SECAM River Raid

[oldric]

I've just got River Raid and i noticed it was one of some supposed SECAM game by Activisation.

 

There is a "S" sticker on the box and the card.

 

 

What is more interesting is the mention "International Edition" under the title on the box and a second one "PAL/SECAM" on the back (Cf pictures).

 

I tried the game on my SECAM Darth Vader and on my PAL 7800. The ground colour is different. If it was a SECAM game, colours should be wrong on the PAL system but i can't say it is.

 

What do you think about ?

[Rom Hunter]

Excellent!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Tempest]

Do all PAL River Raids say CARB on the FUEL tanks or is this a SECAM thing?

 

Tempest

[+SpiceWare]

I tried the game on my SECAM Darth Vader and on my PAL 7800. The ground colour is different. If it was a SECAM game, colours should be wrong on the PAL system but i can't say it is.

 

Not necessarily. Take a look at the TIA Color Charts. If they used $58 for PAL green then SECAM is green based on the $x8 for LUM. Likewise using $9B for PAL blue would yield SECAM cyan based on $xB for the lum.

[Rom Hunter]

Do all PAL River Raids say CARB on the FUEL tanks or is this a SECAM thing?

 

Tempest

That's the beauty of it.

 

Only the SECAM version has CARBurant (fuel in French) stated on the fuel tanks.

 

Just like the SECAM version of H.E.R.O. has FORCE written next to the energy bar, instead of POWER.

 

Mind you: we're not talking about a hacks or pirates, but genuine Activision games.

 

Edited January 29, 2007 by Rom Hunter

[Chris-in-NJ]

Funny that the box says "PAL / SECAM" on it, though I guess they made up one box for use in all non-NTSC areas.

[Rom Hunter]

Funny that the box says "PAL / SECAM" on it, though I guess they made up one box for use in all non-NTSC areas.

Yes label and box are the same, except for the S sticker.

 

They even used this label and box in NTSC Canada (with a N sticker on it):

http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...3494&MENU=2

 

Edited January 30, 2007 by Rom Hunter

[oldric]

Nice, my card is now on atarimania.com, thx Rom Hunter !

 

http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...9529&MENU=2

[Rom Hunter]

Ofcourse it is.

 

It's a very special find.

 

[Eckhard Stolberg]

Funny that the box says "PAL / SECAM" on it, though I guess they made up one box for use in all non-NTSC areas.

Yes label and box are the same, except for the S sticker.

 

They even used this label and box in NTSC Canada (with a N sticker on it):

I just had a look at the SECAM list on atarimania.com, and saw that you have the CBS games on it. I think for them it's exactly the other way around. CBS did have special labels and boxes for France that claimed the games were SECAM only. But the ROMs were the same as the PAL version. At least it was for the Schtroumpfs game that I tested a couple years ago. Maybe you could have a look at your other CBS SECAM ROMs and see if any of them are different from their PAL counterpart?

 

 

Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg

[Rom Hunter]

You're right, Eckhard.

 

They're exactly the same as the PAL versions.

 

I only use SECAM to show the label difference.

 

[oldric]

Do all PAL River Raids say CARB on the FUEL tanks or is this a SECAM thing?

 

Tempest

That's the beauty of it.

 

Only the SECAM version has CARBurant (fuel in French) stated on the fuel tanks.

 

Just like the SECAM version of H.E.R.O. has FORCE written next to the energy bar, instead of POWER.

 

Mind you: we're not talking about a hacks or pirates, but genuine Activision games.

 

 

I've just got Decathlon (SECAM) and all the events are written in french on screen.

I can take some pics if you want Rom Hunter.

[Rom Hunter]

Screenshots that show the differences of the SECAM version would be great, oldric.

 

Edited February 16, 2007 by Rom Hunter

[oldric]

Here they are :

 

 

 

[Rom Hunter]

Here they are :

 

 

 

Excellent.

 

Thanks!

 

[oldric]

Here they are :

 

 

 

Excellent.

 

Thanks!

 

 

You're welcome

[khryssun]

I've just got River Raid and i noticed it was one of some supposed SECAM game by Activisation.

 

There is a "S" sticker on the box and the card.

