Atari 8bit Turrican engine

Thnaks to Pecus and Pirx from Our5oft to find this piece of code about a try to port Turrican game on a Atari 8bit machine.

[@cant1rac]

if im not mistaken the atari chip has 4 channels the sid has 3. the atari chip handles distortion better & can do a similar range of frequencies. i like the fat bass from the sid, each chip has its advantages. i love both. im a musician i can stop audio inadequacies a mile off calling either one shitty is childish, to me screams FANBOY in gigantic letters. both are fantastic sound chips, each deserve respect. the atari chip is more versitile, but i love some off the characteristics in the sid

[@olynxmano]

Particular Fullscreen "3D" the Atari handles much faster. Have a look at the Space Harrier project, Yoomp! , Rescue on Fractalus , and not to forget : Koronis Rift. Such games on The C64 always make people think that the C64 is way older than the Atari.... And Btw... Huge Sprites, don't forget that the "Sprites" on the Atari are 240 scanlines high by default.

[@olynxmano]

@R6502A Atari can actually display more than 21 colours per scanline, which is more than the C64 has at all. Programming logics is the clue.

[@EdinburghGuy]

You could reprogram the screen setup of the Atari 800 to change the entire size of a map to be larger than the visible area. Then you could reprogram the character set (just like tiles on the console systems) . There was even hardware control for fine (or scanline scrolling). And updates to the visuals could be done during the vertical blank interrupt. Sounds like it was designed for scrolling games.

[@MrSEA-ok2ll]

It is sad that the Atari computer was dead after the ST arrived. However, if a C64 version can exist, why not an Atari 8 bit version?

[@R6502A]

@zombiemod : Another myth is that the character set redifinition is superior on the c64 because you can redefine all 256 characters but the atari has a limitation of only allowing 128 characters to be redifined, with the other half (high bit set) used to get a 5th colour on a scanline. Yes Atari can do 5 colours per scanline as standard! The Atari gets around this by having the DLI, allowing a different Character set to be used on each line.

[@maiki60fps]

@LexorzNL You forget to realize Atari 800 was introduced in 1979 whereas C-64 1982. As a result of this straight fact, the C-64 has considerably more capable video processor - higher resolution, more HW sprites etc. Of course you can do "scanline-based 2600-like" programming on Atari 800, but the same approach can be done on C-64...

[@AmbersKnight]

It surprises me that there has been no Turrican or Turrican 2 for the Atari 8-bit machine. Graphically and in terms of CPU speed it easily rivals the C64 and is certainly above the Speccy. Sound wise whilst it may not be exactly the same as the SID chip, the POKEY chip is as up to the task of the sound as the AY chip if not more so. So yes, I think a version for the Atari 8-bit line was more than do-able and as I say, I am genuinely surprised there was never an official release as it certainly was more than capable.

[@mcappp]

Both machines 130XE and c64 are very capable machines. Some things Atari can do better, other things C64 do better. I'd prefer finally the old 1979 Atari tech, impressive what can do with a machine from that year.

[@cant1rac]

i will say my inital impression back in the day and it was in general in the uk that the view of the atari 8 bit wasnt recongnised as what it was. it was seen almost as a 2600 with a keyboard due to misrepresentation of a quote about computerizing the 2600 to combat the apple 2 from an atari boss. i wasnt intrested in a atari 8 bit until i found out what it could actually do, and realised its a lost gem as far as the uk market was concerned. and did suffer badly from its lack off market share

[@cant1rac]

i love my machines for what they are. the spectrum despite its faults, was a very important machine that opened quality computing up to be affordable. the msx was a very versitle system. a canon t90 back to record exposure data, yamaha keyboards, a pioneer interfance to allow superimposing laser disk images for games and video editing. the c64 a very good affordable system that could do advanced scrolling & high quality audio. atari unfortunatly never had the market to show its full potential

[@cant1rac]

POKEY has four semi-independent audio channels, each with its own frequency, noise and volume control. Each 8-bit channel has its own audio control register which select the noise content and volume. For higher sound frequency resolution (quality), two of the audio channels can be combined for more accurate sound (frequency can be defined with 16-bit value instead of usual 8-bit)

[@boghead]

Looks gr8 :)

[@anneschmitt8461]

No Sound? Did you know, the c64 had 3 Chanals, and they said the atari had four. but it had five! i niticed, when each of the four chanels is in use, there is still the keyboard beep upon. so we masked that fifth voice in assembler, and could do five chanel sound on that 1979 atari!

