31 replies to this topic

[swlovinist]

I might have a possible prototype.  A recent find by a close friend has unearthed a cart with a typed label titled Astro Grover.  I was curious on if this cart has ever been found for the 5200.  I plan on updating this post with pics and video by end of the week.  Stay tuned.  At this time the proto is not for sale.  Stay tuned.

[Crimefighter]

Tempest? Ideas on this one?

[swlovinist]

here are some pics,  Game was tested.  Appears to be a final like the label says.  Complete with sound.  All five levels were playable.  I used the reset on the numberpad to select different levels.  

http://s268.photobuc...ro Grover cart/

[Allan]

swlovinist, on Mon May 30, 2011 9:00 PM, said:

I might have a possible prototype.  A recent find by a close friend has unearthed a cart with a typed label titled Astro Grover.  I was curious on if this cart has ever been found for the 5200.  I plan on updating this post with pics and video by end of the week.  Stay tuned.  At this time the proto is not for sale.  Stay tuned.

No it never has. Your friend has a one-of-a-kind. Do you know what your friend wants to do with it?

Missed that last part about not wanting to sell it. This game was made for the 8-bit computers as well.

Here it is at Atarimania if anybody wants to see what it is like.

http://www.atarimani...grover_362.html

Allan

Edited by Allan, Tue May 31, 2011 4:56 AM.

[Tempest]

Oh wow, another CCW 5200 proto has shown up.  Astro Grover was planned for the 5200, but no one has ever found a prototype of it until now.  As Allan pointed out, the 8-bit version of the game WAS released.  The 5200 version should be identical, but there may be minor differences.

Very cool find!  One of a kind to be sure.

Tempest

[Allan]

My guess is that the Big Bird game was done as well. The only other un-released kids game that I've ever seen mentioned was Donald Duck but since this wasn't a Sesame Street character I'm guessing it was being done "in-house" since there has never been any mention that Disney did any games back then.

Now were the heck is Elevator Action, CRYSTAL CASTLES, FOOD FIGHT, GALAGA ,GRAVITAR, HIGHWAY, ORBITER, SKIING and SUBTERFUGE?

Allan

[Tempest]

Allan, on Tue May 31, 2011 8:18 AM, said:

My guess is that the Big Bird game was done as well.

Yes it was.  A proto of it showed up last year (minus sound), but it was auctioned off and not dumped AFAIK.  I wonder what happened to it?

Allan, on Tue May 31, 2011 8:18 AM, said:

Now were the heck is Elevator Action, CRYSTAL CASTLES, FOOD FIGHT, GALAGA ,GRAVITAR, HIGHWAY, ORBITER, SKIING and SUBTERFUGE?

Orbiter was just an early name for the game that eventually became The Last Starfighter.  Subterfuge is believed to be an early name for Cloak & Dagger.  Elevator action *may* exist somewhere, but Crystal Castles was never ported to the 5200 (the 8-bit version was almost done and eventually finished and released for the XE).  

As for Galaga, Food Fight, Gravitar, Highway, and Skiing, your guess is as good as mine.

Tempest

[Allan]

Tempest, on Tue May 31, 2011 9:00 AM, said:

Elevator action *may* exist somewhere

You mean like here http://www.digitpres...es/arc00085.htm

Allan

[Tempest]

Allan, on Tue May 31, 2011 9:44 AM, said:

Tempest, on Tue May 31, 2011 9:00 AM, said:

Elevator action *may* exist somewhere

You mean like here http://www.digitpres...es/arc00085.htm

Allan

I was told that they actually never found the proto.  They were going off of what Joe told them.

Tempest

[Crimefighter]

Tempest, on Tue May 31, 2011 7:15 AM, said:

Oh wow, another CCW 5200 proto has shown up.  Astro Grover was planned for the 5200, but no one has ever found a prototype of it until now.  As Allan pointed out, the 8-bit version of the game WAS released.  The 5200 version should be identical, but there may be minor differences.

Very cool find!  One of a kind to be sure.

Tempest

The obvious one - the copyright date.

[Greg2600]

Very cool, my cousins' had this game when we were little, I think for DOS, which looked terrible.

