ComputerSpaceFan Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I've always loved Atari's 1976 Night Driver arcade machine and, as impressive as the 2600 cartridge is, I wouldn't mind playing something close to the coinop original. I looked online and can't find if it was ported to any other systems beyond the C64 and MSX.Was the coinop version ever put on any arcade collections or annything for consoles? Not the 2600 one, I can find that everywhere, I mean the original arcade machine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK_pwMItCPM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyHW Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 I found this. Not sure if they are officially licensed or not. And I'd wager there are probably a few clones out there under different names, too. http://www.gamebase64.com/search.php?f=0&t=0&s=night+d&b=Go%21&d=18&h=1&a=0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 (edited) The same game exists for the VIC-20 under the name Road Race, which might've been Commodore's way to escape licensing. Since the C64 version shares the name with the arcade, possibly they were enforced some licensing and in return got to name the game like the arcade. There is also a version for the Commodore PET by J. Suzuki in Japan. If I understood correctly, Suzuki, Satoru Iwata and others formed or at least worked with HAL Labs who ended up making home conversions of arcade games exclusively for the Japanese market, see the VIC-20 games Pac-Man, Galaxian, Rally-X etc which Commodore renamed when they sold those internationally. It is possible the Night Driver game for the PET also was OK:d to be spread within Japan, but I can't vouch on that. The MSX version you might've found is a homebrew from 2007, so it isn't quite as relevant, no matter how playable iti s. Edit: The German C64 game on Gamebase 64 looks like an improved version of Suzuki's PET game. http://www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=11108 http://www.mobygames.com/game/pet/night-drive Edited August 22, 2015 by carlsson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 (edited) Was the coinop version ever put on any arcade collections or annything for consoles? Sadly, nope. Digital Eclipse, the developer for most emulation projects involving this library, always all but ignored this era through the years. If it wasn't a vector title like Asteroids, it wasn't here unless it was a later color release. The sole exception of a raster B&W coinop making an appearance in an Atari collection was a port of Sprint in the very poorly received DS compilation, Retro Atari Classics. Not exactly a prime choice for such a collection due to the obvious issue of translating the controls to a d-pad. With any luck, the developer of this abomination of a collection, Taniko, is defunct these days. Edited August 23, 2015 by Atariboy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 The VCS had the only official version, but there were unofficial/third-party versions released for other systems. A version for Commodore 64 comes to mind, and there was 280 Zzzap on the Astrocade (which of course was a home port of 280 Zzzap, which itself was essentially a knock-off of Night Driver). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted February 14, 2019 Author Share Posted February 14, 2019 just did a followup video on this topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tBx90NaGBY 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 (edited) The VCS had the only official version, but there were unofficial/third-party versions released for other systems. A version for Commodore 64 comes to mind, and there was 280 Zzzap on the Astrocade (which of course was a home port of 280 Zzzap, which itself was essentially a knock-off of Night Driver).Night Driver was also made for the Apple II but these games aren't the same without proper controls. Night Driver and 280 Zzzap came out about the same time in the arcades, both were knock offs of a german game Nurburgring. Strange that recent atari compilations don't include arcade night driver. Maybe the reason is because the sound is difficult to emulate. Atari Flashback Classics vol 1-3 has plenty of other old black and white atari games. E.g basketball, football, soccer, superbug, and my favourite fire truck. Edited February 14, 2019 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austin Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 (edited) The sole exception of a raster B&W coinop making an appearance in an Atari collection was a port of Sprint in the very poorly received DS compilation, Retro Atari Classics. Not exactly a prime choice for such a collection due to the obvious issue of translating the controls to a d-pad. That's still pretty cool though. I had no idea there was an "original" Sprint (I was always confused why the later Super Sprint had the "Super" in the title, now it makes sense since I suppose it's a legitimate follow-up). It's neat to see how the later game paid homage to the original with the duplication of old track designs (or at least one based on that old video you linked). Edited February 14, 2019 by Austin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 I just realized that Commodore released Road Race for the MAX Machine as well (MAX-3505), with the intention to also have it playable on the C64. Visually the MAX version of Road Race and the western C64 version called Night Driver look identical so they're probably the same code unlike e.g. Wizard of Wor which Commodore had reprogrammed for the C64 as the MAX version seemed inferior. From recent discussions in a closed Facebook group, I've gotten the feeling that Road Race / Night Driver in fact were licensed on the VIC-20, MAX and C64, just like some of the other HAL Labs games for the VIC/64 were partly licensed, not strictly knock-offs. Exactly how this form of licensing or agreements looked like is hard to tell, and supposedly Commodore put aside some of the revenue for some of the games just in case the rights holder would oppose to the license. Atari would probably be one of those companies who would have other opinions whether a license or contract was valid or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Usotsuki Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 The Bill Budge Trilogy had an unofficial port on the Apple ][. