Flojomojo Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Man:_The_Wily_Wars 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 Towering inferno uses the wrong port. Heh, I had that game. I see that AtariAge marks it as "scarce" which makes me want to sell, sell sell. Naturally, there's a discussion about how it looks like someone ADDED code to make it use the right controller. Here on AtariAge. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/179721-joystick-problem-specific-to-towering-inferno/ Plus some bickering about how you should "just read the cartridge" for a hint. But the scan of the cartridge here doesn't say "use the right joystick," just "read the manual." It's amazing to see the sociology and anthropology of these "lost" games just a couple of generations after their release. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmadgames Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 (edited) I think I recall a mention of some other products in this thread or another (in addition to the four already announced) also coming from AtGames this year. Am I correct? Edited September 6, 2016 by bmadgames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 (edited) I think I recall a mention of some other products in this thread or another (in addition to the four already announced) also coming from AtGames this year. Am I correct? Here's what we've announced so far for this year, hitting around October 1: - Atari Flashback Portable - Atari Flashback 7 - Ultimate Portable Game Player (Genesis) - Classic Game Console (Genesis) - Atari Flashback Classics Volume 1 (PS4 and Xbox One) - Atari Flashback Classics Volume 2 (PS4 and Xbox One) The official game list press releases for the above are just about finalized and should hit on the 13th. There is one other potential product for later this year (November-ish), but it's not something that can be discussed at this time. Edited September 6, 2016 by Bill Loguidice 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmadgames Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Great! At least the line-up has a little bit of change to be excited about this year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Heh, I had that game. I see that AtariAge marks it as "scarce" which makes me want to sell, sell sell. Naturally, there's a discussion about how it looks like someone ADDED code to make it use the right controller. Here on AtariAge. http://atariage.com/forums/topic/179721-joystick-problem-specific-to-towering-inferno/ Plus some bickering about how you should "just read the cartridge" for a hint. But the scan of the cartridge here doesn't say "use the right joystick," just "read the manual." It's amazing to see the sociology and anthropology of these "lost" games just a couple of generations after their release. So I take it this game will be unplayable on the flashback portable? I have Towering inferno and remember playing it for a bit. I do not remember plugging in the right controller port but it's been a while since I played it. A bigger concern is how I'm gonna get my Space Rocks Fix on the go without DCP+ support! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 So I take it this game will be unplayable on the flashback portable? I have Towering inferno and remember playing it for a bit. I do not remember plugging in the right controller port but it's been a while since I played it. A bigger concern is how I'm gonna get my Space Rocks Fix on the go without DCP+ support! Maybe try Meteoroids A lot of awesome bB games built with DCP+ will not run, but I wonder if Atgames will eventually release an API for programmers to access additional features of the powerful hardware; though I suspect there may be concern that using that hardware outside of the emulator won't feel like classic Atari. The device accepts very tiny cartridges, so it's possible a programmer may figure out how to bootstrap and fully access the underlying hardware; we may see cracked Atari 2600 portables running modern games or running new cores for Sega and Nintendo emulators Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 A lot of awesome bB games built with DCP+ will not run, but I wonder if Atgames will eventually release an API for programmers to access additional features of the powerful hardware; though I suspect there may be concern that using that hardware outside of the emulator won't feel like classic Atari. The device accepts very tiny cartridges, so it's possible a programmer may figure out how to bootstrap and fully access the underlying hardware; we may see cracked Atari 2600 portables running modern games or running new cores for Sega and Nintendo emulators I wouldn't count on any API. It's just not in the business model, although of course any non-chip enhanced Atari 2600 game should work just fine in theory. As for it not feeling like classic Atari if it had an open API, there is actually one non-Atari 2600 game on the portable, Frogger, which is a new arcade port (not meant to be 1:1) that takes advantage of the core hardware. Depending upon how the hardware changes go for 2017, it might be possible that some of these devices will become multi-platform devices. For now, though, the plan is still single system support. