Dynamic RAM is typically used in computers because it is cheaper than Static RAM.
Dynamic RAM must be periodically refreshed by an access to RAM or the data contained within the RAM cell decays. Static RAM does not need refreshing, all it needs is a steady supply of power. Computers typically had a method of refreshing the RAM, often tied to the video controller, which refreshes the screen fifty or sixty times per second. Steve Wozniak for example used a unified memory architecture where the video controller circuitry would access the RAM 50-60 times per second, which was sufficiently reliable to keep the RAM contents from degrading.
Virtually all vintage home computers used discrete DRAM chips. However, if you look at the printed circuit board of any old computer, you will see memory chips in columns of eight (or nine) chips. Why is that? This is because a DRAM chip typically holds one bit of data for each memory cell. So you need eight chips to hold a byte. By contrast, you only need one SRAM chip to hold a byte. Despite the need for a refresh circuit and the extra space and complexity required to interface eight DRAM chips compared to one SRAM chip, DRAM was still so much cheaper that it was almost always used.
Vintage consoles more often used SRAM because it made their boards cheaper to manufacture, an important concern when you intend to sell millions of systems based on the same board design. The Atari 2600 used 128 bytes of SRAM, but it was embedded within the RIOT chip. The Atari 5200 used 16KB of DRAM chips, but it was based on the design of the Atari 8-bit computers. The Colecovision uses 1KB of DRAM chips for CPU memory but also a 16KB SRAM chip for the video memory. The NES uses 2KB SRAMs for CPU and PPU memory, but its sprite RAM uses embedded DRAM on the CPU. The SNES uses DRAM throughout, which tends to cause the white stripe issue with its video due to the refresh signal.
In a system with a sixteen bit data bus, you need sixteen chips. In this system, the CPU deals in two bytes (a word) at a time. So the first eight chips hold one byte and the second eight chips hold the next byte. An earlier IBM PC AT system has two banks of eighteen chips each (see parity below). When fully populated, you will have a whopping 512KB of RAM. Each socket uses a pair of 64Kb chips, one piggybacked on top of the other, for 128Kb. So each row of chips provides 128KB. The CPU sees a pair of rows in a 128Kx16bit configuration, but in real purposes you have 256x8bits.
IBM systems, except for the PCjr., use parity memory. Parity memory uses a ninth DRAM chip for each eight DRAM chips. The extra chip is not usable memory, it instead alerts the system to a memory error.
By the mid eighties, some companies were using four bit DRAMs. Four bit DRAMs hold four times the bit capacity as a one bit DRAM. So when you used to need eight chips to form a bank of eight bit DRAM, now you only need two chips.
One bit DRAMs typically have a marking on them like 4116 or 4164, denoting 16Kb and 64Kb parts, respectively. (In this article, a "B" as in KB means byte and a "b" as in Kb means bit). Four bit DRAMs have markings like 4416 and 4464 for the same respective parts. They are also commonly shown as 16Kx1 and 16Kx4.
You can find 1Kb, 4Kb, 16Kb, 64Kb, 256Kb and even 1Mb DRAM chips. You will not find 2Kb, 8Kb, 32Kb, 128Kb or 512Kb chips. Why is that? This is because of the way DRAM is addressed. DRAM is addressed more in a matrix-fashion than a true linear fashion. DRAM uses address lines just like SRAM and ROM chips, but fewer than you would expect.
SRAM can be had in virtually any power of two capacity. 1KB, 2KB, 4KB, 8KB, 16KB, 32KB, 64KB, 128KB, 512KB and 1MB SRAM chips exist. Many chips of the lower capacities can be found in NES and SNES cartridges.
A 64KB SRAM chip has sixteen address lines, but a 64Kb DRAM chip only has eight. We all know that 2^16 = 64KB, right? In order to get to 64Kb in a DRAM chip, you need the Row Access Strobe (RAS) and the Column Access Strobe (CAS) signals. So, first you send a read or write via the address lines and RAS signal, then you send the read or write via the address lines and the CAS signal. Since you are using eight bits twice to get to the correct memory cell, you get your sixteen address bits. If you add a ninth address line to your chip, you will get eighteen bit addressing, which gives you 256Kb. This is why there is no such thing as a 128Kb DRAM chip.
