How do you play Wiz Ball?
CDKAISER
Okay, European game fanatics:
How do you play Wiz Ball? The graphics are great and the music is sweet,
but the instructions are useless! Holding down the button to control Cat
doesn't appear to do anything, and I can't seem to switch between "icons".
What does the manual mean by "wiggling" the stick? More confusing is the
disk I have for my 128 shows a different screen layout than the version
that runs on C64S 2.0A. Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks in advance!
Cameron Kaiser
spe...@calvin.ptloma.edu
Colin Ward
Cdka...@cris.com (CDKAISER) wrote:
>Okay, European game fanatics:
>How do you play Wiz Ball? The graphics are great and the music is sweet,
>but the instructions are useless! Holding down the button to control Cat
>doesn't appear to do anything, and I can't seem to switch between "icons".
>What does the manual mean by "wiggling" the stick? More confusing is the
>disk I have for my 128 shows a different screen layout than the version
>that runs on C64S 2.0A. Can anyone shed some light on this?
How do you play Wizball? HOW DO YOU PLAY WIZBALL? Man, you've missed
out on the best years of your life not playing this for the last ten
years... :-)
I admit it is difficult at first. To change the icons at the top you
have to collect these shiny "orbs" that appear randomly when you shoot a
heap of baddies. When you first start, though, shooting anything that is
around will make an orb appear. When the first icon lights up, wiggle the
joystick left and right *real* fast, like in the old joystick breaking
games like Combat School - and I mean real fast and vicious. That will
give you some left/right thrust so that you don't bounce around
uncontrollably. Then get another orb and wiggle again to get anti-gravity.
Now get three more orbs to make the third icon light up - wiggle and you've
got wizzcat to help.
At first you start bouncing around and can't control yourself very well
until you get thrust and anti-gravity, so the trick is to tap the joystick
left/right when you are bouncing so that Wiz slowly rotates - then when you
hit the ground he will bounce in the direction that he is rotating. But
you have to be pretty patient here 'cause if you rotate too fast then
you'll surely smash into one of the twirly things that you have to shoot to
get an orb...
Anyway, this was surely the most classic game on the c64. If there are
any Amiga freaks lurking around here then you will be interested to know
that I am working on an Amiga port. Yeah I know that it was released for
the Amiga years ago but it was terrible! This one will feel exactly the
same and will have graphics, maps and music ripped from the original. It
will also work on AGA and CyberGraphX based systems. So it'll work on the
lowly A1200 (don't know about the 500) right up to the latest
68060/CyberVision 64-3D Amiga, and also on the A\Box when it comes out
(different PowerPC binary).
If anyone is interested I'm after a *quality* grafix dude to redraw all
of the grafix to bring the game a little more up to date (so you can play
with the original grafix or 90's remix grafix) and maybe someone to remix
the music in Protracker. So if anyone is interested then by all means
E-Mail me! Mind you, the grafix or music will have to be high quality to
be worthy of going into the great Wizball! :-)
I reckon that a remix of this game would go down very well amoung old
fans of it...
/----------------------------------------------------------------------\
[Hitman/Code HQ - 6502/68000/80386 & soon A4000/PowerPC ]
[Assembly Lover since 1987! Proud member of Team AMIGA ]
[OS coding/Hardware hitting/Demos/Games/Modules - c64, Amiga & PC ]
[I'm a pogrammar.. I'm a programor... I'm a progemmar... I write code. ]
\----------------------------------------------------------------------/
Wolfgang Stoeggl
CDKAISER wrote:
>
> Okay, European game fanatics:
> How do you play Wiz Ball? The graphics are great and the music is sweet,
> but the instructions are useless!
border) of the screen are blinking.
Move the joystick left and right very fast for several times. This is
wiggling. The first one is to gain speed, then different weapons, a
satellite, .. invisibility. Use the satellite to collect the drops
falling off from several sprites after shooting them. It is the aim of
the game to color all the levels with the collected drops. You have to
get different colors to mix them at the wizard's. you can go down tubes
to change between levels.
Any further questions? Just ask me.
