Does anyone have the actual/original Super Game Module?

[The Evener]

I would love to grab an Opcode SGM and house it in an original SGM mock up - not sure 3D printing is there yet but it's tempting to try!

[JustinMSalvato]

Please keep track of when all those people die and then get the stories from him.

 

LOL!

[mozartpc27]

Ikranaka, thanks for posting and sharing that article. I'd never seen it before; very informative. And how about that mail away ad for the "private arcade" home cabinet thing? That's amazing. Wonder if they ever sold any, and if there are any left around.

[mr_me]

So the author of the magazine article says he spent over eight hours playing games from SGM tapes. The Bill Rose interview says it didn't work; demos were faked. Who was right?

[retroillucid]

So the author of the magazine article says he spent over eight hours playing games from SGM tapes. The Bill Rose interview says it didn't work; demos were faked. Who was right?

 

it was definitely playable.....but not reliable

[Lynxpro]

 

I doubt Hasbro bought intellectual property rights and non disclosure agreements - but I'm not M.I.T. engineer.

 

BTW that's not meant as a dig in any way, shape or form - but one observation I can pass on as someone who has worked with a very diverse part of the population over the years: smart people often know what they know, but that's about it. Meaning - while he may be an M.I.T. engineer, he might not know about law, contracts, contract law, NDA (just because you sign one doesn't mean your an expert). I've worked with Doctors and Lawyers who know their professions, but can't pay a bill on time, or have any concept of why they should have to.

 

My point is never be afraid to challenge someone or present your point of view, just because of who they are, that's all.

 

He might be right, who knows? He could also be mistaken. He could also get pissed off if someone persists with asking him questions, who knows? But if you present a good argument, he might be open to opening up, you never know.

 

This happens a lot amongst the veterans of the video game/computer industry. Here's some examples off the top of my head:

 

*Former Atari Corp and Commodore Amiga employees still refusing to discuss the legal settlement over the Amiga Lorraine chipset that concluded in 1987 even though Jack Tramiel and Irving Gould are both deceased. And both companies are also dead legally.

 

*Former Sight+Sound employees still refusing to discuss the legal issues and what ultimately happened concerning their completed and fixed versions of Atari AMY sound chip even though both companies [Atari Corp and Sight+Sound] are legally dead.

 

*Former Atari Inc. Advanced Research Division employees refusing to discuss the SnowCap GUI they built atop BSD and had running on the Dual 68000 based Atari Gaza computer/workstation circa 1983-1984 even though Atari Inc is deceased and Time Warner cannot enforce any NDAs covering it.

 

Interesting to read Coleco was allegedly behind Lazer Tag. That would explain why Michael Katz was so hot to get a competitor released while he was the head of Atari Corp's Entertainment Electronics division. According to his interview with the Antic Podcast, he acquired one such system from Midway and Jack Tramiel promised him he'd be able to release it but then later refused and ruined the deal. That, coupled with the breakdown in negotiations between Atari Corp and Sega of Japan over the Genesis led to Katz "retiring" from Atari Corp and then a little over a month later assuming control of Sega of America and the rest is history...

[The Evener]

Once in a while, I become mini-obsessed with "holy grail" games, and I think that when it comes to the ADAM, Super Smurf is at the top of the list.

 

We're not getting any younger, another year means an another unreleased ROM being lost due to bit rot - is there any proverbial tree we can shake to see if this ROM can see the light of day? My inner 13 year old self is incredibly envious that a reviewer had the chance to play through this game. The fact that the game was basically ready to go (from what we can tell) like Super Subroc, but never saw the light of day, makes me think that licensing probably tanked it - maybe Coleco took liberties with the original cartridge license to create the Super Game and was stymied once the license holder demanded more money. Somebody, somewhere knows. Why keep the ROM hidden in a collection of old materials from Coleco, only to risk having it all thrown out when someone passes on? Somebody, somewhere has this ROM. If a financial bounty can coax someone to take the time to rifle through their developer data packs and disks, I would be the first to kick in a few hundred dollars to start things off, and I know more many more would follow. Heck, it would be an amazing Christmas gift just to see a play-through video of the Super Game that was anonymously shared with a YouTube channel. 

 

I have zero contacts with the Coleco ADAM developer community - is there anyone that can touch base again with the likely suspects (or unlikely, if they wish to remain anonymous) to see if anyone has had a change of heart, and wishes to share more about what they know, and maybe even share what they have? 

Edited December 20, 2019 by The Evener

[HDTV1080P]

13 hours ago, The Evener said:

Once in a while, I become mini-obsessed with "holy grail" games, and I think that when it comes to the ADAM, Super Smurf is at the top of the list.

 

We're not getting any younger, another year means an another unreleased ROM being lost due to bit rot - is there any proverbial tree we can shake to see if this ROM can see the light of day? My inner 13 year old self is incredibly envious that a reviewer had the chance to play through this game. The fact that the game was basically ready to go (from what we can tell) like Super Subroc, but never saw the light of day, makes me think that licensing probably tanked it - maybe Coleco took liberties with the original cartridge license to create the Super Game and was stymied once the license holder demanded more money. Somebody, somewhere knows. Why keep the ROM hidden in a collection of old materials from Coleco, only to risk having it all thrown out when someone passes on? Somebody, somewhere has this ROM. If a financial bounty can coax someone to take the time to rifle through their developer data packs and disks, I would be the first to kick in a few hundred dollars to start things off, and I know more many more would follow. Heck, it would be an amazing Christmas gift just to see a play-through video of the Super Game that was anonymously shared with a YouTube channel. 

