Astrowar ROM

[Atari Charles]

Here is the Astrowar ROM I had stored on a floppy disc. As you will notice, this ROM is not available at Atari Age under either heading "Astrowar" or "Astro War". I believe this ROM to be the European release "Astrowar."

 

I did email Atari Age days ago about this ROM, but no response. Wierd.

 

Enjoy.

astrowar.zip

[joeybastard]

That's because you're looking at NTSC only. Have a look at this:

 

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...areLabelID=2027

 

[Atari Charles]

In my opinion, the game made in Taiwan for North America isn't the ROM that I have posted. It could be, but just looking at the box cover, this looks like a different game. There are different colors and even the graphics are different(if you look closely at the spaceship). Taiwanese Boxes are known for their inaccuracy, so that's why it is possible this game is the same.

 

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...areLabelID=2027

 

This is why I think the ROM that I posted is this(I think)

 

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...areLabelID=1729

 

 

Regardless, neither listing on Atari Age features the ROM and so I am offering it here.

astrowar.zip

[joeybastard]

I guess it could be. I imagine if somebody disassembled it, they could tell if it's PAL. I'm clueless about that end of it so I'll leave that to one of the experts here at AA.

[joeybastard]

Hmmm... from what AA says about these, I'm not sure what to think about this being NTSC or PAL. This is from the Atari 2600 - Unknown - Taiwan Cooper Label Variation page on AA.

 

We have listed these games as NTSC for the time being, although the games found in Europe play fine on PAL systems. We're not sure if they were actually distributed in both formats, or only one format that happens to work on both TV formats.

[Blinky]

I believe this ROM to be the European release "Astrowar."

 

It's not PAL if you mean. Running it with Z26 told me it has 265 scanlines.

Comparing your binary with Astrowar_(Starsoft).bin (NTSC) it has 28 differences close to the end of the ROM. No visible changes in color too.

 

So I think it is safe to say it's a NTSC rom

 

That's because you're looking at NTSC only.  Have a look at this:

 

http://www.atariage.com/software_page.html...areLabelID=2027

 

 

There's No ROM for download at that link. Wrong Link?

[Blinky]

There's No ROM for download at that link. Wrong Link?

 

Just Ignore this line of the previous post.

 

Had a look with Bithacker on those differences and they're graphical changes. Maybe its a hack ?

 

Have a look at the differences at the attached gif image.

[Atari Charles]

Could one be a pre-releases version and one be a final version? Odd how they would incorporate what appears to be pac-man. The floppy disc is from a Polish friend of mine who use to live in southern Poland and in Germany. This is why I would gravitate towards this being a European release.

[Blinky]

Odd how they would incorporate what appears to be pac-man.

 

I think its a hack because of the Middle finger ?,Smiley and Pacman looks a little out of place (unless the programmer fancied a PacMan who Loves to give the finger and be happy about it ).

 

 

The floppy disc is from a Polish friend of mine who use to live in southern Poland and in Germany. This is why I would gravitate towards this being a European release.

 

There many NTSC carts over here. I think that many carts where Imported from the states because they where much cheaper. Just like it is today.

 

I think only your Polish friend can tell the source of it.

[Atari Charles]

At first I wasn't sure what you meant by the middle finger, but now I see it. To me, it looks like some kind of cross. I seee the pac-man. I think the smiling face is supposed to be Evil Otto from Bezerk. Not sure though, but Evil Otto does appear in various Atari 2600 games.

 

I think they are two versions of the same game. Hard to say which one was made first. Maybe the pac-man version was made first but then they changed the graphics due to copyright issues back in the day.

[CPUWIZ]

At first I wasn't sure what you meant by the middle finger, but now I see it. To me, it looks like some kind of cross. I seee the pac-man. I think the smiling face is supposed to be Evil Otto from Bezerk. Not sure though, but Evil Otto does appear in various Atari 2600 games.

 

I think they are two versions of the same game. Hard to say which one was made first. Maybe the pac-man version was made first but then they changed the graphics due to copyright issues back in the day.

 

Personally, I think you are pulling a fast one, that clearly says AC in that hacked graphic.

[NovaXpress]

If anyone thought for a minute that this wasn't a hoax, then I have some ***RARE*** Pitfall carts to sell you.

[CPUWIZ]

If anyone thought for a minute that this wasn't a hoax, then I have some ***RARE*** Pitfall carts to sell you.

 

I am sure a few people will be asking you about those shortly.

[Atari Charles]

CPUWIZ said, "Personally, I think you are pulling a fast one, that clearly says AC in that hacked graphic."

 

I'm not pulling a fast one. I noticed there was no ROM for this game under the Atari 2600 cartridge section, so I posted it. It kind of looks like an A and a C in that one graphic, but shouldn't the A be more pointy.

That A is like:

 

###

# #

###

# #

 

but it should be like:

 

#

# #

###

# #

 

 

This is how it is in the ROM I have.

 

I don't think this is a hack, but another version earlier or later than what Blinky has.

[Blinky]

Here's the NTSC Astrowar_(Starsoft).bin I used for comparisation (left part of the earlier posted image).

 

Now there are two NTSC versions. But no PAL version yet.

astrowar__starsoft_.zip