Tiny Bobble Beta Released - A new Bubble Bobble arcade port

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by Foul

Tiny Shinobi

I'm sure everyone on EAB knows how much I'd love a perfect arcade port of Shinobi

If someone actually did this they would be my hero for life

[VincentGR]

Originally Posted by DamienD

I'm sure everyone on EAB knows how much I'd love a perfect arcade port of Shinobi

If someone actually did this they would be my hero for life

Yes and yes

[alkis21]

Thank you again for this amazing game, my daughter and I enjoy playing it very much.

May I ask where I can find the latest version? I don't think the one I have is it, because we can't get past level 99. Some of the enemies cannot be reached, I watched a longplay on Youtube but the moves I saw there are not possible. I read here that 'level 99 is fixed' in the final version.

Also, when I do find this version, can I just replace file aYs_TinyBobble in my hard disk or will I need to reinstall the WHDLoad version?

[DamienD]

Originally Posted by alkis21

Thank you again for this amazing game, my daughter and I enjoy playing it very much.

May I ask where I can find the latest version? I don't think the one I have is it, because we can't get past level 99. Some of the enemies cannot be reached, I watched a longplay on Youtube but the moves I saw there are not possible. I read here that 'level 99 is fixed' in the final version.

Also, when I do find this version, can I just replace file aYs_TinyBobble in my hard disk or will I need to reinstall the WHDLoad version?

I haven't played the WHDLoad version, but i'm positive this wouldn't have been created until the final game was finished.

I've completed the final version .ADF numerous times

Level 99 is difficult though, but all enemies can be reached and it can be done.

[alkis21]

Thank you for the answer, Damien. We'll keep trying, then!

[DamienD]

I had uploaded a video of Level 99 being done, but sadly it looks like it was deleted for some reason: http://eab.abime.net/showpost.php?p=...&postcount=463

If I can find my save states then I can take another one if you like?

[alkis21]

It's been a few weeks since we played it, but IIRC we couldn't make any bubbles when inside this column (the one Bubble is currently in) :



So I looked it up on Youtube, and I tried to do the exact same moves I saw in the video but no matter what, the bubbles kept popping.

[DamienD]

Luckily I still had all my Save States

...so here's a quick video:

https://streamable.com/hncvos

[alkis21]

Thank you so much! There's going to be a very happy little girl this weekend.

[BigD]

@jotd

I know you can't really troubleshoot emulation but just to report that TinyBobble is a bit flakey on the A500 Mini.

It seems to have real problems with the potion collectible which starts the mini game of "collect more of the item than the other player". The screen cuts in and out from black from that point. It also happens eventually anyway within the main game whereby it cuts to black every time you collect something or pop a bubble and then cuts back in! Very weird. Still semi-playable because of the A500 Mini save states so that you can load back to before the glitching happens. Still a great game and I know it works on a 'real' Amiga just fine.

[jotd]

that's more an issue that the game developpers should deal with. I really can't fix that

And besides I don't even have a A500 mini or plan to buy one. It's an (imperfect) emulation issue as you said.

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by jotd

that's more an issue that the game developpers should deal with. I really can't fix that

And besides I don't even have a A500 mini or plan to buy one. It's an (imperfect) emulation issue as you said.

Really it's the emulation that's not quite right, as opposed to the game developer's problem to deal with. Before we know it mate we'll be supporting the games on the A500 mini.

[jotd]

Yeah, not gonna happen.

WinUAE emulation is pretty much perfect (actually it tends to hide issues instead of showing some). Let's just wait for the emulation to improve

Keeping the real A1200/060 on my desk.

[Retro-Nerd]

Amiberry is a stripped-down version of WinUAE for low end CPUs. Probably based on a far older WinUAE core. There are enough reports that game xyz has issues or even refuses to work. 100% emulator accuracy comes with a price, nothing a week CPU inside the Mini can offer.

[pink^abyss]

Originally Posted by BigD

@jotd

I know you can't really troubleshoot emulation but just to report that TinyBobble is a bit flakey on the A500 Mini.

It seems to have real problems with the potion collectible which starts the mini game of "collect more of the item than the other player". The screen cuts in and out from black from that point. It also happens eventually anyway within the main game whereby it cuts to black every time you collect something or pop a bubble and then cuts back in! Very weird. Still semi-playable because of the A500 Mini save states so that you can load back to before the glitching happens. Still a great game and I know it works on a 'real' Amiga just fine.

Tiny Bubble has a slightly uncommon hardware usage by using copper list blits with 5 bitplanes and a 256 pixel wide display (perhaps only game with this setup). So emulation that works fine with most titles could fail here.

[BigD]

@pink^abyss

Thanks for your thoughts. It only shows itself later in the game and can play rock solid for 20 levels or so. If I load my save state it doesn't necessarily show itself for another 20 levels and is not easily replicated but the potion pickup is definitely a trigger of sorts, maybe because of the amount of collectibles on screen at once?

[BigD]

It might be linked to a player getting a new Hi-Score! It doesn't seem to like you doing that and it breaks the game on The A500 Mini!

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by BigD

It might be linked to a player getting a new Hi-Score! It doesn't seem to like you doing that and it breaks the game on The A500 Mini!

Direct your question to Retro games Ltd, not the developer of the game who likely spent a long time testing the game on real hardware.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by mcgeezer

Direct your question to Retro games Ltd, not the developer of the game who likely spent a long time testing the game on real hardware.

Yes, I totally accept it's not up to pink^abyss to help out and the game works great on real hardware. I am just aware that fishy_fis on AmigaWorld claims that the game can be configured to work flawlessly on The A500 Mini. He seems like the sort of guy that can hack the system to run Workbench within a week of launch so I have no doubt it's possible for coders/hackers but I have to say that the regular users and target market may be struggling. I am just keen that these great ports and recent releases get the showcase that they deserve on this new system. That's all.

[BigD]

Originally Posted by pink^abyss

Tiny Bubble has a slightly uncommon hardware usage by using copper list blits with 5 bitplanes and a 256 pixel wide display (perhaps only game with this setup). So emulation that works fine with most titles could fail here.

The problem seems to be resolvable if running the ADF version (which allows read/writing of the high score data etc). However, since THE A500 Mini doesn't currently support ADFs out of the box, how easy would it be to disable the high score auto-save function to allow seemless play in the meantime?