Curt Vendel Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 So lets start the New Year off right, how about yet another BINary file of a unreleased game by Atari !!! Well, Crystal Castles was released, but NOT this original Atari, Inc version from June 1st 84. Crystal Castles for the XE was done by a 3rd party company in 1988 and didn't do the game justice, plus it was a monster in size compared to the original. So why is the original so much smaller, this was due in part to some truly amazing programming done by Paul Metz and William Janhke from Atari. The original June 1, 1984 version is only 16K !!! Enjoy: http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/8bits...ms/cc800-84.bin Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.skid Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Thank you Curt!! It's possible to convert-back the binary to an Atr, so to use it with SIO2PC? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted January 1, 2003 Author Share Posted January 1, 2003 It's a pair of eprom's combined together, its a cartridge so the images would need to be converted to be an .OBJ type file so you could load it as if it was from diskette like through the SIO2PC. One thing you could consider is going to Mark Dil's site and you could buy an 8bit eprom board and take the .BINary file and burn it to a 27128 eprom. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.skid Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 It's a pair of eprom's combined together, its a cartridge so the images would need to be converted to be an .OBJ type file so you could load it as if it was from diskette like through the SIO2PC. One thing you could consider is going to Mark Dil's site and you could buy an 8bit eprom board and take the .BINary file and burn it to a 27128 eprom. Curt Could you tell me address of the Mark Dil's site? Thank you for your advices! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Genius! Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Happy New Year everyone!! Thanks for the binaries Curt!! My web site is at http://www.sunmark.com Also, in mid January I will be releasing my Hollex cartridge! It is like the Cuttle Cart but for Atari computers. You can load almost ANY binaries to the Hollex cart and it will act EXACLTY like the original cartridge! The Hollex cartridge will retain the binaries until you erase them. So, you can power down your Atari computer and turn it on a year later and the game image will still be in the cart!! I am slowly starting to build a library of binaries so everyone can play any games they want!! Just download them and load them to the Hollex cart! Hopefully, by the end of this year, I hope to have 500+ games! You can take a look at what I have available now by going to: http://www.hollex.net Happy New Year!! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Awesome Curt! Now how about a 5200 version? This version is truely amazing, the only down side is that Bently is invincible! I'll have to conpare this to my XE version and see what the differences are. Off the top of my head other than the title screen being different, I swear the monsters in this version move slower but that could just be my imagination... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 This had to be the basis for the officially released version - there are too many similarities IMHO - even if just the graphics lifted from it the XE programmers musta had access to this???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Kaboomer Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 How do I get on a list to purchase this computer cuttle cart? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Can anyone post up a picture? I can't emulate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Awesome Curt! Now how about a 5200 version? This version is truely amazing, the only down side is that Bently is invincible! I'll have to conpare this to my XE version and see what the differences are. Off the top of my head other than the title screen being different, I swear the monsters in this version move slower but that could just be my imagination... Tempest Has anyone done a "side by side" review of both carts? What are the similarities and what are the differences? What one is better? Why did this not get released??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 I'm confused, I know I had Crystal Castles on my 1200XL on a disk. Could that have been the XE version? the disk game I had was not an Atari professional one but a pirate disk I guess, created for me in the late 80's. It looked just like the one you've just found though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 A Beta of Crystal Castles was leaked to the BBS's back in the 80's, which is probably what you had. I don't know how this beta differs from this version however. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oesii Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Can anyone post up a picture? I can't emulate here you go, I remember playing this version in the 80's on disk as well but Bentley wasn't invincible in my version Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted January 2, 2003 Author Share Posted January 2, 2003 I'm confused, I know I had Crystal Castles on my 1200XL on a disk. Could that have been the XE version? the disk game I had was not an Atari professional one but a pirate disk I guess, created for me in the late 80's. It looked just like the one you've just found though. Many beta's were leaked out of a secret area on the old Atari BBS and also there used to posting of Atari's actually mainframe dial up line and people were getting beta, plus piracy within Atari was rampant, Atari almost lost the deal with Lucasfilm on the Ballblazer & Fractalus games when everyone was playing the games at their desks shortly after Lucasfilm brought in evaluation copies... Same thing with the Last Star Fighter and others. Please see if you still have the disk and lets have a look at it and see if it is the same, this BINary like Matt points out has one flaw, unlimited lives for Bentley which isn't a bad thing mind you Someone do a side by side if they can, see if the XE version is more of less the same, just bigger in size, also see if they both have the same amount of castle layouts. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 I took several screenshots earlier before I posted the news article, so here you go. These were snapped in Atari800Win Plus 3.1. