Running a website is sadly not free, so if you'd like to help us pay the bills around here, which eventually will help us remove the ads and improve the service provider, then your help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!
SPECTRUM EMULATOR BURIED WITHIN THE N64 GOLDENEYE CODE!
March 29th, 2012 - 3:18 pm - Posted by Martin
GoldenEye Spectrum Emulation Unlocked
Little benownst to the world all this time, GoldenEye (N64) has a fully-functional ZX Spectrum 48x emulator built into it. By feeding it a proper Spectrum monitor program and calling menu 25 to load a snapshot, any Spectrum 48x program can be run.
The emulator started life as a side project to see if Spectrum emulation was possible on N64 and was hooked into GE, the current game in development. It was supposed to be removed before release but was only made inaccessible and inoperable. All the registers, dependancies, and script required to run the emulator still reside in retail GoldenEye carts.
As stated above, Marshallh has released an upgrade for the 64drive menu with the following changes.
BUGFIXES:
Controller deadzone fixed. This was causing jumpy scrolling for controllers with nearly new analog sticks.
FEATURES:
Automatic region select. Reads the image header to determine the expected region and sets accordingly.
The update can be downloaded directly from retroactive's website, here.
Or from the review of the 64drive here on this very site.
HELP US GETTING MINI RACERS + BONUS RELEASED
March 22nd, 2012 - 5:33 pm - Posted by Martin
The buyer of the N64 Mini Racers and Tamiya Racing 64 recently sold on ebay is currently trying to raise $1250 to recoup some of the $4500+ he spent on getting the two games which were meant to be released for everyone to play from the second he won the auctions.
Why not chip in? if you'd like to see these released and please inform anyone else of the current attempt... what we get is not one but TWO brand new N64 games to play
As stated above, Marshallh has released a new firmware update, now 1.04, for the 64drive. Unfortunately the fixes are unknown at this time, but the new firmware can be downloaded here....
As the topic says the Homebrew section has been updated. Basicly it's an update with the releases posted here on the news page along with some "Work in Progress" titles not mentioned earlier, such as Streemerz.
Also it seems that I had missed 4 music releases by Snowbro a few years back, being:
8BIT OR NOT (MJ VS SMB MASHUP) LEGEND OF THE BLACK SHAWARMA MELTING POT OF SONGS (NES STYLE) RIPE SEEDS, PRAYING HANDS (NES REMIX)
Also Added is:
BAD APPLE 2 (DEMO) DOLLHOUSE (DEMO) NESTIFY (DEMO)
The legendary Slydog Studios are back with yet another homebrew gem, this time it's a Snail Maze!
Those that listen to The DogCast know that I wanted to do a small project to get myself back into the loop of programming for the NES. I decided on trying to make an NES version of the Snail Maze Game that’s built into the Sega Master System. I think it came out being pretty damned close to what the original plays like, so I’m pleased with it : ) The project ended up taking me something like a week-and-a-half to two weeks. Or some such.
One of the biggest things I learned was how to use sprite zero hit, if even in a very minor way. The top of the screen serves as a status bar of sorts. Of course, I can only imagine other, more difficult situations in larger games when using sprite zero hit. It served its purpose on for this game, however!
There’s not really a whole lot to say about the game itself. You have to guide a snail through 12 perilous mazes to beat the game, but please don’t reveal the secret ending to your friends ; )
Use the directional buttons to move the snail, and to start the game you have to push Up, B, and A. For those that don’t know, the original was sort of hidden on the SMS. If there was no cartridge in the system, or if a cartridge wasn’t seated properly, then a message popped up on-screen. If you pushed Up and buttons 1 and 2, then you would get access to the Snail Maze Game.
For more info on Slydog Studios and Roth's Podcast, check out their (Roth's) website here https://slydogstudios.org
NEW NES HOMEBREW: POGO CATS
March 11th, 2012 - 6:21 pm - Posted by Martin
Whoa, we're being flooded by new NES homebrew these days... Awesome! This one is another game by Yggi
The gameplay is very simple. You need to jump to upper platforms. Each pixel scrolling will give you 1 point. If you fall down the screen, you'll loose. The goal is to make as many points as possible.
Here is the meaning of the different Items/Objects: Spring coil: Jumping with the spring coil will give you about 400 points Coin: Gives 500 points Flying Heart: If you collect this item, your jump speed and jump size will get increased for a short time. Tornado: If you come to close to it, it will blow you away. Jumping onto a tornado will make you jump several screens high (gives about 1000 points) Black Hole: If you come to close to it, it will suck you inside. If you touch it, you will loose lots of points.
There are two versions available. One simple NROM128 version, which saves the highscore to NES RAM and one NROM128 with battery-backed PRG RAM, which saves the highscore there (so the highscore will stay available).
Yet another NES homebrew has been released, this time it's a game by Sebastian Mihai called "Invaders must die!" It was actually published about a month ago, but I didn't discover it until today....
It took me a while to find a good devkit for the NES. The one I put together is based on the cc65 compiler (NES uses a 6502-based CPU). The compiler suite is a bit unwieldy, so I found a library called rNES, and I added it to the tool chain. The graphics were drawn using the same Excel tile editor I used for Burly Bear vs. the Mean Foxes (for the Gameboy), although modified slightly.
Developing for the NES was similar to the Gameboy. Decently easy to use hardware sprites, along with the annoying low sprites-per-line limits, which cause flickering. Otherwise no problems. Invaders must die! was developed in about a day's time. You are in charge of controlling a tank, shooting UFOs that drop down on your beloved city. If even one UFO reaches the street, it's all over! Aliens will spill into the streets, destroying humankind, and taking over the planet, with the purpose of using it as a huge farm for their colonies. No, you will not see all this happen if you lose the game.
The invaders speed up as you kill them. When they're really fast, be careful not to miss. It's important to not miss because you can only shoot a missile at a time. The title was inspired by Prodigy's album with the same name.
Yet another NES game is in the works. This one is called Armed for Battle and is being made by a guy who calls himself "Rizz". A playable version will be available at the Midwest Classic Gaming Expo, so if you're there you may want to stop by and check out Armed for Battle.
Somewhere in the unmapped land surrounding your kingdom, evil rulers corrupted by greed seek to enslave your people. Scout the territory, then send your forces to battle any threats you encounter. With enough gold, you might win them over while avoiding massive bloodshed. Use caution when venturing into the unknown. It is rumored that Dragons and Giants may live somwhere outside the safety of the kingdom.
NEW NES HOMEBREW: DRIAR
March 1st, 2012 - 4:36 pm - Posted by Martin
Help Driar though 38 levels of platform puzzle by collecting stars. The game is written by Stefan Adolfsson and David Eriksson and is one of a few NES projects out of Europe. Please note that the game is designed for play on a PAL system, it will work on an NTSC (US) NES console but will play faster than intended.
