Toucan

Here's a link to a RGVC post about the origin of the Reef Store: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/rec.games.video.classic/%22Reef$20Store%22%7Csort:relevance/rec.games.video.classic/fwyGYyCdUV8/7f4rUDfZ1jkJ

I am interested in buying some non-functional Colecovision units. It might be fun to try and see if I could get any to come back to life. Not sure what the going rate is on them, but let me know if you have any and what the issue is. Also, note cosmetic condition. Also, if you have any working power supplies, joysticks, or video hookups I probably would be interested in those as well since if I can get one back to life they would come in handy Thanks!

I currently have a number of items on eBay (http://www.ebay.com/sch/auction99er/m.html?_trksid=p3692) that I would like to offer to the people here at AtariAge for 10% off if you buy them from me directly (since I won't have to pay eBay fees). Just contact me at [email protected] with anything you might be interested in, don't click Buy It Now on eBay. That could be a good savings for the more expensive items, like the Tomarc/Motocross double-ender would be $20 off for example.

Oh yeah, this is bringing back some memories. Anyone remember this site from back in the 90s: http://www.oocities.org/[email protected]/index.html Secret Agent always looked fun. Robopods is on there as is the all silver TI-99/4A, which was making the rounds back then. I never found out if it was a custom job or if there really were all silver TI-99/4As. Someone mentioned it might have been released in Europe since they never got the beige consoles, so the TI factory in Europe painted them all white/silver to match the newer US ones.

As for E.T. I have 3 sightings on that as well. It seems to be a Canadian thing. One comes from Tyler Van Tighem when he was the librarian for one of the UG in Canada. He was dumping carts to disk for the group and didn't realize E.T. was an unknown title until I mentioned it to him in an e-mail. Another comes from a Canadian user that said he has it in his collection and will send me pics of it. The other comes from a truck driver in NH who was a TI user and would stop at various UG meets on his travels. He was a friend of Mike Wright and swears he saw the physical cart. Note that all of these are in/near Canada. Did some make it out in Canada? Who knows, but they all seem to be up there.

Hehe. I have 3 sightings on the Joust cart. One by a member on this group and 2 from the St. Louis TI UG. Apparently Joust was shown off at one of the St. Louis UG meets, and it was the Atarisoft version. This was back in the 80s.

Neat video. After hearing this it makes me want to work on the update to the site I've been planning. Glad to know people are still using it. The next iteration It would include all the tidbits I've gathered through the years and have all of the carts (released/unreleased) and info on vaporware. I plan on unveiling a vaporware rating (V1: it's been claimed to have been seen and we have the code, V2: It's never been seen, but we have the code, V3: Been seen, but we don't have the code, V4: Never seen, no code). It would help identify which titles are truly unknown. I would then include documentation on sightings that have been reported and even when the code was first made available if known. Here's an example on some games with their vaporware rating: V1: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial V2: Wing War V3: Joust V4: Porky's This kind of helps give an idea on what might be out there but just hard to come by.

Most likely John Phillips was talking about Strike Three, which was a game he programmed and was sold by Triton on cartridge in the late 80s

How hard would it be to turn some of these into full fledged games? I noticed that Doom was in there (https://youtu.be/ZhSUhE03XFw?t=3m30s). Also,that one with the balls and the scrolling would make a good shooter (https://youtu.be/ZhSUhE03XFw?t=6m42s).

It looks like the cheat was put out on the disk release of TI Invaders. Maybe John Phillips was involved in putting it on disk for release back then. Here's a link to a page that says it's on the disk version: http://shawweb.myzen.co.uk/stephen/timram35.htm -------------------- From Issue 35 GAMES PLAYERS SPECIAL... with thanks to Robert Brown of the Sydney (Australia) group. Many games modules have a "cheat" mode, reported before but not for a while, and not such an extensive list... In general, to enter cheat mode, when you have the title screen displayed, you must hold down SHIFT and press 8 then 3 then 8. There is often a time-out which means you have to do this fairly promptly from the time the title screen appears. Available with: ALPINER, MUNCHMAN, MUNCHMOBILE, MOONMINE After pressing the required keys you are able to enter the game at any level you require. TI released TI Invaders OFFICIALLY on disk, and only the disk version has the cheat mode, allowing you not only to select level but ALSO speed. STAR TREK will give you unlimited lives after you press the required keys from the title screen. CHISHOLM TRAIL, instead of starting from the title screen, wait until it asks you for LEVEL 1-9 then quickly make the required key presses. HOPPER you only need type SHIFT 8 TI RUNNER was only released on disk. when your man is flashing before the game starts, you can press FCTN 5 to skip to next level; or press SHIFT 3 followed by a two digit number to go to any screen ( 6 is typed 06 ). -------------------------- Here's a pic of the manual http://www.ti99ers.org/timeline/images/phd5058a.jpg

