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Flashback Portable: Needed Controller Hacks


doctorclu

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If circus atari is too fast for a joystick, really the best hack would be to slow the acrobat himself down.... though combining that with variable joystick control as I described might be even better. Probably too much work for the fb portable.

 

We're going to work on tuning the joystick/d-pad conversion for paddle games for the 2017 models. I'm not sure how much can be done though given their digital nature, but I agree it really needs to be tweaked as much as possible.

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We're going to work on tuning the joystick/d-pad conversion for paddle games for the 2017 models. I'm not sure how much can be done though given their digital nature, but I agree it really needs to be tweaked as much as possible.

Awesome...

 

A simple finger dial would be small and could emulate paddles and driving controller, though I presume that'd still be cost prohibitive...

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...aaaand, the volume dial is worn out in no time :P

 

Sure would like to know how the unit decides on which games to emulate paddles in. A select few games that it is written to do so?

 

Opinion of Freeway: Frequent collision clears might be the problem, so which is better? Ignoring the second chicken collisions (since it can't be moved anyway), OR rewriting the control for it to use left/right and flickering the chickens to collect collisions on alternating frames?

 

What was wrong with the dot placement in Alien? The guide mentions that they don't line up...but they never did vertically (missile reuse for the dots).

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Bloody Human Freeway: like the eventual commercial game, this proto checks every lane for collisions and clears them as the road is drawn. But since there's only the one player activated, there was no need to do all that. Checking collisions at the end of the frame works fine.

Bloodyhumanfreeway(portable).bin

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Here is the video for tonight's review of Indiana Jones, Root Beer Tapper, Circus, and Bloody Human Highway...

 

 

[[Correction 1: Suggesting maybe use Difficulty 1 for the start switch ]]

[[Correction 2: It is January 13.]] :P

Edited by doctorclu
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I wanted to mention that the home brew "Palomino" is a great, hopefully not forgotten, puzzle game that's perfect for the Flashback Portable.

"Palomino" is by the designer who goes by Seemo.

I do not think it needs a controller hack, but I wanted to remind people about this game.

He also made "lead" and "Omicron", both in the AA store.

 

Latest bin linked:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/210898-palomino-2600/?p=2987380

 

The PDF instructions are back at the start of the thread, not the first post as it changed a bit.

Although I could figure it out without instructions.

It has atarivox speech, but that's not needed for this great gameplay.

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Oh, some kind of ghosting effect happening with the dots in Alien. That might be fixable if the enables aren't always hit on the same cycle each frame (gotta check into that).

 

Raiders looks fairly good. The ark pedestal looks to be a bit off-center, tho. A point about the game reset...it really doesn't need to be assigned to anything, since a trigger press will begin a new game anyway (you just wouldn't be able to do so in the middle of a game, but in that case just exit and reload). BTW a snake in the market reveals where it will be on the rock scene so you can easily avoid it...and you lose points using the grenade ;)

 

The VBLANK used in Bloody Human Freeway was used to hide the glitch in the top-left corner...it's visible without it. So I blanked the background color in Freeway here. As mentioned, player 2 cannot be controlled anyway...so I only checked the collisions at the end of frame to make it playable. Could possibly use the console switches to enable player 2 for a flickered head-to-head version (using the color switch for game selection and the trigger to start). Thoughts?

Freeway(portable).bin

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I wanted to mention that the home brew "Palomino" is a great, hopefully not forgotten, puzzle game that's perfect for the Flashback Portable.

"Palomino" is by the designer who goes by Seemo.

 

Latest bin linked:

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/210898-palomino-2600/?p=2987380

 

 

Tinkered with it for a bit. Seems to work fine control wise. And kinda fun. Reminded me of Rampart on how you had to move blocks in a hurry. I'll read the instructions and see if I can get to know this better before Episode 6 of AFP GTG is recorded. :D

 

 

Oh, some kind of ghosting effect happening with the dots in Alien. That might be fixable if the enables aren't always hit on the same cycle each frame (gotta check into that).

