Supercharger conversion hacks...

[Nukey Shay]

BTW here's the list I have of original non-hack non-homebrew games left to do:

 

G.I.Joe-Cobra Strike

Gangster Alley

Great Escape

M.A.D.

Mangia

Marauder

Missile Control

Nightmare

Raft Rider

Scuba Diver

Shark Attack

Star Strike

Stellar Track

Strategy X

Surfer's Paradise-But Danger Below!

Video Reflex

Zoo Fun

 

Is there anything missing from this?

[Nukey Shay]

Star Strike...

 

Not your usual Mattel quality here The original game ran at 266 scanlines, and timing was effed if game reset was held (because it would loop back instead of finishing the frame). These issues are corrected, and it runs at a steady 262 regardless of the switch status

 

A slight glitch when holding the reset switch was that horizontal positioning of the planet was slightly "off". I didn't find a way to correct it, so I just blanked the planet if the switch is held.

 

NOTE: By design, holding the reset switch clears user ram...so the Death Star-wannabe's color table is also cleared.

 

The color of the planet is a static value that is added to a seperate counter that must be a specific value. When the planet is destroyed, this counter is bumped on each frame...and it stops increasing just as the sum would be zero for both colors. Because of this, a PAL version would need a different way of doing it. So it's currently NTSC-only (or live with the altered Earth colors).

Star_Strike.zip

[BSA Starfire]

This is the first time i have seen this thread and just wanted to say thanks for all the hard work Nukey!

Any chance of a PAL 60 version of Sub Scan, the NTSC cart is completely unplayable due to the colour palette on a PAL system.

I'm just going off to burn so CD's with the audio files Mark made & have a play!

 

Thanks,

Chris

[Mark Wolfe]

I'm just going off to burn so CD's with the audio files Mark made & have a play!

 

Thanks,

Chris

 

I've been keeping an eye on things and I will set up the .WAV files for Volume II of Nukey's Conversion Hacks soon... how soon you ask? well, I posted Vol.I on May 22nd of 2008 so expect Vol.II to be posted around late May as well

[BSA Starfire]

That's great Mark. Thanks again!

[Nukey Shay]

Any chance of a PAL 60 version of Sub Scan, the NTSC cart is completely unplayable due to the colour palette on a PAL system.

 

Thanks for that...Sub Scan is another incompatable title (due to a data table @$FFF6) that I missed. There's also a slight timing problem that I'll see if I can correct. If you load the binary and watch the demo, the screen rolls down a scanline about 1 minute into it (when the depth charge centered with the 10k digit explodes at the bottom). Besides that, the game runs @265 scanlines, so color would be stripped from PAL televisions. Conversion to follow shortly.

[Nukey Shay]

Sub Scan- NTSC and PAL60

 

Above issues corrected. The timing problem came from the horizontal positioning table @$FDFA, which was placed over a page break. Moving it slightly so that it doesn't cross a boundry was enough to fix the problem. I also fixed the small piece of "sky" that appears on the water surface.

 

Quite a lot of optimizations could be done to the program...possibly freeing enough space to make the port more true to the arcade game (i.e. have the subs fire back at you). I've listed some of them, but the display would need timing to remain static. As it is, it relys on the cycle time used by the current scanlines' instructions. It must have been a pain in the butt to develop this way

Sub_Scan.zip

Edited March 16, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[BSA Starfire]

Sub Scan- NTSC and PAL60

 

Above issues corrected. The timing problem came from the horizontal positioning table @$FDFA, which was placed over a page break. Moving it slightly so that it doesn't cross a boundry was enough to fix the problem. I also fixed the small piece of "sky" that appears on the water surface.

 

Quite a lot of optimizations could be done to the program...possibly freeing enough space to make the port more true to the arcade game (i.e. have the subs fire back at you). I've listed some of them, but the display would need timing to remain static. As it is, it relys on the cycle time used by the current scanlines' instructions. It must have been a pain in the butt to develop this way

 

wow that was fast! you don't mess about do you Nukey?

Thanks very much!

Did anyone have any luck with bin>wav conversion on OSX without resorting to windows(that I don't have)?

 

Best,

Chris

[Mark Wolfe]

Did anyone have any luck with bin>wav conversion on OSX without resorting to windows(that I don't have)?