I have a Tomy question. I recently learned that one of the original Demo carts showed a "TI-Adapter" as coming for the Tutor. Cameron seems to think this was some type of expansion box that could use TI PEB cards, which may be the case, however it seemed that he surmised that since the Tutor's expansion box was not mentioned in that cart, but was in later ads (and the TI-Adapter in turn was not). However, with a name like "TI-Adapter" would it not make more sense that it was a TI-99 cartridge adapter so that the Tutor could access the library of TI carts? It was common in those days to do something like that, like the Atari 2600 adapter to play 2600 carts on a Colecovision. It just seems to me that considering the name "TI-Adapter" that it was unrelated to the Tutor expansion box, but was dropped and the expansion box was something else entirely. Also, I would think that Tomy could make more money by making users have to buy an expansion box using their cards, and not one that uses ones made by TI. I could only see a benefit in a cartridge adapter since it would expand the software library and attract buyers, whereas a TI compatible expansion box would only take away sales that otherwise could have went straight into Tomy's pocket when users had to buy Tomy branded cards.

How about Protector II's title screen music? That seems like it was probably a classic composition.

All items have been claimed except for the Mecatronics EPROMER with power supply and manual. Thanks!

Just found a Mechatronics EPROMMER with disk and manual and power supply! This is a rare bird indeed. I'm offering it for sale as well.

I'll have to let someone with more knowledge on the CC-40 chime in, but I think it can be used to print out plots and graphs in color even. So it could have some fun qualities in addition to being a curious item.

I found some rare TI items in my basement that I am looking to sell. I was going to go the eBay route but then remembered you guys here on AtariAge. If anyone's interested in any of the items below, get back to me with an offer and let's see if we can work out a deal. I am willing to sell everything individually, so don't worry about feeling that you have to guy the whole lot. Here's a list of what I have: Prototype Cartridges (All tested and working) The Milliken protos listed below were part of a school series where they packaged 2 games in one cartridge. These were either never released or only released to schools in small quantities, as I've never seen a finalized version of these. The single versions of these games of course were released for home use, but these prompt you to select which game you would like to play on the title screen of the game as they come two to a cartridge. Milliken Manager was I guess a way for teachers to keep track of student's progress. A disk is needed to run the Milliken Manager cart, which nobody has yet come across. I should note that this this the complete Milliken 2-in-1 school series set, as there were 6 2-in-1 carts plus the Milliken Manager. 1. Milliken Integers/Fractions 2. Milliken Subtraction/Multiplication 3. Milliken Equations/Measurement Formulas 4. Milliken Decimals/Percents 5. Milliken Division/Laws of Arithmetic 6. Milliken Number Readiness/Addition 7. Milliken Manager 8. Scott Foresman Fractions 1 9. TI-Writer 10. Multiplan (shows up on selection screen, but then goes back to TI title screen when selected. Might have to do with the fact that it needs a disk to run the program or maybe 32K attached). Hardware (Tested and working except the last TI-99/4) 1. Boxed TI CC-40 computer (has a sticker from Rockwell saying it was property of Ken Modesitt who was one of the PLATO developers for the TI-99/4A. I got these items from him). 2. TI-99/4 Computer (x3), I have 2 overlays and a manual, and only 1 power supply. Note that the manual insides are no longer attached to the cover since I guess the glue holding the cover has worn off through the years). The years of the manufacture of the 99/4's are 1979, 1981, and a blank one (nothing filled out on the stamp on the bottom). Interestingly, the 1979 one (I think LTA 4879) has a smooth under surface, not textured like on the later 99/4s, and also the power switch turns on in the opposite direction than the later 99/4s. 3. TI-99/4 Computer with a mismatched TI-99/4A silver back top plate (the 99/4 metal plate towards the back was missing, so I put one on from a broken 99/4A). NOTE: This computer will run but it seems the graphics are messed up and the cartridge port does not work. Might make a good project computer for someone that wants to try and bring it back to life. Feel free to drop me a line here, through PM, or e-mail at [email protected] with any offers on these items. I'll probably leave these here for a week and then put them on eBay for whatever remains. Thanks!

