+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted December 6, 2018 Author Share Posted December 6, 2018 Thanks so much iesposta, and thanks for providing the inspiration via your post in the forums. It is definitely interesting that the 2600 port had such an impact that the name of the enemies in the game changed. I guess it makes sense when you compare the 350,000 cabinets sold to the 7,000,000 Atari 2600 carts that sold, that's a huge number! Great Pac-Man show! Funny how the terrible Atari Pac-Man changed millions of minds that the Monsters were ghosts. I believe it is because “a ghost is transparent and invisible sometimes” describes what is in Atari’s version! Boo! Scared you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 I know they were called monsters originally. But to me they look like stereotyped ghosts. Even without flicker. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted December 6, 2018 Share Posted December 6, 2018 Indeed. One of them even rips his sheet on a nail, during an intermission. The 1981 pac man flyer actually refers to them both as "ghost monsters" and "monsters". BITD we called them ghosts, well before the 2600 release. Seemed kinda obvious, but I guess we were ahead of the curve. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trebor Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 I always referred to them as Ghost Monsters as well. Midway, agreed... At least per their official flyer, © 1980, when identifying them on the screen and in the introductory paragraph: That well precedes the cartoon and Atari's port(s). I like how they refer to what we commonly call intermissions in the game as "cartoon shows" and (a group of) maze boards are "racks". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 You needed to be good enough to put the 2nd intermission with the rip and glance at the pink foot, with the 3rd intermission of that pink monster glob with eyes carrying his ghost costume! But I agree also with others about calling them ghosts. “Ghost” is what they’re wearing. I even Google Translated the Japanese Puck-Man (which the TWITCH Chat flagged as possibly offensive language needing moderator review) and the Japanese arcade glass also says monster. If you wish to argue: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 Not really sure why you're assuming people will be arguing, and need to be preemptively told to calm down. Do Thomas, Trebor, or I have a history of flying off at the handle at anyone? Yes, your bezel says monsutā. Monster is the broader category, of which a ghost is a member. They aren't exclusionary. Namco used the anglicized word for monster, but native words that are translated as "monster" (e.g. "yōkai") are routinely used to refer to ghosts, demons, goblins, etc. So you didn't think they looked at all like ghosts, until the 2600 game came out and put the idea in your head? Honestly, I think the story is mostly apocryphal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iesposta Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 (edited) Not really sure why you're assuming people will be arguing... You took my post completely wrong. Sorry for any confusion! No disrespect was intended. RevEng, we have worked together on my games, I was never argumentative. I just stated information that the 2nd and 3rd Pac-Man game intermissions show the player that the enemy is wearing a costume. Many never having played the arcade to Intermission 3 may not know that. On the Twitch Stream show we covered younger people may not know the arcade enemy A.I. behaviors were different between enemies, and one fact adding to Pac-Man’s popularity was a 1980 arcade game in color, when many 1979 popular games were still black and white, despite consumer color televisions in the 50’s 60’s & 70’s. I then agree that the description “ghost” is okay. I shared a picture I made long ago because it goes with the English arcade picture I posted previously (which was humorous and informative). I shared something funny about the Twitch show where the chat software flagged the word Puck, (about the designers needing to change that word for English)... I thought the part about arguing would be taken as funny because “words in a box” are usually humorous on the Internet. Edited December 7, 2018 by iesposta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 I just stated information that the 2nd and 3rd Pac-Man game intermissions show the player that the enemy is wearing a costume. I suppose you mean these (@0:13 and following): IMO just a comedy effect, which shouldn't be overly interpreted. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RevEng Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 You took my post completely wrong. Sorry for any confusion! No disrespect was intended.