258 replies to this topic

[sydric]

Yes, both players play simultaneously - left joystick controls the alien, right joystick controls the "ranger" - the ranger tries to catch the alien. There are invisible walls and eating the pellets gets you points. There is no auto demo mode, no title screen. The little music tune plays only when you press reset to start the game.

As for the Commodore 64 game on Gamebase - yes you are absolutely right. I told George to bring the stuff in anyways and we would archive it (and I suggested he try and contact the student if he could for a story). I was just trying to explain to him that I wasn't as excited about that as I was about this game!

[Rom Hunter]

sydric, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:31 AM, said:

Yes, both players play simultaneously - left joystick controls the alien, right joystick controls the "ranger" - the ranger tries to catch the alien. There are invisible walls and eating the pellets gets you points. There is no auto demo mode, no title screen. The little music tune plays only when you press reset to start the game.

As for the Commodore 64 game on Gamebase - yes you are absolutely right. I told George to bring the stuff in anyways and we would archive it (and I suggested he try and contact the student if he could for a story). I was just trying to explain to him that I wasn't as excited about that as I was about this game!

I can imagine.

It truly is a Holy Grail find!

Thanks for the info, Sydric.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:36 AM.

[Dino]

Amazing find!! I cant wait to play this game

So now there is another one-of-a-kind game to add to the want list

The cart mold is unlike any of the short pirate carts I have ever seen (and I've seen plenty over the years). There is no way this came out of Taiwan, nothing is at all consistent with the stuff produced there, so his story about it being made in Canada stacks up.

If you cant get hold of Shawn Sr, try sending Omegamatrix a PM. I know he has a dumper and would be more than happy to help you out.

[Dino]

Rom Hunter, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 1:35 AM, said:

Nathan Strum, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 1:28 AM, said:

Rom Hunter, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 12:40 AM, said:

"Only" a couple of hundred were sold at most?

And not one of them popped up in all these years?

Ah yes, but there's a big difference between selling to distributors, and whether or not the distributors were able to unload them.

Ah, sorry.

I  overlooked this.

Yes, in that case it could very well be one of the very few copies left in existence.

Which only makes it even more interesting IMO.

BTW: AFAIK no known Thai, Taiwanese or Brazilian cart matches this cartridge type.

Actually no. If you read the atricle carefully, they sold directly to retailers and did not use distributors. Therefore, if they sold 300 games to retailers, then those games would invariably have found their way into households, probably by ending up in a discount bin in the shop.

Its quite amazing a game that sold around 300 copies has taken so long to surface when you consider how many Pepsi Invaders and Atlantis 2s have surfaced and they probably had a similar number issued...

[SlowCoder]

This is pretty cool!  Thank you for sharing!

[disjaukifa]

I wonder if they still have the original source code for the game?

[Rom Hunter]

Dino, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 6:20 AM, said:

Rom Hunter, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 1:35 AM, said:

Nathan Strum, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 1:28 AM, said:

Rom Hunter, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 12:40 AM, said:

"Only" a couple of hundred were sold at most?

And not one of them popped up in all these years?

Ah yes, but there's a big difference between selling to distributors, and whether or not the distributors were able to unload them.

Ah, sorry.

I  overlooked this.

Yes, in that case it could very well be one of the very few copies left in existence.

Which only makes it even more interesting IMO.

BTW: AFAIK no known Thai, Taiwanese or Brazilian cart matches this cartridge type.

Actually no. If you read the atricle carefully, they sold directly to retailers and did not use distributors. Therefore, if they sold 300 games to retailers, then those games would invariably have found their way into households, probably by ending up in a discount bin in the shop.

300?

A couple (two) hundred at most, right?

Game entry made, btw:
http://www.atarimani...ials_27608.html

[TrekMD]

This is cool indeed!

[sydric]

If it helps, I can measure the cartridge exactly and post the dimensions for you.  It's quite possible they made it right here in Canada. The follow up email I received from Mr. Banting (after our initial phone call):

"The game was developed and manufactured by Telcom Research Ltd.  My cousin, Tom Banting, was the president of Telcom Research, a company that designed and manufactured time code generators and readers for video tape manipulation in the broadcast industry, automatic telephone dialers, etc."

