e1will

Sorry for the bumped thread, I just happened to see this. Yeah, this project is abandoned, I'm afraid. My 5-year-old happened across it on my Harmony cart and scolded me for not finishing it. But fortunately he's got plenty of other games on there to play.

Ah, that trap screen! Yes, it's possible to retrieve eggs from there, but it is a little tricky. Bringing the magnet or the balloon with you will make it easier.

Drop a screenshot here and I'll give you a hint.

Nope, there are new rooms to explore up to level 12, and after that you can keep playing up to level 255 and beyond. The ducks get a lot meaner after level 12, though.

Just saw this and played some of the demo. Excellent work as always, guys!

They're sold separately at the moment, but I'm sure we could work something out if you wanted both.

Email received, ROM pack sent... thanks! Not much progress on those other games, I'm afraid... but I may have some time in 2014 to tinker with them.

Yep, details are here: http://willnicholes.com/duck/buy.htm

Duck Attack! got a nice write-up from The A.V. Club recently: Back from the dead: 9 modern games for obsolete consoles http://www.avclub.com/article/back-from-the-dead-9-modern-games-for-obsolete-con-105772 “It’s a wholly modern 2600 game that’s actually fun and as awesomely weird as old 2600 games like Frankenstein’s Monster. Rather than control a duck, you’re in control of a robot who invades a mad scientist’s lab and tries to destroy his army of fire-breathing, nuclear-egg-laying mallards. Both the ducks and the robot are crafted with an impressive amount of detail for the 2600, somehow coaxing a new look out of an ancient machine.” Halo 2600 also gets a mention.

Just happened across this thread... excellent work, Joe, this is a really well done project you've got here.

This is a hack of Berzerk that changes the individual robots into "Halo 2600" style enemies: 3 copies of each; destroying one destroys all three. Since three robots means three bullets, the second and third robots on each line will "disappear" whenever the first robot shoots horizontally so that they're not hit by "friendly fire." But beware, as soon as the horizontal bullet hits a barrier, the second and third robots will reappear. (It's called a "1-bit hack" because I changed only one bit: The "5" at location $f1c9 was changed to a "4".) Enjoy! --Will berzerk1.bin

Earlier this year I got a chance to speak with former Atari game designer Carla Meninsky, of Warlords and Dodge 'Em fame. This was going to be the basis for a newspaper story to run in April to feature the 30th anniversary of the Atari 2600 release of Warlords. Unfortunately, those plans fell through, and the paper didn't run the piece. But the interview was so darn interesting that I figured, what the heck, I'll just publish it on my own website and let people read it there. Carla talks about the early days at Atari, her eventual transition into an entirely different line of work (law), and shares some interesting stories about the craziness at Atari, including visits with George Lucas and The Muppets. One fascinating tidbit I never knew: apparently there was a special version of Dodge 'Em commissioned that featured Mercedes garbage trucks instead of racing cars; this was part of a deal that let the Atari execs drive Mercedes. http://willnicholes....rlaMeninsky.htm Enjoy! --Will

No... but thanks for the poke, I've been meaning to get back to this. --Will

Hi all. Is there a good disassembly of Video Pinball around anyplace? I'd like to do a hack that would (1) vary the color scheme based on the score, (2) add a couple of digits onto the score counter, and (3) change the multipliers to hexadecimal (yes, really). I think it would be fun to have start at 0x instead of 1x, then increment up to "F" for a 15x multiplier. Fun, for me at least. --Will

Yeah, it's always cool seeing a Duck Attack mention! I just stumbled across that looking for something else, interestingly enough. Of course, any list that's limited to five Atari 2600 homebrews is guaranteed to miss out on a lot of great ones (Lady Bug, Juno First, Medieval Mayhem... Oystron's my current addiction.) I've been toying with the idea of writing a "2600 homebrew of the week" column someplace. Could keep that going for years just on what's already out there. --Will

Thanks!

Yeah, that was an odd comment... I never thought that either. The 2600 joystick was among the best controllers, IMO. Still, if they think the NES homebrew version controls better, it makes me curious to try it. --Will

Atari 2600 homebrews Halo 2600, Duck Attack!, Super 3D Portals, Mega Man 2600 and Evil Magician's Return all get a mention. http://www.1up.com/features/31-homebrew-games-worth-playing --Will

Atari 2600 homebrews Halo 2600, Duck Attack!, Super 3D Portals, Mega Man 2600 and Evil Magician's Return all get a mention. http://www.1up.com/features/31-homebrew-games-worth-playing --Will

My favorites are "It's Fucking Checkers" and "Gay French Mario Bros.". Yeah, those two are equally awesome.

I laugh every time I see that one. "Oh! I Say!™" "Tim Curry's Magic Board™" "Old-Timey Cop With A Stick™" - great stuff.

Interesting how he doesn't even use an actual screenshot of Adventure; in the original game the square is always the same color as the walls. Talk about misleading...

Excellent work, this is great.

Excellent job all! This rocks. --Will

Just a playful tribute to the original. No actual checks are done, according to the developer. --Will