 

I have zero contacts with the Coleco ADAM developer community - is there anyone that can touch base again with the likely suspects (or unlikely, if they wish to remain anonymous) to see if anyone has had a change of heart, and wishes to share more about what they know, and maybe even share what they have? 

According to the eyewitness testimony that reviewer back in the early 80’s claims to have played Smurf the Supergame on the unreleased Super Game Module (Yes I choose to believe that testimony and we have pictures and screen shots from the original 80’s magazine to back it up). Yes Coleco only officially released Smurf on standard ColecoVision cartridge and not a Smurf Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle wafer Supergame for the ADAM computer. All the released Supergames and some of the unreleased Supergames were released for the Coleco ADAM computer between 1983-1985 because the Expansion module #3 ADAM computer became the Super Game Module.

 

Since we are choosing to believe the eyewitness testimony of playing Smurf the Supergame on the unreleased Supergame module, then the question is how many protypes were made and does any former Coleco employees still own the original wafer image to Smurf? I would be willing to pay $1,000 for the Coleco Smurf Supergame. However, some people might be willing to pay $10,000-$100,000+ for the game if it was on the original unreleased wafer.

 

If the copywrite holder for Smurf the Supergame would authorize the game to be released into public domain then everyone could legally have the game. While I own high end ROM image scanners and other devices to make a perfect bit for bit digital copy of public domain videogames, the other issue is Smurf the Supergame might not have been ported over to the ADAM computer (The unreleased Subroc the Supergame, Jeopardy, and others were ported over to the ADAM). Which means a computer programmer might need to convert the Smurf the Supergame to run from the ADAM computer or better yet the Ultimate SD Wafer drive from ATARIMAX so that both ColecoVision/ADAM owners could play it. Of course today most people use a ColecoVision/ADAM emulator on their Windows PC (maybe several thousands of downloads?) instead of a actual console.

 

(1)  The first step is to find some former Coleco employee that has a working Smurf Supergame image in an ADAM format or in the unreleased suepergame module format.

 

(2)  If the answer is yes to the first question. The second step would be to contact the copywrite holders to see if the game could be released into public domain for everyone to play.

 

(3)  The last step would be to convert the Smurf Supergame over to a ColecoVision/ADAM format so that it plays on the Ultimate SD Wafer drive from ATARIMAX.

 

 

 

If the official Coleco Smurf the Supergame no longer exists since the unreleased BETA version was lost or destroyed. Then maybe OPCODE, CollectorVision, or Team Pixelboy would want to create a Smurf the Supergame from scratch or modified cartridge version. For example just add a hall of fame screen, improved graphics and sound to the new Smurf game and one would have Smurf the Supergame. Some people would be willing to pay $100+ for Smurf the Supergame from a company like Team Pixelboy if it was high quality game between 128K to 1MB+ with a hall of fame screen.

Edited December 20, 2019 by HDTV1080P

[NIAD]

HDTV.....

 

- if the version of Smurf Rescue that the reviewer played was an "enhanced" version of the CV cartridge release, it resided on PROM chips within the so called SGM prototype. The Entrepo wafer tapes that Coleco had on display contained no game code. So the SGM prototype(s) would have to be found. Never say never, but I wouldn't holdnmy breath because it could lead to issues with Peyo similar to why He-Man has not been made available.

 

- Peyo is NOT going to give permission to release a Smurf game as evidenced by 2 homebrew projects... Smurf Challenge and the attempted release of Smurf Rescue for the Inty that morphed into Sydney Hunter.

 

[mr_me]

I wonder why the Super Smurf Rescue game was never put into Adam tape format back in 1983.  If a prototype were ever found, you don't need anyone's permission to put it into a playable format.  You would need permission to distribute copies, not only from Peyo but also from whoever has copyright on the code.  It could however get accidently leaked.

[HDTV1080P]

14 minutes ago, mr_me said:

I wonder why the Super Smurf Rescue game was never put into Adam tape format back in 1983.  If a prototype were ever found, you don't need anyone's permission to put it into a playable format.  You would need permission to distribute copies, not only from Peyo but also from whoever has copyright on the code.  It could however get accidently leaked.

The magazine mentions playing the games on the Supergame module over eight hours on two different days. Buck Rodgers the Supergame, Donkey Kong the Supergame, and Donkey Kong Junior the Supergame were ported over to the ADAM computer and officially released by Coleco. The ADAM community also has the unreleased 5 screen Donkey Kong Junior Supergame and the unreleased Subroc the Supergame. However we are just missing the completed Smurf the Supergame and Gorf the Supergame (I thought one magazine mentioned a improved version of Gorf).  

Edited December 22, 2019 by HDTV1080P