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So it doesn't look like NullObject has been tweaking this at all, for the past year or so.....

https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Arcade-Cave_MiSTer

Perhaps it's time for a AP member who can program to revisit this core and make some mods to it, so we can get the menu implemented in Mister?

I wish that could be me, but I know jack shit about programming/development at this level.

@ekorz - This work is amazing sir. I am absolutely looking forward to what you come up with.

Watching stuff like this develop, along with so many other awesome and talented people working to not only enjoy the hobby, but drive it forward is a real joy.
 
No rush, but this would be awesome to play over the holidays. How close to the original do you think you can get? Is the full game covered on YouTube, either in separate videos or in a full playthrough that you're referencing?

Again, awesome job, this looks really cool!!
 
No rush, but this would be awesome to play over the holidays. How close to the original do you think you can get? Is the full game covered on YouTube, either in separate videos or in a full playthrough that you're referencing?

Again, awesome job, this looks really cool!!
It's the full game. I think I can get closer than anyone here will really care, considering none of us will ever get a chance to play the actual PCB. But that's part of me making this change-log public. See something off? Let me know, especially if you've actually played Campaign when it's been out in public (...that one time).

Here's the run I'm using for color accuracy (though it is not actually accurate), and here's the same run with an additional run. Both are from DDP Professional Vol.2 vhs tape. There is one more but it's not on youtube, and I wish I could find out where it was from in case there's a better copy out there.

As for timing, I guess you'll just have to keep watch on this thread!
 
Oh and if anyone actually wants to help on this project, there's one thing I just can't figure out -- and maybe you can.

Watch the video and tell me what you think is driving the color change on the MAXIMUM bar. Watch it for a couple minutes. Other sections of the video have it, too. It clearly turns blue (for the first time) when Hyper is engaged, and speeds up, but beyond that it starts flashing like mad a little bit after that and just randomly switches between red and blue. If there's a reason to it, I want to implement it, but I can't think of anything driving its behavior. Not enemy kills, chain increases, reward pickups... nothing lines up to me.

Maybe some other cave titles have similar effects and folks know what's driving them?
Could this just be the result of a mismatch between the game's framerate and the video capture?
 
Nope.

I would ask the people on the Shmups forum. I bet they would figure it out.
I’ll get around to it at some point.

Could this just be the result of a mismatch between the game's framerate and the video capture?
I had that same idea too but other game elements that change every frame don’t display the same erratic nature. Like during the boss 3 fight, the "Maximum" color does change from time to time, and the bosses parts flicker when they're hit, but those change don't match up like I would expect if they were both odd-frame color changes.
 
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Every level had multiple enemy adjustments, which we'll talk about here. The game spawns enemies from a list using four primary pieces of information: time-to-spawn, X-offset, unit-number, and movement-pattern-number. So any newly-added enemies also needed a movement-pattern created for it, as well. Typically these enemy changes were additions on top of the existing enemies, or substitutions to a stronger unit.

Here are a couple examples from Level 4, where there used to be a lull at the beginning of the level you now get some more flying friends to shoot at:

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And a little later in the level, when you're probably going to be focused on the "midboss" that spawns from the building on the left, they added a whole string of flying enemies. Plan your route accordingly, and don't linger on that Toaplan logo too long!

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Midbosses never get any love, so here we go. When Dodonpachi spawns a midboss or boss, those get some preferential treatment when it comes to memory space. I think most people consider that there are 4 midbosses in the game, but some of the destructible structures get the same preference. All the midbosses got edits, and one of those structures did, too.

Midboss 1: New bullet pattern
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Midboss 2: Turrets spin ~twice as fast
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Midboss 3: Bugfixed bullet pattern
(I actually don't think the original campaign mode fixed this bug, but I can't really leave it there in good conscience. On P1 side, in loop 2, the secondary bullets would be on the same trajectory as the parent, just slower. They're meant to have different angles instead of different speeds (or, at least, that's my take on it!). It's a bit hard to see, but just look for pairs of the same size bullet, with one following the other, on the original gif. Some of the fastest ones are easiest to notice. That behavior isn't present on the second gif, the bullets are always flying in different directions instead.)
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Also, if you time it right, you get big stars from the big bullets now!
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Midboss 4: Upgraded bullet pattern
(animations here are loop 2 since I think it looks even cooler)
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Structure (from 5): Reload speed is twice as fast, and it opens/closes faster too
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