Friday, June 10, 2016
Thursday, June 2, 2016
More HDMI-ifying your Consoles, the UperGrafx for the NEC Turbo/PC Engine Systems
Today I found out about an upcoming Japanese product called the UperGrafx. The UperGrafx, as its name suggests, is intended to be used with a NEC PC Engine. What it does is it upscales the native PC Engine graphics (typically 256, 320 or 512 horizontal pixels by 224 or 239 lines) to the 720p resolution (1280x720). It plugs into the back of the PC Engine, Core Grafx or Core Grafx II, where there is a 69-pin expansion connector. It has also been confirmed to work with the US TurboGrafx-16 expansion connector. It won't work with a PC Engine Shuttle or any of the handhelds, Duos or the SuperGrafx.
Although the Expansion Connector supplies the analog RGB signals, it also supplies a lot more video information. The UperGrafx takes this information and builds a digital picture, then upscales it for the 720p resolution. The UperGrafx works similarly to the NESRGB and HiDef NES Mod.
The PC Engine has sixteen sixteen color palette entries available for backgrounds and sixteen sixteen color palette entries for sprites. The first color entry of all background palettes is set to the universal background color and the first color entry of all sprite palettes is set to transparency. This gives a maximum of 482 colors on the screen at once. The Expansion Connector is constantly outputting these palette indexes on a separate video data bus that usually goes to the Color Encoder chip. Unlike the NES it also has a special signal to distinguish sprite palette indexes from background palette indexes, so you can still view the native video signal. The PC Engine displays 9-bit RGB for 512 colors maximum. The UperGrafx must be able to snoop on the color values stored for each palette index like the NES mods. The full CPU address and data bus is available on the Expansion Connector, so the color values for the palettes have been available. The result, when combined with the dot clock and sync signals, can give a truly digital representation of the screen image. Even better than the NES is the fact that there is no need to guestimate a composite to RGB palette.
There is a minijack next to the DVI port, which would suggest that audio is passed through from the Expansion Connector. The Expansion Connector supports stereo audio. The audio is output through the DVI connector, which is something of a pseudo-standard. Essentially the audio must be converted from analog to digital inside the UperGrafx.
Finally, the unit acts similarly to a Hudson Tennokoe 2 Backup Unit or a NEC Backup Booster. It allows you to save games to battery backed RAM instead of using passwords for those games that supported it. Unlike the original devices, there will be a USB port which you can use to transfer saves to and from the UperGrafx. The original devices came with 2KB of RAM, I do not know how much RAM will be available for the UperGrafx, but it is likely to have more RAM than the old devices.
The greatest benefit to the UperGrafx is that you are getting a pure digital video signal. There is no analog to digital conversion or degradation. There is nothing like jailbars induced by analog noise. When I had an RGB-modded PC Engine Duo last year, I could observe alternating bands of light and dark areas in the green background of Bonk's Adventure through RGB but not through composite. This cannot happen on the UperGrafx.
The second greatest benefit to the UperGrafx is that you do not need to mod your system to get perfect quality video out of it. The original PC Engine and TurboGrafx 16 only support RF output and the Core Grafx only handle composite video. No NEC console handles RGB without a mod, and there are more than one school of thought about what the perfect RGB mod should be. The unit I was using last year had a mod from doujindance, who has an excellent reputation for modding within the PC Engine/Turbo community. However, given the banding in his RGB mod, there is room for improvement.
There are some downsides. First, there is no passthrough for the expansion connector, so you cannot connect a CD-ROM unit. Second, you need a DVI to HDMI cable if your TV or monitor does not have a DVI input, but they are pretty cheap ($5-10). Third, it only upscales to 720p, not the more common 1080p of higher end displays. Fourth, it attaches to the back of the console like an "L", sticking straight up into the air, and there is nothing but friction keeping it attached to the console (not unlike attachments for the ZX Spectrum). Finally, it always displays "UperGrafx" in the borders of the frame, which some people may not appreciate.
So, for the suggested retail price of ¥40,000/$368, why should anyone buy this unit over a Framemeister? The Framemeister costs just as much and can work with almost any system. Also, if you buy this modern version of the Turbo Booster http://db-electronics.ca/product/dbgrafx-booster-ttp/ for $65, you can get the highest quality analog signals (RGB + CSync, S-Video and Composite) at a fraction of the cost.
