2600 Garfield

[jpfalcon2003]

this is one of my favorite unreleased titles. the graphics in this game is awesome. i love playing this one even though it wasn't completed all the way. i heard this game was supposed to have lots of different screens, and was to be one of the largest 2600 games. i couldn't imagine why this great game got put on hold to be finished.

[ntavio]

this is one of my favorite unreleased titles. the graphics in this game is awesome. i love playing this one even though it wasn't completed all the way. i heard this game was supposed to have lots of different screens, and was to be one of the largest 2600 games. i couldn't imagine why this great game got put on hold to be finished.

 

Yep. Cool game for not getting finished. But not as good as Sinistar.

[PressureCooker2600]

I like the game too. Is there anyway for people to burn the ROM image onto an Atari cart to play on the VCS?????? I would buy that shit.

[Tempest]

this is one of my favorite unreleased titles. the graphics in this game is awesome. i love playing this one even though it wasn't completed all the way. i heard this game was supposed to have lots of different screens, and was to be one of the largest 2600 games. i couldn't imagine why this great game got put on hold to be finished.

 

Atari decided that the market for a Garfield game wasn't large enough and they killed it off (this was in the wake of the 84 crash).

 

Tempest

[Zach]

I like the game too. Is there anyway for people to burn the ROM image onto an Atari cart to play on the VCS?????? I would buy that shit.

The company that controls the rights to Garfield generously gave permission for the ROM to be released, and they allow people to make cartridges for their own personal use, as long as they are not sold. I hope no one tries to sell carts.

 

We can get into a debate about the current intellectual property laws, but whether we agree with them or not they are the reason we don't have other prototypes that are dumped but not released.

[PressureCooker2600]

well shit....i can find cart shells but how can i burn an Rom onto a connector....plus where do you get blank connectors

[Zach]

well shit....i can find cart shells but how can i burn an Rom onto a connector....plus where do you get blank connectors

You can get all the parts you need from the AA store. You'll need an 8k PCB and an 8K EPROM. You write data to the EPROM with a special machine called an EPROM burner or writer. They are expensive, but maybe you can find someone who will let you use theirs. I've recently started getting into making carts myself, and I'm getting the impression that it isn't as hard as it sounds at first.

 

BTW, here with the readme file from the garfield release.

 

Distributed at http://www.cgexpo.com 12/15/99

Garfield & Paws, Inc. - http://www.garfield.com

-------------------------------------------------

 

GARFIELD Characters: © Paws, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.

 

Permission is granted to distribute the ROM code for the Atari 2600 game, Garfield,

provided that the copyright statement in this text file is included with the code.

 

The end user is granted permission to use the ROM code with an emulator on their

PC, or to make a single cartridge for use with their Atari 2600 system, if they

have that capability.

 

Permission is NOT granted for any individual to manufacture cartridge versions of

the ROM code for another end user under any circumstances.

 

Paws, Inc. reserves the right to revoke this permission upon written notice at

any time in the future.

 

-------------------------------------------------

[Zach]

BTW, if you don't want to solder, you get can a PCB with a socket, but the disadvantage is that it won't fit in an ordinary Atari shell. You can still play with the bare board though.

[ATARIPITBULL]

I like the game too. Is there anyway for people to burn the ROM image onto an Atari cart to play on the VCS?????? I would buy that shit.

The company that controls the rights to Garfield generously gave permission for the ROM to be released, and they allow people to make cartridges for their own personal use, as long as they are not sold. I hope no one tries to sell carts.

 

We can get into a debate about the current intellectual property laws, but whether we agree with them or not they are the reason we don't have other prototypes that are dumped but not released.

 

 

Now wait a minuet, maybe you can't sell the carts, but if you make them for free and charge say $30.00 for shipping, or a $30.00 service charge for the parts, then your not really selling the game now are you. Ticket master, Major league sports and ticket vendors do it and its legal.

 

[supercat]

Now wait a minuet, maybe you can't sell the carts, but if you make them for free and charge say $30.00 for shipping, or a $30.00 service charge for the parts, then your not really selling the game now are you. Ticket master, Major league sports and ticket vendors do it and its legal.

 

Read the license quoted above. Permission is explicitly refused for anyone to make a cart for anything other than personal use. I don't think a one-off freebie favor would bring Paws crashing down, but anything involving remuneration even below the cost of parts, labor, and shipping, almost certainly would.

[Uzumaki]

I could burn the 8K Garfield EPROM if you need. To avoid any legal issue, I won't charge anything except shipping plus one EPROM if you don't have any to send to me.

 

EDIT: Garfield is 16k not 8k as I thought. I can still burn em though. You will need PCB with F6 bankswitch or build a custome F6 bankswitching circuit into an old 4k cart PCB.

Edited October 30, 2006 by Uzumaki

[Treasure-Diver]

I looked at the screenshots last week and I was impressed by Garfield's likeness.

[Foxsolo2000]

I looked at the screenshots last week and I was impressed by Garfield's likeness.

 

It is certainly one of Atari's better titles in the graphics department. Obvious time and care were taken on Garfield, Odie and Nermal and it plays surprisingly well although it is a little too easy and could have done with a couple more screens but that aside a real shame that they never released it

Edited October 29, 2006 by Foxsolo2000

[supercat]

i love playing this one even though it wasn't completed all the way.

 

I agree that it looks nice, but it seems playability is more than a little lacking. It appears the programmer discovered the Galaxian-sprite technique and was playing around with it, but without anything near the finesse of Galaxian. It's nice to see the fine work on the sprite shapes, but I'd still regard it more as a nice tech demo than as a game.

[Inky]

Tech Demo. Yes, that's a good way to describe Garfield.

 

I too thought something was lacking, and I did not like the control scheme at all.

 

The screen with all the Odies? I thought that was a glitch in the programming.

[supercat]

The screen with all the Odies? I thought that was a glitch in the programming.

 

Or else a test of some sort. Not that I'd expect any timing problems to show up with the Odie graphic that wouldn't show up with others, but programmers often have graphic tests that look nothing like the finished game.

[Tempest]

The screen with all the Odies? I thought that was a glitch in the programming.

 

According to Steve it was supposed to be some sort of nightmare level.

 

Tempest

[Treasure-Diver]

Heh, that would do it. Either that or empty lasagna pans raining down.

[Uzumaki]

Empty lasagna pan is not nightmare, it's an invitation to suicide!!!