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Jungle King... fresh out of the oven


Jess Ragan

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All right all you happy people... here's the Jungle King ROM that I promised earlier. Take a good look at it and tell me what you think of it. What do you like about the hack? What would you improve?

In case you're interested, here are a few design notes:

 

ROUND 1

Not too tough to hack, except the color information and character sprite were in entirely different places. Also, is it me or is the character's color reflected onto some of the vines? I'm starting to wonder if they're made from grass or glass...

Later on, while desperately searching for the maiden and headhunters' respective color data, I found the code that determines the position of the Jungle King on the vines. I've since changed it back, but I was able to make him float about an inch AWAY from the ropes. The game's been a lot more open to revision than the 2600 titles I've hacked in the past... many just wouldn't work if anything but the graphics were changed.

 

ROUND 2

I've done the least amount of work on this round... sadly, there wasn't that much I could change. I did eventually stumble on the color data for all the characters in this round, but it seems as though they're limited to single colors, rather than using layered colored like the rest of the sprites. One cool thing is that each character is created from two sprites, and each frame of animation can be colored differently, resulting in strobelight pants for the main character and partially radioactive crocodiles. This game just screams for an April Fool's edition.

Anyway, with a little work I could make the colors in this round more accurate... if people really, really want pink crocodiles, I could do it, although I think they look a little silly. One sticking point is the pants on the main character... now, in the arcade game, the Jungle King wears a loincloth even in the water, but I can't really add one here due to the way the game colors characters. I could color both halves of the character pink, but this is Jungle King, not a nude beach!

 

ROUND 3

Again, this wasn't too tough to hack, although there are things I wish I could have done that just aren't possible with my limited knowledge of the system and assembly programming in general. I'm talking specifically about adding a slope to the ground... that's a really popular idea among Atari Age readers, but not a practical addition for a humble game hacker such as myself. What I was able to do was redesign the character, giving him flowing red hair and leafy green undergarments. He has tiger striped undies in the arcade game, and that wouldn't be too tough to add thanks to the 2600's color layering, but I'm partial to the green loincloth myself.

Speaking of color, here's an odd thing I found while hacking the character graphics. There's a ducking animation in the game, and I changed the artwork before I altered the colors. Because the Jungle Hunt character wore mostly white, I wound up with a character who looked like he was dressed in a nightgown and gap whenever he ducked... a sharp contrast to his typical rainforest attire.

 

ROUND 4

Talk about frustrating. I looked all over for the headhunter and maiden color information, but never managed to uncover it, so there wasn't much I could do with either character. In the case of the headhunter, I don't really mind, because the original designer did a great job drawing him, but that chick at the end is oogly and is in desperate need of a color hack. I changed her graphic, making her slightly more attractive, but until I manage to find her color data she'll remain more of a doggie than a hottie.

If I DO ever discover her color data, there's about a million different things I could do to surprise the player at the end of the game. Let's just say that it'd be really easy to turn Jungle Hunt into an X-rated game along the lines of Custer's Revenge... :P

 

EVERYTHING ELSE

It was fun changing the score font and logo. Because the numbers are so large and so wide, they don't look exactly the same as they did in the arcade game, but it is the same font. I came across the same problem while working on Galaxian... although I used Namco's score font, it just didn't look the same on the 2600. The new logo is pretty cool... it's consistent enough with the original to make it look as though the game is a legitimate release. It was a shame to have to remove the curved T that gave the original logo its symmetry, but sometimes, you've just got to make sacrifices.

I'm just glad I'm finished. I made a batch file that let me compile the game with EDITGFX, then run it from Z26 immediately afterward. I must have run this batch file at least fifty times, and played the game nearly as much. I like Jungle Hunt, and I like my hack even more, but after spending so much time with the game I probably won't be coming back to it for a while. :roll:

 

JR

junglek.zip

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Nice :)

 

And here's some screenshots btw..

 

Now if only the game weren't so silent..... :D (hey, the background music is what gave the arcade Jungle King it's "feel").. but I guess it's probably out of the question for the 2600 version :(

 

As far as slopes.. if possible, I'd rather see slopes put into Moon Patrol first rather than JK :P

post-31-1041360628_thumb.jpg

post-31-1041360629_thumb.jpg

post-31-1041360630_thumb.jpg

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Looks great. :thumbsup: Too bad I can't get past the headhunter yet--my skills on this game are very rusty. Damn large rocks take out almost all my guys.

 

I understand about not playing the game again for a long time after all that play testing. It's going to be a long time before I play Adventure again.

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I hate to be the lone naysayer here but, from a consumer’s viewpoint, I really don’t see anything that would make me want to run out and pick this hack up in cart form. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly way more than I could do myself but, as hacks go, it seems rather basic. If there were some extra feature added to the game such as a slope on the 3rd screen, background music, or a Tarzan yell I would likely feel different. As it is, however, I’m sorry to say that this does little for me.

 

I also don’t see a point to the hair color change. I know that the hair does this on the original game but that’s either due to some random glitch or simply to shoddy programming. To my point of view, I don’t see why you would want to replicate it.

 

Jeez, sorry for the real downer of a post, Jess. I’m really only trying to add some constructive criticism here.

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The hair color change is definately not a bug or glitch...this was verified by MameTesters to be sure. IIRC, the change on the arcade game was a method of keeping track of what stage you were on (since one jungle scene looks the same as successive jungle scenes). On the 8-bit's Hunt, the border changes color to signify this.

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The hair color change is definately not a bug or glitch...this was verified by MameTesters to be sure.  IIRC, the change on the arcade game was a method of keeping track of what stage you were on (since one jungle scene looks the same as successive jungle scenes).  On the 8-bit's Hunt, the border changes color to signify this.

 

 

I hereby stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

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"I hate to be the lone naysayer here but, from a consumer’s viewpoint, I really don’t see anything that would make me want to run out and pick this hack up in cart form. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly way more than I could do myself but, as hacks go, it seems rather basic. If there were some extra feature added to the game such as a slope on the 3rd screen, background music, or a Tarzan yell I would likely feel different. As it is, however, I’m sorry to say that this does little for me."

 

That's why it's called a hack, as opposed to a complete redesign. I don't know enough about 2600 programming to add any of the things you listed. If I did, I'd be tempted to rewrite the game entirely rather than use Jungle Hunt as a template... and if I were that good, I'd forget about rewriting the game entirely and work on something new.

I accept your criticism, but unfortunately there's no way I can act on it. I'm talking to Paul Slocum about adding background music, but that's the best I can do.

If it's any consolation, my hacks are generally more advanced than many you'll see on AtariAge... not many other hackers alter both the color information AND the graphics to design new characters. It's not easy to do this, but I think the improved artwork makes the effort worthwhile... and I think most AtariAge readers would tend to agree. I'm sorry you're not among them.

 

JR

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That's funny, I was just about to say that :-) they had to remove it from the arcade version, but the small 2600 underground homebrew scene should be un-noticeable enough to get under the radar, and make a 2600 game that is MORE arcade accurate than the arcade game :-)

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