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Mostro

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  1. Don't know if you saw Fred's comment or mine, but just to clarify... yes, you're correct (as is the Atarimania website itself). We'd both been originally unaware that you had to type Ctrl-G in the game itself to see it. (I misinterpreted someone's earlier comment explaining this, so I took a while to catch on(!)). It turns out that, yes, the crack screen *is* apparently on the version included in both "Compilation A" (TXP7100) and in Fred's own dump of "Atari Compilation" (TX 9043). Sorry for any confusion! (And while I'm here, thank you for the Atarimania website, which I've always found to be a great resource!)
  2. Perhaps his surname was "Better"? (Er... sorry! ? )
  3. Oh, *now* I see what oo7 is getting at; sorry, I didn't realise you meant to type Ctrl-G within the game itself. (Ctrl-G is also a search-related shortcut on the Firefox browser). Don't have my own dump, but downloaded Fred_M's own .cas transfer of Centipede from the TX-9043 "Atari Compilation" and.... er, yeah. There it is(!!) To be fair, there was originally no indication that you need to type Ctrl-G to access the crack screen, so I (and, possibly Fred_M?) assumed that- as with most crack screens- it would automatically appear when the game loaded or started up. Since it hadn't appeared on my copy, and since I'd never had any cause to type Ctrl-G while playing it back in the day, I'd never seen it until now and had no reason to assume that my copy contained it. Thank you for all the feedback on this!
  4. That's definitely correct- I bought it commercially via mail order after seeing it advertised and (I think) reviewed in Atari User. My original post includes a scan of that advert, "Compilation" is at the bottom right. As I mentioned in this comment, the only odd thing is that the ad shows- what you'd assume was- box art. That didn't appear on the copy I bought. (It's not clear whether any copies went out with that art, or whether it was used in the ad only. I suspect the latter, especially as I now know that it's just a cheap reuse of the art from the VCS version of Star Raiders).
  5. That's what I meant, that they (possibly) weren't intended for commercial sale. Yes, that's the one!
  6. Sorry, should have made clearer that the ones I had in mind were the new titles later commissioned for retail sale by Atari UK (such as Cygnus X-1, Thunderfox, Tiger Attack etc.) I appreciate that some of the examples you gave were originally commercial releases in "proper" packaging, but were those bare-bones reissues intended for commercial sale? The "Diskette Pack" shown above looks similiar to the disk pack I got with my 800XL/1050 bundle (albeit the one I had included "Paint" instead of the demonstration disk).
  7. Despite what I just said in my reply to Fred above, I *wouldn't* dismiss the possibility that they might have used Glenn's backport and simply bypassed/hid the crack screen while leaving it in, but hidden! (If the port already worked, this was probably less risky than removing it, and it was still their game they owned the copyright on). On the other hand, it's odd/interesting that Atari UK used the 5200 version in the first place rather than simply dumping the 400/800 version. Maybe someone there did care and wanted to include the better version.
  8. Thank you for that Fred, and thank you for the original dump and comment at Atarimania as well! I was happy to believe you on that count since- as I mentioned- my "Atari Compilation" also included the 5200 backport of Centipede but didn't feature the "Glenn" credit either. As you say, it was unlikely that Atari UK would include a version with a crack screen showing(!), not even during the run-on-a-shoestring-budget Tramiel era(!!)
  9. It's odd. Going by Atarimania's listing, there appears to be a "Compilation A" and "Compilation B" that include a mixture of Atari games and at least one English Software release each (Airstrike II and Chop Suey respectively, not sure about "Chess"). There's also a "Compilation C" that consists entirely of releases licensed from "Bug Byte" (a UK software house whose name was later reused by another publisher) and even features their logo. I strongly suspect that these three may have been intended- and licensed- solely for inclusion with "computer and tape deck" bundles (possibly for the likes of Dixons) and never sold separately. That might explain why there are two similar releases- "Compilation A" (TXP7100) and "Atari Compilation" (TX 9043)- with three out of five games in common. The latter was advertised commercially (see my earlier post for scan) and only included Atari-owned games. As the advert showed full-colour art, I was surprised when my "Atari Compilation" arrived in single-colour, text-only packaging. I'm not sure if any versions were actually released using that art (which I now know to have been recycled from the VCS version of Star Raiders) or whether that was only for the ad. Can't complain as it was only £5 for five games, but still odd for a nominally commercial release. Atari UK's other tape-based commercial releases all appeared to feature proper artwork.