This talk about TI cartridges got me to thinking about "Hide and Seek" for the TI-99/4A. Apparently in the UK there was to be a cartridge called "Hide and Seek" (PHM 3215). I did some research on it, and it was developed by ASK (Applied Systems Knowledge). Apparently they made this game for other systems like the C64 (http://www.mobygames.com/game/hide-and-seek_). After seeing the screen shots, I realized that I have a dump of this game on disk but have never seen it listed anywhere on-line. At the time I did not realize it was the same Hide and Seek that TI was going to put out. Does anyone else out there have Hide and Seek converted to a ROM image? The disk I had it on had a ton of games for the TI, many unreleased, and were autoloaded from XB. The disks were put together in 1985 and contain some early versions of Burgertime, Treasure Island (with multi-colored cavemen), etc. I had no idea this was the same Hide and Seek that was to be put out in the UK on cartridge until I saw the screen shots in the link above. I wanted to ask to see if it's something that I should pursue in making available if it's not already been done before.

Found the review of Choplifter for the TI in Brian Starfire's 1984 book, "The Best Texas Instruments Software": Description: rescue game Sold by: Texas Instruments P.O. Box 53 Lubbock, TX 79408 800/858-4075 Requirements: Joystick op- tional Price and format: cartridge Protected: cartridge Warranty: 90 days User group rating: 9 Grapiiics and sound: 10Piayability: 9 Difficulty: expert Documentation: 9 Key: User group rating: Average of user group ratings Graphics and sound: Quality and aesthetics of eacli Piayability: How entertaining or interesting the game is Difficulty: l-low much skill is re- quired to enjoy the game Documentation: Quality of printed instructions Excellent: 8-10; Gcxxl: 5-7; Poor: under 5 CHOPLIFTER!Your mission in Choplifter! is to fly a helicopter past enemy lines to rescue 64 hostages. The prisoners are in four bar- racks surrounded by enemy tanks. Carrying as many pas- sengers as possible, you risk unfriendly fire to return them to safety. Choplifter! features some of the most detailed action graphics of any cartridge for the TI-99/4A. Your chopper can fly up, down, forward, and backward, controlled by the joystick. As you land, the pris- oners run out to meet you on the screen. They wave franti- cally and scramble to board the craft. The chopper blades rotate, and if you're hit by en- emy fire, you'll see the helicop- ter disintegrate in a falling ball of flames.

All classic computer and video game systems put anything that was planned for cartridge on cartridge lists. They then mark it as Never Released if it never came to be. Basically, if it was slated for cartridge, that's when I've included it on my lists. Sometimes those carts have been found, either in proto or final form.

Choplifter was reviewed for the TI in one of the "Best TI-99/4A Computer Software Books" by Brian Starfire. The documentation (manual) was also given a rating interestingly enough.

One of the things that must have existed at one time at least is a PHM listing from TI internally with all the titles with associated PHM's. Do you think TI would still have these numbers in their databases so that they know every part number they assigned something to? Like what was PHM 3228 for example? A list must have existed at one time, wonder if it still does? One thing I see people listing is PHM 3147 as Starship Pegasus since it's an empty slot before the MBX games. However, this is most likely wrong since Starship Pegasus was most likely a 2nd batch title since it does not appear in any early literature. I did talk with a guy (forgot his name) who was the programmer for an MBX Tennis title, he used to have a prototype cartridge of it, but when he went to look for it he could not find it (I was so disappointed as I almost found a new MBX game!). To be honest witg you, if I had to take dibs, I'd bet that PHM 3147 is either Fantasy or Lasso, since those are SNK titles and Munchmobile was 3146. Then again, who knows?

Ah yes, I remember that. The label says "Individual Accounting", and the title screen shows "VAT Accounting" .

Here's an excerpt from a TI catalog: Battlestar Galactica (speech) Wage war against the computer or an opponent as you pilot your Viper fighters and Battlestars through 3 dimensional space. This will be the first Cartridge to provide combat between two 99/4A's. ARCADE style. TI 99/4A only. Speech Synthesizer optional. Cartridge. Garth Dollahite was the programmer, he did TI Invaders.

Here are some titles missing from the list: PHM 3063 Advertizer PHM 3065 Test Trainer PHM 3066 - I owned this, but it was "Individual Accounting", not "VAT Accounting" PHM 3069 Pre-School Early Learning Fun PHM 3084 Computer Math Games I PHM 3086 Computer Math Games IV PHM 3102 Milliken Manager PHM 3124 Battlestar Galactica PHM 3125 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial PHM 3126 Key to Spanish PHM 3132 Peter Pan’s Space Odyssey PHM 3135 Pinocchio’s Great Escape PHM 3159 Choplifter! PHM 3161 Match Catch PHM 3167 Angler Dangler PHM 3207 Crossfire PHM 3208 Mousk Attack PHM 3212 Scrabble PHM 3214 Number Gulper PHM 3215 Hide and Seek PHM 3218 Gestion Privée PHM 3221 Multilingual Early Learning Fun PHM 3223 Wing War PHM 3230 Disk Manager 3

Here's the pictures in a zip file. JPEG.zip