Andromeda Stardust Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 Must. Have. CIB. Not good enough. Must... Have... This game and a VCS enclosed in a plywood arcade cabinet with a CRT and joystick panel. No quarters needed! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2887601 Share on other sites More sharing options...
yell0w_lantern Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 ... Impressive, yes. But faithful? The flat ramps on the first screen says no. That's something that literally every other console port of DK has managed to get right. I stand by my statement. It captures the essence of the game and is immediately recognizable. This looks, sounds, and plays like Donkey Kong within the limits of the VCS. Furthermore, it has more features of the original arcade game than the VCS port made by Coleco. Therefore, I say this is a faithful port which is not the same as saying it is exactly like the arcade or the most faithful port for any console. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2887875 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 This looks, sounds, and plays like Donkey Kong within the limits of the VCS. Of course it's within the limits of the VCS-- it's a VCS game. It's within the limits by definition. However, doing ramped platforms is also well within the limits of the VCS. As a result, the single most iconic stage of Donkey Kong looks--entirely avoidably--wrong. Which is a darn shame. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2887935 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Sorry, fellas! I don't know how he crawled out from the Jaguar section! 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2887936 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Of course it's within the limits of the VCS-- it's a VCS game. What about DSP+? Surely that's not within the limits of vintage hardware. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2887948 Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 What about DSP+? Surely that's not within the limits of vintage hardware. The original DPC came out in 1984 as part of Pitfall II. The DPC+ is an improvement over that, but I think it's still comparable to the Super FX chip introduced in SNES cartridges starting the year after the 2600 was discontinued. And don't forget that you could hook a Core i7 up to your 2600 and you'd still only ever have two players, two missiles, a ball and a playfield. It's vintage-ish. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888066 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 (edited) The ARM on the melody boards is much more powerful than a SuperFX chip. Question is, is there any way to max out the ARM's entire 70Mhz of performance? Edited December 18, 2013 by stardust4ever Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888073 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 What about DSP+? Surely that's not within the limits of vintage hardware. It's not. 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888074 Share on other sites More sharing options...
raindog Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 The ARM on the melody boards is much more powerful than a SuperFX chip. Question is, is there any way to max out the ARM's entire 70Mhz of performance? Ah. I don't know why I keep thinking the ARM's clocked at 20MHz. Must be a leftover from my C64 days when a 20MHz upgrade was the holy grail. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888082 Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZylonBane Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 The ARM on the melody boards is much more powerful than a SuperFX chip. Umm, yes. Also, balls are round, peanuts aren't really nuts, and in Canada milk comes in bags. Why do you keep posting irrelevant things? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888104 Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 The ARM on the melody boards is much more powerful than a SuperFX chip. Question is, is there any way to max out the ARM's entire 70Mhz of performance? The ARM may be more powerful, but its hands are tied. They both have 32K SRAM, but SuperFX has it dedicated to rendering effects, while the Harmony (if I understand correctly) uses that memory for "rom" storage after the game is loaded from flash. Harmony also spends a good chunk of it's cycles doing housekeeping with the address lines, while SuperFX works mostly unfettered. As for unlocking graphic performance, I think bus-stuffing is as good as Harmony and Melody are going to get, with TIA register updates every 3 cycles. So far as how to max out ARM performance within its (and TIA's) constraints, check out recent SpiceWare titles. It's not. DPC+ without any additional ARM code isn't that far off DPC, and could have been implemented back in the day with custom silicon. Recall that the idea for bus-stuffing the 2600, which goes further than DPC+, came from Atari engineers back in the day. To me the fact that it could have been implemented (albeit with non-hobby tech) is vintage enough. I hold AtariVox in the same mental category as pure DPC+. Throw in custom ARM functions and game logic though, and that goes out the window. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888108 Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 If I remember correctly, Batari said 80 to 85 percent of the ARM is used for being a cartridge, as RevEng also pointed out. raindog, that leaves around 20Mhz for use (SpiceWare's Space Rocks uses it for game logic). Maybe that is what you were recalling ? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888166 Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Quote: and you'd still only ever have two players, two missiles, a ball and a playfield. You forgot background! Don't ever forget background. Have you seen 2600 Ballblazer? The game grid is all background. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888169 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 (edited) Probably you mean that 80 to 85% the game is running on the 6507 displaying the kernel. With a 192 line kernel that's ~74% ((192+3)/262, 3 extra lines for VSYNC) running on the 6507, leaving less than 26% for the ARM. So it is effectively running at around 18 MHz. Edited December 18, 2013 by Thomas Jentzsch 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888170 Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Thanks Thomas, that is probably what I was recalling. I know of 2 coders planning to use Bus Stuffing kernels. Can't wait to see what develops! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888180 Share on other sites More sharing options...
