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Which block falling puzzle games would be possible on Atari 2600?


PitfallHarry77

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I really enjoy block falling puzzle games and a lot of good ones have come out over the years. Graphics are less important in this genre and it is all about gameplay. Therefore I think the Atari 2600 is well suited to a lot of the games below. Some might have too many bells and whistles but I was wondering what you all thought. The following are what I consider to be the best block falling puzzle games ever. I was wondering, which ones are possible / would work well on the 2600?? Some of them have already been done so I guess I am interested in the others. Which ones are favourites of yours that you would love to see on the 2600??

 

My ranking of the best block falling puzzle games:

 

Tetris - already done with Chetiry which is fantastic 

Pokemon Puzzle League / Tetris Attack

Lumines

Puyo Puyo 2

Columns - another that is already done with Stratogems, which I like even better than the Megadrive version

KLAX - this was released on Atari and although it takes a substantial graphical hit, it plays really well 

Magical Drop 3

Meteos 

Puzzle Fighter 2

Tumblestone 

Dr Mario

Ironcast 

Puzzle Bobble / Bust a Move

Pac Attack 

Wario’s Woods

Yoshi’s Cookie

Yoshi’s Egg

Cleopatra’s Fortune
Pick n Pile - a block falling puzzle game released on Atari which I still really enjoy

Puzznic

Edited by PitfallHarry77
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I misread this topic - thought it was looking for IMpossible falling block games to do on 2600.

 

Was going to post Wetrix.

 

 But I won't......

 

 

:)

 

 

Pretty much any pit-based puzzle game could be done due to the vertical stacking style of play - it's basically manipulating a background.

 

Edited by davyK
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Yes save2600, Chetiry and Strat-O-Gems are sensational games!! Chetiry was the first homebrew I bought, along with Pacman 4K. Strat-O-Gems is another ‘must buy’ and is on my list. It is a great version of columns. DavyK, that is good news!!! I like Dr Mario too, but would love to see Puyo Puyo 2 or Tetris Attack if they can be done. Lumines is another favourite but with the way the squares form and the line that goes across, I think this one might be a struggle. It seems to have a lot of the bells and whistles the others don’t have. PAC Attack is a bit of a ‘hidden gem’ amongst block falling puzzle games. That would be cool and I think it would be possible. It would add to all the great Pacman games we have seen recently. I guess I posted this because I am playing a lot of these at the moment while the world is in lockdown. Good for competing with other members of the family. 3s, 2048, Qb and Assembloids are also getting a good run. Actually, what about Chu Chu Rocket?? That is a great little game that might be possible!! I say this when obviously I have no idea. I just find it really interesting and am amazed when they pull it off. I am also playing a lot of Crazy Balloon and Kurukuru Kururin on the GBA. Two more games quickly came to mind actually. Molemania and Pirate Ship Higemaru??? I think Molemania would be tough with the underground flipping mechanic but such a great game that we possible in theory. Pirate Ship Higemaru would be possible based on Pengo. I like Pengo but it is a bit too easy so a more challenging Pirate Ship would be awesome. I wouldn’t have asked in the past but if Zookeeper is possible, maybe these are too.

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I guess games like "Puzzle Bobble (Bust a Move)" would be to much for the Atari-2600 to handle. All those bubbles on the screen at the same time and then moving the canon and shooting too. I have my doubts, and i am a big fan of "Bust a Move" by the way, but i think, the 2600 could not handle a goo version of it.

 

Little bit easier to handle for a Atari-2600, maybe could be something like "Puyo Puyo" or "Dr. Mario" and these puzzlers are also superb. If i must choose between the two, i would prefer "Dr. Mario". The N64 version of this game is one of my alltime favorites and i play it alot.

 

Also great would be something like the Amiga game "Lin Wu's Challenge" or the Arcade game "Sichuan". They both have the same gameplay and they are similar to the game "Shanghai", but also a little bit different from the playing-rules. Here in this linked video, the gameplay of the Arcade-game "Sichuan 2" can be seen.

 

 

You can only choose tiles, which have the same symbol on it and also, when you make a line between these two tiles, the line must not bend more than two times. Otherwise they can not be chosen. Not easy to explain, but it can be seen in the video, what i mean.

 

Of course the symbols on all the pieces would look much much simpler in a Atari-2600 version, but i think there could be made enough different looking symbols on the pieces, to handle a game, similar like that. And i really like the gameplay, there is also a 2-player-simultan-mode, in which every player has a certain time to find a move, when not, the other player takes the lead.

 

 

Edited by AW127
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I had an Amiga and didn’t know about Lin Wu’s challenge or Sichuan. Thank you for the info and I will look into these two as I really like these kinds of games. I would love to see a version of Dr Mario or Puyo Puyo on the Atari. As they have both appeared on the original Gameboy, there is a good chance they would both work okay. 

