My brother just got me the 20th anniversary TRON dvd for my b-day and I was wondering when someone will port the arcade game of it to the 2600...How hard would that be? Could it be done on the supercharger? Or (in a feat of marketing genius) just make four different carts each with the different games and sell them in one package?......just wondering.....
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Tron 2600
Started by lhfreak, Mar 22 2003 10:23 AM
98 replies to this topic
#2 OFFLINE
MegaManFan
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Posted Sat Mar 22, 2003 10:18 PM
All jokes aside, I could actually see the game being developed and even working on the 2600. Movement with a joystick in port one, and a driving controller in port two to rotate the angle that Tron fires.
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Posted Sat Mar 22, 2003 10:47 PM
Or, perhaps, a double joystick setup ala-Robotron?
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Posted Sat Mar 22, 2003 10:48 PM
Yar said:
Or, perhaps, a double joystick setup ala-Robotron?
I really think the "spinning wheel" element has to be preserved if you want to call it Tron. The complexity of using both controllers at once is part of what makes it an arcade classic, just like Defender.
#5 OFFLINE
Yar
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Posted Sat Mar 22, 2003 10:51 PM
MegaManFan said:
Yar said:
Or, perhaps, a double joystick setup ala-Robotron?
I really think the "spinning wheel" element has to be preserved if you want to call it Tron. The complexity of using both controllers at once is part of what makes it an arcade classic, just like Defender.
You're probably right. Perhaps, in the Cycle segment, the driving controller could be used to adjust speed, instead of the joystick fire button, to make things a bit more interesting...
And Defender had two Joysticks?
I know, Robotron, just messing with you
#6 OFFLINE
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Posted Sun Mar 23, 2003 3:16 AM
I se nothing in those screenshots that could not be done. (at the moste, dropping colors (like the con trales of the light cycles)
But look at it lik this.
The Shot of the cart is awesome, I like the ripping of an actual poster and slaping it on.
The First Screen, being a title screen, should be perfectly fine as is, though I think someone would make the colors bands of the Atari Symbol Scroll, just so the screen wouldn't be completely static.
The second shot could use FireBall for the StarPath SuperCharger. I mean, think about it, it's perfect. Fireball already features a well animated guy running back and forth throwing fireballs at the breakout style blocks. (You might loose the checkered color patern in the blocks to simplify programming)
The third screen Just show a tunnle with a few blocks left in it, and have an automated guy walk up to the blue light beam. No controll elements are needed here.
The fourth shot As I said earlier, you'd probably loose the different colored light tails, but a game like Waring Worms would be an easy mod to make that level. Simply make the rest of the wall thinner than the leading head (and to keep true to the movie, the entire wall stays, untill the lead "cycle" is destroyed, the wall then fades)
The fifth screen, This looks a lot like Spider Fighter, with a representation of the MCP in the top center of the screen. Only thing here, you'd need the spiders to hurt, or push Tron back. Just for the sake of having something to do.
I'm aware there are no more screens, but for a sixth screen, I'd have a simple X shape over the whole screen, with a paddle at the top of the screen, in front of a single line of blocks, and your characture at the bottome of the screen. The paddle is computer controlled, to keep you from hitting the block wall above it, and your guy must keep throwing the ball untill he gets it past the paddle and the wall to "destroy" the MPC
If you want an ending, you could show a simple, vector type drawing of a landscape all in red, and have the computer randomely remove the red vectors and replace them with blue. Tron saves the computer world.
All in all, I see this game as not only possible, but easy to do in the right hands. Sure, there's a lot of various modes. But you could make a multi game cart, Gorf Style.
And If someone tackled that project, I'll guarantee, I'll be one of the first to grab a copy.
But look at it lik this.
The Shot of the cart is awesome, I like the ripping of an actual poster and slaping it on.
The First Screen, being a title screen, should be perfectly fine as is, though I think someone would make the colors bands of the Atari Symbol Scroll, just so the screen wouldn't be completely static.
The second shot could use FireBall for the StarPath SuperCharger. I mean, think about it, it's perfect. Fireball already features a well animated guy running back and forth throwing fireballs at the breakout style blocks. (You might loose the checkered color patern in the blocks to simplify programming)
The third screen Just show a tunnle with a few blocks left in it, and have an automated guy walk up to the blue light beam. No controll elements are needed here.
