sku_u Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 Okay so there's been a lot of rumors circulating around about the existance of prototypes believed not to exist except perhaps as a single hoarded copy in someone's private collection. So, what are the prototypes rumored, but not proven to exist? Here's what I've compiled so far from other threads: Elevator Action Crystal Castles a playable Tempest Sinistar ???Still don't see how they could port this one??? Warlords What else MAY be out there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted December 23, 2002 Author Share Posted December 23, 2002 THX CPUWIZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 Tron Cloak & Dagger (this one is HIGHLY improbable, since the 8-bit programmer stated that it was never ported by him). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CPUWIZ Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 THX CPUWIZ If I had one that wasn't dumped, I would dump it and release it unless some big a$$ corporation were to sue my pants off if I do so. BTW. -> http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200list.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted December 23, 2002 Author Share Posted December 23, 2002 THX CPUWIZ If I had one that wasn't dumped, I would dump it and release it unless some big a$$ corporation were to sue my pants off if I do so. BTW. -> http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200list.html Atarihq is a very good site. I was looking for a potential update on what they have up since I don't think that list's been updated in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 Atarihq is a very good site. I was looking for a potential update on what they have up since I don't think that list's been updated in a few years. The whole SITE hasn't been updated in a few years. It WAS a great site. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman2000 Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 I think 5200 Elevator Action is complete BS. It was part of a joke along with Crystal Castles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 Atari HQ ... yeah, why did it bomb out? I suppose it was abandoned because (1) Keita totally lost interest in it? Or because he moved? and (2) John Hardie totally lost interest in it? THose were the two AHQ people weren't they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSmirk Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 THose were the two AHQ people weren't they? I believe they were the main two guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted December 23, 2002 Author Share Posted December 23, 2002 the site and email are still up, so at least one of them must still have enough of an interest to pay for keeping the site up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 Atarihq is still updated monthly with the #rgvc stats and that channel's also where you can catch Keita most of the time. From what I can recall (I may be off), he's been pretty busy traveling and he figured with Atariage carrying the bulk of the slack, there's not much need at the moment to provide new content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted December 23, 2002 Share Posted December 23, 2002 I think 5200 Elevator Action is complete BS. It was part of a joke along with Crystal Castles. Who cares if Crystal Castles is a real prototype or not! http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...light=cc52e+rom Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 I would think that anyone who bid on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
video game addict Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 Well John wrote a review for Crystal Castles over a year ago in Collector's Corner, but since it's STILL listed as a Rumored title in DPG7 I'd say he probably pulled that prototype out of his ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggystar Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 Elevator Action - Fake Crystal Castles - Did Exist In at least part but who cares anymore. a playable Tempest Does Exist! Sinistar Does Exist Warlords Does Exist TRON Does Exist Cloak And Dagger DOES NOT Exist TumbleWeeds Exists FireMan Exists Super Man III Partial Conversion Galaga Nope Food Fight Nope Gravitar Possibly Black Widow Nope Donald Duck Maybe an Early Proto, not playable Satans Hollow Exists and is Playable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted December 24, 2002 Author Share Posted December 24, 2002 Elevator Action - FakeCrystal Castles - Did Exist In at least part but who cares anymore. a playable Tempest Does Exist! Sinistar Does Exist Warlords Does Exist TRON Does Exist Cloak And Dagger DOES NOT Exist TumbleWeeds Exists FireMan Exists Super Man III Partial Conversion Galaga Nope Food Fight Nope Gravitar Possibly Black Widow Nope Donald Duck Maybe an Early Proto, not playable Satans Hollow Exists and is Playable I wonder if any of these that do exist will ever see the light of day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 Given hoarders' motives...I'd say no. Just locked away until bitrot destroys the programs for good. Isn't that a wonderful thought? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted December 24, 2002 Author Share Posted December 24, 2002 Given hoarders' motives...I'd say no. Just locked away until bitrot destroys the programs for good. Isn't that a wonderful thought? If I had one of these, the ROM would be made available to a capable programmer at the very least in the hopes that the game could be made available in cart form eventually. Unless the reason to hold back a prototype for a 20 year old system is the possibility of being sued for making the game public, I've never seen any reason why people do this. Maybe some of the owners of these prototypes will eventually have a change of heart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 The idea is that additional copies of a chip's contents would degrade that original's value...which is untrue IMO, since the prototype would still be the original piece of history (i.e. priceless). If the program within is allowed to die, it's entire purpose is defeated...meaningless. Complete disrespect to a program's author who worked so hard to create it (unless the author himself does not wish it to be public). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 This is where I differ from many of you. I'm no collector, not really. I always thought that games were to be played, experienced. Sure, I enjoy having some rare games at times just for the unique experience of their suckiness, but to put games on a shelf and proudly look at them? To hold on to some unreleased prototype without even telling people you own it, or that it exists? I fail to see what is enjoyable about that, or what the purpose of it is. What are these 'hoarder's motives' anyway Nuke-san? With bitrot being a very real danger and the time passed going on 20 years, any undumped prototype games may be soon lost forever. (maybe they already are lost). While that is a bit unfortunate, I'm not losing any sleep over it because there are scores of other games to take their place. But it DOES seem like an injustice to the authors. BTW, how many of these 5200 proto's were Atari 8bit games? Crystal Castles, Satans Hollow .. they were 8bit games weren't they? So a 5200 version would most likely be identical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 Umm...I think that you've got me on the wrong side of the argument. I agree with everything that you've posted. I was only outlining the excuses that we've all heard in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziggystar Posted December 24, 2002 Share Posted December 24, 2002 I wish I could do something about it. I am trying to help with Warlords and Tron Right now. We might see those released before the end of 2003. The rest, who knows. But yes, many like superman III and Satans Hollow are probably idential to the 8Bit versions, but if the conversion was attempted by Atari, that Makes them official Lost Treasures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted December 25, 2002 Share Posted December 25, 2002 Elevator Action - Fake Crystal Castles - Did Exist In at least part but who cares anymore. a playable Tempest Does Exist! Sinistar Does Exist Warlords Does Exist TRON Does Exist Cloak And Dagger DOES NOT Exist TumbleWeeds Exists FireMan Exists Super Man III Partial Conversion Galaga Nope Food Fight Nope Gravitar Possibly Black Widow Nope Donald Duck Maybe an Early Proto, not playable Satans Hollow Exists and is Playable Well I'd like to argue with some of these, but when you're talking about the 5200 it's really hard to say what exists and what doesn't due to the fact that an identical 400/800 version may exist but was never ported to the 5200. I've tracked down several ex-programmers and have found evidence of some unreleased games, but many of them said that they never did a 5200 conversion (ie. it's 400/800 only). Oh and let's just say 2003 could be the year of several 8-bit surprises... Tempest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyranthraxus Posted December 27, 2002 Share Posted December 27, 2002 How come there is often this idea of some collector 'hoarding' prototypes? Unless its 100% confirmed that a game exists and the owner taunts the rest of us then its just gossip. I feel that most of those games are forgotten and collecting dust in a closet somewhere. Forgotten by an ex-employee or programmer. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MegaManFan Posted December 27, 2002 Share Posted December 27, 2002 How come there is often this idea of some collector 'hoarding'prototypes? Unless its 100% confirmed that a game exists and the owner taunts the rest of us then its just gossip. I feel that most of those games are forgotten and collecting dust in a closet somewhere. Forgotten by an ex-employee or programmer. John Or worse, dumped in the garbage bin during the crash of the 80's and hauled off to some landfill never to be seen again. Well, almost. Weren't a couple of the unknown Activision prototypes discovered this way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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