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Also to my mind came the Neo-Geo game "Money Puzzle Exchanger" and the Arcade-game "Magical Drop". Both nice games and similar in gameplay. And then there is also the Arcade-game "Plotting", which is also great. The graphic of such games, of course, would look much simpler in a Atari-2600 version, but this must not necessarily mean, that the fun would also go away then. I could image, those kind of games, could make the same fun on the Atari2600, when they ported in a good way. The graphic here is not the main-thing, the gameplay itself is it.

 

Only problem maybe could be, that for alot of the mentioned puzzlers here in the thread, many objects would be on the screen at the same time. All the needed tiles for the games, the playing pieces and so on. I don't know, how much a Atari-2600 could handle here. When certain pieces are not in use, they could be transformed to normal background-graphic maybe in those moments and when a piece then is in use and comes into the gameplay, it could be transformed back in a sprite for these moments. But i am not a programmer, so i only speculate. Other people here in the forum, which are involved in game-programming, can certainly say more to this point.

 

Edited by AW127
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I am in the same boat in having no idea in terms of the programming behind it but I am pretty amazed with what we have already. Pick n Pile has a lot of sprites and colours so that gives hope. Plotting is another good one and I would love to see Magical Drop on Atari - great game!! I am not familiar with Money Puzzle Exchanger so will look into that one. I wish they could add one more colour to Klax and maybe make it take up more of the screen. The two shades of blue can be difficult to distinguish but otherwise it is a fantastic version. I can play these puzzle games for hours and most Atari games don’t really lend themselves to that sort of thing.

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I did start programming the mobile game Shades by UOVO which is a Tetris type game where you have to try and drop a block on another of the same shade so they merge to a darker shade:

 

 

Having colour shades makes it well suited to the VCS, but I did find it hard to distinguish them which is why I never finished it off.

 

SHADES_NTSC.BIN

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2 hours ago, playsoft said:

I did start programming the mobile game Shades by UOVO which is a Tetris type game where you have to try and drop a block on another of the same shade so they merge to a darker shade:

 

 

Having colour shades makes it well suited to the VCS, but I did find it hard to distinguish them which is why I never finished it off.

 

SHADES_NTSC.BIN 4 kB · 1 download

Cool !, I always thought that was a very feasible game for 2600

 

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17 hours ago, devwebcl said:

Cool !, I always thought that was a very feasible game for 2600

 

It's interesting that Shades by UOVO is no longer available in the AppStore but Mega Shades by Marstin is. The two games are extremely similar but not 100% identical; in Mega Shades the next block indicator does not morph into the block like it does in Shades. I think they are different developers as UOVO are (were) Danish but Marstin appears to be UK. Maybe UOVO sold the rights on?

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Shades looks awesome and I would love to try it out. You don’t have a PAL version by any chance. Chunkout is another one I have just discovered which is a bit like Same Game. It is really fun to play and still works but the colours are a bit weird and jarring. I know that not many were released of this one. Was there a PAL version of this?? I would love to get hold of a copy if there is.

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Wow!! Thanks playsoft - that is awesome!! I have been playing Shades on my phone after your recommendation. I will really enjoy it on the Atari so thank you. I have found another good one that might work on Atari on the Nintendo Switch called Crossniq+. You can play two player and it is addictive and fans of the genre will enjoy it. Possibly too many colours going in different directions but would be good if it works. It is also a little like Multicross which I enjoy on the phone.

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We'll be playing Shades on tomorrow's (Sun Apr 26) ZeroPage Homebrew stream LIVE on Twitch at 11AM PT | 2PM ET | 6PM GMT! Hope everyone can watch!


Games:

 

420461230_20200426-LetsPlay.thumb.jpg.0e801673ca2eb75fd6c6c45c021b874d.jpg

 

2600-Shades.thumb.png.527dc7f2977c20e929fd989039165439.png

 

 

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On 4/20/2020 at 7:03 AM, playsoft said:

-snip-

This shades game is pretty neat! Would like to play an Atari version with better RNG (as it stands the seed appears to be the same each time with no manipulation of the seed).

 

As for the thread topic at hand, I'd personally like to see Puyo Puyo! I think it'd be possible to create a 30hz display with some flicker to display both player's boards. I guess the only real complication there would be adding the character portraits, though that's just aesthetics and could probably be discarded.

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6 hours ago, ZeroPage Homebrew said:

It's not a WIP - it's an old abandoned project (OAP?).

5 hours ago, bluswimmer said:

This shades game is pretty neat! Would like to play an Atari version with better RNG (as it stands the seed appears to be the same each time with no manipulation of the seed).

If a title screen had been added it would have done that.

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On 4/23/2020 at 6:36 AM, PitfallHarry77 said:

Wow!! Thanks playsoft - that is awesome!! I have been playing Shades on my phone after your recommendation. I will really enjoy it on the Atari so thank you. I have found another good one that might work on Atari on the Nintendo Switch called Crossniq+. You can play two player and it is addictive and fans of the genre will enjoy it. Possibly too many colours going in different directions but would be good if it works. It is also a little like Multicross which I enjoy on the phone.

A cut-down version of Crossniq+ looks like it should be possible.

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