Re: [stella] 2600 frying

Subject: Re: [stella] 2600 frying
From: "Fred Quimby" <c9r@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 20:52:45 -0400
>When do you do the corruption?  It occurs to me that holding the on/off
>switch in a sort of intermediate state may cause some of the chips to
>function while others shut down from lack of power.  I can imagine a
>scenario where the 6502 continues to function while the RIOT shuts down,
>corrupting RAM values WHILE the 6502 is running.

The corruption can occur at any time.  Also, the condition you describe
above seems to have the highest success rate.  Corrupting 6502 regs very
rarely gives positive results compared with documented cases.

I'm keeping a test log.  I've copied claimed effects from the Digital Press
website and recorded my findings, and so far the results are quite
favorable.  Interestingly, the more elaborate the explanation of frying
effects, the more likely it is that I can duplicate the results.

Here's the log, in alphabetical order (I've only done A-D so far.)

Adventure: Get a different-colored selection screen, or one with other
items/dragons/bat on it (whatever objects appear in that room, those objects
won't be in the game when you play it. So if a dragon ends up in this room,
he won't be in the game. If all objects are in the room, you'll be all alone
in the kingdom.).  Start a game at any level and the black "barriers" may
have moved to where you can get around them using the entrances at the top
and bottom of the screen.  Also, the layout of the kingdom will be quite
different in some areas, and most of the time all castle doors are wide
open!

Status: confirmed to work

Asteroids: Hold down RESET and fry until you see 2 asteroids on the right
side of the screen.   Every game version will then have all white (slow
moving) asteroids that start in the same spot and drift to the right, and a
safe (predictable) hyperspace (youll always appear in the upper right
corner).  All saucers will appear from the same spot (the upper left corner)
and move straight across the top of the screen (the large one will
continually shoot up while the little one will fire left and down).  Also,
small saucers will appear around 7,300 points and continue to do so until
the score rolls.

Status: confirmed to work

Atlantis: causes all ships to be the same type, and to fly from
left-to-right only.  The Imagic logo will disappear and the game will start
automatically.

Status: confirmed to work

Barnstorming: Unlimited play - Fry until you see the plane drop from the top
of the screen and land on the bottom. You can play the game once by hitting
RESET, but several objects will look distorted and going into the barns
doesn't decrease the counter. The game will run until you turn it off.

Status: confirmed to work

Buck Rogers: Creates laser barriers (vertical lines) which destroy enemy
ships.

Status: confirmed to work

Burgertime:
May result in 100 free chefs! Fry until your chef appears to the left of the
top ledge.  The rest of the ledges will all be the same length.  You wont
be able to move your first guy, and youll get killed.  Only problem with
this trick is that you wont be able to make any hamburgers.

Status: Chef may appear at upper left, but never changes the number of
chefs.

Carnival: Will cause the dot to appear,.  If you get a blank screen, except
for one duck, the following may result: pipes stay the same color, invisible
pipes, and a high-speed game.

Status: A dot does appear on right end of the bullet indicator.  is this
"the dot?"
The rest do indeed occur.

Centipede: Get an empty screen to appear, with a scorpion (with sound
effects) going across the bottom.  If you push DOWN, your cursor will
appear from the top of the screen.  If you push (and hold) UP, the game will
eventually crash, which changes the background color and causes the scoring
digits to be backwards, as well as the title screen lettering.  Other
anomalies that may appear are screen edge borders and distorted title
screens.

Status: all confirmed to work.

Congo Bongo: May reward up to 600,000 points!

Status: Score does not appear to increase, however it can decrease.

Cosmic Ark: Causes all meteors to fly from the left.  Also, all the beasties
will be scrambled.

Status: confirmed to work.

Crossbow:  Creates easy version (youll first see a screen full of dots if
done correctly).  In the desert, vultures and snakes dont appear, and ants
only exit from the left.  In the caverns, bats dont appear, but stalactites
always fall on you.  At the volcano, rocks only fall in two spots.  Only 1
monkey appears in the jungle.  Vultures cant kill you at the drawbridge.
The Evil Masters eye doesnt appear in the game.

Status: not all tested, but those that were are confirmed to work.

Crystal Castles: Gives you unlimited lives, up to 20,000.  Get a jumbled
maze to appear, with a gem eater in the lower left corner.  After a few
seconds the screen will clear up and Bentley Bear will appear in the upper
left.  Tap the joystick DOWN once to start.

Status: confirmed to work (gives a lot of lives, though I don't have the
patience to play 20,000 of them...)

Actuvision Decathlon: Fry until the running guy is split by the screen. Then
RUN! It's a never-ending race. The numbers even go up to 1900 but then they
go back to 1000.

Status: confirmed to work

Defender: Creates a wave 0 and also gives you approximately 250 reserve
ships!
Fry until the game starts (automatically) with only bombers on the screen.
You get killed, but don't lose lives.

Status: confirmed to work

Demon Attack: You can get demons of different shapes and colors.

Status: Cannot replicate this behavior.

Double dunk: Causes the title screen graphics and music to play twice as
fast!

Status: Cannot replicate this behavior.

Dragonfire: Get a black & white castle to appear.  All the treasures will be
in a row and look like the word "in". The dragon will spout few, if any,
fireballs. Touch one of the prizes without running it over and you just keep
collecting points, nonstop!

Status: confirmed to work

Dukes of Hazzard:  Get a screen with the car jumping.  Youll then get 1,390
points and start on level 1.

Status: Cannot replicate this behavior.


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