The fourth shot As I said earlier, you'd probably loose the different colored light tails, but a game like Waring Worms would be an easy mod to make that level. Simply make the rest of the wall thinner than the leading head (and to keep true to the movie, the entire wall stays, untill the lead "cycle" is destroyed, the wall then fades)
The fifth screen, This looks a lot like Spider Fighter, with a representation of the MCP in the top center of the screen. Only thing here, you'd need the spiders to hurt, or push Tron back. Just for the sake of having something to do.
I'm aware there are no more screens, but for a sixth screen, I'd have a simple X shape over the whole screen, with a paddle at the top of the screen, in front of a single line of blocks, and your characture at the bottome of the screen. The paddle is computer controlled, to keep you from hitting the block wall above it, and your guy must keep throwing the ball untill he gets it past the paddle and the wall to "destroy" the MPC
If you want an ending, you could show a simple, vector type drawing of a landscape all in red, and have the computer randomely remove the red vectors and replace them with blue. Tron saves the computer world.
All in all, I see this game as not only possible, but easy to do in the right hands. Sure, there's a lot of various modes. But you could make a multi game cart, Gorf Style.
And If someone tackled that project, I'll guarantee, I'll be one of the first to grab a copy.
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Posted Mon Mar 24, 2003 11:57 AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you forget the tanks screen?
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Posted Mon Mar 24, 2003 12:30 PM
The tank screen might even look OK if you substitute playgound Recognizers in all the tank levels (which already look kinda blocky). They'd move jerky, though. Same goes for the gridbugs. Those just sit around and multiply, much like Life. And the "progressive" level in Super Breakout is close to the MCP cone level. The lightcycles would definately need changing though...but even a round of Surround hacked in would suffice (it would be difficult to pull off the disappearing trails though...you would need to devote a lot of Ram to them that a regular 2600 doesn't have).
#9 OFFLINE
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Posted Mon Mar 24, 2003 5:16 PM
hmmm... lets see:
the light cycles really should be a no brainer.
just a thought there:
that game already has a grid, just change the colors to tron colors, drop the # of enemies to 1, then 2 (etc as per arcade,) and just have em color in grid sections as they go...
the level map is mostly a static screen, so it shouldnt be a problem.
this (from krull,) I think would make a great hack into the spider
level
when i first saw this game, I though 'thatd make a great tank scene from tron game'
and of course the break out scene is a no brainer. you could probably even get it to look similar to the arcade since it uses large color blocks, and rubics 3d shows that you can get 8 colors on one line in large color blocks. and the way that screen is drawn would fit in nicely with the scan line nature of drawing, basically tron would have the bottom area to himself so he could look reasonably good. just drop the brick colors to mono once he runs past them.
just some random thoughts...
the light cycles really should be a no brainer.
just a thought there:
that game already has a grid, just change the colors to tron colors, drop the # of enemies to 1, then 2 (etc as per arcade,) and just have em color in grid sections as they go...
the level map is mostly a static screen, so it shouldnt be a problem.
this (from krull,) I think would make a great hack into the spider
level
when i first saw this game, I though 'thatd make a great tank scene from tron game'
and of course the break out scene is a no brainer. you could probably even get it to look similar to the arcade since it uses large color blocks, and rubics 3d shows that you can get 8 colors on one line in large color blocks. and the way that screen is drawn would fit in nicely with the scan line nature of drawing, basically tron would have the bottom area to himself so he could look reasonably good. just drop the brick colors to mono once he runs past them.
just some random thoughts...
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2003 1:26 AM
re: rubics 3d shows that you can get 8 colors on one line in large color blocks
In other threads, there's explainations why it isn't practical to use that technique for a common game...timing being the biggest one, if I recall.
In other threads, there's explainations why it isn't practical to use that technique for a common game...timing being the biggest one, if I recall.
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2003 9:47 AM
even 4 or 6 would be good :-) just enough to giveyou the moving bars effect
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2003 5:45 PM
MegaManFan said:
Yar said:
Or, perhaps, a double joystick setup ala-Robotron?
I really think the "spinning wheel" element has to be preserved if you want to call it Tron. The complexity of using both controllers at once is part of what makes it an arcade classic, just like Defender.
I was just wondering if a Sears II in I controller could be adapted for this game since it has both a joystick and paddle feature? I don't know how the 2 in 1 works since I don't have one.
