Superman hacks

guppy · November 1, 2019

Superman is one of my favorite Atari 2600 games, and I've been fascinated by its design since I as a kid. A few years ago, I wrote an article analyzing the map topography, and more recently I've been thinking about alternative design concepts for the map. Using an annotated, decompiled source asm file from Nukey Shay, I was able to implement a few of these ideas, and build them into rom files.

I think I've taken my exploration of the map about as far as I need to, but there are a few other things I would like to attempt with hacking Superman, only I don't have a working understanding of 6502 asm, so I am looking for someone who can help me.

The two things I would most like to do with this project:

Randomize the initial placement of the bridge pieces, so the game will be more replayable. The randomization routine will need to use a number of criteria, to avoid putting bridge pieces on certain screens where they shouldn't ever be found (on the bridge screen, for instance; or to avoid multiple pieces starting out on the same screen.)
Put all the different map variations together into one romfile, each one a variation selectable via the Game Select switch.

I don't expect that either of these will be extremely difficult to implement, and I will be trying on my own to figure it out, if I can, but it would be faster if someone who is already experienced would like to help out.

Here are links to articles on my web site where I've discussed Superman, including links to download the rom files for the map hacks mentioned above. A collection of my map hacks is also attached here, for convenience.