[@cant1rac]

the amiga sound chip is an update version both custom designs by jay miner. both offering very advanced sound for its day. the commodore 64 was infact an attempt to make a atari 800 type computer (most advanced home computer then) but at a much lower price. it was very successful at that but when atari had to redesign the 800 to lower its price to be competive it introduced a number of problems i have a midi keyboard used with a c64 for music, so im no atari fanboy. i am a musician

[@JAMMAJUP01]

I am a big multiformat retro gamer and Atari 8-bit fan but have to admit Turrican is out of its league,best chance is not to direct port as the C64 is awsome but instead create a new Atari 8-bit Turrican game in its own right with new unique level design.There is a Turrican level editor/designer out there for some systems so maybe this is an option?

[@R6502A]

@zombiemod : Yet Another myth is the SID (Changed music as we know it) device that they all rave about is leaps and bounds ahead of POKEY. yes it is if you like listening to 3 channel music through ear muffs.

[@olynxmano]

@zombiemod The Atari beats the C64 in 3D BY FAR, and EVERY DAY.

[@mcappp]

Actually is Gr.15 160x100 with 5 colors (black, white, green, Blue and purple)

[@alexandervalle525]

What happened??? If c64 could why not atari 800xl?

[@RABBIDGamfan]

He said it looked GREAT, not like gr. 8. gr8 is what the use for the word great on online chat rooms.

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod theres no difference between the xl and xe series(well, they redesigned the casing) the only model with more memory is the 130xe. i didnt know crownland needs more than 64 kb of ram.

[@cant1rac]

atari 8-bit game had ground to a halt in 1985, a few games would still be released, & new xe machines would be released later. games like commando were never released the only development was very late unreleased in 1989, compare that with a commodore 64 scene still with serious develoment in the 90's games like mayhem in monsterland & shadow of the beast taking the commodore to places no one thought it could go note the unreleased atari commando is arguably better than the excellent c64 version

[@cant1rac]

in addittion to why the c64 was the better games machine is down to the market. the atari's was relatively small. it was far cheaper in 1979 compared with the apple 2 but still out off reach off many families. when they released the xl to compete with the emerging c64 they introduced a whole set off incompatibilities, reducing their market still. unlike the c64 with the amiga when the atari st came out there wasnt much off market for developers to concern themselves with so it slowed to a halt

[@recycledsteel3693]

How far did this get?

[@bluestreakedladyshe-her8507]

Would have loved to see this port go further, maybe show off what the Atari 8-bit could do for Turrican, considering the Atari 8-bit's faster CPU. Perhaps add some features from Super Turrican NES, like actual hit points/recoil, instead of bloodsucking enemies, and maybe holding down the fire button making Turrican run too. Perhaps add an option to make use of two and three button controllers as well?

[@R6502A]

@zombiemod : @zombiemod: This is pure ignorance. The Atari 8 bit could access all 64K of RAM, with the exception of the 2k reserved for port/device adresses. You could access all the RAM that resided under the operating system, via Port B. This is how the Atari translator disk was able to replace the operating system with an older version, allowing new machines to work with older software. You can also disable the BASIC ROM using the same method.

[@gumdeo]

Looks like Turrican 2 (level 1).

[@cant1rac]

i dont agree that its out off its league, the spectrum managed probably the best port its ever had off a game wiith it. the atari hardware is more advanced than zx spectrum. its easy to look at the atari 8 bit line & not see a great machine, but remembered its market especially here in the uk dried up when the st arrived. so the golden age off game releases never happened to the atari, massive titles like commando weren't persued by developers until very late & only because off the xegs console.