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2003 7:57 PM
I decided to take a shot at some 2600 mockups for Tron. A word of warning: I'm not a programmer, nor do I even play one on TV. So this stuff is bound to be wrong in some way or another. But I tried to base everything off of existing 2600 games.
The big problem, is that Tron's a vertical game. So these will look a bit squashed.
(Odd... I thought I'd posted earlier to this thread... but it doesn't seem to be here now.)
Anyway...
Here's a title screen. This is basically M-Network's, but with the logo changed a bit to more closely resemble the real one:
What it really needs is a game select screen. Oh well.
Here's the Tank game, 2600 style:
... and with Recognizers:
...and the arcade version.
Basically, I took a little Combat, a little Ms. Pac-Man, and a little Strategy X, and threw 'em together. As long as the enemy tanks don't cross horizontally, they shouldn't flicker. Maybe. (Edit - I've gone back in and added the transporter in the center, which wasn't there at first. I still don't know if it can be made pink or not, but at least it's there now.)
And here's the animation of the player's tank treads (swiped from Strategy X):
The Grid Bugs game, 2600:
...and the arcade version.
My idea here was the grid bugs are "grouped" horizontally and move like the space junk in Megamania (or something similar). I haven't added the timer, but that could just be replaced with a warning alarm when you have 10 seconds to go. Tron was swiped from Tron Deadly Discs.
The MCP, 2600:
...and arcade.
This is based mostly on Super Breakout. The "cone" part of the MCP would be done with color cycling, although I don't know if that's possible or not in this layout. It'd look cool though. The bricks don't rotate around the cylinder, but the whole MCP does move downward, threatening to crush the player. It might be possible to make the bricks "rotate" by having the ones that have been knocked out shift over one place at a time, to give that illusion. Dunno. Stuff scrolls in Super Cobra and Vanguard like that.
The 2600 Lightcycles:
...and arcade.
This is basically Surround (or Warring Worms). I don't know if sprites can be used for the Lightcycles or not, since I'm not quite sure how it was done in Warring Worms. But the speed of it would have to be much faster than Surround, and with decent AI, too.
The Lightcycle animation might look something like this:
And, since my earlier post seems to have been dumped into the void...
Regarding Nukey Shay's posts:
The MCP was contributed to by many programmers (he was worth "millions of their man-hours"). So he'd probably look like a combination of all of them. Hence, the somewhat generic face. (Actually, Triple-I had that face sitting around from a demo they'd done before. So that's what they used.)
As for why there weren't more programs looking like Flynn (and the others) running around... a lot of what he'd programmed were games, so they'd look like games (tanks, lightcycles, etc.). If he created more programs that were directly used by him (like Clu) then there'd be more programs that looked him. So maybe the programs take on the appearance of whoever uses them the most - the more the programmer interacted directly with a program, the more it looked like them. Or something equally geeky. Or maybe they were just off camera.
If you want to really play Lightcycles though, check out glTron. It's extremely cool, and free.
Edit: arcade screenshots changed to external links, since ten-image limit was exceeded.
The big problem, is that Tron's a vertical game. So these will look a bit squashed.
(Odd... I thought I'd posted earlier to this thread... but it doesn't seem to be here now.)
Anyway...
Here's a title screen. This is basically M-Network's, but with the logo changed a bit to more closely resemble the real one:
What it really needs is a game select screen. Oh well.
Here's the Tank game, 2600 style:
... and with Recognizers:
...and the arcade version.
Basically, I took a little Combat, a little Ms. Pac-Man, and a little Strategy X, and threw 'em together. As long as the enemy tanks don't cross horizontally, they shouldn't flicker. Maybe. (Edit - I've gone back in and added the transporter in the center, which wasn't there at first. I still don't know if it can be made pink or not, but at least it's there now.)
And here's the animation of the player's tank treads (swiped from Strategy X):
The Grid Bugs game, 2600:
...and the arcade version.
My idea here was the grid bugs are "grouped" horizontally and move like the space junk in Megamania (or something similar). I haven't added the timer, but that could just be replaced with a warning alarm when you have 10 seconds to go. Tron was swiped from Tron Deadly Discs.
The MCP, 2600:
...and arcade.
This is based mostly on Super Breakout. The "cone" part of the MCP would be done with color cycling, although I don't know if that's possible or not in this layout. It'd look cool though. The bricks don't rotate around the cylinder, but the whole MCP does move downward, threatening to crush the player. It might be possible to make the bricks "rotate" by having the ones that have been knocked out shift over one place at a time, to give that illusion. Dunno. Stuff scrolls in Super Cobra and Vanguard like that.
