Jump to content
IGNORED

Marble Madness 2: Marble Man


DarkSyne

Recommended Posts

Currently, there are two known owners of Marble Madness 2 arcade machines. The first in California and a second in Florida. There was also a third person who had just a board set, but it “disappeared” a while back.

 

It is unclear wether the rom set that the MAME team has came from dumping the roms from one of the arcade cabinets or from the board set. But it had to have come from one of these 3 sources.

 

All of the above information is public knowledge, and has been for a long time now.

 

I believe that pictures of the California cabinet have been posted as well, in the past, and if I recall correctly, it too had joysticks.

 

To be clear, the person from way back when, who offered to sell the rom data, was either the owner in California, the previous owner of the “lost” board set, the current owner of the lost board set, or the original owner of the Florida cabinet. (before the current owner in Florida came into possession of it.)

 

I exchanged phone numbers & emails with the current Florida owner while we were at the show. And he has communicated with (and continues to communicate with) the California owner about the game. So if/when he updates me from time to time on this, (and grants me permission to relay the information), then I will be happy to post it here.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/27/2019 at 12:46 AM, Supergun said:

Currently, there are two known owners of Marble Madness 2 arcade machines. The first in California and a second in Florida. There was also a third person who had just a board set, but it “disappeared” a while back.

 

It is unclear wether the rom set that the MAME team has came from dumping the roms from one of the arcade cabinets or from the board set. But it had to have come from one of these 3 sources.

 

All of the above information is public knowledge, and has been for a long time now.

 

I believe that pictures of the California cabinet have been posted as well, in the past, and if I recall correctly, it too had joysticks.

 

To be clear, the person from way back when, who offered to sell the rom data, was either the owner in California, the previous owner of the “lost” board set, the current owner of the lost board set, or the original owner of the Florida cabinet. (before the current owner in Florida came into possession of it.)

 

I exchanged phone numbers & emails with the current Florida owner while we were at the show. And he has communicated with (and continues to communicate with) the California owner about the game. So if/when he updates me from time to time on this, (and grants me permission to relay the information), then I will be happy to post it here.

The California owner has (had?) at least two, if not three copies. 

 

Scott's (first) joystick cabinet version made its debut at CA Extreme back in 2000. 

 

In January 2002, he mentioned acquiring a second Marble Man.

 

image.png.48e972e404c6e2d16b33428e40ccdf9d.png

 

April 2003 he posted about his "latest find", a Marble Man with Trackballs.

 

image.png.97459b639e618e28a0183a7150229bc6.png

 

marbletrack.jpg

 

twomms.jpg

 

Scott's acquisition and build of his first Marble Madness II machine story is here.

 

More pictures (Including in-game) are at the bottom of this page.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/24/2019 at 3:51 AM, Supergun said:

he will indeed be releasing the rom for the game.

 

This is one I'll believe when I see. The MAME team already had the rom from him for a private build as well as archival purposes so we'll see what happens.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/29/2019 at 4:22 PM, H.E.R.O. said:

This is one I'll believe when I see. The MAME team already had the rom from him for a private build as well as archival purposes so we'll see what happens.

I know, right ?  I'm a Huge Marble Madness fan from way back when... I even have an original Atari System 1 arcade cab with the Marble Madness kit (yes, the full arcade machine).

 

I have been watching this story for many years now. The rumors, and the appearances of the few known full cabs.  If this rom is released, i will be buying a kit so I can play it via MAME with a trackball. 

 

For me, it's one of those holy grail type things... It would be very big deal to have a copy of these roms to be able to FINALLY play it..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/4/2019 at 1:45 PM, Tornadoboy said:

This is a great development, MMII is close to the top of my list of games known to still exist getting dumped!

Well, again, it's been dumped. The MAME team has it already for archival purposes under promise they don't release it (I guess until he permisses it so). I'm glad the owner is still planning on releasing it even after the whole Akka Arrh debacle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/6/2019 at 7:05 AM, H.E.R.O. said:

Well, again, it's been dumped. The MAME team has it already for archival purposes under promise they don't release it (I guess until he permisses it so). I'm glad the owner is still planning on releasing it even after the whole Akka Arrh debacle.

Yeah I guess that's true and I really do take a lot of satisfaction with games knowing if nothing else it's in safe hands and not going to be forever lost like too many prototypes (cough cough... BOUNCER and VERTIGO), I look at these games as people's works of art and hate the idea of them simply being GONE. But hopefully now we get to PLAY this one! :D I always loved Marble Madness and no doubt this one would also have consumed an embarrassing amount of quarters from me if it had made the rounds at arcades! I can't believe it was dropped for instead releasing a generic steaming pile like Guardians of the Hood!!

Edited by Tornadoboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/24/2019 at 3:51 AM, Supergun said:

he did however give me permission to report the most relevant piece of information, which is that he will indeed be releasing the rom for the game. Which is of course great for us Atari fans here.

 

 

EY YO YO YO YOOOOOO your saying that the rom is actually going to be released?! I Have been dying to play this game since I was 5 and I’m 14 now!!!!! OOOOOOOH I SEE THE HYPE TRAIN COMING!!!!!! What day is he releasing the rom tho?!?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Supergun said:

It will be released within a year. A few other things are being done & need to be finished first. So if by next years show, it hasn’t happened, I will personally remind him of what he told me this year.

