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My Centipede story


oo7

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10 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

Never knew Glenn worked for Atari, visited Atari in Slough a few times, wonder if it was there..

I have to listen to the interview again, but I don't think he worked for Atari! I was thinking this a case of Atari lifting the pirated conversion and calling it theirs... "well thanks for the work!" because well, legally it is theirs.... Who's gonna sue? Hehe

 

A similar more recent incident with Nintendo: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-18-did-nintendo-download-a-mario-rom-and-sell-it-back-to-us

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2 hours ago, Nezgar said:

I have to listen to the interview again, but I don't think he worked for Atari! I was thinking this a case of Atari lifting the pirated conversion and calling it theirs... "well thanks for the work!" because well, legally it is theirs.... Who's gonna sue? Hehe

 

A similar more recent incident with Nintendo: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-18-did-nintendo-download-a-mario-rom-and-sell-it-back-to-us

My memory is bad, too long ago, i think it wasnt him but a friend of his worked for atari or something. 
 

so curious how his work got onto atari retail. I wonder if they just downloaded and used and also didnt think of ctrl+g lmao

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It really is soooo much better than official release.  Who wrote the 5200 version originally?  It really is a work of art.  The original was really nowhere near as fun to play.

 

Glenn's 5200 conversions were certainly worth the effort.  The 5200 got a few enhanced versions of various games.  Also the only console that ever got a good Star Raiders port.  

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The Atari 5200 version of Dig Dug was also better than the official Atari 8 bit version.  Another one that Glenn converted.   I think Moon Patrol was different, too.  Any others?  I never knew about CTRL-G for all of these years!

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9 hours ago, Nezgar said:

I have to listen to the interview again, but I don't think he worked for Atari! I was thinking this a case of Atari lifting the pirated conversion and calling it theirs... "well thanks for the work!" because well, legally it is theirs.... Who's gonna sue? Hehe

 

A similar more recent incident with Nintendo: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-18-did-nintendo-download-a-mario-rom-and-sell-it-back-to-us

Yes, after cwc posted the link to the podcast I listened and its clear he was a. US based and b. had no direct link to Atari other than modding their games. Atari however did miss a trick and not take the modded games and release them on the computer (bar the rogue Centipede in the UK). I wonder who the person was that he trained up in cracking techniques who then started a company to protect against cracking?

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3 hours ago, kogden said:

It really is soooo much better than official release.  Who wrote the 5200 version originally?  It really is a work of art.  The original was really nowhere near as fun to play.

 

Glenn's 5200 conversions were certainly worth the effort.  The 5200 got a few enhanced versions of various games.  Also the only console that ever got a good Star Raiders port.  

 

Its really odd because its actually pretty much the exact same OS bar stripped out computer based OS routines and modified keyboard and joystick calls. From what I understand its the exact same sound and display capabilities and OS calls. So it seems to come down to the quality of the programming, i'm stunned but happy that Atari didn't take the cheap way out and just port the unchanged computer version in some cases. I guess the only downside of Glenns ports was that IF the programmer used the analogue stick in its full proportional potential Glenn had to lock it to a fixed effect so it was either on or off with no graded increase of movement.

 

Still, he did a blinding job..And nice to listen to him quoting locations and programming techniques like moving the screen base after all this time..

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1 hour ago, Mclaneinc said:

Thank you very much, me sitting down and playing is harder than it sounds with my spine and I really enjoyed the game, stay safe my friend...

Very happy you like it as much as I do it sounds. Sorry for the spine thing.

 

 

Imagine my shock spending most of my life thinking that was Centipede for the A8 then getting a cart version and NOOOOOOOOOO lol

 

All of a sudden the slow loading tape was ok lmao (mind you I then downloaded the 5200 disk version)

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3 hours ago, rra said:

The Atari 5200 version of Dig Dug was also better than the official Atari 8 bit version. 

There were two separate cartridge releases of Dig Dug for the A8. The second version is the 5200 version back-ported by Atari themselves.  

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22 hours ago, cwc said:

How do you get to the actual podcast?  I've listened to quite a few various podcasts, but have had trouble finding the Antic Interviews on iTunes and YouTube.  Does anyone know if/where this one is still available?  I did successfully find and listen to the Bill Wilkinson interview several years ago, but I don't remember any details.

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6 minutes ago, Larry said:

How do you get to the actual podcast?  I've listened to quite a few various podcasts, but have had trouble finding the Antic Interviews on iTunes and YouTube.  Does anyone know if/where this one is still available?  I did successfully find and listen to the Bill Wilkinson interview several years ago, but I don't remember any details.

The link you quoted will literally take you right to the page where you can play it. If you use a separate podcast player app, you’ll have to search within the app. 

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6 hours ago, Mclaneinc said:

I listened and its clear he was a. US based and b. had no direct link to Atari other than modding their games. Atari however did miss a trick and not take the modded games and release them on the computer

Thanks for reviewing! I didn't have the time.

