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Page 16) to Make Conversions from NTSC to PAL Much More Accurate ============================== OCTOBER 1996 ============================== ============================== THURSDAY, 17 OCTOBER ============================== Jim Nitchals: What the DS instruction is. SUBJECT: [stella] Random number generators POSTER: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">jimn8@xxxxxxxxxx</a> (Jim Nitchals) DATE/TIME: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 08:05:28 -0700 (PDT) POST: Communist Mutants did it like this: RANDOM LDA RND ASL ASL EOR SHIPX ADC RND ADC FRAMEL STA RND RTS It uses an ongoing seed (RND), and combines it with the ship's horizontal position and the current video frame number to produce a new seed. It's simple but relies a bit on the randomness of the ship's X position to yield good randomness in itself. Suicide Mission uses a linear feedback shift register (LFSR). Here's the code: RND LDA RNDL LSR LSR SBC RNDL LSR ROR RNDH ROR RNDL LDA RNDL RTS For simplicity of design, this approach is better but it requires 2 bytes of RAM. If the zero-page RAM is in short supply you could modify RND to use Supercharger memory instead. ============================== MONDAY, 21 OCTOBER ============================== Jim Nitchals: How Communist Mutants Generated Random Numbers. SUBJECT: [stella] Matt's Top 48 POSTER: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">jvmatthe@xxxxxxxxxxxx</a> DATE/TIME: Sat, 26 Oct 1996 12:07:01 -0400 (EDT) POST: The following is a post I made as soon as the list started up again at the new address. My friend Ruffin (Rufbo@xxxxxxx) said he didn't see it, so I thought maybe the rest of y'all didn't get it. I had hoped it would spark some discussion... so here goes. If you got this before and didn't care, hit 'q' now. :^) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi all! Well, it looks like the list has died again. In the hope of stirring up a little discussion, I thought I would post my "Top 48" list. This is the list of Atari 2600 games that I couldn't do without. Sure, there are others that I might include, but these are the bare essentials. I have tried to rank games primarily on gameplay, graphics, and sound; I hope I left out the "sentimental" factor. Keep in mind: replay value and the ability to keep me coming back were big factors in choosing my favorite games. I included a description/reason for each of the Top 15. If you want me to comment on my choices for 16-48, just ask. I know that there are some omissions below that many of you might find galling. For example, Adventure does not make my list. Neither does Yars' Revenge. And I suspect that my #1 will be no one else's. But here goes: Matt's Top 48 Atari 2600 Game of All Time (of the ones he's actually played) 1. Pressure Cooker - Just an all around excellent game. The graphics are very well done for the Atari 2600. The gameplay (especially on the higher levels) is very challenging, both in physical demands and mental skills. Also, the tune is kind of catchy! 2. Jr. Pac-Man - Again, a winner in both graphics (fantastic scrolling maze) and gameplay. Despite a little flicker in the ghosts, this game is second only to 7800 Ms. Pac-man in great maze zipping fun on an Atari home console. 3. Frogger (Parker Bros.) - This game, despite being graphically inferior to its Supercharger version, is fantastic in gameplay. The music, some of the best on the 2600, is pleasant and catchy. The gameplay is also very frantic and challenging, especially on the higher levels. 4. Kaboom - Though I have yet to break 4,000 on this game, it keeps me coming back again and again. This game alone makes the paddles a necessary accessory for the Atari 2600. 5. H.E.R.O. - Activision was just pumpin' out the hits apparently. This game seems BIG for a 2600 game. Granted, many of the rooms are a variation of previous rooms, but they are all different enough to keep you coming back. The graphics are colorful and catchy for the 2600. Too bad they didn't have some cool music for this one. 6. Laser Gates - A recent aquisition for me, I couldn't stop playing it when I first got it. The graphics are fairly simple, but the action is pretty hot and the side scrolling is pretty smooth for teh 2600. It's main drawback is that the sound effects are pretty annoying. Has some of the most impressive explosions for the 2600. 7. California Games - Incredible game. Just freaking awesome. Though I can't say I really care for the Footbag event, I can school anyone in the other events. (Rufbo can school anyone else in the Footbag, just ask him.) The BMX and Surfing are *very* impressive for the 2600. If they had combined the gameplay of BMX Airmaster with the half-pipe event in California Games this game would have probably been number 3 or 4. 