Coleco Arcade Ports with missing levels

[NIAD]

Was wondering what Coleco released arcade ports for the ColecoVision are missing levels? This is aside from the games that received Super Game (DK, DK Jr., Zaxxon, Buck Rogers, SubRoc) releases for the ADAM Computer that were eventually converted to CV cart format by Mystery Man.

 

These are the ones that I can think do or might as I am not 100% familiar with the actual arcade versions:

 

- Congo Bongo - island/hippo level

- Gorf - galaxian level

- Roc'N Rope - ?

- Time Pilot - ?

- Venture - ?

 

With so many of the Coleco vaporware titles being released by Homebrewers, would there be interest in seeing the few Coleco titles enhanced ala Super Game updates to include missing elements and levels?

 

I would actually prefer a nostalgic approach to such a release where the actual Coleco game is used and enhanced upon like was done with ADAM  releases instead of being developed from ground up or ported from another system / arcade.

 

Thoughts...

 

[Pixelboy]

Investigating this is pretty easy with YouTube.

 

[TPR]

I would most certainly think a version of Gorf that took the original ColecoVision version of the game, but added in Galaxians in the same style as the rest of the game would be a neat project to see someone bring to life!

[NIAD]

5 hours ago, Pixelboy said:

Investigating this is pretty easy with YouTube.

 

I did look at Congo Bongo and Gorf, but those where the ones that I was very familiar with already. The CV version of Congo Bongo has always been a favorite of mine.

[BrianC]

AFAIK, Venture has all the levels. It's the 2600 port that's missing the third level. 

 

The odd thing is that the sg-1000 Congo Bongo, despite being made by Sega themselves, only has two levels and didn't even bother with the isometric perspective. The second level in it, oddly enough, is the very level that's missing from the CV version. 

Edited September 11, 2019 by BrianC

[Tempest]

None of the cartridge versions of Congo Bongo had the log platform or Rhino levels.  Only the disk versions had them.  I'm guessing it was either a space thing or just lazy porting.

[Kiwi]

14 hours ago, NIAD said:

 

- Time Pilot - ? 

- Venture - ?

 

Time Pilot is missing the UFO level.

Venture has all the level, but the treasure repeats I assume cartridge space limitation. 

[+Psionic]

The ColecoVision version of Root Beer Tapper is missing the punk rock bar.  I'm sure Up 'n Down is missing levels from the coin-op but I couldn't tell you which ones off the top of my head.

 

13 hours ago, Tempest said:

None of the cartridge versions of Congo Bongo had the log platform or Rhino levels.  Only the disk versions had them.  I'm guessing it was either a space thing or just lazy porting.

I doubt it was laziness.   I'm sure they would've crammed them in if possible since disk versions were developed that had all of them.

[Tempest]

39 minutes ago, Psionic said:

I doubt it was laziness.   I'm sure they would've crammed them in if possible since disk versions were developed that had all of them.

I don't know, all the home cartridge versions of Congo Bongo seem like pretty lazy ports to me.  Then again, maybe that's what PB told them to do.  AFAIK all the disk ports were done by Sega themselves. 

[+Psionic]

51 minutes ago, Tempest said:

I don't know, all the home cartridge versions of Congo Bongo seem like pretty lazy ports to me.  Then again, maybe that's what PB told them to do.  AFAIK all the disk ports were done by Sega themselves. 

I don't know who PB is, but I can assure you that neither Sega nor any other company ever instructed people to make lazy ports on purpose.  I don't know why some people continue to believe that.

As far as Congo Bongo goes, Sega published most versions themselves but none of them were actually developed at Sega.  Most of them were done by Beck-Tech and A. Eddy Goldfarb but the ColecoVision port was likely done elsewhere.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

1 hour ago, Tempest said:

I don't know, all the home cartridge versions of Congo Bongo seem like pretty lazy ports to me.  Then again, maybe that's what PB told them to do.  AFAIK all the disk ports were done by Sega themselves. 

NOPE that has been debunked for some time. It was a rumor that many bought into as it seemed feasible. 

[Tempest]

10 minutes ago, Psionic said:

I don't know who PB is, but I can assure you that neither Sega nor any other company ever instructed people to make lazy ports on purpose.  I don't know why some people continue to believe that.

As far as Congo Bongo goes, Sega published most versions themselves but none of them were actually developed at Sega.  Most of them were done by Beck-Tech and A. Eddy Goldfarb but the ColecoVision port was likely done elsewhere.

You're right, for some reason I was thinking Parker Bros did Congo Bongo.  My bad.

 

I wouldn't say they told them to make a lazy port on purpose, but I can see them not wanting to spring for extra space or give them enough time to try and fit in extra screens.  Those seem to be the two main reasons why home ports stripped out levels and features. 

[+Psionic]

16 minutes ago, Tempest said:

I wouldn't say they told them to make a lazy port on purpose, but I can see them not wanting to spring for extra space or give them enough time to try and fit in extra screens.  Those seem to be the two main reasons why home ports stripped out levels and features. 

There was definitely an emphasis on getting games done quickly as opposed to getting them done well.

Charlie Kulas was interviewed last year and told a story about how he missed his initial deadline for delivering the Atari 8-bit port of Up 'n Down.  His boss (probably Bob McCaslin or Steve Meadows at McT) brought him into his office and yelled at him, telling Charlie he was costing Sega about $10,000 per day for every day he was late in finishing it.

[Pixelboy]

There are only three factors for including/excluding levels from an arcade port:

 

1) What's the ROM size?

2) What's the RAM size?

3) What's the deadline for completing programming+testing?

 

RAM size is rarely a big issue, but ROM size definitely is: If your boss tells you that your game has to fit in 16K (because bigger cartridge ROM chips are currently too expensive) than you cut levels and features to make it fit in 16K, while still being bug-free after proper testing. Also, if the deadline is barely two months from now, you're more likely to cut some stuff to meet the deadline.

 

[doubledown]

So it's some sort of profit deal...huh!