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 There's a Night Driver playable demo called "Dark Road" on the Vectrex, released back in December of last year. Runs at 100hz too, believe it or not. A bin is available on his site to try out. Though it's just a demo, it looks promising.. but I'm not sure if it'll get the full treatment or not. Hopefully so, and if anyone's capable of pulling it off, it's certainly Malban. http://vide.malban.de/27th-of-december-first-time 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+davidcalgary29 Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 And there is, of course, the VBXE (PAL only) port of the game for the A8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelboy Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 There was also an MSX homebrew version. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) I just realized that Commodore released Road Race for the MAX Machine as well (MAX-3505), with the intention to also have it playable on the C64. Visually the MAX version of Road Race and the western C64 version called Night Driver look identical so they're probably the same code unlike e.g. Wizard of Wor which Commodore had reprogrammed for the C64 as the MAX version seemed inferior. From recent discussions in a closed Facebook group, I've gotten the feeling that Road Race / Night Driver in fact were licensed on the VIC-20, MAX and C64, just like some of the other HAL Labs games for the VIC/64 were partly licensed, not strictly knock-offs. Exactly how this form of licensing or agreements looked like is hard to tell, and supposedly Commodore put aside some of the revenue for some of the games just in case the rights holder would oppose to the license. Atari would probably be one of those companies who would have other opinions whether a license or contract was valid or not. Is there a box or scan of the C64 release called "Night Driver"? I've only ever seen the Japanse MAX version in pirate compilations... I have never seen a Western release of "Night Driver" or "Road Race" for C64... Only VIC-20. Edited February 16, 2019 by R.Cade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted February 16, 2019 Share Posted February 16, 2019 (edited) Very good question. I was about to refer to Mayhem64's site but it isn't there?! He's got Road Race for the MAX though. I know that Handic over here at least sold Night Driver for the C64, though I would have to look around to find a scan of the manual which doubled as front of the box. The Swedish version of Wikipedia even claims it was Rob Fulop who made the C64 port, something I very strongly doubt. I would find it more likely that Satoru Iwata ported it... Edited February 16, 2019 by carlsson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 There's a Night Driver playable demo called "Dark Road" on the Vectrex, released back in December of last year. Runs at 100hz too, believe it or not. A bin is available on his site to try out. Though it's just a demo, it looks promising.. but I'm not sure if it'll get the full treatment or not. Hopefully so, and if anyone's capable of pulling it off, it's certainly Malban. darkRoad.gif http://vide.malban.de/27th-of-december-first-time WOAH! Downloading now! Thanks! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I'm very sure it wasn't sold in the US or it would have shown up at some point in cartridge form along with the other CBM-released games. I have piles and piles of those.... The Handic thing seems weird... I wonder if they got the license from HAL labs directly when Commodore failed to publish it elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Ok, I found this picture on the Retrocollector site. Clearly this was a Handic release, whether or not it was licensed. IIRC Handic published a handful of titles under other names than the Commodore original, sometimes even ported MAX versions. However someone else read that there supposedly was a US release of Night Driver, though the details are extremely sketchy and blurry about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 Has anyone ever hacked the 2600 game to make improvements? I think just arcade accurate colors for the pylons would go a long ways towards making it a better game. And I bet a talented homebrew author could put some of the details like Atari's car design to shame. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg2600 Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 Yeah I've played it on C64, it's okay but definitely missing something. There's a Night Driver playable demo called "Dark Road" on the Vectrex, released back in December of last year. Runs at 100hz too, believe it or not. A bin is available on his site to try out.Though it's just a demo, it looks promising.. but I'm not sure if it'll get the full treatment or not. Hopefully so, and if anyone's capable of pulling it off, it's certainly Malban. darkRoad.gifhttp://vide.malban.de/27th-of-december-first-time Would love to see this one finished. Has anyone ever hacked the 2600 game to make improvements? I think just arcade accurate colors for the pylons would go a long ways towards making it a better game. And I bet a talented homebrew author could put some of the details like Atari's car design to shame. I WISH someone would! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassGuitari Posted February 19, 2019 Share Posted February 19, 2019 Night Driver was also made for the Apple II but these games aren't the same without proper controls. Not as an official port, it wasn't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComputerSpaceFan Posted February 20, 2019 Author Share Posted February 20, 2019 Has anyone ever hacked the 2600 game to make improvements? I think just arcade accurate colors for the pylons would go a long ways towards making it a better game. And I bet a talented homebrew author could put some of the details like Atari's car design to shame. I'd love a more arcade accurate version. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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