 

 

What is more interesting is the mention "International Edition" under the title on the box and a second one "PAL/SECAM" on the back (Cf pictures).

 

I tried the game on my SECAM Darth Vader and on my PAL 7800. The ground colour is different. If it was a SECAM game, colours should be wrong on the PAL system but i can't say it is.

 

What do you think about ?

 

Colours difference is related to the consoles hardware. SECAM ones Display only 8 colours (linked to luminance if I'am not wrong). The Rom is a PAL one as we can see on the 7800 screenshot.

Edited February 16, 2007 by khryssun

[alex_79]

Those Activision games were programmed so that they look almost the same on both PAL and Secam consoles (By limiting them to 8 colors with appropriate luma values as Spiceware pointed out in this post).

The same games are available in PAL only format, with more colors and not adjusted for Secam.

In these screenshots you can see how the PAL rom of "River Raid" appears on a PAL machine and on a Secam one (I used z26 with -b -c2 flags).

Note the difference with the pics posted by oldric: for example there's not the tree on the scenery in the PAL/Secam version, because Secam palette only has one shade of green.

 

AFAIK, only Activision released separate roms for PAL/Secam and PAL only, while some Atari PAL games were programmed with a b&w palette adjusted for Secam (Secam consoles have the "TV TYPE" switch hardwired to b&w) or by chosing pal colors with appropiate luma values (sometimes reducing the number of colors compared to the NTSC versions):

[oldric]

Those Activision games were programmed so that they look almost the same on both PAL and Secam consoles (By limiting them to 8 colors with appropriate luma values as Spiceware pointed out in this post).

The same games are available in PAL only format, with more colors and not adjusted for Secam.

In these screenshots you can see how the PAL rom of "River Raid" appears on a PAL machine and on a Secam one (I used z26 with -b -c2 flags).

Note the difference with the pics posted by oldric: for example there's not the tree on the scenery in the PAL/Secam version, because Secam palette only has one shade of green.

 

AFAIK, only Activision released separate roms for PAL/Secam and PAL only, while some Atari PAL games were programmed with a b&w palette adjusted for Secam (Secam consoles have the "TV TYPE" switch hardwired to b&w) or by chosing pal colors with appropiate luma values (sometimes reducing the number of colors compared to the NTSC versions):

 

Bad news, i have to look for a PAL only version of River Raid now ! (Stupid SECAM system...)

[alex_79]

You can easily find it on ebay from sellers outside France. Aniway, the Secam version is less common and definitely a nice addition to a 2600 collection.

Moreover it seems that no one has dumped an Activision Secam game yet and the only screenshots I found are the ones you posted and those in this old thread.

Edited February 17, 2007 by alex_79

[oldric]

You can easily find it on ebay from sellers outside France. Aniway, the Secam version is less common and definitely a nice addition to a 2600 collection.

Moreover it seems that no one has dumped an Activision Secam game yet and the only screenshots I found are the ones you posted and those in this old thread.

 

 

Well...As you can see i already have a spare !

At least the second i got had his manual and a 14 pages Activision catalog (EAG-940 B). I can scan it for the site if necessary.

 

Edited February 17, 2007 by oldric

[pongbeat]

You can easily find it on ebay from sellers outside France. Aniway, the Secam version is less common and definitely a nice addition to a 2600 collection.

Moreover it seems that no one has dumped an Activision Secam game yet and the only screenshots I found are the ones you posted and those in this old thread.

 

 

Well...As you can see i already have a spare !

At least the second i got had his manual and a 14 pages Activision catalog (EAG-940 B). I can scan it for the site if necessary.

 

 

yes it was an old topic from Me!

 

Actually there are actually secam roms versions only with activision games!

In my knowledge there are only 6 secam rom games: Hero, Space shuttle, Keystone, Decathlon, river raid & ghostbuster.

I hope to dump their roms in few weeks!

[Rom Hunter]

I wonder what the SECAM version of Ghostbusters looks like.

 

Does it have different text on screen as well?

 

Edited May 22, 2007 by Rom Hunter

[Moonbeam]

I'm looking for the ROM file of River Raid SECAM version. Does someone have it?