The 2600 Lightcycles:
...and arcade.
This is basically Surround (or Warring Worms). I don't know if sprites can be used for the Lightcycles or not, since I'm not quite sure how it was done in Warring Worms. But the speed of it would have to be much faster than Surround, and with decent AI, too.
The Lightcycle animation might look something like this:
And, since my earlier post seems to have been dumped into the void...
Regarding Nukey Shay's posts:
The MCP was contributed to by many programmers (he was worth "millions of their man-hours"). So he'd probably look like a combination of all of them. Hence, the somewhat generic face. (Actually, Triple-I had that face sitting around from a demo they'd done before. So that's what they used.)
As for why there weren't more programs looking like Flynn (and the others) running around... a lot of what he'd programmed were games, so they'd look like games (tanks, lightcycles, etc.). If he created more programs that were directly used by him (like Clu) then there'd be more programs that looked him. So maybe the programs take on the appearance of whoever uses them the most - the more the programmer interacted directly with a program, the more it looked like them. Or something equally geeky. Or maybe they were just off camera.
If you want to really play Lightcycles though, check out glTron. It's extremely cool, and free.
Edit: arcade screenshots changed to external links, since ten-image limit was exceeded.
Edited by Nathan Strum, Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:29 PM.
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2003 8:13 PM
Woah, those are some excellent mockups! Probably very close to what Tron might have looked like if a 2600 version had ever been made.
The MCP cone would probably be a lot narrower though. In the arcade version there's only 6 blocks visible at any given time, which could easily be done with a player (remember the scrolling blocks in Yars' Revenge?).
The MCP cone would probably be a lot narrower though. In the arcade version there's only 6 blocks visible at any given time, which could easily be done with a player (remember the scrolling blocks in Yars' Revenge?).
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Posted Wed Mar 26, 2003 3:25 AM
ZylonBane said:
Woah, those are some excellent mockups! Probably very close to what Tron might have looked like if a 2600 version had ever been made.
Thanks! I tried to make them look right, even if I have no idea whether or not they could actually be programmed.
ZylonBane said:
The MCP cone would probably be a lot narrower though. In the arcade version there's only 6 blocks visible at any given time, which could easily be done with a player (remember the scrolling blocks in Yars' Revenge?).
Easy enough...
(moments pass)
All changed. I made the blocks thicker, too.
I'd forgotten about the blocks in Yars' Revenge. That's a good example of what I was trying to describe about the scrolling effect. But with more colors.
#16 OFFLINE
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Posted Wed Mar 26, 2003 11:04 AM
those are cool :-) I still think some horizontal color variation could be done in the mcp section tho :-) and the gradient walls of tanks but no tanks at least somewhat simulate the cool digital look of the walls in the arcade tank. But those are minor things. :-) so who will make 2600 tron for us all? :-)
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Posted Sat Mar 29, 2003 3:41 PM
I worked with someone on making a really cool Light Cycle game, we got to the point of changing some colors around in Surround, but we didnt get any further. But I did hack TRON into Pink Floyd Adventure.
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Posted Tue Nov 1, 2005 5:50 AM
I voted for Tron. 
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Posted Wed Nov 2, 2005 5:05 AM
Nathan Strum, on Tue Nov 1, 2005 6:50 AM, said:
I voted for Tron.
The real issue with Tron is not if it's possible to program, but how to control it. Removing the spinner or replacing it with something else would be heresy. Plus, you just can't play it without one hand on a joystick and the other on a spinner. A joystick and driving controller don't cut it since you need two hands for a 2600 joystick.
Any ideas?
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Posted Wed Nov 2, 2005 8:34 AM
batari, on Wed Nov 2, 2005 4:05 AM, said:
The real issue with Tron is not if it's possible to program, but how to control it. Removing the spinner or replacing it with something else would be heresy. Plus, you just can't play it without one hand on a joystick and the other on a spinner. A joystick and driving controller don't cut it since you need two hands for a 2600 joystick.
Any ideas?
Any ideas?
Probably the best approach would be to offer multiple control schemes on the same cart.
I agree the only real way to play Tron is with a trigger joystick and a spinner. So for the 2600 version, and option for that is a must. People could pick up a used Wico bat-handle (or similar), and hook up a paddle or driving controller to the second port. A little ungainly to hang onto a paddle with one hand, but that's what velcro is for.
