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Champ Games - Galagon (aka Galaga) 2600


johnnywc

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20 hours ago, johnnywc said:

Thanks!  Hmmm, I didn't realize there was a Galaga clone made for the Tandy CoCo  named "Galagon"!  We actually decided to name the game after Champ Games (CHAMProgramming) PC clone that I did back in 1997:  :D 

 

http://www.champ-em.com/galagon.htm

 

Incidentally, I was able to reference a lot of the code in CHAMP Galagon for the 2600 version which helped immensely in the quick development! :)  

 

 

I forgot your DOS port was also named Galagon. I still have them on my 486 and they are still the best pc ports ever

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On 7/20/2019 at 2:08 AM, johnnywc said:

Hello!

 

Galagon will first be available for purchase on October 19th, 2019 at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo in Portland, Oregon, and then in the Atari Age store a couple weeks after that.  :)  

Great to see this, love this game for donkies. Is AA on a well earnt break for a month around October - November? When Galagon est. release/thank you Albert. Saving some for the price and p+p to the UK. 

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I finally got around to using my Harmony cart for the 1st time since I bought it at least 5 years ago (still had firmware 0.99 on it).  First thing I did was update it and try Galaga.  What an amazing achievement.  Wife and I played for some time.

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On 7/20/2019 at 2:51 PM, johnnywc said:

As of now, we're still planning on releasing that game as "Wizard of Wor Arcade", so no worries! ;)  

i would call it dogs of wor because i always thought the blue ones were dogs the red ones were tigers and the yellow ones were lions

 

 

i guess there is no way that galaga will fit on a supercharger

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Curious (and if this is already answered somewhere in the thread, my apologies): I checked out video of the demo and was quite impressed. Could this have been achieved back in the 1980s? What makes it so good today? I presume this isn't a 4K program? (Not a technical expert, I note.) Will the cartridge have new chips on it that expand the 2600 hardware, such as what Pitfall II accomplished in that regard, or is this simply a case of more memory? I wonder if Atari could have done this buy chose not to because it would be an expensive cartridge (to me, I would have made the bet that the public would have paid up for a great game, even back then). 

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If I may answer your questions out of order...

12 hours ago, AAA177 said:

I presume this isn't a 4K program?

Nope, it's a whole lot more!

12 hours ago, AAA177 said:

Could this have been achieved back in the 1980s?

This particular Galaga would have been impossible in the 1980s, but a Galaga might have been possible.  Atari thought so, because they actually pencilled Galaga into their Atari 2600 parts catalog, at CX26116.  johnnywc, the champ behind Champ Games and this version of Galaga, speculated that a decent port may have been possible with a 16K ROM and a little extra RAM, the same hardware Atari used for their versions of Dig Dug and Crystal Castles, among other games.  It wouldn't have looked like what we see here, but it could have been fairly playable.

 

12 hours ago, AAA177 said:

What makes it so good today?

A second CPU inside the cartridge that allows for a whole lot more number crunching and some extra graphical trickery.  You can read more about the fancy cartridge hardware here and elsewhere on the forums (like here).

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Hello all,

 

Here are the updated NTSC and PAL60 demo ROMs for Galagon (aka Galaga). 

 

PLEASE NOTE: If you plan on playing this in an emulator, you must use the latest version of Stella (6.0.1) or Stellarator.  The game works on the Harmony (and Encore) with BIOS 1.0.5 or higher.

 

The game is full functional with the following changes:

  1. Savekey support has been disabled
  2. After completing stage 8, the game goes back to stage 1
  3. The word "DEMO" is displayed on the title screen.

There have been numerous changes since the last demo ROMs.  Thanks to all the suggestions and recommendations!  We are looking to finish the game up in the next couple of weeks in preparation for the game's release at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo in mid-October, so any feedback is greatly appreciated!  :) 

 

Thanks,

John

 

  • changed title screen to "Galagon" (thanks Nathan!) to coincide with the official name change from Galaga to "Galagon"
  • the repeat fire response is faster for difficulty A (no autofire) 
  • removed the "150" score display during gameplay for killing a boss in formation (still displayed in the SCORING screen), 
  • moved enemies closer together on first wave of challenge stage so you can hit them as they fly in, per the arcade
  • changed blue bee loop pattern so it doesn't fly as low under your ship
  • fixed a bug where you could change skill level by pressing left/right on the Credits screen
  • the breathing/expanding sound is stopped when there are no ships left in formation
  • increase star blinking speed to better match the arcade
  • added SFX when selecting the skill level (bee sound when decreasing, butterfly sound when increasing)
  • removed the boss destroy sound after a 1000 point bonus on the challenge stage.  It now plays the sound of the last enemy destroyed, per the arcade
  • fixed SFX for special ships to match the arcade:
    •  scorpion: boss destroyed SFX
    •  Galaxian: boss hit once SFX
    •  all others: butterfly (red enemy) destroyed SFX (was the bee sound)
  • you can now cycle through the number of players on the title screen by pressing the Joystick 2 button
  • changed order of enemies flying in to match the arcade (blue bees are flown in last)
  • fixed the order of flyin patterns 4 and 5 on stage 1 (they were reversed) move the wrap around enemies so they don't fly off the edges of the screen
  • changed it so enemy ships don't fire when they're really close to your ship

  • updated ship explosion sound (thanks Ross!)

