Prepare to have your minds blown , especially if you have an Atari 7800! As we have just found through Liqmatrix, that during Jan of this year, OldStyle and Bobby Clark had released an update to their incredible work in progress Atari 7800 conversion/port of the Arcade game of 'Bubble Bobble'. A game that has infuriated and thrilled us in equal measure on our home computers since its original release around the year of 1987 to 1989! To coincide with this news, while we wait for some up to date footage from Saberman, here's some gameplay footage from last month of the game.
Here's the latest about the game from the forum link below. "It's had a BIG update since the reveal with the addition of two more rounds (8 and 9), bonus rounds, and practically ALL of the powerups have been mapped with special abilities or events. There's certainly a minor bug or two since all of the focus was on shoveling content in. The game itself is still pretty raw and not quite optimized or finished in certain areas so occasionally there will be brief slowdown and gfx artifacts when things get hot and heavy, but generally speaking it controls well, is very playable and very "BB-like".
"For those unfamiliar, gameplay consists of shooting, trapping, popping trapped monsters and most importantly eating as many delicious treats as you can! Popping multiple monsters at the same time is a combo, awarding more points. A combo of three or more will also spawn random EXTEND letters which go toward earning 1up or spawning staffs. Bonus point items and special/power up items spawn early in rounds. If you blaze through rounds quickly then it's possible to miss out on powerup and special items before they spawn so to get the most out of the demo just wait it out till they appear. After several play-thrus the timing and where items spawn will be seared in your brain!"
Is this a port from some other platform or is it made from scratch, code and graphics wise?
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing. The 7800's Maria chip is really more capable than people think.
ReplyDeleteHi all. It won't load for me in RetroArch. I tried the ProSystem emulator. Other 7800 roms work fine in it. Any ideas? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteOnly works with the A7800 emulator, as far as I know
DeleteI've have the same issue with Retroarch. Unfortunately the ProSystem emulator is a bit outdated and doesn't support v3 & v4 headers which allows for wider a compatibility of cart images, YM and Pokey Sound generally. Most cart images can be made to run with ProSystem, it's just that I don't think the homebrew community think it's all that worthwhile, especially for the extra effort that has to go into it to adjust for the difference in timing compared to the somewhat newer versions of the emulators out there.
ReplyDeleteA rule of thumb the ProSystem emulator in Retroarch will only run about 50% of the hacks available (maybe less) and is capped at 128k for roms (small roms as some people call them). It can be made to work with bigger roms with a special header, but it takes a bit of work...
You have three options:
1. Lobby the developer for a compatible build - either a small rom 128k or a modified build that will be compatible. If Rikki & Vikki can run on the ProSystem, so can Bubble Bobble (with a bit of effort...)
2. Lobby Retroarch / Libretro for an improved version of the Prosystem emulator or to add another option for the emulator - such as a7800 emulator, which is meant to be the best and most compatible one out there (https://7800.8bitdev.org/index.php/A7800_Emulator).
3. Use a7800 emulator standalone - without all the Retroarch bells and whistles.
4. Turn off your computer in frustration and hurl a pot plant through a window. ;)
I'm for number 4.
DeleteThank you for the info.
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