[...] Ok, no worries. I understand now that you meant the "calm down" bit to apply to the "puck" commentary, rather than the overall post. It did seem out of left-field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted December 7, 2018 Share Posted December 7, 2018 @James: Any chance for earlier shows like we had them before? It is much more fun to watch live and participate. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dionoid Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 @James: Any chance for earlier shows like we had them before? It is much more fun to watch live and participate. +1 for earlier shows now and then. I do watch the recordings on youtube, but nothing beats watching in real time and adding something to the discussion. Of course I realize that there is a big time difference with Europe (9 hours between PST and CET) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 Heya Thomas and Dionoid! We're definitely going to try for earlier shows every time we can. We usually have every second Friday be an early show with Darcy but he's been busy this month. Aerlan's schedule will be changing in the new year so I'll try to work with that to make our Wednesday day show an early one because I know we have a lot of viewers in Europe that aren't able to see our later shows. Stay tuned!! :-) @James: Any chance for earlier shows like we had them before? It is much more fun to watch live and participate. +1 for earlier shows now and then. I do watch the recordings on youtube, but nothing beats watching in real time and adding something to the discussion. Of course I realize that there is a big time difference with Europe (9 hours between PST and CET) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 (edited) Great news! This coming Wednesday's show will be at 11AM PT/2PM ET! Hope to see you there! Edited December 8, 2018 by cimmerian 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted December 19, 2018 Author Share Posted December 19, 2018 TOWER OF RUBBLE WIP PREMIERE TOMORROW ON ZEROPAGE!! Dionoid's (Amoeba Jump) newest Atari 2600 homebrew will make its WIP debut on tomorrow's ZeroPage Homebrew Twitch Stream at 6PM PT/9PM ET! https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Just watched your last show of the year, looks like y'all had fun! Noticed a bit of audio clipping on Darcy during loud screams/laughter, something you may wish to look into for future shows. The issue iesposta brought up with Stay Frosty 2 was not limited to Heavy Sixers, it also occurred on Light Sixers like mine. Same problem also occurs with the game River Raid II. It's covered in this topic. A simple fix to the console is covered in this reply by Al, which also fixes the problem with River Raid II. Do note the simple fix can cause RF interference, which should not be an issue with your modified console. If you do experience interference then use a ferrite bead to create the bridge. The issue with the snowman not always making it across the gaps on level 7 (the tree) is due to how the base of the snowman works - when he's slightly melted his base is 8 pixels across and can slide across an 8 pixel gap with a slight "bump". When he's full sized the base is only 6 pixels across, so he always drops down into 8 pixel gaps 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 (edited) Thanks so much Darrell for the link! I will try out both Stay Frosty 2 and Toyshop Trouble on another system to make sure the carts are okay and it's the problem stated in the thread. UPDATE: Just tried Stay Frosty 2 and also Toyshop Trouble and they both worked perfectly on my Atari 2600 Jr. :-) Yay, I don't need to exchange them! Thanks Darrell!! Near the end of the thread Al starts offering to swap carts for fixed ones but never outright states that there was a fix. I'm assuming there wasn't a software fix/workaround ever found for the issue? This also may point to an issue that I've been having while doing some beta testing for the 2600 Uno Cart! I've experienced the same symptoms of the cart working fine on an Atari Jr. but not on my modded light sixer. I'll run the Uno Cart through a couple more of my VCS consoles and check my results. I was always assuming it had something to do with my modded system but maybe not.With the audio clipping, that's a tough one. Thanks for letting me know as I rarely listen back to the whole episode, just bits and pieces to make sure it all recorded okay. I try to keep the microphone as close to us as possible to reduce the sound of reverb in the room and also to try to prevent the mic from picking up the audio of the game