[@cant1rac]

id say being able to define 16bit sound values or have 4 channels of 8 bit puts it ahead in one regard to the c64. c64 has some very nice values i really like. and a lot off people like the values of the c64 sid chip. but to call the atari pokey chip shitty, is ridiculous and shows no knowledge at all off what it can do. im not a fanboy. im giving praise to both machines. your the only one here slagging off one machine while stating the others supposed superiourity. thats a fanboy

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod and whats the difference between the xl and xe series? lol btw. mayhem in monsterland is the most advanced c64 game of all time.

[@atari8bitsforever435]

Share with everybody the download link.

[@R6502A]

@zombiemod Typical inaccurasies I've heard over the years are: The c64 can do Multiplane Parallax scrolling. Err no it can't! All too often c64 fanboys give the false impression that the c64 had true parallax scrolling, like the MegaDrive). This is an illusion using character set rotation, easily done on both machines.

[@R6502A]

I keep getting Error, try again when I post the vid link: Seach for : "Atari 8-bit - Project-M (game Wolfenstein 3D)" and click on the first video. The C64 could not dream of such a game.

[@cant1rac]

i'd disagree theres pros & cons in both systems, id say the atari had better potential overall with its custom chips. remember it took awhile for a whole host of problems with memory & programming for the c64 to meet its potential. the atari more or less stopped as a development platform when the st arrived, also look at the new wolfenstein projects on both machines, the atari seams to be running the better 3d model. i do agree in their commercial life time, the c64 was the better games machine

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod they used some DL tricks.thats why it requires 124kb of ram. i ve found some info on this game but its in polish. btw. clever ppl, aint they?

[@thorgallpl]

@inphanta so are you LOL

[@cant1rac]

im late to the atari 8-bit, i only recently bought one, i remember the attitude in the uk was it was basicly a 2600 with a keyboard. and they werent touch at all over here. spectrum, acorn electron, amstrad, commodore 64, commodore vic 20, commodore c16/plus 4 and i belive the toshiba hx10 msx all out sold it. i learned software tricks could allow it to dither graphics mode allowing it to output a resolution & colours on screen greater than the c64 plus advantages to its audio chip over sid

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod oh dear.atari's HH can look much better too.its the c64 limited color palette which makes its games look bland. i doesnt mean they all suck. no! both machines are very old but still have dedicated fans and thats what matters.btw my old cellphone is capable of much more than either of the 2 8 bitters , mate :)

[@cant1rac]

look at the atrai game crownland this shows a greater use off color and parrallax scrolling than the often shown mayhem in monstersland on a standard atari xl/xe. it looks closer to a nes or master system game than what you'd expect from a 8 bit computer. and waskoma's term slightly faster cpu speed, i think shows a c64 fanboy. were talking pal speed of 0.98mhz compared with 1.77mhz almost double, thats not slightlty faster.. its considerably night and day faster

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod the xe series was way too pricey,c64 offered more for less money(as far as games are concerned).atari introduced a new video console 5200 and 7800 (another failure).in the meantime a800 died out in the uk.no market =no good games.all major companies cancelled their projects(e.g. elite(i even own a working demo of this game) ,last ninja, and many more). the only success was the st series. jaguar was the last nail in the coffin of the company.

[@kangarht]

the atari HW has bad compromises. 128 colors of which normally only 4 can be displayed. unusable gfx modes, HW scrolling and a "copper". c64: can display 16 colors in its default modes, hw scrolling/copper can be done with the cpu relatively easily, while the atari has bloody hard time with doing soft sprites... so at the end of the day, the c64 wins with better custom chips. what atari has as an extra is a slightly faster clocked cpu... which is not enough to compensate for bad sprites..

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod it happened so because atari itself killed a800. atari was known for dire marketing. they released 2 consoles and lost lots of money. a800 could handle all games released for c64 . some would look worse (c64 ports always looked worse and vice versa),some would look better. look, even poor rubber made spectrum got r type:)

[@R6502A]

@Ahle2 Let's see the C64 attmept this. Please don't post that wanting M.O.O.D demo as a response. Lol!

