Download Astroblast Romhack Two-Pack! ROM Hack

Astroblast Romhack Two-Pack! Game
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Parameter Info
Console: 2600
Original Game: Astroblast
Type: Improvement
Genre: Action > Shooter
Modifications: L,GP
Creator: eskayelle
Date Created: 01/11/2020
Last Modified: 01/11/2020
Parameter Info
File Name: Astroblast Romhack Two-Pack! (2020) (Double Z) (h).zip
Downloads: 9
Requirements: No Special Requirements
Version: 1.0
Rating:

Astroblast Romhack Two-Pack!Description

Don’t think this is gonna be a 100% Gold Remake, it’ll have its differences. Extra battles (some’ll be optionals, tough but rewarding), Hoenn Pokemon (in every area, and hard to find) New areas, Remapped some dungeons (so your old guides wont work) , Extra recurring characters (some’ll hate you, some’ll help you)

Note that the hack is incomplete but feel free to enjoy the hack as-is.

Astroblast Romhack Two-Pack!Read Me

::========================================
::Astroblast (Controlled Chaos Mod)
::By eskayelle
::January 2020
::========================================
::
::**CONTENTS**
::
::*****INTRODUCTION*****
::*****TOOLS USED*****
::*****INSTRUCTIONS*****
::*****SPECIAL THANKS*****
::*****BATCH FILE ASSEMBLY*****
::
::
::*****INTRODUCTION*****
::Aside from Gulliver's Triple Challenge, a Pong clone from the 1970s,
::the first video game I'd ever played was Astroblast for Atari.
::Developed by Hal Finney as a port of the Intellivision's Astrosmash,
::this game was my first foray into cartridges and joysticks.
::
::One of my favorite memories of this game was a four year-old me hitting 1,000 points one night in the mid-80s,
::just a few days after we'd purchased it.  
::Not knowing what to expect, and having no exposure to video games other than that Pong clone,
::my dad's first reaction was to shout, "You blew up the TV!"
::I'm sure there were a few expletives peppered in there; those were the times...
::
::Astroblast being my first real video game love, I played the heck out of out,
::through elementary school, high school, and just after college.
::(I still break it out every now and then, which helped prompt me to work on these mods.)
::My family held little tournaments on holidays to see who could take the highest score.
::A simple game really, it was a great bonding tool, and it really defined Atari's motto back then:
::Easy to play; difficult to master.
::
::The purpose of these Astroblast hacks is twofold:
::1) To remove the ROM's access to the paddles.
::Astroblast is the one game designed for Atari that permitted both paddle and joystick play,
::paddle being the better bet for ease of play and higher scores...
::... but we didn't all have paddles (I didn't till after college...).
::
::And... with some emulators, the default is to read as if paddles are active, 
::making gameplay difficult on a d-pad or analog stick due to the much higher paddle input object velocity.
::These hacks effectively eliminate the paddle read and force the joystick input object velocity instead.
::This makes the game more enjoyable on an Atari Flashback, or a PSP, a DS, a modified Arcade 1up with Odroid/Raspberry Pi...
::
::2) With more joystick-centered gameplay, to enhance the experience when using a joystick or d-pad.
::(Remember... original Astroblast is optimally played when using paddles, 
::so the Controlled Chaos Mod accommodates for that by being friendlier with scoring penalties,
::and by giving a lot more tastes of the various difficulty levels,
::that last difficulty extremely hard to attain and keep up with in the original game with just a joystick.)
::
::
::The following romhacks are distributed as separate IPS patches, which should each be patched to an original NTSC Astroblast ROM:
::Astroblast (Without a Paddle Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h)
::Astroblast (Controlled Chaos Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h)
::Note that the Controlled Chaos Mod includes the Without a Paddle Mod in it already.
::
::Use a tool like LunarIPS (Windows) or UniPatcher (Android) to patch one of the above mods to your Astroblast ROM.
::The patched ROM then can be opened and played via several emulators, including in Windows, Linux, and Android environments.
::
::The following is a list of known Windows or Android emulators within which this ROM works;
::note that it also works with Raspberry Pi/RetroArch. 
::
::Windows--
::1) Stella 6.0
::2) RetroArch build date Feb 3 2019
::
::Android--
::1) 2600.emu v1.5.37
::
::These romhacks provide the following enhancements to the Astroblast experience:
::
::Astroblast (Without a Paddle Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h):
::This mod simply removes the use and read of the paddles so that joystick functionality will default.
::
::Astroblast (Controlled Chaos Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h)
::1) Removes the paddle capability in favor of joysticks ("Without a Paddle" mod).
::2) Removes the background color changes to alleviate the eyes when playing,
::especially in light of the new difficulty adjustments ("Back in Black" Mod).
::3) Forces the game to rotate among the 5 difficulty settings every 200 points.
::At 100,000 points, the hardest difficulty level is set and maintained ("Controlled Chaos" / "Rainbow Brite" mods).
::4) Reduces the penalty incurred when a base is destroyed ("Sweet Dreams" mod).
::5) Reduces the initial amount of lives from 10 to 9 ("Cat's Game" mod). 
::
::
::*****TOOLS USED*****
::1) DASM
::2) XVI32
::3) Stella 6.0
::
::
::*****INSTRUCTIONS*****
::Head over to AtariAge for instructions on how to play the original game.  
::This hack does not modify gameplay other than removing the ability to use paddles,
::removing the background color changes, cycling difficulty settings every 200 points,
::and reducing the penalty for a destroyed base.
::
::www.atariage.com/manual_html_page.php?SoftwareID=832
::
::
::*****SPECIAL THANKS*****
::1) To Hal Finney, for making a great game that fostered my love for video games over the years.
::2) To Dennis Debro, for taking the time to reverse engineer Astroblast and put his findings to public domain.
::3) To Andrew Davie, for his awesome Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies guide.
::4) To my dad, for the fond memories of Astroblast throughout the years.  I owe you one TV...
::
::
::*****BATCH FILE ASSEMBLY*****
::Original Build Test
::dasm astroblast.asm -lastroblast.txt -f3 -v5 -oastroblast.bin
::fc /B astroblast.bin "Astroblast (1982) (Mattel) (!).a26" > astroblastcompare0.txt
::Without a Paddle
dasm "Astroblast (Without a Paddle Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h).asm" -lastroblast1.txt -f3 -v5 -o"Astroblast (Without a Paddle Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h).bin"
fc /B "Astroblast (Without a Paddle Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h).bin" "Astroblast (1982) (Mattel) (!).a26" > astroblastcompare1.txt
::Back in Black
::dasm "Astroblast (Back in Black Mod) (2020) (eskayelle) (h).asm" -lastroblast2.txt -f3 -v5 -o"Astroblast (Back in Black Mod) (2020) (eskayelle) (h).bin"
::fc /B "Astroblast (Back in Black Mod) (2020) (eskayelle) (h).bin" "Astroblast (1982) (Mattel) (!).a26" > astroblastcompare2.txt
::Rainbow Brite
::dasm "astroblastscore.asm" -lastroblastscore.txt -f3 -v5 -o"astroblastscore.bin"
::fc /B "astroblastscore.bin" "Astroblast (1982) (Mattel) (!).a26" > astroblastcompare3.txt
::Controlled Chaos
dasm "Astroblast (Controlled Chaos Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h).asm" -lastroblast-cc.txt -f3 -v5 -o"Astroblast (Controlled Chaos Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h).bin"
fc /B "Astroblast (Controlled Chaos Mod) (2020) (Double Z) (h).bin" "Astroblast (1982) (Mattel) (!).a26" > astroblastcompare-cc.txt
@pause