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 I wouldn't count on any API. It's just not in the business model, although of course any non-chip enhanced Atari 2600 game should work just fine in theory. As for it not feeling like classic Atari if it had an open API, there is actually one non-Atari 2600 game on the portable, Frogger, which is a new arcade port (not meant to be 1:1) that takes advantage of the core hardware. Depending upon how the hardware changes go for 2017, it might be possible that some of these devices will become multi-platform devices. For now, though, the plan is still single system support. I think that's a better plan because there are plenty of multi-platform handheld emulators, but there are no other dedicated Atari 2600 Handhelds outside of Ben Heck's custom portables. Interesting about Frogger - I had imagined they had decided to use the SuperCharger version instead of Parker Brothers, perhaps the non-Atari game is market testing for the future multi-platform strategy (would have been a good idea with the NOAC versions). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Interesting about Frogger - I had imagined they had decided to use the SuperCharger version instead of Parker Brothers, perhaps the non-Atari game is market testing for the future multi-platform strategy (would have been a good idea with the NOAC versions). One reason is that it's a rights issue with the original music. That's why there are no newly made Frogger games with the original sounds. Pity, really. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 The device accepts very tiny cartridges, Yeah, it's called an SD card! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 One reason is that it's a rights issue with the original music. That's why there are no newly made Frogger games with the original sounds. Pity, really. No kidding, so the Frogger music in the SuperCharger version has a copyright conflict - I had thought Bridgestone Media released all the rights to allow production of the Stella Gets a new Brain CD. Did the copyright conflict stem from bitd where only a cassette version was allowed because Parker Brothers had bought the cartridge rights? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 No kidding, so the Frogger music in the SuperCharger version has a copyright conflict - I had thought Bridgestone Media released all the rights to allow production of the Stella Gets a new Brain CD. Did the copyright conflict stem from bitd where only a cassette version was allowed because Parker Brothers had bought the cartridge rights? Nope. The music was lifted from these anime shows. I don't know if they had permission at the time, but they don't anymore. It will be fun to see if the Supercharger ROMs work on the Flashback portable. They work great in Stella, loading screen and everything. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Yeah, I don't know all the legal details. Every company assesses risk in their own way. All I know is that there was an issue with music rights (and it's my understanding they never had them in the first place), so, like with Taito and Space Invaders, the compromise for including Frogger from Konami was creating a new port. If not, no Frogger at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Nope. The music was lifted from these anime shows. I don't know if they had permission at the time, but they don't anymore. It will be fun to see if the Supercharger ROMs work on the Flashback portable. They work great in Stella, loading screen and everything. X2! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 (edited) What's odd about Frogger is how the Genesis conversion in the late 1990's had fully intact audio. Whatever concerns that Konami now has about the audio didn't seem to be present as recently as 1998. Edited September 7, 2016 by Atariboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmode-ky Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 If you check out the Japanese Wikipedia page for Frogger, it actually lists a total of four TV anime opening title themes which were used (lifted?) for the game (just text-search the page for "OP"): the aforementioned Araiguma Rascal (Rascal the Raccoon) and Hana no Ko Runrun (Runrun the Flower Girl), as well as Alps no Shoujo Heidi (Heidi, Girl of the Alps) and Moero Arthur Hakuba no Ouji (Blaze Forth, Arthur, Prince of the White Horse--these are my translations, since I don't think there are any official English names). Earlier in the thread, when I wrote about Frogger's music being a no-no, I thought at the time that the Parker Brothers release might be used in the Flashback. It uses two pieces of music, one of which is a traditional Japanese children's song, and the other of which is, well, none of the four anime opening titles, at least (the Supercharger version does use the Rascal theme). But maybe the Parker Brothers version had other rights issues, too. As for it not feeling like classic Atari if it had an open API, there is actually one non-Atari 2600 game on the portable, Frogger, which is a new arcade port (not meant to be 1:1) that takes advantage of the core hardware. The Space Invaders non-2600 port is not on the portable, then? Incidentally, regarding the Flashback Portable using the next generation of AtGames' hardware, do you know if there are some specific features or capabilities of the new chip that the system uses? Things that it couldn't have done with the current chip, I mean. onmode-ky 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 What's odd about Frogger is how the Genesis conversion in the late 1990's had fully intact audio. Whatever concerns that Konami now has about the audio didn't seem to be present as recently as 1998. It appears to have become a concern in the 2000s. The Xbox 360 Frogger, for instance, has completely different music. