Scott Stilphen

Thanks for the compliments. Look for a big update to *all* the sections very soon!

Anyone have the bins for Mega Boy and/or Cubis?

The 5200 version wasn't part of their contest, and thus wasn't programmed with a 'special' word or any other differences like that. Just to add to the Blueprint entry info, Al Backiel also noticed that the secret word can also be anagrammed into "THEPLANE".. it's possible this is what CBS meant, if they were referring to the planned release of WINGS. Any other ideas?

>>A combination Cuttle Cart/CD player adapter would be my suggestion. We'll call it the 'Fish Eye'

It's possible the version that Charlie (the programmer) has is more complete than this one.

The YAR Easter egg is well known, among others (check out www.digitpress.com/eastereggs/index.htm for more info). Nothing happens when the score is rolled (at 1 million).

[Minefield] >>What I don't get is that it's been pretty well concluded that neither of these existed. It never even got to the coding stage. No artwork was ever done for it -- apart from the final prize, of course -- and no comic had even been started. >> Tod Frye confirmed the game was about 20% done. Artwork *was* done for it. Besides the "Pegasus" painting, there was also a (mock-up) box shown in Atari's 2-page Swordquest magazine ads. As for the comic, I've heard it was (at the very least) written and story-boarded. Other rumors have it as only needing to be "inked", or even completely done. Unfortunately, whatever materials exist are locked away in DC Comic's archive, and nobody there seems very willing to dig them out. [Dutchman 2000] >>Basically, I feel that a release of an Airworld game by a home-hobbyist after all these years would tarnish what several collectors and I hold as a very bright memory of our childhoods. >> Ah...yes...as for your SQ fan's comments, I doubt many people consider a failed contest, composed of *very* boring games, much of a 'bright memory'. At least he's right about one thing - he's quite possibly the biggest SQ "fan" out there.... I saw a similar posting over at the 2600 Connection site. I don't see how homebrew versions (such as Christian Bogey's Ewok Adventure or Mike Mika's Kickman) can detract from the original games that were planned (even if they were started...) Please proceed with your efforts!

Just where *does* H-strobe come from....

Well #2659 is ROTLA... Could be a new Carpenter/Romero-ish film - "Rot in L.A."

Inky, Have you verified that Chopper Command ends at 999,990? Just want to know so I can include this info on my page. Other notes of interest: Blueprint - counter rolls at 20K Lost Luggage - game has a glitch which causes it to crash/lock up shortly after passing 100K Porky's - highest score allowed is 7,402 Trick Shot - perfect game is 37. Method to getting this is on my site. Tunnel Runner - crashes after 130+ levels. I have footage from someone (Jeff Adkins) who played a whole game, right to this point. DP's Easter Egg Compendium site

[info from Russ Perry Jr.] There is at least 3 games... alternate version of Battlezone Dodge 'Em variant - made for a truck company original game - only about 25% done. Anyone have any more info on these? Len?

Issue (#6) of Slap-Dash has some notes that Ed Salvo had mentioned to Russ(?). It was a few years ago, and I don't know if it's all still valid (and Russ may be able to help here) but to quote: "Ed programmed Mountain King (in 12K) for the 2600, and the "secret kingdom" was something he put there intentionally, not a bug, though some of the "unstable" areas are not intentionally glitchy" "Ed was one of four partners in VSS, who contracted to write games for other companies (such as Xonox and Sunrise) as well as developing the READS 2600 system for 2600 game design." "Ed programmed Skeet Shoot, Racquetball, Lost Luggage, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Glacier Patrol for the 2600, and Gustbuster for Colecovision." "Pat Roper, president of Apollo, had a dream about building 2-person helicopters for commuting, thinking they could clear up traffic congestion, and a lot of money was wasted in that pipe dream, killing Apollo." "A monogrammed Space Chase was made on camera for Leeza Gibbons of Entertainment Tonight (or maybe it was PM Magazine at the time?)." "Wabbit was designed by a female programmer, but Ed doesn't remember her name." [ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: Scott Stilphen ]