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 I'll point out here that the same thing happened with the C64 version of Crystal Castles from Atari... it gone lost in the mists of time also. Though it was released in Europe on tape/disc in Xmas 86 by a third party. And I managed to pick up a proto of it on cart a few months back too... Any other Atarisoft games that didn't make it out officially besides this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.skid Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 I'll point out here that the same thing happened with the C64 version of Crystal Castles from Atari... it gone lost in the mists of time also. Though it was released in Europe on tape/disc in Xmas 86 by a third party. And I managed to pick up a proto of it on cart a few months back too... Any other Atarisoft games that didn't make it out officially besides this? As you wrote, there was two version of CC for 64; the officially released was from Ocean, and it was really bad, compared to the 'unofficial' one that was floating around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Wow, very cool! I need another 800XL tho (er or XE, as I sold it a long time ago since I had the 800) Hollex cart eh? Essentially a Flash cart for the 800/XE? Very cool!! I can't wait! Thanks for the screenshots too guys! Clint Thompson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super-Genius! Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 I actually took the binary and split it into its two respective ROM images. Then, burned them to EPROM's and put them on a cart! It did not work on 400/800/XL, just XE.... http://www.sio2pc.com/software/cc_1.bin http://www.sio2pc.com/software/cc_2.bin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted January 2, 2003 Author Share Posted January 2, 2003 I actually took the binary and split it into its two respective ROM images.Then, burned them to EPROM's and put them on a cart! It did not work on 400/800/XL, just XE.... http://www.sio2pc.com/software/cc_1.binhttp://www.sio2pc.com/software/cc_2.bin Hmmmm, odd.... the original eprom's sent to me work fine on my Atari 800 and 1200XL too... Mark, I will send you the two BIN's that I dumped the other night, try them and see what happens, I don't see any reason why splitting at 0000-0FFF and 1000-1FFF wouldn't work the same though. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 As you wrote, there was two version of CC for 64; the officially released was from Ocean, and it was really bad, compared to the 'unofficial' one that was floating around. That would be US Gold not Ocean... but that one WAS the Atarisoft version that didn't make it out in 84. And yes, it is inferior to the Thundervision version that was also released (which I also have!)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t.skid Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 As you wrote, there was two version of CC for 64; the officially released was from Ocean, and it was really bad, compared to the 'unofficial' one that was floating around. That would be US Gold not Ocean... but that one WAS the Atarisoft version that didn't make it out in 84. And yes, it is inferior to the Thundervision version that was also released (which I also have!)... Really from US Gold and not Ocean? My god, my memory is failing too much... I was sure..... anyway, about the Thundervision release, did you played it? The one I had (and still have somewhere....) freeze at an higher level, and game couldn't follow. The one you have is ok? And, I repeat myself, Thundervision release was better than AtariSoft version! Thank you, also for correction.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Not sure... I was never a great CC player so probably never got high enough (or as far as you) to see if the Thundervision version froze... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clay Cowgill Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 FWIW, that (16K) version appears to be the same one that I ported to the 5200... I have the XE version for comparison, but I don't like it-- it plays way too slow. The 16K binary is much closer to the arcade machine (which I also have for comparison). I do like some of the graphics on the XE version better, so I might 'borrow' some of those for the 5200 version when I get some time back in on *that* project. Off the top of my head (this is from months ago, so please pardon if I miss something...) -- XE version changes playfield colors like the arcade game, the 16K one doesn't change colors at all. XE version has 'better' PM graphics (less x4 player width) vs. 16K one XE version has properly masked drawing for the hat and bees vs. 16K one XE version has god-awful flashing "invincible" Bently, 16K one is much more like arcade game XE version has attract mode (demo) vs. 16K one XE version is around 30-40% slower than the 16K one (or the arcade game) - not sure if that's a result of the extra graphics masking or just an intentional move to dumb it down. Neither has high-score support IIRC. With the exception of the flashing Bently I think the XE version looks nicer. Unfortunately, the difficulty is dumbed down so much that it's pitiful compared to the 16K original. Also, I can say with 100% certainty that whoever did the XE version definitely had the 16K version for a starting point. The XE version is clearly just more code added to the 16K version and is in no-way a clean re-write from scratch or anything like that. I need to get back on the 5200 version at some point. I got fed up with the 5200 trakball when I was last working on it. I think I'll just leave trakball support out. It's just pitiful compared to the arcade version. :-( -Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted January 4, 2003 Share Posted January 4, 2003 Any chance to have it support more RAM, like 128K or more? Some XEGS games use up to 128K of banked ROM. I don't know what the limit is on cart banking. Is it 256 8KB banks? The cool thing about this is if it is complete read/write, you could use it as an expanded RAM system just like the XEs have (only through the cart address range instead) and it could be used for RAMDISKS or custom application code/data storage rather than merely emulating existing ROM carts. Normally the cart address space is a black hole that you can't use for anything but ROM, but having it filled with RAM like this could really open up some interesting things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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