Games that would be most improved by XM Music hacks

[Lendorien]

With the XM fast approaching, and with at least one hack of an original game and one of a homebrew ready to go, I thought it might be fun to discuss which original 7800 games would be most positively impacted by Pokey or Yamaha enhanced sound.

 

Pokey Kong is a perfect example of how much a sound hack can improve a game. The original Donkey Kong sound horrible. This hack makes it a heck of a lot more playable.

 

So, if you could choose one game to fix, which would it be, and why?

[The_Laird]

I would LOVE to have the arcade game's music added to Xenophobe

[Curt Vendel]

Agreed ! That game could truly take heavy advantage of the YM2151 in the Expansion Module for sure.

 

A lot of people don't like this game, I think its a lot of fun - Planet Smashers. Perhaps some cool background music would make gameplay more enjoyable.

 

It would be cool to incorporate voice into Crossbow like the Arcade.

 

Too bad I can't find the source code to Pole Position II, it would be great to update the sound effects and add in the voice over: "Prepare to Qualify"

 

Curt

 

I would LOVE to have the arcade game's music added to Xenophobe

[The_Laird]

Funny enough Curt that was the other game I also thought about!!!

[Tenorman]

Perhaps a great soundtrack could make Ninja Golf even more epic than it already is.

 

Also, I'm not sure how much storage space the high score cart has or if arbitrary data can be written to it, but Midnight Mutants with a better music and save game support would be amazing.

[Bakasama]

I think Dig Dug should get a sound upgrade. I like the game and all but it sounds too much like the 2600 version.

[Lendorien]

Too bad I can't find the source code to Pole Position II, it would be great to update the sound effects and add in the voice over: "Prepare to Qualify"

Curt

 

Oh man, I agree on that one. I like Pole Position II... I have the 5200 version and it really is sad how the 5200 sounds far away better than the 7800 version, even through the 7800 has far better graphics.

[toiletunes]

DKJR

[Underball]

Without the original 4th level, Donkey Kong is still sadly incomplete.

[toiletunes]

I never made it that far at the arcades (still can't), so I'm not missing anything

[+MattelAquarius]

I still have the arcade and NES music from Double Dragon in my head. I would love to jam to those tunes playing the graphically challenged 7800 version. It will give my 7800 some more street cred, when it sees an NES on the corner.

[mimo]

Rybags started a project to add the "prepare to qualify" to the Atari 800 version of pole position. I believe he used the voice sample from the arcade version via mame.

[The_Laird]

I still have the arcade and NES music from Double Dragon in my head. I would love to jam to those tunes playing the graphically challenged 7800 version. It will give my 7800 some more street cred, when it sees an NES on the corner.

 

Your post just got me thinking about a guy in the Spectrum community who is remaking Double Dragon for the machine. The Speccy got a notoriously bad conversion of DD that also never took any advantage of 128k machines and he had been working on a remix that looks and sounds great. Listen to his AY (Yamaha sound chip found in the 128k Spectrum) version of the DD title music it sounds utterly superb:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfn1n2DJHxE

 

Then compare the old Spectrum version:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OszbHJZrb0w

 

To this small clip of his remix:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTg_9xy8NmQ

 

I would love to get this guy to code a 7800 remix!

[+MattelAquarius]

Great stuff. Now that's what I'm talking about, exactly. It would be a real treat to hear some solid tunes during 7800 DD.

 

Thanks for the samples.

[8th lutz]

I agree that Double Dragon would be a great pick for being hacked into an XM game music wise after hearing the remix Double Dragon music for the Spectrum.

 

The thing is Double Dragon should be completely done by scratch for the Atari 7800 XM. I think the 128k ram the Atari 7800 XM has could make the characters of the game less blocky than the version of Double Dragon Activision released for the 7800. The other issue I have is some of the weapons in the arcade game aren't found in the 7800 version.

Edited December 10, 2010 by 8th lutz

[ApolloBoy]

I still have the arcade and NES music from Double Dragon in my head. I would love to jam to those tunes playing the graphically challenged 7800 version. It will give my 7800 some more street cred, when it sees an NES on the corner.

That shouldn't be too difficult since the original arcade game used a YM2151 as well.

[DracIsBack]

I agree that Double Dragon would be a great pick for being hacked into an XM game music wise after hearing the remix Double Dragon music for the Spectrum.

 

The thing is Double Dragon should be completely done by scratch for the Atari 7800 XM. I think the 128k ram the Atari 7800 XM has could make the characters of the game less blocky than the version of Double Dragon Activision released for the 7800. The other issue I have is some of the weapons in the arcade game aren't found in the 7800 version.

 

Yeah - the whole thing is like the ultimate C- effort for me. I'd one up that and say, I'd like to to be done from scratch for the XM is a committed developer behind it. The whole current version looks like it was rushed out the door as quick as could be.

[Jinks]

Moto Psycho needs the sound fixed, hack the title screen music add game music, maybe even adda new track or something. Racing and fighting is what the 7800 needs. There is already 50 or so pac man games. It seems when people think Atari they must think Pac Man.

There is already the code avaible from Curt and maybe a few graphical differances (signs, bike)and better sound it would be awesome to play, the crash sequence kills the game its too slow.

[KevinMos3]

I also was thinking of Double Dragon. Although, I also agree that it could use a lot more than a sound fix. As for sound, why not go all out and take advantage of the Yamaha chip?

 

Another that could use a sound touch is Rampage. Maybe some soft background tune and the demolition sounds from the arcade. However, realizing that the game goes on indefinitely kinda ruined it for me. It could really use an ending added in.

[Austin]

Jinks could do well with re-done sounds using the Yamaha chip. The original sounds are pretty grating on the nerves.. not to mention that if possible, adding an in-game soundtrack would be nice, too.

[HammR25]

I was thinking

could be redone.

[kool kitty89]

I still have the arcade and NES music from Double Dragon in my head. I would love to jam to those tunes playing the graphically challenged 7800 version. It will give my 7800 some more street cred, when it sees an NES on the corner.

That shouldn't be too difficult since the original arcade game used a YM2151 as well.

Yeah... except you'd be recreatign it by hand without the source code... the (fairly sloppy) MD port didn't turn out too well in that respect in spite of haivng 6 of the 8 channels (and PSG to make up some difference)... the SMS music using the limited YM2413 was far better and closer to the Arcade.

 

With POKEY in there and the added RAM (and larger ROM potential), there should be potential for some pretty decent 4-bit sampled SFX added too, though you wouldn't be able to use POKEY's timer interrupts to drive that like the A8 can (no IRQ line on the cart slot), but there is at least RIOT's interval timer to use for such and software timing of course. (the latter could be more efficient but tougher to manage well)

Depending how much CPU time got eaten by MARIA (and how CPU intensive a game was in general), 1 or 2 4 kHz PCM channels in-game probably could have been reasonable.

Edited December 28, 2010 by kool kitty89

[kenfused]

(no IRQ line on the cart slot)

[Lynxpro]

Agreed ! That game could truly take heavy advantage of the YM2151 in the Expansion Module for sure.

A lot of people don't like this game, I think its a lot of fun - Planet Smashers. Perhaps some cool background music would make gameplay more enjoyable.

It would be cool to incorporate voice into Crossbow like the Arcade.

Too bad I can't find the source code to Pole Position II, it would be great to update the sound effects and add in the voice over: "Prepare to Qualify"

Curt

 

 

Speaking of Pole Position [iI], adding back the proper billboard graphics in the place of the Fuji logos would also be awesome, and an animated explosion closer to the arcade version.