Marble Madness 2: Marble Man

[DarkSyne]

Does anyone have a rom of this game? Because it looks really good.

[Dutchman2000]

AFAIK, the ROMS for this game were never released. I did hear that the source code was compiled into ROMS and given to the MAME team but I haven't seen anything to confirm this.

[Keatah]

I know the owner will sell the roms for $42,000 at last check..

[Dutchman2000]

That is insane

[Supergun]

It may sound insane, and granted, it is a ton of money to ask for, but at least it can actually be bought! The vast majority of this community has no clue how refreshing that concept is.

 

Just having information alone gives piece of mind.

 

-- the game is found

-- the owner is known

-- the source code is documented

-- and screenshots & videos have been provided

 

That alone is worth money where I come from!

 

But on top of all that, the game can even actually be bought! With an actual set price! Unbelievable! In our dreams it's never that simple!

 

I can only wish that other gaming communities were just as cooperative & open about the unreleased games.

[H.E.R.O.]

The old story was the owner was given the roms by someone who worked at an older Atari to fix the PCB's he had scavenged under the promise he would never give the roms out. Obviously, the Atari this was done under is long gone. Little over a decade ago, IIRC, he asked for a certain monetary amount for a copy of the roms, that amount was raised rather quickly then he upped the amount to some crazy number. Since then, far as I know, he's still the only one who has the roms.

[Crimefighter]

The owner should contact Doc Mack of Galloping Ghost Arcade and get a working machine set up for all to try. Ghost has a lotta prototype games on the floor already.

[H.E.R.O.]

The owner should contact Doc Mack of Galloping Ghost Arcade and get a working machine set up for all to try. Ghost has a lotta prototype games on the floor already.

 

I believe he has 2 working cabinets already. One with trakball & one with joysticks. He regularly brings them to the CalExpo for people to try. He's got a few other Atari arcade protos as well. Never say never when it comes to getting the MM2 rom but after 10 plus years of waiting I don't think many are worried too much about it now. My feeling is if it happens, it happens, I'll try it & life will go on.

[Keatah]

Yes. I was hard-up to get the roms earlier. But now, with all the other stellar games competing for my time, MM2 is little more than a footnote in my documentation. Compressed, archived and tossed in the misc unsorted folder. There. But not actively sought after or discussed. Much like limited-releases of any game or item. If it happens and becomes available to me then it happens and becomes available to me! If it doesn't, oh well..

 

Kinda like those one-trick ponies. It bursts onto the scene, everybody stops and looks and gawks and then go about their business with more interesting and obtainable things.

 

It is important that people think critically about such stuff.

 

 

ADDED:

It's like with the new Scramble for the VCS. It's cool, it's interesting, and it has my attention now. But inevitably attention and interest will die down and something else will come along. But because it is here, now, and available to me; it has earned a spot in my VCS & Emulator showcase of 20 or so assorted games. Something I compare against Combat to illustrate the years of progress and sophistication that surround VCS games.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Keatah

[Greg2600]

Last discussed here.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/55936-can-marble-man-ever-be-released/

[Keatah]

I agree with what was said in the other thread. The game will eventually change hands and have a better chance of becoming available for those of you who are following this.

 

Sometimes you have to wait for the inevitable. I've acquired interesting and unique Apple II material by way of this method - a changing of the guard. Ghastly? Sure..

[+Ksarul]

I've gotten quite a number of unique TI-99/4A family items by the changing of the guard method. A lot of the folks who've held these things (for all of the classic systems) have been holding them a long time--but none of us will live forever, so the items will pass on eventually. Key to making sure the items don't get tossed into the trash when we go is to make sure someone understands what those items are and where you want them to go when you're gone. Morbid thoughts--yes, but as a collector, I am just a caretaker of these items, so I have to think that far ahead. . .

[jhd]

I am reminded of my Grandfather. He had several collections that he would never, ever part with for any amount of money. The executors of his estate, however, both lacked the sentimental attachment to his collections and they needed to pay his bills. Memento mori!

[+Propane13]

I was curious if there ever was any update on this.  Still waiting to be dumped?

