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Anteater rom, still missing?


lucifershalo

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That's a shame that this rom is still not released....

clearly someone(s) has it

why not an unofficial (under the cover) release on cart like some other games in the past

Are there videos or info about this game? Atariage and Atarimania only have a single screenshot, clearly from an emu.

 

EDIT: now I want to play this... :P

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Who owns the rights to the arcade game anymore? If Keith has the ROM, maybe a deal could be worked out to do a cartridge release like Swordfight.

 

Perhaps, but don't hold your breath.

 

Most of these Mattel proto's shown at the 1999 Gaming Expo are locked due to copyright.

 

8)

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Yup. Just 99% work left. :)

 

If you coded a proof of concept TJ that alone might be enough to show that the lock on the original proto won't keep a talented programmer from getting that specific gameplay style to the 2600 masses. One could only hope that could open the vault to a release of the proto.

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Try to imagine a bunch of 8-Track collectors having control over a cassette recording of a live performance of Buckner & Garcia singing pacman fever in 1983.

 

-- they don't even collect compact cassettes, they prefer 8-track tapes.

-- one of the artists has already died.

-- it was barely a hit song from a relatively insignificant group.

-- the original studio version is far superior.

-- the few fans in the world who even have an interest are ignored.

-- another copy will eventually turn up someday anyhow.

 

Yet despite all this, they choose to treat it like the hope diamond and guard it like Fort Knox.

(claiming possible legal entanglements as the reason)

Complete and utter morons. Period.

 

Intellivision SUCKS. The system, the games, the controllers, all SUCK.

The Atari 2600 blows it out of the water. It's not even close.

Anteater was an average game by a below average company.

It wasn't even a one hit wonder. I NEVER saw it at ANY arcade in my entire life, and I grew up in a major metropolitan city.

Colecovision Oil's Well is a better clone of the game.

And yet somehow these losers who don't even care about the system that the game is for continue to hold it hostage year after year. It makes no sense whatsoever.

 

Anyone in the world with a computer can play the arcade version of Anteater for free. Whoever in the world who may own (or think they own) the rights to a translation of the game done over 30 years ago wouldn't lose a dime if it were to posted on the Internet. So spare me the bullshit lecture here.

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Why do some collectors sit on protos and play keepaway? :???:

Cause they feel better about themselves and like to enjoy the games with their hamster

We are all getting older and in another 20-25 years will be worthless cause most everyone that gave two shits about it will be dead.

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I also think this has more to do with the Rangers than with Stern and Konami, but perhaps Tempest can tell us more about this.

 

I can understand the legal issues for the two AD&D titles, though. I think these two games will be hidden away forever.

 

8)

That's my understanding. Stern has the Anteater rights IIRC. Since TBSR are actually running a company they can't just release a rom like an individual programmer can.

 

There may be copies outside of TBSR though. They might get leaked that way.

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Well Rocky & Bullwinkle got leaked and nothing happened there. No one was prosecuted for copywrite infringment and I doubt that the value of the original prototype ever went down. Its fear that leaking the rom of these sat on games would somehow lower the value of the pieces of history when in most cases the value remains unaffected for the collector who yearns for the original prototype will still pay an obscene amount of money just to complete their collection.

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The common issue of the Proto being in the hands of a private collector who stands to lose the worth and/or status of their rare item does not apply here.

 

This thing is in the hands of a faceless and oblivious group of people who paid nothing for it and have no intention of ever trying to profit from it. Letting it go is just as meaningless to them as another one surfacing; doesn't matter at all.

 

This is the only reason why this particular scenario bothers me so much.

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It's not at all that simple. Robinson and Intellivision Productions owns the rights to all those M-Network and Mattel Intellivision releases, including the ones they don't have clearance to release due to not having the license (ala Burgertime, Bump n Jump, etc.) They would be well within their rights to release to public domain the roms of the games that aren't licensed from existing properties or arcade games, but those other ones being released by them would open them up to legal action. Whether or not that ever comes, why would they ever want to even walk into that briar patch?

 

I also posit they feel there is value, tangible value, in their back catalog since they still sell the games in various releases, including some of those licensed titles when they can get the rights affordably enough. They may be too small an outfit to go after every rom site out there, and it's possible they aren't too worried about the 2600 side of things with the roms being out there already, but why give away something they could conceivably make money off of one day? This is completely different from a collector owning a rarity and refusing to release the rom - this is a business that is holding onto their prototype rom and doesn't want to give it away. Would you go after Nintendo for not releasing the rom file to Donkey Kong Returns on NES? It's well within their right not to.

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I appreciate the explanation. It gives me more perspective.

 

I would kill for that NES Return of Donkey Kong rom, as would many other NES fans. At least we eventually got the Super GameBoy version; which according to most sources, was built from the ashes of the NES version.

 

However, important to note, that sometimes even the huge, gigantic corporations can be found giving these old roms away. Capcom shocked the community when they gave away Titan Warriors.

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One other key point that I would like to make here, and this can be applied to most Atari 2600 protos allegedly hanging in legal limbo, is that without a title screen, who the hell can possibly even say, never mind prove, which rom from which game really is indeed said game?! LOL

 

You can almost bet with 100% certainty that Stern or Tago Electronics doesn't have, nor ever had, a copy of the Atari 2600 rom. So even if said rom was officially released (as opposed to just randomly leaked) and even if they tried to push through a lawsuit, just how the hell could they prove that the rom was "official" and of their game?! The only thing that makes the Atari 2600 rom of Anteater..."Anteater"...is us calling it that. Name the bin file "aardvark" and dump it on the net. Good luck trying to sue anyone for it.

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