Scott Stilphen

RickR: You're right. The PM graphics are only 1-color. That explains why Atari's Pac-Man opted not to fill in the eyes; doing so avoided the flickering problems that plague Ms. Pac-Man. As for trying to reproduce the arcade's screen ratio, the home version has black space around all 4 sides. If that's what programmer Steven Szymanski was trying to accomplish, there wouldn't have been space on the top and bottom (the maze is still in a horizontal layout). As for delays being intentionally programmed in, I don't know, but I know nothing seems to move across the screen without split-second pausing. Nothing seems to move smoothly. I'd sooner chalk it up to being Symanski's first effort on that hardware and not being experienced enough with it to do a better job (or just being the wrong guy for the job, much like Tod Frye was with Pac-Man). GCC seemed to knock it out of the park with the VCS version (that and Vanguard were their first 2 VCS games). And yes, the 7800 is a smoking faithful version, probably the best arcade conversion on that system. Rick- the 7800's Maria chip certainly doesn't allow an unlimited number of sprites. I remember the number being touted BITD to be 100. Regarding the 7800 being on par with the NES (other than the sound), the 7800 wasn't designed for games with detailed backgrounds; it was designed to move a lot of objects on the screen w/o flicker (Asteroids, Robotron, Joust, etc). Atari had their chance with the 7800 and basically sat on it for 2 years. When they decided to get back into the market, they didn't have anything new, so they "un-mothballed" the 7800 and redesigned the VCS and 800 hardware again. Atari also had the chance to release the NES in the U.S. and fumbled that away, too.

The 5200 version of Pac-Man was quite amazing at the time when it came out in late 1982 (compared to the rotten VCS version). It was even better than the 400/800 version that was released a few months earlier (which lacked intermissions and proper monster AI). But the first time I played 5200 Ms. Pac-Man, it was apparent that although it looked better (esp from screenshots), it didn't run nearly as smooth as Pac-Man. The mazes were also smaller, having all this wasted screen space around them. On top of that, it flickered like crazy! In fact, it shows the same flickering issues that VCS Ms. Pac-Man had, due to the use of vertical separation and variable flicker. However, neither of those techniques were required for the 8-bit hardware since that allowed for up to 4 independent sprites (called "player/missile graphics"), instead of the 2 the VCS hardware offered. And the 4 missiles can be combined to basically make another 'sprite', giving you 5. Just look at the 1st Ms. Pac-Man intermission - you have 2 Pac-Man characters and 2 monsters, and when all 4 are on the same horizontal 'line' at the end, the 2 monsters alternately flicker - you can't even get a screenshot of them both at that point, and there's only FOUR objects on the screen! Rather shocking to see just how poorly this version was implemented, being it's basically GCC's flagship title, and considering just how amazing the VCS version is.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-08-08-tempest-4000-is-real-jeff-minter-is-developing-it-and-atari-is-publishing-it By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 08/08/2017 Surprise! Atari has announced Tempest 4000, the sequel to the classic arcade game Tempest, is coming out later in 2017 for PC and consoles. And get this - Tempest 4000 is being developed by Jeff Minter, creator of Tempest 2000, the 1994 remake of the Dave Theurer 1981 arcade game, Tempest. Here's the official blurb, courtesy of Atari: "In Tempest 4000, players are once again in control of the Claw, a powerful spacecraft equipped to destroy deadly creatures and other obstructions with rapid-fire shots on vibrant geometric prisms. With three game modes to choose from and 100 levels to conquer, players must eliminate all enemies as quickly as possible to survive and achieve that coveted spot at the top of the leaderboards." Those three games mode are standard, pure and endurance. There's a 4K resolution and a retro soundtrack inspired by 1990s techno. Here's a quote from current Atari boss Todd Shallbetter: "The original Tempest is a beloved arcade classic with a unique style and intense, edge-of-your-seat gameplay. "We're thrilled to be able to work with Jeff Minter again, someone who is a legend in the industry and has made a huge impact on the history of video games, to develop this highly-anticipated next installment of the Tempest franchise, updated with today's technology." News that Minter is once again working with Atari comes as something of a surprise. Back in 2015 Minter said he was "beyond disgusted" with Atari after the company blocked the release of his Vita game TxK on new platforms over similarities with Tempest. Follow Jeff Minter @llamasoft_ox So yeah all the stuff we had ready or near ready will now never see the light of day.No TxK PC, PS4, Oculus, GearVR, Android. Thank "Atari". 7:34 AM - Mar 18, 2015 8080 Replies 274274 Retweets 6767 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy TxK, which Minter called a "distantly related sequel" to Tempest 2000, launched on Vita to critical acclaim in February 2014. Martin Robinson wrote in his 9/10 review: "All you need to know right now is that TxK is Minter at his finest, and it's absolutely mint." Well, it sounds like the pair have patched things up. Here's a quote from Minter from Atari's press release: "At the end of the day, video gamers always win. I am very happy to work with Atari again to bring a long-awaited sequel of Tempest to our legion of fans and a new generation of gamers worldwide." As for Tempest 4000 itself, Atari hasn't released any screenshots or gameplay footage, but did say the game will be at Gamescom later this month, so hopefully it won't be too long before we see some footage.

