mattkain

No, it has not been worked out. I would prefer to set it up via PMs. So, if any members live in or around Northern California, please PM me. Thanks. Matt Kain

I've definitely decided that I want to release the ROM through Atari Age as soon as it gets dumped. However, it looks like Atarimania is also a great site to hand the ROM off to as well. It sounds as if between these 2 sites the game will reach a fairly large audience. Rom Hunter, do you run Atarimania? Matt

I like the sound of this. This is most likely the path that I'll take. Thanks to everyone for all the information and help so far. Matt Kain

Geez. I was just in Southern Wisconsin 2 weeks ago and flew out of O'Hare. How's that for a missed opportunity? Matt Kain

Hi everyone, I suppose I should clarify some of my intentions. I've received several PMs concerning dumping the ROM and selling the cart, and I can only say that it's great to see such interest in the game. 1. Playing the game. For those of you who are simply concerned with playing the game, fear not. I have no desire or intention to sit in my basement raking digital leaves and laughing at the many Atari gamers/collectors/enthusiasts who wish they could have a go at GLCB. 2. Selling the game. At present, I'm about 95% certain that I will not be selling the cart any time soon. I would have to get a pretty amazing offer to part with the cart, and I can't really see that happening right now. This isn't to say that I won't sell it in the future, but probably not right now. Also, I confess that I don't really collect video games any more so I'm not as attached to the cart as I was 10 years ago. 3. Dumping the game. I am currently exploring my options for dumping the game. I confess that I'm not really sure how the process works or once the game is dumped what the best way to get it out to the community is (maybe someone can fill me in). I will NOT send the game in the mail. I was bitten twice in my collecting days by using the post (once by someone ripping me off through the mail, and once by someone actually stealing a package that was delivered to me) so I have no intention of mailing my most valuable game anywhere. If and when it gets dumped, it will have to be done in person. One thing that I want to make absolutely clear: I do not want copies of the game being sold. I will not dump the cart if I feel someone is going to use it to spin a profit. The last thing I want to do is hand the cart over to someone who then dumps the ROM and starts selling GLCB carts for $50 a pop. Perhaps I am being naive, and this is impossible, but ideally I would like everyone to be able to easily obtain the ROM for FREE so they can play the game, analyze the source, or whatever. I am curious if once a game is dumped if there is some central archive where the ROM would be stored and made available to collectors for FREE. This is key to me dumping the cart. Hopefully members of this board can steer me in the right direction. What is the general path that one follows when they want to dump a ROM and make it accessible to the public? I hope this clarifies some of my feelings. Let me know if any one has any questions, and feel free to flame me if you so desire. Matt Kain P.S. Tempest: I'll get back to you on gameplay when I have time to read your overview.

That's what I was thinking. If this is the case, then I seriously wonder if there isn't more gameplay tucked away inside the cart. I was never able to find anything other than the single screen of gameplay which I couldn't ever understand what the objective of it was. Matt Kain

Really? That's normal? I always thought that it was abnormally large. The cart case cannot be closed properly with the chip inside because the chip itself is too big. Interesting. Matt Kain

Finally got back to the Midwest and was able to dig my Good Luck Charlie Brown prototype out of storage. Here are some new pics: Anyone know what the deal is with the strange chip size and layout? I'm not familiar with any other games that looked like this. The next step: dump the ROM. Anyone in or around northern California have the tools to do this? Matt Kain

Hey man, Really enjoyed looking at your site. Nice to see someone going to such serious effort to document all the proto info out there. I'm not familiar with the story behind Snow White, but it would be terrific if there was more gameplay hidden away in the GLCB cart. Personally I could never figure the game out. I could never determine what the goal was, if any, of the first kite flying screen was. There was no score counter - only a timer that seemed to tick up indefinitely. There were plenty of obstacles to avoid, but nothing seemed to be gained by keeping the kite up, no matter how long you did it for. I always wondered if there was something related to the lightning or if there was some strange button/joystick combination that needed to be performed. Has anyone spoken with the programmer to see if he remembers how the gameplay mechanics were supposed to function? Matt edit: on an unrelated note I used to have a strange version of River Rescue for the Atari 400/800 computer that had a "demo cartridge" label. I always meant to find out if this was a prototype or some type of weird promotional cart. I might still have that as well - it might be of some interest to your proto archives.

