Thanks a lot, I programmed and did all the artwork for it, Matt Scott (who later started Byte Size sound) did the sound and music. It was the first project I did as an independent developer. I poured over the original source code and multiple times a day I'd played the coin op beginning to end. I had to keep the coin op in my garage due to its size which wouldn't have been too bad except it was FREEZING! I remember seeing my breath and the screen would fog up from time to time. I worked hard on that game, funny thing though is my favorite part about it I didn't do - it's that opening chord on the title screen. I couldn't believe when Matt reproduced the coin op sound PERFECTLY without having to digitize the sound.
Anyway, thanks again.
Thanks man, I wrote that one too. RoadBlasters was the first game I did start to finish on my own. I had the coin op right next to my desk at Atari in Lombard IL. There are a couple things I would change about it now but it turned out great.
Look up the Easter eggs if you can. If I remember correctly if you hold down A or B or both and drive into the first tree on the right or left of the first level you will see my or Matt Scott's picture and will be able to warp to any level except the last one. We took some liberties with the end of game music too; as I recall, there wasn't any fanfare at the end in the coin op so Matt Whipped out a grand finale theme that turned out really cool.
My favorite thing I learned about the coin op from the source code was that the fuel economy (rate of fuel consumption) got worse and worse constantly, only depositing a quarter would fix it - you didn't have to continue or even die, just put in a quarter. There is even a comment in the code that says something like "this is where we embezzle money from the player". I laughed out loud literally and showed everyone in the office when I found that one.
woah ok so hang on you actually worked on both games? would I see your named in the credits on the carts? thats awesome! I really like Hydra actually, its pretty good fun, Stun Runner I always found had a pretty steep learning curve and it often upset me that I couldn't save progress in such games, but still a brilliant little game. I tip my hat to you sir!