 

Makes me wonder if "Glenn" knew of his ports being used used widely by Atari themselves on the other side of the atlantic. Maybe a tidbit that can be passed back to him through their contacts. May give him a historical smile hehe.

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1 hour ago, Nezgar said:

Thanks for reviewing! I didn't have the time.

 

Makes me wonder if "Glenn" knew of his ports being used used widely by Atari themselves on the other side of the atlantic. Maybe a tidbit that can be passed back to him through their contacts. May give him a historical smile hehe.

I'd imagine he knows, might actually ask him as I left him a message on twitter

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  • 5 months later...
On 3/13/2021 at 9:32 PM, oo7 said:

And two. I always wondered how did the Atari 5200 version of Centipede end up on retail tapes packaged with systems right from Atari in the UK?

Having largely grown up in Ireland with my A8s, I ran into a similar situation as yours.

 

A few years ago, I grabbed a version of Qix from Atarimania that was the A8 version.  It was nothing like the one that I remembered playing.

 

That was because the one that I played was Glenn's crack of the 5200 version, and it was far superior to the one that Atari did for the A8.

 

There is some lore surrounding how the Glenn version of Centipede ended up on those compilation cassettes, but damned if I can remember the details :)

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

Having largely grown up in Ireland with my A8s, I ran into a similar situation as yours.

 

A few years ago, I grabbed a version of Qix from Atarimania that was the A8 version.  It was nothing like the one that I remembered playing.

 

That was because the one that I played was Glenn's crack of the 5200 version, and it was far superior to the one that Atari did for the A8.

 

There is some lore surrounding how the Glenn version of Centipede ended up on those compilation cassettes, but damned if I can remember the details :)

That would be a very similar situation yes. I wish I knew how a bootleg made it to a “legit compilation” that part is what blows me away the most.

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  • 3 weeks later...

BTW Qix is also better on the 5200 than the original 8-bit version and I have both and both are available for the 8-bit computers as well, I believe Glenn had a hand in doing that one too. Also Homesoft did a few 5200-to-8-bit conversions of his own too, I have of those all as well as the 5200 versions to go with them.

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26 minutes ago, BIGHMW said:

BTW Qix is also better on the 5200 than the original 8-bit version and I have both and both are available for the 8-bit computers as well, I believe Glenn had a hand in doing that one too. Also Homesoft did a few 5200-to-8-bit conversions of his own too, I have of those all as well as the 5200 versions to go with them.

A few 5200 version of games were done better. First to mind are centipede and qix. Another is pacman where they added stuff. Dig dug however the a8 version was soon revised to match

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18 minutes ago, oo7 said:

Dig dug however the a8 version was soon revised to match

I have to admit I thought the A8 version of Dig Dug had some elements in it that the 5200 lacks, like an opening before each wave, as well as when you ready up a new life after losing one, it has a short preview for you before play recommences, like the aracde version does. The 5200 does not. Also Pooka and Fygar look better in the A8 version too, they are just single-colored in the 5200 version, with Pooka being all-orange and Fygar being all-green.

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I was always dissapointed that Retrogamer Magazine, had never run a feature on Atari soft, whilst i was a reader, often the official versions released under that banner, were worse than the clones other companies had released, as they'd used better coders, put more time and effort into them. 

 

 

The other surprising thing with home versions of Centipede... the change in back story. 

 

 

Most use Oliver The Elf and his spark firing magic wand,but there's also Lord Motley Bugnut and his Bug Blaster. 

 

 

I giess Oliver was seen as far more appealing from a marketing point of view, but it's always surprised me to see some Atari fans say you controlled a bug spray/pesticide type weapon in the game, when that's never been put forward in any version as far as i am aware, a centipe clone, yes... 

 

 

 

 

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On 9/11/2021 at 7:44 AM, BIGHMW said:

BTW Qix is also better on the 5200 than the original 8-bit version and I have both and both are available for the 8-bit computers as well, I believe Glenn had a hand in doing that one too. Also Homesoft did a few 5200-to-8-bit conversions of his own too, I have of those all as well as the 5200 versions to go with them.

Wasn’t aware that there is a Glenn Qix version?

 

and that CTRL+T?

 

Btw so was it answered… did Glenn just do the cracking of those games or did he coded those games? Because then the question is who did the 5200 version of Cenitpede?

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30 minutes ago, Heaven/TQA said:

Wasn’t aware that there is a Glenn Qix version?

 

and that CTRL+T?

 

Btw so was it answered… did Glenn just do the cracking of those games or did he coded those games? Because then the question is who did the 5200 version of Cenitpede?

Dont know who coded it. Back in the bbs days i remember ppl uploading glenn conversions and some ppl uploading conversions saying they were done using glenns method. Thats all I really ever knew. I never knew any of the coders and crackers myself to know any more

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