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Is there ANY possibility of a Boulder Dash Re-issue


p.opus

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:(

 

Oh wait... Has your console been fixed eventually? ;)

 

 

My console was fixed over a year ago. Just haven't gotten caught up on my homebrew acquisitions yet. It'll get here eventually. Not much point in reviewing it though now, since there's no longer a store entry for the game, and hence, no place for the reviews for it. ;)

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It's mainly the fact that not enough playfield is visible was why I sold mine. Great tech demo, but too easy to get yourself killed because you can't see the falling boulders until it's too late...

 

Yes I had that same problem when I played the demo. I also agree it is a good technical achievement and all. But the gameplay? Not for me.

 

Could be biased because the first time I played it it was on the Apple II bitd. I always felt the Apple II version was more colorful and seeming higher resolution than even the C64 or 400/800 releases. You know how some games just feel right on some platforms? This applies here.

 

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My console was fixed over a year ago. Just haven't gotten caught up on my homebrew acquisitions yet. It'll get here eventually. Not much point in reviewing it though now, since there's no longer a store entry for the game, and hence, no place for the reviews for it. ;)

I hope you are just kidding. Please make sure you get your copy soon.

 

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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This thread inspired me to check out Boulder Dash! I never played the game back in the day (I rocked a 2600 for consoles and eventually a Ti 99/4a, so the game wasn't available for me).

 

I just purchased the Famicom version on ebay for $6. Seems like a great version of the game and it is fully in English. I have an av Famicom toploader so I can play the game proper.

 

Now I just need to wait for the slow shipping from Japan (I cheaped out and did $1.99 economy shipping) ?

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I just purchased the Famicom version on ebay for $6. Seems like a great version of the game and it is fully in English. I have an av Famicom toploader so I can play the game proper.

 

Assuming the Japanese Famicom and American NES releases are the same, be aware the developers took a few liberties with the game. Nothing too dramatic, fortunately, just the basic game has been wrapped in a Super-Mario-Bros-ish quest through different "worlds". The goal of mining diamonds and avoiding (or strategically using) eneimes without getting trapped remains the same.

 

Also, FirstStar recently shut down a game on Wii-U eShop that vaguely resembled Boulderdash, so even a new homebrew port reusing the old engine is unlikely. The fact they even allowed the original release is nothing short of a miracle.

 

My understanding is Andrew and Thomas made sure they kept rights to their code outside of First Star's properties, so reusing the old engine is legally possible. I'm sure First Star would be watching closely and something along the lines of Totally Not Boulder Dash probably wouldn't fly, but any other tile-based game using the same engine could happen.

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Assuming the Japanese Famicom and American NES releases are the same, be aware the developers took a few liberties with the game. Nothing too dramatic, fortunately, just the basic game has been wrapped in a Super-Mario-Bros-ish quest through different "worlds". The goal of mining diamonds and avoiding (or strategically using) eneimes without getting trapped remains the same.

The NES version is pretty good. Aside from an overworld map, the game is fairly similar and the sprite tiles are nice and small but show up well on a CRT. You can see plenty of stage so no surprise unavoidable stone drops. It's very affordable. I paid $2.95 for mine some years ago.

 

There is also a very well made SNES homebrew clone called Rockfall that makes impressive use of mode 7 scaling. It is available on Piko Interactive and worth picking up.

https://www.pikointeractive.com/phone/store.html#!/RockFall-SNES/p/50560386/category=14008401

 

You can also download the ROM from PD-ROMs and run it on an Everdrive, but be advised emu fans it crashes in SNES9x.

 

Rockfall has one annoying quirk that prevents me from giving it 5 stars. If you get stuck in a level there is no "suicide button" I know of (unless there's some secret button combo I just haven't discovered - Select would have been perfect for this) so you must wait for the clock to expire to try again. Otherwise excellent game.

 

My understanding is Andrew and Thomas made sure they kept rights to their code outside of First Star's properties, so reusing the old engine is legally possible. I'm sure First Star would be watching closely and something along the lines of Totally Not Boulder Dash probably wouldn't fly, but any other tile-based game using the same engine could happen.

Possibly. But what games could the engine be used for that aren't Boulderdash clones? A Steam World dig style game?
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I followed the discussion here... so is it true, that I have no chance to play this game ever?

 

There is no second release of the hardware and there is no dumped rom because FSS wants to protect their rights... on an ages old console???

Oh no! :(

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@Thomas Jentzsch:

Thanks for clearing this. Even it is bad news for me.

 

 

@SpiceWare:

Yes and no. :) I am pretty happy to see a demo of the game, but I would be more happy to enjoy the full game.

 

 

Anyway, we have to accept the decision from First Start Software, but nevertheless it makes me a bit angry:

The authors of the game (Thomas and his fellows) surely spend hours'n hours of doing this game!

FSS simply said "Yes" and earned a bit money from nothing (for the 250 sold roms).

FSS will not earn more money from the game on a VCS, so I think they should release this (only this version) to the public.

That would be fair... for the 2600-creators and the people who want to see of what a 2600 is capable of.

 

Other games were also commercial, e.g. look at Missile Command (from Thomas)... free to play.

FSS really shouldn't care on an ancient colsole. What are they afraid of?

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I'm willing to guess that FSS would lose nothing if they allowed the binary to be released. They've apparently decided they don't want to make any more money off 2600 cartridges so why not? Or is there something I'm missing?

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Emehr, on 26 Jul 2016 - 7:18 PM, said:

I'm willing to guess that FSS would lose nothing if they allowed the binary to be released. They've apparently decided they don't want to make any more money off 2600 cartridges so why not? Or is there something I'm missing?

 

FSS is kind of a unique company in that I get the impression from hearing people talk about them and reading things online that they don't care so much about making games for older systems but making sure their copyrights are protected and kept. They are a hard company to deal with, requiring a lot of back and forth talking and negotiation, and a set amount of money in order to give the rights for X number copies of Y game for Z system to anyone and they have to look serious about it. As far as they are concerned, they made their money on the 2600 contract and it would be up to the 2600 people to approach them about re-doing it for the rights to do a second one, which no one involved in the project is eager to do. To be fair, this game WAS available for quite a while before it sold out. It sucks to anyone who is trying to buy homebrews now that they can't get it without paying a huge amount of money on the third market, but that happens with a lot of games for a lot of systems. And again, since FSS is still a active company, they can't just give out the ROM either.

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