  • add "PLAYER 1&2" message when both ships are active during co-cop

  • no fire on flyin for NOVICE until level 4; fire on flyin for ADVANCED on level 1

  • added in CHALLENGE MODE:

    • Select CHALLENGE MODE by pressing left or right on the title page until CHALLENGE MODE appears for the skill level
    • Challenge mode can be 1 or 2 player, or even 2 player co-op!
    • The object of Challenge Mode is to clear as many challenge stages before you run out of ships while obtaining a high score
    • The rules of Challenge Mode are:
      • You always start with a double ship with 2 in reserve
      • Extra ships are earned the same as in a regular game:  20,000, 70,000 and every 70,000 after that
      • All stages are challenge stages.  After a challenge stage is complete:
      • If you have double ships:
        • Perfect score: no change
        • If you hit 38 or more enemies, you will lose a reserve ship, keeping the double ship.  If you don't have a reserve ship, you will lose one of your double ships.
        • If you hit 30 or more enemies, you will lose one of your double ships.
        • If you hit < 30 enemies, you lose BOTH double ships
      • If you have a single ship:
        • Perfect score:  Bonus ship awarded as a double ship
        • Otherwise, you lose a ship
  • added in CO-OP mode. 
    • To select CO-OP mode, press the SELECT switch (or Joystick Button 2) to cycle the # of players until 2 PLAYER CO-OP is displayed.  
    • Select the skill level for CO-OP:
      • In NOVICE and CHALLENGE MODE, both players start the game since both ships are active
    • The object of CO-OP mode is the same as a 1 PLAYER game except both players are working together to achieve 1 score. 
      • When there is one ship, the player controlling the ship alternates each time a player ship is destroyed or captured.  
      • When there are two ships, each player controls one of the ships and can independently move and fire!
        • Player 1's ship has RED trim, Player 2's ship has BLUE trim
        • Players cannot cross each other's path
        • Players can 'push' the other player by moving their ship against the other ship.  Players can resist being pushed by moving the joystick towards the other ship.
    • The rules of CO-OP for a regular game (NOVICE, STANDARD or ADVANCED):
      • PLAYER 1 starts in control of the ship (RED trim), except in NOVICE mode where both ships are active to start.  In this case, PLAYER 1 controls the left ship (RED trim) and PLAYER 2 controls the right ship (BLUE trim)
      • When there is 1 ship being controlled, the RESERVE ships are trimmed in the color of the player who will control the *next* ship.
      • When a ship is destroyed, if there are reserve ships, the *other* player will take control of the next ship.
      • When a ship is captured, if there are reserve ships, the *other* player will take control of the next ship.
        • Note that if a ship is destroyed while the other is captured, the player captured will control the ship and the player that was destroyed will now be captured
      • When a ship is rescued, BOTH players will now each control one of the ships (PLAYER 1 controls the RED trim ship and PLAYER 2 controls the BLUE trim ship).  Note that the ship that was rescued will always be on the RIGHT while the ship that did the rescuing will be on the LEFT
      • Both players are working towards one high score.  The game ends when all ships have been destroyed and there are none left in reserve.
      • At the end of the game, hit/miss results are displayed for each player.  If a high score is obtained, only one set of initials are entered.
    • The rules of CO-OP for CHALLENGE MODE:
      • Both players are active to start (PLAYER 1 controls the RED trim ship on the left and PLAYER 2 controls the BLUE trim ship on the right)
      • If there are double ships and 1 ship is lost, the ship on the left is removed (the ship that has been active the longest)
      • When there is 1 ship being controlled, the RESERVE ships are trimmed in the color of the player who will control the *next* ship.
      • When a ship is destroyed, if there are reserve ships, the *other* player will take control of the next ship.
      • Both players are working towards one high score.  The game ends when all ships have been destroyed and there are none left in reserve.
      • At the end of the game, hit/miss results are displayed for each player.  If a high score is obtained, only one set of initials are entered.

 

galaga_dmo_v2_PAL60.bin galaga_dmo_v2_NTSC.bin

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Excellent update, John!

 

Small remark: In the screen where you enter your initials after reaching a high-score, in the music there seem to be 2 or 3 notes off-key at the end of the tune just before it repeats itself.

I know that getting notes in key is nearly impossible on the '2600, but to my ears, these 2 or 3 notes were way off.

The rest of the music and sound effects are excellent, btw!

Edited by Dionoid
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wow wow wow wowowowowoow!

 

Been checking here every day for the new demo!

 

All the firing issues are GONE! I can now nuke an entire fleet as it flies in with just 1 ship as on the arcade.

Just.... Masterful. This is gonna kill when released! It already kills! Superbe!

Haven't checked CHALLENGE STAGE out again yet, really in a hurry but I will very soon & report back! 8)

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1 hour ago, thevnaguy said:

Has anyone been able to pay the two player co-op mode?  I cannot get it to work using stella 6.0.1.  Just keeps going into a single player game when selecting co-op mode.

Hello there!

 

I just tested it and co-op works fine for me.  Note that co-op is basically a 1 player game but both players take turns controlling the ship and both players each control a ship at the same time when you rescue your fighter and get double ships.  If you start the game and your ship has red trim but the reserves have blue trim, you are in a co-op game.  Once the red ship gets destroyed, player 2 will then control the blue ship.

 

Hope that helps!

John

 

PS Note that you must have 2 joysticks plugged in for co-op mode.  The release version will support Nathan Tolbert's QuadTari adapter that will allow you to plug two joysticks into the left controller port, freeing up the right controller port for the Atarivox/Savekey.

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