New Coleco ADAM videos

[ed1475]

I've uploaded 2 new ADAM videos. The Best of Electronic Arts and Temple of Apshai. They were both unreleased back in the day but have made their way into the public domain.

 

I've got a lot of other ADAM videos on my channel if anyone wants to check them out.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4I0fGkEMmI

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLG7ziQMf-0

[Tempest]

Nice to see Temple of Apshai in action, it actually looks good on the ADAM (I grew up with the Apple version). I wonder if this was a fan conversion of some sort of an official port by Epyx? Obviously it's not 100% as it appears to still have some bugs in it.

 

Tempest

[NIAD]

Nice to see Temple of Apshai in action, it actually looks good on the ADAM (I grew up with the Apple version). I wonder if this was a fan conversion of some sort of an official port by Epyx? Obviously it's not 100% as it appears to still have some bugs in it.

 

Tempest

The Temple of Apshai is an actual unreleased Epyx game although there were programmer's that borrowed a lot of ideas from it and used in there own adventure type programs, especially a company callled ADAMagic.

 

I couldn't tell what revision was used for the video, but there were two that I recall. The first was playable but there were some issues with copying to and playing from disk, if I recall correctly. The second revision was heavily patched by a guy named Joe Waters (not Jim Walters) and he also released some ADAM programs under two different names, Federation Software and something like Falcon Federation Hack Group. I am not sure of all the fixes/patches that were implemented in this second revision without searching thru old PDF'ed newsletters, but I do recall they were extensive.

 

BTW, the sound effect of the character walking always drove me nuts.

Edited December 11, 2010 by NIAD

[NIAD]

I've uploaded 2 new ADAM videos. The Best of Electronic Arts and Temple of Apshai. They were both unreleased back in the day but have made their way into the public domain.

 

I've got a lot of other ADAM videos on my channel if anyone wants to check them out.

 

Great videos and yes, I will check out your others after typing this reply!

 

I always hated the second screen in Hard Hat Mack! It just gave me fits.

Edited December 11, 2010 by NIAD

[Tempest]

Nice to see Temple of Apshai in action, it actually looks good on the ADAM (I grew up with the Apple version). I wonder if this was a fan conversion of some sort of an official port by Epyx? Obviously it's not 100% as it appears to still have some bugs in it.

 

Tempest

The Temple of Apshai is an actual unreleased Epyx game

Really? Interesting. I'd love to see the original prototype. I wonder if Epyx was going to release it on their own or if Coleco was going to release it?

 

Tempest

[NIAD]

Nice to see Temple of Apshai in action, it actually looks good on the ADAM (I grew up with the Apple version). I wonder if this was a fan conversion of some sort of an official port by Epyx? Obviously it's not 100% as it appears to still have some bugs in it.

 

Tempest

The Temple of Apshai is an actual unreleased Epyx game

Really? Interesting. I'd love to see the original prototype. I wonder if Epyx was going to release it on their own or if Coleco was going to release it?

 

Tempest

Pretty sure it was going to be an Epyx release as the had already established themselves with the 3 ColecoVision cartridge releases and probably had all the inside stuff on the ADAM long before others having been a well established software producer for other computers. I will have to look through my ADAM collection to see if I have the untouched prototype version, but I seem to recall only having the two patched revisions by Joe Waters. If I do have it, I will post it here.

[NIAD]

Nice to see Temple of Apshai in action, it actually looks good on the ADAM (I grew up with the Apple version). I wonder if this was a fan conversion of some sort of an official port by Epyx? Obviously it's not 100% as it appears to still have some bugs in it.

 

Tempest

The Temple of Apshai is an actual unreleased Epyx game

Really? Interesting. I'd love to see the original prototype. I wonder if Epyx was going to release it on their own or if Coleco was going to release it?

 

Tempest

Ok, here are the three disk images I have. The one that does not say "Patched" in the filename MIGHT be the original prototype from Epyx... I'm just not exactly sure after all these years. The other two disk images were definitely patched by Joe Waters and are Revision 2.0 and 2.1 respectively.