Astro-Grover and another 8-bit release Ernie's Magic Shapes were significantly upgraded and ported into a single NES game, Sesame Street 1-2-3.  I wonder if the Ernie game was ported to 5200 in design phase, too?  

The Big Bird game Allan I think you are referring to was Muppet go Round, aka Letter Go Round, maybe?  That was found a few months ago, sold privately, and never dumped/released for the public.  It had no sound.  Letter Go Round was released on Atari 8-bit, and later part of the NES title, Sesame Street A-B-C, which also included a mini-game called Ernie's Big Splash, which by looks I think was something newly developed in 1989.  

Big Bird's Special Delivery was released for 8-bit, but to my knowledge I've yet to see any 5200 port surface.  Ducks Ahoy! was the Donald Duck game.  Lastly on Atari 8-bit they released Big Bird's Funhouse.  All of these games on computer back then were published by CBS.

Edited by Greg2600, Thu Jun 2, 2011 11:09 PM.

[Allan]

Greg2600, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 11:08 PM, said:

The Big Bird game Allan I think you are referring to was Muppet go Round, aka Letter Go Round, maybe?  That was found a few months ago, sold privately, and never dumped/released for the public.  It had no sound.  Letter Go Round was released on Atari 8-bit, and later part of the NES title, Sesame Street A-B-C, which also included a mini-game called Ernie's Big Splash, which by looks I think was something newly developed in 1989.  

No, that's a different one.

http://www.atarimani...nhouse_617.html

Here's Muppet-go-round which was changed to letter-go-round but is the same game.

http://www.atarimani...round_4595.html

Allan

[Allan]

Greg2600, on Thu Jun 2, 2011 11:08 PM, said:

Ducks Ahoy! was the Donald Duck game.  Lastly on Atari 8-bit they released Big Bird's Funhouse.  All of these games on computer back then were published by CBS.

Yea, your probably right about this one. Since they removed any reference to 'Donald' and Disney.

http://www.atarimani...-ahoy_1757.html

Allan

[Atari Joe]

I never knew Grover had feet before. I bid $1200 for this game if your friend might sell pm me if interested thanks.

Edited by Atari Joe, Fri Jun 3, 2011 11:37 PM.

[tz101]

I can't meet Atari Joe's offer, but bid the $20 that I can afford. PM me if interested.

[swlovinist]

Game is going to the home of a fellow PRGE organizer.  It never was really  for sale.   I plan on doing a video of the proto later today.  I will apologize ahead of time about how the video turned out

[Tempest]

Will the Rom be released?  If not will it at least be dumped for archival purposes?  I'd hate to see this one disappear like Muppet Go Round did.

Tempest

[swlovinist]

I am sure that the rom will be released eventually.  Unclear on when, but I will let the owner decide to work that one out.  I have had some video issues so hopefully I can showcase this tonight or tomorrow.

Edited by swlovinist, Mon Jun 6, 2011 9:55 PM.

[swlovinist]

still having video issues....plan on having bad video of it by end of week...

[swlovinist]

here it is.  Again please forgive the video, I was half awake and still recovering from SRGE when I did it.

[Allan]

Cool. Thanks for making the video.

Allan

[moycon]

Thank you for showing this off. Very cool!  

[Andre81]

swlovinist, on Mon Jun 6, 2011 9:55 PM, said:

I am sure that the rom will be released eventually.  Unclear on when, but I will let the owner decide to work that one out.  I have had some video issues so hopefully I can showcase this tonight or tomorrow.

Would be nice if the ROM would be released and then a reproduction made with a new box here on AA.

[Greg2600]

The prototype this person found is not finished, it doesn't even have sound.  As I've pointed out, the better approach would be to take the fully completely Atari 8-bit release of Astro Grover and convert that to the 5200.

[swlovinist]

Greg2600, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 10:04 PM, said:

The prototype this person found is not finished, it doesn't even have sound.  As I've pointed out, the better approach would be to take the fully completely Atari 8-bit release of Astro Grover and convert that to the 5200.

The version that I showcased is complete with sound and all levels.  No need to convert.  The owner will have to decide what he wants to do with the cart.