froggger2 Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 My 1984 TOMARC The Barbarian instructions say on the back "Xonox is a division of K-tel International, 11311 K-tel Drive, Minnetonka, MN 55343." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 BTW - Just a general statement here but wasn't BOMB owned by K-TEL? I am pretty sure they were. I thought K-TEL owned, or at least distributed games from Ultravision, BOMB, K-tel (obviously) and XONOX. Xonox and K-Tel Vision were both simply brand names used by K-Tel International...they are one and the same. Neither Ultravision nor Onbase (the company responsible for the Bomb games) had any (direct) relationship with K-Tel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted December 13, 2007 Share Posted December 13, 2007 My 1984 TOMARC The Barbarian instructions say on the back "Xonox is a division of K-tel International, 11311 K-tel Drive, Minnetonka, MN 55343." I actually used to work in that building Here is an old thread about it. The second post must be where I got the idea that BOMB was made by K-Tel. http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...57&hl=xonox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted December 13, 2007 Author Share Posted December 13, 2007 Ok, let's get back to the topic: CPUWIZ, could you check the NTSC manual for floating balls / skull & crossbones? LOL This must be the strangest question I ever asked on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted December 15, 2007 Author Share Posted December 15, 2007 (edited) BTW: do only PAL Bomb carts have Hong Kong printed on the back? If so, we could skip all the fuzz about little stickers. Edited December 15, 2007 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 Wow, straight from the package and the thing does not work. I hope an actual version of this game gets dumped sometime before they all don't work. I'm curious about this... but have you checked to see if cold solder on the pins of the rom (non component side) could be to blame? I have fixed a few carts over the years this way. Just touch up ALL of the solder joints with your iron and plug her back in to the Atari/rom dumper. Also, would it not stand to reason that there could be some heavy oxidation/manufacturing film (even though it may still look shiny) on the board where it inserts into an Atari? If the rom is still "dead", I'd go ahead and try lightly sanding the contacts with 100 grit sandpaper or a 3M finishing pad. Something less evasive does not always work (pencil erasers, contact cleaner, rubbing alcohol). Try touching up the solder joints and sanding the boards contacts before chucking anything like this - please :-) -Frank www.coinopdreams.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 BTW: do only PAL Bomb carts have Hong Kong printed on the back? If so, we could skip all the fuzz about little stickers. Nope. The NTSC ones do have Hong Kong on the back. At least mine does I'm looking at it right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homerwannabee Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 Wow, straight from the package and the thing does not work. I hope an actual version of this game gets dumped sometime before they all don't work. I'm curious about this... but have you checked to see if cold solder on the pins of the rom (non component side) could be to blame? I have fixed a few carts over the years this way. Just touch up ALL of the solder joints with your iron and plug her back in to the Atari/rom dumper. Also, would it not stand to reason that there could be some heavy oxidation/manufacturing film (even though it may still look shiny) on the board where it inserts into an Atari? If the rom is still "dead", I'd go ahead and try lightly sanding the contacts with 100 grit sandpaper or a 3M finishing pad. Something less evasive does not always work (pencil erasers, contact cleaner, rubbing alcohol). Try touching up the solder joints and sanding the boards contacts before chucking anything like this - please :-) -Frank www.coinopdreams.com I was referencing CPUWIZ opening up his game. I have never owned a Z-Tack in my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omegamatrix Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 (edited) I was referencing CPUWIZ opening up his game. I have never owned a Z-Tack in my life. Hee hee and I read that as he knew it was Cpuwiz, and he was referencing Cpuwiz back. I would have done it the same way I think. Edited December 15, 2007 by Omegamatrix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 (edited) News: It seems that the NTSC version of Z-Tack has different graphics after all. I received some PAL and NTSC screenshots of the game showing that the NTSC version displays skull & crossbones, while the PAL version displays balls. Can someone please confirm this too? IMO it would be a very interesting discovery if this happens to be true. Edited January 9, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Propane13 Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 received some PAL and NTSC screenshots of the game showing that the NTSC version displays skull & crossbones, while the PAL version displays balls. Balls. Tee-hee. -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schitti Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 (edited) Is there also a difference in the NTSC manual ? The english PAL-Manual shows the bones and talked about the balls. (german and french manual too) Edited January 9, 2008 by Schitti Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 German balls and French balls? This is getting exciting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeusExMachina Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 Jesus. What is it with those Bomb carts? It seems as if they