tep392 Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 Umm, yes. Also, balls are round, peanuts aren't really nuts, and in Canada milk comes in bags. Why do you keep posting irrelevant things? Umm, because the prior post stated that the DPC+ was comparable to the SuperFX ship. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888199 Share on other sites More sharing options...
yell0w_lantern Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 (edited) Of course it's within the limits of the VCS-- it's a VCS game. It's within the limits by definition. However, doing ramped platforms is also well within the limits of the VCS. As a result, the single most iconic stage of Donkey Kong looks--entirely avoidably--wrong. Which is a darn shame. You began comparing it to other consoles and debating the faithfulness of the port. ...every other console port of DK... My point then, was that we were not comparing between consoles. You know as well as anyone that more powerful hardware can accommodate more exact ports. Quite frankly, for the things that this port does right, I don't think the flat girders are all that bothersome. Edited December 19, 2013 by yell0w_lantern 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2888626 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudio H. Picolo Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Absolutelly incredible!!! Congratulations!!! :thumbsup: 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2891223 Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaz321123 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 (edited) This game actually FEELS like donkey kong-I don't care if the platforms aren't inclined. Perhaps that isn't even possible with everything else this game does awesomely. The jumping does remind me of atari 8-bit-but that's ok with me I can't say enough good things about this donkey kong version! It is just plain fun. I played it just today-and went all the way to the part where donkey kong falls. That quality is incredible! -Kaz Edited January 7, 2014 by kaz321123 2 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2900677 Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Just WOW!!!!! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2909078 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Pity there are two homebrew DKs in development right now. I enjoyed elements from both, and if both are ultimately released on cart, I'll prolly buy both. Never can get enough donkey Kong, after all... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2909184 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Pity there are two homebrew DKs in development right now. I enjoyed elements from both, and if both are ultimately released on cart, I'll prolly buy both. Never can get enough donkey Kong, after all... Shouldn't pity be replaced with yippee? Example: "Yippee! There are two homebrew DKs in development right now! I enjoyed elements from both, and if both are ultimately released on cart, I'll probably buy both. Never can get enough Donkey Kong, after all." 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2909207 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Gemintronic Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 My take is that their are levels of enjoyment. Some movies you watch on TV and enjoy. Some movies are so good you purchase the disc. Either DK can be enjoyed at either level. You either win or win. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2909212 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 Shouldn't pity be replaced with yippee? Example: "Yippee! There are two homebrew DKs in development right now! I enjoyed elements from both, and if both are ultimately released on cart, I'll probably buy both. Never can get enough Donkey Kong, after all." Yeah bad word choice LOL! The only "pity" part is that the authors have to compete on some level. I guess this is sorrta like the Star Castle incident, except both parties expressed interest in sharing their work this time around. Ultimately many Atari fans will only buy one or the other. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2909273 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFL Posted January 19, 2014 Share Posted January 19, 2014 ^ Indeed. Putting both versions onto a double ender would be amazing. Then you could have the telly AND disc experience in one! 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/206497-dk-vcs/page/23/#findComment-2909274 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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