Scott Stilphen

I've gotten up to level 7 (which is exactly the same as level 6). The first level with the fireball ledges (4?) is tough, but after that, the ledges move back-and-forth between the sides! Plus, a new screen is added, which is like the "elevators" screen, except you have to avoid these "push down" bars. The last screen ("fishes") gets a little harder, as more levels have fish swimming in them. Although this game is designed for the Mindlink, and defaults to a paddle/mouse with the latest Z26 revs, it's much easier to play with a joystick IMHO.

I don't recall the exact EG issue, but I know there was a similar mention of 'collectable carts' in an Atari Age issue. What prompted it was Atari dropping older titles (such as Star Ship) from their catalogs.

At best it's an original proto board in a blank case, but chances are it's a copy.

I wonder if the Intellivision and Atari 400/800 versions were ever started. Do any catalog screenshots exist for either? Speaking of, is the catalog pic of the 2600 version real or a drawing?

quote: Originally posted by Thomas Jentzsch: I had a short look into the disassembled code. It still contains some debugging code, but seems to be nearly complete. Perhaps I can find out what pressing the button does (or should do) and what the player 0 difficulty switch is used for. Maybe you can see how the scoring system works too?

Funny you should ask Actually, a sequel was planned, but I don't know of any subtitle for it (just simply 'Lord of the Rings II').

Couple more facts: What I thought was "thunder" is actually you getting wounded! It seems there are traps throughout Middle Earth that always seem to be in the same place (Ex. at the start, go down as far as possible, and then go right. After leaving town, you will find one a few forest screens out). The 'Day' counter counts the number of full days, not the one you're in (in other words, at the start of the 2nd day, the counter will read '1'). The scoring is still baffling. If you run around for a few days w/o doing anything, you get 0. If you find the "blue" guy and die after 2 full days, you get 1,900; after 3 you get 2,300.

Here's the site where Thomas got that quote from. Does anyone know if the box artwork was used/taken from the books, or original?

First off, I just want to say "WOW"! I thought I was still hung over from last night when I saw the front page What a very cool (and timely) surprise. The graphics are very well done. C'mon, out with it AA guys- where did you get it?? Thanks for the compliment Marc. I'll try my best here... (Temp, do we need a hug? haha j/k). Ok, after 2 hours of play, here's what I found out (I never read the books either, so bear with me). The Black Riders (horsemen) will run at full speed when night arrives, so hide out in a town or forest until sunrise. The 'warning' tone you hear gets louder, and the ground will get darker, the closer they are. Since it will take several days to reach Rivendell, one thing you almost certainly have to do is find the "crossbow" guy: To find him, go to the end of the path (at the river), go 3 screens left, and 1 down. Once you have him, you can travel at top speed (same speed as walking the path). It isn't necessary to have the "red" guy (the one you start off with) to finish the game (in fact, you don't need any of them). After the first rider attack, you will lose him. Someone mentioned you can simply go back to the first town to get him again, but he's not there. However, I did find him a few screens down and 1 or 2 to the right of where you get the crossbow guy (it's possible he's always on this screen the first time you lose him; if you lose him again, he may be somewhere else). Getting the "blue" guy in the second town gives you the arrow, which will lead you to the "white" guy. If you continue to find him (it seems he appears in a specific order every time), eventually he will lead you to run into Rivendell. There doesn't seem to be a limit as to how many times you can do this. Again, neither of these guys are required, but they will help your score. There are 2 paths across the river. One is 12 screens left from the top of the path; the other is 13. Rivendell lies between 2 screens to the right of the path and 1 screen to the left (towns are 4 screens wide), so if you take the right path, cross the river, go between 10-13 screens to the right, and go up, you will find it. It's the same as other towns, except the colors are cycling. Here's a picture of the ending (with all 4 guys): The "world" is 42 screens wide. If you reach the edge (either side), the ground will become black: It seems the most wounds you can sustain is 3. There doesn't seem to be a way to heal yourself, and rider attacks aren't the only way you can get injured (birds? Certain number of days?). Pressing the button doesn't protect you from riders, but maybe it protects from birds? I'm guessing the occasional screen flashing is thunder. The console switches don't appear to have any affect. What happens if you take longer than 99 days? [ 12-16-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

What it means is, the rumors of any artwork existing in DC's archives are untrue

[from George Perez] Hi: No, there was no "Airworld" story ever written or drawn. The whole SWORDQUEST project was terminated by Atari before we could even start on the art. Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway may have worked out some sort of plot synopsis dealing in the generalities of that final chapter for Atari approval, but it never got to plot form. Take care, GPz

There's still quite a few out there yet to be rediscovered. According to Rex Bradford, Lord of the Rings was shown at a party for ex-Parker Brothers programmers.

Thanks Crossbow. Another one down

From yet another old posting I dug up: "On (the 3d maze game) I have found a secret door a few times (I know exactly where at least 1 is) with weird symobols on the door. The first time I look at the door, If I don’t turn away and look down the hallway, my points will rush up for a while. Does anyone know what this is?"

