Jump to content
IGNORED

Atari 2600 Zoo Keeper Audio Released!


Albert

Recommended Posts

zookeeper.jpgYou've probably heard about the long-rumored port of the arcade game Zoo Keeper for the Atari 2600, the existence of which has yet to be discovered. Fortunately, Robert Vieira, who programmed the sound for the Atari 2600 version of Zoo Keeper while working at Atari, has preserved the source code to his Zoo Keeper audio. He shared this binder with Ken Van Mersbergen, who typed the sources in by hand (OCR could not be used) and then worked with Thomas Jentzsch to create an Atari 2600 binary that lets you listen to all the sounds of Zoo Keeper. The sounds are top notch, and while it's all we have of the game at this point in time, it's great to at least be able to experience the audio from this never-released game. You can download the binary here and run it in your favorite Atari 2600 emulator. To play the sounds, press the fire button. After a sound has finished playing, press the fire button again to hear the next sound.

 

Below is a complete list of sounds included in this binary:

 

1. Game End

2. Power Up (Music that plays when the game is first turned on)

3. Kiss

4. Picking up Net

5. End of Round

6. Animal Tally and Recapture

7. Jazz Round Start

8. Death on Brick Screen

9. Coco Nut Death

10. Losing Net

11. Picking Up Treasures

12. Placing of Treasure on Bricks

13. Jump Over Animal Landing

14. Animal Escaping

15. Jump

16. Animal Bumping Brick and Jump Landing

17. Placing of One Brick

18. Monkey Throws Coco Nut

 

Thanks again to Robert Vieira, Ken Van Mersbergen, and Thomas Jentzsch for making this possible and preserving this piece of Atari 2600 history!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome! Although I'm at work I'm very interested in hearing later how it compares to the original :)

 

Zookeeper is one of those sleeper classics that only grew better with age for me. To date it's one of my favorite games to play even now. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my all time favorite games. Can't wait to hear the sounds from this. Thanks!

IMO the tunes and sounds are done really good.

 

And though there are a few parts, where I could only speculate about the original driver, I suppose the result is very close to how it was meant to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm impressed too! There's a great variety of sounds coming out of this game. If the source code can't be located for the original game, I hope some homebrewers decide to try their hand at making a port of Zookeeper themselves, and use these sound files in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was quite surprised when I listened to this audio for the first time. It very much captures the sound from the arcade game, and many of the sounds are spot-on, quite an achievement for the Atari 2600. Many thanks to everyone involved in making these sounds available, it's nice being able to at least touch something from this long-lost game. :)

 

..Al

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi there!

 

Again, it was an Atari license. Atari was the only licenser of Taito games back then (SI, Qix, Jungle King, Space Dungeon). Atari announced it in an Atari Age issue which can be looked up on this site.

 

Tigervision licensed Polaris and Coleco Front Line.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...