John does phenomenal work. I had the chance to interview him about 10 years ago, when he started getting into programming the VCS: http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/john_champeau/interview_john_champeau.html

Just to reiterate some of Frye's contradictions: Development - has claimed: 6 weeks - as quoted in the book, Racing The Beam (pg. 67) 5 months - as quoted in the April 1998 Next Generation article 6 months - as quoted in the documentary Stella At 20 - (12 min in) 4K vs 8K - in the same Next Gen article, Frye mentioned 8K ROMS weren't available when he started programming it. VCS Asteroids came out in July/August 1981 and was the first 8K VCS game released. The bank-switching technique was developed (but not put into production) 2 years before, for Video Chess. In this thread (http://atariage.com/forums/topic/232660-pac-man-review-from-1982/page-8), Goldberg claims to quote Tod from a Facebook conversation they had regarding the story about him being offered use of an 8K ROM for Pac-Man, which is something Rob Zdybel said happened in Once Upon Atari: Goldberg: Were you offered to move to 8K for Pac-Man towards the end of coding for it? Frye: Nope. 8k wasn't even an option until after Pacman coding was complete. I did have a meeting after Pacman came out, to assess the possibility of a quick revision with less flicker, if we used 8k as an option. Goldberg: So where did the claim that you originally asked for 8K come from? Frye: It came from thin air. I never considered 8k. rom was not really an issue. ram was. Rob Zdybel, Frye's co-worker and office mate at the time, claimed as far back as the late 1990s in Howard Scott Warshaw's Once Upon Atari that Frye absolutely asked for 8K during the project. Rob was interviewed twice by Randy Kindig of ANTIC: The Atari 8-bit Podcast. The first one was in June 2016: https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/antic-interview-184-rob-zdybel-star-trek-missile-command-bug-hunt At 1 hour and 5 minutes in, he briefly talks about Tod Frye and mentions, "Tod's changed a lot over the years. Tod's now denying stories that, I don't know, man... he's saying he never asked for more than 4K for Pac-Man. I was there when you did", to which Frye apparently replied, "That's okay, maybe I don't remember that one." Popularity - Frye also stated, "Pac-Man wasn't a particularly big game. 'Pac-Man fever' hit between the start and the finish of the project." PuckMan was released in Japan in May 1980 and the Midway Pac-Man version in October 1980. Working backwards, VCS Pac-Man came out late March 1982, and production took a good 10 weeks (2.5 months, so Tod likely finished it no later than December 1981 (since the game's copyright date is 1981 which reflects when programming was completed). Go back 5 months at most for programming, so let's say he started no later than July 1981. So since October 1980, Pac-Man wasn't a huge hit by the following summer? A friend of mine remembers the Tomy and Entex handhelds coming out almost immediately together and Coleco's arriving quite a bit later (all in 1981). The earliest ad for Odyssey2 K.C. Munchkin I could find from my area was December 21st, 1981 (attached); it was reviewed in the March 1982 issue of Electronic Games. Also, Buckner and Garcia's song was released December 1981 (and the album in January 1982). Colored background - In a keynote from the 2015 Portland Retro Gaming Expo, Frye states he wish he had made a black background with a blue maze, but claims Atari had a rule against black backgrounds because it would have burned the maze into the CRT (apparently this rule didn't apply to space games...). This makes no sense since Atari touted the anti-burn-in effects of the VCS from day one, plus Tod included the color cycling code routine in his Pac-Man game! And I've never heard any other Atari VCS programmer state such a requirement, either. The story I heard back then was that Pac-Man had a colored background and muted colors, to help make the flickering monsters less noticeable (and they were relabeled as ghosts because of their flickering, which was more logical to accept than having flickering monsters).

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-06-28-wonder-raises-USD14-million-for-smartphone-console-hybrid Wonder raises $14 million for smartphone-console hybrid Former Zynga GM, Scopely exec's community-focused start-up draws investment from Nolan Bushnell, Shakira, Neymar Jr, and more Nintendo's Switch has shown the audience exists for a console-handheld hybrid, but new start-up outfit Wonder wonders if there's a similar audience for another kind of mixed-market offering. The company today announced that it has raised $14 million in Series A financing for "a new type of portable hardware device that might be considered a hybrid between a powerful smartphone and a gaming console." While Nintendo may aim for a broad audience with its products, Wonder is targeting an enthusiast crowd that considers gaming a strong part of their identity. Leading the effort is Wonder CEO and founder Andy Kleinman, whose previous experience in the industry included stints as Scopely's chief business officer, GM at Zynga, GM at The Walt Disney Company, and president of Vostu. "We are building a company where everything we do revolves around our community," Kleinman said. "Most companies focus on the product first, but our focus has been on understanding our core potential audience and what they care about most. Once you can truly understand your audience, you can innovate and build products and services that are focused on making them happy for a long time. We all consider ourselves our core audience, so the approach is very real and authentic." The lead investors are Grishin Robotics (investment firm of Mail.ru Group co-founder Dmitry Grishin) and Chinese telecom TCL Communications, but Wonder has also attracted smaller contributions from a number of notable names. The games industry is well represented in Wonder's investment base with the participation of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, former Sega CEO Hayao Nakayama, ex-Disney Interactive president John Pleasants, and former Zynga/Facebook/MySpace exec Owen Van Natta. Outside of games, the company has attracted investment from football superstars Gerard Pique and Neymar Jr, Shakira, and former Coca-Cola marketing exec Emmanuel Seuge. "There is strong potential for a gaming platform that would go beyond the software realm and expand its capabilities through innovative, cutting-edge hardware," Grishin said. "Grishin Robotics has an understanding of both - and we believe in investing in companies that not only have tremendous potential, but where our areas of expertise and experience can help our entrepreneurs in a meaningful way." The company has said it will release details of its actual product soon.

