FifthPlayer Posted September 28, 2016 Share Posted September 28, 2016 (edited) <deleted> Edited September 28, 2016 by FifthPlayer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onmode-ky Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I have the Jakks Pacific Joystick that comes with ten built in games and runs off 4x AA batteries. it is painfully obvious with the system menu that it's running an NOAC because the system menu practically uses NES like fonts. The games are all a bit "off" from the Atari originals in ways that couldn't be attributed to emulation bugs. A bigger indicator is the 50 and 25 percent duty square waves in the sound effects, and the noise generators sounding NES-ish rather than Atari-ish. While these systems may have mimicked the look and sound of NES, programmers for them confirmed they were not NOAC-based. As I wrote earlier, it was 65C816-compatible Winbond microcontrollers for which the games were ported. Sheesh, whatever; you've saved like 50 cents by eliminating a couple analog phono jacks nobody uses anyway... At first glance, it doesn't sound like much of a savings, but if you build a million of these TVs, that's a half million dollars saved. Saving half a million dollars by eliminating a part which nobody uses anyway sounds like a good deal to me! They could also save a bunch of money by switching to Geico. It helps if you think about the definition of the words composite and component. Composite is a combination of the video signal's individual components. It's easy to remember S-video, because that's the one you had to say "Sayonara" to, thanks to new TVs no longer including inputs for it. A part eliminated that I do use. . . . Once anyone gets their hands on a 2016 Flashback or AtGames Genesis system, please let me know. I have a few questions about the final hardware I'd like to get answered/confirmed. onmode-ky 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 (edited) I have the Jakks Pacific Joystick that comes with ten built in games and runs off 4x AA batteries. it is painfully obvious with the system menu that it's running an NOAC because the system menu practically uses NES like fonts. The games are all a bit "off" from the Atari originals in ways that couldn't be attributed to emulation bugs. A bigger indicator is the 50 and 25 percent duty square waves in the sound effects, and the noise generators sounding NES-ish rather than Atari-ish. Granted they did a fairly decent job cloning the graphics and gameplay, but they aren't correct. Especially in Yars, the "beam" of color bricks don't have the variety of color the Atari version had. Remember Atari pallet has 16 hues (including bw) and 8 luminosity levels each. NES has 14 different hues (including bw) and only 4 luminosities each. Anyway that's 56 colors (NES) vs 128 colors (Atari). You can see the entire "rainbow" in Yars and the original was more colorful. I had this. It was interesting also how in Adventure, when you got to the secret room (yes, it was in thisversion,) that "Created by Warren Robinett" was replaced by "TEXT" EDIT: Now using this as a case for my Raspberry Pi Edited September 29, 2016 by Inky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 I had this. It was interesting also how in Adventure, when you got to the secret room (yes, it was in thisversion,) that "Created by Warren Robinett" was replaced by "TEXT" Now that's just lame... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 The secret room in the Link to the Past port on the GBA is the same way, I believe. I don't remember if it's accessible without cheating, but the room is there, just with placeholder text. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 The secret room in the Link to the Past port on the GBA is the same way, I believe. I don't remember if it's accessible without cheating, but the room is there, just with placeholder text. What secret room in LTTP? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted September 30, 2016 Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) http://zeldawiki.org/Chris_Houlihan_Room Ended up in it once on the Super Nintendo original. I doubt their claims about how it works though. 20 years ago, the trick was to dash to the bush that you fall through at the start of the game when you're attempting to enter the castle, which worked for me. Now they have all kinds of complicated thoughts on how it works and why it's there, when it was just a contest that Nintendo ran and a room that they didn't want the gamer to locate with ease. Edited September 30, 2016 by Atariboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted October 3, 2016 Share Posted October 3, 2016 My review for the Atari Flashback 7 is posted here: http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2016/09/30/review-atari-flashback-7-atgames-2016-version-includes-videos/ My review for the Sega Classic Console is posted here: http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2016/10/02/review-sega-genesis-classic-game-console-atgames-2016-version-includes-videos/ I expect to post the review for the Sega portable by the end of the week. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 My review for the Atari Flashback 7 is posted here: http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2016/09/30/review-atari-flashback-7-atgames-2016-version-includes-videos/ My review for the Sega Classic Console is posted here: http://armchairarcade.com/perspectives/2016/10/02/review-sega-genesis-classic-game-console-atgames-2016-version-includes-videos/ I expect to post the review for the Sega portable by the end of the week. Nice review Bill on the Atari Flashback 7. I don't know if it's been announced, and maybe I am trying too hard to read between the lines here: On a related note, since this is also expected to be the last such version to work with legacy composite AV connections, if this is the type of product you like to use with a CRT television for additional authenticity, this is the version to get. If the Atari Flashback 7 is the last version to have AV composite connections, then does that mean the Atari Flashback 8 will have HDMI capability to better the video output for today's TV's? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 If the Atari Flashback 7 is the last version to have AV composite connections, then does that mean the Atari Flashback 8 will have HDMI capability to better the video output for today's TV's? Your conclusion, which I can neither confirm nor deny, is quite logical. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarifan88 Posted October 5, 2016 Share Posted October 5, 2016 Your conclusion, which I can neither confirm nor deny, is quite logical. Thanks for the reply Bill! "Live long and prosper." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Looks like this is going to be the best Atari Flashback ever made, second only to FB2. I'll definitely be picking one up this year... Unfortunately, as you may or may not know, the original Frogger arcade game allegedly used music lifted from Japanese cartoons without permission. As a result, since 2006, any new release of Frogger has not been allowed to have the original audio. Sadly, this also applies to the possibility of including the original Atari 2600 release of the game on this console. As a result, just like with Space Invaders, this is a from-scratch port designed to take advantage of the Flashback’s hardware rather than remain true to the Atari 2600’s limitations. I'm actually kind of glad they just muted the BGM instead of adding some cheezy forgettable tunes. Very nice otherwise. Sega Genesis is still the definitive home console port though... BTW, if Frogger's audio was sticken for copyright, how did the 1998 Genesis port squeak through? