Which game should be ported to ATARI 2600 ?

[BrianC]

Even if the market hadn't crashed, the 2600 would have.

 

I'm sure you were all looking forward to Street Fighter 2, but let's face it: the 2600 could pull off some clever tricks but it couldn't even pretend to play SMB or Marble Madness. Activision's shitty late-90s arcade conversions tell the tale.

 

Nobody even mentioned SFII. The 2600 pulled off some impressive versions of Klax and Xenophobe. In fact, I feel that some of the more impressive 2600 games were released after the crash. I thought both Kung Fu Master and Commando were well done for the 2600, though Commando lost more in the translation than Kung Fu Master. Anyway, the 2600 still probably would have died like most systems do when other systems come out if the market hadn't crashed, and the system has limits for what can be ported, but ports like Elevator Action, Sinistar and Zookeeper probably would have been released, which would have helped the system a bit.

 

However, even though Marble Madness probably would have looked ugly on the 2600, there is an awesome non-isometric homebrew game that has some similarities to Marble Madness, a nice control scheme, multiple levels, excellent music, and clever level design. It's not the same thing, but Marble Craze is an excellent game in its own right.

[yuppicide]

Mappy

Satan's Hollow

Black Tiger

Gauntlet

Rally-X

Firetruck - Don't remember if this was the name of the game. One person drove the front end of the truck and another drove the back end.

Ghosts N Goblins

Mikie

A better Super Sprint port

 

... and I'd like to see someone remake Skooldaze. It was a game I had on my Commodore 64 in which you played Erik (Eric? Erick?) a mischieveous little kid. You had to go around the shoot teachers with a sling shot and do certain things to get out of class.

[godzillajoe]

Oh I forgot about Satan's Hollow. I think the ol' 2600 could do that one some justice

[Atariboy2600]

If the crash never happin and Atari was still big in gaming from 84 to 86 they should port more on there own arcade games like,

 

Arabian (2600 & 7800)

Cloak & Dagger (7800 only)

Crystal Castles (7800 only)

Major Havoc (2600 & 7800)

Peter Packrat (2600 & 7800) <---- My Fave Arcade

Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (7800 only)

Gauntlet (2600 & 7800)

Rolling Thunder (2600 & 7800)

A.P.B. (Use Indy 500 Paddels)

Firefox (only for 7800 with Laserdisc Port)

Edited May 25, 2006 by Atariboy2600

[+atari2600land]

I think Zoop, Yoshi, Dr. Mario, a very small version of Faceball 2000, and Quarth can easily be made for the 2600. I'd like to see a version of Paperboy or Super Mario Bros., no matter how crappy it may look like.

[+johnnywc]

Hello all,

 

Since the Lady Bug thread has been somewhat derailed (no thanks to me ) by conversations about other possible 2600 conversions, please post your ideas in this thread. Eventually, we can have a poll to vote on what would be the best idea for my next conversion....

 

I'll start with the games mentioned on the other thread:

 

Finish:

- Elevator Action

- Xevious

 

Rewrite:

Donkey Kong

Wizard of Wor

Mr. Do

Zaxxon

Bump 'n Jump

Lock 'n Chase

Pengo

 

Make:

- Super Pac-man

- Mappy

- Scramble

- Major Havoc

- Kickman

- Bomb Jack

- Jumping Jack

- Robby Roto

- Qix

- Monaco GP

- Rampart

- Make Trax

- Turtles

- Space Fire Bird

- Moon Cresta

- Galaga

- Gaplus

- Arkanoid

- Bubble Bobble

- Nibbler

- Pepper 2

- Turbo

- Space Panic

- Tron

- Food Fight

 

 

Thanks!

Edited July 13, 2006 by johnnywc

[djmips]

I'd personally like to

 

finish: Elevator Action for sure.

 

rewrite: Battlezone and Space Wars.

 

code: Monaco GP, Arkanoid, Qix, Galaga and Space Panic. I'd also add Atari Football, Robotron 2084, Quadrapong ( and Arcade Pong - in progress )

 

and last but not least, a two player driving controller game Fire Truck

 

Someone else is going to have to write, Fonz

 

- David

[+Nathan Strum]

Personally, I'd like to see games that never made it to the 2600 in the first place, rather than re-do an existing port. Although... Gorf with all five levels and AtariVox support would be pretty cool.

 

Otherwise, I'd have to go with Scramble and Tron. Those were always two of my favorites.

[Pixelboy]

Here's a 160x192 mockup (stretched 200% horizontally) of how I imagine Zaxxon on the 2600. I know very little about the limits of the hardware, so please forgive any technical impossibilities demonstrated in this mockup. I just whipped this up in about 15 minutes, just to convey my vision of the game. Could a horizontally scrolling game such as this be possible on the 2600? I figure it's possible, looking at some of Activision's games such as Barnstorming and Chopper Command...

[NE146]

Wasn't there a nice Space Wars already done somewhere? By Thomas I think.. I forget. I also think I'd be satisfied with a Scramble hacked out of Super Cobra.

