310 replies to this topic

[Mayhem]

1) I've played quite a lot of Scramble, so I'll get to playing this when I can, and give my opinion on how the game plays, and how the difficulty ramps up.
2) Definitely need separate laser and bomb buttons for the game, no question about it.

[NE146]

I've played a lot of Scramble. It's the first game that I wondered "what was at at the end" when I was a kid. I had my mom buy me the Tomy handheld so I could finally see it. But I've gotten much better at the arcade game through the years naturally.

PacManPlus, on Sun Jan 1, 2012 8:53 AM, said:

1. For the people who have played this extensively, how does the difficulty ramp up once you destroy the base?

1) Primarily: Your fuel depletes a LOT faster. The more times you kill the base, the faster your fuel depletes
2) More rockets actually launch throughout the game. Not exteremely much though.
3) The game however does not get faster. The game scrolling doesnt speed up, etc.

Quote

2. I remember when I played this, I always used to hit the 'bomb' and 'laser' buttons simultaneously. Do I need to separate the two here? Or can I use one button for both (i.e. more controller compatibility)?

Needs to be separate. But I don't see too much of a problem combining them.. it'd still be playable. The handheld version was that way anyway If you could give the option for both that'd be optimum. But if you had to choose ONE way.. then it has to be separate.

[Rybags]

My Mame set has the cheats for it, so worth your while using that.

Probably also worth doing a search for online tips, they usually point out those little behaviours that you might miss just casually playing it.

[swlovinist]

Yet another arcade classic that is a perfect fit for the 7800. Sign me up for a cart, and thank you very much for making this happen!

[NRV]

Some online tips:
http://www.arcade-hi...=detail&id=2328

and the classic reference:
http://en.wikipedia....28video_game%29

[Rybags]

The arcade is 224 x 256 according to the article.

I notice you have 232 pixels horizontal - maybe you could sacrifice some horizontal size and put the masking in to hide the scrolling.

[PacManPlus]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I think I'm going to steal the button auto-detect from the Asteroids code so the system knows which controller you are using.

@NE146: Thanks for the specifics I'll make sure to implement that. I think for the 'Easy' mode, I'll make none of the rockets launch at first.

@NRV: Thank you for the links - although I had already looked at both of those pages

@Rybags: Those two extra columns (232 pixels instead of 224 - one column on either end) were the scrolling columns. They were there to make sure that 224 pixels are always on the screen. The problem is, with using 320 mode,4 shots, 2 bombs, and 2 enemies (there are supposed to be 4) I am already over using Maria (it shows as me using 425 Maria Cycles and the maximum stable cycles is 417). And that is after making some cutbacks: No masking for the scrolling (don't have a 'black' color to spare anyway), and two enemies have to share a display list with the other two (I noticed there are only four 'sprite' enemies on the screen at one time on the arcade, and this 'sharing' limitation will only be noticeable in the UFO stage).

So that is why I have 232 pixels horizontally (320 mode moves in two pixel increments so moving 4 pixels on either side = two extra columns)

Thanks,
Bob

Edited by PacManPlus, Mon Jan 2, 2012 7:58 AM.

[Compumater]

Looks Great!

Love this game too, can't wait to play it on my 7800.

Please add me to the pre-order list.

Thanks for all the great work!

[rmaerz]

Bob:

You may want to consider contacting Robert Mruczek. He's an expert on Scramble and Super Cobra and I'll bet $1 he'll answer any questions you may have.

Send me a PM for his contact info.

[boxpressed]

This looks great. Sign me up for one -- my first PMP game!

[NML32]

This is a great way to start out the New Year!!

[lucifershalo]

Great.....another classic properly converted by Bob....
thanks already

[NE146]

Someone above mentioned cheats in mame, and sure enough there is one for invincibility. Great way to check out the arcade game stage by stage and see what happens since it's pretty much scripted. Also good to see the rate of fuel depletion.

[keitaro]

Wow!! Very nice surprise to start the new year, thanks!!

About gameplay, I think Stern version was harder than the original Konami version. I think at least the fuel runs out faster in Stern's. Sorry if I don't remember exactly what differences.