The number that was sold, BTW, is only an estimate from Mr. Banting. He said that, remembering that he had to go "door to door" to sell them. It's really impossible to know the number out there. I am trying to get in contact with the original programmer for more information.

[Stan]

Quote

Its quite amazing a game that sold around 300 copies has taken so long to surface when you consider how many Pepsi Invaders and Atlantis 2s have surfaced and they probably had a similar number issued...

Very awesome.  But this pretty much kills the possibility that there are going to be more out there.  This is likely the only remaining copy.  If there are any more, they would have surfaced by now.  At least, I'm of that opinion.  And if there are any, well, it's going to be similar to the Canadian release of the Dick Tracy "The Blank" figure.

[disjaukifa]

That was the other thing I was going to say Pepsi Invaders was released at Coca-Cola so that was a gift to employees. Atlantis II came from an already big company so in a way I'm not surprised by this development at all.

[Stan]

And no offense, this is totally awesome, but good thing the gameplay looks hella lame, because now I won't have to worry about buying a copy should one surface!

[Red 5]

This is really the greatest hobby ever.

I can't wait to be on the list to order one!  

[0078265317]

Never heard of this before.  Even ebay has no cppies so must be rare.

[Rom Hunter]

Sydric,

There used to be a seperate manual?

Or was it sold with a box only?

[CPUWIZ]

And I am sure Mayhem is drooling on his t-shirt right now (about the C64 game).

Cydric, ignore the doubters, this one is real.   Unless someone has far too much money and time to create it.

I am pretty sure you had trouble recording it, because the programmer left it at an odd scanline count.

[SoulBlazer]

Very awsome!  Thanks for sharing with us and for being willing to dump the game to perserve it.  I hope someone is able to help you out.  I would hope that a copy of the ROM would get released so we all could play it, but at the very least perserving this one-of-a-kind is critical.

Any information on how much the game sold for?

[Schizophretard]

May we see the back of this new cartridge type? Is it completely smooth or are there any markings?

[Mayhem]

Rom Hunter, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:25 AM, said:

sydric, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:17 AM, said:

Last night was our volunteer night and George asked me if I would want a Commodore 64 game that one of his former students sold in baggies in limited quantities - I told him that computer software just doesn't have the same appeal as carts!

But I'm sure the guys of Gamebase 64 are more than willing to add that game to their database.

Not quite as CPUWiz put it heh, but yes, anything C64 that has any sort of "game" to it can be archived and sent to me, and I'll pass it on for inclusion into Gamebase64...

[Lendorien]

This is a pretty cool development. It's always really cool to have a prototype show up, but an actual released game? That's a treasure!

Thanks for being willing to share it and face down the skeptics.

[RASK1904]

Awesome. A video of your happy dance would be priceless. Bet there released numbers are waaay off. For one to have never surfaced. It has to be lower than 300, lower than 200. If I'm making them and they aren't selling good door to door, 80 tops. Maybe less. 60? atleast 40, 60. I'll go with 80. But how many survived 30 years. Man If you put it on ebay and it sold for 20,000 I know more would show up. Lol.

[HelloAtariJason]

So what do we all think some one would pay for this?  I can see it hitting $3,000 no prob.

[disjaukifa]

HelloAtariJason, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 7:54 AM, said:

So what do we all think some one would pay for this?  I can see it hitting $3,000 no prob.

Depends . . . if the dump the cartridge and do a re-run of the game, the value of the original game will still be high but will still go done a bit, mostly because of how unique the cartridge shape is but in the end its what people would be willing to pay for the item.

[Chris Leach]

Random Terrain, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:13 AM, said:

I watched the video and you can totally see the strings. Fake! Not a real alien!

Aliens are not real to begin with....lol!

[disjaukifa]

Chris Leach, on Wed Oct 5, 2011 9:01 AM, said:

Random Terrain, on Tue Oct 4, 2011 5:13 AM, said:

I watched the video and you can totally see the strings. Fake! Not a real alien!

Aliens are not real to begin with....lol!

NO! Its totally real, they've been holding those aliens hostage at Area 52 for years!!!!