrolling platformer

[Mark2008]

I spent a day, and did a 2600 side scrolling demo on the 2600. To me...its encouraging that it should work, and could potentially be made out into a game.

 

But a couple questions... I know the 2600 had a side scrolling shooter or two (Vanguard, Defender)....

and it had platformers....

 

but did it have a side scrolling platformer (both)?

 

Also.... how smooth on the side scrolling do people demand on a 2600? My 2600 demo, doesn't look nearly as smooth as the colecovision version....and of course, the colecovision scrolls by 1/256th of the screen at a time, and the 2600 version is scrolling at 1/32nd of the screen at a time.

 

Did Vanguard do better on the scrolling? Actually the scrolling in many commercial colecovision games, was a bit jerky (not 1/256th of the screen anyway)....so...I'm hoping that it will be good enough.

 

Also, just a kind of facetious question, but how to you program the 2600 and not go mad, at the same time. :-)

 

It was quite maddening, lol.

[SeaGtGruff]

I know the 2600 had a side scrolling shooter or two (Vanguard, Defender)....

and it had platformers....

 

but did it have a side scrolling platformer (both)?

What about "Mountain King"? It was a platformer that scrolled in all directions.

 

Also.... how smooth on the side scrolling do people demand on a 2600? My 2600 demo, doesn't look nearly as smooth as the colecovision version....and of course, the colecovision scrolls by 1/256th of the screen at a time, and the 2600 version is scrolling at 1/32nd of the screen at a time.

It doesn't really matter what people "demand," since their demands can't change what the 2600 is capable of!

 

I think coarse scrolling looks better when it's done faster rather than slower, but obviously it won't look as "natural" if it's too fast, so you have to try for something that's fast enough to look good (which should also make it more challenging), but not so fast that it looks like it's in "fast forward."

 

There may also be some tricks to help improve the scrolling. For example, if you could position the ball just right, and move it either two or four steps for every one step of the playfield, then it would look like the playfield is scrolling either two or one color clocks at a time. Of course, the problem is that there's only one ball, and you can't display multiple copies of it-- you can trigger new copies of it, but you can't move the copies nicely if you do that. However, perhaps you could use flicker to display two moving balls at the same time, so the leading and trailing edges of a platform could seem to scroll more finely.

 

Another possibility is to use one of the missiles, set to the same color as the playfield, and set to two copies, spaced just far enough to act as the leading and trailing edges of a scrolling platform.

 

I also wonder if the playfield could be flickered to produce "in-between frames"? It might look a bit annoying if it weren't brief enough, but it might look like "motion blur" if it were done well.

 

Did Vanguard do better on the scrolling?

No, it has coarse scrolling. It actually doesn't look *too* bad, probably because your focus needs to stay on the enemies, so the scrolling of the tunnel is sort of in the background and your eyes usually don't try to follow its movement.

 

Also, just a kind of facetious question, but how to you program the 2600 and not go mad, at the same time. :-)

 

It was quite maddening, lol.

Maybe you have that backward-- (1) you have to already be mad to want to program the 2600, and (2) how do you go mad and not program the 2600 at the same time?

 

Michael

[+Nathan Strum]

Stargate uses a nice trick to get smooth scrolling. But it really limits the terrain you can use. Thrust+ also has pretty smooth-looking scrolling, too.

[supercat]

but did it have a side scrolling platformer (both)?

 

Splatform?

[vdub_bobby]

Besides those mentioned above...

 

Reindeer Rescue

Jungle Hunt (sort of)

Moon Patrol (sort of)

 

Other side-scrolling games of note:

Star Wars: TESB

Stampede

Barnstorming

Snoopy and The Red Baron

Chopper Command

Defender

Dolphin

[+Nathan Strum]

Megaforce is another. It seems to use all sprites for scrolling.

[vdub_bobby]

IMO, the key to a good 2600 side-scroller is to recognize the limitations of the machine and use them in creative ways.

 

Trying to make Super Mario Bros. 2600 just isn't going to turn out real well. But, on the other hand, the striped playfield and delayed-scroll of Thrust+ look great.