Then there could be an option for the foot-pedal controller (to replace the spinner) and a standard joystick. Like Thrust+ DC Platinum Deluxe Special Limited Edition... uh... Edition.
Then a couple of joystick-only (heresy) options:
Robotron style (dual joystick): One to move, the other shoots.
Berzerk/Combat style (single joystick): Berzerk for the Grid Bugs and MCP, Combat for the tanks. This would be the most limiting, but almost certainly would have to be an option, just to cover all bases.
#21 OFFLINE
legeek
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Posted Tue Nov 8, 2005 11:02 AM
I like the cut of your jib sir!
another nice option might be for using a starplex controller in the second port. two buttons for rotation another for fire and using the first joystick just for movement (preferably with suction cups)
Cheers,
Ben
Probably the best approach would be to offer multiple control schemes on the same cart.
I agree the only real way to play Tron is with a trigger joystick and a spinner. So for the 2600 version, and option for that is a must. People could pick up a used Wico bat-handle (or similar), and hook up a paddle or driving controller to the second port. A little ungainly to hang onto a paddle with one hand, but that's what velcro is for.
Then there could be an option for the foot-pedal controller (to replace the spinner) and a standard joystick. Like Thrust+ DC Platinum Deluxe Special Limited Edition... uh... Edition.
Then a couple of joystick-only (heresy) options:
Robotron style (dual joystick): One to move, the other shoots.
Berzerk/Combat style (single joystick): Berzerk for the Grid Bugs and MCP, Combat for the tanks. This would be the most limiting, but almost certainly would have to be an option, just to cover all bases.
another nice option might be for using a starplex controller in the second port. two buttons for rotation another for fire and using the first joystick just for movement (preferably with suction cups)
Cheers,
Ben
Nathan Strum, on Wed Nov 2, 2005 10:34 AM, said:
batari, on Wed Nov 2, 2005 4:05 AM, said:
The real issue with Tron is not if it's possible to program, but how to control it. Removing the spinner or replacing it with something else would be heresy. Plus, you just can't play it without one hand on a joystick and the other on a spinner. A joystick and driving controller don't cut it since you need two hands for a 2600 joystick.
Any ideas?
Any ideas?
Probably the best approach would be to offer multiple control schemes on the same cart.
I agree the only real way to play Tron is with a trigger joystick and a spinner. So for the 2600 version, and option for that is a must. People could pick up a used Wico bat-handle (or similar), and hook up a paddle or driving controller to the second port. A little ungainly to hang onto a paddle with one hand, but that's what velcro is for.
Then there could be an option for the foot-pedal controller (to replace the spinner) and a standard joystick. Like Thrust+ DC Platinum Deluxe Special Limited Edition... uh... Edition.
Then a couple of joystick-only (heresy) options:
Robotron style (dual joystick): One to move, the other shoots.
Berzerk/Combat style (single joystick): Berzerk for the Grid Bugs and MCP, Combat for the tanks. This would be the most limiting, but almost certainly would have to be an option, just to cover all bases.
#22 OFFLINE
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Posted Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:09 PM
I love TRON and here's my way of showing it. If Tron arcade will be made then here's my take on the diffent labels for the game.
Attached Thumbnails
#23 OFFLINE
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Posted Tue Nov 29, 2005 6:11 PM
Or the Live Action images from the Arcade may fit as well. What ever you guys like.
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#24 OFFLINE
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Posted Sun Dec 18, 2005 9:45 PM
As far as controls, just have several options on one cart. But of course you would be best off with some type of homeade coupler for a driving controller on the left and a Joystick with a booster grip on the right. Because that is all you really need is a spinner and a joystick with a trigger on the top.
Would that even be possible with how the booster grip plugs in? I have one and it looks like it has a pass thru connector, but not sure of the pinout.
Would that even be possible with how the booster grip plugs in? I have one and it looks like it has a pass thru connector, but not sure of the pinout.
#25 OFFLINE
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Posted Tue May 23, 2006 2:26 PM
Ok...
So Can Someone Hack Surround To Look Like Tron?
And Have A Tron Color Scheme? (Blueish)
And Have The LightCycles Be Blue And Yellow?
So Can Someone Hack Surround To Look Like Tron?
And Have A Tron Color Scheme? (Blueish)
And Have The LightCycles Be Blue And Yellow?
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