Schitti Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 (edited) It is time for for some News from AtariBoxed We are happy to show you today some box-scans and screenshots of this very rare game, maybe never shown elswhere before. As of today, this is the only version of which I know so far. Our supporter AdryMorci has found this game boxed a while ago and made some scans and screenshots for us. Many thanks to him. http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=detail&modul_refnumber=454 Edited September 14, 2018 by Schitti 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucifershalo Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 great! but no rom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Great find!I hope the rom can be dumped for preservation.I just had a look at the entry for this game on Atarimania, and it lists it as a different version of "Frisco".Probably that seemed reasonable by looking at the game description on the box, but after seeing the screenshots, it's clearly a different game. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schitti Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 (edited) yes i know ... and because of the dump, i will try work something out. Edited September 14, 2018 by Schitti 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shawn Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 So this is a unique game? Pretty cool if so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 (edited) It is time for for some News from AtariBoxed We are happy to show you today some box-scans and screenshots of this very rare game, maybe never shown elswhere before. As of today, this is the only version of which I know so far. Our supporter AdryMorci has found this game boxed a while ago and made some scans and screenshots for us. Many thanks to him. http://www.atariboxed.com/index.php?go=detail&modul_refnumber=454 seal_to_whales_atariboxed.jpg Great work, guys! It looks like a Pengo type game, but it's not the same as Pengo, Frisco or Stone age. I truly hope the ROM will be dumped. It's a unique VCS game. Thanks for sharing! Edited September 14, 2018 by Rom Hunter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Bloody Hell very impressive. About time that was found. Well done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glazball Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Very cool and exciting news! I'm curious why the cart was given a rarity of 9? Seems a perfect candidate for an R10 to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schitti Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 Very cool and exciting news! I'm curious why the cart was given a rarity of 9? Seems a perfect candidate for an R10 to me. Yes, that's worth considering. Some titles require an overdue update. this title would be one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schitti Posted September 14, 2018 Author Share Posted September 14, 2018 (edited) Great work, guys! It looks like a Pengo type game, but it's not the same as Pengo, Frisco or Stone age. I truly hope the ROM will be dumped. It's a unique VCS game. Thanks for sharing! I also thought about Pengo when I saw the first screenshots. gameplay and sounds are different. Edited September 14, 2018 by Schitti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Collector Posted September 14, 2018 Share Posted September 14, 2018 Crazy Engrish game description on the box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitfallharry_de Posted September 15, 2018 Share Posted September 15, 2018 Has anyone any information about Datatech Enterprises? Nowadays it´s nearly impossible to get any information about that firm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 This is very cool, and exciting! Thank you for the pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenfuzz Posted September 16, 2018 Share Posted September 16, 2018 Never even heard of this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 On 9/14/2018 at 11:28 AM, Schitti said: yes i know ... and because of the dump, i will try work something out. @Schitti What happened to this? Has it been dumped? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 I had forgotten about all about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 11 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: @Schitti What happened to this? Has it been dumped? Not that I know, but it certainly should be. It's a PAL original, most probably originally a Home Vision title (Whales). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballblaɀer Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 (edited) Datatech Enterprises Co. was another name/brand of 創宏科技股份有限公司 (Chuanghong Technology Co., Ltd.), also known as 香港创辉电脑有限公司 (Hong Kong Chuanghui ["Colorful"] Computer Co., Ltd.). They are the same entity as what became known globally as DTK Computer. According to a page on Baidu they were first formed in Taiwan in 1982. Sources compiled at Wikipedia say 1981. The (archived) company website says capital was first raised in 1981, and DTK Group was founded the following year. They became a somewhat well-known PC hardware manufacturer. Here's their "dtk" logo on a motherboard, along with a 1988 BIOS setup screen. Their oldest registration of the dtk trademark in Taiwan has an application date of 1/31/1986. The application for a USA trademark was filed in the same year. An advertisement for PC hardware on page 192 of the November 1986 issue of Byte Magazine is what confirms that this is the same company behind the distribution of Seal