Mad Scientist

332?

Floigan Brothers: the world's first (and hopefully last) "patty-cake" simulator... Ugh. The concept of the overall game was good, but its execution was lacking. I don't expect to see any future episodes. The Ecco game's storyline is by David Brin? Really? I'll have to pick it up; his Uplift War books were quite good. -Eric

Add these: Shining Force CD (_very_ good) The "Sega Classics" disc (worth it for the CD audio on Streets of Rage 2, Golden Axe, and Columns... but mostly SoR2) Vay Brutal Eternal Champions CD Ditto on Snatcher and Lunar. MK and SW: Rebel Assault haven't aged well, but they are still fun, as well. I'd assume that the version of Jeopardy! would be good, too, but I have only played the cart version. Ditto for the Ecco title. More will probably come to mind later. -Eric

Justin wrote: Thanks for the warm response to our new site! Unlike the Atari systems, the Turbo Grafx line of systems has virtually NO support by either sales, service, or a centralized website. We are trying to change this in a big way. --- Not to rain on your parade, but what about the venerable (in 'net terms, anyway) Turbo Zone Direct? The serve all of the aforementioned functions and have done so ever since NEC's support evaporated. Can you offer a little compare/contrast for why your site deserves our business over tzd.com? Just curious... I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor. -Eric

I can recommend the Performance TremorPak Plus. It's a combination jump pack/ memory card, with the added bonus of not needing batteries every other month. Some games *require* a VMU in slot 1 of controller 1, so you still need a VMU, but I think this is probably the most economical second pack to buy. I've seen used ones ~$8; new (if you can find one) ~$15. -Eric

I just ordered a set from Yiddel a few minutes ago; the price really is good compared to the rare sightings in used game stores. I've tried them before, and they are certainly better than my Prolines. Thanks to everyone for the reviews and the heads-up on availability! -Eric

I'm guessing that you haven't completed all of the levels yet. That's the only prerequisite to unlocking the photo, IIRC. -Eric

I picked up two copies of Aircars when it was first released, and as I recall the production run was stated to be ~300 carts. Unfortunately, I can not find any hard numbers to substantiate that claim. In fact, the only real number I've found is in this post to a German Atari newsgroup: http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Aircars+....maus.de&rnum=1 (stating that the petition was successful and that the run would consist of 100 or more carts). The advertising and magazine reviews occurred well in advance of the release of the cartridge; Babbages had it listed as a 11/94 release, while it actually made it out in 1997. The reviews were factors in the shelving of Aircars, IIRC; the facts that there were ads and mainstream reviews do NOT mean that there was a large production run. If anyone else has better information, please post it here. Thanks, Eric

re: Battlemorph soundtrack IIRC, there is a soundtrack available on mp3.com (listed by its composer). I saw it at least a year ago, but I assume that it is still there. -Eric

I can offer a few tidbits that I gleaned from a conversation with Carl at this year's JagFest, but I won't reveal enough to give away any surprises. I expect that he'll have a press release handy when the time is right. 1) Phase Zero: Carl does not yet have source code, but it appears that code was NOT discarded (as was previously speculated) and that when (hopefully not "if") it is found, Carl will get it via an agreement with the former Hyper Image folks. In a best case scenario, it may still be a few years before a more-complete PZ is released. In the meantime, due to Carl's rights granted by Hyper Image, the B&C carts are now carry the Songbird label. Some cart transfers from B&C to Songbird are supposedly part of it, too. 2) "Mystery Jaguar Projects." PZ is not one of the projects to which the Songbird site alludes. Here are some hints towards the identity of one of them: Protector:SE's JagFree CD routine is there for a reason... and Carl has access to more than just unpublished Jag games... As for the second mystery project, I really don't have a good guess. It could be another hardware/accessory item, a licensed game, something original, or a game being published for another homebrew developer. 3) "Mystery Lynx Projects." Carl told me about one upgraded cart that will _probably_ be in the works, but I don't think that he was counting it as one of the Lynx mysteries. -Eric (hoping for news at CGE)

I ordered my ticket last week. I'm looking forward to a heaping helping of Atari, a side of flippers, and a dessert of assorted pixels. (Note to self: don't post when hungry)

Well, the cart is back up for sale on the B&C site again. My order has already been confirmed. I agree that it it would be a really cool surprise to see source code emerge, though, and Carl does have two "surprise" Jaguar products. Still, at this point, I'll attribute it to nothing more than wild speculation by someone with too much free time