Tempest - another note on Big Bird. The scores in most (all?) of those CCW (Kids) games roll at 100

>>. There are very few sites that actually listed credit for any of the eggs. I saw quite a few eggs, hints, tricks, cheat codes, etc. that were copied word for word across sites. >> I agree, Albert – this is exactly my point. I’ve replied to Alex in length about this, so I don’t want to repeat my long-winded email here. The jist of it is, I noticed some of your entries were ones that others or I had written (exactly). I’m all for the exchange of information, but I think there’s a difference between say, using someone’s scan of a Pac-Man box, and plagiarism. The problem with most of these Easter eggs sites have either plagiarized or outright copied information w/o crediting who wrote it (doing a quick search for “2600 Easter eggs” will provide plenty of examples). Even though my page has only been up 6 months, I have seen other sites already starting to glean parts of it, and I don’t doubt that some of it has made its way here. I just felt I should bring it to your attention. My page is by no means the definitive source for such info, but I’m quite confident that no one else has spent as much time tracking down who was the first to discover a given egg, or sifting through the occasional bogus tricks circulating. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I frequently visit your site, and the amount of information contained within it is staggering, but I’ve probably explored only a 10th of everything that’s offered. In regards to the Easter egg section, that’s a particular area of interest for me, and that’s the only example I’m addressing. As I said, you’re free to use anything on my site (as I state on it, the list is merely a compilation of all the presently-known facts) – all I ask is that if you use something verbatim to give credit to whoever discovered it. Just realize that if you take EE information from other sites, chances are those sites spent little time verifying it or acknowledging the source of it. I’ve already done most of that “grunt” work, so feel free to use my page as a reference point.

I need to get my .02 in here, if I may. As you know, I've done a lot of work this year in putting up a comprehensive Easter egg list. A large percentage of the 2600 section comes directly from the 2600 Connection newsletter (which has always given credit for these, since the 1st issue). One of my main goals with this site was to see that people were credited with their discoveries, as many sites neglect this or (worse yet) copy this information from the n/l, word-for-word. I’m also trying to credit those who were the first to actually discover something, and not someone who simply repeated what they had read elsewhere. When I first noticed that you were going to add an Easter egg section, I thought it was a great idea. You had previously included a link to my page on your site, and even promoted my contest, so to have another outlet for this information was great to hear. Which is why I was surprised to see that you’re doing exactly what these other sites are doing – copying the information over (some of them verbatim from my list), sans credit. I have no problem with anyone who wants to use this information for their site, but at least have the courtesy to either mention the source, or ask me first.

You're right - rights for consoles and computers were seperate. But with Locomotion, there were 2 consoles involved...

One thing I noticed about the "garbled" characters is that they're actually numbers that are only half-visible, so I doubt there's any message hidden in there.

I forgot about the info from Tod Frye you mentioned in Slap-Dash #6. It also says that Waterworld was based on the Kundalini Chakra (didn't know that). Time to update the SQ article (again..)

I agree - it has to be intentional. What are the odds the only path for that super jump would lead right to the entrance to it?

Speaking of the Sucky Zep cart...what LZ song is being 'murdered' on there?

While you're at it, get him to fix Ghostbusters II so that it's actually playable! K-rist....talk about being ridiculously hard....

Right, but it was unusual to see that happen with arcade games. I think back then, there were seperate agreements for the type of media (cartridge/tape/disk). If a company got the cartridge rights for a game, that covered cartridge versions for all systems. Isn't that how Starpath was able to get around Parker Brothers agreement and make their version of Frogger (on tape)? It probably was as Tempest stated- Mattel(M-Network) had no interest in making 5200 games, and worked out an agreement for Atari to do it, otherwise I'm sure Atari would most definitely had planned to do a 2600 version. If so, that's just very unorthodox to see (back then), especially from one of Atari's main competitors...

