SpaceDice2010 Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Are we ever going to get to play it some day? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Are we ever going to get to play it some day? Funny as we're wondering the same in the Colecovision scene 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bennybingo Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Are we ever going to get to play it some day? Funny as we're wondering the same in the Colecovision scene You guys didn't order yours yet? I sent $500 to some guy named Backin89 for a copy…he seemed legit: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroillucid Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 I like this guy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+atari2600land Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 It was discovered alongside ET in the landfill. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Leach Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 pink panther > ? could be impossible pink>? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phattyboombatty Posted April 28, 2014 Share Posted April 28, 2014 Sometimes you just have to show up to CGE to see what goodies will turn up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis90 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Any news on this? Will the ROM ever be released? I whould love to play it! And I heard like at least 50 reproduction copies had been sold or something so more people have access to it now, so I really hope there whould be a chanse someone could dump it soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 I bought one of those reproduction copies on eBay a couple years ago for the specific intention of opening it, dumping it, and releasing the rom. Paid a pretty penny for it as well. Only to find that the damn thing was put on a Melody board by the powers that be, specifically to prevent that very thing, whereby keeping the game vaulted. So it just sits in my case with the other odds & ends in my collection. Shame too, as it really is a very graphically impressive game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 I'm sure someone will chime in, but there was legitimate reasons iirc for using the Melody board so it could even have repros made... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 I'm sure someone will chime in, but there was legitimate reasons iirc for using the Melody board so it could even have repros made... I vaguely recall hearing that it used 64 bytes of extra RAM, though I don't recall where I heard that. A quick search of Stella's source turns up 2 cartridge formats that add 64 bytes of RAM, CTY and WD: CTY is the bankswitch scheme was developed by Chris D. Walton for Chetiry. I'm not familiar with WD, but per the comments in Stella it stands for Wickstead Design. Per AtariProto's page on Pursuit of the Pink Panther, Jim Wickstead was involved with the game. A search on "Wickstead Design" here at AtariAge shows it was added to version 4.5 of Stella: * Added preliminary support for 'WD' (Wickstead Design) bankswitching scheme, used for a previously unreleased prototype ROM. So it seems highly likely that WD is for the Pink Panther prototype. Reading the comments in Stella reveal it to be a rather unusual bankswitch format - the ROM is 8195 bytes in size - 3 bytes more than a normal 8K cartridge. The extra 3 bytes are sometimes mapped in, sometimes not. All in all both the unusual size of extra RAM and the extra 3 bytes of ROM make for a format that would require the use of the Melody board. Comments in Stella: This is the cartridge class for a "Wickstead Design" prototype cart. The ROM is normally 8K, but sometimes has an extra 3 bytes appended, to be mapped as described below. There is also 64 bytes of RAM. In this bankswitching scheme the 2600's 4K cartridge address space is broken into four 1K segments. The desired arrangement of 1K slices is selected by accessing $30 - $3F of TIA address space. The slices are mapped into all 4 segments at once as follows: $0030: 0,0,1,2 $0031: 0,1,3,2 $0032: 4,5,6,7 $0033: 7,4,3,2 $0034: 0,0,6,7 $0035: 0,1,7,6 $0036: 3,2,4,5 $0037: 6,0,5,1 $0038: 0,0,1,2 $0039: 0,1,3,2 $003A: 4,5,6,7 $003B: 7,4,3,2 $003C: 0,0,6,7* $003D: 0,1,7,6* $003E: 3,2,4,5* $003F: 6,0,5,1* In the last 4 cases, the extra 3 bytes of ROM past the 8K boundary are mapped into $3FC - $3FE of the uppermost (third) segment. The 64 bytes of RAM are accessible at $1000 - $103F (read port) and $1040 - $107F (write port). Because the RAM takes 128 bytes of address space, the range $1000 - $107F of segment 0 ROM will never be available. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 A search of the internet for "Pink Panther Wickstead Design" turned up A Closer Look: Pursuit of the Pink Panther over at 2600 Connection. It mentions 2K of RAM, not 64 bytes - perhaps the cartridge was wired up to only access a subset of the 2K of RAM, or perhaps they misread the RAM part numbers for their closer look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 A search of the internet for "Pink Panther Wickstead Design" turned up A Closer Look: Pursuit of the Pink Panther over at 2600 Connection. It mentions 2K of RAM, not 64 bytes - perhaps the cartridge was wired up to only access a subset of the 2K of RAM, or perhaps they misread the RAM part numbers for their closer look. There is no RAM part number, it was made with a custom chip, that contains the game and RAM (kind of like CBS's RAM+ chip). Probably one of the reasons it was never released. