The BIGGEST Game Sprite?

[Gateway]

When I was a kid, I always thought that the the ducks( dragons ) in Adventure were HUGE, and that was part of the appeal that made them scary, and made the game exciting!

Also, the Bridge was cool because it was also GIANT size, yet you could move it easily with your little square dude!

 

The majority of 2600 games have used the 8 pixel wide x something, single width size for players or enemies and have been small on the screen( often to allow as much use of the screen for interaction as the game required.

 

So, I thought it'd be fun to list many of the big sprites that you can interact with or move( as the player ), or that have some kind of animation or movement in the gameplay. This can include homebrews, repros, protos, etc. for the 2600.

 

I can think of a bunch, but I'll just list a few off the top of my head. I'd like to get comments from others about your favorite BIG sprites, or tell us about some we don't hear about often( maybe from a rare game that few have played or beaten ).

For instance, The "deadly something" at the end of Thrust+ conjures up in my head something BIG! Maybe Thomas or bjk can enlighten us about this?

 

Here's a few:

 

* the Bridge in Adventure

 

* the Dragons in Adventure

 

*the "Invisible Surround" in Adventure

 

*the Dragons in Dragonfire

 

*the Jailbird player in Squeeze Box

 

*the Ecto 1 Hearse in Ghostbusters

 

*Donkey Kong( though you don't get to directly interact with him, he does "move" )

 

*the Fighters in Swordfight

 

*the players in Dark Chambers

 

I know there's more...

[Saikyo]

Heres another!

 

The fighters and referee in Karate!

[Out_of_Gas]

Abobo from Double Dragon

The creatures in Rampage

[Nukey Shay]

Nobody mentioned Fu Kung?

[rockman_x_2002]

How about Frankenstein's Monster from... well... Frankenstein's Monster?

[Nukey Shay]

The signature in Adventure...or better yet, the barriers in the game (which are missile sprites that overlap the upper/lower screen GFX - that's about as tall as you can get).

[bjk7382]

Nobody mentioned Fu Kung?

 

We can only hope the binary will get released for this someday (with the release of the CCII coming up and all)

[NovaXpress]

I always hear that Pink Panther has the largest active character in any 2600 game. I'm not fortunate enough to be able to check that out first-hand, of couse.

[lhfreak]

Frankenstein...

 

 

I would say that when he (the creature) marches up to the screen when hw gets you. At the point where the whole screen is green. That is the largest sprite!

[Nukey Shay]

BTW in Adventure, you can make any object big by changing the last digit of their info to a 7 in the object matrix

[chrisbid]

the UFO in Cosmic Arc would be the largest object you control in a 2600. But since it remains stationary i guess it is disqualified

[NovaXpress]

Nukey, help us out here to define what we're really talking about.

 

The ship in Cosmic Ark does indeed move, the beast in FM does get big, but are these the same thing as an active character (Pink Panther, Adventure dragons)? Isn't it an entirely different kind of programming trick. I know that any single-color object can be magnified so is that really such a big deal?

[iguana]

I always thought that the rider in Stampede was big, But it couls all be in my head (which is also big )

[EricBall]

The Skeleton in Skeleton+ isn't truely animated, but it does take up a large part of the screen.

[homerwannabee]

I might be wrong but as far as biggest objects you can control I would give that to Big Bird.

[moycon]

Don't forget the Maze Zots in Tunnel Runner.

[Gregory DG]

Cookie Monster gets pretty huge when the round is over.

[Musevox]

These are all good examples! Keep 'em comin'

 

I should have been more specific with the type of sprites I'm thinking of. The wall "missles" and Warren's name in Adventure are cool, however you can't move them around really. So I'd consider them like elements of a title screen. Sprites have been used in many games for titles, also, the Holiday Greeting Cart used Interleaved Chronocolour. Since these, and some of the animated sequences of the Children's games, for example, are not part of the actual gameplay, I'd leave them out.

 

But sprites that are a part of the game play I would include, especially if you control them as the player.

 

I asked about this mainly to discuss what large sprites have been used, and what else is possible for future homebrews, etc.

 

I'd say the Cosmic Ark counts because you control it's actions, however the vault in "Vault Assault" is stationary while you operate the gunner sprite. Actually, it could be argued that the Cosmic Ark is like the vault. I'll have to play the game again soon.