 

Best,

Chris

 

Last I checked, back when I started making the supercharger collection for my ipod, I tried the OSX app but it was command line and I did not find it intuitive so I quickly switched to using Virtual PC on my Mac and that allowed me to use the usual tools with excellent results. I'm quite shocked that there is not a gui based OSX alternative or port but AFAIK there isn't.

[Nukey Shay]

NOTE:

Of the 4k titles not yet posted to this thread, these potentially crash the Supercharger ("potentially" because I won't know for sure without a studying a disassembly). Keep in mind that specific conditions may need to be true for this to happen...

 

Airlock (1982) (Data Age)
Alien's Return (1983) (ITT Family Games) (PAL)
Angriff der Luftflotten (AKA Paris Attack) (1983) (Starsoft) (PAL)
Apples and Dolls (CCE)
Assault (1983) (Bomb)
Bermuda Triangle (1982) (Data Age)
Bi! Bi! (AKA Ungeheuer der Tiefe) (1983) (Starsoft) (PAL)
Bingo (AKA Dice Puzzle) (1983) (CCE) (PAL)
Bumper Bash (1983) (Spectravideo)
Challenge (1983) (Funvision) (PAL)
Challenge (1983) (Zellers)
Challenge of...NEXAR (1982) (Spectravideo)
Championship Soccer (AKA International Soccer) (1980)
Chase the Chuckwagon (1983) (Spectravideo)
Coco Nuts (1982) (Telesys)
Color Bar Generator (1984) (Videosoft)
Col 'N (HomeVision) (PAL)
Computer Chess (1978) (Atari) (Prototype)
Condor Attack (1982) (CCE)
Confrontation (1983) (Answer Software)
Cosmic Commuter (1984) (Activision)
Cosmic Corridor (1983) (Zimag)
Cosmic Creeps (1982) (Telesys)
Cross Force (1982) (Spectravision)
Cubicolor (1982) (Imagic-Rob Fulop)
Dancing Plates (1983) (BitCorp) (PAL)
Death Trap (1983) (Avalon Hill)
Dice Puzzle (1983) (Panda)
Dukes of Hazzard (Stunt Cycle Version) (1980) (Atari) (Prototype)
Earth Dies Screaming (1983) (20th Century Fox)
Eggomania (1982) (US Games)
Enduro (1983) (Activision)
Fast Eddie (1982) (20th Century Fox)
Final Approach (1982) (Apollo)
Fire Fighter (1982) (Imagic)
Forest (Sancho) (PAL)
Frankenstein's Monster (1983) (Data Age)
Gangster Alley (1982) (Spectravision)
Gauntlet (1983) (Answer Software)
G.I. Joe - Cobra Strike (1983) (Parker Bros)
Gorf (1982) (CBS Electronics)
Great Escape (1983) (Bomb)
Guardian (1982) (Apollo)
Gunfight 2600 (MP)
Gunfight 2600 (MP) (PAL)
Harbor Escape (1983) (Panda)
I Want My Mommy (AKA Ursinho Esperto) (1983) (Zimag)
Kabobber (1983) (Activision) (Prototype) [!]
Kamikaze Saucers (1983) (Syncro)
Karate (1987) (Froggo)
Keystone Kapers (1983) (Activision)
King Kong (1982) (Tigervision)
Kool Aid Man (1982) (Mattel)
Laser Volley (1983) (Zellers)
Lochjaw (1982) (Apollo)
London Blitz (1983) (Avalon Hill)
Lost Luggage (1981) (Apollo)
M.A.D. (1982) (US Games)
Mangia' (1983) (Spectravideo)
Marauder (1982) (Tigervision)
Marine Wars (1983) (Konami)
Master Builder (1983) (Spectravideo)
Maze Craze (1978) (Atari)
Mega Force (1982) (20th Century Fox)
Meltdown (1983) (20th Century Fox) (Prototype)
Mines of Minos (1982) (CommaVid)
Missile Control (AKA Raketen-Angriff) (1983) (Ariola) (PAL)
Mogul Maniac (1983) (Amiga)
Mouse Trap (1982) (Coleco)
Music Machine, The (1983) (Sparrow)
Nightmare (1983) (Sancho)
Night Stalker (1989) (Telegames) (PAL)
Octopus (AKA Name This Game) (Carrere Video) (PAL)
Off Your Rocker (1983) (Amiga)
Oink! (1983) (Activision)
Out of Control (1983) (Avalon Hill)
Phantom Tank (1982) (BitCorp) (PAL)
Racquetball (1981) (Apollo)
Raft Rider (1982) (US Games)
Ram It (1982) (Telesys)
Raumpatrouille (1983) (CCE) (PAL)
Rescue Terra I (1982) (Venture Vision)
Rocky & Bullwinkle (1983) (Mattel) (Prototype)
Scuba Diver (Panda)
Seaquest (1983) (Activision)
Sea Hawk (1987) (Panda) (PAL)
Sea Hunt (1987) (Froggo)
Secret Agent (1983) (Data Age) (Prototype)
Shark Attack (1982) (Apollo)
Sneak 'n Peek (1982) (US Games)
Solar Storm (1983) (Imagic)
Space Canyon (Panda)
Space Cavern (1981) (Apollo)
Space Chase (1981) (Apollo)
Spider Fighter (1983) (Activision)
Sssnake (1982) (Data Age)
Star Gunner (1982) (Telesys)
Stellar Track (1980) (Sears)
Strategy X (1982) (Konami)
Strawberry Shortcake - Musical Match-Ups (1983) (Parker Bros)
Stronghold (1983) (CommaVid)
Surfer's Paradise - But Danger Below! (1983) (Video Gems) (PAL)
Task Force (1987) (Froggo)
Threshold (1982) (Tigervision)
Universal Chaos (1989) (Telegames)
Video Reflex (1983) (Exus)
Video Jogger (1983) (Exus)
Wall-Defender (1983) (Bomb)
Wall Ball (1983) (Avalon Hill)
Word Zapper (AKA Word Grabber) (1982) (US Games)
Worm War I (1982) (20th Century Fox)
Z-Tack (1983) (Bomb)
Zoo Fun (1983) (HomeVision) (PAL)

