MaxSpeed Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 I have read the common Maze Craze has only 16 mazes, but an older version with a different picture has 256 mazes. Anyone have a pic of this cart ? Anyone have this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Slocum Posted December 30, 2002 Share Posted December 30, 2002 The mazes are randomly generated in Maze Craze (that's why the screen goes crazy before you start a game) so there are probably tens of thousands of possible mazes. But you're talking about game variations, and you're actually right. I just tried the ROM on Atariage and it has 16 game variations X 4 visibility configurations. I remember my old Maze Craze cart having a huge amount of game variations that were simply numbered 1-200 something. I never realized they released two versions of it. Pretty cool fact. BTW: Maze Craze has some cool programming tricks in it. I disassembled part of it to get some help with Marble Craze. The way the maze is stored is interesting. If you know 2600 programming and look at the maze, it's not easy (for me at least) to figure out how he stored the maze. It looks like there's not enough RAM. And the Marble Craze kernal uses a bunch of cycle squeezing tricks from the Maze Craze kernal. -Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostalgic Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 The box of my copy of Maze Craze states it has 256 games on both the front and back. The copyright year is 1980. The cartridge doesn't show any number of games. The 256 comes from 16 games * 4 speeds * 4 visibility levels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxSpeed Posted December 31, 2002 Author Share Posted December 31, 2002 In the DP they say there is a 256 game version and a later more common 16 game version that has a decal on the front of "a bumbling security gaurd trying to stop a drug crazed Atari employee from escaping the warehouse with this weeks payroll". I would be very grateful to see the label on the 256 game version so I know what to look for. If anyone has a scan of this label, please post it. The AtariAge rarity guide shows only the 16 game picture label described above. If you have not played this game, it is a simple & great two player game ! Try It ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 I LOVED this as a 2 player game way back when - there was another thread talking about the best 2 player games - this is one of them - Quick, Fast, Hyper and the thrill of victory to run into your opponents face (until they hit the reset button) Inviso mazes were the best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nostalgic Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 Here's some scans of the 256-game version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClintK Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 Insert your maze craze into your atari 2600. Now with the power switch, make attempts to turn it on ever so slightly. Keep turning it on, to the point it will barely turn on. (this may take several attempts) Instead of a Maze, a grid will appear. The two characters will be able to run around this grid. It's kind of fun, and I remember doing this when I was about 8 years old. Check it out. ClintK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxSpeed Posted December 31, 2002 Author Share Posted December 31, 2002 Here's some scans of the 256-game version. Thanks ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 31, 2002 Share Posted December 31, 2002 There's also a 256 variation version with a different picture. I have the box if AA needs it. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxSpeed Posted December 31, 2002 Author Share Posted December 31, 2002 There's also a 256 variation version with a different picture. I have the box if AA needs it. Tempest Do you have a pic of this ? Please share it if you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 There aren't 2 different ROM versions. The initial run of these had different artwork, and a typo – it lists 256 game variations. While technically this is true, it's confusing since the highest game variation # you see onscreen is 16. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Slocum Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 I really thought I remembered playing it when I was a kid and actually watching the count increase through 256. Could be mistaken and the Maze Craze cart that I played as a kid was borrowed so I don't have it anymore. -Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 In the DP they say there is a 256 game version and a later more common 16 game version that has a decal on the front of "a bumbling security gaurd...". That's not exactly what is stated (re-read it more carefully). Here's a scan of the original box: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanJr Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Sweet! That is one cool image. Does the corresponding cart label look like that as well? If so, I gotta have one of those! Shibby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SS Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Sweet! That is one cool image. Does the corresponding cart label look like that as well? I've definitely never seen that Maze Craze pix before. Of course, I'm not really into collecting boxes. I would have to guess that only text label carts came in that box. Interesting, very interesting. Scott, do you have any more details? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted January 1, 2003 Share Posted January 1, 2003 Sweet! That is one cool image. Does the corresponding cart label look like that as well? If so, I gotta have one of those! Shibby! AFAIK no. My Maze Craze box like that came with the regular cartridge inside. I think there was a mix up with the art department on which picture was going to be used. That's my theory anyway. Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris++ Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 It always seemed obvious to me that Atari was trying to pass off the game as having 256 variations, simply because there are 16 selections with four levels of visibility apiece. You have to admit, that is something that the folks at Atari would do. Later, someone obviously realized that this was just silly (or perhaps received a lot of complaints from buyers), so the front was changed to read "16." CF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Stilphen Posted January 2, 2003 Share Posted January 2, 2003 Sweet! That is one cool image. Does the corresponding cart label look like that as well? This artwork/box was only used for the original (text matte-label) release. And the same artist didn't do both: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacManPlus Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 StanJr wrote: Sweet! That is one cool image. Does the corresponding cart label look like that as well? It does now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slapdash Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Insert your maze craze into your atari 2600. Now with the power switch, make attempts to turn it on ever so slightly. Keep turning it on, to the point it will barely turn on. (this may take several attempts) Yeah, that's called "frying". Me & my brother discovered that one when we were kids. Instead of a Maze, a grid will appear. The two characters will be able to run around this grid. It's kind of fun Yeah, the tag variations are a blast... We'd play that for hours, running around trying to catch the other guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Room 34 Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 Someone else already pointed out the 16 * 4 * 4 = 256 explanation, which makes sense. Technically there ARE 256 different permutations, but it's more useful to treat it as 16 variations with sub-variations. I'm sure the initial intent was just to amaze (no pun intended) everyone with... WOW... 256 games on one cartridge! In hindsight, the whole promotion of the number of game variations at all was kind of silly, and clearly just a lame and misguided marketing tactic. But boy, did it work on me when I was 8 years old! I thought it was super-cool that Space Invaders had 112 variations, even though I really only ever played #1 (so I could get the double-shots trick). I used to spend hours reading the Atari game catalogs, and I wanted to get Maze Craze (but never did), just because it had 256 variations. I felt betrayed when the later catalogs started promoting it has having only 16! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joeybastard Posted January 3, 2003 Share Posted January 3, 2003 The misleading game variation numbers remind me of the old TV commercials for the digital watches that came free when you ordered Ginsu knives. They said it was a six function digital watch. The six functions were: 1. hours 2. minutes 3. seconds 4. month 5. day 6. year Really it's a 2 function watch: time & date Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xulchris Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 You guys are all wrong. The box that says "16 video games" was the original box, and they later changed it to say 256 games. I have the box that says 16 on it, and it has a copyright date of 1978, whereas the box that has 256 games on it has a copyright date of 1980. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xulchris Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 oh, and I would think that the 16 game version is the rarer of the two because it appears no one else here has that version. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayhem Posted July 1, 2003 Share Posted July 1, 2003 I had that version Though it was PAL... so maybe they were all like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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