Post by hydrophilic on Oct 23, 2017 12:40:35 GMT
As far as I can tell, there has never been a port of Atari's 1980 classic arcade game, Tempest, made for the VIC20/C64/128/Plus4. Trust me when I say I have been searching for years! A similar game for the C64, Axis Assassin, has recently been brought to my attention (thanks remark) but it is FAR from the original.
It has been annoying me for several years now that this classic arcade is available for modern systems (PC, XBox, PlayStation, etc.) but there is no C64 version. I mean we have pretty good ports of other Atari arcade classics, like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, etc. Hell! There are even Atari 2600 ports of those games! (Note that comparing a C64 to an Atari 2600 is like comparing a smartphone to a smartwatch.)
It seems Atari considered porting Tempest to both their 2600 and 5200 systems, but gave up. There are rumored to be prototype cartridges... I have never seen one in real life, but I found this video which purports to show these prototypes in action. (See time index 2:37~4:09 for 2600 version, and 4:10~5:39 for 5200 version.)
Assuming this is authentic, I hope we can agree these prototypes were far removed from an actual/playable game.
That video also shows a 'working' game for the ZX Spectrum (time index 5:40~7:17)! Assuming that video is authentic (again), I find it quite embarrassing that a ZX Spectrum supports an arcade classic while the C64 family does not! (But the gameplay is broken in my opinion... maybe the ZX version is also a prototype?) The video also shows an Amstrad version which looks quite nice (time index 7:22~8:52). The Amstrad version also seems flaky to me... presumably a prototype too?
ANYWAY, the video shows a version for the Atari ST which seems to be fully functional (time index 8:54~10:27). After that, the video shows images from Amiga and more powerful systems. I don't care about them... surely an Amiga+ can emulate this arcade classic!
But can a C64/128 run an authentic port/emulation of this arcade classic? It seems it has never been done. But I want it...
A few years ago I thought about porting this classic to the C64/128. Online, I found a commented disassembly of Tempest, but it was sparsely commented. In particular I didn't understand what the hardware (AVG, POKEYs, and MathBox) was doing...
Recently I have found (online) additional documentation about these hardware chips (and their registers). From this I learned enough to be dangerous! Which means I am brave enough to try my own code without fully understanding all the technical details!
In summary, Tempest, is an arcade classic which has never been ported to the C64 family. Other 8-bit ports have been attempted, but I've never seen a fully working one (except, perhaps, the Atari ST). I have found hardware documentation which makes a port to the C64/128 possible (in my opinion).
So finally, do you think it is possible or worth-while? I've been playing with the original arcade ROMs and *think* I can make it work on a C128 / 40-column. Assuming that works, a C64 and 80-column 128 version should also be practical.
ON THE OTHER HAND -- this game is copyright 1980. Perhaps after 37 years we should just forget about it?
It has been annoying me for several years now that this classic arcade is available for modern systems (PC, XBox, PlayStation, etc.) but there is no C64 version. I mean we have pretty good ports of other Atari arcade classics, like Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command, etc. Hell! There are even Atari 2600 ports of those games! (Note that comparing a C64 to an Atari 2600 is like comparing a smartphone to a smartwatch.)
It seems Atari considered porting Tempest to both their 2600 and 5200 systems, but gave up. There are rumored to be prototype cartridges... I have never seen one in real life, but I found this video which purports to show these prototypes in action. (See time index 2:37~4:09 for 2600 version, and 4:10~5:39 for 5200 version.)
That video also shows a 'working' game for the ZX Spectrum (time index 5:40~7:17)! Assuming that video is authentic (again), I find it quite embarrassing that a ZX Spectrum supports an arcade classic while the C64 family does not! (But the gameplay is broken in my opinion... maybe the ZX version is also a prototype?) The video also shows an Amstrad version which looks quite nice (time index 7:22~8:52). The Amstrad version also seems flaky to me... presumably a prototype too?
ANYWAY, the video shows a version for the Atari ST which seems to be fully functional (time index 8:54~10:27). After that, the video shows images from Amiga and more powerful systems. I don't care about them... surely an Amiga+ can emulate this arcade classic!
But can a C64/128 run an authentic port/emulation of this arcade classic? It seems it has never been done. But I want it...
A few years ago I thought about porting this classic to the C64/128. Online, I found a commented disassembly of Tempest, but it was sparsely commented. In particular I didn't understand what the hardware (AVG, POKEYs, and MathBox) was doing...
Recently I have found (online) additional documentation about these hardware chips (and their registers). From this I learned enough to be dangerous! Which means I am brave enough to try my own code without fully understanding all the technical details!
In summary, Tempest, is an arcade classic which has never been ported to the C64 family. Other 8-bit ports have been attempted, but I've never seen a fully working one (except, perhaps, the Atari ST). I have found hardware documentation which makes a port to the C64/128 possible (in my opinion).
So finally, do you think it is possible or worth-while? I've been playing with the original arcade ROMs and *think* I can make it work on a C128 / 40-column. Assuming that works, a C64 and 80-column 128 version should also be practical.
ON THE OTHER HAND -- this game is copyright 1980. Perhaps after 37 years we should just forget about it?
