+eebuckeye Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 I searched and could not find a past thread so I figured I'd ask.. What are the best TI-99 game graphics for the following: Cartridge games? Basic games? Extended basic games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sometimes99er Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 I guess you're prepared to get different answers. Cartridge: Congo Bongo. Basic: Camelot. Extended Basic: Old Dark Caves 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+eebuckeye Posted January 14, 2018 Author Share Posted January 14, 2018 I was also thinking Camelot for basic... pretty cool little game! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrewmacattack Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Cartridge: POPEYE by Parker Brothers Basic: BENEATH THE STARS by Intrigue Ext Basic: not played one. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+adamantyr Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Cartridge: Donkey Kong BASIC: Morphy Extended BASIC: Legends II 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 Thats pretty objective, lol. IMO: cartridge: donkey kong/return to pirates island Basic: morphy XB: legends ii Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted January 14, 2018 Share Posted January 14, 2018 RTPI is the one I had in mind as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Opry99er Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Cart: Sabre Wulf BASIC: Camelot XB: Wizards Doom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMole Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Treasure Island looks great. Also, Jungle Hunt. Oh, and sometimes99er's games are always incredibly well designed. I really like those 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 As far as cartridge games go, I'd have to also vote for Popeye - an almost exact duplicate of the arcade game. Donkey Kong is a close runner up. (I just wish the sounds were better) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+eebuckeye Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Microsurgeon is one of the best cartridge games in my opinion.. I was so exciting when that came to the TI back in the day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 As far as cartridge games go, I'd have to also vote for Popeye - an almost exact duplicate of the arcade game. Donkey Kong is a close runner up. (I just wish the sounds were better) ...and the elevator stage had springs. Doesn't totally kill it for me - but yeah, they really should be there. Still as a port, TI Donkey Kong is better than most. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+adamantyr Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 ...and the elevator stage had springs. Doesn't totally kill it for me - but yeah, they really should be there. Still as a port, TI Donkey Kong is better than most. All the AtariSoft games were limited to the base 8K RAM at the >6000 address. Donkey Kong is 16K (Only 12k is used though) so they did a paging trick, possibly storing all the graphics and set-up in one half and the game in the other. My guess is they didn't have the memory space for springboard graphics or the control of them. Interestingly, my cartridge had a glitch that manifested most anytime I was on the last elevator platform and jumping to the platform in the lower right. The whole screen would go garbled crazy, typically breaking the game. Given that was an area the spring boards are SUPPOSED to be at, I wonder if there is some leftover code there that's causing the problem. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casey Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Interestingly, my cartridge had a glitch that manifested most anytime I was on the last elevator platform and jumping to the platform in the lower right. The whole screen would go garbled crazy, typically breaking the game. Given that was an area the spring boards are SUPPOSED to be at, I wonder if there is some leftover code there that's causing the problem. Back in the day when I first got my TI in 83, I was given a Donkey Kong cartridge and it exhibited the same behavior. It would almost always crash on the elevator screen. It was exchanged for Pac Man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
majestyx Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Am I alone in thinking Super Demon Attack, with it's Phoenix-like mothership, had some pretty awesome graphics for the time? Loved Return to Pirate's Isle back in the day and eventually (like 15 years later) figured out how to solve it. Typical Scott Adams treasure hunt, but killed a lot of time for me in my youth. You'll probably find my solution to it somewhere on the 'net. The game made use of some neat tile graphics to get the most out of each screen. TI versions of DK, Popeye and Q*Bert were all really close to their arcade originals. In fact, most of the Atarisoft, Parker Bros. and Imagic titles looked great on the TI. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+eebuckeye Posted January 15, 2018 Author Share Posted January 15, 2018 Were any of the Moonbeam software titles good on Extended Basic? I always saw advertisements in 99er magazine that looked good but never had a disk drive at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+adamantyr Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Back in the day when I first got my TI in 83, I was given a Donkey Kong cartridge and it exhibited the same behavior. It would almost always crash on the elevator screen. It was exchanged for Pac Man. Good to know I wasn't the only one! A lot of the 'official' ports of games on the TI had very good graphics, they utilize bitmap mode more generously and benefit. I've noticed with a lot of my graphics work in bitmap is that there is a definite artistic skill involved in understanding the mix of not just color but luminosity. The best games make use of this to have graphics really "pop" from the screen. Early 8-bit graphics used black as a background heavily so they could use color more liberally without things getting lost in the background. Later 8-bit graphics did a lot of black outline because they wanted more bright backgrounds and objects were getting lost. Look at Super Mario Bros. 1 verses 3 and you really see the difference. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digdugnate Posted January 15, 2018 Share Posted January 15, 2018 Good to know I wasn't the only one! A lot of the 'official' ports of games on the TI had very good graphics, they utilize bitmap mode more generously and benefit. I've noticed with a lot of my graphics work in bitmap is that there is a definite artistic skill involved in understanding the mix of not just color but luminosity. The best games make use of this to have graphics really "pop" from the screen. Early 8-bit graphics used black as a background heavily so they could use color more liberally without things getting lost in the background. Later 8-bit graphics did a lot of black outline because they wanted more bright backgrounds and objects were getting lost. Look at Super Mario Bros. 1 verses 3 and you really see the difference. I think a pretty good example of this is Ms. Pacman on the TI. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Were any of the Moonbeam software titles good on Extended Basic? I always saw advertisements in 99er magazine that looked good but never had a disk drive at the time. Several months back, I posted a disk image that I THINK included all of the Moonbeam titles. They were very good for XB IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 I was also thinking Camelot for basic... pretty cool little game! I remember being a tad disillusioned when I realized it was Rock, Paper, Scissors. Excellent graphics, though. It convinced a few of the neighbor kids to get a 4A. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
etownandy Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Ugh...too many good ones for me to easily pick a "best" in the categories. And what, no category for Assembly Language disk games? Those are where the 4A really shines IMHO. Watch out, though, as opinions will be all over the place. There are just too many that are top notch (Rock Runner would get my vote there, probably followed by Living Tomb) Cartridge: I have to agree with Popeye as first choice and Donkey Kong second. The graphics are among the closest to the arcade that you'll ever see. But Tunnels of Doom had a pretty good 3D effect in the corridors. The character graphics depend largely on the ability of the adventure's author, so that's a bit hit-or-miss.XB: The "Wizard" games look great (Wizard's Doom, Wizard's Revenge, etc) as do Marble Madness and Quasimodo. The Don Grannos stuff is also great (Old Dark Caves, Legends, Legends 2) but they're helped by Assembly (is that "cheating?" If it's not, I'd move Carfax Abbey up in the list somewhere). BASIC: Morphy, Racing, Camelot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkdrummer Posted January 16, 2018 Share Posted January 16, 2018 Older disk based E/A game - Freddy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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