Popeye 7800

[Cousin Vinnie]

I always thought this was the most glaring omission from the library... and this looks better than I can imagine. What a tremendous job, man

[phattyboombatty]

18 hours ago, batari said:

I can report that the game starting issue is fixed! Works on Concerto (with the latest firmware, which will be released soon.)

I concur! I verified a fully working Popeye.bin on my CC2 after the latest beta release. EEEEEExcellent!!! ?

[SalemFrost7800]

Will this be for sale in the Atariage Store?

[SalemFrost7800]

I always felt POPEYE, GORF and Tutankham were the 3 games that were released for Colecovision that the 7800 could have done better. 

[+darryl1970]

56 minutes ago, SalemFrost7800 said:

Will this be for sale in the Atariage Store?

That is the plan. Once the game is stable. Now that it's working on the Concerto and CC2, I feel I can move forward some.

49 minutes ago, SalemFrost7800 said:

I always felt POPEYE, GORF and Tutankham were the 3 games that were released for Colecovision that the 7800 could have done better. 

Parker Bros released all of those games on the previous systems. They were gone by the time the 7800 was released. Since Popeye is a Nintendo arcade game, I kind of assumed that the NES had the hold on that one. I don't know if anybody head the license after that. I think Atari may have been allowed to market the cartridges that were already licensed, but I don't know. I guess it was good for me.

 

I didn't really think any system of that generation could outshine the NES version, even though I was disappointed with some of the graphic choices. I am impressed after working with the 7800.

[4ever2600]

On 11/14/2020 at 4:35 AM, Atariboy2600 said:

WOW! I would love to make this game label art if there's a slot open. I drew this back in 2017. Here's my take on him drawing them in the classic 1933 style only this time taking from a scene of the live action 1980's film Popeye at the end where all are fighting over the treasure chest on SPAB ISLAND with all the main cast even the background characters. See this is why the live action did not work what they should had done it all in the classic animation style but history is history. (still love the movie anyway)

Dude, you drew this?? That is awesome!! You sir are very talented as an artist!  Hobby or career??

[electronicsibley]

On 11/14/2020 at 7:35 AM, Atariboy2600 said:

WOW! I would love to make this game label art if there's a slot open. I drew this back in 2017. Here's my take on him drawing them in the classic 1933 style only this time taking from a scene of the live action 1980's film Popeye at the end where all are fighting over the treasure chest on SPAB ISLAND with all the main cast even the background characters. See this is why the live action did not work what they should had done it all in the classic animation style but history is history. (still love the movie anyway)

Uh, yes to this. Make this the box/cartridge art, and fit it into the “classic” 7800 template - color, of course!. 

[Jinks]

Sell the cart with these.. https://candyfunhouse.ca/products/popeye-candy-sticks

For 59 cents each.. or not lol. 

 

[+darryl1970]

Little experiment here.

 

I flicker the bottles in one frame. This cuts back on some of the slowdown, seen mostly on the Note and Ship levels.

This is seen mostly when Brutus and the Sea Hag are throwing bottles, with a lot of notes and letters on screen.

 

Are the bottles TOO hard to see? I don't think it's terrible. Is it worth it?

There still may be a slight slowdown, but I think this helps. The plots use a lot of processing power.

 

--Darryl

 

Popeye(Demo2.4_BottleFlicker).a78

 

Popeye(Demo2.4_BottleFlicker).bin

[Trebor]

There are a couple of things that are arguably less forgiving with flicker when compared to real hardware and a CRT:

 

1.  Viewed on a modern day/flat panel display.

2.  Playing under an emulator.

 

So, considering I am trying it through an emulator on a modern display, it is beyond perfectly fine.  The bottles are still very easily seen, and one could even have argued if you didn't mention the flicker with the bottles, some/many would have not even realized the difference in their animation.

[+Pat Brady]

6 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

I flicker the bottles in one frame. This cuts back on some of the slowdown, seen mostly on the Note and Ship levels.

This is seen mostly when Brutus and the Sea Hag are throwing bottles, with a lot of notes and letters on screen.

 

Are the bottles TOO hard to see? I don't think it's terrible. Is it worth it?

There still may be a slight slowdown, but I think this helps. The plots use a lot of processing power.

 

I agree, this is an improvement.

[+darryl1970]

I think I'll keep the flicker for now. It's only 1 out of 4 frames.

 

Thanks for the input!

Edited November 21, 2020 by darryl1970

[+sramirez2008]

I finally loaded this onto my Mateos multicart and it looks amazing on my CRT with s-video/composite. The pictures from my phone don't do it justice. I don’t notice much flicker at all. However, the last line of the title and credits screen is a bit low. Not sure if it’s just my particular CRT. I didn’t have time to dig out my other one(s) to compare. Has anyone else played this on real hardware with a CRT and noticed this?

 

Excellent work. This version looks and plays well, although I suck at it.?

 

 

[+darryl1970]

1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

I finally loaded this onto my Mateos multicart and it looks amazing on my CRT with s-video/composite. The pictures from my phone don't do it justice. I don’t notice much flicker at all. However, the last line of the title and credits screen is a bit low. Not sure if it’s just my particular CRT. I didn’t have time to dig out my other one(s) to compare. Has anyone else played this on real hardware with a CRT and noticed this?

