Toki Prototype For 7800 Discovered!

[+swlovinist]

I am looking forward to this release. Since the game was not technically released anyways, I am perfectly fine with playing the game as is and have no issues with the sound. This is a most welcome addition to the 7800 library.

[Andromeda Stardust]

Not current on my Jag protos but if this ever gets uncovered and is close to code complete, the Apeshit name needs to remain.

 

Looks like a fun little platformer too!

It looks like they were trying to cash in on the Donkey Kong craze a bit. Either way, I think it's clear they had nothing to do with Toki. I'm wondering why so many developers relied only on the weak 16-bit 68k CPU instead of the 64-bit MIPs. N64 used only the MIPs for CPU and look at how powerful it was!

[DracIsBack]

 

TV? If there's one thing Atari Corp excelled at, it was not "wasting" money on TV advertising.

 

Geez - especially not in the 1980s when the 7800, XE and 2600jr were in market. They only made a couple of commercials and I don't think they actually aired them a whole lot, or at a national level really.

 

Really, they didn't do a lot to preview with press either, which is probably why there weren't a lot of reviews in mags a lot of the time. I remember Don Thomas or someone like that noting that one of the 'hidden' perks of reviewing games was to receive and be able to keep pre-release copies. The Tramiels didn't like paying for the expensive prototype roms and so not many got into reviewer hands. And since reviews usually got written well in advance of launch due to print dates then, not a lot of reviews for Atari systems happened.

 

Felt like the only thing they were willing to spend on was retail advertising (weekly flyers, catalogs).

[+davidcalgary29]

 

Geez - especially not in the 1980s when the 7800, XE and 2600jr were in market. They only made a couple of commercials and I don't think they actually aired them a whole lot, or at a national level really.

 

Really, they didn't do a lot to preview with press either, which is probably why there weren't a lot of reviews in mags a lot of the time. I remember Don Thomas or someone like that noting that one of the 'hidden' perks of reviewing games was to receive and be able to keep pre-release copies. The Tramiels didn't like paying for the expensive prototype roms and so not many got into reviewer hands. And since reviews usually got written well in advance of launch due to print dates then, not a lot of reviews for Atari systems happened.

 

Felt like the only thing they were willing to spend on was retail advertising (weekly flyers, catalogs).

 

And promotions! Atari Canada relentlessly promoted the STs through contests. I recall frequent 'Smartie' contests in the late '80s.

[Lost Dragon]

Here in the UK, Atari's promotion of the ST in it's early days was described by 1 publication as: "A whisper in a storm".

 

 

Thankfully this soon changed, espically when they started throwing in lots of free games, but yes, Atari were often slow to advertise it seemed.

[+Propane13]

So, whatever happened with this?  Did it ever happen?

 

-John

[CPUWIZ]

9 minutes ago, Propane13 said:

So, whatever happened with this?  Did it ever happen?

 

-John

 

Nope, had a shitload of boards prepped and ready to go, then he disappeared.

[Shawn]

6 hours ago, CPUWIZ said:

 

Nope, had a shitload of boards prepped and ready to go, then he disappeared.

 

I wonder if there is a phone # to get in touch with him. Even to just give the guy some cash and go ahead with releasing the game without him. It's not like he "owns" Toki, he just has a copy of a proto that had to have TONS of programming done to it to even make it into something worth while. Even put $5 a pop aside from the sales to give him a cut when he finally does show back up, if he ever does. The goal was for the game to be released right from the start, if he can't come through the rest who are involved sure could and can.

[Greg2600]

Both he and his partner @BuddyBuddies have not been here in a long, long time, and their website (betaphasegames.com) is down. 

[Shawn]

57 minutes ago, Greg2600 said:

Both he and his partner @BuddyBuddies have not been here in a long, long time, and their website (betaphasegames.com) is down. 

 

I was just talking to someone about that as well. His youtube channel and email contact have also been inactive for 3 years. Sadly, he's totally MIA and disappeared. Perhaps on purpose.

 

EDIT: Or sadly, he could have actually died. The mode age of our group isn't exactly something you can call youthful after all.

 

 

[Jinks]

If he wanted it not to be released he would say so.. ask for forgiveness.

[Shawn]

2 hours ago, Jinks said:

If he wanted it not to be released he would say so.. ask for forgiveness.

 

I wonder who the original programmer was? If someone could get in touch with him for his or her blessing I think that is another route to release Toki on the 7800. Or contact whoever owns the rights to Toki currently and see what they think. Not trying to be a dick here but Willard doesn't own the rights to Toki, he just happened to come across a digital copy that was half baked on an old Atari hard drive. He's been gone from the scene for over 3 years and can't be reached via any of his known contacts (people have tried, myself included) so I say there is no harm in moving forward without him. 