Also, I'd say the Centipede and Millipede are made of a bunch of repeated sprites.

 

A few more:

 

Fast Eddie is a bit large

 

The Tie fighters in Star Fire are bigger than the average sprite, when they are close by.

 

The players in Polo

 

The dragsters in Dragster

 

The boxers in Boxing

 

Weston aka Gateway

[Out_of_Gas]

The mom, and boy in Mangia

The hacky-sacker in California games.

Cowboys in Outlaw

[+Andrew Davie]

Nobody mentioned Fu Kung?

 

We can only hope the binary will get released for this someday (with the release of the CCII coming up and all)

 

Some in-development binaries were released a long time ago, and they had interactive large-sprites -- two on the screen at the same time and probably the largest interactive sprites ever done. Resolution was 48 pixels across x 128 deep, each, if I recall correctly.

 

I abandoned Fu Kung because there wasn't enough enthusiasm for it. It's all your fault, guys. Most of the comments were negative. If you aren't enthusiastic enough on my stuff, guys, and I abandon it, just remember... you were at fault.

[bjk7382]

Nobody mentioned Fu Kung?

 

We can only hope the binary will get released for this someday (with the release of the CCII coming up and all)

 

I abandoned Fu Kung because there wasn't enough enthusiasm for it. It's all your fault, guys. Most of the comments were negative. If you aren't enthusiastic enough on my stuff, guys, and I abandon it, just remember... you were at fault.

 

I came around after that section of the forum was locked. I would have given support if I could have.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

The Cobra in G.I. Joe and some AT-ATs...

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Saikyo]

Got another one but dont know if it qualifies or not!

 

the mothership boss in pheonix!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

For instance, The "deadly something" at the end of Thrust+ conjures up in my head something BIG! Maybe Thomas or bjk can enlighten us about this?    

Well, it is big, but probably not by your definition. Just deadly!

 

The Cosmic Ark is also quite big, but it's not made from sprites.

[kisrael]

I abandoned Fu Kung because there wasn't enough enthusiasm for it.  It's all your fault, guys.  Most of the comments were negative.  If you aren't  enthusiastic enough on my stuff, guys, and I abandon it, just remember... you were at fault.

Yikes, that's really harsh.

 

I don't remember the negative comments, but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention...(which might be part of the "not enough enthusiasm" issue). I am really bummed to hear that it's been abandoned, it still seems like such a cool idea to me, I was thinking that if you worked with a good artist, and went with a nice fat ROM w/ plenty of frames of animation, and also had someone who had a good feel for what makes a good head on head fighting game, (I only do well with "brawlers" like Smash Bros) the offensive/defense balance that keeps it from becoming a total button masher or a total "turtling" defense-fest, you would have a TERRIFIC game that would get a ton of attention and be a major feature at shows.

 

Feedback is a funny thing. I know I'm a feedback whore, and back when I was posting updates to JoustPong and not getting that much response, or constructive criticism rather than pats on the back, it really took a lot out of me. So I understand the frustration a bit. But I think, ultimately, the majority of passion for coding a good 2600 games has to come from inside you, the old fire in the belly.

 

And I think, arguably, Fu Kung had more of a responsibility because of the special treatment it received here. Most homebrews don't get their own dang forum. Fu Kung was put in a very public space, and yes, you're going to get people who don't "get it", who don't see what a remarkable breakthrough it was poised to be, who don't realize that the 2600 is not going to play Soul Calibur 3. And you'll get more people who want to put in their own two cents and otherwise give you crap. But overall, both on [stella] and here, I find a pretty receptive audience. My no-technical-breakthrough JoustPong has gotten a few fans, and while there's never been throngs of people posting feedback, it's generally been ok.

 

I wasn't paying as much attention to the site here through that time, so maybe I didn't see how nasty people were, but I think saying "it's your fault guys" is kind of like this beer ad where the american football star being interviewed is like "well, I think the blame for the loss has to be put squarely on my teammates. Sure I fumbled 3 or 4 times, but if they had jumped on the ball, it wouldn't have been a problem".

 

If you let the naysayers dissuade you from finishing your project, they win. You lose. (And so does the retrogamer community.) It's almost as simple as that.