It exists (along with Motorodeo). I used to have it, and I met someone at the last PhillyClassic who had it with him.

[Alex+Albert] >>Why rush an imperfect version when a few weeks can improve it? >> Our definition of imperfect is obviously different. I for one can deal w/o a random garbage screen. And as Joe stated, why hold up the release out of fear that someone may not know how to manually run it, or (God-forbid) they email you to ask how. Learning can be a good thing sometimes. I typed in the DOS command once for it....and probably never will again b/c Video Life isn't something you would ever use more than once, any more than you would BASIC Programming or Magicard. Yes, it's nice to have the emulator auto-detect it, but is it a major issue? Hardly. I'll use the car analogy that someone else mentioned - if you were a car salesman, would you refuse to sell someone a car b/c they might not be as good a driver as most people? Of course not. What right would you have to do so? We're not talking about a blown engine here either (there's a joke in there somewhere...) >>Just because emulation isn't perfect, doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for accuracy. >> I never said you shouldn't, but I don't think the issues with releasing Video Life warrant such strategic planning. If Z26 didn't exist, would you have released the ROM? >>If we sat on the cart for a year, I could understand your complaints, but two weeks? >> Again, I will re-state my opinion that time wasn't (was not) the issue. The fact that you held it for minor issues is. >>We get enough questions on how to run emulators as it is >> That's part of running a website - people are going to email you with questions! Why would this site be any different? Personally, I have enough faith that if someone can operate a PC, get online, and download a ROM into the right directory, they won't have much trouble learning how to use a DOS command. And if they do? That's part of the function of a message board. That's what the READ ME file is for. I've resorted to them. I've emailed John Saeger and Eckhard Stolberg with questions. That's how you learn [ben] >>The Video Life ROM is out now, and all the talk in the world won't change the fact that it's out now. Nobody said they wanted to. Believe me, I'm glad it's finally out, and I'm glad to see an emu like the Z26 stay up-to-date for games like Video Life and Thwocker. >>There's nothing of any lasting value you can gain by second guessing Alex's decision. I'm just stating my opinion, that's all. Alex is free to do whatever he wants, just as I'm certainly free to question it, as is anyone else. I'm open to second-guessing anyone's decision about anything, including my own. People have questioned me for some of my contributions, but I don't take it personal. There are a lot of extremely-knowledgeable people in this hobby, but there is no ONE authority. >>Alex pursued that ROM for three years! He finally caught up to it, dumped it, and because it was the realization of a long-fought personal dream, he went to great pains to ensure that the ROM was presented in what he believed was the best possible manner. THAT is what I will remember 20 years from now. >> That's great. I'm glad he realized his dream, but keep in mind he's not alone. Other share the same goal, and he wasn't the first to post the ROM. That is what I will remember. I believe we’ve all wasted enough time over (gasp) Video Life. I know I have.

>>that isn't the only reason. The first reason is to have an emulator that autodetects the game properly. The day we were notified that the new z26 was released, we released the game. >> I realize that. That's why I said "A" reason, not "the only" reason. >>Did it really bother you so much that we held on to it for two weeks just so that we could release it under the best conditions? >> Not at all. The point I'm trying to get across is that not all the emulators auto-detect like Z26, and not everyone uses Z26, so why hold up releasing it *just* for Z26? The game program itself isn't going to change. I just can't believe that you would spend time making the start-up "garbage" randomize. Emulation isn't perfect to begin with....and never will be. If anyone is that picky about it (not being random), they'd probably be happier using a real cart and system anyway, but it obviously bothered you that much to alter the ROM. Like I said, whatever. If you want to take the time to do that- great! But how many people will appreciate the difference in something like that? Besides, it's not an actual game but a (extremely dated) simulation, and as such, it won't be seeing any serious use from anyone these days. I highly doubt "thousands" of people will be downloading it. It certainly wasn't a big seller 20 years ago We may like to think the hobby is that popular, but if even 100 people download it, it will only be to complete their ROM collection.