[DJ Clae]

This topic makes me cry just to think about it. For a while it looked like we'd see a long lost 7800 proto, and now I've lost all hope. If anyone knows anything that can be done, please help!

[Tempest]

If the owner of the prototype didn't give their permission for the rom to be released, I think it would be a dick move to release it without their say so.  While it's possible they're gone from the hobby for good, I think the proper thing to do is exhaust all possible venues for contacting them first.  If that fails then I don't know, but surely someone must be able to get in contact with them?  Just releasing the rom because they haven't been on in a long time doesn't feel right to me.

[RevEng]

I agree with Tempest. While betaphasegames isn't really a copyright holder, a deal was made. The ROM reached our hands privately because we were trustworthy, and we shouldn't break that trust without more confirmation of circumstances. (e.g. that someone passed away)  Anyway, I won't. I've been asked for the ROM privately a number of times, but my word is my bond.

 

The ROM isn't in danger of being lost at this point, so we can wait a bit more. Perhaps someone more active in the Lynx community, who wants this game to be released, can post a message in that forum asking if anybody has a contact. Surely someone at least has an address that goods were shipped from, and we can try to snail mail to it.

[ongikong]

It's a tragedy - I'd really love to see this game released to the public soon. But I also can understand those people who own a copy of the ROM and gave the discoverers a word of honor.

I saw that a lot of people were involved in "betaphasegames"-project (see list below) ... Someone of these guys (or their friends) must be floating around here somewhere and can make a contact to the responsible person!?

Let's hope for a permission of a TOKI release ?

 

[gambler172]

21 hours ago, Shawn said:

 

I wonder if there is a phone # to get in touch with him. Even to just give the guy some cash and go ahead with releasing the game without him. It's not like he "owns" Toki, he just has a copy of a proto that had to have TONS of programming done to it to even make it into something worth while. Even put $5 a pop aside from the sales to give him a cut when he finally does show back up, if he ever does. The goal was for the game to be released right from the start, if he can't come through the rest who are involved sure could and can.

Right my friend....sam i think ?

[John Stamos Mullet]

Website domain name registration is masked by Godaddy, but it was re-upped on 09/2019. Though - that might have been an auto-renew.

[Jinks]

We can wait a few years or whatever. 

It is not lost so that is good. 

[Shawn]

8 hours ago, ongikong said:

It's a tragedy - I'd really love to see this game released to the public soon. But I also can understand those people who own a copy of the ROM and gave the discoverers a word of honor.

I saw that a lot of people were involved in "betaphasegames"-project (see list below) ... Someone of these guys (or their friends) must be floating around here somewhere and can make a contact to the responsible person!?

Let's hope for a permission of a TOKI release ?

 

 

I think that Tursi is still active here on AA.

[Jinks]

Shake em up. Homie has gamez to play. Run N tell that. 

 

[Greg2600]

Wait a minute, we "have the rom?"  Just release it.  Let the fans enjoy it.

[Swami]

19 minutes ago, Greg2600 said:

Wait a minute, we "have the rom?"  Just release it.  Let the fans enjoy it.

The theory is then, no one may trust the holders with another "lost game" they have. Barring unusual circumstances, I can't fathom someone deciding to disappear and just "avoid the issue" for three years, whether they are too busy or had a change of heart. However, I don't think there were any "silence" time limits indicating automatic release. However, when they say it will be released "soon" and then silence for three years, what is one to make of that? Like I said, they could just be too busy to bother, but not want it released without their involvement or maybe had a a change of heart and don't feel the need to explain themselves, or it could have been something major happened in their life. Other possibility is they are P.O.'d at the forum or gaming in general for some reason and want nothing to do with it. We just don't know.

[CaptainBreakout]

If someone could shed some light on the current life status of the person in question, that would help complete the picture of where this is at.

 

I suppose the only way to know that is a little no-strings-attached "touching bases"-type conversion with the person, or at least some observational testimony from someone that knows them.

[Shawn]

6 hours ago, Greg2600 said:

Wait a minute, we "have the rom?"  Just release it.  Let the fans enjoy it.

 

There is no physical prototype. It was a file found on an old hard drive in a zip file. It's more complicated than "Just release it". I too hope for it to come out sooner than later but there are roads that need to be taken to get there. The guy that originally found it is MIA for the last 3+ years. It's in trusted hands and has been heavily worked on to be polished up to a more completed state. It was PAL only and not so stable in it's found state as has been publicly noted here and there on the forum.