To Whales; the ad mentions Datatech Enterprises, shows the "dtk" logo, and names the same Taipei PO Box address that is found on the back of the Seal To Whales box and on the cartridge label. To be clear, this only outlines what Datatech Enterprises Co. was, and none of this should be taken as any kind of suggestion that DEC was the developer of Seal To Whales. I agree with @Rom Hunter that this is probably the same game as what Home Vision would have called "Whales". @AdryMorci can you provide any additional information about Seal To Whales? Was it found in Spain or somewhere else? Has a ROM been dumped? Edited April 9, 2022 by Ballblaɀer extraneous image post 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schitti Posted April 15, 2022 Author Share Posted April 15, 2022 On 4/7/2022 at 9:09 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said: @Schitti What happened to this? Has it been dumped? No news. We still couldn't work anything out. I'm still in contact with him. Tough times for all of us. @Ballblaɀer yes it was found in Spain. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Andrew Davie Posted April 15, 2022 Share Posted April 15, 2022 (edited) On 4/10/2022 at 12:49 AM, Ballblaɀer said: Interesting to me is that they used the copyleft symbol. I wonder why. It was around and in use in 1983 - I checked. Edit: I mean the word "copyleft" and not necessarily the symbol. Apparently formally described by Richard Stallman in his 1985 Gnu manifesto, but used in some form or another since at least 1976. Incidentally, I have met and shown Richard around my (then) hometown for a day a few years back. That was an experience I'll never forget. Edited April 15, 2022 by Andrew Davie 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 On 4/15/2022 at 11:58 AM, Schitti said: No news. We still couldn't work anything out. If the owner is brave enough to swap cartridges without powering off the console he can try the following "Poor Man's" dumper. Things you need: - An Atari 2600 - A Supercharger or a flashcart such as an Harmony to run the dumper rom. - A way to record the audio output of the console (e.g. by connecting the headphone jack of the TV to a PC soundcard) The procedure is the following: Load the dumper rom. The screen will show two vertical bars with cycling colors while an audio tone is played. Without powering off the console, unplug the cart with the dumper rom. If the 2 bars are not there anymore, or they're no longer cycling different colors, the program crashed. In this case power off the console and try again from the beginning. Without powering off the console, plug the cart to be dumped. Again, if the program crashes, power off and retry from the beginning. Start recording the audio Press the RESET switch until the screen goes black. When the colored bars reappear, the recording can be stopped (or you can press RESET again and record the game a few more times, which increases the chances to obtain a good dump. Trying different recording volume settings is a good idea too). Save the recording as uncompressed "wav" file and post it here Point "3" is the most critical, as it's fundamental that you manage to plug the cart to be dumped without crashing the program (which is running from the console RAM). My 6-switch console always crashes in that step, but my Jr. only rarely does that. So in case of troubles it's worth trying a different console if possible. Here is a short video of me successfully dumping a "Space Invader" cart with the Jr console connected through RF to a crappy 5" B&W portable TV. The headphone output of the TV is connected to my PC soundcard input and I use Audacity to record the audio. Note that I cut the video so that shortly after the recording is started, it fades to the end. In reality it takes about a minute and a half to dump the game! Roms for flashcarts: 2600dumper_4k_520baud_PAL.bin 2600dumper_4k_520baud_NTSC.bin Audio files for Supercharger/Cuttle Cart 2600dumper_4k_520baud_PAL.wav 2600dumper_4k_520baud_NTSC.wav PAL and NTSC versions only differ in the framerate of the display. And they're quite off specs too (270 scanlines for NTSC, 300 for PAL), but they should be good enough for most TVs. In previous versions I didn't even try to generate a stable image, but modern digital TVs often mute the audio if they cannot sync to the signal... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, alex_79 said: If the owner is brave enough to swap cartridges without powering off the console he can try the following "Poor Man's" dumper. That sounds a pretty much like my SaveKey dumper. But with totally different output. Edited April 20, 2022 by Thomas Jentzsch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 Yep, it's the stripped down version of this one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Jentzsch Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 If you want to extend to bankswitched ROMs, I might be able to help with my dump code. Let me know. BTW: How solid is dumping via audio? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_79 Posted April 20, 2022 Share Posted April 20, 2022 I have versions for some bankswitching methods, but I'm pretty sure this game is 4k, so I only posted that one. 2600dumper_sa.zip 7 minutes ago, Thomas Jentzsch said: BTW: How solid is dumping via audio? It's very reliable in my experience, even using RF. I've been using this method for quite a few years. You only need to play a bit with the volume levels. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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