that we hear on our end. Unfortunately the tradeoff of having the mic so close to us is that if we get a little loud we'll go over the dB rating of the extremely sensitive shotgun microphone I'm using. I'll do some more experiments to see what might be a better alternative, possibly a less directional microphone with a higher max sound pressure level (dB). My current one allows sounds up to 125 dB but I have a condenser microphone that can allow up to 156 dB. Hopefully that will capture the yelling without distortion! :-) Thanks so much for the tip on why the snowman sometimes falls through the gaps, that makes perfect sense now with the changing width depending on how melted he is. Just watched your last show of the year, looks like y'all had fun! Noticed a bit of audio clipping on Darcy during loud screams/laughter, something you may wish to look into for future shows. The issue iesposta brought up with Stay Frosty 2 was not limited to Heavy Sixers, it also occurred on Light Sixers like mine. Same problem also occurs with the game River Raid II. It's covered in this topic. A simple fix to the console is covered in this reply by Al, which also fixes the problem with River Raid II. Do note the simple fix can cause RF interference, which should not be an issue with your modified console. If you do experience interference then use a ferrite bead to create the bridge. The issue with the snowman not always making it across the gaps on level 7 (the tree) is due to how the base of the snowman works - when he's slightly melted his base is 8 pixels across and can slide across an 8 pixel gap with a slight "bump". When he's full sized the base is only 6 pixels across, so he always drops down into 8 pixel gaps Edited December 31, 2018 by cimmerian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 I don't believe a software fix was ever found, I'd have needed to make new ROMs if the DPC+ driver had been changed. In your video if you watch at 2:26:46 you'll see the "bump" as Darcy slides the snowman around the invisible platforms - that's how you find the gaps to drop down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted December 31, 2018 Author Share Posted December 31, 2018 Another interesting side note... I also have Stay Frosty II on the Holiday Greetings 2014 cart and the game plays perfectly on my six-switcher. I didn't see anybody make the distinction between the two releases in the thread. Is there something different in the code or cart hardware that would allow this version to work but not the later release of the game? I don't believe a software fix was ever found, I'd have needed to make new ROMs if the DPC+ driver had been changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted December 31, 2018 Share Posted December 31, 2018 Ah, missed that you were trying to play the later release. Seems more likely that something's wrong with the cart itself then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted January 1, 2019 Author Share Posted January 1, 2019 So all the problems reported with Stay Frosty 2 were all with the limited edition Holiday Greetings 2014 cart? That is certainly strange as I'm experiencing the exact opposite! Finicky hardware, hahah. At least I know that the carts are fine as they play on my Atari Jr. every time without fail. I'll get in contact with iesposta as it looks like he modded his sixer to fix the issue, I'll see if he had any long term effects or other issues from doing it. Ah, missed that you were trying to play the later release. Seems more likely that something's wrong with the cart itself then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 That was my assumption, but I could be wrong. Possibly one of the problem Melody's snuck thru at a later date. Or maybe there was a hardware fix for the Melody that didn't get installed (or correctly installed) on the board. I did the fix to mine, both the light sixer I regularly use and a heavy sixer that I seldom use as it's stock so won't connect to my C=1084S monitor. They've worked fine since then. