bad arcade ports

[~llama]

well... i'm looking for a somewhat-ambitious 2600 programming project, i've been reading through the tutorials in the forum here and i think i've been looking through disassemblies and keeping up with [stella] long enough to start on something fun...

 

the question I have, is would it be better to take an old-school arcade game with a really crappy VCS port (or no VCS port) and make a version for the system? or would it work if i just started on a pretty ambitious project of my own creation?

 

I was thinking about Defender, and how bad the port of Defender is (Defender is probably my all-time favorite arcade game, well... Stargate actually) but then i remembered the Stargate port (aka Defender II) is basically the same game and blows it out of the water...

 

any suggestions?

[Robert M]

All that matters is that you like the idea, and you want to make it happen. This is all just a hobby, so if you aren't enjoying it then you are wasting your time. Lead and others will follow.

 

Cheers!

[Aaron]

the question I have, is would it be better to take an old-school arcade game with a really crappy VCS port (or no VCS port) and make a version for the system? or would it work if i just started on a pretty ambitious project of my own creation?  

Personally I'd much rather see something totally original, but I'm really a weirdo... people generally seem to go for stuff with more name recognition. So I don't know... if you can think of a good, original (and simple! - this is your first one, remember?) project, I say do it. Just keep in mind that most people who take my advice wind up living in a cardboard box.

 

...and how bad the port of Defender is...

And while I'm ranting, what's up with people not liking Defender? It's one of my favorite VCS games . Sure, it's nothing like the arcade, but why can't it be good game in it's own right?

[kisrael]

Personally I'd much rather see something totally original, but I'm really a weirdo...  people generally seem to go for stuff with more name recognition.  So I don't know...  if you can think of a good, original (and simple! - this is your first one, remember?) project, I say do it.  Just keep in mind that most people who take my advice wind up living in a cardboard box.

I totally agree with Aaron. Originality is great, name recognition helps drum up interest. I think I kind of got the best of both worlds with JoustPong, an original game, relatively simple to program (esepcially the first versions I banged out, without Pterry or smooth movement), but its name got dropped in more magazines because people recognized Joust and Pong. (Plus I knew the game had a good mechanic from the previous versions I had made on Windows and Java.)

 

If you get into this I hope my 2600 101 comes in useful :-)

And while I'm ranting, what's up with people not liking Defender?  It's one of my favorite VCS games .  Sure, it's nothing like the arcade, but why can't it be good game in it's own right?

I think it's just weird how the ship disappears when you fire...but besides that and the flicker and how amazing Stargate looks (like an NES game, really), it's great.

[Retrofan]

If you want to code an arcade port look at my little mockup page. If you are interested in programming something of that we could help each other.

 

http://www.haddewig.de/vcs/index.html

[~llama]

I think it's just weird how the ship disappears when you fire...but besides that and the flicker and how amazing Stargate looks (like an NES game, really), it's great.

 

Yeah... that's my complaint too. I'm a Defender/Stargate freak (although my best on Stargate is 26375... haven't played in a while) and not being able to see my ship, plus the way bombs and hyperspace are handled, totally suck(s).

 

I'm thinking that i'll go with an original idea though, i have a few floating around in my various school notebooks

[Aaron]

I think it's just weird how the ship disappears when you fire...but besides that and the flicker and how amazing Stargate looks (like an NES game, really), it's great.

Well ok, it does flicker rather crazily... gave me headaches as a kid.

 

But the ship disappearing is the best part of the game! See, you're invulnerable for split second while firing, so it's a valid strategy to go on an insane rampage and shoot up the whole place. In Stargate you actually have to think about what you're doing... maybe that's better, but it's not as fun.

[~llama]

But the ship disappearing is the best part of the game!  See, you're invulnerable for split second while firing, so it's a valid strategy to go on an insane rampage and shoot up the whole place.  In Stargate you actually have to think about what you're doing...  maybe that's better, but it's not as fun.

 

Well... i dont know... I guess i'm just kind of a Defender purist so I think that the best, most wonderful version of the game is the arcade version, and Stargate is even more amazing (even in MAME!) so... to have the 2600 Defender be so weird compared to the real Defender kinda ruins the whole experience because I want a Defender game to play like Defender. Stargate does an excellent job of this.