Odyssey 2 -> Atari 2600 port

[NovaXpress]

KC Munchkin won? Is the poll over?... my screen says that Pick Axe Pete is winning? Am I drunk?

No, but I am.

 

The next poll should be: which Channel F game should be ported to the 2600. And believe it or not, I have a serious answer!

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

The next poll should be: which Channel F game should be ported to the 2600. And believe it or not, I have a serious answer!

 

I've plans to continue this in a series of monthly polls, so if you give me a seriously researched list (#1) of choices, I can do that in december. For november I already have another plan...

 

Greetings,

Manuel

 

(#1: The list shouldn't contain any "generic" stuff like standard sport or racing games and it shouldn't contain 1:1 lookalikes of already existing 2600 titles.)

[NovaXpress]

My Channel F list would consist of one game: Video Whizball. It's a very clever variant of pong that would make a very entertaining 2600 game.

 

Video Whizball also contains, AKAIK, the first Easter Egg in video game history: play a game against the computer and win or lose (it's quicker if you chose a 1-point game). Then kill the computer's man and get killed yourself. When both players are off the screen, pull up to start a new game. Choose game 43, score 67 and you'll see the egg.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I recently tried Bally Astrocade for the first time and there are a few unique games too.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

I recently tried Bally Astrocade for the first time and there are a few unique games too.

 

Ok, just send me a list of choices. Same rules as listed above

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Big Player]

My Channel F list would consist of one game: Video Whizball. It's a very clever variant of pong that would make a very entertaining 2600 game.

 

Video Whizball also contains, AKAIK, the first Easter Egg in video game history: play a game against the computer and win or lose (it's quicker if you chose a 1-point game). Then kill the computer's man and get killed yourself. When both players are off the screen, pull up to start a new game. Choose game 43, score 67 and you'll see the egg.

 

Cool. I've never played a Fairchild Channel F even in emulation, but I've always wanted to play Video Whizball. It will get my vote if you put up a poll for that one.

 

In the meantime, vote for Pick Axe Pete everyone!

[Brad2600]

Pick Axe Pete is my pick.

 

O2 games were ok but I didn't really find too much that I liked for that system.

[BassGuitari]

The next poll should be: which Channel F game should be ported to the 2600. And believe it or not, I have a serious answer!

 

You know, I was just thinking of suggesting this, but I didn't for fear of being made fun of

 

I was almost certain I am the only person in the entire world who likes the Channel F. Space War is a great two-player game that I find really fun...it could use a few variations though. Desert Fox blows Combat out of the water...you can aim in any direction (of eight) while moving in any direction, and it plays much faster and easier too. And no 3D space action game even topped Galactic Space Wars until Star Raiders, unless there's something on the Astrocade or something that I'm forgetting about.

 

That said, always play on a System II so you can turn down the volume The internal "sound" on the original system is torture.

 

I've never played Video Whizball, but I'm really jonesing for a copy.

[NovaXpress]

I haven't played it since I was ten years old and lived near a very well-spplied electronics store, but I never forgot about Whizball. It's like pong in that you're trying to slide the ball off the edge of your opponent's screen but instead of hitting it with your paddle, you shoot the ball to knock it townard the other side.

 

I don't remember playing Desert Fox or Galactic Space Wars, but I remember thinking that the plane game (Spitfire Attack) was better than Combat's as well. The Breakout clone was allright, Dodge It was fun, I don't remember being impressed by anthing else I tried.

 

Channel F is emulated in MESS but I've never located a rom for Whizball.

 

Channel F cart scans and screenshotsUnfortunately, the late-era Channel F titles that we're praising don't have screenshots.

[uosipa llamxew]

Unfortunately, the late-era Channel F titles that we're praising don't have screenshots.

 

Your comments got me interested in the Channel F system, so I went and checked it out. All three of these games look interesting, but as far as I can tell, they are only 2-player games(?) Here are some quick snapshots as well as my (quick) take on each game:

 

Video Whizball surely is an interesting variant of Pong. You are able to move in all directions as well as rotate your forward paddle (to manipulate the direction of the ball), while your back paddle acts as a goalie.

 

I wonder if Combat could be hacked to provide gameplay like Desert Fox. As far as I can tell, the main difference between the two is that your guns are rotated with different controls than your tank, providing controls somewhat like SmashTV.

 

Space War looks almost like Combat with flying saucers, except you shoot lazers (only horizontally?). When your lazers run out, you have to go to refill stations before you can resume blasting the other player.

[BassGuitari]

[quote name="mojofltr

Space War looks almost like Combat with flying saucers' date=' except you shoot lazers (only horizontally?). When your lazers run out, you have to go to refill stations before you can resume blasting the other player.[/quote]

 

Yes, your starship only fires horizontally. When I first played Space War on the Channel F it reminded me of Odyssey 2's Invaders From Hyperspace, but it turned out to be quite different in terms of play. I think being able to only fire horizontally adds certain strategic elements to the game. You can change the direction of your laser fire by turning the control knob left or right, depending on which way you want to shoot. It's really a cool little game, imo.