 

Nice list though. I'd especially like a rewrite of Champ Kong *cough* and it's "jr." counterpart if you catch my drift (can't say that 'donkey' word). That's probably the most obvious big game port that could use help.

 

Other than that.. I think a rewrite of Crazy Climber maybe That'd be nice. If you do Moon Cresta (with music) that would be incredible as well.

 

I've also always thought Space Chaser could be done justice on the 2600. But unless you got the arcade game or a copy of the psx import title, it'd be hard to do a gameplay & sound comparison. Not to mention there is probably only one person in the entire world who played and enjoyed that game as a kid... Me

 

Only other 2600 doable titles I can think of that maybe werent mentioned are: Balloon Bomber, Rally-X, Bosconian, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, Alpine Ski, Guzzler, Port-man, and heck maybe even Zookeeper

Edited July 13, 2006 by NE146

[Jess Ragan]

I'll have to cast my vote for Bomb Jack and Kickman. I'd also agree with Nate that a new and improved version of Gorf would be most welcome indeed.

 

JR

[BrianC]

Some other converions I would like to see:

R.B.I. Baseball/World Stadium/Famista

Tecmo Bowl (NES)

Demolition Derby

1942

Vulgus

Sherrif

Hyper Sports (for use with the Track and Field controller)

Capcom Bowling (with Trak Ball mode)

 

I also agree that Kickman, Bombjack, Gorf, Donkey Kong, DK Jr., Bosconian, and Moon Cresta are good canidates for ports/re-ports.

Edited July 13, 2006 by BrianC

[vdub_bobby]

I'd like to see Toobin'

 

Also...

Arkanoid

Elevator Action (finished)

Gauntlet (hey, you've got Bubble Bobble - oh yeah, and)

Bubble Bobble

Rally-X

Zookeeper

Food Fight

Rampart

Double Dragon (rewrite)

Rampage (rewrite)

Golden Axe

The Fairyland Story

Raiden (and/or Raiden II)

Street Fighter II

Galaga

Ghosts 'n' Goblins

Hang-On

Punch Out!

NBA Jam

 

 

Here's a 160x192 mockup (stretched 200% horizontally) of how I imagine Zaxxon on the 2600. I know very little about the limits of the hardware, so please forgive any technical impossibilities demonstrated in this mockup. I just whipped this up in about 15 minutes, just to convey my vision of the game. Could a horizontally scrolling game such as this be possible on the 2600? I figure it's possible, looking at some of Activision's games such as Barnstorming and Chopper Command...

That mockup isn't too bad, though there is, generally, too much going on in certain rows.

[jbanes]

That mockup isn't too bad, though there is, generally, too much going on in certain rows.

I wonder how feasible it would be to make the shadows by cutting holes in the playfield? Or perhaps the other way around? Use a black playfield with a blue background?

 

It wouldn't move or scale as smoothly as a sprite, but might add more texture to the shadow. That would allow more things to happen on the screen at once.

[+atari2600land]

I'd like Quarth, Zoop, Pipe Dream, Yoshi (aka Mario & Yoshi), Dr. Mario & Tetris 2. For Yoshi & Dr. Mario just substitute other non-Nintendo characters.

[vdub_bobby]

That mockup isn't too bad, though there is, generally, too much going on in certain rows.

I wonder how feasible it would be to make the shadows by cutting holes in the playfield? Or perhaps the other way around? Use a black playfield with a blue background?

 

It wouldn't move or scale as smoothly as a sprite, but might add more texture to the shadow. That would allow more things to happen on the screen at once.

The only shadow I see on his mockup is from the player's ship; and that would be absolutely no problem to do, since it is vertically separated from the ship and no wider - just treat it as part of the ship sprite.

 

Specifically:

 

Minor issues are two sprites have more than one color on a scanline.

 

The main problem is that to have scrolling you need an asymmetrical playfield, which is doable, but you've also got four sprites (not counting the bullet) across the screen, which really isn't, at least as they are presented.

 

If you reworked the sprites to use the doubling/tripling hardware features, then you'd have something.

 

Here's a marked up version:

I don't really know/remember how much terrain is coming at you in Zaxxon, but if you could use the ball instead of the PF for the moving walls then you'd have a lot more flexibility plus the scrolling would be *way* smoother.

 

You'd be limited to a single, rectangular object, though.

Edited July 13, 2006 by vdub_bobby

[jbanes]

The only shadow I see on his mockup is from the player's ship; and that would be absolutely no problem to do, since it is vertically separated from the ship and no wider - just treat it as part of the ship sprite.

What exactly are those things on the right? (The black things you have the '?' symbol over?) They look like either shadows or holes. If they were taken care of by the playfield, you wouldn't need a sprite for them.

 

BTW, why the ball for the player's laser? I presume you did that because of the different color? Wouldn't it make more sense to use a missile, and either accept that the color is the same as the player (ala Stargate) or dynamically swap the color as it moves away?

