BSA Starfire Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Also seem to remember having a S.S cart that was a clone of Skin Diver(sorry can't remeber the title) gave it to a friend however as I had a original Sancho copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted August 19, 2007 Author Share Posted August 19, 2007 Ok, Who owns Ski Run (SS-024) from Suntek? Who owns Spectracube Invasion (SS-025) from Suntek? Who owns Asteroid Belt (SS-029) from Suntek? And who owns a Suntek cartridge with one of the following model numbers: SS-018 SS-026 SS-027 SS-028 There must be somebody who owns one of these Suntek carts. Rom, I have this cart which you will find interesting. You can get the dump here along with some other goodies. First the scans. After researching a little I think it's a pirate of a Suntek cart. Some photos: - There is no white "video game" logo on the front label. - The shell is different then the SunScience shells. This has small ridges on the side like a Dimax/Sinmax cart. Also the back is completely different. No SS logo here. Note too the 1 2 3 4. Looks like the shell is meant for switches for a multicart, however no holes are drilled out (I felt the label for holes underneath too). - The cart is sliding door no lock. It is light and I peered inside. It has a blob style prom. - I'm not sure if Suntek is an English speaking company in origin. It should be noted a Pyromaniac (a person who likes to go around starting fires) is sometimes called a "Pyro" for short. We sometimes use a slang term calling these people a Firebug too. An example would be "Oh, he is such a Firebug playing with that lighter". I hope this helps, Omega Amazing find, Omegamatrix. Although not a proper Suntek cart, it finally gives us a title of the unknown SS-028 cart. Many thanks for the scans and the ROM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted August 19, 2007 Author Share Posted August 19, 2007 (edited) Tom you dont by chance have a copy of Go Go Home Monster and Magic Carpet by Home Vision do you? BTW welcome to Atariage Don't know if these might be any help from my collection, note the S.S. stamped on the back, Suntek Science right? No, it means SunScience. Not all S.S. carts are Suntek carts. Your carts, for instance, are Taiwanese Double-Game Package carts: http://atarimania.com/lst_soft.php?MENU=2&...n_sauver=Search I would love to add them to our database if you can make good scans of them. BTW: your S.S. Skindiver clone could be Bi! Bi!: http://atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?MENU...ERSION_ID=12424 Edited August 19, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BSA Starfire Posted August 19, 2007 Share Posted August 19, 2007 Thanks ROM, still trying to hunt up a scanner so I can do that supercharger for you as well, haven't forgotten I'm finding this all very fascinating, it's like archaology , brilliant stuff! Best regards, Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted August 20, 2007 Author Share Posted August 20, 2007 I'm not sure if Suntek is an English speaking company in origin. It should be noted a Pyromaniac (a person who likes to go around starting fires) is sometimes called a "Pyro" for short. We sometimes use a slang term calling these people a Firebug too. An example would be "Oh, he is such a Firebug playing with that lighter".Indeed, Firebug comes closest to the original title of the game. IMO Fire Spinner, Spinning Fireball and Fireball Spinner are outings of the poor fantasy of some Vidco guy and Fire Burg doesn't make sense at all (and besides that, it's a completely different game: Robot Fight). So Firebug is most probably the original (Suntek) title of this game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 27, 2007 Author Share Posted September 27, 2007 (edited) Please read this carefully if you're truly interested in Rainbow Vision / Suntek games: I noticed that the Space Shuttle on the Quelle Weltraumtunnel picture carries the Suntek brand: http://atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?TYPE_...amp;NUM_IMAGE=1 My question now is: Which Rainbow Vision / Suntek cart carried this label? It could be Asteroid Belt or UFO Patrol (of which the scans still are missing in our database), but personally I don't think that's the case. Why not? Because other versions of these two games carry completely different labels, as you can see here: http://atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?TYPE_...