bfstats
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Posts posted by bfstats
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Not derailing at all, Tavi. I am intrigued by your question. Worth further research...
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Here is the board of my NICS Electronics TV-Boy, recently acquired, and works perfectly:
I bought it because, to my knowledge, it has never been dumped. I have a suspicion that some of the ROMs in the chip are, perhaps, uniquely modified NTSC versions of PAL binaries. So, I'm anxious to run its contents through CloneSpy.
Inquiries with the gentleman who had a similar challenge... you can read about his console dumps here:
...solved his problem with the help of a friend in Slovakia.
Cool! But I was hoping to ship it to someone in the US (MUCH less costly) who has the necessary equipment and soldering skill. Here is what he told me needs to be done in order to fulfill my objective:
"The ROM could be that DIL32 signed as NS-31(N) TV-BOY(127G). It could be a classic 512KB (4Mbit) mask ROM, so it should be de-soldered, inserted to a programmer with 27C040 support and dumped, then re-soldered onto the board."
So, anyone monitoring this Forum live closer to Maryland than Slovakia, have the ability to solder, have the equipment mentioned above and the ability to use it, AND have the inclination to take this on and return the TV-Boy to me in full working order along with the dumped file?
Not asking much, am I?!
I will pay for shipping in both directions, of course, and compensation can be discussed. I'm prepared to ship it to Slovakia if necessary, but am hoping to find a local solution to save on the overall cost. The separated binaries will be shared with the community if any are previously undiscovered.
Please advise...
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On 11/15/2015 at 2:14 PM, Rick Weis said:so much HATE! I wish we can ALL just get along and not worry about what others are doing! but to answer the question about a "crash" IF there is a crash, it will happen when all the collectors stop buying any home brew games! (I will say over the years it has crossed my mind a few times!) players will always buy games if there are games they like/love but IMO many players don't buy many games because of a limited budget. and with the price of games these days, it's not that cheap of a hobby anymore.
for me this hobby has ALWAYS been about the fun of it and the thrill of the hunt.
Rick
SO well said! Thanks, Rick.
Update: As of early 2020 no crash has occurred, homebrews are plentiful, and every year there are GREAT (especially in the AtariAge Store) and TERRIBLE (as with EVERY year going back to 1977) new games regardless of programming languages.
As members of the community, let's continue to encourage all who have any inclination to make games. Even if their initial releases leave something to be desired, a START may lead to a CONTINUATION which will PERPETUATE the hobby and BENEFIT everyone. So there.
Oh, and boxes ROCK!
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Nice, and I agree but...
Need a box, Dude.
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Thanks!
Arenafoot, that is one IMPRESSIVE spreadsheet! Much respect.
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Yet another extraordinary and UNIQUE contribution from Omegamatrix!
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Bump!
Anyone able and willing to post a more up-to-date Homebrew ROM pack? I'm looking specifically for the finished Titan Axe ROM.
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Bought a sizable lot from me, and was a genuine pleasure to talk to and to do business with. Great communicator, prompt payment, thorough follow-ups. Highly recommended!
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I was about to write you to ask but figured you’re busy. Looking forward to your assessment.
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On 8/19/2018 at 8:56 PM, Blazing Lazers said:Inspired by the recent discovery of a 5th(!) Extra Terrestrials cart, I wanted to put together a quick list of all of the R10/top tier rarest carts arranged by the number of publicly known copies. I greatly look forward to hearing from those who know far better than I here about more exact figures, and certainly about the estimated number of copies for games that are usually among those featured on all of the "rarest Atari games" lists. What I have off the top of my head and from quick searches:
1x copy: Gamma Attack, Red Sea Crossing, Cat Trax (was this real?)
2x copies: Birthday Mania, monogrammed Space Chase
3x copies: Ultravision Karate
4x copies:
5x copies: Extra Terrestrials
6x copies: Gauntlet
15x copies: Eli's Ladder
23x copies: Magicard
28x copies: Pepsi Invaders
and with a surprising amount of copies apparently out there, around 20x copies of Air Raid known.
Per Joe Santulli, who quoted CommaVid founder Dr. J.M. Bronstein to me, 20 copies of Video Life were made.
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13 minutes ago, Supergun said:You presented even more information then we had gathered thus far. Thank you.
Please be sure to distinguish between "information" (my experiences) and "assumption" (no substantiating data). I have no desire to cast aspersions on possibly-legitimate transactions, if they indeed happened. And I'm not a Cold War conspiracy theorist. I just want my assumptions to be proven wrong... if possible.
