multicart Piñata (2600)

[Cybearg]

I decided to release a compilation of the games that I've made in my half-year or so of working on Atari 2600 goodness. It includes updated versions of my four original games, as well as a fifth, new game. It should be 100% compatible with emulators and cartridges like the Harmony. Enjoy!

Current version: 1.1.2
pinata_1_1_2_ntsc.bin
pinata_1_1_2_pal60.bin

Some of Piñata's features include:

• Five games, including arcade, action, and adventure: Heartbreak, Ping, Joyride, Fix-It Felix Sr., and Flipside.
• Hard modes for each game, set with left difficulty switch.
• Multiplayer modes for Joyride and Flipside, set with right difficulty switch.
• Driving controller support for Heartbreak.
• Full AtariVox save support for all games.
• Support for resetting high scores (hold reset and press joystick fire while on the title menu).
• Colorful game selection and credits screens.
• Ability to exit to title screen from games without toggling power switch (flip select and reset at the same time).

Thanks to everyone at AtariAge who helped me out! For detailed credits, check the credits screen.


manual_finaldraft.pdf

pinata_105_ntsc.bin

pinata_105_pal60.bin

Edited April 29, 2015 by Cybearg

[DoctorTom]

Nice, Cyb! Thanks for sharing!

[RevEng]

Nice job! I'm looking forward to playing them!

[Cybearg]

It seems that Google has very generously celebrated Piñata's release with an interactive doodle on their home page.

 

Good on you, Google.

[TrekMD]

Fantastic, thank you!

[+Gemintronic]

Is this multi-cart using RevEngs multi-kernel support?

[RevEng]

Is this multi-cart using RevEngs multi-kernel support?

Sort of. The code here eventually became the 32k multikernel framework.

 

The main difference in Piñata is, to do a bankswitch it hits the hotspot and jumps to the init vector.

 

When the 32k multikernel framework bankswitches, it hits the hotspot and jumps to the start of the bB code. Otherwise all of the variables would be erased after a bankswitch.

[Omegamatrix]

Well done! You are a wonderful genius of a game creator, and your games are always fun!!

[killersquirel]

Thanks for this collection. Ping has to be one of my favorite new atari games!

 

-mike

[Cybearg]

Feel free to post any questions on how to play the games, since I didn't write up any kind of manual yet. I'm surprised there haven't been any yet.

[Atari Adam]

This looks fantastic!

[Omegamatrix]

I was playing Flipside today. Is it a two player only game? I like Ping alot, and of course Heartbreak.

[Chris Leach]

Are these gonna be on cart? Maybe with a cool box?

[Cybearg]

I was playing Flipside today. Is it a two player only game? I like Ping alot, and of course Heartbreak.

It has a single player mode. Set your right difficulty switch to amateur and reset.

 

And Heartbreak wouldn't have been possible if not for you, so, sincerely, thank you.

 

Are these gonna be on cart? Maybe with a cool box?

If there is enough interest, they may well end up on cart as the compilation. The hardest thing is finding label artists. If anyone knows someone, please let me know.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Cybearg

[uveprom]

Hi

Cybearg

can you place the games separated for download, ?

no all in 1 like piñata.bin.

 

all piñata games 1 by 1, 4k games separated,

 

thanks for answer,

[Cybearg]

Hi

Cybearg

can you place the games separated for download, ?

no all in 1 like piñata.bin.

 

all piñata games 1 by 1, 4k games separated,

 

thanks for answer,

There are older, separate versions of some of these games available in other threads: here and here, but those are older versions with fewer features. I don't have any plans to release the games as individual 4k ROMs.

[+nanochess]

I just have played this and it's awesome the quality you've put in each game. Congratulations!

 

I'm not very sure of what to do in Felix game and the objective in the funny guy that can run head-reversed , I was able to run happily all around but I don't know what to do.

[Cybearg]

I just have played this and it's awesome the quality you've put in each game. Congratulations!

 

I'm not very sure of what to do in Felix game and the objective in the funny guy that can run head-reversed , I was able to run happily all around but I don't know what to do.

