MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Pong emulation with MAME

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Original Atari PONG (1972) arcade machine gameplay video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiShX2pTz9A

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I am thankful Pong emulation in MAME is far better than it was a few years earlier, but there may be one or two minor issues yet to be fixed. I am glad couriersud has it working far better than it used to be.

Unsure if it is an emulation issue, but I do notice Andy's clip of when Pong pcb is powered up the tv screen images move up and down. And then after inserting a coin credit to begin game, the screen is aligned in place. Current emulation in MAME seems to have net slightly going up and down. iirc there was a mention that the way how Pong appears on the black and white tv set is not possible to emulate because digital monitors on computers will handle video output differently. This had to have been during some MW thread now long gone way back between 2005 to 2010.

I remember the old thread from late 2012 and when my computer wasn't able to run Pong at the time. I am copying some stuff from them here before they vanish since old posts eventually fade out.

Robbbert's post from 10/14/12.

*excerpt, but edited to current status*
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>In pongf, when the ball hits the sides or bottom, the screen jumps vertically.

This was fixed, but it still looks like when running Pong in MAME, the drawn net line seems to slightly jump up and down instead of the entire screen, which is a big improvement.

When the ball hits an edge, there is a momentary but noticeable speck of light in a random part of the screen.

Unsure if this happens with actual Pong pcb.

~~The right side of the field is much larger than the left, its like it is stretched out. It isn't my monitor.~~

Emulation bug that was fixed.

~~It is possible to get the ball to move horizontally, and trap it between both bats, and the game is never-ending.~~

Actual Pong hardware bug.
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And then Stiletto replied on 10/16/12

*excerpt of post*
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See the comments from this guy named "Vigo" in 2009 in comparison to what he thought was an original Pong PCB:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/137964-where-to-find-hires-pictures-of-pong-pcb/
http://www.atariage.com/forums/blog/52/entry-3291-pong-project/#commentsStart

1. Once the ball collides with the horizontal and vertical screen boundaries, it is stretched into the HBLANK and VBLANK area for 1 frame. Actually, that's exactly how I would expect it to behave when looking at the schematics. The simulations don't reflect that.

2. There is a space of 1 pixel between the right score display and the right paddle, when the paddle is on the same level as the score display. On both simulators, there is no space between the right paddle and score display, which looks kind of odd.

3. The graphics are mixed through resistors, which means that all elements are bright grey, and everything which overlaps with the ball is white.

4. I have to investigate it further, but it seems that on the original, the second paddle is displayed 4 more pixels to the right

It seems that his point 1 and 3 are accurately simulated then?

- Stiletto
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