 

Channel F is emulated on MESS, but hardly so. I believe only the ROMs from the first couple of Videocarts are available.

[uosipa llamxew]

Channel F is emulated on MESS, but hardly so. I believe only the ROMs from the first couple of Videocarts are available.

 

I have 4 video cart ROMs and 27 other singles/multicart ROMs. It's a little bit awkward trying to get them running if you are not familiar with the original hardware (as in my case). I had never seen a G or S prompt before. Other than that, they seemed to run okay - maybe not perfect - but good enough to get an idea of the real thing.

[BassGuitari]

Awesome! How did you get all those ROMs?

[walter_J64bit]

where you get source code for the Odyssey 2 games? I know that would be graet help on the port over of the games!

[+thegoldenband]

I apologize for playing thread necromancer here, but I'm kind of shocked that so few people are familiar with Loony Balloon, and/or that so few people rate it. Though it's a bit buggy, it's easily among the best games I've played for the O2, IMHO, with a nice sense of humor to it. It frustrated the heck out of me until I realized that once you score a certain number of points in each level, you can just barely fit through the passage leading to the exit. There are obviously some similarities to Crazy Balloon, but it's really a different game altogether with its own distinct personality and mechanics.

Edited July 22, 2008 by thegoldenband

[Devin]

My vote has to be for Spin-Out! I had hours upon hours of fun playing this game - and it should be rather easy to create.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Devin

[Devin]

Here's an old ad that has a ton of old Odyssey 2 games

[Cybergoth]

My vote has to be for Spin-Out! I had hours upon hours of fun playing this game - and it should be rather easy to create.

 

You should try Indy 500 some day

 

Here's an old ad that has a ton of old Odyssey 2 games

 

Well, that's almost all of them already.

[Devin]

You should try Indy 500 some day

I had Indy 500 back in the day. I still have it - controllers and all!

 

I didn't like it as much as Spin-Out. Mainly, the cars do not "spin" when you hit a barrier. Instead, you got stuck in the wall, which for me, ruined the game.

Edited July 23, 2008 by Devin

[kirin jensen]

Turtles would be about the best choice for a 2600 port. Many of the others rely on on non-software add-ons (Quest for the Rings! and Conquest of the World!), the Voice unit (Smithereens! and Attack of the Time Lord!) or exploit the potentials of the O2 in ways that would be difficult to duplicate on the 2600. You'd get something that looked okay, but played nothing like the original.

 

And, yes, I know Thomas Jentsch did a very good port of Robot City, but that's not a title that's exactly taxing either machine's capabilities.

 

The difference between what you could do with an O2 and a 2600 could be represented in the O2's favor by Tutankham. The capabilities of the O2 made programming Tutankham for it a great deal simpler than on the 2600.

 

In favor of the capabilities of the 2600, of course, take your pick.

Edited July 23, 2008 by kirin jensen

[vdub_bobby]

If I am remembering the O2's capabilities correctly, any game that requires a maze is going to be much easier on the O2.

[+batari]

The difference between what you could do with an O2 and a 2600 could be represented in the O2's favor by Tutankham. The capabilities of the O2 made programming Tutankham for it a great deal simpler than on the 2600.

I disagree, as the arcade scrolls 4 ways, the 2600 scrolls 2 ways, and the O2 version doesn't scroll at all, and worse, it represents the level as many different screens, each of which is huge, maybe a 9x9 grid. I don't think it's a bad game but it feels less like Tutankham than the 2600 to me because of the separate rooms, in much the same way that Super Cobra feels like a different game.

[+batari]

If I am remembering the O2's capabilities correctly, any game that requires a maze is going to be much easier on the O2.

Correction: any game that requires a 9x9 maze with thin walls, as the O2 cannot do any other kind of maze (e.g. It could not do the Maze Craze maze.) Then again, the 2600 couldn't do the KC Munchkin maze (without flicker.)

[kirin jensen]

If I am remembering the O2's capabilities correctly, any game that requires a maze is going to be much easier on the O2.

Correction: any game that requires a 9x9 maze with thin walls, as the O2 cannot do any other kind of maze (e.g. It could not do the Maze Craze maze.) Then again, the 2600 couldn't do the KC Munchkin maze (without flicker.)

The real problem I suspect would be that each object moves independently of the other. You could sacrifice that, but that's one of the major contributors to playfeel.

[vdub_bobby]

If I am remembering the O2's capabilities correctly, any game that requires a maze is going to be much easier on the O2.

Correction: any game that requires a 9x9 maze with thin walls, as the O2 cannot do any other kind of maze (e.g. It could not do the Maze Craze maze.) Then again, the 2600 couldn't do the KC Munchkin maze (without flicker.)

Fair enough, though the vast majority of maze games fit the "thin walls" mold: Pac-Man, Lady Bug, Lock 'n' Chase, Alien, etc.