Wolfgang
--
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/
_/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/
_/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/
Wolfgang Stoeggl
OMA: Wolfgang...@uibk.ac.at
URL: http://pcwww.uibk.ac.at/s06user/csaa2031/
toast
Cdka...@cris.com (CDKAISER) wrote:
>Okay, European game fanatics:
>How do you play Wiz Ball?
For hours at a time, forsaking food and family ... this game ranks as my
all time favorite C=64 game. I wore out two joysticks playing this during
a six month WestPac while in the US Navy.
>The graphics are great and the music is sweet,
>but the instructions are useless! Holding down the button to control Cat
>doesn't appear to do anything, and I can't seem to switch between "icons".
>What does the manual mean by "wiggling" the stick?
When you first start you'll find that you just bounce up and down. if you
use the joystick to *slowly* start yourself rotating, you'll move in the
direction of rotation after a bounce. Shoot everything that comes at you,
and pick up the orbs that many of them drop. Once you have an orb, wiggle
your joystick *very* fast to get the power associated with that number of
orbs. You'll see the association between the orbs and the icons ...
And then there's the paint blobs ...
>More confusing is the
>disk I have for my 128 shows a different screen layout than the version
>that runs on C64S 2.0A. Can anyone shed some light on this?
There's a 128 version? Could you send it to me?
Jim
--
The "Wu-Tang Forever" double CD is expected to debut at No. 1 this week
even though no rappers were killed during the making of this album.
-- Newsweek
Ojala Pasi 'Albert'
In article <5pcvsu$2...@proxy5.proxy.ozemail.net>,[..]
Well, it took a lot of time to figure out (without any instructions)
what to do with the 'cat'. Somehow by accident I collected the right
amount of the base colors (were they red/green/blue?) for a screen
and was happily surprised.
The best game I have ever played on a C64, and very much fun for
2 players (team mode) also. Played it 'through' a couple of times
(the game restarts with nastier enemies after the 'last' screen(s)).
>that I am working on an Amiga port. Yeah I know that it was released for
>the Amiga years ago but it was terrible!
Yes it was. A big disappointment. The gameplay was sluggish and the
graphics was *WORSE* than in the C64 version.. I for one would be
very interested in a better version for Amiga.
-Pasi
--
"I'm ready to go back on duty, sir."
"Good, I've had my fill of double shifts."
"Perhaps we'll remember that the next time Ms. Sakai visits the station."
-- Ivanova and Sinclair in Babylon 5:"TKO"
Jason
Toast [re: Wizball]:
> There's a 128 version? Could you send it to me?
There isn't a C128 version, but most of the .D64 files around are based on
the NTSC version of the game. Wizball PAL uses upper and lower borders for
it's status panels, an area too large for the NTSC screen to keep them
visible, so the two panels switch back and forth in part of one border
(if memory serves) instead. The game is no different, just the display...
--
Jason =-)
_______________________________________________________________________
TMR / / / / / / / /\
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David Evans
>out on the best years of your life not playing this for the last ten
>years... :-)
>
Yep--a truly excelent game. One where thhe 64 version was way better than
the sad Amiga port (I'm trying to remember who did it--same people who did
Arkanoid II--ugh!)
>When the first icon lights up, wiggle the
>joystick left and right *real* fast, like in the old joystick breaking
>games like Combat School - and I mean real fast and vicious.
An Epyx 500XJ works wonders for this.
> Anyway, this was surely the most classic game on the c64. If there are
>any Amiga freaks lurking around here then you will be interested to know
>that I am working on an Amiga port.
Well...
>Yeah I know that it was released for
>the Amiga years ago but it was terrible!
Glad to see that you agree with me!
--
David Evans (NeXTMail/MIME OK) dfe...@bbcr.uwaterloo.ca
Computer/Synth Junkie http://bbcr.uwaterloo.ca/~dfevans/
University of Waterloo "Default is the value selected by the composer
Ontario, Canada overridden by your command." - Roland TR-707 Manual
Sp...@spam-free.uucp
Colin Ward (co...@leprechaun.com.au) wrote:
> Cdka...@cris.com (CDKAISER) wrote:
> >Okay, European game fanatics:
> >but the instructions are useless! Holding down the button to control Cat
> >doesn't appear to do anything, and I can't seem to switch between "icons".
> >disk I have for my 128 shows a different screen layout than the version
> >that runs on C64S 2.0A. Can anyone shed some light on this?
