Thomas Jentzsch Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 8 hours ago, TF14 said: Another impressive example of what can be done on the Atari 2600 - really amazing. Any estimate of what it would have cost to produce this cart back in the early 1980's (compared to the 4k carts)? I think back then only something like a Cray 1 might have had similar CPU power as the simple ARM build into the cart. So you probably would have needed an extra room and several million dollars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-1 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Player Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 But if I understand correctly about the ARM games, only about 20% of the 70mhz processor is available for use by the game? So would there have a been a processor back then that could be the equivalent to a cut down ARM. Or would it still be too powerful for the time? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+johnnywc Posted August 17, 2022 Author Share Posted August 17, 2022 3 minutes ago, Big Player said: But if I understand correctly about the ARM games, only about 20% of the 70mhz processor is available for use by the game? So would there have a been a processor back then that could be the equivalent to a cut down ARM. Or would it still be too powerful for the time? Actually, all 70mhz is available, but the ARM is typically only used during VBLANK and overscan (before and after the screen is drawn) so the full power is only utilized about 20% of the time. With that said, certainly a Galaga clone could have been written to use less of the ARM if needed, but the Champ Games version was designed to use all the resources available. As I mention above, most of the mechanics and gameplay of Galagon were already done back in 1983 with Galaxian. A version using the DPC chip and extra ROM/RAM that was available at the time would have certainly been able to make an acceptable and affordable Galaga clone IMO. (well, at least less than a million dollars ) Now, other Champ Games such as Mappy, Zoo Keeper, Qyx, and RobotWar probably benefit the most from the ARM and a similar and affordable port would have been near if not impossible back in the day. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted August 17, 2022 Share Posted August 17, 2022 3 hours ago, Big Player said: But if I understand correctly about the ARM games, only about 20% of the 70mhz processor is available for use by the game? So would there have a been a processor back then that could be the equivalent to a cut down ARM. Or would it still be too powerful for the time? Don't underestimate the really HUUUGE performance increase over the past 40 years. According to Moore's Law, the number of transistors in e.g. a CPU doubles about every two years. Over 40 years that's 2^20 (~1,000,000). Since the CPU prices are staying about constant, that means a CPU which costs $5 today, would have costed ~$5,000,000 (today's money) back then. Even 20% of this doesn't seem very affordable. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Does anybody else’s physical cart of this game only display a 4 digit score during gameplay? As soon as my score gets to 5 digits, the screen only displays a “-“ in the 10,000’s column. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+johnnywc Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 On 1/24/2023 at 9:51 PM, insertclevernamehere said: Does anybody else’s physical cart of this game only display a 4 digit score during gameplay? As soon as my score gets to 5 digits, the screen only displays a “-“ in the 10,000’s column. Hi there! This is the first time I've heard of this issue (unless everyone else who owns the game is scoring less than 10,000 points ). Can you post a screenshot or provide any other info that may help me debug this? Feel free to send me a PM and I can work on it directly. It may be an issue with the cart itself (may need a re-burn). Thanks! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 (edited) 8 hours ago, johnnywc said: Hi there! This is the first time I've heard of this issue (unless everyone else who owns the game is scoring less than 10,000 points ). Can you post a screenshot or provide any other info that may help me debug this? Feel free to send me a PM and I can work on it directly. It may be an issue with the cart itself (may need a re-burn). Thanks! John Hi John, I cleaned the contacts of my console and the cartridge last night just in case and played again now. Still acting the same. The high score table goes doolally too and hopefully the video I will add will work. I reached out to Al yesterday but not heard anything yet. I will also take the cart to a retro gaming store tomorrow and test it on another 2600. Many thanks for your response. Love your games. Cheers, Adam IMG_1778.MOV Edited January 26 by insertclevernamehere 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 5 minutes ago, insertclevernamehere said: I cleaned the contacts of my console and the cartridge last night just in case and played again now. Still acting the same. The high score table goes doolally too and hopefully the video I will add will work. I reached out to Al yesterday but not heard anything yet. I will also take the cart to a retro gaming store tomorrow and test it on another 2600. I responded to your email, but I'll reply here as well. Could certainly be a bad cartridge -- looks like you bought it about three years ago. Did the game just start exhibiting problems now, or did it work fine previously? Curious to see if it displays the same behavior when you test it on another system. I'd be glad to exchange the cart, of course, and I can include a replacement cart with your outstanding order that I'm working on now. Is that a four-switch system you're playing the game on? ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insertclevernamehere Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 19 minutes ago, Albert said: I responded to your email, but I'll reply here as well. Could certainly be a bad cartridge -- looks like you bought it about three years ago. Did the game just start exhibiting problems now, or did it work fine previously? Curious to see if it displays the same behavior when you test it on another system. I'd be glad to exchange the cart, of course, and I can include a replacement cart with your outstanding order that I'm working on now. Is that a four-switch system you're playing the game on? ..Al Many thanks Al. It's a 6 switch but I've never been interested enough in figuring out if it's a heavy or a light sixer. Just taken a photo below. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 26 Share Posted January 26 2 minutes ago, insertclevernamehere said: Many thanks Al. It's a 6 switch but I've never been interested enough in figuring out if it's a heavy or a light sixer. Just taken a photo below. That's a light sixer, the heavy sixer has a thicker bezel and it's more curved at the corners. It's also rather heavy. ..Al 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+johnnywc Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Thanks for sharing the video! That looks like a bad cart to me, although to be safe it would be a good idea to test it on another system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 4 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said: doolally doolally? Neat; never heard of that term before. Interesting etymology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+fdr4prez Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 It reminds me of the Disney Robinhood song: Oo-De-Lally Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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