WHERE THE PAST
AND PRESENT COLLIDE
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A NEW KONG-QUEST
Here's a goodie found on the video sharing site YouTube... a sequel to the arcade game Donkey Kong, complete with four new levels. This is the first stage, a remix of the little-seen cement factory with enough challenge to make even Donkey Kong world champion Billy Mitchell sweat bullets. The creator of this hack even took the time to add intermissions similar to the ones in Pac-Man. Actually, this scene looks a little more like the ending of Congo Bongo, but it fits pretty well since both games are about the age-old struggle between man and ape. Click the link below to learn more about this clever hack of Nintendo's arcade hit, or the picture to watch a clip of Donkey Kong II in action.
GENESIS... STILL SMOKIN'
And just what herb would that be...? Er, sorry. Anyway, the fine folks at Tavern RPG are currently hard at work on a role-playing game for the 16-bit Sega Genesis and Sega CD. However, this fantasy adventure title has a high-tech twist... all the characters are based on members of the popular Eidolon's Inn message board! The game is still in its early alpha stages, but it's already looking like a winner, with a visual style that's half Phantasy Star and half Suikoden. The designers promise that the Sega CD version of the game will be even more impressive thanks to a redbook audio soundtrack and special effects not possible on a standard Genesis. Click the link below to read a full interview with the Tavern RPG team, and to sample concept art and selections from the game's soundtrack.
THE REZ-ERRECTION Shack News reports that Rez, the artsy shooter that first put Tetsuya Mizoguchi on the map, will be making a comeback on the Xbox Live Arcade service. First released in 2001 for the Sega Dreamcast, the game is still regarded by many gamers as cutting-edge six years later. However, the high-definition capabilities of the Xbox 360 promise to make this trip through a hostile computer seem even more futuristic. Rez HD will be released in the spring of 2008... the price hasn't yet been disclosed, but knowing Mizoguchi, you'll probably want to set aside a few thousand Microsoft points for this one. Hey, the future doesn't come cheap!
FATAL FURY, FINALLY
Also up for grabs on Xbox Live Arcade is Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. True to its title, the gems have been polished up to high-def quality, although the characters themselves seem to have bathed in Vasoline prior to their appearance in the game. Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo etc. can be purchased for ten dollars (800 Microsoft points), while Fatal Fury Special is only five dollars (400 Microsoft points). While you're at it, you might want to pick up Hori's new Virtua Fighter 5 joystick to make these games play as good as they look.
ATARI LYNX GOES GLOBAL
BEHOLD... MY FIRST ATARI 2600 VIDEO MOD! (crossposted to The Gameroom Blitz and LiveJournal) Sorry I've been gone for so long, folks. I came down with a nasty cold last week and didn't shake it off until Labor Day. That wasn't much fun, but this is another story entirely!
This jumble of microchips and wires you see before you is an Atari Jr. which I have, shall we say, "persuaded" to output to S-video. The modification was adapted from an earlier hardware tweak from hacking legend Ben Heckendorn. It's almost exactly the same, but the key difference is that I've split the chroma (color) and luma (brightness) and routed them through an S-video connector. I had originally followed Ben's instructions to the letter, using a composite video jack, but the results were unsatisfactory, with video that was only marginally improved from the system's standard RF output. The upgrade to S-video was definitely a step in the right direction, offering better contrast and less blurry visuals, but it still lags well behind the component and VGA outputs exclusive to today's systems. I tested the S-video mod with several of the 2600's most colorful games, starting with this...
That's Smurf: Rescue at Gargamel's Castle for those of you too young to remember the dopey Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the early 1980s. One thing I'm sure you'll notice right away are the vertical color stripes running through picture... they're even harder to ignore in real life. What I can't show you is the way the display freaks out for five straight seconds when you first switch on the system. The lavender horizon and green trees flash violently while the 2600 desperately searches for the right hues to use. Oddly, Smurf was the only game I tested that triggered this reaction.
Atlantis is next on the menu, and it works a lot better with this mod... although you couldn't tell from this picture. It's hard to get a good, blur-free snapshot of the game with all those enemy ships zipping past, so you'll have to trust me when I say that it's the best looking of the games I tested. One thing every game has in common is that yellow is crisper and cleaner than any other color in the 2600's palette. Brown seems to be the bane of this mod, showing up as a dull beige in Crystal Castles (not pictured here) or green in Pitfall! (shown below).
Oh yeah, there's a whole lot of green going on here! Ben's mod includes two 1K potentiometers, which can be turned like screws to adjust the color saturation. However, no amount of turning the pots could keep this screen from looking a lot like Christmas. What these pictures can't tell you is how this mod makes each game sound... and that's probably for the best. Both music and sound effects are nearly drowned out by a loud, shrill hum, and I've found no way to escape it short of disconnecting the audio cable. Other mods suggest removing the audio mixer coil from the 2600 motherboard, but that hasn't made a noticable difference in sound quality. So would I recommend Ben's modification? Well, even Ben himself doesn't recommend it these days. He's since taken a different approach which is a bit more complicated, but produces better results. I could have tried that instead, but, well... I purchased all the parts for the old mod well before I realized there was an updated one! Still, it was a lot of fun just putting it together, and if you're handy with a soldering iron, I suspect that you'll enjoy it too. Just be sure you're doing the right mod! -JR
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