Mocha 1.0 by Brad Grier


This document is under construction. It covers some of the less obvious features of Mocha but is by no means a comprehensive guide.

Keyboard Mapping

Most CoCo keys have a PC equivalent. The ones that aren't obvious are listed below:

Back Quote = SHIFT 0 (CoCo caps lock)
Esc = Break
SHIFT \ = SHIFT @ (Pause - good for pausing the LIST command)
DELETE = CLEAR

Joystick

The joystick can be emulated with the mouse or keyboard. Cycle through the options using the list box on the lower right corner of the applet. "Mouse Right" means the right joystick is controlled with the mouse. "Mouse Left" means the left joystick is controlled with the mouse. "Key Right" is right joystick via keyboard and "Key Left" is left joystick via keyboard. See below for information on the "Dual Key" options.

Mouse emulation most closely represents the CoCo's analog joystick but it's hard to control most games. When using this mode, move the cursor over the center of the CoCo screen to change the joystick values - the cursor will change to a crosshair while over this area. The left mouse button emulates the joystick button. See below for the more useful bounded-mouse emulation.

Keyboard emulation works for many programs and is far easier to use. The following keys represent the joystick: Numlock 8 is up, Numlock 5 is down, Numlock 4 is left and Numlock 6 is right. The control key (or Numlock 0) is the joystick button. Make sure NUMLOCK is on! If you're using a laptop or a keyboard without traditional NUMLOCK keys, try using one of the 'Dual Key' modes described below.

Shortcut Keys

F1=Pause
F2=Reset
F3=Power
F5=Cycle Artifacting
F6=Toggle Sound
F7=Select Joystick
F8=Take Snapshot
F9=Restore Last Saved Snapshot

Dual-Joystick Mode

Select "Dual Key L" or "Dual Key R" from the Joystick list to enter dual-joystick mode. While in this mode, the 'T', 'F', 'G', 'H' and 'SPACE' keys get disabled as "CoCo" keys and instead serve as a second emulated joystick. This allows two-player games and games requiring two joysticks to work in keyboard joystick mode. Note: the numpad joystick uses Numpad 0 as the joystick button (ctrl is disabled in this mode).

Bounded-Mouse Joystick Emulation

If this box is checked on the "Config" tab, the user can "draw" the bounded mouse area with the right mouse button - this area should exactly match where the player's sprite can move on the screen. For certain games like Bustout, Polaris, Clowns and Balloons, Catch 'Em, Catepillar, etc, the game's sprite will follow the mouse cursor exactly! The bounded area must be defined by dragging while holding down the right mouse button (the game will pause while dragging). Very useful.

Video Artifacting

In the two color 256x192 graphics mode it was possible to achieve four or more colors using artifacting. Certain sequences of pixels look like shades of red or blue on an NTSC television. Mocha simulates this mode when Comp R/B or Comp B/R is selected from the artifact drop-down list.

The "Basic" modes are really low resolution four color modes that look fine with some games. If you don't have the horsepower for artifacting, you might want to use this default method. Artifacting can also be turned off completely to show just black and white. Some games like Dungeons of Daggorath actually work well this way.

Recommended Java

This version of Mocha requires JDK 1.3 or higher to run. The latest build of Java 5 is recommended for maximum speed and reliability. On Windows, use "High Quality Sound" with Java 5 if you experience audio corruption.