You can see Jason of game-tech.us test the device and give his initial thoughts here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4baUgr0Ym0
A pure video of the DVI output for the device is available here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN3L1mLRWhs
Here is more information and pictures about the device, translated from Japanese : https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.gdm.or.jp/crew/2016/0423/159899&prev=search
The guy who supplied Jason with the device says that the lag on the device is between 0 and 1 frame. By comparison, kevtris' Hi-Def NES gives lag in the 2-4ms range. One frame is 16ms. The Framemeister gives lag in the 16-24ms range, depending on the settings used. But both the Hi-Def NES and the Framemeister support 1080p. The UperGrafx and the AVS only support 720p. What processing speed advantage given by the pure digital signal may be taken away by the upscaling done by non-true 720p displays (I am not even sure if there is a such thing as a true 1280x720p display). Lag comes from many sources and is quite insidious. Given the large number of shmups for the Turbo/PC Engine where timing is critical, maintaining a latency of well under one frame per second is essential if you want to buy this device over a Framemeister.
Although the Expansion Connector supplies the analog RGB signals, it also supplies a lot more video information. The UperGrafx takes this information and builds a digital picture, then upscales it for the 720p resolution. The UperGrafx works similarly to the NESRGB and HiDef NES Mod.
The PC Engine has sixteen sixteen color palette entries available for backgrounds and sixteen sixteen color palette entries for sprites. The first color entry of all background palettes is set to the universal background color and the first color entry of all sprite palettes is set to transparency. This gives a maximum of 482 colors on the screen at once. The Expansion Connector is constantly outputting these palette indexes on a separate video data bus that usually goes to the Color Encoder chip. Unlike the NES it also has a special signal to distinguish sprite palette indexes from background palette indexes, so you can still view the native video signal. The PC Engine displays 9-bit RGB for 512 colors maximum. The UperGrafx must be able to snoop on the color values stored for each palette index like the NES mods. The full CPU address and data bus is available on the Expansion Connector, so the color values for the palettes have been available. The result, when combined with the dot clock and sync signals, can give a truly digital representation of the screen image. Even better than the NES is the fact that there is no need to guestimate a composite to RGB palette.
There is a minijack next to the DVI port, which would suggest that audio is passed through from the Expansion Connector. The Expansion Connector supports stereo audio. The audio is output through the DVI connector, which is something of a pseudo-standard. Essentially the audio must be converted from analog to digital inside the UperGrafx.
Finally, the unit acts similarly to a Hudson Tennokoe 2 Backup Unit or a NEC Backup Booster. It allows you to save games to battery backed RAM instead of using passwords for those games that supported it. Unlike the original devices, there will be a USB port which you can use to transfer saves to and from the UperGrafx. The original devices came with 2KB of RAM, I do not know how much RAM will be available for the UperGrafx, but it is likely to have more RAM than the old devices.
The greatest benefit to the UperGrafx is that you are getting a pure digital video signal. There is no analog to digital conversion or degradation. There is nothing like jailbars induced by analog noise. When I had an RGB-modded PC Engine Duo last year, I could observe alternating bands of light and dark areas in the green background of Bonk's Adventure through RGB but not through composite. This cannot happen on the UperGrafx.
The second greatest benefit to the UperGrafx is that you do not need to mod your system to get perfect quality video out of it. The original PC Engine and TurboGrafx 16 only support RF output and the Core Grafx only handle composite video. No NEC console handles RGB without a mod, and there are more than one school of thought about what the perfect RGB mod should be. The unit I was using last year had a mod from doujindance, who has an excellent reputation for modding within the PC Engine/Turbo community. However, given the banding in his RGB mod, there is room for improvement.
There are some downsides. First, there is no passthrough for the expansion connector, so you cannot connect a CD-ROM unit. Second, you need a DVI to HDMI cable if your TV or monitor does not have a DVI input, but they are pretty cheap ($5-10). Third, it only upscales to 720p, not the more common 1080p of higher end displays. Fourth, it attaches to the back of the console like an "L", sticking straight up into the air, and there is nothing but friction keeping it attached to the console (not unlike attachments for the ZX Spectrum). Finally, it always displays "UperGrafx" in the borders of the frame, which some people may not appreciate.
So, for the suggested retail price of ¥40,000/$368, why should anyone buy this unit over a Framemeister? The Framemeister costs just as much and can work with almost any system. Also, if you buy this modern version of the Turbo Booster http://db-electronics.ca/product/dbgrafx-booster-ttp/ for $65, you can get the highest quality analog signals (RGB + CSync, S-Video and Composite) at a fraction of the cost.
