This is weird! I don't know if anyone other than Erik was paying
attention when I talked about the extra lines that appear when I play
the latest alpha. They appear between certain columns of invaders,
only on the same block of scanlines that invaders appear on, but
skipping every other scanline. I asked him if we wanted me to try it
on a 4-switch, and he said yes. (I'd try it on my 7800, but my
Supercharger doesn't work with it.)
Before I tried to dig a 4-switcher out, I grabbed another 2600 Jr.
that was convenient. The only thing I changed out was the console.
Same Supercharger, WAV file, cords, etc. On this one, it didn't draw
the extra lines! Apparently there is either something wrong with my
2600 Jr. that I've had for almost 10 years or it's just different
somehow. Here is what I've determined:
a. 2600 Jr. serial #860746015 draws lines;
2600 Jr. serial #870014229 doesn't.
b. The lines appear in column 24 or 25. (This assumes you break the
screen up into blocks the size of the space between invaders.)
c. The lines only appear when there are invaders in column 5.
d. The lines only appear on the same row where there are invaders in
column 5. (That is, if the two leftmost columns of invaders have
five and three invaders in them, respectively, there will be five
sets of lines as the first columns passes through, but only three
when the next column passes through.)
e. If I shoot the bogus lines, the game thinks I have hit an invader.
This sometimes leads to half-size (width) invaders. The fun part
is that I can rapidly shoot the lines to make the invaders speed
up, then move very slowly (by underflowing the invader counter).
(See Erik's previous note about a similar bug.)
So, the questions are:
1. Can anyone tell me what might be wrong with my 2600 Jr.?
2. Am I the only one that liked the orignal player shape better? 8)
Since the invaders can't look like the arcade version, there's no
reason for the player's cannon to do so.
--
Lee K. Seitz * lkseitz@xxxxxxxxxx * http://fly.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/
Classic Video Games Nexus Maintainer (fly.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/cvg/nexus/)
Dare to be stupid. Do the Donkey Kong. O- Finger for Geek Code.
Live long and prosper. May the Force be with you. Up, up, and away!
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