  10. Do you mean search for "Glenn" at the Atarimania or Atariwiki page? I can't see mention of it at the Atariwiki page or contained within any of the dump files. As I already noted, the Atarimania page does mention "Glenn the 5200 Man" and shows the backport with the crack screen (which someone refers to in the comments), but Fred Meijer suggested that the actual TXP7100 tape had the 5200 version *without* the credits. Maybe I'm misunderstanding? Are you saying that you own TXP7100 (Compilation A) and that the version loaded from the original tape does include the crack screen crediting "Glenn"? All I can say personally is that the similar "Atari Compilation"/"TX 9043" that I do own definitely *does* have the backported 5200 version *without* the credits...
  11. Thank you for the great site by the way- a lot of obvious effort put into it!
  12. I wasn't paying enough attention(!) I just noticed that the most recent comment at the Atarimania "Compilation A" page- from "Fred Meijer"- includes a link to *his* dump of the tape:- Fred Meijer - 21/08/2017 I have the taoe. It is definitely the 5200 version of Centipede but WITHOUT the crack screen. My dump is at Atariwiki: https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Compilation A The linked page also notes "The version on this tape of Centipede is not the regular 400/800 version but the version which was made for the 5200. "
  13. On the Dig Dug page you mention that "Much like Centipede, Dig Dug was originally an Atari 400/800 that was completely reprogrammed instead of being ported. However, unlike the 5200 version of Centipede, the 5200 port of Dig Dug was eventually ported back to the Atari 400/800." However, the 5200 rewrite of Centipede did officially make its way to the 400/800 at some point. I know, because that's the version I had on an Atari compilation from the late 1980s! While I wasn't even aware there were two versions back then, I've since seen both and the "5200" Centipede looks identical to the one I played on my 800XL, whereas the original "400/800" conversion is clearly different. The compilation was a Atari UK cassette release dated 1987- I bought it in 1988- in no-frills, monochrome, text-only (typical Tramiel-era) packaging, labelled "Atari Compilation" (inlay) and "Atari Games Compilation" (on tape itself) and had the code "TX 9043". For whatever reason, Atarimania don't list that specific compilation, but it appears to have three out of five games in common with this very similar compilation ("Compilation A" / "TXP7100"). If Atarimania is correct, that tape also features the 5200 version of Centipede. There is what appears to be an unofficially backported version of Centipede by "Glenn the 5200 Man" (complete with crack screen credits). Atarimania include that version for "Compilation A"/"TXP7100", prompting derision at Atari's supposed cheapness. However, further comments suggest this was in error and the version actually on the original tape didn't include the crack screen. I believe this as the version on my compilation tape (TX 9043) definitely didn't include the crack screen either. Problem is, I don't have a dump of my actual tape to prove any of this, but I do have some scans of it I made a few years ago and an associated advert (attached).
  14. I understand- but with respect, that's the sort of thing I had in mind covered by "niche uses". FWIW, I'm definitely aware of Spectrum 512, since I remember reading about it in the late '80s (long before I had a 16-bit machine myself). It looked like a nice trick, though from what I remember and what I've read since it was very CPU intensive, had some limitations (e.g. 40 colours per line) and probably wasn't suited to games. Still, I'll admit that some of the best examples I've seen of it were definitely comparable to HAM on the Amiga. Not that HAM itself was very suited to games either- the display wasn't CPU intensive, since it was hardware-based, but altering the image was still complicated; that's likely why even Amiga games stuck to the standard 32 colour mode (or 64 colour EHB on rare occasion).
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