Has anyone here ever thought of including/making a "Pong" core?

Libretro Cores
#1

I’ve seen thousands of Open Source Pong Clone Variations on the internet, and none of them are ‘just right’ in my opinion.

Either they’re a one-off thing aimed towards specific platforms, haven’t been touched in years, or they’re just plain dull and featureless.

And then I thought:

"What if there’s a ‘Virtual Pong Console’ somewhere out there?"

Specifically aimed towards including as many features to emulate the feel of an actual Pong Console as possible. Including switching between the various Pong game mods, configuring your own control scheme, switching between themes, choosing colours, choosing sound effects, ball speed, AI/COM difficulty etc.

Along with an entire slew of additional features like Online Play (maybe competitive), a game mode randomiser, leader-boards etc.

This entertainingly vulgar video might explain everything better:

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#2

There is a pong core called “gong” that was written by a former contributor as an easter egg but has since been broken off into its own core:

However, it’s pretty basic and doesn’t include any of the things you suggested, which I agree would be very fun/cool.

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#3

Just reminded me of an old PC game called Pong Kombat. it had special moves and fatalities!

#4

I never played that one, but I played the shit out of a shareware MacOS 9 game called Mortal Pongbat where you could get weapons like a laser that blasted holes in the opponent’s paddle, etc.

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#5

I just checked out a video for Mortal Pongbat, it looks much more polished than Pong Kombat.

Video for Pong Kombat - 1994 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OtF2l147b4

#6

lol that looks truly awful. Mortal Pongbat was a lot of fun but its gameplay connection to Mortal Kombat was … not really there, except in a very abstract sense. I guess that’s one area where Pong Kombat has an edge.

#7

Not to mention Mobile support. I don’t see it anywhere in the Android core repository.

I mean, controlling the paddle by touch, or by mouse, would be a welcome addition to start off with, maybe even an on-screen cylinder turn-wheel.

You also forgot to link the Source Code:

#8

We’re sitting on a gold-mine here people! It would be a waste not to take advantage of it.

#9

I’m actually kind of Surprised that DICE isn’t implemented in a similar way to how Game & Watch games are.