tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post5675326845106976524..comments2024-03-26T08:44:02.732-04:00Comments on Data Driven Gamer: Game 183: River RaidAhabhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04131989140638867919noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-58866867753995390862023-06-08T07:31:47.839-04:002023-06-08T07:31:47.839-04:00Do external hardware upscalers work well for the V...Do external hardware upscalers work well for the VCS? I've seen them do pretty amazing things for the third and fourth gen consoles. Because they have a pretty solid sense of what the source video is going to do, they can do the upscaling and deinterlacing in a more optimized way than the "we have to handle everything from an NTSC VHS to a PAL Playstation" approach the TV's upscaler takes, and they can throw more processing power at it as well.Rosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09703211229982182936noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-81752735459374258292023-06-07T19:15:38.532-04:002023-06-07T19:15:38.532-04:00If your 2600 was hooked up to a flat screen TV, th...If your 2600 was hooked up to a flat screen TV, that is the reason. The lag is the TV converting and upscaling the 240p picture from the 2600. Get a CRT for your Atari and you'll have no lagmetalliknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-88798183044351959592023-06-07T17:26:48.374-04:002023-06-07T17:26:48.374-04:00Late to the party, but longtime River Raid player ...Late to the party, but longtime River Raid player here. You stopped playing a little too soon... this game starts easy but slowly gets more difficult the further you go. The dark green terrain becomes more and more claustrophobic, with narrow passageways, tight turns and ships/copters tucked in difficult to kill spots. The jets that start flying over the river are timed to hit you on their second pass, adding entropy to your ship and copter dodging.<br /><br />However, the biggest challenge becomes fuel. There is certainly more than enough at the beginning, but the further you go the more scarce it becomes, to the point you'll be recklessly flying full throttle around enemies, desperately looking for a fuel dump (and cursing yourself when you accidentally shoot it). Your plane uses fuel at a constant rate regardless of speed, so flying fast is often required to find fuel to live<br /><br />I'd say, try for 99,999 points, see how that goes. 999,999 is the top, but I think the difficulty maxes before 100K so shoot for that.Metalliknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-70439126289323494352020-05-08T21:44:51.847-04:002020-05-08T21:44:51.847-04:00Played this one for hours on my VCS back in the da...Played this one for hours on my VCS back in the day!<br /><br />Probably more challenging for 9-10 year olds...<br />arthurdawghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15045699163846794998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-78485428658510892462020-05-05T13:11:16.038-04:002020-05-05T13:11:16.038-04:00Interesting, maybe I’ll do some experiments to iso...Interesting, maybe I’ll do some experiments to isolate the cause. The lag is so large I have to consciously compensate for it when maneuvering to shoot enemies. RetroAnalysthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10633021712932756737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-234184206655426762020-05-05T11:25:46.812-04:002020-05-05T11:25:46.812-04:00It's my non-expert understanding that the VCS ...It's my non-expert understanding that the VCS has crazy <i>low</i> input lag. NES games have a 1-frame delay on real hardware, and SNES games have a 3-frame or higher delay, but Atari games can process input on a per-scanline basis. I've seen in hypothesized, but not proven, that Todd Rogers' "impossible" Dragster record works because of this. Of course, if you're using a flat panel with high input lag (mine measures 33.8ms and would be ranked "great" by displaylag.com), then that all goes out the window. I'm pretty sure de-interlacing adds some serious lag on any screen, which isn't an issue if you emulate.<br /><br />I don't have a real Atari joystick - I'm sure the game would be more difficult with one.Ahabhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04131989140638867919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-18952365125171497322020-05-05T09:55:08.212-04:002020-05-05T09:55:08.212-04:00On my 2600 system, this was more challenging, perh...On my 2600 system, this was more challenging, perhaps because of crazy input lag and a rigid joystick. Don’t know if my system is representative of what they were like back in the day, but that could help explain its popularity.RetroAnalysthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10633021712932756737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6264881409789872629.post-75755642853046659592020-05-04T14:10:01.513-04:002020-05-04T14:10:01.513-04:00This was a load of fun on my family's Atari 80...This was a load of fun on my family's Atari 800XL computer back in the 80's. As you said, it's not much of a challenge, but it's probably on par with the games that were gobbling quarters back then.Raifieldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08478524519453417677noreply@blogger.com