You can see Jason of game-tech.us test the device and give his initial thoughts here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4baUgr0Ym0
A pure video of the DVI output for the device is available here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN3L1mLRWhs
Here is more information and pictures about the device, translated from Japanese : https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.gdm.or.jp/crew/2016/0423/159899&prev=search
The guy who supplied Jason with the device says that the lag on the device is between 0 and 1 frame. By comparison, kevtris' Hi-Def NES gives lag in the 2-4ms range. One frame is 16ms. The Framemeister gives lag in the 16-24ms range, depending on the settings used. But both the Hi-Def NES and the Framemeister support 1080p. The UperGrafx and the AVS only support 720p. What processing speed advantage given by the pure digital signal may be taken away by the upscaling done by non-true 720p displays (I am not even sure if there is a such thing as a true 1280x720p display). Lag comes from many sources and is quite insidious. Given the large number of shmups for the Turbo/PC Engine where timing is critical, maintaining a latency of well under one frame per second is essential if you want to buy this device over a Framemeister.
Monday, May 30, 2016
Working with ST-506 Interface MFM Hard Drives
If you have an IBM PC, XT or compatible of similar vintage, historically accurate options for mass storage can be a bit tricky to work with. No XT-IDE, compact flash or Disk on Modules were available during the first decade after the release of the IBM PC. Drives were huge but storage capacity was small by today's standards. Still, if you want to go 100% Oldskool PC, you should use a vintage drive. Even a vintage hard drive is far superior to being relegated to floppies.
The first hard drive interface in the PC compatible world came with the IBM PC/XT. The XT included a "fixed disk drive" controller designed by Xebec. The controller used an interface called the ST-506 after Seagate ST-506 hard drive. The ST-506 was a 5MB drive and used a two-cable interface. The IBM original controller only officially supported one type of hard drive in its first two iterations, the ST-412. The ST-412 functioned like the ST-506 but had a 10MB capacity.
Later, Seagate released the ST-225, a 20MB hard drive that could be found in late model XTs and perhaps the IBM PC XT/286. IBM released a final revision of its fixed disk controller to support this drive.
MFM drives can take up a full-height 5.25" drive bay. These bays are seldom found outside the original IBM PC, XT and XT/286. The ST-412 is a full-height drive, the ST-225 is a half-height drive.
The first hard drive interface in the PC compatible world came with the IBM PC/XT. The XT included a "fixed disk drive" controller designed by Xebec. The controller used an interface called the ST-506 after Seagate ST-506 hard drive. The ST-506 was a 5MB drive and used a two-cable interface. The IBM original controller only officially supported one type of hard drive in its first two iterations, the ST-412. The ST-412 functioned like the ST-506 but had a 10MB capacity.
Later, Seagate released the ST-225, a 20MB hard drive that could be found in late model XTs and perhaps the IBM PC XT/286. IBM released a final revision of its fixed disk controller to support this drive.
MFM drives can take up a full-height 5.25" drive bay. These bays are seldom found outside the original IBM PC, XT and XT/286. The ST-412 is a full-height drive, the ST-225 is a half-height drive.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
The RetroUSB AVS - A Potentially Worthy FPGA NES HDMI-Output Clone
This year, bunnyboy (Brian Parker) of retroUSB.com is going to release his long-awaited (if you are a NintendoAge forum member) AVS. The AVS is a clone of the NES done within the programmable logic of an FPGA. It comes in a NES-front loader influenced case, has a front loading 72-pin connector (no push down tray) and a top loading 60-pin connector for NES and Famicom games, respectively. It only outputs HDMI at a 720p resolution.
The FPGA is a hardware recreation of the internals of the NES, namely the 2A03 CPU and the 2C02 PPU, the RAM and the glue logic required for a functioning NES. An FPGA is a large, programmable surface mounted chip which allows the programmer to define the logic elements on the chip. In this case, the programmer is attempting to model the CPU and PPU chips to perform an identical function to the logic contained in the discrete, through-hole chips Nintendo used. Fortunately, these chips have been decapsulated and their dies have been imaged at very high resolution. How they work on the hardware level is reasonably well-known, although there are some minor variations between the various revisions of each chip.
