Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!dino!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Mario Bothers
Message-ID: <13282@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 18 Jul 90 16:37:09 GMT
References: <2767@awdprime.UUCP> <64280@sgi.sgi.com> <2779@awdprime.UUCP> <9926@brazos.Rice.edu> <2794@awdprime.UUCP>
Reply-To: daveh@cbmvax (Dave Haynie)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 32

In article <2794@awdprime.UUCP> tif@doorstop.austin.ibm.com (Paul Chamberlain) writes:

>I was more interesed in, and the discussion (IMHO) was more in reference
>to, real game machines.  ...

>But Mario Brothers has been very faithfully reproduced on real arcade 
>hardware (which came first?) and some other dedicated game machines.  But, 
>and this is my point, the arcade hardware seems to be incredibly more 
>sophisticated.  Thus, a good modular implementation would have been a 
>near-necessity for the port.

The trick, at least in the past, has always been preserving the arcade feel
on the home system.  You can get a pretty good look and feel-alike on a cheap 
home machine, but you're probably getting fewer colors, less sophisticated
moving images, less or poorer sound, etc.

I don't have any specifics, but in talking with a person or two who's actually
worked on these things over the years, it's evident that they can be pretty 
sophisticated as compared with your average Nintendo box.  I've heard of 6809 
or 68000 machines with dedicated sprite engines and machines with dualing 
68000s.  There are also some machines out there with Amiga 500 motherboards 
in them, which could obviously simplify at least the Amiga home version of 
the game.

>Paul Chamberlain | I do NOT represent IBM         tif@doorstop, sc30661@ausvm6
>512/838-7008     | ...!cs.utexas.edu!ibmaus!auschs!doorstop.austin.ibm.com!tif


-- 
Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Amiga 3000) "The Crew That Never Rests"
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	"I have been given the freedom to do as I see fit" -REM