[PacManPlus]

Hi Guys:

THANK YOU!
Update:

Player can now shoot and drop bombs, and kill what's on the ground. Things left:

- Launching Rockets
- 'Sprite' Enemies (i.e. UFOs, Meteors)
- Sound
- End of round (at the moment you just go on forever repeating the base level)

I need to try this on the real thing, but for tonight I'm done
P.S. I also changed the copyright to 'Stern' from 'Konami' as it was licensed by Stern for the U.S.

Bob

Attached Files

•  Scramble.bin   32K   36 downloads
•  Scramble.A78   32.13K   50 downloads
•  ScrambleP.A78   32.13K   32 downloads
•  ScrambleP.bin   32K   28 downloads

Edited by PacManPlus, Mon Jan 2, 2012 9:45 PM.

[Lendorien]

Not much interest int his game personally, but I have to say that you're doing a fantastic job of matching it to the arcade. Making it High-res on the 7800 was a good call.

[thursday83]

You are crushing it again, Bob! Been playing this on my Game Boy Advance to get ready for the 7800 release. Nice work, keep it going!

You are the man, Scramble is awesome, keep those arcade ports coming!

Thursday83

[Metal Ghost]

Wow, I really want this on a cart....keep up the good work!

[rmaerz]

I fired this up in emulation and the graphics look great.

Would you consider making the "Scramble" text on the title screen look similar to that found on the marquee? That would capture the "wow I can play the arcade game at home!" experience.

[save2600]

PacManPlus, on Sun Jan 1, 2012 2:38 PM, said:

As far as the difficulty ramp goes, so it's just the frequency of the rockets launching (and the scrolling somewhat quicker) that changes?

Yes... frequency of rocket launches as well as their travel speed and oh yeah... because of your ships involuntary speed up, you also go through fuel quicker, forcing you to hit the gas tanks more often.

I'd have to really sit and spend some time playing the arcade again, but I'm pretty sure by level 3, those rockets blasting up towards you are real fast. I also remember the fuel tanks becoming less available by then. Either that or your ship was just burning up that much more fuel as you hastily speed toward your demise.

Edited by save2600, Tue Jan 3, 2012 5:36 PM.

[NE146]

save2600, on Tue Jan 3, 2012 5:29 PM, said:

PacManPlus, on Sun Jan 1, 2012 2:38 PM, said:

As far as the difficulty ramp goes, so it's just the frequency of the rockets launching (and the scrolling somewhat quicker) that changes?

Yes... frequency of rocket launches as well as their travel speed and oh yeah... because of your ships involuntary speed up, you also go through fuel quicker, forcing you to hit the gas tanks more often.

I'd have to really sit and spend some time playing the arcade again, but I'm pretty sure by level 3, those rockets blasting up towards you are real fast. I also remember the fuel tanks becoming less available by then. Either that or your ship was just burning up that much more fuel as you hastily speed toward your demise.

I played a lot of Scramble and I really don't think the game speeds up at all. Nor do the rockets fly up faster. At least that I could ever tell.. All I know is the fuel depletes faster.

But then again who knows..

Edited by NE146, Tue Jan 3, 2012 8:03 PM.

[Curt Vendel]

Oh I LOVE YOU Bob!!!!!


:-)

[Lord Thag]

Man, every time i check back on the forums Bob has whipped up yet another awesome 7800 port. These days, about 80% of my 7800 play time is spent on something Bob has written.

It's a damn shame he wasn't programming this shit back in the 80s! The 7800 might have stood a chance.

Oh, and (as usual) I WANT ONE lol.

[DracIsBack]

Holy crap Bob! This is awesome ... though I still suck at this game! :-) Great job! You've done sooo many 7800 titles it's hard to keep track of them all!

[UberArcade]

This looks awesome! I need a copy of this when it is available. I was wondering what was coming next.

Bob's games have been my favorite homebrews, and this year he has been cranking them out.

The games are awesome! He doesn't over charge for a cart or require payments months in advance.

Homebrew developer of the year!!!