I expected there may be some confusion on these. It's not as self-evident as I would have liked.

 

With Fix-it Felix, the indicators on the bottom-left of the screen shows which of the windows are broken on the row you are standing on. Move left/right to the gaps indicated (the indicator will turn red when you are standing in front of a broken window) and press joystick fire to repair it.

 

With Flipside, you are competing with your fellow prisoner for the reward tokens, which regularly appear and disappear at various points in each level. The first to gain four pellets wins the round and receives bonus points. In single player, the game continues until all you lives are gone. In multiplayer, the game continues for a number of rounds, then the highest score wins.

[+nanochess]

I expected there may be some confusion on these. It's not as self-evident as I would have liked.

 

With Fix-it Felix, the indicators on the bottom-left of the screen shows which of the windows are broken on the row you are standing on. Move left/right to the gaps indicated (the indicator will turn red when you are standing in front of a broken window) and press joystick fire to repair it.

 

With Flipside, you are competing with your fellow prisoner for the reward tokens, which regularly appear and disappear at various points in each level. The first to gain four pellets wins the round and receives bonus points. In single player, the game continues until all you lives are gone. In multiplayer, the game continues for a number of rounds, then the highest score wins.

Thanks! I've really enjoyed Fix-it Felix now that I know what to do

 

Flipside, I almost figured it before, you could make the pellet to flash and getting it a little wider, it would be enough to know it should be taken . Still laughing with the funny guy going so smooth and head reversed

[Cybearg]

Flipside, I almost figured it before, you could make the pellet to flash and getting it a little wider, it would be enough to know it should be taken . Still laughing with the funny guy going so smooth and head reversed

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll see if I can do that.

[Cybearg]

I just added version 1.0.5 in the first post. As well as having larger pick-ups, as nanochess suggested, I also found and fixed a bug where Flipside would overwrite its high score on every AtariVox save, regardless on whether the new score was higher or lower than the standing high score.

 

There are a few other changes as well:

 

1. Added more backgrounds to Joyride, which are randomly selected for a bit of variety.
2. Added the ability for playfields to be mirrored in Ping, so maybe there will be a bit more variety in the stages now. Also, after every few stages, you come to the exit of the cave you were flying through. Leaving through it gives you a little bonus before moving on to the next cave.
3. Rewrote Heartbreak from the ground up to be more efficient and improved the increasing ball speed that hard mode has. Also, easy mode gives you fewer bonus points, but the ball doesn't speed up over time and the punishment for losing your ball into the black isn't as harsh.
4. Added a PAL60 version of the compilation.

Let me know if anyone comes across any more issues!

[killersquirel]

Great job on the new version. This collection is an absolute gem! I look forward to your future projects! Keep up the great work.

 

-mike

[Mr SQL]

Just downloaded these Cybearg, great work! Heartbreaker and Flipside are awesome and Ping is pretty cool too

[Andromeda Stardust]

Hi. I just wanted to chirp in. I only played the Fix-it-Felix game so far, but I've been impressed with many of the multicart games I've purchased in the AtariAge store and I feel like yours would be a great addition to my collection. If a player dosen't like one of the games but enjoyed the others, then the cart purchase doesn't feel like a waste. Have you discussed with Albert about a potential future cart release in the AA store?

[Cybearg]

Hi. I just wanted to chirp in. I only played the Fix-it-Felix game so far, but I've been impressed with many of the multicart games I've purchased in the AtariAge store and I feel like yours would be a great addition to my collection. If a player dosen't like one of the games but enjoyed the others, then the cart purchase doesn't feel like a waste. Have you discussed with Albert about a potential future cart release in the AA store?

Thank you, and yes, but at present he is busy filling other orders. I need a label artist before I can make any more progress toward a cartridge release.

 

In the meanwhile, consider this thread a "release candidate testing phase," so if anyone notices anything that seems off, and especially any blatant bugs, please let me know so a cart release can be as polished as possible.