Conquest of Mars - PAL 60 version

[+johnnywc]

Hello all,

 

Here is the first attempt at a PAL60 version of Conquest of Mars. Any feedback on the colors, especially on a real TV, is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

com_pal60.bin

[Cybergoth]

I just managed to play this for half an hour until our daughter woke up again

 

The colors look pretty good and I didn't spot anything odd.

 

Looking forward to check out PAL60 LB tonight

[Gilles_B]

I can see I'm way late to the party here, but I'll give my feedback anyway. I compared the NTSC version emulated with the PAL60 version on real hardware. As far as I can see, the conversion is great, but I can't see much, because, as one reviewer mentioned, the rate of fire is too slow for me to get past stage two. Would be a fun game otherwise! I hope some day this maybe get added to the right difficulty setting (the left one decides whether or not the enemies shoot back). Thanks to the author.

[Bomberman94]

On 8/5/2006 at 2:57 PM, johnnywc said:

Hello all,

 

Here is the first attempt at a PAL60 version of Conquest of Mars. Any feedback on the colors, especially on a real TV, is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

com_pal60.bin 16 kB · 227 downloads

The AA store sells a PAL60 version of Conquest of Mars - is your version different? ?‍♂️

[+johnnywc]

3 hours ago, Gilles_B said:

I can see I'm way late to the party here, but I'll give my feedback anyway. I compared the NTSC version emulated with the PAL60 version on real hardware. As far as I can see, the conversion is great, but I can't see much, because, as one reviewer mentioned, the rate of fire is too slow for me to get past stage two. Would be a fun game otherwise! I hope some day this maybe get added to the right difficulty setting (the left one decides whether or not the enemies shoot back). Thanks to the author.

Thanks for the feedback on the colors and the gameplay.  Conquest of Mars is based off of the Atari 8-bit game Caverns of Mars, and the slow firing rate is part of the strategy of that game (it's not meant to be a fast shoot 'em up).  Stage 2 with the rockets is mostly about dodging the rockets and some well planned shots to hit oncoming rockets to avoid a collision and to shoot the fuel.  I agree this type of game isn't for everyone but maybe with some practice and a different approach you'll be able to conquer the rocket stage.   PS the right difficulty switch controls whether or not the missiles fire for player 2 in a 2 player game.   

18 minutes ago, Bomberman94 said:

The AA store sells a PAL60 version of Conquest of Mars - is your version different? ?‍♂️

No, it's the same, since I'm the one who developed CoM and posted this question 15 years ago before the game was released.    

[Gilles_B]

2 hours ago, johnnywc said:

Thanks for the feedback on the colors and the gameplay.  Conquest of Mars is based off of the Atari 8-bit game Caverns of Mars, and the slow firing rate is part of the strategy of that game (it's not meant to be a fast shoot 'em up).  Stage 2 with the rockets is mostly about dodging the rockets and some well planned shots to hit oncoming rockets to avoid a collision and to shoot the fuel.  I agree this type of game isn't for everyone but maybe with some practice and a different approach you'll be able to conquer the rocket stage.   PS the right difficulty switch controls whether or not the missiles fire for player 2 in a 2 player game.     

Hey! Great that you're still around  Thanks for the explanations.

 

I was finally able to get past stage 2 and even finish the first cavern. But the force fields in the second cavern are not agreeing with me

[+johnnywc]

1 minute ago, Gilles_B said:

Hey! Great that you're still around  Thanks for the explanations.

You're welcome!  I did take a break from 2600 development in 2007 after Conquest of Mars and Lady Bug, but returned in 2016 with Scramble, Super Cobra Arcade, Mappy and a few more.   

1 minute ago, Gilles_B said:

I was finally able to get past stage 2 and even finish the first cavern. But the force fields in the second cavern are not agreeing with me

Yes, they are pretty difficult for sure!  After some constructive feedback, we ended up making a change to the force field stage so that there are indentations in the cavern where the shields are going to appear, making them easier to avoid.  If you want to give it a shot, you can download the latest demo version of CoM from our website here.

 

Some other tips for the force fields:  approach them before they appear by pulling down on the joystick so your ship is lower on the screen.  You can then push up as the force fields scroll up, giving you more time to make your move.  The patterns and locations are always the same so with some practice hopefully you can make it through!

 

Good luck and have fun!

John

 

[Bomberman94]

3 hours ago, johnnywc said:

Thanks for the feedback on the colors and the gameplay.  Conquest of Mars is based off of the Atari 8-bit game Caverns of Mars, and the slow firing rate is part of the strategy of that game (it's not meant to be a fast shoot 'em up).  Stage 2 with the rockets is mostly about dodging the rockets and some well planned shots to hit oncoming rockets to avoid a collision and to shoot the fuel.  I agree this type of game isn't for everyone but maybe with some practice and a different approach you'll be able to conquer the rocket stage.   PS the right difficulty switch controls whether or not the missiles fire for player 2 in a 2 player game.   

No, it's the same, since I'm the one who developed CoM and posted this question 15 years ago before the game was released.    

?just saw the last reply and hadn’t noticed that you uploaded it in 2006 ?