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted January 9, 2019 Author Share Posted January 9, 2019 If you haven't had a chance yet, check out ZeroPage Homebrew's two part special on the recently released Trak-Ball carts from Atariage! Part 1: Plaque Attack, Centipede, Colony 7, Missile Control, Star Wars Part 2: Millipede, Reactor, Nexar, SpaceMaster X-7, Missile Command 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted January 22, 2019 Author Share Posted January 22, 2019 (edited) 2018 ATARI AWARD NOMINEE ANNOUNCEMENTS! LIVE WEDNESDAY JANUARY 23, 2019 on ZEROPAGE HOMEBREW! The nominees announcements of all ten categories for the 2018 edition of the Atari Awards will take place LIVE on the ZeroPage Homebrew's Twitch channel on January 23rd, 2019 at 11AM PT | 2PM ET | 7PM GMT! We will also be giving out the voting information so you will be able to vote your favourite games of last year into the top spot! After the full announcements we will be playing through the nominated games on the show so stick around afterwards for some homebrew gaming from the best of 2018! EDIT: Updated with Video Edited January 24, 2019 by cimmerian 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arenafoot Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 Here's the list of the nominated games for The Atari Awards 2018 show: 2018 Atari Awards Nominated Games Best Homebrew (10) Balloon Trip by bluswimmer Birds and Beans by bluswimmer Dungeon II: Solstice by David Weavil / s0c7 Mappy by John W. Champeau aka johnnywc of Champ Games Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Refraction by Norbert Landsteiner aka NoLand Sheep It Up! (bB) by Dr. Ludos Stripes of Terror by Krzysztof Kluczek, Michał Żuchowski, & Mariusz Górski Sword of Surtr (bB) by Jeff Stermer aka ultima Tyre Trax (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster Best bB Homebrew (10) Apollyon (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Gizzle Wap and the Terrible Blizzard of Firn, The (bB) by Jeff Smith aka Mountain King Horizon Shift (bB) by Paul Marrable of Flump Studios UK Monkey King (bB) by Alex Pietrow aka Coolcrab Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Sheep It Up! (bB) by Dr. Ludos Space Game (bB) by Karl Garrison aka Karl G & Maggie Vogel Stardust (bB) by Brian Wayne Shea aka metalbabble Sword of Surtr (bB) by Jeff Stermer aka ultima Tyre Trax (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster Best Programming (12) Apollyon (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Balloon Trip by bluswimmer Dungeon II: Solstice by David Weavil aka s0c7 Fear of the Dark (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Gizzle Wap and the Terrible Blizzard of Firn, The (bB) by Jeff Smith aka Mountain King Mappy by John W. Champeau aka johnnywc of Champ Games and Thomas Jentzsch NeXion 3D (bB) by Brock Keaghey aka TheMajorHavoc Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Sheep It Up! (bB) by Dr. Ludos Stripes of Terror by Krzysztof Kluczek, Michał Żuchowski, & Mariusz Górski Sword of Surtr (bB) by Jeff Stermer aka ultima Tyre Trax (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster Best Graphics (13) Apollyon (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Balloon Trip by bluswimmer Dungeon II: Solstice by David Weavil aka s0c7 Fear of the Dark (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Gizzle Wap and the Terrible Blizzard of Firn, The (bB) by Jeff Smith aka Mountain King Mappy by John W. Champeau aka johnnywc of Champ Games & Nathan Strum Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Sheep It Up! (bB) by Dr. Ludos Space Game (bB) by Karl Garrison aka Karl G & Maggie Vogel Stripes of Terror by Krzysztof Kluczek, Michał Żuchowski, & Mariusz Górski Sword of Surtr (bB) by Jeff Stermer aka ultima Tron (bB) by Orange808 Tyre Trax (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster Best Music & Sound (10) Apollyon (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Asteroid Rescue (bB) by Ross Adkin aka TidusRenegade Beeware (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Fear of the Dark (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Gizzle Wap and the Terrible Blizzard of Firn, The (bB) by Jeff Smith aka Mountain King Mappy by Mike Haas aka iesposta and Darrell Spice Jr. Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian Space Game (bB) by Karl Garrison aka Karl G & Maggie Vogel Stripes of Terror by Krzysztof Kluczek, Michał Żuchowski, & Mariusz Górski Sword of Surtr (bB) by Jeff Stermer aka ultima Best Packaging (13) Alien Greed 5 by Chris Read aka atari2600land, packaging by Yandman Astronomer (bB) by Alex Pietrow aka Coolcrab, packaging by Alex Pietrow Balloon Trip by bluswimmer, packaging by Vladimir Zuñiga Bouncer (Boing! hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games, packaging by Scott Dayton Dungeon II: Solstice by David Weavil aka s0c7, packaging by Dave Dries Ketchup Kaboom! (Kaboom! hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games, packaging by Corey Kramer Mappy by John W. Champeau aka johnnywc of Champ Games, packaging by Nathan Strum Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian, packaging by Fehér János Zoltán Q*Bert Jump (Amoeba Jump hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games, packaging by Scott Dayton Santa Bros. (Mario