+MrFish Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 The "rainbow color" version is the 5200 version. Can you clarify what you're calling the "rainbow color" version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Can you clarify what you're calling the "rainbow color" version? The one with the simpler color-cycling logo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 The one with the simpler color-cycling logo... OK... you changed your original post too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sixersfan105 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Disk version (v2 from the overlapping pics) is hideous imo. No idea who decided that was acceptable haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Cade Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 OK... you changed your original post too... Yes, I knew it was the 5200 version, but didn't realize it was also the same as the 400/800 cart version until I tested that, so I did correct my post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 (edited) I'd like to hear about this too. I did a couple searches on the forums and didn't see anything. I've owned copies of the game with both label variations. I didn't have problems with either of them. I posted about it here on AtariAge, I can't find the posts for the life of me, maybe it went bye bye when smack down occurred and is the same place reputation points went... short version, cartridge run had a defect, the defect being the pcb solder trace mask was applied to low onto the card edge covering the contacts. When fully inserted the connector ended up with contacts on the mask and not on the card edge pads/fingers. The cart would not work.... pull the cart out a slight bit and it worked. The fix was to elongate the the pcbs holes to allow the pcb to slide up into the shell on insertion. This keeps the connector contacts off the mask. The new run had the label changed. It's not the full story but It's probably noted in more detail elsewhere. I am not typing it all in again, as I can't find the old posts, not up to doing something that may disappear again. Edited November 29, 2018 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sixersfan105 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 I posted about it here on AtariAge, I can't find the posts for the life of me, maybe it went bye bye when smack down occurred and is the same place reputation points went... short version, cartridge run had a defect, the defect being the pcb solder trace mask was applied to low onto the card edge covering the contacts. When fully inserted the connector ended up with contacts on the mask and not on the card edge pads/fingers. The cart would not work.... pull the cart out a slight bit and it worked. The fix was to elongate the the pcbs holes to allow the pcb to slide up into the shell on insertion. This keeps the connector contacts off the mask. The new run had the label changed. It's not the full story but It's probably noted in more detail elsewhere. I am not typing it all in again, as I can't find the old posts, not up to doing something that may disappear again. Thanks for the info! Any idea which label had the defect and which label was the fixed version? Orange horizontal stripe vs. blue horizontal stripe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 (edited) Silver label, Blue band, Red-Orange Choplifter!, Black subtext, Black plastic cartridge shell with arrow Left on front, 3 Crowns and Broderbund on the back. The modification is to notch the label side of the cart shell pcb support tabs on the lower portion that faces connector opening to allow the pcb to slide up slightly until the tab stop the travel. I prefer that method over filing the pcb itself to elongate the side notches. Edited November 29, 2018 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Disk version (v2 from the overlapping pics) is hideous imo. No idea who decided that was acceptable haha To be fair if its seen with the NTSC artifacting on it looks better BUT its a chunky draw on the screen that I don't like..Feels clunky...(clunky and chunky on the same line...The world will end ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 IDK... I just consider that some of the quirkiness of hi-res, artifacting games coming from the Apple II. Even the sound effects are quite poor for an Atari. They were either trying to replicate the sounds from the Apple II version, or just taking the cheap way out during porting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 I like that Atari did their own version, later, and tried to improve things, by using lower-res with more colors. But they should have also done something with the sounds, which shouldn't have been much work. The Apple-esque sounds just make it feel, wimpy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 you would think a better version would have been done for the Atari on a number of Apple titles or at least an Atari version would have come to fruition that exceeded even these pieces from the Apple II line up. http://xem.tv/20-games-that-defined-the-apple-ii_6d1e6725b.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 (edited) you would think a better version would have been done for the Atari on a number of Apple titles... Honestly, it doesn't bother me much; they are what they are. I love Karateka, Lode Runner, Bandits, Wavy Navy, and others. I never really liked Choplifter that much as a game to begin with; it's a decent game idea, but I don't enjoy playing it that much; so, I suppose that's why I'm interested in improvements for it; maybe they'd help me like it better... Edited November 29, 2018 by MrFish 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 The sound is lacking and the difficulty is a bit high. But it is war after all... But yeah the plinky apple sound just gets old quick... Now some nice tank approaching noise and kabooms maybe some missiles or bomb whistles... that would be nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjlazer Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Silver label, Blue band, Red-Orange Choplifter!, Black subtext, Black plastic cartridge shell with arrow Left on front, 3 Crowns and Broderbund on the back. The modification is to notch the label side of the cart shell pcb support tabs on the lower portion that faces connector opening to allow the pcb to slide up slightly until the tab stop the travel. I prefer that method over filing the pcb itself to elongate the side notches. So the cartridge board need to shift up into the shell? Or out? Seems that would leave less card edge. Ive had a few different carts that needed to be pulled out slightly to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sixersfan105 Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 Yeah the XE version is better but Atari's work on the 7800 version was excellent. Then again, the Sega Master System version is a thing of beauty! Very close to the arcade port. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 (edited) the cartridge board moves up into the shell making the pcb mask no longer block fingers from making contact. Almost any cartridge that does not work when fully inserted but works when slightly pulled out normally has either short fingers on the pcb or mask insulator that was applied covering too much of the fingers/pads. Sometimes dirt or oxidation can be an issue, so cleaning revives those. In the case of Choplifter! the mask was applied over the finger/pads. Edited November 29, 2018 by _The Doctor__ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted October 22, 2023 Share Posted October 22, 2023 Just updating this thread to include the forth version. Color Cart XEGS Cart Color Disk B&W Disk 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+kheller2 Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 That looks like the same version just w/o artifacting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_The Doctor__ Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 they are different, He just showed color disk with artifacting off on the emu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 14 minutes ago, kheller2 said: That looks like the same version just w/o artifacting. If you look closely, artifacting isn't turned on for any of them (otherwise you're not going to see all those vertical lines). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 2 hours ago, kheller2 said: That looks like the same version just w/o artifacting. Artifacting is off for all four pics. I don't know if the two disk versions are both genuine, one could be a hack of the other with a modified DLI or it could be that they are just earlier/later versions. I'm interested to know if anyone has more info on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 11 minutes ago, Mr Robot said: I'm interested to know if anyone has more info on it. Atarimania only shows 2 entries for the game: one for the Broderbund version and one for the Atari version. But, in the screenshots for the Broderbund version, they show the disk and cartridge variants. Neither of them are the black-background version you're showing above. I also see the same situation within the Atari 8-bit Preserved Software archives (no black-background version). Do you recall from where you got this version? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 5 minutes ago, MrFish said: Do you recall from where you got this version? OK, I got a copy of it (black-background) from Homesoft. I'd imagine it lives at AtariOnline.pl too, since they specialize in variants. IDK if it was mentioned here yet (lazy to read), but there's also the Antic E (4 color, 160 pixel width) version of it; which I imagine is a typical hack to get color on PAL systems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Robot Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 (edited) I have many copies of it, origin unknown. Homesoft have the mono/color disk and the XE cart version, no broderbund cart version though. Fandal has the colour disk and XE cart only. There are lots of versions on atarionline, none are labelled as mono so no idea if any of them are. Here is a review from 2019 that looks at the mono version but doesn't seem to know there were colour or xegs versions for the A8 Edited October 23, 2023 by Mr Robot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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