We've recently found out through the EAB forums, that the previously announced Arcade to Amiga conversion of Irem's classic 1982 scrolling shooter of 'Moon Patrol' by both JOTD and no9(music), has now been updated with an AGA enhanced, ECS and OCS beta build for you to try! Basically for those of you who were complaining about just AGA, can now try lower end builds of the game all created as a transcode of Moon Patrol arcade using assembler. To coincide with this news, there's a new screenshot from the game as well as a video coming any min now.
As we said before in our previous article, for those of you who don't remember this classic that is widely credited for the introduction of parallax scrolling in side-scrolling video games. You drove a buggy across a landscape, jumping over ditches and rocks while also shooting at enemies both above and in front made this such a great game to play! As for when the full version will be released however, going by the posts on the EAB forums, it can't be far off. We can't wait!
Credits:
- - jotd: Z80 to 68000 conversion, amiga graphics conversion, amiga sound effects
- - no9: amiga music
- - ross: help with AGA version and hardware scrolling. Big Kudos!!
- - http://www.computerarcheology.com/Arcade/MoonPatrol/ help with reverse-engineering
- (merged their comments & variable names after having started my RE)
- - PascalDe73: icon
- - mrv2k: boxart
- - DamienD: floppy menu
- - runs on 512K chip/512k fast OCS 68000 Amiga, 25 fps (some slowdowns to expect at times)
- - adapted "low detail" graphics, no blue mountain background
- - low sound quality
- - no whdload (no need, as it is designed to run on a 1MB OCS machine)
- - runs on 1MB ECS 68000 Amiga, 25 fps (some slowdowns to expect at times)
- - Uses AGA fast DMA mode if found and runs at 50fps on AGA+fastmem
- - adapted "low detail" graphics, but will display extra background layer
- if run on a 68020+
- - higher sound quality
- - runs on vanilla A1200 at 50 fps, with smooth scrolling layers
- - original colors & graphics
- - highest sound quality
Links :1) Source
Great work ! One of my favourite arcade of eightees is now playable on any Amiga.
ReplyDeleteThanks and don't forget to donate to support all Amiga developers.
Great stuff, something there for everyone. Moon Patrol is a such a classic that it's awesome to see it get so much care when making these ports. Now, I wonder if this engine could be used to make an Amiga based hybrid Moon Patrol / Lunar Jetman ? :D
ReplyDeleteGoing by the fact that ECS and OCS can now enjoy the game, I've closed the old AGA only article for comments :)
ReplyDeleteThese 1:1 ports are amazing!
ReplyDeleteI truly dislike 1:1 ports when they filled a tiny screen on the arcade (except for Pacman, Ms Pacman) I Rather the game filled the entire Amiga 352x248 overscan screen and eliminate the Score Raster on top and make it a Transparent Raster
ReplyDeleteI agree. Why not cater to the Amiga's strengths make something better as the arcade version. Surely the Amiga can beat a 1981 arcade game.
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