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[Aquarius] Reversi, Lock N Chase, Sea Battle featured in retailer catalog sales sheet


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This is likely nothing, but I feel it's worth mentioning just in case it is something. I was looking around for my info on some Aquarius titles, and I came across this catalog. Apparently it's a Christmas 1983 catalog from Montgomery Ward. They've clearly assigned each title their own retailer catalog no. and all 3 (Reversi, Lock N' Chase, and Sea Battle) are featured in the sales sheet. At first glance I think that at the very least, Sea Battle is almost definitely an Intellivision screenshot, but the other two look like they could've possibly come from an Aquarius. Anyway, I'm not sure what to think of it, but it's the first I've seen these titles actually available to order from a sales sheet.

Screenshot_2020-04-03 Retro toys and video games from the Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog 1983.jpg

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I have seen them with part numbers and with order forms from different things too in the past.

I have always wondered too but i have never seen any evidence of them.

This is not unheard of though for companies to start listing games that never end up being for sale.

Does make me wonder how far with them they were though if they get confident enough to list them for sale...

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10 minutes ago, schuwalker said:

 

Some discussion here...

 

 

post-3819-0-12406600-1339796678.jpg

Yeah, I think I may have read that a while back. Have to say, I really like that box art! Hopefully we'll eventually find a prototype. Correct me if I'm wrong but that screenshot of Lock N' Chase in the Montgomery Ward catalog is not an Intellivision screenshot, right? It's got to be an Aquarius shot then.

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10 minutes ago, EdgeOfPortal said:

Yeah, I think I may have read that a while back. Have to say, I really like that box art! Hopefully we'll eventually find a prototype. Correct me if I'm wrong but that screenshot of Lock N' Chase in the Montgomery Ward catalog is not an Intellivision screenshot, right? It's got to be an Aquarius shot then.

I like the box art too. If I recall I lifted that ad pic from a vintage gaming periodical, can't remember if it was a Aquarius ad itself or a general article on what's coming down the pipeline for software.

 

I'm not Intellivision expert so I'm not sure if that screenshot came from that system.

 

By no means I'm an expert on the Aquarius, was/has a Lock N' Chase proto been confirmed to be out there? Box could've been a promo mock up for all I know.

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1 minute ago, schuwalker said:

I like the box art too. If I recall I lifted that ad pic from a vintage gaming periodical, can't remember if it was a Aquarius ad itself or a general article on what's coming down the pipeline for software.

 

I'm not Intellivision expert so I'm not sure if that screenshot came from that system.

 

By no means I'm an expert on the Aquarius, was/has a Lock N' Chase proto been confirmed to be out there? Box could've been a promo mock up for all I know.

lock-01.png

^That's apparently a INTV screenshot from a quick google search, so I don't think it came from INTV. It looks certainly doable by Aquarius standards (the one in the catalog I mean). I haven't had much experience with INTV, most of my expertise has gone towards Aquarius, so perhaps someone more experienced with Lock N' Chase can confirm that there is no version with the orange background featured in the catalog image? No Aquarius prototype has been found yet, but many others have.

 

For example, someone here has a Shark! prototype which we didn't even know was in development (I think it was user MattelAquarius?), and we've found multiple command console prototypes, one of which I myself own. So I think its safe to assume that there is one out there, we just haven't found it yet.

 

Judging by what we've found for Lock N' Chase (Cover art, this possible screenshot, catalog descriptions), I think it had to have been pretty far in development.

 

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Thank you for posting the link to the earlier thread, schuwalker!  I'm salivating all over again at the sight of that Lock 'n' Chase prototype box.  (However, I'm quite embarrassed that the "upcoming" projects I mentioned there eight years ago, such as my Aquarius website and homebrew games, are only now coming to fruition.  Making a career change in one's late thirties has a way of putting hobby projects on the back burner for a few years!  At least I'm finally getting back to them.)

 

30 minutes ago, EdgeOfPortal said:

Yeah, I think I may have read that a while back. Have to say, I really like that box art! Hopefully we'll eventually find a prototype. Correct me if I'm wrong but that screenshot of Lock N' Chase in the Montgomery Ward catalog is not an Intellivision screenshot, right? It's got to be an Aquarius shot then.

 

The Intellivision version does not closely resemble that screenshot.  If I had to guess, I'd say that it is a modified Atari 2600 screenshot, with different colors.  The maze layout matches the 2600 version, as do the policemen and Lupin sprites.  The Aquarius cannot actually produce the particular shade of brown shown in the screenshot (the closest color it has to "brown" looks more like a burnt orange), so it cannot have been a screenshot taken from a real Aquarius prototype.  Several of the games shown in the ad must not have been far enough along yet for pictures; the Melody Chase screenshot looks very different from the final version.

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Most screenshots from bitd were artwork and not real screenshots.

So they dont prove much to the existance of a partial or full game.

However them adding some of these to orderforms and catalogs makes me think they likely had the games programmed and at least mock up boxes made....but its also likely proto roms havent been saved.

I know the last issue of the aquarius magazine still didnt mention them as available. 

And issues also had alternate names for zero in and space speller that were stated as coming soon....and they did come out but with these different titles.

The 5th issue said the 32k cart wasnt being released also.

But the 6th issue had a person write in saying it was actually available from the company that made the outpack tapes.....forget their name off the top of my head.

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3 minutes ago, stupus said:

Most screenshots from bitd were artwirk and not real screenshots.

So they dont prove much to the existance of a partial or full game.

However rhem adding some of these to orderforms and catalogs makes me think they likely had the games programmed and at least mock up boxes made....but its also likely proto roms havent been saved.

I know the last issue of the aquarius magazine still didnt mention them as available. 

And issues also had alternate names for zero in and space speller that were stated as coming soon....and they did come out but with these different titles.

The 5th issue said the 32k cart wasnt being released also.

But the 6th issue had a person write in saying it was actually available from the company that made the outpack tapes.....forget their name off the top of my head.

Outpack cassettes were Digital Output, but they definitely weren't the ones who released 32K. That was Radofin. Should have scans of that soon by the way.

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11 hours ago, EdgeOfPortal said:

lock-01.png

^That's apparently a INTV screenshot from a quick google search, so I don't think it came from INTV. It looks certainly doable by Aquarius standards (the one in the catalog I mean). I haven't had much experience with INTV, most of my expertise has gone towards Aquarius, so perhaps someone more experienced with Lock N' Chase can confirm that there is no version with the orange background featured in the catalog image? No Aquarius prototype has been found yet, but many others have.

 

For example, someone here has a Shark! prototype which we didn't even know was in development (I think it was user MattelAquarius?), and we've found multiple command console prototypes, one of which I myself own. So I think its safe to assume that there is one out there, we just haven't found it yet.

 

Judging by what we've found for Lock N' Chase (Cover art, this possible screenshot, catalog descriptions), I think it had to have been pretty far in development.

 

At least all the other games, on this order list from Add-on Electronics, have surfaced. This could indicate that a release was not far off. 

HomeComputingWeekly04300016.jpg

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26 minutes ago, Aquaman said:

At least all the other games, on this order list from Add-on Electronics, have surfaced. This could indicate that a release was not far off. 

HomeComputingWeekly04300016.jpg

Very interesting interesting. Also thanks for posting this, that’s a new cassette tape to add to my list. Never heard of “One Arm Bandit” before.

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