 

 

After Sub Scan, I was concerned about the possibility of missed titles...so I went ahead and did another automated list.

[Foster]

It's good to see your conversions coming again Nukey! Your effort is much appreciated!

[+SpiceWare]

Did anyone have any luck with bin>wav conversion on OSX without resorting to windows(that I don't have)?

A while back (April 2004) I used the source to build the attached OS X version of makewav.

makewav.zip

It's a command line tool, unzip it somewhere, open up a Terminal session, change to that directory then run it by typing ./makewav (yes, include the ./ else you'll get a "command not found" error).

 

It's been a while since I ran it so I don't recall the flags I used, but I do recall that you must use -ts else it defaults to creating a Cuttle Cart file.

[VectorGamer]

BTW here's the list I have of original non-hack non-homebrew games left to do:

 

 

Will you be doing the conversions for the homebrews?

[Impaler_26]

BTW here's the list I have of original non-hack non-homebrew games left to do:

 

 

Will you be doing the conversions for the homebrews?

You can find a few homebrew SC conversions here.

[VectorGamer]

BTW here's the list I have of original non-hack non-homebrew games left to do:

 

 

Will you be doing the conversions for the homebrews?

You can find a few homebrew SC conversions here.

 

Is it ethical to be creating conversions for the homebrews? I don't know if these folks are trying to make a living off of this stuff (my thought is "no" - I can't imagine these being sold in large volume) but do they not appreciate earning a few bucks for their efforts?

 

Maybe they don't mind - I honestly don't know and thought I'd pose the question.

[Impaler_26]

BTW here's the list I have of original non-hack non-homebrew games left to do:

 

 

Will you be doing the conversions for the homebrews?

You can find a few homebrew SC conversions here.

 

Is it ethical to be creating conversions for the homebrews? I don't know if these folks are trying to make a living off of this stuff (my thought is "no" - I can't imagine these being sold in large volume) but do they not appreciate earning a few bucks for their efforts?

 

Maybe they don't mind - I honestly don't know and thought I'd pose the question.

Those SC conversions in my link are all made by the programmers of the games.

People here usually respect the work of homebrewers and ask for permission before they hack/change a homebrew.

[Mark Wolfe]

BTW here's the list I have of original non-hack non-homebrew games left to do:

 

 

Will you be doing the conversions for the homebrews?

You can find a few homebrew SC conversions here.

 

Is it ethical to be creating conversions for the homebrews? I don't know if these folks are trying to make a living off of this stuff (my thought is "no" - I can't imagine these being sold in large volume) but do they not appreciate earning a few bucks for their efforts?

 

Maybe they don't mind - I honestly don't know and thought I'd pose the question.

Those SC conversions in my link are all made by the programmers of the games.