Temple of Apshai (3 versions).zip

[newcoleco]

I've subscribed to your channel ... months ago, and I've watched your videos already and I really enjoy them. Maybe you can make a video footage with some comments like the first time you played the game, the good/bad aspects of it, and your strategy to win. I don't have much experience of playing Coleco ADAM games, so if I can have a few hints/tips to avoid common mistakes, particulary in a game very challenging/elaborated, it will makes me appreciate even more the games you are showing. One game I request for this kind of "gettin' started" video is Adam Bomb 2 which Coleco fans should know about and give it a try.

[NIAD]

I've subscribed to your channel ... months ago, and I've watched your videos already and I really enjoy them. Maybe you can make a video footage with some comments like the first time you played the game, the good/bad aspects of it, and your strategy to win. I don't have much experience of playing Coleco ADAM games, so if I can have a few hints/tips to avoid common mistakes, particulary in a game very challenging/elaborated, it will makes me appreciate even more the games you are showing. One game I request for this kind of "gettin' started" video is Adam Bomb 2 which Coleco fans should know about and give it a try.

Concerning ADAM Bomb 2, your 100% correct there about informing everyone about what a terrific game it is... without a doubt the BEST 3rd Party software release for the ADAM! I dare say that it probably would have been a very successful game even on a system like the NES and SMS. Also note that it requires at least a 64K Memory Expander, so if playing thru an emulator make sure you have the expansion RAM set properly.

 

BTW, Daniel, are you trying to play thru the game without the aid of the map I sent you and the hint files that are contained on the DVD. Steve Pitman said that after he created the map and printed it out that it covered most of the floor in a small room!

Edited December 12, 2010 by NIAD

[Pixelboy]

Also note that it requires at least a 64K Memory Expander, so if playing thru an emulator make sure you have the expansion RAM set properly.

Sorry to cut in an take this thread on a tangeant, but why does Adam Bomb 2 require a 64K RAM expansion? Does the game load itself completely into RAM at the beginning and never accesses the disk again?

[NIAD]

Also note that it requires at least a 64K Memory Expander, so if playing thru an emulator make sure you have the expansion RAM set properly.

Sorry to cut in an take this thread on a tangeant, but why does Adam Bomb 2 require a 64K RAM expansion? Does the game load itself completely into RAM at the beginning and never accesses the disk again?

Yes, the game is completely loaded into memory/expanded memory. Haven't played it in a little while, but I seem to recall that you only need the disk again if you save your in progress game or to load a previously saved one.

[Pixelboy]

Also note that it requires at least a 64K Memory Expander, so if playing thru an emulator make sure you have the expansion RAM set properly.

Sorry to cut in an take this thread on a tangeant, but why does Adam Bomb 2 require a 64K RAM expansion? Does the game load itself completely into RAM at the beginning and never accesses the disk again?

Yes, the game is completely loaded into memory/expanded memory. Haven't played it in a little while, but I seem to recall that you only need the disk again if you save your in progress game or to load a previously saved one.

Interesting. Ever since I tried this game at AdamCon 22 last summer, I've been trying to imagine this game on a 64K cartridge with a 16K savegame EEPROM, along with a 16K RAM cart plugged into the CV expansion port. But I would surmise that the game wouldn't even fit on a 64K bankswitched cart. Besides, putting this game on a cart would be quite an endeavour, with the whole assembly code needing to be restructured to fit the different media constraints.

[newcoleco]

Interesting. Ever since I tried this game at AdamCon 22 last summer, I've been trying to imagine this game on a 64K cartridge with a 16K savegame EEPROM, along with a 16K RAM cart plugged into the CV expansion port. But I would surmise that the game wouldn't even fit on a 64K bankswitched cart. Besides, putting this game on a cart would be quite an endeavour, with the whole assembly code needing to be restructured to fit the different media constraints.

Well, if you can do a similar game that works for the ColecoVision, not necessary the exact same game, it's great too.

[jblenkle]

Wow! Honestly, now that I think about it, I've never made it out of the first level on Hard Hat Mack!!!

 

I've uploaded 2 new ADAM videos. The Best of Electronic Arts and Temple of Apshai. They were both unreleased back in the day but have made their way into the public domain.