He's never credited me for archiving all the Amiga prototypes I found, let alone anything else, so someone else can do that.. or not.

I recently archived this from programmer Todd Marshall. The prototype only shows a static screen with no sound or animation. It's possible this matches up to one of his source code listings that I archived, which are available in my interview with him: http://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/interviews/todd_marshall/interview_todd_marshall.html QBERTS_QUBES demo.Bin

Looking forward to your next podcast regarding the Paperboy lawsuit.

Nice work, Rom

So, as a Funspot customer, you have to fill out forms in order to get something repaired?!? I've never heard of any arcade business like that in my life (and I've been an arcade tech for over 20 years) and you *never* want to leave it to customers to remind you to do your job. You know what happens if your business adopts that attitude? First you lose the income on the machines due to people not playing them (because most people won't bother wasting time telling someone about it), and then you lose the location to a competitor. And Weirs Beach's 2 arcades are only 15 minutes away down the same road... The Funspot floor with the classic games is like the 'forgotten floor'. I saw at least 3 machines with pictures so dark it looked like they were off if not for the marquee lights. I was there for an hour and left. Just about everything I played had a problem (bad pictures, no sound, broken controls, won't take tokens, etc). In my letter to Gary I offered to at least recap some monitor boards for him, but as I mentioned, he can't even bother to respond, so I'm not surprised the games are in the condition they're in. Even if there's only one tech on duty, machines like those with bad pictures shouldn't even be on (unplug it, put an 'ooo' sign on it, and get back to it later). The "World's Largest Arcade" might have been the place to be years ago, but not now. In Funspot's case, size definitely doesn't matter. I saw attendants on other floors, but the one with the classic games definitely had a vibe of 'nobody gives a s--t'. And what do I see in this month's RePlay magazine? An article about the ACAM (American Classic Arcade Museum) by Mike Stulir, ACAM's VP. And who's the President of the ACAM? None other than Gary Vincent.

The game was released last March but the game was never completed. https://www.engadget.com/2017/03/15/cancelled-90s-arcade-fighter-primal-rage-ii-released-online/

Yes. Title fixed.

Rotate button. I was at Funspot a few months ago. Rather sad to see the sorry condition of some of the classic machines there. I even wrote to Gary Vincent about it, but he never bothered to reply.

There's no parachuting hostages if you get hit (like the arcade version), but you can eject someone! It's not mentioned in the manual, but if you keep pressing FIRE (Button 1), any hostages you're carrying (up to 2) are ejected in what looks like jetpacks as you're crashing (and they'll fly to the base and be saved!). This was mentioned on another site (http://www.ign.com/wikis/arcade-chea...fter%21_Cheats) but the description of how to do it is wrong.

This is something I just heard about. Someone on KLOV posted photos of it: https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=406928 When you're hit (and you're carrying hostages), keep pressing the rotate button to make some (up to 4) jump out and parachute to the ground! Any hostages that parachute out won't be saved (even if you're over your base!) but they won't die. I don't know if this feature is mentioned in the instructions on the machine but there's no mention of it in the manual or flyer. Has anyone seen or heard of this before? I also found a similar feature on the Sega Master System port! http://forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/3313-

"unrepeatable"? You mean not repairable Don't know who would make such an absurd claim as that. As you noted, there's nothing special inside them. It's certainly faster to swap the RF modules, and if you already have some parts VCS boards to use, it's cheaper + easier too.

An article on Wired completely screwed up the facts: https://www.wired.com/story/mircosoft-ai-ms-pac-man/ The VCS version wasn't released until February 1983, nearly a full year after the arcade version was released (March 1982). I rolled the score on this over 20 years ago, using a trick I discovered: http://www.ataricompendium.com/game_library/easter_eggs/vcs/26mspacman.html Twin Galaxies shows a high score of over 2 million from Ron Corcoran, but most - if not all - of Corcoran's VCS scores are bogus since he entered all his own scores in Twin Galaxies database while acting as a TG referee, meaning there's no proof (video/photos/witnesses) to back up this or any other score of his.

Latest update (1 week later)

Yet another update.

Lost of sources listed, but the video unfortunately contains several recycled unfounded rumors (ex: 3.5 million E.T. carts returned to stores and buried? lol no...). But then again, when your sources are sites like Wikipedia and Atarimuseum, I suppose this is to be expected.

List updated

Is there a manual for it?