Is there a way to hack the game so that it shows the letters completely? Gelberg mentioned a specific method to revealing them ("On level 6, fly 32 screens to the left and fly into the mountain range. Large flashing 'LGs' appear alongn with much noise and points"), but that's not exactly what I got (no points or flashing letters) And I found that the initials are at the bottom of every other screen. Can you tell from the code if there's a specific way to reveal them?

Another over-ambitious vaporware product. Guess it didn't take them too long to figure out the proposed built-in "flat-screen" was technically cost-prohibitive at the time

Found a couple of old posts related to Easter eggs in this game. This one may have been the source of the "2nd, more secret signature" rumor: From: Dennis Carlson ([email protected]) Subject: Re: Stargate and other rare 2600 games Newsgroups: rec.games.video View this article only Date: 1989-03-25 07:02:20 PST In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (C.L. Freemesser (709ITP)) writes: >I managed to sucessfully finish "Raiders of the Lost Ark". However, when I finished, the "scale" did not reach the top (you know, when the game ends, Indy goes up/down on a scale). I BELIEVE that if you get Indy to the top of the scale (by doing EVERYTHING right in the game), the signature will appear.> I remember "Raiders" fondly. It took me four days of solid playing to figure it out. My son was playing it once,he got as far as blowing a hole in the right wall. He then came and asked me why the initials I.J. came on the screen. I went to look and scale was at the top. We never figured out how he did it. He had never gotten past the market place and the room above it. And this one was where HSW first mentioned having the "correct 3 objects in the inventory": From: Adrian Roberts ([email protected]) Subject: E.T. Easter Egg revealed at BAVE meeting! Newsgroups: rec.games.video.classic View this article only Date: 1996/07/15 Well, for all of you who missed yesterday's BAVE meeting--which is about 99.5% of the people reading this newsgroup, I suspect--you missed quite a special meeting. For those who don't know, BAVE stands for Bay Area Videogame Enthusiasts, a loose collection of geeks and collectors who meet in the SF Bay Area every month to trade games and whatever. Anyway, Clint Dyer, the host of this month's meeting, had arranged for a special guest to show up--none other than Atari 2600 game designer Howard Scott Warshaw! After entertaining us with tales of the early Atari and the creation of his games Yars Revenge, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. (which we gave him a bit of a ribbing about) I asked about Easter Eggs in his games. Practically everyone knows how to make his initials appear in Yars Revenge, but what about Raiders and E.T.? He confirmed that both a Yar and the initials "HSW2" appear in Raiders, but he couldn't remember quite how it was done. Something about having the correct three objects and digging on the correct mesa or something...

Pole P. - the programmer's initials appear above Mt. Fuji? Space I. - rumored to have one. ?

Can anyone verify this one? "Video Pinball: When your ball goes down the left tube, if you nudge it to the right it'll hit a "wall" at the bottom and not fall out. If the ball is moving quickly enough it'll bounce up, I once was able to nudge & use this ball to retrieve my ball WITHOUT TILTING!"

What about this one: "If you get it right, you can literally "catch" the ball by jamming it between your shield and the edge of the screen. I have no idea as to how my sister did it several times IN ONE GAME. (I could never do it myself.) It's rather weird, you'll hear a dull *thump* and everyone will be wondering "wha?" "where's the ball?" Moving will release it." Btw, does anyone have Harry Dodgson's email?

1. Yes. This is most notable on the 5th screen (you can't sit safely at the edge of the mothership and blast the moving band out). 2. Don't remember, but the manual is online here 3. That's how the arcade version is. 4. Absolutely MUCH better than that on the arcade cab.

Another old post - this one from John Vivian Matthews: "I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the easter eggs in Okie Dokie. I know that there are at least two, perhaps three. (Bob told me one time that there were more than the one I found (one which perhaps everyone has found) but he wasn't saying what they were or how to get to them.)"

Found an old post by Harry Dodgson where he mentions it: "Also, I would like to put out a thought for most programmers. Has anyone else realized that Atari has only made ONE videogame cartridge for the 2600 that has a fatal bug in it. Considering the amount of software revisions and bug fixes that I see for computers (MACs, SUNs, ...), I find that to be a very good record. Yes, the software was smaller and easier (more fun) to test, But it still means something!! Oh, for those who don't know which cartridge, try Warlords in 3 player mode. It will occasionally not give the ball back to continue after a point is scored." Harry Has anyone ever seen this before? If so, how do you trigger it?

According to Larry Gelberg, "Game II" became Death Star Battle, so there may never have been a Sarlacc Pit-based game. The artwork for both boxes was done in-house, before work on either game was started.

Thomas Jentzsch verified that the LG letters are in fact coded that way, but for some reason the game doesn't let the screen scroll far enough down to fully see them.