>
> out on the best years of your life not playing this for the last ten
> years... :-)
I missed out on the best years of my life playing it. ;)
--
+-\___ ___ ______ __ __/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\=/=\-+
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|:__ \: _:: :: : @# '') Spammers, E-mail me for my real address... |
`(____/|_|><|_||_|><><\__3- - -* <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>'
nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
In article <33c0721d....@news.primenet.com>, to...@primenet.com (toast) writes:
> Cdka...@cris.com (CDKAISER) wrote:
>>More confusing is the
>>disk I have for my 128 shows a different screen layout than the version
>>that runs on C64S 2.0A. Can anyone shed some light on this?
> There's a 128 version? Could you send it to me?
I suspect this isn't a c128 version. He only mentions different screen
layouts, so it's quite possible one is the PAL version and the other is
the NTSC version. (The NTSC version seems to be the prevalent one on
the Internet, unfortunately.)
I suspect, since there's not enough room on an NTSC screen to have sprites
visible in both the top -and- bottom borders, sensible software decided to
put the sprites in just the bottom-border. Whenever you collect an orb,
the sprites change to the weapon-icons. Whenever the cat collects ink-
drips, the sprites change to the colour-cauldrons. (And when nothing
much is being collected, I think it switches between the two at regular
intervals.)
Personally I -much- prefer the PAL version, where the weapon-icons are
in the top-border, and the colour-caudrons are in the botton-border.
Then I can see either at a glance. (Of course, if I used Wizball on
an NTSC c64, my opinion might be different.)
Maybe CDkaiser can tell me if I'm right on this?
Cheers,
Nathan.
(nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz)
PS: Can anyone tell me where there's a nice hacked and compressed
version of the *PAL* version of Wizball? I've only got one
which is part of a compilation-disk.
CDKAISER
>>>More confusing is the
>>>disk I have for my 128 shows a different screen layout than the version
>> There's a 128 version? Could you send it to me?
I mean, the one I run on my 128 (in 64 mode). Sorry if this caused confusion!
(muttering something about checking his antecedents ... :-)
>I suspect, since there's not enough room on an NTSC screen to have sprites
>visible in both the top -and- bottom borders, sensible software decided to
>put the sprites in just the bottom-border. Whenever you collect an orb,
>the sprites change to the weapon-icons. Whenever the cat collects ink-
>drips, the sprites change to the colour-cauldrons. (And when nothing
>much is being collected, I think it switches between the two at regular
>intervals.)
Yep, that's exactly what it does. Irksome; the layout claimed in the manual is
what I now know is the PAL version. (And I agree, it's much cleaner, logical
and less maddening). But at least I can play it now, and it's a lot of fun!
>Maybe CDkaiser can tell me if I'm right on this?
You are.
>PS: Can anyone tell me where there's a nice hacked and compressed
> version of the *PAL* version of Wizball? I've only got one
> which is part of a compilation-disk.
I can't find this either; all the versions on frodo and its mirrors are NTSC.
Oh well.
Cameron Kaiser
spe...@calvin.ptloma.edu
J. Patterson
Naked!
nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
In article, Cdka...@cris.com (CDKAISER) writes:
>>I suspect, since there's not enough room on an NTSC screen to have sprites
>>visible in both the top -and- bottom borders, sensible software decided to
>>put the sprites in just the bottom-border.
[snip]
> Yep, that's exactly what it does. Irksome; the layout claimed in the manual is
> what I now know is the PAL version. (And I agree, it's much cleaner, logical
> and less maddening). But at least I can play it now, and it's a lot of fun!
Just as a side-note, the music running 20% slower on the NTSC version, (on
a PAL machine), was the *big* clue that it was NTSC. I found the same when
I d'loaded the (NTSC) version of "Master of the Lamps" too. (As well as
many title-screen changes.) ...The advantage of having seen many of these
titles in the c64's heyday, I know how it *should* sound.
>>Maybe CDkaiser can tell me if I'm right on this?
> You are.
Excellent, I like being right. :-)
>>PS: Can anyone tell me where there's a nice hacked and compressed
>> version of the *PAL* version of Wizball? I've only got one
>> which is part of a compilation-disk.
