Champ Games - Galagon (aka Galaga) 2600

[Thomas Jentzsch]

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

[Big Player]

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?

[+johnnywc]

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.

 

[Thomas Jentzsch]

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.

[insertclevernamehere]

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.

[+johnnywc]

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

 

[insertclevernamehere]

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

Edited January 26 by insertclevernamehere

[Albert]

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

[insertclevernamehere]

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.

[Albert]

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

[+johnnywc]

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.     

[+fdr4prez]

4 hours ago, insertclevernamehere said:

doolally

doolally? 

 

Neat; never heard of that term before. 

 

Interesting etymology. 

[+fdr4prez]

It reminds me of the Disney Robinhood song:  Oo-De-Lally