Zaxxon conversion?

[+Cafeman]

well, 5-colors actually. But that makes sense, a very common mode to use. But as clean and simple as it looks, I wondered.

[tep392]

well, 5-colors actually. But that makes sense, a very common mode to use. But as clean and simple as it looks, I wondered.

Your right. Each character can use 3 of the 4 playfield registers + background, though only in two combinations. Looking at the playfield in Zaxxon I count all 4 colors plus the black background.

[kiwilove]

Could someone comment / compare the differences between Super Zaxxon and Zaxxon for us? They are not using the same graphics mode - Super Zaxxon using a bitmap mode. Because this is in the 5200 forum - it probably requires someone from the A8 forums to answer? I think in bitmap mode, only 4 colours are available for use - whereas in Antic 4, you do have the inverse available, adding a 5th colour. I presume using a bitmap mode requires more memory usage?

 

I'd guess Antic 4 is desirable for use in most games because of the inverse colour available, and the use of redefined characters keeps memory usage to the minimum possible. I prefer to work in this mode because of it's resolution and number of colours available but GTIA 9 has it's own attraction as well.

 

Harvey

[kiwilove]

What graphics mode does Fortier's Zaxxon use? Side-question, although AtariBlast is a side-scroller, what graphics mode does it use for its Zaxxon-themed level?

AtariBLAST! uses both vertical and horizontal scrolling levels - making use of GTIA modes 9, 10 and 11, and Antic modes 2 and 4. It makes use of a rear screen as such (which can be animated), and use of 8 animated characters - which can be used in any combination you wish. These are redefined characters - and 2 character sets are available for use.

It was originally to be only a vertical scrolling game/demo for the GTIA modes - but more and more additions were incorporated because they were possible to do.

So the answer is Antic 4.

 

Harvey

[+Cafeman]

Could someone comment / compare the differences between Super Zaxxon and Zaxxon for us? They are not using the same graphics mode - Super Zaxxon using a bitmap mode. Because this is in the 5200 forum - it probably requires someone from the A8 forums to answer? I think in bitmap mode, only 4 colours are available for use - whereas in Antic 4, you do have the inverse available, adding a 5th colour. I presume using a bitmap mode requires more memory usage?

 

 

 

I'm forgetting, what exactly is a 'bitmap' mode. Is that modes like Antic D and E where its all pixels and not redefined characters (like in Antic 4) ?

 

5-color Antic 4 takes up far, far less memory per-screen (960 bytes per screen) than 4-color Antic E (7,690 bytes per screen).

 

The GTIA modes are (I believe) augmentations of the lower resolution Antic Mode D. IT is twice as blocky as Antic E , but still acceptable and uses only 3840 bytes per screen. Plus you can experiement with all those different hues/luminescences.

 

Is Super Zaxxon in a GTIA mode of Antic D ?

[+Cafeman]

Your welcome to your opinion. There is no arguing that it is plain graphically, but it has most of the game play elements and is both challenging and fun to play. I enjoyed playing this game on my 400 as a kid and wanted to have the better 32K version to play on my 5200. I thought it would be a fun little project so I did the conversion and posted here for others to enjoy. A few people have expressed interest in a cart so we are making one available. If I want an authentic game of Zaxxon I can play it on MAME.

 

I wanted Zaxxon so badly back in the 80's. I finally bought the cassette version for my 1200XL. It was identical to the 5200 version. Except the 5200 version kills my thumb and finger, trying to mash the fire button so much. Does this ported version have "hold down the fire button auto-fire?"

 

Anyway, I didn't even know the A8 disk version existed and that it had the missiles and other elements omitted from the 16k version. One day in the 2000's , I was going thru all the games on my Dreamcast A8 emulator disk, and I tried Zaxxon and ..... what??! This isn't what I remembered! I'd have played this version till the cows came home , back in the day. Plus you have to love how smoothly this version scrolls - much smoother than some other versions.

[Tempest]

 

I wanted Zaxxon so badly back in the 80's. I finally bought the cassette version for my 1200XL. It was identical to the 5200 version. Except the 5200 version kills my thumb and finger, trying to mash the fire button so much. Does this ported version have "hold down the fire button auto-fire?"

Funny I did the same thing as a kid. I wanted Zaxxon because my friend had it on cartridge. I got the cassette version because it was cheaper, and other than the loading time I didn't see any difference. It wasn't the weird Datasoft version with the extras, it was exactly the same as the Sega cartridge version. I wonder if the extras were only in the disk version?

[tep392]

I picked up the Datasoft disk a few months ago. It actually has both the 16k and 32k versions on the disk. It checks the system RAM at boot time and then automatically loads the appropriate version. The 16k version on the disk is the same as the tape version from what I can tell.

[tep392]

Anyone ever find this bug in Zaxxon? Travel the path I have pictured and your ship will blow up every time even though it doesn't hit anything. You have to drop to the lowest altitude just after passing the force field. I've found it in all versions. 16k,32k,tape,cart,disk. There's a similar spot in the area after the space battle. Well I've found the source of the bug and fixed it in the 32k 5200 conversion.

 

 

 

[+Cafeman]

I think I've encountered that bug. I know I get blown up unfairly at times in the game, the collision is wack sometimes. Care to elaborate on how you fixed it?

 

Is there any way to slow down your ship's explosion, more like the coin-op version? Just freeze everything for a moment, then it blows up. In this version its over so fast in a popcorn spray.

[Tempest]

I've encountered this bug many times (or something similar). I always assumed it was just some wonky collision detection, but if it's a bug I'd love to hear about it.

[tep392]

Here's the story. The sideways oriented gun that's in front of the fighter is the culprit. The animation shows the shot moving from right to left in the playfield. Separate from the animation, there are coordinates that are calculated for the shot and used for collision detection. The bug is in the calculation of the shots coordinates. They are calculated as if the shot was facing back toward the fighter. So when you fly in the path shown, you run into an invisible shot from the gun in front of you.

 

I did some searching but can't find any code that would calculate the coordinate correctly for the sideways shot. All sideways guns have this problem. I havn't seen where it is even possible to run into the sideways shots so I simply disabled the collision detection for those shots. I've been thinking of adding the code to do the calculation correctly but I'm not sure it will actually affect game play, so might just leave it disabled.

[Tempest]

Interesting. I'd like to see this change added to the 5200 and 8-bit versions, even if you can't fix it. It's an annoying bug.

[Albert]

I'm glad you were able to track this down and fix it! Certainly annoying when you die for no what seems to be no good reason! The game's hard enough as it is.

 

..Al

[+Cafeman]

Oh yeah! A great improvement, can't wait to try it out.

 

Can you add auto fire too? ( or did you already?)

[tep392]

The 5200 cart is in the AA store now.

[bikeguychicago]

With this now available, are there any plans to convert the 8-bit Super Zaxxon to the 5200 (if it is even possible)?

[tep392]

I talked earlier in this thread about making a Zaxxon/Super Zaxxon multi-cart, but then realized that Super Zaxxon requires 32k of RAM.

[Atariboy2600]

Can't wait to get a copy of it^_^ Still need to fine and original Sega cart of Zaxxon for the 5200.