Revisions of a version of a game

[DiscoDr.Bones]

Hi All,

When looking around at Atari sites, I notice so many different versions of the same game (such as Centipede) and then within the different versions, different revisions. Normally, the difference between versions are clear, such as the two different versions of Dig Doug. When it comes to revisions within a version, things get confusing. Some are clear and obvious hacks when you run them (such a screen that say "provided by" or games that give cheating options) but others are not so clear. In one game I played, it seemed like the difficulty was greatly reduced in one of the revisions

 

My goal, if it is possible, is to try and play a game (be it on an emulator or MyIDE II) exactly as it is on the cart/disk/tape that I may pick up from Ebay or one of you in the future. So what I’m wondering is if there are any hard or soft general rules I can follow to try and make sure that what I’m playing matches what I’ll be getting on the cart? Like perhaps the .XEX with the smallest file size, etc… ? Are they most likely dumps by different people, with different headers and the like? Is there any software to compare headers of games to known headers/dumps so that I understand what I have? Or perhaps, as a general rule, are these revisions not different enough to warrant any concern? At the same time, I understand some of the people here on this forum have worked very hard to create revisions/hacks of known games, and when I find something interesting that I like (such as the trackball centipede hack for the 7800) I want to be able to recognize it and appreciate their work.

 

Thank you for your help,

 

--SilvaHaloOne

[Rybags]

Games with cheats are almost always hacks and weren't that way on original media.

 

In some cases like Dig Dug and Mario Bros there were at least 2 distinct "versions" - in fact you'd not even call it versions as they're probably completely different programs.

With some games they weren't even released on the computer, there were some 5200-exclusive titles and were ported over by the hacking scene.

 

If you buy an original game then you should be getting the real deal - no cheat hacks.

 

Checking versions isn't that easy. Many copied games have protection code removed or changed and there's multiple ways to go about it which will give a resulting different file. Not to mention that executable, Rom and ATR disk image will all be different.

[Stormtrooper of Death]

Hard Hat Mack has at least 2 versions. A b/w white gr.8 version and a (i guess modified) 4 color gr.15 version.

[Kr0tki]

SilvaHaloOne, you should visit the Atarimania website. It is the only project aimed at preservation of Atari software in its original form. They provide cracked or hacked versions only if the original version hasn't yet been discovered.

Edited May 15, 2014 by Kr0tki