chewy Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 If the original master floppy went on tour, I would pay to go see it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted October 31, 2019 Share Posted October 31, 2019 On 10/29/2019 at 4:24 AM, Nukey Shay said: No...this was basically "proof of concept" code featuring all the significant gameplay elements...not the version that Dick had created/expanded from it. It sounds like it went though a crunch phase before he even saw it, tho (since he doesn't recall it being 2 bytes beyond where the cold start vector belongs). To be fair, it's unclear to what extent this game may have been expanded beyond this and by whom, but I'm still looking into it. For what it's worth, when I first spoke to him several years back, Dick Balaska told me that he thought Bob Curtiss had done most of the programming on Kickman but he informed me recently that Bob has since denied this and he may simply have been confusing it with Solar Fox. On 10/29/2019 at 6:56 PM, Supergun said: M8774 - Wizard of Wor - Targ M8793 - Gorf - Maddenness - Kickman 4L-2486 - Blueprint 4L-2487 - Solar Fox - Domino Man 4L-2520 - Tunnel Runner Stomp It 4L-2737 - Omega Race 4L-2738 - Mountain King - Wings Those are the internal part numbers for the cartridge labels, not the catalog numbers for the games themselves. The proper ones can be found on the spines and UPCs of the game boxes. Wizard of Wor - 80000 Gorf - 80010 Solar Fox - 80020 Blueprint - 80030 Tunnel Runner - 80070 Mountain King - 80080 Omega Race - 80090 AtariProtos and Atarimania both have Targ listed as 80110 but I'm not sure where that number came from. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicgamer74 Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 I'd smash that Like button if I could. Wow! I just did an episode on my channel about games that were never ported and this game was included. Well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 23 hours ago, Psionic said: AtariProtos and Atarimania both have Targ listed as 80110 but I'm not sure where that number came from. I have no idea where I got that from to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+darryl1970 Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 I am late to the party, so please forgive me if this has already been pointed out; but..... This plays 250% better than the Commodore 64 version. lol. How does the VCS follow most of the arcade "rules" with 4k, but the C-64 has such a crap port? These things make me laugh. Great fine. Thanks for sharing with the community! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 (edited) Paddle test Rom: Still needs work (only 1 paddle is currently utilized), but this will give you some idea of how it feels. B&W switch is used to toggle between stick or paddle control (not 7800 compatible yet). Scanline variances almost fully corrected, so this should help for those with sensitive displays. Edited November 2, 2019 by Nukey Shay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 BTW the trigger is still not converted yet, so the Rom is kinda unplayable so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 So how does the C64 version not follow the arcade rules? Iv never played it before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+darryl1970 Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 1 minute ago, Tempest said: So how does the C64 version not follow the arcade rules? Iv never played it before. I might miss a few, but a few from memory: 1. If your player kicks a balloon, another will fall, even on the first level. 2. Falling balloons go through the stack on your head, so it is not possible to trap a balloon on one side of the screen. 3. If you kick Pac-Man, he doesn't go back into the formation. 2 and 3 are pretty essential to gameplay. I know there's more. It's amazing the lack of detail from the programmer. The game looks decent though, especially for the time. #1 is really bad, because the balloons will actually get out of sync. I can't explain it, but it's like the balloons are on a timer instead of waiting for one to finish. If I kick balloon A, B falls. Before I get B, another one will fall on the opposite end of the screen. It creates impossible situations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 Paddle support added for both players, trigger fixed. Kickman(paddle_test).bin 4 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 Awesome! Anyone going to try and add trakball support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 That would be possible...the paddle routine is a subroutine read on the "mostly blank" frames which could easily be replaced with grey code. Ram is not optimized either, so there is some which can be reclaimed there...I already eliminated indirect pointer A2-A3. Speaking of which, I reused A2 for player reflect here...makes the animation a little better. Still a little glitchy when kicking, tho. Kickman(paddle_hack_v0).bin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.E.R.O. Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 On 10/21/2019 at 11:53 AM, Rom Hunter said: I always hoped this one would be found some day! This is truly wonderful. Many thanks for sharing! I look forward to this included in the next Rom Hunter Collection. Whenever that may be. Soon....I hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 2 hours ago, H.E.R.O. said: I look forward to this included in the next Rom Hunter Collection. Whenever that may be. Soon....I hope. X-Mas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H.E.R.O. Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 Have to say it's pretty well done. Was sad no Pac-Man in the second round (like the arcade game) then saw him in the third round so went WOOOOO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 3, 2019 Share Posted November 3, 2019 On 10/22/2019 at 9:36 PM, billm said: I put it up on virtualatari.org and it runs, plays well. Great work! Thanks for the link! Works great with my usb Genesis controller. I played the arcade version for the first time just a couple years ago at Funspot NH. This is an impressive port to the 2600. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 On 11/1/2019 at 5:11 PM, darryl1970 said: How does the VCS follow most of the arcade "rules" with 4k, but the C-64 has such a crap port? Perhaps if the VCS version was developed at Bally with close access to not only the arcade game to play for comparison, but possibly also sources (in Z80 though IIRC) from Midway, while the C64 version seems to origin from HAL Labs in Japan who could only mimic what they saw, or if they even prioritized implementing it fully. Some of their ports were great, some were just playable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+darryl1970 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 3 hours ago, carlsson said: Perhaps if the VCS version was developed at Bally with close access to not only the arcade game to play for comparison, but possibly also sources (in Z80 though IIRC) from Midway, while the C64 version seems to origin from HAL Labs in Japan who could only mimic what they saw, or if they even prioritized implementing it fully. Some of their ports were great, some were just playable. I would guess that the C-64 could handle a terrific version. My comment was mostly a jab at the programmers and props to the VCS programmers. HAL completely looked at it from a snapshot perspective vs a study of the gameplay. It was an earlier title for the 64, so there was a learning curve. However, the C-64 was pretty user-friendly. Maybe they weren't paid enough to spend much time on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+darryl1970 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 A couple other C-64 flaws: Kickman doesn't pop the balloons when they are full stack. Only the top balloon pops. That means one will need to kick a balloon. When a balloon is kicked, another one automatically falls. There can be at least 3 balloons floating around. Since the falling balloons do not connect with Kickman's stack, it is impossible to "trap" the balloons. When Pac-Man is eating the stacked balloons. It is possible to move Kickman. Pac-Man will then miss the remaining balloons. This rivals some of the worst ports I've seen. It's deceptive, because it LOOKS like it would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Wow only seeing this today - Kickman, aka Kick really brings back some memories and retro-memories for me. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Kicking fixed, swapped controller select (so it can be played on 7800 using paddles). Kickman(paddle_hack_v1).bin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 Trying out automatic paddle detection (like Astroblast uses). Does this binary work for both stick and paddles on a console? Kickman(control_test).bin 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy Posted November 9, 2019 Share Posted November 9, 2019 If you have a paddle system accurate and funcational enough to tackle it- be my guest-- but i swear if i got into paddles i would have to go straight to a best electronics pair i suppose-- the odds of finding a truly functional regular pair on ebay or at a local store..... id probably have to try 50 pairs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deteacher Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 Now to wait for Champ Games to swoop in and make a near arcade perfect port of this game. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted November 11, 2019 Share Posted November 11, 2019 A rewrite would be an ideal solution, but I'm just a hacker. There is a LOT of redundancy in this proto. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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