Sunday, May 8, 2016
IBM's CGA Hardware Explained
The IBM Color/Graphics Card has been widely seen as a poor attempt at a video adapter. Released with the IBM PC back in 1981, it was not particularly impressive by the standards of its day. Limited colors and no sprites did not make it very attractive for games. However, when you look at the hardware and what it could do, it becomes more impressive. Even though the card is a full length card, it was built from off the shelf logic chips, memory and video controller. Looking at the hardware also helps one understand the limitations of the device.
The BIOS Modes
Mode 00h - 40x25 B&W
Mode 01h - 40x25 Color
Mode 02h - 80x25 B&W
Mode 03h - 80x25 Color
Mode 04h - 320x200 Color
Mode 05h - 320x200 B&W
Mode 06h - 640x200 B&W
On an RGBI monitor, the identical Color/B&W modes have no distinction except in Modes 04 and 05. On a color composite monitor or TV set, color modes enable the color burst and b&w modes disable the color burst. The IBM PC defaults to the 40x25 or 80x25 B&W modes depending on how you set a dipswitch. Text, especially 80-column text, is much more difficult to read on a composite color display.
The CGA card has 16KB of RAM. A full screen of 40-column text required 2KB of memory, allowing for 8 separate pages. A full screen of 80 column memory required 4KB of memory, allowing for 4 separate pages. Graphics modes took up all the 16KB of memory. In order to really put the CGA card to work, one has to go deeper and look beyond the BIOS and what could be done by accessing its registers directly.
The BIOS Modes
Mode 00h - 40x25 B&W
Mode 01h - 40x25 Color
Mode 02h - 80x25 B&W
Mode 03h - 80x25 Color
Mode 04h - 320x200 Color
Mode 05h - 320x200 B&W
Mode 06h - 640x200 B&W
On an RGBI monitor, the identical Color/B&W modes have no distinction except in Modes 04 and 05. On a color composite monitor or TV set, color modes enable the color burst and b&w modes disable the color burst. The IBM PC defaults to the 40x25 or 80x25 B&W modes depending on how you set a dipswitch. Text, especially 80-column text, is much more difficult to read on a composite color display.
The CGA card has 16KB of RAM. A full screen of 40-column text required 2KB of memory, allowing for 8 separate pages. A full screen of 80 column memory required 4KB of memory, allowing for 4 separate pages. Graphics modes took up all the 16KB of memory. In order to really put the CGA card to work, one has to go deeper and look beyond the BIOS and what could be done by accessing its registers directly.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
Metro ED500 DataVac - A Verse Review
It will blow quite strong,
It will blow rather long,
Enjoy someday the money you will save,
No cans burying you into an early grave,
With nifty attachments to spare,
Away will fly the dust and hair,
Computers and gadgets clean up swell,
But it heats up like hell, and "burnt rubber" fairly conveys its smell.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Worth the Loading Times? - Famicom Disk System to Cartridge Conversions Worth Playing
The Famicom Disk System may offer games that saved to disk and enhanced music and sound effects, but it came at a cost. The disks can fail, the drives' belts can snap and the disk system introduced loading times to the Famicom platform. With devices like the FDSStick, the first two issues have been eliminated but the last issue remains. Here I am going to list all Famicom disk system games with a later port to NES or Famicom cartridge and determine whether the extra features (if any) are worth the drawback of putting up with loading times.
First, here is the list of games :
Bold means that there is in-game Famicom Disk System Expansion Audio music, which is rare.