implode on sight. You mean explode, right? After all, they are BOMB carts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 (edited) Is there also a difference in the NTSC manual ?The english PAL-Manual shows the bones and talked about the balls. (german and french manual too) AFAIK this is the PAL manual: And it's most probably the same as the NTSC manual. I've never seen a graphically completely different format release of the same manufacturer before. The only other game I can think of is Pitfall II. I still think it's weird... Edited January 9, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CincYnoTi Posted January 9, 2008 Share Posted January 9, 2008 This is the list of owners of NTSC Z-Tack from the old post in the rarity forum: Z-TACK . rick weis (B) [12] . cpuwiz (B) [3] . boneman [3] . marco (B) [7] . stanjr [7] . robsbucs [7] . waggie [10] . sku_u [12] . bfstats (B) [1-2004] . dolt [1] . uk womble [2-2004] ROM, are you saying the original Z-Tack rom you had was the correct one after all? Regarding the manual, you would need to find someone that got their manual from North America, as opposed to putting their NTSC cart in a box from Europe or Australia. I think Marco indicated the NTSC Bomb boxes had a sticker on it, so maybe Marco can clear up the issue of the "NTSC" manual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted January 9, 2008 Author Share Posted January 9, 2008 (edited) Thanks, CincYnoTi. Marco? Rick? Actually, all I need to know is if your NTSC version of Z-Tack displays this screen: or this screen: As you can see, the graphics are quite different. Edited January 9, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spirantho Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Just as a matter of interest... Am I the only person for whom a Bomb cart has repaired itself? I have a fair few of them, and they all worked perfectly when I got them except 2, neither of which worked at all. One of them has a dead address line (it duplicates each line through the ROM)... but the other one when I tried to dump it started working perfectly! Still no idea why it started to work. I can only guess a dodgy solder joint or something. The moral, though, is this: never leave an Atari cart for dead. They come back sometimes. Incidentally, check that the person who says the graphics are different actually checked genuine carts, and not just ROM dumps (which we know are different). It's also possible someone burned the NTSC ROM that's out there onto an EPROM and shoved it into a PAL cart, bear in mind... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted January 11, 2008 Author Share Posted January 11, 2008 (edited) The person in question has showed me screenshots of both versions and scans from his NTSC Z-Tack and has AFAIK no reason to mislead me. All I need is a second opinion from Rick or Marco. Edited January 11, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spirantho Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 The person in question has showed me screenshots of both versions and scans from his NTSC Z-Tack and has AFAIK no reason to mislead me. No, but it's possible he's been misled. If Bomb carts used EPROMs sometimes - as apparently they did - then anyone with few scruples and a basic knowledge would know that he could sell his $10 for $100 if he burns the EPROM with a different image. I'm not saying it terribly likely, but this is why you should never base knowledge on a sample of one. A second opinion from Rick or Marco should re-enforce the theory, though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Climber Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 This is the list of owners of NTSC Z-Tack from the old post in the rarity forum: Z-TACK . rick weis (B) [12] . cpuwiz (B) [3] . boneman [3] . marco (B) [7] . stanjr [7] . robsbucs [7] . waggie [10] . sku_u [12] . bfstats (B) [1-2004] . dolt [1] . uk womble [2-2004] ROM, are you saying the original Z-Tack rom you had was the correct one after all? Regarding the manual, you would need to find someone that got their manual from North America, as opposed to putting their NTSC cart in a box from Europe or Australia. I think Marco indicated the NTSC Bomb boxes had a sticker on it, so maybe Marco can clear up the issue of the "NTSC" manual. UK Womble sold his, I bought his Great Escape, I think a collector in Germany got the Z tack... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trade-N-Games Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 (edited) Dug mine out of storage today.I have all the others boxed complete -wall defender. My screen shot and mine is NTSC I need a nice box for my wall defender still, I have cart and manual. Edited January 11, 2008 by Trade-N-Games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Psionic Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I need a nice box for my wall ball still, I have cart and manual. You mean Wall Defender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trade-N-Games Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Wow I did an edit on that in 30 seconds and you had already posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rom Hunter Posted January 11, 2008 Author Share Posted January 11, 2008 (edited) Dug mine out of storage today.I have all the others boxed complete -wall defender. My screen shot and mine is NTSC I need a nice box for my wall defender still, I have cart and manual.Aarrrgh! I'm starting to loose my mind here. I can't make anything of this screenshot. Please show me another one with more graphics. I think yours looks like the PAL version. If so, one way ticket for the asylum for me. Edited January 11, 2008 by Rom Hunter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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