> I can't find this either; all the versions on frodo and its mirrors are NTSC.
> Oh well.
So what's the PAL version you have, Cameron? (Or do you no-longer have
it?) Is an easily-copyable one? Any chance of sending it my way? :-)
(Or anyone else with a good PAL version.)
Mine's stuck as part of a "Magnificent" compilation, with an options-
menu. :-(
Nathan.
Oliver Klee
>Naked!
Thus, it is far easier to play with your joy-stick... =;-)
. Oliver Klee / Master's Design Group
.. musician, journalist & programmer
... klee"AT"sunrise.informatik.uni-bonn.de
.... ^^ (replace with "@")
Linards Ticmanis
As the first person in the thread mentioned, there seem to be 2 different
versions of Wizball around. One had the icons at the top and the color
"jars" at the bottom of the screen, the other one, which seems to be the
only one on the net, has both at the bottom, alternating between the two.
I could imagine that this was a hack because the upper border in the
emulator might not be broad enough (unless using ccs64) to display the
icons correctly. On the other hand, maybe not.
Does anybody have the first version with both on the screen at the same
time, in any format (Doesn't have to work on emulators, just the real
thing) ?
Linards Ticmanis
The Master said, "The business of laying on the colors follows the
preparation of the plain ground."
If you post a follow-up, I'd appreciate an e-mail copy very much, as my
news feed is slower than (insert your favourite 4 letter word here.)
Oliver Klee
>As the first person in the thread mentioned, there seem to be 2 different
>versions of Wizball around. One had the icons at the top and the color
>"jars" at the bottom of the screen, the other one, which seems to be the
>only one on the net, has both at the bottom, alternating between the two.
>I could imagine that this was a hack because the upper border in the
>emulator might not be broad enough (unless using ccs64) to display the
>icons correctly. On the other hand, maybe not.
AFAIK, the two versions are for NTSC and PAL.
Linards Ticmanis
Never mind that other post. Late isn't always better than never I guess.
--
Linards Ticmanis
The Master said, "The business of laying on the colors follows the
preparation of the plain ground."
If you post a follow-up, I'd appreciate an e-mail copy very much.
nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
In article <33cc424...@news.informatik.uni-bonn.de>, kl...@sunrise.informatik.uni-bonn.de (Oliver Klee) writes:
> On Tue, 15 Jul 1997 22:11:28 +0200, Linards Ticmanis
> <ro...@dialup.rwth-aachen.de> wrote:
>>As the first person in the thread mentioned, there seem to be 2 different
>>versions of Wizball around. One had the icons at the top and the color
>>"jars" at the bottom of the screen, the other one, which seems to be the
>>only one on the net, has both at the bottom, alternating between the two.
>>I could imagine that this was a hack because the upper border in the
>>emulator might not be broad enough (unless using ccs64) to display the
>>icons correctly. On the other hand, maybe not.
> AFAIK, the two versions are for NTSC and PAL.
Correct. The slowness of the NTSC-versions music on a PAL machine is
another big clue that it's meant for NTSC c64's. (Obviously it's using
raster-timing for the music.)
I find it strange that someone would think this is a hack for -emulators-
though... people usually alter the emulator to work for the game, not
vice-versa. (Except for 1541 emulation... which is more trouble than
it's worth, much of the time.)
By the way: Does anyone know of a copy of the PAL version on the Net?
I'd really love to have one without the copy-protection of the one I
have currently.
Thanks,
Nathan.
(nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz)
Uzzy/Entropy
In article <1997Jul18.143516@cantva>, nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz writes
alone PAL version, and another that didn't use undocumented opcodes.
The second was done for the "Magnificent 7" compilation and was
deliberately not using undocumented opcodes.
Unfortunately, I don't know of a version for emulators. A long time ago
I cracked the original of the game, but I guess that's too far back in
history now (it was even old when I cracked it... certainly I don't
have a copy...)
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
| Entropy - Back from the flames of Hell - Entropy |
| Official Entropy Website - http://www.powerfield.demon.co.uk |
| Entropy archive online soon <> all legal 64 Entropy products |
| E-Mail: uz...@powerfield.demon.co.uk <-- use only this E-Mail |
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
Jason
Uzzy/Entropy:
> Actually, there are two PAL versions - one that was the original stand-
> alone PAL version, and another that didn't use undocumented opcodes.