 

I don't really know/remember how much terrain is coming at you in Zaxxon, but if you could use the ball instead of the PF for the moving walls then you'd have a lot more flexibility plus the scrolling would be *way* smoother.

That's not a bad idea, actually. The walls could be intentionally spaced so that two are never on the screen at once. To give more challenge, the later levels could scroll faster.

[vdub_bobby]

The only shadow I see on his mockup is from the player's ship; and that would be absolutely no problem to do, since it is vertically separated from the ship and no wider - just treat it as part of the ship sprite.

What exactly are those things on the right? (The black things you have the '?' symbol over?) They look like either shadows or holes. If they were taken care of by the playfield, you wouldn't need a sprite for them.

They look like holes to me.

 

And using the PF brings up its own set of problems: the time it takes (per scanline, *every* scanline) to have an asym playfield, plus then you get chunky scrolling again.

BTW, why the ball for the player's laser? I presume you did that because of the different color? Wouldn't it make more sense to use a missile, and either accept that the color is the same as the player (ala Stargate) or dynamically swap the color as it moves away?

Well, if you've got the ball free, might as well use it for the extra color. Sure, you could use M0, M1 instead, or the PF for that matter.

[Pixelboy]

What exactly are those things on the right? (The black things you have the '?' symbol over?) They look like either shadows or holes. If they were taken care of by the playfield, you wouldn't need a sprite for them.

They're holes. Missiles sometimes rise up from them, and this happens more often in the later levels of the game. In fact, you can see a up-going missile emerging from one of the holes in my mockup.

 

Also keep in mind that the distance between the player's ship and its shadow can vary as the ship rises or dives. The shadow can also move up and down as the ship does when it banks left and right.

 

I don't really know/remember how much terrain is coming at you in Zaxxon, but if you could use the ball instead of the PF for the moving walls then you'd have a lot more flexibility plus the scrolling would be *way* smoother.

That's not a bad idea, actually. The walls could be intentionally spaced so that two are never on the screen at once. To give more challenge, the later levels could scroll faster.

I don't think I've ever seen two big walls close to one another in the real Zaxxon arcade game, so your theory would work fine.

[Atariboy2600]

That mockup isn't too bad, though there is, generally, too much going on in certain rows.

I wonder how feasible it would be to make the shadows by cutting holes in the playfield? Or perhaps the other way around? Use a black playfield with a blue background?

 

It wouldn't move or scale as smoothly as a sprite, but might add more texture to the shadow. That would allow more things to happen on the screen at once.

The only shadow I see on his mockup is from the player's ship; and that would be absolutely no problem to do, since it is vertically separated from the ship and no wider - just treat it as part of the ship sprite.

 

Specifically:

 

Minor issues are two sprites have more than one color on a scanline.

 

The main problem is that to have scrolling you need an asymmetrical playfield, which is doable, but you've also got four sprites (not counting the bullet) across the screen, which really isn't, at least as they are presented.

 

If you reworked the sprites to use the doubling/tripling hardware features, then you'd have something.

 

Here's a marked up version:

I don't really know/remember how much terrain is coming at you in Zaxxon, but if you could use the ball instead of the PF for the moving walls then you'd have a lot more flexibility plus the scrolling would be *way* smoother.

 

You'd be limited to a single, rectangular object, though.

 

I did a old mockup of Zaxxon using Desert Falcon screen.

[BrianC]

I wouldn't mind seeing a rewrite of Amidar. Amidar DS improves it, but it would be nice seeing a port that has more animation and music. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing a new version of Commando with optional support for the booster grip, 7800 controller, or Colecovision controller either. Ikari Warriors shows that a better port of Commando may indeed be possible. Is it possible to hack Q*Bert for or make a new version with Ugg and Wrong Way?

Edited July 14, 2006 by BrianC

[Pixelboy]

I did a old mockup of Zaxxon using Desert Falcon screen.

That one looks real nice! But wouldn't the brick walls be somewhat hard to do in 3D?

[+Nathan Strum]

I'd also like to see a really good port of Lunar Lander. The FB2 version was a travesty.

[supercat]

If you reworked the sprites to use the doubling/tripling hardware features, then you'd have something.

 

If you didn't mind using up gobs of code fairly quickly (and quite possibly needing expanded RAM besides) it might be possible to do a Freeway-style trick to multiplex non-identical sprites since everything would be moving right to left at the same speed. It would probably be necessary to have many different copies of the kernel to handle different object positions, but the improved versatility of vertical object placement would probably make it worthwhile.

[supercat]

I did a old mockup of Zaxxon using Desert Falcon screen.

 

In a 4A50 cart (or SuperCharger) I've thought it might be interesting to use a variation on the Stella-Sketch kernel where all the sprites were shifted left a pixel every two scan lines, and the two scan lines in each pair were different colors. Unfortunately, the only way to avoid nasty artifacting would be to have everything scroll two pixels down and one pixel left per frame. That would seem to make the game unplayably fast.