So next November the rom will be released? My birthday is on the 30th of November so I’ll be 15. Not to mention that my birthday was a few days ago so releasing the rom as a birthday present would be great! Tho I do have something to say. I have been wanting to play this game for like 9 years!! 9 years ago I was only 5 and yes I was into emulators and crap back then :) and you know all the people who were dying to play this too has been waiting for years. What I’m saying basically is that he should release it idk like in January or February 2020. But if we have to wait that long again it sounds like we gonna have to put a coming soon sign on the hype train I guess :( still will be a good birthday present tho ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you're waiting around for this game, and expecting a release date,

you're going to be disappointed.

 

best thing to do is just wait as usual, and if it comes out, then you can be happy.

 

trying to guess, or push a date along is never going to work.

 

i'm just glad akka arrh came out, because i never thought that would make it.

funny thing is people that waited for that game got excited for awhile, but you never

hear about it again.

 

the same things going to happen here. people will get excited for awhile, and then

will forget about it, and move onto other things.

 

later

-1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, that is always the case. People tend to focus on the 1% of games that we don’t have access to, rather then the 99% that we do. It’s human nature. We seem to want what we can’t have. (since Adam & Eve with the forbidden fruit)

 

Now mind you, in this case, you have here a big Marble Madness fan who loved the original game and longs to play the sequel. So it means a little more to him then the average gamer. So I understand the enthusiasm.

 

But yes, with these things patience is key, but, more importantly, perspective is critical. It’s an unreleased game. Most of these games were unreleased for a reason. Just like most (ER) released games. They are ER for a reason. So don’t put too much time & focus on these 1%. Rather, play & enjoy the other 99% of games that are available & out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Supergun said:

Most of these games were unreleased for a reason.

Very true, some of them look interesting but are probably terrible as far as actual play, Tattoo Assassins being a good example in my opinion. I bet if Spy Hunter II hadn't been released and all we had was a few photos to go on people would be bouncing off the walls for it to get dumped, but we'd all be in for a rude awakening when it did :D And games like Crazy Otto are really nothing but versions of an already available game, just with different graphics and a few minor tweaks. 

Regardless I think ALL games deserved to be protected, though Marble Man to me anyway looks like a genuinely fun game.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Supergun said:

Yes, that is always the case. People tend to focus on the 1% of games that we don’t have access to, rather then the 99% that we do. It’s human nature. We seem to want what we can’t have. (since Adam & Eve with the forbidden fruit)

 

Now mind you, in this case, you have here a big Marble Madness fan who loved the original game and longs to play the sequel. So it means a little more to him then the average gamer. So I understand the enthusiasm.

 

But yes, with these things patience is key, but, more importantly, perspective is critical. It’s an unreleased game. Most of these games were unreleased for a reason. Just like most (ER) released games. They are ER for a reason. So don’t put too much time & focus on these 1%. Rather, play & enjoy the other 99% of games that are available & out there.

So when the rom dose release. Where will you be sending it? I just sign up on this website yesterday and I wanted to know how things work out. Especially if he is giving the rom to you right?
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/25/2019 at 6:25 AM, Supergun said:

Here are some pictures I took of the game at the show. (the quality is low in order to conserve bandwidth here, but the originals are available to anyone who wants to post them)

 

A2183017-820D-4448-A06B-E4DBF439594B.jpeg.f4993b20fc5b5b30ff40910f5ef82960.jpeg

546EE45D-B111-44B8-96B6-13FE4F5D3C56.jpeg.34d23ebfe87df33c37bafd80f888d3af.jpegC1803CEF-AF17-4FEB-98AF-7F855666CC38.jpeg.56605ffe07786aab1e889de69bf92996.jpegD78B1FEE-FD91-4726-B4FD-61D7EE8A9BC6.jpeg.3bfaf7392a99007f9d6319b4f7f3e280.jpeg

 

I found the game to be excessively difficult; so much so that it kind of takes the fun out of it. But it has an insane number of levels and introduces several new gameplay elements & obstacles.

Also could you post a full play through of the game? I would like to see how hard it is to play the game because I dose not look so hard to me. I beat marble madness 1 like it was nothing and here is the link if you want to see it:https://youtu.be/4XrfBKCRU-w

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Supergun said:

But yes, with these things patience is key, but, more importantly, perspective is critical. It’s an unreleased game. Most of these games were unreleased for a reason. Just like most (ER) released games. They are ER for a reason. So don’t put too much time & focus on these 1%. Rather, play & enjoy the other 99% of games that are available & out there.

I disagree, there's a ton of unreleased games that are fun:

Maze Invaders is one of new favorite atari games, that i never knew about.

 

Maybe the companies had financial troubles, maybe the companies couldn't convince the publisher to release them.

 

Some are just prototypes, that didn't get the final polish.

 

I don't care for graphic clones, or different sprites, that's not much for unreleased games. 

But versions where the gameplay differs, or the difficulty level is different are fine for me.

 

I know a lot of games go through different versions even after they are released,

so that's why its important for prototypes, and lost games to be checked out.

 

later

-1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...