Ms.Hack (edit of Hack'Em)

[Nukey Shay]

Yes...that would be fairly easy to implement, since the program is already keeping track of rows in the kernal. In such a case, all that would be required is to start counting scanlines from whatever the scroll value happens to be instead of zero.

 

But this would break away from the arcade gameplay, tho...since the entire "arena" would not be visible simultaneously.

 

Adding dots wouldn't be possible without adding ram to keep track of them. Although making energizers larger could be done much the same way that other games did it - by using missile or the ball sprites. That would require a larger display kernel segment to display them, however (0 cycles left on dot lines)...which is the main reason I never bothered to try to work it in after examining how it was done. The fact that those dots already blink on and off means that it is pretty obvious what they represent anyway.

 

BTW if you are running this in Stella, try altering the aspect ratio In OpenGL mode. You can squash the maze horizontally to make it look similar to the arcade's ratio

[RJP1138]

Thanks for the reply Nukey, and thanks to those in the 2600 homebrew community like yourself who are keeping interest in this system alive.

[Csonicgo]

Apologies for the HUGE necro-bump of this, but I took a copy of this to a convention last month and no one could believe what they were playing! There were a few weird issues popping up here and there though with constant play over hours and hours, and here are the most notable ones:

The intermission music is a little off in places, but this is no big deal at all, and no one really cared.

Somehow after almost an hour or so of play, the game starts to roll. I'm not sure how to trigger this or why it happens, but it only happened once or twice, and everyone played all day, so not a big deal here either.
On an Atari with sub-par difficulty switches (some of the 4 switchers and the jrs) the game would spontaneously reset on itself after awhile. This really isn't a bug software wise, but dang did it ruin a few games. Thankfully my Sixer has no problems with this, so that was the console of choice after running home to grab it that morning.

 

Someone suggested to add the pac-booster that was in the Tengen versions, because as is, it's either on or off and nothing in-between. Again, not a big deal, but some were used to the "new" Ms Pacman ports, and got whooped.

All in all it got more play than Super Mario Bros. and that alone made me happy.

[Arenafoot]

just found this one........awesome game play!!!! Will this one be finished and published on carts?

[Tangentg]

Hack of a hack? Anyway trying this out on my Flashback Portable in a bit.

 

Edit: OK heavily glitched.

Edited May 16, 2017 by Tangentg

[+ZeroPage Homebrew]

ZeroPage Homebrew is playing Ms. Hack in tribute to Kurt Howe on tomorrow's (Tue Sep 21, 2021) stream LIVE on Twitch at 4PM PT | 7PM ET | 11PM GMT.

 

ZPH Twitch Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/

 

Games:

• Pengo (2021 Exclusive WIP Update | 7800) by Darryl Guenther @darryl1970 @darryl1970
• Graze Suit Alpha (2017 WIP | 7800) by Mord @Mord
• Meteor Shower (2012 Final | 7800) by Bob DeCrescenzo @PacManPlus
• Ms. Hack (2009) by Kurt Howe @Nukey Shay (Hack of Pesco/Hack 'Em)

 

[TrekMD]

A well deserved tribute!