Attack of the PETSCII Robots, Atari 7800

[RevEng]

45 minutes ago, bikeguychicago said:

@RevEng Is there a possibility for a release of the game on the Atari VCS? I would think that the Modern Controller for the system would be more than capable of providing the necessary input needed for the game. 

I'd love to see that happen. I'm pretty sure Atari is aware of the games sold in the AA store, given they now own AA, but nobody has approached me or @mksmith about it.

[+bhall408]

23 hours ago, RevEng said:

I'd love to see that happen. I'm pretty sure Atari is aware of the games sold in the AA store, given they now own AA, but nobody has approached me or @mksmith about it.

Atari *should* be able to support it natively on the VCS, but if it helps, we now have a Unity plugin version of the Argon game engine. So we could make Mac/PC/console versions in partnership. ie, deploy it to Steam/Epic/GOG/VCS/Mac App Store/MSFT App Store/etc. Using Unity, you (or we) get to do the bonus content (soundtrack, manual, etc) in custom Unity UI, much like you get bonus content with a DVD/BluRay. Another approach would be to see if Plaion can support your physical cart on the 2600+ if they do not already.

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

29 minutes ago, bhall408 said:

 Another approach would be to see if Plaion can support your physical cart on the 2600+ if they do not already.

The Beta FW I have on my 2600+ is able to play the physical cartridge just fine with full audio. So yes...they have this working.

 

[RevEng]

5 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

The Beta FW I have on my 2600+ is able to play the physical cartridge just fine with full audio. So yes...they have this working.

 

Hmmm... not quite. The halt line is floating on a 2600+, so it can't read Maria's bankset banks like a 7800 could.

 

Petscii Robots works in the 2600+ emulation if you load it via a flash cart as a plain 256k supergame, or if you have a test image that has the Petscii Maria bank embedded... we can't do the latter for an official release. (It was just done to test the emulator)

[+karri]

11 hours ago, RevEng said:

Petscii Robots works in the 2600+ emulation if you load it via a flash cart as a plain 256k supergame

Would the emulator run a bankset game even if the header claims it to be a supergame? I just have to test this with my Pico based flashcard...

[raz0red]

On 2/14/2024 at 1:45 PM, RevEng said:

Petscii Robots works in the 2600+ emulation if you load it via a flash cart as a plain 256k supergame

Yeah, exactly.

 

I need to document the process to

do this. But, this requires that you place the header in the encryption area.

Also for banksets, you will need to perform a swap at the end of the Sally and Maria sections so that it will pass the validation checks.

If there is enough interest, it would be easy to put together a simple tool to do this (likely browser-based for simplicity).

 

Chris.

Edited February 16 by raz0red

[Zonie]

After reading all the reviews, and watching a lot of videos, I ultimately went for the SNES version. I have only a handful of SNES games, including Classic Kong, and the Williams and Atari classic collections. The SNES is an ideal platform for some of these older arcade games as its hardware is more advanced than most, if not all of those arcade games, so they are nearly perfect. The 7800 seems to be very good at Midway and other classics too, as Bob D has proven.

[RevEng]

[Trebor]

After reading all the reviews for Virtua Fighter, and watching a lot of videos, I ultimately went for the PlayStation 2 version. I have only a handful of PlayStation 2 games, including Art of Fighting Anthology, and Fatal Fury: Battle Archives and SNK Arcade Classics. The PlayStation 2 is an ideal platform for some of these arcade games as its hardware is more advanced than most, if not all of those arcade games, so they are nearly perfect. The Genesis seems to be very good at Konami and other classics too, as Takashi T has proven.

 

Imagine posting the above to a Sega Genesis forum in a thread about the Genesis version of Virtua Fighter.  Seems kind of silly, especially in light of it being a Sega Genesis forum and the difference in hardware between the platforms.

 

Couldn't even fathom doing something similar to an outstanding homebrew port for the Genesis that was also ported to a generation newer hardware.  Kind of silly just became kind of ridiculous.

 

There are several amazing developers who have put out excellent titles under the 7800.  To praise one developer while dismissing the work of others in the thread they created about the game they released, no less... all I can say... keep it classy.

[FiveJay]

UPDATE: yep, super dumb. There’s a whole extra insert in the box with more controls that I missed 🤦‍♂️

Original:

Finally got my copy for 7800, and it’s my first time playing on any platform! It’s a really cool game but I’m very perplexed with one specific thing with the controls. Using an SNES controller, how do you change items or weapons?? Even the manual doesn’t tell you how to change these with the SNES controller, and I discovered that pressing Start + Select at the same time brings up the map which is also not mentioned in the manual. So the manual is definitely not a comprehensive reference for controls. Am I just super dumb (rhetorical) or is there no way to do it with the SNES controller? I feel like I’ve tried every button combo possible, including the console buttons… Anybody have insight for a new player?

Edited June 21 by FiveJay

[+mksmith]

Glad you found the answer to your question - there is a lot going on with the controls for this game!!

[MiCV2]

Hi, is the controller adapter Mega7800 compatible with the game, or does it only support two buttons?

Edited June 27 by MiCV2

[RevEng]

5 hours ago, MiCV2 said:

Hi, is the controller adapter Mega7800 compatible with the game, or does it only support two buttons?

Mega7800 is only supported as Proline. The game was completed prior to Mega7800 being released and/or on our radar.

[+Zeptari]

On 6/27/2024 at 8:22 AM, MiCV2 said:

Hi, is the controller adapter Mega7800 compatible with the game, or does it only support two buttons?

I have a Mega7800 on its way to me this week and came here to ask this exact question! 

 

On 6/27/2024 at 1:56 PM, RevEng said:

Mega7800 is only supported as Proline. The game was completed prior to Mega7800 being released and/or on our radar.

Looks at date of RevEng post, whoops. I'm way late to the scene here. doh! It would've been super awesome to have my 8BitDo wireless as an option. So many buttons! How about an updated cart with Mega7800 support added?

[RevEng]

On 9/2/2024 at 8:40 PM, Zeptari said:

Looks at date of RevEng post, whoops. I'm way late to the scene here. doh! It would've been super awesome to have my 8BitDo wireless as an option. So many buttons! How about an updated cart with Mega7800 support added?

Truthfully, I try not to put out any cart updates, beyond bug fixes. Even then it depends on the severity of the bug. Reason being that a ton of good folks bought the carts as soon as they were available. I don't want them to be stuck with an inferior product, by releasing enhancements for the game year after year.

 

Additionally, for the sanity of all involved in the project, at some point you have to call it done and move on. A control scheme addition may seem like a small thing, but it's another round of QA testing, manual updates and reprinting. Then when people see the project is being actively updated, they'll come up with their own small things they want you to add.

[+Zeptari]

21 hours ago, RevEng said:

Additionally, for the sanity of all involved in the project, at some point you have to call it done and move on.

Totally understand. On all accounts, programming, fairness and the " let's get this thing done and ship it already!"