15 replies to this topic

[Tempest]

Ok, so I've been a little behind on my updates.  Well good things come to those who wait, and AtariProtos is going to prove that in spades.  Take a gander at the all the new reviews I put up today: http://www.atariprotos.com/

For the 2600 we've got Halloween, Innerspace, Atom Smasher, Track and Field, Golf Diagnostic Cart, the Amiga Power Play Arcade series, Going Up??, Missile Command, Defender, Surfs Up, and a new look at Peek-a-Boo.

For the 5200 we've got Astro Grover and Muppet-Go-Round

And finally for the Atari 8-bit we have Donkey Kong Junior.


I hope you enjoy this update, as I had a lot of fun putting it together.

Tempest

[atarian63]

Thank you for all the work you do on this!

[Wickeycolumbus]

Wow, that's a lot of games   Great reviews.

[Rom Hunter]

Excellent work, Tempest.

BTW: are the two Halloween .bins available now?

[Rom Hunter]

Tempest,

Is Defender a prototype or an early hack?

Comparing it with the released version, it would be interesting to see if it contains any data that leads to the conclusion it was hacked or truly a proto.

Some corrections for your site:

Immies and Aggies was indeed originally planned to be a ZiMAG game and later released in PAL format by Suntek as Spectracube Invasion.

Pizza Chef was indeed originally planned to be a ZiMAG game and later released by CCE only (but never by Suntek).

A Mysterious Thief was indeed originally planned to be a Vidco game and later released in PAL format by Suntek as Criminal Persuit.

Spinning Fireball was indeed originally planned to be a Vidco game and later released in PAL format by Suntek as Firebug.


So your info (based an an old theory of mine that Suntek was the first publisher) should be corrected there.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Sat Aug 11, 2012 9:29 AM.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am not 100% sure if Going-Up?? is 100% completely dumped.`The 2nd bank doesn't contain any code or recognizable graphics. Instead there seems to be a lot of data from Scott's dumping PC.

A very brief inspection of the code in the 1st bank doesn't show anything that indicates that there is more. The games doesn't check any hardware collisions, switches or the fire button. So maybe the 2nd bank wasn't used at all?

[Tempest]

Thanks for all the Zimag /Vidco/Suntek info, I'll update that tomorrow.  The relationship between all those companies always confused me.

I have no idea what to think about Defender, I'm guessing hack because:

1. Other than than name and the different initials, it's the same as the released version

2. I have an earlier version of Defender and it has none of these differences.

[Tempest]

BTW the Defender proto is available both on DP and Atarimania if you want to take a look (I can send it to you as well if you want).

[thegoldenband]

About the Easter egg in Defender -- maybe HA is not a different set of initials per se, but simply the equivalent of "Hahahahaha"?

[Tempest]

thegoldenband, on Sat Aug 11, 2012 4:32 PM, said:

About the Easter egg in Defender -- maybe HA is not a different set of initials per se, but simply the equivalent of "Hahahahaha"?

I thought about that as well. It could be.

[Crimefighter]

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!  ............

[thegoldenband]

Crimefighter, on Sat Aug 11, 2012 8:12 PM, said:

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!  ............

I'll have what he's having!

[Rom Hunter]

Tempest, on Sat Aug 11, 2012 2:58 PM, said:

I have no idea what to think about Defender, I'm guessing hack because:

1. Other than than name and the different initials, it's the same as the released version

2. I have an earlier version of Defender and it has none of these differences.

Indeed, the Defender proto ROM I have (dated 10-30-81) does not show these differences, so I listed the Jerry Lawson version as a hack in my collection.

My guess would also be: "HaHaHaHaHa", instead of initials.

[Lucky Man]

Wow! Great reviews! Thanks Matt!

[7800Lover]

My, my...you've been quite busy.  

I appreciate you doing all this coverage on these unreleased games.

[Tempest]

I have a ton of 5200 protos I need to get to still.  I don't know how many of them are different, but there's nothing new or unseen.  I'll get to them soon.