[Swami]

1 hour ago, Propane13 said:

I was curious if there ever was any update on this.  Still waiting to be dumped?

this page was updated Feb 2019 and is still in the undumped section, so it does not look good.

 

https://mamedev.emulab.it/undumped/index.php?title=Marble_Madness_II:_Marble_Man_(Prototype)

 

[H.E.R.O.]

The MAME crew has the roms for safe keeping but aren't allowed to release them. Conversely, somehow Akka Arrh, which is also owned by the same guy, had the roms get out and added to MAME. 

 

He was very upset, allegedly. Rumors of someone came in to do some fixes on MM2 or another game and while doing that burned themselves some roms of Akka Arrh.

[Supergun]

I actually just saw & played it at the yearly Free Play Florida coin op show here in Orlando. It was here last year as well, and I was introduced to the owner then, but the board had a problem and wasn’t working. I’ll be returning tomorrow and I can talk to him and ask him about it.

[Supergun]

I finally had the opportunity to speak, at length, with the current owner of the game this evening. He was very friendly & took the time to answer all of my questions. He was very cooperative and explained everything in great detail to me regarding his acquisition of this proto.

 

He politely asked me not to relay too much about what he told me to the public, and I told him that I would respect his wishes. But a short while later, he did however give me permission to report the most relevant piece of information, which is that he will indeed be releasing the rom for the game. Which is of course great for us Atari fans here.

 

I can’t say much more about that news, but I will post more pics & info on the game itself when I have more time.

[Supergun]

Here are some pictures I took of the game at the show. (the quality is low in order to conserve bandwidth here, but the originals are available to anyone who wants to post them)

 

 

I found the game to be excessively difficult; so much so that it kind of takes the fun out of it. But it has an insane number of levels and introduces several new gameplay elements & obstacles.

[Tempest]

So has the trackball version turned up then?  Who owns that one?

[Supergun]

You have to remember that the game is from 1991. The coin op industry was changing. When Atari initially tested the game, trackballs were being phased out & forgotten. (Golden Tee Golf didn’t hit big, with yearly updates, until 1995) So believe it or not, they changed the game to use joysticks.

 

However, again, the coin op market was evolving, and with the Street Fighter 2 craze hitting the scene, Atari shelved it a second time to focus on Primal Rage. And thus after some more delays, the game kind of became outdated & no longer viable or desirable in the industry; unwanted by operators & gamers alike.

[Keatah]

4 hours ago, Supergun said:

Here are some pictures I took of the game at the show. (the quality is low in order to conserve bandwidth here, but the originals are available to anyone who wants to post them)

Conserve bandwidth? In the year 2019 storage costs like $15/TB or less makes it all too funny. And internet speeds are measured Gbps.

 

4 hours ago, Supergun said:

I found the game to be excessively difficult; so much so that it kind of takes the fun out of it. But it has an insane number of levels and introduces several new gameplay elements & obstacles.

Any excessively difficult game isn't fun in the least. More like a grind, a job to finish it. One of the many reasons why it never became popular.

 

40 minutes ago, Supergun said:

However, again, the coin op market was evolving, and with the Street Fighter 2 craze hitting the scene, Atari shelved it a second time to focus on Primal Rage. And thus after some more delays, the game kind of became outdated & no longer viable or desirable in the industry; unwanted by operators & gamers alike.

 

Fighting games set a new low for the industry and unfortunately drew in the masses which did no good for the scene.

[Swami]

6 hours ago, Keatah said:

Conserve bandwidth? In the year 2019 storage costs like $15/TB or less makes it all too funny. And internet speeds are measured Gbps.

 

Any excessively difficult game isn't fun in the least. More like a grind, a job to finish it. One of the many reasons why it never became popular.

 

 

Fighting games set a new low for the industry and unfortunately drew in the masses which did no good for the scene.

Then came GTA and exploding dogs...

[Keatah]

GTA is about when I lost interest in modern gaming.

[eightbit]

What made him change his mind about releasing the ROM? IIRC, many years ago (2002) he told the community he would release it for $5000. Then the community started gathering a collection of the funds and he then backed out and said he wasn't serious.

 

That is, if it is the same Marble Madness II owner....but how many other's can there be?