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 The Space Invaders non-2600 port is not on the portable, then? Incidentally, regarding the Flashback Portable using the next generation of AtGames' hardware, do you know if there are some specific features or capabilities of the new chip that the system uses? Things that it couldn't have done with the current chip, I mean. onmode-ky Scooping the press release, no, Space Invaders is not on the portable. Although the more powerful hardware in the Atari portable is capable of more, there are no special features present. At best, it will possibly allow the emulation to be improved on some titles, although I haven't really noticed anything of that nature (I'll be doing more formal testing on my unit soon). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 Frogger OST: Arcade: Genesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTftp4Cam5k Sounds legit to me. Genesis is the definitive home version... 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 (edited) Plus, I love how the programmer rearranged the screen layout on the Genesis. By relocating the scoring data and such to the side like that rather than matching the arcade's layout that ran on a vertically oriented monitor, it provides for the largest possible picture on a 4:3 tv while still maintaining the original aspect ratio of the gameplay area of the arcade classic. He pretty well thought this one all the way through. which makes it the definitive edition of the game. It doesn't matter now, but you didn't even need two controllers for multiplayer back then, accommodating any one that only had one controller. When this hit in 1998 from Majesco, there were actually new Genesis 3 owners such as myself. So a fair number of people likely were able to enjoy multiplayer on this release only thanks to that accommodation (I didn't need it despite only having controller that came with the system at the time, since any 2600 compatible joystick could work for Frogger). Edited September 8, 2016 by Atariboy 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asaki Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 The device accepts very tiny cartridges, so it's possible a programmer may figure out how to bootstrap and fully access the underlying hardware; we may see cracked Atari 2600 portables running modern games or running new cores for Sega and Nintendo emulators I doubt it. Seems a pretty niche device for hackers to target, and I've never heard of a similar device being hacked. I'm sure anyone who had interest would rather just port an existing 2600 emulator to 3DS or Vita. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I doubt it. Seems a pretty niche device for hackers to target, and I've never heard of a similar device being hacked. I'm sure anyone who had interest would rather just port an existing 2600 emulator to 3DS or Vita. Usually when someone hacks a plug-n-play like a Flashback or Namco anniversary (and possibly the NES Mini), they gut the existing circuit board and cram in a Raspberry Pi or other microcomputer to run emulators. Nobody bothers trying to hack the flash chip or whatever ROM is present in the device, if any. Oftentimes they are glop-tops which cannot be serviced. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 I doubt it. Seems a pretty niche device for hackers to target, and I've never heard of a similar device being hacked. I'm sure anyone who had interest would rather just port an existing 2600 emulator to 3DS or Vita. If it becomes very popular Ben Heck will unlock it - he's definitely going to break one down, maybe he'll put vintage chips in instead of the official Atari emu. Or likely, one of the engineers will eventually release a bootloader exploit - code sometimes escapes from the design lab for fun stuff Yeah, it's called an SD card! Daughter boards! (confusing more people) We should probably call them tiny cassettes since the tiny daughter boards are encased Usually when someone hacks a plug-n-play like a Flashback or Namco anniversary (and possibly the NES Mini), they gut the existing circuit board and cram in a Raspberry Pi or other microcomputer to run emulators. Nobody bothers trying to hack the flash chip or whatever ROM is present in the device, if any. Oftentimes they are glop-tops which cannot be serviced. I could definitely see it being hardware hacked that way; imo anything you put inside or place on top of an Atari becomes Atari. Agree the bubble ROM's are pretty much impossible to access. btw I hope it does take SD cartridges instead of the teeny-tiny micro SD's; an SD cart can sport miniature label artwork, but it would be hard to see microscopic artwork on a microSD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted September 8, 2016 Share Posted September 8, 2016 btw I hope it does take SD cartridges instead of the teeny-tiny micro SD's; an SD cart can sport miniature label artwork, but it would be hard to see microscopic artwork on a microSD. The Atari Flashback Portable? Yes, it takes full-sized SD cards. It goes in the top center of the unit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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