Polybius?

[BONEMAN]

Anyone ever hear of a lost prototype called Polybius? Necron99, maybe you can shed some light.

[CorTat-G]

I've heard of it.

[Wikipedia]

Edited November 12, 2013 by Cortat G

[Necron99]

Polybius (2600) was released (reproduction) in limited quantity (30 i believe) at PRGE this year, I don't have a lot more info on it other than that. I heard that it was made with BatariBasic, but that could be a rumor, According to the PRGE website it is a lost prototype...

 

Anyone else have more info?

[+Random Terrain]

I heard that it was made with BatariBasic, but that could be a rumor, According to the PRGE website it is a lost prototype...

 

Yep, I'm pretty sure that someone who programs using assembly language would attempt to make it look similar to this:

 

youtube.com/watch?v=HiIKjSQBNGg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiIKjSQBNGg

 

 

And less like a lazy 5 minute batari Basic project like this:

 

youtube.com/watch?v=Bb-tQ02Xpik

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb-tQ02Xpik

 

 

The Wikipedia page says this:

 

On September 20, 2012, at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo, a limited run of 30 homebrew Polybius games was marketed for use with the Atari 2600 by author, Chris Trimiew. Gameplay is DIY and not claimed to be based on the original ROM, and the author expressed doubt that the Atari 2600 hardware would be able to emulate anything close to the claimed original arcade game.

 

 

 

But the YouTube page says this:

 

Found this cartridge in a large lot of stuff that was purchased from an electronics recycler earlier this year in Portland, OR. Couldn't find any info or video on the web about it so here it is.

 

 

And at retrogamingexpo.com, it says this:

 

No release of Polybius has ever been found...until now.

 

From Chris Trimiew of Lost Classics:

 

"I recently bought a large lot of various gaming hardware from a local electronics recycler. Among the items were some odd finds, including commodore 64 prototype boards, emulator cards for systems long forgotten, and even a bunch of sealed games from the early 80's. After days of digging through and cataloguing the items an Atari 2600 prototype was found. The label on the cart read 'Polybius.'

 

I decided to make reproductions of it so that it could be shared with others. There will be 30 cartridges up for grabs in this exclusive first run at PRGE."

 

At the very bottom, it says:

 

Thanks to Chris for sharing this mysterious game with us. Get to the Lost Classic booth early to get your copy of this exclusive "reproduction"!

 

Please note: Parts of this story may or may not be not untrue.

 

You could totally miss that part at the bottom and not see the wink-wink, "this is a fake" message. And if a person who knows nothing about batari Basic only saw the YouTube description, they could be fooled because I don't see any disclaimers or winks there.

 

When you're making a fun fake, you better wink louder and wink everywhere or people might start to think you're some kind of scammer.

[Necron99]

thanks for the info RT, I remember being confused about this game

[BONEMAN]

So is it a prototype or a homebrew?

[Necron99]

So is it a prototype or a homebrew?

it's a homebrew made with BatariBasic with a fake story about it being a prototype.

[swlovinist]

Homebrew game made for the show. I shared a booth with the creator. The backstory thing was for humor/sarcasm. As for anyone who bought the game, he was very clear on what it exactly was.

Edited November 13, 2013 by swlovinist

[BONEMAN]

Ohhh.... Thanks everyone.