15 minutes ago, chewy said:who is Jim Redd of Pleasant Valley Video? why is his cataloge listed as imfamous jim redd?
8 minutes ago, chewy said:he has Dukes of Hazzard listed...... i wonder if anyone ever got that one in reality
I was one of his "victims" after mail-ordering Chase the Chuckwagon for $19.95 (it worked even though it was in a Mystique shell), and then sending him another $300 for an extensive list of his unreleased titles. I actually spoke to him on the phone once... BEFORE he got my check. Seemed like a great guy. AFTER he got my check, he never answered his phone again. If he hadn't seemed so hurried during our brief chat, I would have asked how he was able to "acquire" all those prototype ROMs. There is no way to know how he got them or if he ever had them at all, yet clearly he had the Zimag prototypes as Atarimania's photos prove.
I'd very much like to know the answer to your question. CTCW was released. He likely owned the cart, dumped the ROM, burned a new chip, and put it into another cart. Homemade piracy.
So how about it? Anyone here receive a cart from Pleasant Valley Video that contained an unreleased game?
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When business started waning for Atari in the US, due to the crash or whatever, they marketed more aggressively in the UK and Europe, hence the release of their PAL-only games and, especially, the PAL console pack-in cart, 32-in-1.
"Companies" who appeared and released games in the US during and after the crash - namely Zimag (mid '83), Panda (late '83), and Froggo (late '87 in time for Christmas), did the exact opposite of Atari. Most of their releases were NTSC versions of previously-released PAL games in Europe and Asia.
As has been pointed out so astutely, copyright laws in other countries are not likely to be the same or as stringent as they are in the US, if they even exist at all. The production of many of the pirated works in Taiwan and South America didn't require a "deal" between "companies". Just buy the legit US-made cart, extract the ROM, alter the graphics slightly, put a new name on it, then sell it ANYWHERE as your own trademarked product!
So as legit (or not) as the US companies in question may have been, it is fairly safe to assume their acquisition of the ROM images contained in the games they released was NOT a product of legitimate, legal commerce. Would the US Copyright Office have compared, for example...
Zimag's I Want My Mommy to Taiwanese Bit Corp's Open Sesame? or...
Panda's Space Canyon to then-defunct Apollo's Space Cavern?, or...
Froggo's Task Force to sold-company-to-Bondwell Spectravideo's Gangster Alley?
I think not, since each of these releases has its own copyright, according to its labeling, if that can be believed. Would the "Copyright Police" have issued C&D orders (through the courts) to these companies had anyone protested? Probably, but were Bit Corp, Games by Apollo, and Spectravideo going to be the ones protesting? Probably NOT because they were either overseas or out-of-business, their products/copyrights having been sold off, and their execs/copyright holders having moved on. Again, these are, I think, fair assumptions by someone who was monitoring the US video game market closely, especially after the crash, and ESPECIALLY after having bought Space Canyon only to find it was a rip-off of Space Cavern which I already owned. And that's why I didn't buy Lochjaw when it showed up in the bargain bins at Kay-Bee. I already owned Shark Attack. Game-cloning left a bad taste in my mouth and made me wary of every "company" during that era.
Some other easy assumptions:
When Mystique receives bad press in the US for Custer's Revenge, just start another fly-by-night company and sell in Europe (where consumers aren't so damned uptight), and name it Playaround.
When Ultravision fails to get its console into the US marketplace before the crash, just start another company, named Funvision, in Taiwan where you can get away with cloning anything, EVERYTHING, even games by a legit US and still-existing company like Activision.
And, since the dreaded Jim Redd of Pleasant Valley Video was able to get his hands on the unreleased prototype ROMs credited to Vidco (including Pizza Chef), surely a pirating South American "company" like CCE would be able to get them, too. Doesn't really seem to matter how although, like the rest of you, I'd really like to KNOW.
These assumptions are based on human nature; if there's money to be made, no matter how, there will always be someone who will find a way to make it.
But if any of my assumptions have been proven to be incorrect by anyone, please set the record straight.
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Magnificent! Thank you, Dutchman.
Next step... box and manual...
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Sold him two 2600 company sets and the transaction could not have been more pleasant. Classy communication and prompt payment. A fine member of our community!
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9 minutes ago, Tempest said:Maybe, but Atari did do the arcade game. You'd think they'd also have the home rights too.