> The second was done for the "Magnificent 7" compilation and was
> deliberately not using undocumented opcodes.
It wasn't for the compilation, the original didn't actually work on some
C64's, so it was corrected. There are two versions of the original Wizball
around, you can tell the difference from the tape loader, the latter one
uses Andrew Challis's Wildsave loader (like Delta) and the former uses
a custom Ocean job, as per Parallax. The tune remains the same on both.
Uzzy/Entropy
In article <970722210...@cosine.demon.co.uk>, Jason
<t...@cosine.demon.co.uk> writes
>Uzzy/Entropy:
>> Actually, there are two PAL versions - one that was the original stand-
>> alone PAL version, and another that didn't use undocumented opcodes.
>> The second was done for the "Magnificent 7" compilation and was
>> deliberately not using undocumented opcodes.
>
>It wasn't for the compilation, the original didn't actually work on some
>C64's, so it was corrected. There are two versions of the original Wizball
>around, you can tell the difference from the tape loader, the latter one
>uses Andrew Challis's Wildsave loader (like Delta) and the former uses
>a custom Ocean job, as per Parallax. The tune remains the same on both.
>--
loader Ocean used later on, after using the Bill Allen loader. It's
easy to tell the different because the border on the loading picture is
white during the loading of the picture.
As for it being for the compilation or not, there probably was a second
stand-alone issue, but I only have the original and the Magnificent 7
version, so I just made the natural assumption.
- Uzzy -
Jason
Jason =-)
> It wasn't for the compilation, the original didn't actually work on some
> C64's, so it was corrected. There are two versions of the original Wizball
> around, you can tell the difference from the tape loader, the latter one
> uses Andrew Challis's Wildsave loader (like Delta) and the former uses
> a custom Ocean job, as per Parallax. The tune remains the same on both.
Uzzy/Entropy:
> Um, not as I recall. The second version uses "Freeload", which is the
> loader Ocean used later on, after using the Bill Allen loader. It's
> easy to tell the different because the border on the loading picture is
> white during the loading of the picture.
From memory, there was the original version (white border), the Wildsave
version (with dark blue stripes, I think, and the second version of the
loading theme) which has fixes of the code that loads of people complained
about and the Freeload (budget/compilation re-release with the John Dunn
tune).
> As for it being for the compilation or not, there probably was a second
> stand-alone issue, but I only have the original and the Magnificent 7
> version, so I just made the natural assumption.
I've got all three and the budget re-release... =-)
nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
Jason <t...@cosine.demon.co.uk> writes:
> Uzzy/Entropy:
>> Actually, there are two PAL versions - one that was the original stand-
>> alone PAL version, and another that didn't use undocumented opcodes.
>> The second was done for the "Magnificent 7" compilation and was
>> deliberately not using undocumented opcodes.
> It wasn't for the compilation, the original didn't actually work on some
> C64's, so it was corrected. There are two versions of the original Wizball
> around, you can tell the difference from the tape loader, the latter one
> uses Andrew Challis's Wildsave loader (like Delta) and the former uses
> a custom Ocean job, as per Parallax. The tune remains the same on both.
Aaaah! (Light dawns.)
So that explains a lot.
The first version of Wizball I ever got my grubby mitts on, (which I was
absolutely -dying- to play), didn't work on my bloody machine! It worked
just fine on all of my friends c64's, just not mine. MAN, that pissed me
off.
And thats why I've been using the Magnificent 7 version ever since.
Never knew it was due to undocumented op-codes... it's good to finally
know the reason this happened. Thanks, Uzzy and Jason.
Nathan.
(nr...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz)
Jason
Jason =-)
> I've got all three and the budget re-release... =-)
Uzzy/Entropy:
> Well there you are. Never knew there was a third version. You learn
> something of no practical use anywhere else in the world in this
> newsgroup every day ;-)
I know, it's *wonderful* isn't it? =-) Okay, so for my next trick I want
to explain why the number of "z"'s in the name Wiz(z)ball seemed to change
between the cover artwork, the cassette panel, the filename, the titles
page and the cheat code.
But I can't! =-)