First, here is the list of games :
| FDS Title / NES Tile (if Different) | What Is Saved? | FDS Audio Sound Effects | FDS Audio Music | Disk Sides |
| Akumajō Dracula / Castlevania | 3 Games | N | N | 2 |
| Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa (Unreleased for NES) | Does not Save | N | Y | 2 |
| Bubble Bobble | Highest Level | N | N | 2 |
| Dr. Chaos | 3 Games | N | N | 2 |
| Dracula II: Noroi no Fūin / Castlevania II: Simon's Quest | 3 Games | N | Y | 2 |
| Exciting Basketball / Double Dribble | Does not Save | Y | Y | 2 |
| Final Command: Akai Yōsai / Jackal | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Green Beret / Rush 'n Attack | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Gun.Smoke | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Gyruss | Does not Save | N | Y | 2 |
| Hao-kun no Fushigi na Tabi / Mystery Quest | 3 Games | Y | Y | 2 |
| Hikari Shinwa: Palthena no Kagami / Kid Icarus | 3 Games | Y | Y | 2 |
| Ice Hockey | Does not Save | N | N | 1 |
| Karate Champ | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Konami Ice Hockey / Blades of Steel | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Zelda no Densetsu / The Legend of Zelda | 3 Games | Y | Y | 2 |
| Metroid | 3 Games | Y | Y | 2 |
| Moero Twinbee: Cinnamon Hakase wo Sukue! / Stinger | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Nazo no Kabe: Block Kuzushi / Crackout | 3 Games | N | N | 2 |
| Pro Wrestling: Famicom Wrestling Association | Does not Save | N | N | 1 |
| Roger Rabbit / The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle | Does not Save | N | N | 2 |
| Section Z | 3 Games | N | N | 2 |
| The Legend of Zelda 2: Link no Bōken / Zelda II: The Adventure of Link | 3 Games | Y | Y | 2 |
| Tobidase Daisakusen / 3-D Battles of the World Runner | Does not Save | N | Y | 2 |
| Volleyball | Does not Save | N | N | 1 |
| Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic / Super Mario Bros. 2 | Worlds Beaten by Each Character | Y | Y | 2 |
| Zanac | Does not Save | N | N | 1 |
Bold means that there is in-game Famicom Disk System Expansion Audio music, which is rare.
Friday, April 29, 2016
Recommendations for Two Player Simultaneous Non-sport NES Games
The NES has quite a few good two player games. When you have a friend over and want to play the NES, it would be nice to have a good game or two ready. However, two player alternating games are not much fun when you are watching the other person play all the time. Not all two-player simultaneous games are great either. Here I am going to give my recommendations for good two player simultaneous NES games. Since I am not a big sports fan, I am excluding those games.
Archon
Archon is like Battle Chess without the strict chess rules. It is a port of the Atari 8-bit game. Each player gets a nearly mirror image set of "pieces" to use, one side representing the Light and the other side representing the Dark. When a piece enters the square of an opposing piece, the players control the pieces in an arena and fight to the death. You can win the game by controlling all five squares or by killing the enemy wizard/sorceress. The various pieces have different strengths and weaknesses. Some pieces have a melee attack, some have a ranged attack and some have a touch attack. The color of the board and some of the squares shifts between light and dark, giving the favored side an advantage. The wizard and sorceror have some one-time use magical spells. As a one player game, the AI is exploitable and cheap, but two players can have a lot of fun with this game. The game is easy to pick up and play and there is plenty of strategy to be employed.
Balloon Fight
Balloon Fight is essentially Nintendo's clone of Joust. The object of the game is to break your opponents' balloons by landing above them. Then you have to kick them off the platform, otherwise they will inflate another balloon. You have to dodge lightning sparks and the computer enemies. Be careful, you can break your friend's balloons just as easily as you can an enemy's. It's pretty simple, but the late Satoru Iwata's classic really captures the spirit of Joust. The control is easy to grasp yet hard to master, like all good Joust ports. Its even better than the official Joust NES port.
Archon
Archon is like Battle Chess without the strict chess rules. It is a port of the Atari 8-bit game. Each player gets a nearly mirror image set of "pieces" to use, one side representing the Light and the other side representing the Dark. When a piece enters the square of an opposing piece, the players control the pieces in an arena and fight to the death. You can win the game by controlling all five squares or by killing the enemy wizard/sorceress. The various pieces have different strengths and weaknesses. Some pieces have a melee attack, some have a ranged attack and some have a touch attack. The color of the board and some of the squares shifts between light and dark, giving the favored side an advantage. The wizard and sorceror have some one-time use magical spells. As a one player game, the AI is exploitable and cheap, but two players can have a lot of fun with this game. The game is easy to pick up and play and there is plenty of strategy to be employed.
Balloon Fight
Balloon Fight is essentially Nintendo's clone of Joust. The object of the game is to break your opponents' balloons by landing above them. Then you have to kick them off the platform, otherwise they will inflate another balloon. You have to dodge lightning sparks and the computer enemies. Be careful, you can break your friend's balloons just as easily as you can an enemy's. It's pretty simple, but the late Satoru Iwata's classic really captures the spirit of Joust. The control is easy to grasp yet hard to master, like all good Joust ports. Its even better than the official Joust NES port.
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