Taito Arcade -> Atari 2600 port II

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

Since the first Taito poll was so totally dominated by Qix, here's a selection of "before Qix" titles to choose from.

 

(Note to Smartass: If you think TPS is good enough already, simply don't vote for Lunar Rescue, ok? )

[ZylonBane]

Since I've never heard of half these games, some KLOV links...

 

Field Goal

Lunar Rescue

Space Chaser

Straight Flush

Balloon Bomber

Indian Battle

Lupin III

Space Laser

Grand Champion

Rock Climber

[Cybergoth]

Thanks for posting these! The poll will run the whole month so no need to hurry. I picked only MAME'd games, some are really worth checking them out

 

I'm three-way tied between Lunar Rescue, Balloon Bomber and Indian Battle.

I think I'll go with Indian Battle, because it's so incredibly un-PC

[+Nathan Strum]

I had to vote for Grand Champion - solely because just a few weeks ago (thanks to a picture in my old High School yearbook) I discovered that was the racing game in the store where I used to hang out and spend my lunch money. For 20+ years, I had thought it was actually Monaco GP.

 

Besides, the 2600 could always use more racing games.

[Cybergoth]

I always thought Taitos Grand Champion, Segas Monaco GP and Midways Super Speed Race were pretty much just cloning each other. It's hard to tell, because emulation of these three seems still far from "working". (Either that or I'm too dumb to configure the controls )

[Cybergoth]

Ding, ding, here's the half-time bell. Wow, those early Taito games must really be unknown territory to discover for some

 

Also our resident Taito expert NE146 is still on winter vacation it seems

[rheffera]

can someone describe indian battle in more detail other than the KLOV description?

[Cybergoth]

There's two scenes:

 

The first one is the desert scene with the cacti and the rocks. You space invaderish control the cowboy at the bottom, shooting attacking indians. They return fire throwing tomahawks, or kill you with when touching you. There's also a couple of stage coaches driving left to right above the cowboy, that will shield in both ways. And then there's birds flying around that will throw down snake eggs. When those hatch and you touch them, they'll bite you in the foot. The indians will duck and cover in the scenery.

 

In the second scene, you try to catch a couple of cows with your lassoo. There's a timer running and if you catch all, you get a bonus score.

 

At least that's the bits I remember... Weird how fast I forget things... After all I'm still holding the World Record on it

[vdub_bobby]

Played all of them I could find ROMs for (which didn't include Indian Battle and Field Goal).

 

Lunar Rescue is Lunar Rescue.

Space Chaser is a Dodge 'Em hack.

Straight Flush is a weird card/breakout hybrid.

Balloon Bomber is a pretty cool shooter.

Lupin III is a maze game - grab the money from the top and take it to the bottom. Use hyperspace (!) to escape tight squeezes. Moves pretty slow.

Space Laser is kind of interesting though very shallow.

Grand Champion is pretty cool, kinda like Spy Hunter without the guns or water...ok, maybe it isn't like Spy Hunter.

Rock Climber is weird; kinda like Crazy Climber with odd controls.

 

Of those, I'd pick Balloon Bomber and Grand Champion, maybe Lupin III with a speed up hack. I'll vote...Grand Champion. There are more shooters than racing games on the 2600.

[Cybergoth]

Space Chaser is a Dodge 'Em hack.

 

No, Ms. Pac-Man

[vdub_bobby]

Why Ms. Pac-Man?

[Cybergoth]

The Dodge 'Em car just goes around in circles, it won't chase you like the rocket in Space Chaser. Also in higher levels there's two rockets

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Isn't This Planet Sucks a Lunar Rescue port?

[Lucky Man]

Looks like a few good ones there, but I'll have to go with Lunar Rescue. I like This Planet Sucks, but really miss the ability to shoot the alien saucers on my way back up to the ship.

[vdub_bobby]

The Dodge 'Em car just goes around in circles, it won't chase you like the rocket in Space Chaser.

Well sure, otherwise you wouldn't even need to hack Dodge 'Em, you'd just have to squint and pretend that your car is a spaceship.

 

Also in higher levels there's two rockets

Hmmmm. I still think it's a Dodge 'Em hack. Just flicker at 30 Hz for a cheap hack, dive into the kernel to add intelliflicker if you are ambitious.

[+SpiceWare]

Also in higher levels there's two rockets

Hmmmm. I still think it's a Dodge 'Em hack. Just flicker at 30 Hz for a cheap hack, dive into the kernel to add intelliflicker if you are ambitious.

Dodge 'em already does the 30 Hz flicker - a 2nd car is added on the 3rd screen. Edited January 19, 2007 by SpiceWare

[Cybergoth]

So you guys prefer AI coding over intelligent flicker?

[NE146]

Ding, ding, here's the half-time bell. Wow, those early Taito games must really be unknown territory to discover for some

 

Also our resident Taito expert NE146 is still on winter vacation it seems

I'm here! I thought I had voted on this already..

 

Wow I'll be honest when I say the only games I have a childhood familiarity with is Space Chaser, Lunar Rescue, & Balloon Bomber. I'm sure I've played Grand Champion but to be honest a lot of the racing games looked just the same back then as well with some minor difference here and there (lightning, tunnels, foglights, rain, whatever). I guess for this poll i.e. "for a new 2600 game", although my bias says Space Chaser, I guess we have enough dot-eaters on the 2600 as much as I hate to admit it.

 

Balloon Bomber since that might translate nicely and easily. Have you ever seen the Balloon Bomber "remix" on the PSP version of Taito Legends? Crazy Balloon is also on there for that matter.... no Space Chaser though. I had to make my own version.. see pics

 

Space Chaser is a Dodge 'Em hack.

 

Look man. Space Chaser is more Pacman than Dodge Em. The rockets follow you around, just like the ghosts. That being said, I guess in Dodge Em if you could make the opposing car start taking whatever direction it wants to get to you (and slow it down) it could be a decent starting point. I dont know. Incidentally Space Chaser is the one game where I started learning patterns to clear the boards. That carried over to Pacman as well

[Cybergoth]

Oh, is that a PS emulator for the PSP?

[ZylonBane]

I'll tell you what it is. It's a picture that's 1600x1200 resolution, yet indecipherably blurry.

 

Now that's irony.