 

Excellent work. This version looks and plays well, although I suck at it.?

 

 

That's really cool to see! Thanks for sharing. I haven't been able to play it on my actual hardware for quite some time now. If the mail doesn't fail me, that might change Friday!

I am not sure about the bottom line. I am using the 224 scanline mode. It might be pushing the limits. I'll have to check that when I get my cart!

[+sramirez2008]

I’ll try it on another CRT and my Commodore 1702 as well, and report back.

 

Just tried the ROM on my back up Toshiba and it’s the same.

 

[+darryl1970]

Here's Beta 2.5:

1. Banking problems fixed
2. Display glitch fixed for the Notes level
3. Fix bottom-line text on intro screen. Thanks @sramirez2008 for checking this out on real hardware. Thanks @Trebor for additional information.
4. Added official High Score support. Thanks to @RevEng for adding the ability to retrieve the highest score, per difficulty level!
   1. Removed the default high scores, because it works better for high score support.
5. Optimizations to limit slowdown, where possible.
6. Slowed fast notes down on higher levels
7. Got rid of Brutus and Olive twitch. I think this was related to the "-1 bug".
8. Novice (Full version) is now Revision F
   1. Includes fully-extended ladder.
   2. Spinach regenerates after Popeye loses a life.
   3. Background color indicator

 

Popeye(Beta2.5_Demo).a78    Popeye(Beta2.5_Demo).bin

 

[+darryl1970]

Apologies... Here's a quick fix for Beta 2.5.

 

@playsoft informed me of an issue. The round music wasn't resuming if Popeye didn't punch Brutus.

 

There is a concern that this no longer works in BupSystem. I do not know why at this time, but I am aware.

 

--Darryl

 

Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo).a78    Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo).bin

 

[RevEng]

Bupsystem seems to have an issue with the 7800basic high score code, but it's not reproducible in any other emulator or on real hardware. I thoroughly investigated the issue when it came up with Dragon's Cache.

 

Since the emulator is closed source and has no debugger, that was the end of the line in terms of what I can investigate.

[Trebor]

@darryl1970...I'm not a fan of specific ROM hacks made to work for emulators; however, if you are interested in having Popeye work under BupSystem, the hack for Dragon's Cache is a build that already 'tells' the ROM there is no high score saving device present.  The same 'tell' to the Popeye ROM may work here as well.

[+darryl1970]

17 minutes ago, Trebor said:

@darryl1970...I'm not a fan of specific ROM hacks made to work for emulators; however, if you are interested in having Popeye work under BupSystem, the hack for Dragon's Cache is a build that already 'tells' the ROM there is no high score saving device present.  The same 'tell' to the Popeye ROM may work here as well.

I thought about this. I thought I could set a constant, like I do for my demo. If it's set off, it could build a version that omits the HS.

 

I experimented with jumping over the HS Int if a flag is 1. That doesn't seem to work.

 

I tried using the #ifconst {myConst} to contain the HS cart settings. The game ignored my condition.

 

I am not sure how to make including the high score functionality conditional.

 

I guess I could comment it all out.

 

--Darryl

[RevEng]

Just add "hsdevice=0" to the beginning of your game source, to fool 7800basic into thinking no device was detected.

[+darryl1970]

Just now, RevEng said:

Just add "hsdevice=0" to the beginning of your game source, to fool 7800basic into thinking no device was detected.

LOL. That is a lot easier than commenting out all of my HS stuff (like I just did).

 

Thanks!

[+darryl1970]

Here is the version for BupSystem:

 

Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo_Bup).a78

[+sramirez2008]

5 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

Apologies... Here's a quick fix for Beta 2.5.

 

@playsoft informed me of an issue. The round music wasn't resuming if Popeye didn't punch Brutus.

 

There is a concern that this no longer works in BupSystem. I do not know why at this time, but I am aware.

 

--Darryl

 

Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo).a78 144.13 kB · 11 downloads    Popeye(Beta2.5a_Demo).bin 144 kB · 4 downloads

 

Beta 2.5a test results:

6 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

Fix bottom-line text on intro screen.

- Confirmed. Bottom line text on Intro and Credits screen look good. Maybe could center the bottom line text a bit more on the Intro screen.

 

6 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

Added official High Score support

Confirmed via SaveKey. Also confirmed that the scores are retained (between shut downs/start-ups)

 

6 hours ago, darryl1970 said:

Novice (Full version) is now Revision

Just want to confirm that "Arcade" mode is the only one currently available, correct? 

I am able to select 1 or 2 players. 

*Tested with SEGA Genesis 3 button via Edladdin Seagull 78 controller adapter*

 

This game really is stunning to look at.

 

 

 

 

[RevEng]

1 hour ago, sramirez2008 said:

This game really is stunning to look at.

This game would be an impressive feat for a 7800 veteran to pull off. Consider now that Darryl started his little Popeye demo in August as an exercise to learn 7800 coding, and now three months later he has the game looking and playing like a dream...