Marble Madness 2: Marble Man

[Supergun]

I agree with most (well pretty much all) of what your saying above here. We live in a bubble on these niche websites and as such we think that what means the world to us means the world to everyone else. But the real truth is that 99% of the world which has access to 99% of all the video games ever made couldn’t care less about the 1% of unreleased games that they have never heard of and/or cannot play.

 

With specific regard to your comments on Marble Madness, in all honesty, it’s not a “maybe” anymore. And hasn’t been for some time now. They were literally selling the side art pieces and marquees at the “information table” of their “booth” at the Florida show in November. They also had more samples of the production cabinets at the show; with both trackball and joystick configurations. They even made the overlays “compatible” with both.

 

It is quite tangible, I assure you. I could literally buy a cabinet if I wanted to. I could even call the owner directly if I wanted to as we exchanged cell numbers at the previous show. For goodness sake, he lives here in central Florida. I could go visit him if I really wanted to.

 

But the reason why I didn’t and/or don’t bother to do any of those things is because I lost interest. And the reason I lost interest is because it all became tangible. MM2 is now no different then any other released game. It joined the 99%. The cabinets will slowly start showing up at the biggest and best retro arcades in the country. And anyone who really wants one can get one.

 

As for a possible future arcade 1-up release and/or public rom release, (official or unofficial), well sure, either and/or both is certainly possible. Like any and all other “limited” game releases, they all eventually become commonplace.

 

So if you really want to play MM2 right now, then man up and pay up and you can. If your cheap and want to play it for free, then have patience and wait. Simple as that.

[Rik1138]

18 hours ago, Supergun said:

With specific regard to your comments on Marble Madness, in all honesty, it’s not a “maybe” anymore. And hasn’t been for some time now. They were literally selling the side art pieces and marquees at the “information table” of their “booth” at the Florida show in November. They also had more samples of the production cabinets at the show; with both trackball and joystick configurations. They even made the overlays “compatible” with both.

 

It is quite tangible, I assure you. I could literally buy a cabinet if I wanted to. I could even call the owner directly if I wanted to as we exchanged cell numbers at the previous show. For goodness sake, he lives here in central Florida. I could go visit him if I really wanted to.

Could you literally buy (not 'order') a WORKING cabinet?  Officially licensed, and 100% legal?  And pick it up tomorrow?  I was under the impression that the board wasn't ready yet.

Yeah, the cabinet and artwork is easy enough to get, but anyone could make those.

 

The reason I'm still doubtful is their strange lack of willingness to say 'Yes, we licensed this from Atari (WB, whatever), and legit, legal full-sized cabinets will be available.'

Until they declare that, I'm still of the opinion they are doing this 'underground' and might, at any moment, get slapped with a C&D from the rights holder.

 

They either have the rights, and won't admit it (for no reason I can possibly fathom).

They don't have the rights, and are trying to get them (which means, if they can't, it may never happen).

They don't have the rights, and don't intend to try to get them, which means there's no telling how many will get made before someone gets sued.

 

They said the game 'wouldn't be cheap'.  We all know what new full sized arcade games cost, so I'm assuming 'wouldn't be cheap' means wouldn't be cheap for an arcade game.  So, $4000 or more for sure.  Anything less than that is typical range for a standard upright arcade game and they could just say 'about the cost of a new arcade game'.

 

The fact that they won't answer questions like this still puts it in the category of 'I'll believe it when I see it, then we'll see how much people care...'

[+x=usr(1536)]

Happened to get this random quote on a visit to mameworld.info earlier.  Figured it was worth sharing.

 

[negative1]

11 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Happened to get this random quote on a visit to mameworld.info earlier.  Figured it was worth sharing.

 

I could care less, what some developer thinks.

 

I'm not sure if these guys have ever played Marble Madness before (or the sequel). it's a great, but super short game.

 

From the video (of course), and not playing it. The sequel is a much better, more challenging, better level design , and more.

 

So it's already a win, even before trying it out.

 

This isn't going to be a ms pac-man like sequel that will be timeless.

 

I've put hundreds of hours into marble madness, and will put hundreds more into this sequel.

 

Its good enough.

 

later

-1

Edited January 11, 2022 by negative1

[SlappyHappy2000]

21 hours ago, x=usr(1536) said:

Happened to get this random quote on a visit to mameworld.info earlier.  Figured it was worth sharing.