Hey guy, It's hard to say. I never owned a version of Snoopy other than the prototype version so I have nothing to compare it to. Still from what I've read and from screenshots that I have seen I would say that the prototype Snoopy is probably complete. Things like stages, scoring, etc. all seem to be in place. Nonetheless, without comparing it to the released version I cannot be 100% certain. However, it was found with the Good Luck Charlie Brown cart which is is definitely *not* complete so there is the possibility that they were both still in some unfinished stage of development. Who knows? Maybe Snoopy was just finished much earlier than GLCB and a completed copy of Snoopy was sent out with the partially completed version of GLCB (god knows where these carts were going or how they wound up in Wisconsin of all places). I'll try to get my hands on the Snoopy cart when I get the Charlie Brown. That way someone with more knowledge and a released version of Snoopy can do the comparison and determine for sure if they are the same. hope all is well, Matt

No, no, no. It's never been an issue of selfishness or wanting to drive the cart's price up so that I could sell it in one epic ebay auction. It's been nothing more than chance, circumstance, and bad timing that have lead to the cart never being dumped (I like to place the blame on college and the fact that it has been less than easy to find a way to contact me for the past decade). As I mentioned briefly above, I feel strongly that the game is a historical artifact whose contents, in an abstract sense, don't really belong to me. It's a piece of history. If I dare, a piece of art (although an unfinished one). It's contents belong to everyone. In many ways it is my obligation to ensure that the cart's contents are dumped for the simple sake of aiding in the research and preservation of videogame history. Enough of that - I'm sure my words will hold more weight once I produce a dump of the ROM. Anyway, my sister is coming out to visit me in a little over 2 months. There is a chance that I can persuade her to dig through a few boxes and secure the GLCB cart. We'll see. Matt

Let me try this again: Matt

Sorry for hijacking this thread (I should probably start a new one), but I dug around for pics this evening (even pulled out some old zip disks that I had to blow the dust off of). I wasn't able to come up with much, but for those interested... Here's a pic of the Good Luck Charlie Brown cart that I think might be already floating around the internet somewhere: http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/491a8fb0/bc/My...CG.zVDBwgpX0PXz Here's a pic of the Snoopy prototype that was found at the same time: http://us.f2.yahoofs.com/bc/491a8fb0/bc/My...CG.zVDBm1y61veT I also noticed that some places list the game as being discovered in '97. This is not true - it was actually discovered in '96 at an obscure little indoor flea market in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Total cost for the 2 carts: $2.00. Matt

[Gingerly raises guilty hand]. This is my first time posting here (hopefully not my last), so I'll try to explain myself as succinctly as possible. I am the owner of the Good Luck Charlie Brown prototype. The ROM isn't dumped for 2 simple reasons: 1. I dropped out of vid collecting around '99 or 2000, and I never had the technology to dump the game when I did collect (although I came close). 2. I now live in California, and the cart itself is packed up and in storage (with my entire collection) at my mum's house back in the Midwest. I do have every intention of dumping the ROM (always have - back in the late '90s I was trying to set something up with Russ Perry to have it dumped), but I confess that doing so has rarely (if ever) crossed my mind over the past several years. Only by chance (and some unusual freetime this afternoon) did I stumble across this site, see this post, and decide I better get my act in gear and let people know what's going on (there was a moment where a great "oh yeah!" flashed across my thoughts). Anyway, I apologize for bogarting something that is a part of Atari history, and hence really belongs to everyone. I don't make it back to the Midwest much, but on my next trip I will be sure to grab the cart and find someone that can make a copy of the ROM (or possibly sell it, but this is pretty unlikely). Hopefully this will happen in the next 6 - 9 months. Anyway, I see that there are some screenshot pics from the game on the main site. There used to be pics of the cart itself which I originally sent to Tim Duarte at the 2600 Connection. Not sure what happened to them. The game chip itself was unusually sized (much larger than an ordinary game chip) and looked as if it had extra memory, or something, hanging on the sides (the game was in fact too bulky to fit inside the normal plastic casing so the casing bulged out at the side). This always made me wonder if there were more screens or more gameplay tucked away inside the chip. If there was, I could never find it. Only the one screen with limited gameplay. Anyway, I'm digressing... hope all is well, Matt