8. BMX Airmaster - Speaking of BMX Airmaster...this game has one really cool musical track and some great graphics. The control is dead on and it has some really nice touches like, like the whistle when you score over 3000 on one "stunt". Does anyone know if you can break 10000 on one jump? I once got 9988! 9. Circus Atari - Probably the most primitive of the Top 10 graphically, but almost one of the most fun in gameplay. When your men get flying around the screen at near light speed, this game just can't be beat! And who can say they don't enjoy the feeling of clearing out the whole top row of balloons on one jump? 10. Indy 500 - The only game (so far) that uses the driving controllers, but that means nothing. Even in the one player timed events, this game can eat up my time like nothing else. The graphics are fairly basic, but it just goes to show what you can achieve with good gameplay. 11. Ms. Pac-Man - Along with Jr., we can almost excuse Atari for the abomination which is Pac-man. This game captures the fun of the arcade, even if it doesn't have the same mazes or intermissions. A must have for any 2600 owner. 12. KLAX - I know this one is known in PAL form only (right?) and is fairly difficult to come by, but let me assure you: If you can ever get it for a decent price...DO IT! Believe it or not, I actually started to feel some of the feelings I used to get playing the arcade version. Any time the 2600 version can help you get that arcade feeling, you know they did right well! 13. Super Breakout - An improvement on Breakout, this game is a great way to pass time, or get some kicks late at night when you and your friend(s) have really tired reflexes. 14. Midnight Magic - A great improvement on Video Pinball, this game brings a realistic pinball game to the 2600 with good graphics and pretty decent music. But am I the only one that misses the ability to tilt the machine that you could do in Video Pinball? 15. Solar Fox - A great game with fast gameplay and a very simple goal. Now if I could only get all the pieces of the hidden message! (I already know what it is, but I want to get them all for myself. Rosebud.) 16. Millipede 17. Frogger (SuperCharger) 18. Warlords 19. Robot Tank 20. Montezuma's Revenge: Starring Panama Joe 21. Pitfall II: Lost Caverns 22. Escape From the Mindmaster 23. Dragonstomper 24. Gyruss 25. Road Runner 26. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: Death Star Battle 27. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 28. Subterranea 29. Enduro 30. Joust 31. Pole Position 32. Rampage 33. Ghostbusters 34. Snoopy and the Red Baron 35. Pitfall 36. Spy Hunter 37. Dolphin 38. Defender II 39. Demon Attack 40. Bridge 41. Star Trek Strategic Operations Simulation 42. Centipede 43. Star Raiders 44. Battlezone 45. Defender 46. Video Pinball 47. Combat 48. Missile Command That's all for now. Happy gamin'! matt =========================================================================== ||| John V. Matthews, III | PO Box 50355 ||| NCSU Mathematics Graduate Student | Raleigh, NC 27650 / | \ <a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jvmatthe/www/">http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jvmatthe/www/</ a> | (919) 515 7324 =========================================================================== ============================== SATURDAY, 26 OCTOBER ============================== Matt: Matt's Top 48 2600 Games. SUBJECT: Re: [stella] to overscan or not to overscan? POSTER: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">Eckhard_Stolberg@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx</a> (Eckhard Stolberg) DATE/TIME: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 22:41:51 +0100 POST: >According to the Stella programmer's guide, a NTSC TV frame generated by >the 2600 consists of 3 VSYNC lines, 37 VBLANK lines, 192 TV picture lines >and 30 "overscan" lines. I allways thought, that you have PAL TVs in Italy too. So the values would be 3 VSYNC lines, 45 VBLANK lines, 228 TV picture lines and 36 overscan lines. >The question is: do we really need to do the "overscan" lines? > >I'm writing my first game for the 2600 and I didn't care about overscan (I >just draw more empty TV picture lines). After a lot of try-and-miss I could >get a steady picture, so I don't think it's really needed. What do you >think? You have to do the overscan lines, because they are part of the TV frame. You can get a steady picture without them, but there is a high possibility, that you will get the wrong colours or no colours at all, if you don't do the right number of lines for all parts of the TV frame.
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