 

Raiders looks fairly good. The ark pedestal looks to be a bit off-center, tho. A point about the game reset...it really doesn't need to be assigned to anything, since a trigger press will begin a new game anyway (you just wouldn't be able to do so in the middle of a game, but in that case just exit and reload). BTW a snake in the market reveals where it will be on the rock scene so you can easily avoid it...and you lose points using the grenade ;)

 

The VBLANK used in Bloody Human Freeway was used to hide the glitch in the top-left corner...it's visible without it. So I blanked the background color in Freeway here. As mentioned, player 2 cannot be controlled anyway...so I only checked the collisions at the end of frame to make it playable. Could possibly use the console switches to enable player 2 for a flickered head-to-head version (using the color switch for game selection and the trigger to start). Thoughts?

 

Grenade makes you loose points? Guess I need to read a walk through of Indy. I had forgotten how much fun the game is.

 

As for the reset switch not being attached, I'd suggest not attaching it. Less chance to bump it during gameplay.

 

--------

 

So the hack of Freeway works quite well. The chicken is hit and thrown back down a lane or two and is stunned verses before where the Chicken could run across the screen with no consequences.

 

I am loving the idea of the two player game with the second player maybe using difficulty 1 for up and difficulty 2 for down. The first two player game on the AFP!

Edited by doctorclu
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@iesposta - Thanks for mentioning "Palomino". I had not heard of this game. Just tried it on my FBP and it is addicting. Need to add it to my Harmony next, so I can try it with the AtariVox.

 

Really like the sound, as it reminds me of Omicron. - Thanks again. :)

 

post-21941-0-03590900-1484520960_thumb.jpg

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I was thinking of using the other switches for a second player, since those do not throw "hard" captions on the screen ;) But would the screen be too difficult to see for players facing each other? Haven't yet seen the thing, so I dunno.

 

Raiders fix: Difficulty switch removed. If you want to start over mid-game, you'll need to reload the rom. The spider gfx was also messed up...this is fixed.

 

Bloody Human Freeway fix. Glitch removed from the corner. Free space used to tally the number of times run over (max99).

Bloodyhumanfreeway(portable).bin

Raiders(portable).bin

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2 player Freeway: quick'n'dirty method - I just doubled the rom size to 4k, and had each 4k section blank the appropriate chicken where cars are drawn. Second player uses Select and Reset keys to move. Color selects the game variation, and first player's trigger starts the game. Difficulties are unchanged from the original, so they can still be used to handicap.

 

Flicker fixed. Edited back down to 2k (there were only 2 draw routines that needed blanking).

Freeway(portable2player).bin

Edited by Nukey Shay
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Wait a bit...it's swapping after 2 frames instead of 1. I'll fix the flicker.

 

Cool. I just like how AFP has a two player game now. Reminds me of the head to head electronics games back in the 80's.

 

The one that I have is the Death Star run from the 70's. :D

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As, I believe, the only two player, one-switch (each) game (on easy level), frogs and flies would probably be the best 2600 game for a two player option. Maybe one player presses d-pad in any direction, the other presses fire to jump their frogs.

 

It's too bad that Defend Your Castle doesn't have a one-switch option (like the Odyssey 2 Smithereens game it was based on), though I guess the players could agree to keep the angle and catapult position constant.

 

A two player option for Atlantis could work for cooperative play...

Edited by doug0909
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Fixed. And 2k again :)

 

Looks much better BTW. I'll show that soon. Cool that I have one game on this to play head to head with friends. Trying to think of any other games that have a simple control scheme like up or down like that. Pong? :P

Edited by doctorclu
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As, I believe, the only two player, one-switch (each) game (on easy level), frogs and flies would probably be the best 2600 game for a two player option. Maybe one player presses d-pad in any direction, the other presses fire to jump their frogs.

 

Ooohh.. that is a 4K game. Let me see if I can hack that. :D

 

After working with Distella the source is what I have so far. Now to figure out what does what. :P

Frogflys.s

Edited by doctorclu
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Nackgammon: The original Backgammon is listed as "perfect", but does it support the 2-player variations? In any case, I hacked it to use the same directional controller (left/right/trigger) for both players...and threw in the Nackgammon variations 9-12. Select/Reset unchanged, Color has no function.

 

 

EDIT: Difficulties swapped to remove "hard" captions during regular gameplay.

Nackgammon(portable).bin

Edited by Nukey Shay
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Trying to think of any other games that have a simple control scheme like up or down like that. Pong? :P

Arcade Pong (from Flashback 2.0) has collision errors on the Portable.

 

I haven't tried Video Olympics yet, I always forget that it has a two-player mode on it.

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