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=1 And they were re-drawn (like many of the other Rainbow Vision / Suntek titles) from the original Home Vision artwork (of exactly the same games), as can be seen here: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 So if the original Asteroid Belt and UFO Patrol from Rainbow Vision / Suntek have exactly the same picture as the ones from the links, and all other Rainbow Vision / Suntek titles we don't know the label of are not space related (which is a fact), then there is a chance that the Weltraumtunnel picture is the original Rainbow Vision / Suntek artwork of the missing number SS-014 or SS-018. Which would be an interesting find to say the least... To continue this theory: Weltraumtunnel is a hack of Imagic's Laser Gates which would perfectly fit into the SS-018 position, because it is immediately followed up by SS-019 which is Curtiss, a hack of Imagic's Atlantis. In short: there's a good change that Suntek's missing SS-018 is a hack of Laser Gates and that it carries the same label as Weltraumtunnel. Edited March 27, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 Seeing Suntek on the Shuttle is a great find. It's like looking for your keys when they are in your hand the whole time. Unless Suntek went higher then the list goes now it's got to be one of those two unknown titles. It'd make more sense to do pirate one company at a time so it probably is SS-018. Great find! I can't believe these are so rare no one owns one though. Someone has to have these. Looking at that Quelle box made me pull out my Mission 3000 A D (NTSC) box that is a Taiwan Cooper. On its space ship it says EX 7 and then SY-826B If that means anything at all I don't know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 That is a very interesting theory Rom and after reading it for the third time I am inclined to agree with you on this one. I had never noticed the Suntek brand on Weltraumtunnel before so there is an obvious link there but has a hack of Laser Gates turned up yet? I know its been pirated but it has been so long since I ran it I cannot recall if it looked any different. Makes me wonder though why the two titles you mentioned are still missing after all this time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) That is a very interesting theory Rom and after reading it for the third time I am inclined to agree with you on this one. I had never noticed the Suntek brand on Weltraumtunnel before so there is an obvious link there but has a hack of Laser Gates turned up yet? I know its been pirated but it has been so long since I ran it I cannot recall if it looked any different. Makes me wonder though why the two titles you mentioned are still missing after all this time.Exactly. SS-014 and SS-018 weren't even among the 'complete' Suntek 'prototype' collection that Jens found, which makes you wonder if Suntek released these two titles at all. A possible explanation of this could be that Suntek's hack of Laser Gates simply looked too much like Imagic's Laser Gates. All other Suntek hacks were changed a whole lot more (IMO in a cheap attempt to avoid getting lawsuited by the bigger companies), but this one only has the Imagic logo at the end of the game replaced by the word END and some minor graphic changes (see the screenshots): http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...0830&MENU=2 They just couldn't change it enough to make it look really different. Perhaps SS-014 suffered from the same fate too? Edited September 28, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 SS-014 and SS-018 weren't even among the 'complete' Suntek 'prototype' collection that Jens found, which makes you wonder if Suntek released these two titles at all. A possible explanation of this could be that Suntek's hack of Laser Gates simply looked too much like Imagic's Laser Gates. All other Suntek hacks were changed a whole lot more (IMO in a cheap attempt to avoid getting lawsuited by the bigger companies), but this one only has the Imagic logo at the end of the game replaced by the word END (see the last screenshot): http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...0830&MENU=2 Perhaps SS-014 suffered from the same fate too? I have pondered on the significance for some time but like yourself coulf come up with no other logical reason. I have player several pirates of Laser Gates which have mirrored their Imagic cousin so perfectly that you could never tell. One did have different colours but that could have been down to it being for a different tv system. I wish I could find out more about their history such as how long they were in production. Perhaps the last two weren't released fo they ran out of money? Who knows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) Fox, Please notice that the graphics are slightly different! Too minor to even notice it. I think that was the whole problem. Edited September 28, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Fox, Please notice that the graphics are slightly different! Yes but not on the same scale as Curtis which leads me to believe that they were running out of time, money or perhaps simply stopped fearing a call from Imagic which would put the release as being after Imagics demise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) Exactly. Here you can clearly see all the Taiwanese attempts to make their hacks look different from the originals: http://www.atarimania.com/lst_soft-MENU-2-...ISU-SCREEN.html Fascinating, isn't it? These were the True Pioneers of the Hack. Not because they liked to do it (like nowadays), but because they had to do it to 'earn' some quick bucks. These hacks were partly responsible for the Crash and therefore have (video game) historical value, unlike the shitty hacks that are made today. It's a miracle they came away with it, btw. Edited September 28, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxsolo2000 Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 Yes, certainly is fascinating stuff and historical proof that the companies they pirated from were in too much trouble themselves to pursue the pirates. Question is though when did they stop in their activities. I have heard of some Taiwan games being made up to 92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) I think they continued selling pirates as long as possible. I've read somewhere that the Quelle release of Bermuda http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...8567&MENU=2 was taken from the shelves because it looked too much like River Raid. LOL Way too late. Edited September 28, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted September 28, 2007 Share Posted September 28, 2007 I still think that the big companies not only knew about the Taiwanese pirates, but they were actually involved in it! Kinda like an A company trying to earn some extra money by selling B products in secondary markets. Cheers, Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted September 28, 2007 Author Share Posted September 28, 2007 (edited) I still think that the big companies not only knew about the Taiwanese pirates, but they were actually involved in it! Kinda like an A company trying to earn some extra money by selling B products in secondary markets.That's also a possibility. It's indeed very hard to believe that the bigger companies just accepted all these too similar looking games coming from Taiwan. David Crane: "And what do we have here? Tom Boy? Looks an awful lot like Harry Pitfall in his underwear. Hey, it even plays the same! Well, let's just accept that." BTW: Aren't there any interviews with one of the famous programmers in which they give their opinion about this? Edited September 28, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted September 29, 2007 Share Posted September 29, 2007 It's quite likely that the programmers didn't know about this. If the theory is correct, it sounds more like an evil sales / marketing department operation to make a quick extra buck (in an already ruined market). Cheers, Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 Ok, let's forget about Gamma Attack and take a closer look at these beauties (many thanks to Tom Blair for the scans): http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=12811 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16420 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16423 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16422 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16421 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Charles Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 (edited) Did you forget about this release? See Review: http://atari2600duds.sitesled.com/grameshos.html Edited February 18, 2008 by Atari Charles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted February 18, 2008 Author Share Posted February 18, 2008 LOL Can't allow that entry, Charles. Here's one for your collection, btw: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 A Taiwan Bodoni. Quite rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted February 20, 2008 Author Share Posted February 20, 2008 (edited) Come on, guys. Is that all the feedback on these? http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=12811 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16420 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16423 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16422 http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=16421 Some of them are rarer than Air Raid. Notice the differences between the original Home Vision label artwork and the Suntek label artwork that was based on it. Here's Parachute for example: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 Edited February 20, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 LOL Can't allow that entry, Charles. Here's one for your collection, btw: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 A Taiwan Bodoni. Quite rare. That cart has some of the most disturbing looking label artwork I've ever seen. Is that supposed to be a smiling piece of toast walking around with ol' E.T.? And that rendition of E.T. is horrible too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Blair Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Nice pictures. Where can I buy these rare Games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atari Charles Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 LOL Can't allow that entry, Charles. Here's one for your collection, btw: http://www.atarimania.com/zoom_frame.php?T...amp;NUM_IMAGE=0 A Taiwan Bodoni. Quite rare. That cart has some of the most disturbing looking label artwork I've ever seen. Is that supposed to be a smiling piece of toast walking around with ol' E.T.? And that rendition of E.T. is horrible too. I have it and glad to have it. Yes, the artwork is pretty bad, but still cool to have. I can play it on my NTSC system as I have an LCD TV that stabalizes the roll. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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