Some FB 2 games have bugs

[jaybird3rd]

Hmmm,  "Things" he says      Trying to read Curts mind is a hard thing to do but im guessing we will be able to solder the24 pin cart slot directly to the motherboard. 

952558[/snapback]

Maybe he's referring to a modification kit which will include a cartridge connector and guide so we don't have to hack up old consoles to get them.

[chad5200]

My guess is "things" is referring to another edition of the FB2. Maybe a "Sports Edition" where it is the same thing, just loaded with sports games. Or maybe a "Paddle Edition" with new paddles and all paddle games.

[homerwannabee]

I am really hoping that the rev c will be the built in cartridge port system

[denjiro]

It's great that these things have been fixed. I don't know about the other games but Yars' Return is definitely unplayable in the version I have- even if you ignore the flicker and double images the cannon goes right through the shield which completely invalidates any challenge the game was supposed to have.

 

In any case, I am not a hacker or a hobbyist- I bought the FB2 to play games- 40 games- and I only got 39. I would assume that once the new revision is out I would be able to return my system under the "defects in workmanship" clause of the warranty and have it replaced?

 

Congratulations to Fred Quimby for dumping the FB2 ROM and yes, I knew it would happen sooner or later and how curious for it to be in such a simple fashion, nice work.

 

Yes, I would advise it best not to post the images publicly but you certainly are not barred from posting how to do it.

 

Yars' Return has already been updated and Lunar Lander is nearly completed with CoM slated next, but I'm sure if will be fun for you guys to examine the code and see how the new games were written and what mistakes may have occured.

 

 

Curt

 

For me, Yars' Return is the only one that's unplayable (due to the doubling).  Some of the others are certainly lacking, but not completely worthless.

Yars' Return is unplayable for me as well. Lunar Lander and Caverns of Mars give me migraines due to all the unnecessary flicker.

I hope that down the line someone can extract the new titles and fix 'em up a bit.

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This had to happen sooner or later - I found that it's possible to dump the games from the FB2. Yes, I have Caverns of Mars on my hard drive right now that I extracted from my FB2 due to a fancy utility I wrote coupled with some hardware hacking (it had to happen sooner or later...!) To my utter amazement, it is a 16k game! Also, it's much less annoying to play on an emulator.

 

I intend to go into the code and see if I can remove that annoying flicker. It's not that bad of a game, really... but that flicker is beyond annoying on a TV. Or is this one of the games that is going to be fixed?

 

(And no, I don't think it's a good idea to post the binaries of these new games... I don't need Atari's lawyers calling me... but it's probably legal for me to tell others how to extract the games themselves...)

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[Feralstorm]

I was playing with my (rev. A) Flashback 2 last night, and I noticed Battlezone also seems a little buggy.  The radar is not a perfect circle, and the screen occasionally jumps, as if an extra scan line gets thrown in every now and then.  Is this from the game code getting tweaked, or just because of the slight incompatibilities between the FB2 hardware and actual 2600 hardware?  The very left of the screen also has an interesting distortion effect, but I'm assuming that's the result of the overseas engineers' contributions.

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I was assuming that stuff was part of the HMOVE-related quirkery in the FB2 Hardware. Interesting to see the HMOVE comb/bar missing from the left side of the Battlezone screen, and pretty much everything "slurping" off that side of the screen where the black would normally be.

 

I notice some minor sprite-alignment issues in FB2 Save Mary! too, most noticeable where the crane line connects to the mechanism

[supercat]

...and pretty much everything "slurping" off that side of the screen where the black would normally be.

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Now you know why the original Atari engineers added the blanking circuit.

[Room 34]

Plus, for the rev. C units, the developers may want to move Battlezone's position in the game list.  Right now it's kind of obvious that it was a replacement for a certain game that starts with "T."

952023[/snapback]

Sorry to be stupid, but please provide a less oblique explanation. (Or is this too sensitive to discuss around here? Was it a certain highly-praised homebrew? )

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Sorry to be stupid, but please provide a less oblique explanation. (Or is this too sensitive to discuss around here? Was it a certain highly-praised homebrew? )

No reason to be afraid. Yes, it was Thrust.

[Room 34]

Too bad it didn't work out. Thrust would've been a nice addition. (Actually, a lot of homebrews would've been nice additions in place of the buggy originals that made it in; again, too bad things didn't work out.)

 

Frankly, I think they'd have been better off including some more of the same titles from the original Flashback instead of the buggy new titles. Adventure II and Return to Haunted House are fine, but since the others are mostly unplayable, I'd much rather have seen Air-Sea Battle, Crystal Castles, Gravitar, Solaris, and Sprintmaster make encore appearances on the FB2 (especially since they were just feeble imitations on the first FB). Of course, what I'd REALLY like to have seen is the inclusion of Circus Atari in the Paddle Games category.

 

Not to sound too critical here. The FB2 is the best thing Infotari has ever produced (with the possible exception of Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee), and I am happy to own 2 of them (and probably more, eventually).

Edited November 4, 2005 by Room 34

[Feralstorm]

I'd love to see a "do-over" for some of the games that got a shabby treatment on the FB1, such as Crystal Castles and Solaris, but I'd agree with most marketing folks who would probably tell you that each extra game from the FB1 repeated on the FB2 means a score of consumers who say "Why should I buy this if I already have all these games on the last Flashback thing?" (especially since a large portion of said consumers likely don't know much about the hardware and software differences between "1" and "2", and may not even have the memory of what certain classic games are supposed to be like.)

[n8littlefield]

I'd love to see a version of the FB2 sold with the cartridge connector built in. They could sell it online and put up like 3 warning screens before ordering it that they don't guarantee compatibility with all games or something. However, as I know that won't happen - I'd just be happy with better compatibility - I haven't bought one yet, money's too tight, but I've considered picking one up in the near future for modding.

Edited November 8, 2005 by n8littlefield

[Room 34]

Or a more realistic option... I am waiting for someone here with "mad skeelz" to start offering cart port mods for hire (so schmucks like me don't destroy their FB2). Send 'em your FB2 and $x.00 and they send it back to you modded. Anybody willing?

[HP Atari King of Michigan]

Or a more realistic option... I am waiting for someone here with "mad skeelz" to start offering cart port mods for hire (so schmucks like me don't destroy their FB2).  Send 'em your FB2 and $x.00 and they send it back to you modded.  Anybody willing?

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Maybe Bob Colbert (creator of the homebrew Okie Dokie) can. If you go to his website, he made his FB2 like an old 4 switch woody complete with the original chrome switches or check this guys mod out: http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78951

[birdie3]

Lunar Lander definately has some "wavy-ness" issues.

[mvigor]

How authentically "Atari" is that - working under the same type of conditions to create new games,   as Tod Frye did for Pac-Man.  Hardcore!

 

LMAO!