Bros. hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games, packaging by Joe Klander Space Game (bB) by Karl Garrison aka Karl G & Maggie Vogel, packaging by Maggie Vogel Tyre Trax (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster, packaging by Atariboy2600 Zombie Road Kill by Jason Santuci of Gemintronic, packaging by D. C. Stuelpner Best WIP Homebrew (12) Aardvark by Oscar Toledo Gutiérrez aka nanochess, Thomas Jentzsch (coding), Nathan Strum (graphics) Amoeba Jump by Dion Olsthoom aka Dionoid Black Jack Theta VIII by azure ChaoticGrill (port of Burgertime) by splendidnut Dare Devil (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster Dragon’s Descent (bB) by Revontuli Pac-Man 2600 8K by DINTAR816 Railslider (bB) by Lillapojkenpåön Robo-Ninja Climb by Nathan Tolbert aka gauauu RoboMechanik by Krzysztof Kluczek aka KK/Altair Spies in the Night 2 (bB) by Jared Gray West aka graywest Wizard of Wor Arcade by John W. Champeau aka johnnywc of Champ Games, Mike Haas (sound), Nathan Strum (graphics) Best Game Hack (16) Active Shooter (Turmoil hack) by James Catalano aka JamCat Reloaded ALF (Taz hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games & James Catalano aka JamCat Reloaded Batman (Popeye hack) by James Catalano aka JamCat Reloaded Berzerk NEO Version 2 (Berzerk hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games Broadside (Combat hack) by Claudio Salvucci aka CDS Games Dawn of the Dead (Worm War I hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games Extinction (Demon Attack hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games Ketchup Kaboom! (Kaboom! hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games Miner 2049er Faster (Miner 2049er hack) by Thomas Jentzsch (speed up hack), OmegaMatrix (reset bug fix), and doctorclu (sprite hack) MissADVENTURE (Adventure hack) by Alan W. Smith Moon Patrol Arcade DC Version (Moon Patrol+ hack) by doctorclu Q*Bert Jump (Amoeba Jump hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games Santa HERO ET (H.E.R.O. hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games Stargate Desert Raid (River Raid hack) by DevKK and Whip Stranger Things – Barb’s Revenge (Dig Dug hack) by keebz U.F.O. Galaxian (Galaxian Hack) by James Catalano aka JamCat Reloaded Best Demo (10) AcidRain by Jeremiah and Kno1 Alpha Cucks by Dentifrice Compofiller by g0blinish Dengue Fever by Digital Sounds System & Flush Hard 2632 by Imp & SvOlli Lapin Kulta by Dentifrice M by Flush Mushroom Adventure by Satori Stella A Trois by Flush Three Minus by altair Technical Achievement (7) Aardvark by Thomas Jentzsch: Alternating playfield priority to create transparency effect (sun/moon shining through the clouds) Aardvark by Thomas Jentzsch: 32 pixel sprite that smoothly enters, traverses and exits the length of the color changing playfield (both single line) without using HMOVE blanks, WSYNCs or using extra sprite data Grey Screen with No Music by Tjoppen for 16 Byte "Maximum Minimal" Demo Hard 2632 by Imp & SvOlli: 32 byte hardware dip switch demo implementation Mappy by Thomas Jentzsch (code) & Nathan Strum (graphics): 85 pixel multicolor title screen Mappy by John Champeau: Player and Enemy anti-flicker code Studio 2600 by Norbert Landsteiner aka NoLand: 2600 Audio Demo Software Multiple Nominations 7 - Mappy by John W. Champeau aka johnnywc of Champ Games 6 - Plague (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian 5 - Tyre Trax (bB) by Lewis Hill aka Muddyfunster 5 - Sword of Surtr (bB) by Jeff Stermer aka ultima 4 - Stripes of Terror by Krzysztof Kluczek, Michał Żuchowski, & Mariusz Górski 4 - Space Game (bB) by Karl Garrison aka Karl G & Maggie Vogel 4 - Sheep It Up! (bB) by Dr. Ludos 4 - Gizzle Wap and the Terrible Blizzard of Firn, The (bB) by Jeff Smith aka Mountain King 4 - Dungeon II: Solstice by David Weavil / s0c7 4 - Balloon Trip by bluswimmer 4 - Apollyon (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian 3 - Fear of the Dark (bB) by Fehér János Zoltán aka MemberAtarian 3 - Aardvark by Oscar Toledo Gutiérrez aka nanochess, Thomas Jentzsch (coding), Nathan Strum (graphics) 2 - Q*Bert Jump (Amoeba Jump hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games 2 - Ketchup Kaboom! (Kaboom! hack) by Scott Dayton aka neotokeo2001 of NEO Games 2 - Hard 2632 by Imp & SvOlli: 32 byte hardware dip switch demo implementation 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 VOTING IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 2018 ATARI AWARDS! Head over to the 2018 Atari Awards forum section and start voting on your favourite homebrew games, hacks and demos of 2018!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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