36 replies to this topic

[Bountybob]

yuppicide, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:38 AM, said:

I wish someone could do Mappy.

Mappy might be a bridge too far unless you had a crack team developing it like the guys that made Stargate.
Even then it's asking a lot ? You have to look hard at it and ask yourself is this suitable to port to the
2600 ? Prob not.

[save2600]

Oh - just thought of another one: Mr. TNT! I'd think that could be done on the 2600....

[yuppicide]

Cybergoth did Crazy Balloon an obscure one from Taito. There's other ones from that era that could be ported nicely. He had a list of some in a thread here asking which he should do next, but I think he moved onto other things.

Bountybob, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:27 PM, said:

Isn't better to concentrate on porting earlier games pre 1982 and play to the Atari 2600's strengths ?
The likes of Astro Invader, Astro Fighter, and Cosmic Guerilla.These are great games and are Atari 2600
era which also makes them nicer to port.

[yuppicide]

Yeah, I should have kept Mappy to myself, although I love the game too much. I know it's not possible.

There's an obscure one I found while fooling with MAME one day. It's similar to Pac-Man but you're a bug crawling on some logs or something. That one might be nice to do, but I can't remember the name.

Bountybob, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:34 PM, said:

yuppicide, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 11:38 AM, said:

I wish someone could do Mappy.

Mappy might be a bridge too far unless you had a crack team developing it like the guys that made Stargate.
Even then it's asking a lot ? You have to look hard at it and ask yourself is this suitable to port to the
2600 ? Prob not.

[NE146]

I think Port Man might make a fun 2600 game. Dunno if it could be done though.

[thegoldenband]

A port of Fire Truck certainly couldn't reproduce the graphics of the original, but I'd still love to see a VCS version. It's a great game with unusual mechanics, and very appealing to casual gamers. It'd be perfect for two-player driving controller action.

That being said, I wonder if the Vectrex would be a good candidate platform for Fire Truck? I think it can comfortably handle the graphics and gameplay demands (or at least the essentials of both), and I believe the DC works with it...

Edited by thegoldenband, Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:33 PM.

[Bountybob]

yuppicide, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:22 PM, said:

Yeah, I should have kept Mappy to myself, although I love the game too much. I know it's not possible.

It's not impossible but it's probaby better suited for Colecovision.I know it's a much loved game.Namco also gave
us Xevious another bridge too far title.I think the 2600 is better suited to the generation of games that came before
Xevious and Mappy.It's better to make more accurate versions of the early arcade games rather than bad versions of later
games.Crazy Balloon was very impressive indeed.

[yuppicide]

Fire Truck would be nice. I was so young when that was in the arcades, but the size of the machine was intimidating. I think I drove the back end and an Aunt or Uncle drove the front. I sucked at it.


.... hmmm how about some kind of Circus Charlie port?

thegoldenband, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 5:30 PM, said:

A port of Fire Truck certainly couldn't reproduce the graphics of the original, but I'd still love to see a VCS version. It's a great game with unusual mechanics, and very appealing to casual gamers. It'd be perfect for two-player driving controller action.

That being said, I wonder if the Vectrex would be a good candidate platform for Fire Truck? I think it can comfortably handle the graphics and gameplay demands (or at least the essentials of both), and I believe the DC works with it...

Edited by yuppicide, Fri Mar 19, 2010 9:10 AM.

[TROGDOR]

raindog, on Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:10 PM, said:

I'd be happy with just Moon Cresta. (and have contemplated doing it myself.)

TRIP TO THE SPACE WAR

MOON CRESTA


WRITE IT NOW !!


YOU CAN GET A LOT

OF FUN AND THRILL

Edited by TROGDOR, Thu Apr 1, 2010 11:28 PM.

[Trinity]

Bountybob, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:31 PM, said:

raindog, on Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:10 PM, said:

I'd be happy with just Moon Cresta (and have contemplated doing it myself.)

Moon Cresta is an excellent sugestion.

Esp. If the music was spot on.

[raindog]

Trinity, on Fri Apr 2, 2010 5:41 AM, said:

Bountybob, on Thu Mar 18, 2010 3:31 PM, said:

raindog, on Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:10 PM, said:

I'd be happy with just Moon Cresta (and have contemplated doing it myself.)

Moon Cresta is an excellent sugestion.

Esp. If the music was spot on.

That would be my hope. I started thinking about it again when I bought a "Galaxy II" on ebay -- most people think it's a Galaxian clone, but it's actually a Moon Cresta clone, docking sequence and all -- and noticed the music wasn't as right-on as I remember it.

Of course it's the 2600, but it turned out to be able to handle the Pac-Man music which is more complex than the Moon Cresta music, so it should be fine.

[Cliff Friedel]

almightytodd, on Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:43 PM, said:

Take a look at the attached screenshot of Atari Fire Truck...

The game came out in 1978 - soon after the introduction of the 2600 VCS. It uses gray-scale graphics, but look at the level of detail. The images look much more sharp and well-defined than anything the 2600 can generate. Plus, the entire playfield scrolls smoothly underneath the pivoting fire truck image. Add the fact that this is one of many games of that era that used a portrait-oriented monitor (rotated 90 degrees), and the final result is that any attempt to do a port would likely be disappointing. Ports and hacks of games like "Galaxians" and "Pac Man" are interesting because they show how far the 2600 hardware can be pushed - although no one ever expects the resulting games to ever really duplicate the arcade versions they are inspired by. Doing ports of more primitive games loses the appeal.

Personally, I'd like to see something like what the Legacy Engineering guys did for the Taco Bell CD ROMs, but in a plug-n-play unit that could generate a 720p digital signal that you could hook up to your HDTV. Maybe market it as a "Classic Atari Flashback virtual arcade". That would be a way to enjoy the nostalgia of late 70's/early 80's technology, reproduced on a 21st century display. It would be novel and interesting, as I don't think anyone has done a digital plug-and-play unit. There could also be a "retro" and "enhanced" version of each game similar to the Taco Bell games - adding enhanced graphics and sound, but keeping the original game-play. Unfortunately, it probably would not be profitable to sell such a unit for under $50, at which point it probably wouldn't sell; easier to just publish an Atari games CD ROM for XBox, PS3, PC and Mac similar to the Namco Museum.

Man I loved that game. You are right about the gfx too. I think this, the tabletop football, and a few other arcade games used this graphics set. Although they were black and white, the detail on them was amazing.

On another note, does anyone know if stunt rider used this setup?