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 There is no RAM part number, it was made with a custom chip, that contains the game and RAM (kind of like CBS's RAM+ chip). Probably one of the reasons it was never released. The amount of work aside, I wonder if it could be fixed to use standard SRAM or a SARA chip instead? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 The amount of work aside, I wonder if it could be fixed to use standard SRAM or a SARA chip instead? SARA is only 128 bytes and SRAM requires a R/W line and a CLK signal, which is not present on a 2600 (or a 5200 for that matter). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 SARA is only 128 bytes and SRAM requires a R/W line and a CLK signal, which is not present on a 2600 (or a 5200 for that matter). Does it use 2K, or 64 bytes like Stella has for WD. Of course my suspicion that WD is for Pink Panther could be incorrect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 Does it use 2K, or 64 bytes like Stella has for WD. Of course my suspicion that WD is for Pink Panther could be incorrect. I do not know, I didn't reverse engineer it. I think I heard 2K, but I don't know how much of it is used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 12, 2016 Share Posted March 12, 2016 SARA is only 128 bytes and SRAM requires a R/W line and a CLK signal, which is not present on a 2600 (or a 5200 for that matter). Might be a candidate for a 7800 version in the same vein that Save Mary was converted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supergun Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 I do not know, I didn't reverse engineer it. I think I heard 2K, but I don't know how much of it is used. So...was I given misinformation then? I was told you were the one who assembled that run of carts. Made sense to me as you & Wonder007 are most often the ones involved with these things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 So...was I given misinformation then? I was told you were the one who assembled that run of carts. Made sense to me as you & Wonder007 are most often the ones involved with these things. Partial misinformation and I doubt you will get the info you want as it's nobodies business but those who where directly involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 So...was I given misinformation then? I was told you were the one who assembled that run of carts. Made sense to me as you & Wonder007 are most often the ones involved with these things. Yes, and Wonder007 had nothing to do with it either. All speculation. We designed the damn labels, so a few people could enjoy this game. Even doing good gets you crucified for no reason these days. I have access to a bunch of protos that can be reproduced, unlike PP, but I am not, because all I ever get is bullshit. All it will do is hurt the people wanting to play things that collectors pay assloads of money for. Kind of like all the protos you are not willing to release. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Yes, and Wonder007 had nothing to do with it either. All speculation. We designed the damn labels, so a few people could enjoy this game. Even doing good gets you crucified for no reason these days. I have access to a bunch of protos that can be reproduced, unlike PP, but I am not, because all I ever get is bullshit. All it will do is hurt the people wanting to play things that collectors pay assloads of money for. Kind of like all the protos you are not willing to release. Well I am kind of curious and at the risk of being totally ignored do the pair of you own any prototypes that we all believed were vapor ware (such as Incredible Hulk and Choplifter which Supergun mentioned not so long ago) or are your prototypes just variations on the ones we already know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Well I am kind of curious and at the risk of being totally ignored do the pair of you own any prototypes that we all believed were vapor ware (such as Incredible Hulk and Choplifter which Supergun mentioned not so long ago) or are your prototypes just variations on the ones we already know? Well that is a surprise (NOT!) Just goes to show that those with the goods have no intention of sharing even knowledge of what they possess. I just guess certain questions are too scary for some people to answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 Well that is a surprise (NOT!) Just goes to show that those with the goods have no intention of sharing even knowledge of what they possess. I just guess certain questions are too scary for some people to answer See what I mean? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 14, 2016 Share Posted March 14, 2016 See what I mean? Why do you think I sold all my protos? Don't need this crap. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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