People here usually respect the work of homebrewers and ask for permission before they hack/change a homebrew.

 

 

I think it is all fine provided the games are already available for legitimate download and the author is ok with it. The games that are for sale that do not have free downloads, should be left alone unless someone gets express permission from the author.

[Nukey Shay]

Will you be doing the conversions for the homebrews?

 

Not at all. If somebody creates a game, it's up to them if they want it to be SC-compatable or not (it's not like anything difficult is involved when you've got a source file...99.99999% less difficult than creating the game in the first place). As far as hacks are concerned, somebody can download the assemblies that I used top make a certain game compatable and do the same changes in their own (or just hack the SC-compatable version directly).

 

I'd still answer questions regarding why a given game is incompatable (and post how to change it) if I know. Otherwise, it's beyond the thread's topic...which is to alter the existing library of games so that the SC hardware doesn't need to be hacked to be able to use them.

[tkarner]

Nukey, I've been away from this thread for a while. Regarding the list of 4k games you posted back in March, I can confirm that the following games crash on the Supercharger:

 

Bumper Bash

GI Joe

Gorf

Keystone Kapers

Kool Aid Man

Mangia

Mines of Minos

Oink

Spider Fighter

 

Hope that helps.

[Nukey Shay]

Yes, it does...keep 'em coming. IIRC, there's something funky with Koolaid Man that the Supercharger can't deal with...but I can't remember what it was.

 

 

Latest bin:

Surfer's Paradise - But Danger Below!

 

Original game uses a checksum routine. There was also a bunch of wasted space (nearly 2 pages worth)...not surprising, since the game isn't very complex.

 

So I killed the checksum routine, added 7800 support for the B&W switch (used for pausing the game), hid all of the HMOVE lines, converted it to NTSC & PAL60 (was this game done before?), and still had plenty of space for animations. There's 1/4 of the ram laying around unused as well if anybody wants to expand the game. Perhaps some trick boarding instead of just going up and down on the wave all the time?

SurfersParadise.zip

Edited August 26, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[Nukey Shay]

Bumper Bash:

Surprisingly, this game has a lot of ram and rom free (with still more that can be saved). Possible easy upgrades would be to add additional bonuses or multiple players...or maybe part of another game ...but I just kept it simple here. 7800-compatability for the B&W pause switch and a PAL60 version done. I had to approximate the colors, since there's a bunch of them that aren't available to the PAL palette.

 

 

NOTE: the timing glitch you may see on the lower-left rail and right kicker are emulator issues IIRC. They should not appear that way on real hardware AFAIK.

 

Also added is joystick support. Normally, the game uses the 2 paddle buttons for the flippers (pressing both launches the ball). I swapped the buttons around so that it also corresponds properly to left/right on the stick...and the joystick button can also be used to launch the ball. So either control method can now be used

BumperBash.zip

Edited August 28, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[Nukey Shay]

Mines Of Minos -

All of the graphics glitches corrected (I think). Not much extra stuff done to this Aliens minigame-like scroller...but I did flip the operation of the right difficulty switch (original game used "B" for the faster enemies).

 

NTSC & PAL60 versions:

MinesOfMinos.zip

[Nukey Shay]

Gorf

This game has nearly half of it's 4k devoted to drawing the screen (and that's not such a good thing...a lot of redundant code and barely any gfx). It really needs a complete overhaul so missing elements can be put in...like, oh I dunno...the GORF themselves??

 

But anyway, I cut out some fat and made NTSC and PAL versions for the Supercharger here. I also merged both sticks since there's no 2-player option either. No options at all.

 

Whatta crap version.

Gorf.zip

[Nukey Shay]

Keystone Kapers

Lotta data sharing going on here (an odd resizing problem had me stumped for a while)...but I managed to save a little space. NTSC, PAL, and PAL60 versions below.

 

NOTE: because color values are also shared with audio data...a couple of effects will sound a bit different in PAL (notably, the cop running). When faced with the issue of either the colors or sound being slightly "off", I chose the latter.

KeystoneKapers.zip

Edited August 30, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[Omegamatrix]

You're almost there (finished them all), Nukey. IIRC didn't Kool Aid Man do some funky repositioning that some Atari Jr's didn't like?

 

 

Anyhow keep up the good work. You should also consider putting all the latest versions of the roms into one zip file, and then attaching it to the first post of the thread. It would be very convenient.

Edited August 31, 2009 by Omegamatrix