[@1337Shockwav3]

Pretty cool, too bad it's that unfinished

[@R6502A]

@thorgallpl : Fanboy

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod crownland with its 24 colors on screen and 4 layers of paralax shits all over the best game in c64 history-mayhem in monsterland and you say that turrican cannot be done on atari LOL but ill have to admit that ill never play turrican on my atari cause nobody has time to do so much work to optimalize the engine.

[@warlockentertainment1192]

ahahahahahhaha Crownland compared to Mayem, you are really idiot

[@Heaven-dy9lj]

@@warlockentertainment1192 check out Albert on the Atari 8 bit.

[@thorgallpl]

@zombiemod it just proves that c64 is better for games which need many sprites. 3d games or games such as henrys house look infinitely better on a800. i seriously doubt that yoomp would look any good on c64... and the horrbile c64 colors...ive just checked out the IK. the c64 ver. looks bland!

[@cant1rac]

i have most 8 bit machines, i think its terrible there is so much fanboyism especially the commodore 64 & zx spectrum scene. zx spectrum is probably the worst as it was built as a color budget introduction to computing, but it dosent stop spectrum fans claiming better sound from a machine were the 48k models never had a sound chip. or better graphics from a machine that couldnt do any texturing, shading, hardware scrolling, sprites couldnt display more than a few colors & had bad attribute clash

[@R6502A]

@zombiemod : Why do us Atari fans forever have to endure c64 fanboys rubbishing Atari on Atari posts? The Atari 8 bit and the c64 are not as far apart as the c64 fanboy scene would have you believe. Your typical C64 fanboy is under the delusion that the c64 revolutionised graphics and sound in computing.

[@cant1rac]

look maybe you should move from a position off just slagging off the sound chip for anything other than your c64 & stop being a fanboy. the sid chip has advantages over the atari pokey ive said that from the start, it should do the design in the c64 was 3 years later. Atari's pokey is one off the most capable sound chips put in a 8 bit computer. my position is & ive made that clear, i recognise how good both these chips are. unfortunately all you want to do is slag off rival hardware to the c64

[@cant1rac]

i dont get why fanboys like you cant after all the commercial rivalry is dead between these systems. accept what was good about rival systems. a spectrum having a faster cpu could do a game like hard drivin better than a c64, but it had no chance of doing a game like creatures 2 as good as a c64. none off these machines were perfect designs, c64's Achilles heel was its slow 0.98 mhz cpu Atari had a 1.77mhz mos a significant 84% faster clock speed the spectrum strength was a faster zilog 3.5mhz

[@R6502A]

@zombiemod If you look at the design of both machines. The Atari 8 bit is elegant and the design ideas were improved apon to produce the c64 fanboy's beloved Amiga. Plain and simply the the c64 is crass! C64 fanboys please, pretty please stay in your candy coloured ear muff world and leave the Atari 8 bit alone. R6502A

[@warlockentertainment1192]

reading stupid Atari fanboys comments is always priceless :D

[@cant1rac]

think i have some idea mate. the sound chip is anything but shitty & the graphics chip with the right programming has been proven in crownland etc. wither you like it or not to out perform comparable c64 titles. i have both machines & monsters in mayhem, creatures 2, noddy the advark etc for the c64 maybe you should stop being a c64 fan boy & trying to rubbish the atari (because thats what your doing) give the atari machines the respect they deserve. no one should be rubbishing either machine

[@kangarht]

Yeah, ever tried to make a game with 128 chars only instead of 256, fixed 4 colors on screen instead of 16, 4 shitty 1 color sprites instead of 8 big colorful ones, shitty soundchip instead of the best of the 8bit era ? Every realized how sucky is having to code your own sprites instead of using HW ones ? You have no idea. You have to jump trough much more loops on the a8 to get the same result in the typical 80s game scenario. In some narrow areas the a8 can shine tho.

[@kangarht]

audiophile my ass, pokey has not enough freq detail so most tunes are heavily detuned. if you were an audiophile you were screaming in horror when listening to pokey.