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) What makes you say that? The addition of Frogger? Nothing else is different from the sounds of it compared with last year's model. Personally, I feel like losing Battlezone with the past few of these is a real loss compared to earlier iterations. And of the most recent AtGames editions since the loss of that license, I'd probably select a Wal-Mart edition with wired controllers or the deluxe Sam's Club edition with paddle controllers over this year's release where wireless joysticks are standard. And I'd of rather had music like they use now rather than nothing at all. Fits the game well and if one didn't know better, they'd likely assume it was original. So hopefully they consider adding to it in the future, since they otherwise have what looks like a pretty nice conversion of it. Edited October 6, 2016 by Atariboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moo Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Is there a video comparing the music of frogger to the stolen music? I tried searching on youtube for japanese frogger but just got a bunch of japanese game shows instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Is there a video comparing the music of frogger to the stolen music? I tried searching on youtube for japanese frogger but just got a bunch of japanese game shows instead. Yes there is, further up in this same thread. Arcade and home versions of Frogger all used this "stolen" music. Well, modern recreations of Frogger will always have the music replaced, because the original arcade game lifted its tunes from various TV anime opening titles. I'm pretty sure it was without permission, since the shows were from different animation studios and broadcasters. The main gameplay tune came from [the first 75 seconds of] this show (Araiguma Rascal (Rascal the Raccoon)). Google searches reveal that this tune was not one of the two tunes in the Parker Brothers 2600 port, but the Supercharger Frogger does include it. onmode-ky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Loguidice Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 BTW, if Frogger's audio was sticken for copyright, how did the 1998 Genesis port squeak through? It appears that it only became a problem in the 2000s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andromeda Stardust Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 It appears that it only became a problem in the 2000s. Forgive me if this has already been asked, but are there any existing Plug and Play units with Frogger audio intact? Plug and plays only really became popular around 2004 going forward, until mobile took over the novelty of playing cheap games on a TV screen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Forgive me if this has already been asked, but are there any existing Plug and Play units with Frogger audio intact? Plug and plays only really became popular around 2004 going forward, until mobile took over the novelty of playing cheap games on a TV screen. Yes there have been Frogger Plug-n-plays. Including this dedicated one from 2004 and this one with other Konami games on it in addition to Frogger No they did not have the original arcade music. Per the top review of the Konami unit: The ports of Frogger, Scramble, and Time Pilot appear to be new for this release. They are all reasonably playable, but they are just shadows of the original games. Frogger is especially disappointing, largely because of the irritating electronic vamp that replaces its the once-memorable musical soundtrack. Gyruss has been "Nintendo-ized," and now has "boss" levels instead of the endless waves of enemies featured in the original game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 (edited) Here's an example of how they handle Frogger these days. https://youtu.be/GK9Eym__Leg?t=3m Still sounds like an early 80's arcade classic. No nonsense here like CBS was doing with electronic synthesized replacement music in DVD releases of 1950's and 1960's tv shows a few years ago that they had legal concerns over unclear rights d, by some "composer" named Mark Heyes. Blends in seamlessly and if you're not very familiar with the arcade game, you'd never think anything was amiss there. I much prefer full authenticity, but if that's not going to happen, this is the approach that AtGames should've gone with here, in my opinion. Edited October 6, 2016 by Atariboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+GoldLeader Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 Maybe for Future Reference...Either 2 versions of Frogger could be included; With music and without...Or a Menu on the startup of Frogger, to play with or without music...That would be letting us decide which we prefer, even if it's not original music... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 They could always mix in more public domain tunes, like Yankee Doodle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 I got a 2016 AtGames Sega Genesis portable because that's how I am. Sound is the same as it's ever been (not great) but the build quality is fine for the price and the screen is bigger and nicer than that of my 2008 orange model. Crappy comparison pics below. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 6, 2016 Share Posted October 6, 2016 The music to Phantasy Star III is breaking my heart. It should be so beautiful. It's not. Mortal Kombat, however, sounds raw and nasty just like it's supposed to. It's neat to see Eternal Champions officially on board. It sounds "good enough," too, at least for me. Jangly rhythm-heavy Genesis music is fine (Tengen, EA). Anything tuneful (Sonic, PSIII) is not. I still like this handheld better for Genesis games than my iPhone, based on feel, not sound. I've gotta get a sock or glasses slip case to keep from scratching up the screen like my old orange one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moo Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 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. Frogger OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqBnP5zhobs Arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9fO-YuWPSk&t=30 Genesis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTftp4Cam5k Sounds legit to me. Genesis is the definitive home version... This dont help at all. How am I supposed to know which songs sampled the anime? Listen to the whole frogger soundtrack and look for similarities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted October 7, 2016 Share Posted October 7, 2016 This dont help at all. How am I supposed to know which songs sampled the anime? Listen to the whole frogger soundtrack and look for similarities? Um, yeah. How else would you hear it? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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