Original Games Updated With Menus

[El Destructo]

On 8/30/2020 at 5:15 PM, Omegamatrix said:

Rev 1 of Outlaw is now posted above.

 

 

This is a really awesome project! I'm curious how the menu "sets" the difficulty switches for games like Asteroids. Is the game code patched to read the menu's setting instead?

 

I'd also like to humbly suggest Maze Craze getting the menu treatment. It has a ton of options, enough that the Atari VCS Game Vault gets them wrong! Its "# of robbers" setting doesn't even choose the correct "Cops and Robbers" game type.

Edited February 13, 2022 by El Destructo

[+fdr4prez]

It'd be nice if this topic was pinned 

 

[Tempest]

Thats a good idea.  Done

[Gilles_B]

I have another suggestion, but it's a Starpath game (if it makes any difference): Communist Mutants from Space. This one has a menu already, but it uses acronyms that I find, in part, rather cryptic. Maybe this is too simple a hack and is off-topic here, but having the options spelled out would be real nice.

Edited February 21, 2022 by Gilles_B

[GrizzLee]

5 hours ago, Gilles_B said:

I have another suggestion, but it's a Starpath game (if it makes any difference): Communist Mutants from Space. This one has a menu already, but it uses acronyms that I find, in part, rather cryptic. Maybe this is too simple a hack and is off-topic here, but having the options spelled out would be real nice.

That's one game that has tooo many options. I'd like to see 3 options. Beginner, Arcade and Hard. ?  The rest can be considered optional settings away from the main game. Always wanted a consistent version fit for a high score session

Edited February 21, 2022 by GrizzLee

[Gilles_B]

Found another one! Maze Craze. There seem to be 16 times 4 modes, you're really lost unless you have the manual with this one

[Gilles_B]

Oh my. It's even worse than I thought!

There are 16 games, 4 visibility modes and 4 different speeds. With only the select button to do this, getting to the one you want is, er... "the full 2600 experience"

[+SpiceWare]

47 minutes ago, Gilles_B said:

With only the select button to do this

 

While holding down SELECT if you then hold down RESET the game variations will rapidly advance. Let go of RESET when you get close to the variation you want.

 

This works in some of the other games with lots of variations as well, such as Space Invaders.

[Keatah]

That's such a little-known trick.. Is it mentioned in any of the instruction manuals? too lazy to look now.

[+SpiceWare]

Manuals for Space Invaders and Missile Command both mention it.  Maze Craze's manual does not.

[Rob Mitchell]

I finally loaded these menu games onto my Harmony!

 

1. Great job!
2. Indy 500 has a vsync rolling issue with the Flashback 2.   Stable with the 7800.

3. Combat has an issue with rebound fire in the right lower corner.   It makes rebound sounds and then shoots out of the right upper corner.  I was able to replicate this twice on the Flashback 2.

 

Thanks!

[Omegamatrix]

Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately it's a case of the FB2 not the games.

[waynel]

I know the poster above was dismissed for requesting Sears versions of these, but I second his request.

 

Responding to his request with "Sears is the same ROM" misses the point, and is unnecessarily dismissive.  For example, someone above was nice enough to create a title screen for Outlaw.  For those of us who use Tele-Games machines, it would be nice to have a Gunslinger title screen.

 

 

A great number of people on this forum are collectors.  And for them, and a lot of other people, matching collars and cuffs matters.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Hm... these menus are meant to make playing the game more convenient. Any decoration is just made for fun of Omegamatrix and icing on the cake. And if the Sears version plays identical, why bother?

 

Also I cannot see that a modern hack is somehow related to collecting.

[Keatah]

Depends what kind of collecting one does. I have a whole separate folder for hacks. And these "menugames" have their own too.

[John Stamos Mullet]

I'd love to see options menus for every game that doesn't have a dedicated title screen. Including Activision and Imagic games. Doesn't just need to be the oldest, crappiest games.

[davyK]

I know Yars' Revenge doesn't need the menu treatment because of the small number of variations....but come on....who wouldn't want that?

 

I might even make some people try playing Ultimate Yars!!

 

Imagine a menu in that cool font with a yar being used to select the options....

 

 

Edited June 8, 2023 by davyK

[Bomberman94]

6 hours ago, davyK said:

I know Yars' Revenge doesn't need the menu treatment because of the small number of variations....but come on....who wouldn't want that?

 

I might even make some people try playing Ultimate Yars!!

 

Imagine a menu in that cool font with a yar being used to select the options....

 

 

Anything new/added/variation with Yars Revenge is a winner! 😅

[Thomas Jentzsch]

7 hours ago, davyK said:

but come on....who wouldn't want that?

Me!  

[davyK]

On 6/8/2023 at 7:27 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Me!  

 

 

[Grizzly Adam]

I just wanted to show my appreciation for this kind of ROMs-modification. For Father's Day I received a Harmony cart after expressing interest to my spouse about the booming 2600 homebrew scene. Updating old ROMs with menus and two-button support, recreating classic games as they should have been, and improving other games (like the ET hack and the Bezerk voice hack) are just icing on the cake. Thank you so much!

[killersquirel]

I just got to trying these hacks now and they are absolutely amazing!  Are there any games being worked on to get this treatment?

[Lantesh]

I love this idea.  Thank you for all of your hard work creating these.

[e1will]

When I first read this thread a few years ago I forgot to leave a note saying how cool this project was, so I'll fix that now: this is really neat. I love these menus.

 

I especially like the Space Invaders menu (a huge timesaver vs selecting through 112 games), Asteroids (ditto 66 games), and Warlords (those graphics are great and give the game a lot of character.) 

[Stechmann]

These are absolutely AWESOME!!!

 

Please also do Steeplechase and Street Racer! Those are games I play with my kids a lot.

 

Both are paddle games so the menus need to work with a paddle.

 

Be aware that the ROM circulating for Steeplechase on the internet is not actually Steeplechase, but seems to be some other horse related game from a company called "VideoGems".

 

Maze Craze was already mentioned, also a game we love to play.

 

Frogs & Flies is also a game although that doesnt have a lot of options i think.

 

For the kids it is really not feasible at all to read a PDF manual when they want to just play Atari games on the living room couch. They cant even do that by themselves.

 

So these are SUCH an upgrade for our Atari experience!

 

Please keep up the great work!!! Do you have a Paypal for donations?

Edited October 1, 2023 by Stechmann