 

I've got a lot of other ADAM videos on my channel if anyone wants to check them out.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4I0fGkEMmI

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLG7ziQMf-0

[NIAD]

Interesting. Ever since I tried this game at AdamCon 22 last summer, I've been trying to imagine this game on a 64K cartridge with a 16K savegame EEPROM, along with a 16K RAM cart plugged into the CV expansion port. But I would surmise that the game wouldn't even fit on a 64K bankswitched cart. Besides, putting this game on a cart would be quite an endeavour, with the whole assembly code needing to be restructured to fit the different media constraints.

Yeah, like Daniel said, a new game would probably be a helluva lot easier to make from scratch then to try to figure out how to convert and squeeze down ADAM Bomb 2 from an ADAM software program to a ColecoVision cartridge. I just looked at the directory structure of AB 2 and four files are listed on the disk image:

 

- the boot file (2K) which tells the ADAM what program to load next after pressing the computer reset

- the main program (49K) which is a machine language file. Steve Pitman probably patched his program code on top of SmartBASIC v1.0 and placed other parts into free memory and then binary saved all of the used memory to create this one file.

- the screen data (66K) which contains the complete world of AB 2 and is stored on the 64K or larger memory expander.

- the save game file (33K)

 

So as you can see, where talking about a 150K program that was written specifically for an ADAM and there would be no way to convert it to a ColecoVision format. It would be easier just to start from scratch in C or whatever developmental tool to write a ColecoVision version. Thankfully through emulation, everyone is able to try out and enjoy this terrific game for free.

 

If you haven't already, check out some of Steve's other ADAM games that are on the ADAMcon DVD or available in the "ColecoVision & ADAM Collection". Especially check out MicroChip, it's every bit as good as Nintendo's Picross and I know Daniel would really like this brain bender!

 

Last I heard from Steve was that he was trying to finish up a Windows game, just completed a database program for performing inventory of personal possessions and down the road would still like to write a CV/ADAM emulator from scratch. Hopefully he'll find the time to finish everything up one day.

 

BTW, my avatar pic is a screen in AB 2.

Edited December 15, 2010 by NIAD

[ed1475]

I just tried Adam Bomb 2 for the first time. It looks like a lot of fun. The intro sequence is really cool. Nice "Close Encounters" tune on the title screen.

[NIAD]

I just tried Adam Bomb 2 for the first time. It looks like a lot of fun. The intro sequence is really cool. Nice "Close Encounters" tune on the title screen.

If you downloaded the CV/ADAM Collection, there are a number of hint files contained on it and a full color huge map of the AB 2 world. Also, use the load game option and you will be half way thru the game... but this really doesn't help as you need to know what all the characters in the game that you run into say and sometimes want you to bring them.

 

You should also try out ADAM Bomb. This was an early game that Steve Pitman released and is a lot of fun and VERY CHALLENGING!

[ed1475]

Another new ADAM video. This ones a childrens learning game with 24 screens of awesome graphics and plenty of animations, music, and sound effects.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4enlJDf9ed4

[NIAD]

Great video! Ever now and then I boot-up Richard Scarry's BEWE just for the fun of looking at the wonderful graphics.

 

+1

[newcoleco]

I keep watching your videos on Youtube... I've subscribed to your channel and nothing will make me miss these Coleco related videos, even the buggy Youtube frontpage that sometimes doesn't show all the new videos the others have published can't prevent me to watch your videos.

 

I have the children game you are showing here... I've never tried it, but I have it.

[Tempest]

Great video! Ever now and then I boot-up Richard Scarry's BEWE just for the fun of looking at the wonderful graphics.

 

+1

DoubleDown and I played around with BEWE once just to see it. The graphics really are amazing, it's a shame it's a kids game.

 

Tempest

[NIAD]

Great video! Ever now and then I boot-up Richard Scarry's BEWE just for the fun of looking at the wonderful graphics.

 

+1

DoubleDown and I played around with BEWE once just to see it. The graphics really are amazing, it's a shame it's a kids game.

 

Tempest

It's a shame Coleco couldn't have weathered the storm and kept producing new CV carts and ADAM software as the programmers (in-house, outsourced and independent) were really starting to push the system after having gone thru the necessary learning curve. If only.....