...and it was released in 1982 by Warner Bros., another indicator of a possible Atari connection. We'll figure this out yet...
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Didn't Fox have the license, and couldn't it be that licensing issues may have led to name changes? Examples: Bank Heist was originally called Bonnie and Clyde, then Roaring Twenties. Crash Dive was originally called Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Since we're speculating anyway, let's assume anything is possible.
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Great stuff, Tempest! Nicely done, as usual.
Thanks for sharing the ROM, Dutchman!
My two cents: Sounds like Firefox. If it had the capability to fire missiles from the back of the jet, that would likely be the proof. Alas, we are left only to speculate... again.
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ALL SOLD! Thanks to everyone who expressed interest.
EDIT: In order to encourage the sale of the remaining PAL sets, I have added to this listing the original Avalon Hill lid-style boxes with inserts (no carts or manuals). Buying the AH SET for the asking price will entitle the purchaser to a 10% discount per remaining PAL set. So, 20% off TWO PAL sets and 30% off ALL THREE! As the listing states, US shipping will be FREE to anyone who purchases more than one set.
Listed for sale here are 86 Atari 2600 cartridge and manual sets separated by company, of which there are 13 represented.
Unless otherwise noted*, all carts are:
- in complete company sets
- mint condition
- NTSC
- included with original manuals and inserts (no catalogs)
Hi-res scans or photos will be provided if requested.
Asking prices are based on the midpoint between what I paid back in the day and current pricecharting.com sales listings, where available. I encourage all interested parties to do their own research, but I think you'll find these prices to be bargains.
Prices DO NOT include shipping, but Priority Mail shipping will be free to US buyers who purchase 2 or more sets. International buyers please PM do discuss shipping options.
Please PM questions, comments, offers to buy...
American Videogame - 1 game - $19---> SOLD
Avalon Hill (BOXES ONLY!) - 4 boxes - $100------>SOLD*Set incomplete - Out Of Control was sold years ago, sorry.
* These were acquired directly from Avalon Hill in late 1984.
Bit Corp Re-release (*All PAL) - 7 games - $75-----> SOLD*Set incomplete - does not include Dancing Plates, Space Tunnel.
*Quelle Phantompanzer cart was in Bit Phantom Tank box when I bought it in 2001; manual is a copy.
Bomb (*All PAL) - 2 games - $130---> SOLD*Price is MY COST from 2001. No auction data available.
*Set incomplete - does not include Assault, Great Escape.
*Z-Tack label is faded.
*Included manuals are in German and French only.
Data Age - 8 games - $78----> SOLD
First Star - 1 game - $87> SOLD*Cart is standard, NOT Xonox style.
FOX - 17 games - $200---->SOLD*7 of the 17 carts have altered labels. Back in the mid-'80's, when nobody cared, I resented Fox for not putting the title of every game on the end label. After all, who doesn't store their carts end-label out?! So I sliced them and swapped the titles on the fronts with the copyright info on the ends of the following titles:
*Bank Heist
*Crypts of Chaos
*Earth Dies Screaming
*Flash Gordon
*M*A*S*H
*Revenge of the Beefsteak Tomatoes
*SpaceMaster X-7
I suppose a buyer, if any, could swap them back, but they can never again be considered mint. Nevertheless, the asking price is $169 less than current VGPC pricing. Is that not worth some less-than-pristine labels?
Froggo - 6 games - $74----> SOLD
Konami - 3 games - $52----> SOLD
M Network - 17 games - $150----> SOLD
Salu Exclusives (*All PAL) - 3 games (plus 1) - $70-----> SOLD*My Golf is a HES exclusive but is included here simply because this is the version I acquired.
Sancho (*All PAL) - 6 games - $120-----> SOLD*Exocet label is worn.
*No manuals for Dice Puzzle (it was on the box), Exocet, or Nightmare, but I can provide copies of the Panda equivalents.
Sears Exclusives - 3 games - $44----- >SOLD
U S Games - 14 games - $123---->SOLD*The following 4 carts are beveled-style: Entombed, Picnic, Piece 'O Cake, Raft Rider.
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Anyone Able to Dump a TV Boy?
in Atari 2600
Posted
To Tavi and anyone monitoring this thread, here is a photo of the "VCS on a chip" taken directly from a rare 2600 Junior (not mine). As you can see, this is a 64-pin chip. The one in the TV-Boy is 48-pin.