Bentley Bear Backlash

[Cousin Vinnie]

In recent years, I've seen that there has been some confusion and real life tears in regards to Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest. It all stems from Bobby D astutely inventing a "C Button" for the Pro System. Here's how to fix the confusion with the game in the modern age where people use emulation more than consoles. 

https://www.atari7800forever.com/bentleybearbacklash.html

[ZylonBane]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:34 AM, Cousin Vinnie said:

In fact, this may be the ONLY game in the Prosystem library to feature programming specifically designed to take advantage of the Pro-Line Controller's unique side buttons

Dude what. Many 7800 titles use the left and right buttons for separate functions.

 

Quote

To make some of the harder jumps, the "run" button and the "jump" button need to be pressed at the same time. This can be done easily by squeezing both buttons together on the Pro Line. This effectively makes a third button

It... doesn't. Triggering a function by pressing two buttons together is fairly common in video games, and it's never referred to as adding a button. It's just called a button combo. Occasionally it's referred to as chording.

[Cousin Vinnie]

2 hours ago, ZylonBane said:

Dude what. Many 7800 titles use the left and right buttons for separate functions.

 

It... doesn't. Triggering a function by pressing two buttons together is fairly common in video games, and it's never referred to as adding a button. It's just called a button combo. Occasionally it's referred to as chording.

 

2 hours ago, ZylonBane said:

Dude what. Many 7800 titles use the left and right buttons for separate functions.

 

It... doesn't. Triggering a function by pressing two buttons together is fairly common in video games, and it's never referred to as adding a button. It's just called a button combo. Occasionally it's referred to as chording.

Lol. I’ll probably need to reword what I meant.

 

I’ve reviewed over 100 of these 7800 games, of course I realize that many games use the two buttons. What I meant is it’s the only game that uses the side buttons uniquely, taking advantage of the pro line design. There is no other game in the library that requires you to press both buttons at the same time, that I know of. It’s easy on the pro line controller because you can squeeze it. I’ve Played video games my whole life, and never heard of chording. The reason I wrote the article is because people are complaining online they don’t understand how to jump over things in this game, because they’re not pressing both buttons at the same time, because they’re probably playing it on a keyboard on Xbox controller. 
 

 

Edited March 22, 2022 by Cousin Vinnie

[+jgkspsx]

In order to get anywhere in Super Mario Bros you have to be holding the run button down pretty much constantly and pressing the jump button (while still holding down the run button) when you want to jump. I am very confused by this thread.

[Cousin Vinnie]

I’m going to reword the article when I get back home. All I was implying,

 

1) the 7800 controller is the perfect controller for “chording“. With every other controller I’ve ever used, I hated trying to push more than one button to create an extra input. The 7800 controller, for all of its problems, actually is the best one for this because of the position of the buttons on the sides.
 

2) Bentley bear is the only game that utilizes this opportunity in the 7800 library. 
 

3) People on the Internet do not know that you can either turn the double button feature off on your emulator, or that you need to hit both buttons to get anywhere in this game.

 

The intention of this article was to help those lost souls. 

[BydoEmpire]

1 hour ago, Cousin Vinnie said:

 

There is no other game in the library that requires you to press both buttons at the same time, that I know of. It’s easy on the pro line controller because you can squeeze it.

 

I don't know how common it is, but Wizard's Dungeon brings up the pause/map screen by holding button 1 and then pressing button 2. It works great, and is much more convenient than hitting pause on the console.

 

[Cousin Vinnie]

Good to know

[+Karl G]

46 minutes ago, jgkspsx said:

In order to get anywhere in Super Mario Bros you have to be holding the run button down pretty much constantly and pressing the jump button (while still holding down the run button) when you want to jump. I am very confused by this thread.

I don't think there's a SMB port for the 7800, though. 

[toiletunes]

In order to use the bombs on Scrapyard Dog, you need to press down and one of the buttons. This is effectively a third button.

[Cousin Vinnie]

6 hours ago, toiletunes said:

In order to use the bombs on Scrapyard Dog, you need to press down and one of the buttons. This is effectively a third button.

I rebuke this comment in the name of Jebus.

OK... I think I fixed the article to where my point is a little clearer. Thanks for the feedback! It really helps. Sometimes jive is clear in my mind and it comes out of my brainz as muddy mud-mud

 

[Trebor]

Great job again, Vin! 

 

To make this part clearer...