 

Well, that's his opinion. I can't judge him for it, but I can't say I agree with it.

[Justin De Lucia]

All the footage I've seen of this game paints it up as a worthy follow up to the original, and the changes I bet were the devs trying to sprinkle up some variety with powerups and larger enemies and shake up the gameplay. Especially for a sequel created years ahead of the original game.

That said I wonder what will happen when units go on sale and if the game does get slapped with a DMCA. Will they continue to sell machines? Will they sell just the boards themselves in greater secrecy? Or will they just dump/release the two versions of the ROM they created out of desperation to get the game into more locations/homes?

[SlappyHappy2000]

A really interesting conversation concerning the game popped up in the comments section...

Does this basically confirm that the Marble Madness 2 ROMs will never be made public?

[Greg2600]

Hmmm, ha ha, drama, drama, drama!  Prototypes are nothing but drama!  I'm not sure if Bob Flanagan's request was due to a personal preference, or some long-ago grudge, I forget.  Honestly, I'm sorry, but he really has no say if you ask me.  He worked for Atari.  The IP and everything he did belonged to THEM.  And not for nothing, but we've dumped tons of other prototype arcade ROM's but his is so special that it cannot be shared?   He doesn't even possess the all of the boards, and for crying out loud, it's been THIRTY years.  That Atari is dead.  The current Atari does not care.  The real question though is why haven't the MAME team released them?

[Keatah]

They were asked not to?

[negative1]

all this talk about bob flanagan, well if it is him on KLOV, he wants a board too:

 

 

later

-1

[negative1]

2 hours ago, SlappyHappy2000 said:

A really interesting conversation concerning the game popped up in the comments section...

Does this basically confirm that the Marble Madness 2 ROMs will never be made public?

maybe they should actually try talking to bob himself. if it is him, he wants a new board also.

 

later

-1

[Rik1138]

Well, he doesn't say he WANTS a board, he just tried to contact people at a certain website that he thought was involved in making the board.

Maybe he's trying to find out who they licensed the game from...

[negative1]

Update from KLOV:

 

Threre are 5 machines completed and testing now, we just needed to sort out an adapter system to allow them to use Atari logo sticks until the trackball code is sorted without making all new panels to fit. That is done now.

I'll try to post a photo of them together soon, work and travel get in the way.

---

 

later

-1

[Justin De Lucia]

I was just about to ask if there were any updates from the guys producing reproduction MMII cabinets.

Glad it's going somewhere, maybe I'll ask the owner of a local arcade of mine if he'd be interested in getting a cabinet once it goes on sale...

Edited April 25, 2022 by Justin De Lucia

[roadrunner]

Marble Madness II Soundtrack - Astral and Wacky extended music.




 

 

[Jumpman1981]

Mamehaze just uploaded this earlier today...

[Jumpman1981]

 

[Rik1138]

Heh, and looking at the file dates, those ROMs were dumped 22 years ago...   

[Keatah]

Is that good?

[Rik1138]

Just proves the ROMs have been dumped for a LONG time...  And the MAME driver has existed since then as well, just never released.

[Keatah]

How was this released? Did it get out somehow? Or was it a planned thing?

[Rik1138]

Does anyone know who dank2079 is?  I guess he'd be the one to ask...

[Tempest]

Are the dumped roms altered or tweaked from the arcade prototype?

[negative1]

Don't know and don't care.

 

I'm just glad its out.

 

Will be giving it a thorough gameplay now.

 

Thanks to all the developers and people involved. Been feeling in a marbley mood lately.

 

**UPDATE:

who knows maybe it will show up in a mini arcade machine!

 

later

-1

Edited May 24, 2022 by negative1

[ubersaurus]

3 hours ago, Tempest said:

Are the dumped roms altered or tweaked from the arcade prototype?

As far as I'm aware it matches the play video that went up a few months ago but is different from the build shown at California Extreme. And yeah, as said, the dump dates go back to 2000, so likely this build was dumped back then and just had the rom held privately until now.

 

No idea why it got posted with no fanfare back on May 21 (and no one noticed until yesterday) but my *best* guess is that whoever owns that specific board the dump is from decided they were fine with posting it online.