Quote

Back to the game and the issue at hand: To make some of the harder jumps, the "run" button and the "jump" button need to be pressed at the same time (reminiscent of Super Mario Brothers for the NES). This can be done easily by squeezing both buttons together on the Pro Line. This means Bentley can pull off Michael Jordan-esque "super jumps". If you remember, this lard-ass bear in the original game, Crystal Castles, jumped like Evel Knievel on a motorcycle. He had major ups.

...it may be better related this way:

Quote

Back to the game and the issue at hand: To make some of the harder jumps, the "run" button needs to be already held down while the "jump" button is pressed (reminiscent of Super Mario Brothers for the NES). This can be done easily by holding down a button on one side of the Pro Line while pressing the button on the other side.  This means Bentley can pull off Michael Jordan-esque "super jumps". If you remember, this lard-ass bear in the original game, Crystal Castles, jumped like Evel Knievel on a motorcycle. He had major ups.

 

For those just reading this thread and have no prior insight/knowledge of the Difficulty Switches impact, posting this for convenience:

 

1. Left Difficulty Switch = Set to the Right for a two button controller, or set to the Left for one button CX40 compatible controller.

2. Right Difficulty Switch = Assigns which button Jumps and which button Runs/Shoots for a connected two button controller.

 

For the common SMB layout (1st button Run/Shoots | 2nd button Jumps):

1. Left Difficulty Switch set to the Right.

2. Right Difficulty Switch set to the Left.

 

Respecting the one button control/controller option, if the Left Difficulty Switch is set to the Left for a CX40/one-button controller, and actually a two (independent) button controller is attached to the console, Bentley will jump when pressing Up on the controller; however, he will be stuck in walk mode only with no option to run or shoot regardless of the Right Difficulty Switch setting.  The one button control option only works properly for a controller that is truly just one button functionality (I.E. CX40) designed.

 

Additionally, the difficulty switch settings are not hot swappable.  The game needs to be reset, a life lost with new one started, or the beginning of a new round, for the current difficulty switch setting to take effect.

[Cousin Vinnie]

43 minutes ago, Trebor said:

Great job again, Vin! 

 

To make this part clearer...

...it may be better related this way:

 

For those just reading this thread and has no prior insight/knowledge to the Difficulty Switches impact, posting this for convenience:

 

1. Left Difficulty Switch = Set to the Right for a two button controller, or set to the Left for one button CX40 compatible controller.

2. Right Difficulty Switch = Assigns which button Jumps and which button Runs/Shoots for a connected two button controller.

 

For the common SMB layout (1st button Run/Shoots | 2nd button Jumps):

1. Left Difficulty Switch set to the Right.

2. Right Difficulty Switch set to the Left.

 

Respecting the one button control/controller option, if the Left Difficulty Switch is set to the Left for a CX40/one-button controller, and actually a two (independent) button controller is attached to the console, Bentley will jump when pressing Up on the controller; however, he will be stuck in walk mode only with no option to run or shoot regardless of the Right Difficulty Switch setting.  The one button control option only works properly for a controller that is truly just one button functionality (I.E. CX40) designed.

 

Additionally, the difficulty switch settings are not hot swappable.  The game needs to be reset, a life lost with new one started, or the beginning of a new round, for the current difficulty switch setting to take effect.

Ahhhhhhhhhh... OK

 

[PacManPlus]

I was taking suggestions from everyone that brought the control scheme up, as people had different controllers and I was attempting to cover everyone.

 

Thanks, guys!

 

Quote

I don't think there's a SMB port for the 7800, though. 

 

Not yet anyway... That's something that I've had on my 'to do' list for a long time.  I have the source code, and I've already converted it to compile with DASM (I did this a few years ago), so it's now a matter of converting the tile/sprite handler to work with the 7800.  *Once I can get to this*, I will probably use 320B mode, so it more closely matches the resolution of the NES version... although there will be less colors.

 

Edited March 23, 2022 by PacManPlus

[+sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, PacManPlus said:

I was taking suggestions from everyone that brought the control scheme up, as people had different controllers and I was attempting to cover everyone.

 

Thanks, guys!

 

 

Not yet anyway... That's something that I've had on my 'to do' list for a long time.  I have the source code, and I've already converted it to compile with DASM (I did this a few years ago), so it's now a matter of converting the tile/sprite handler to work with the 7800.  *Once I can get to this*, I will probably use 320B mode, so it more closely matches the resolution of the NES version... although there will be less colors.

 

SMB port...Sweet!  Consider one sold.?

[The Usotsuki]

You might be able to do some things like Zero Paige did?  The C64 version of SMB runs partially in 160x200 mode and partially in 320x200 mode, and looks and plays pretty good despite the slower CPU.