Atari 8-bit Popeye 8-29-83

[Dutchman2000]

I found this in an archive.  I'm not sure if this is the final or an earlier version.  

Popeye (8-29-83).bin

[Albert]

Love those hand-drawn EPROM labels!! 

 

Thanks for sharing,

 

 ..Al

[Tempest]

It's different but I don't know how yet.  I'll have to investigate.

 

EDIT: Well for one thing Popeye has permanent spinach power until e picks up a can then it disappears when it wears off.  Interestingly he loses the permanent spinach power until the system is cold booted (a warm boot doesn't do it).  This also only applies to the first level.

 

Bluto also doesn't seem to throw bottles.  He makes the motion but nothing comes out.  Also the seahag doesn't appear  This only applies to the first level.

 

Bluto also makes a sound when he reaches at you from an upper level

 

The music on the second level is a bit different.

 

The music on the third level is a bit different

 

The vulture comes out constantly on the third level

 

 

[Tempest]

Made a page for this.  Thanks Ken!

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/popeye/popeye.htm

[Dutchman2000]

25 minutes ago, Tempest said:

Made a page for this.  Thanks Ken!

 

http://www.atariprotos.com/8bit/software/popeye/popeye.htm

Your welcome. 

[Tempest]

There are probably more differences, but those are the ones I noticed through a single playthrough.

[Kr0tki]

On 11/30/2021 at 6:33 PM, Tempest said:

Bluto also doesn't seem to throw bottles.  He makes the motion but nothing comes out.  Also the seahag doesn't appear  This only applies to the first level.

This behaviour turns back to normal once Popeye picks the spinach can up and its effect wears off.

 

I have noticed that Popeye's walking animation is different in this prototype.

 

EDIT: Also, and this should not be a surprise - this version contains the same "play 1st level music after Reset" bug as in the 1st released version.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Kr0tki

[Tempest]

3 hours ago, Kr0tki said:

I have noticed that Popeye's walking animation is different in this prototype.

I missed that, I'll add it to my page.

 

BTW I had a Popeye prototype years back that I never got to dump properly.  It was labeled WIP 8 so it might be different.  Here are the dumps I made, maybe it's fixable?

 

popeye_hi.Bin popeye_lo.Bin popeye_WIP8.bin

[Kr0tki]

This one is a mess. popeye_hi.Bin and popeye_lo.Bin are clearly bad dumps, as they contain streaks of $FF every 256 bytes. popeye_WIP8.bin is a good dump, but it contains the high 8 KB first and low 8 KB last, instead of the other way! So you need to swap the first and last 8KB to get the correct ROM image.

 

I have done it myself and published the ROM at AtariOnline - get the file named "Popeye (1983)(Parker Brothers)(US)(proto).bin". (I actually did it a few years ago already, after you shared your ROM archive here on AtariAge - it contained popeye_WIP8.bin - but then I forgot to tell you.)

 

That being said, the WIP8 ROM differs significantly from both released versions, but I haven't noticed any gameplay differences. It contains the "play 1st level music after Reset" bug.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Kr0tki

[Tempest]

22 minutes ago, Kr0tki said:

This one is a mess. popeye_hi.Bin and popeye_lo.Bin are clearly bad dumps, as they contain streaks of $FF every 256 bytes. popeye_WIP8.bin is a good dump, but it contains the high 8 KB first and low 8 KB last, instead of the other way! So you need to swap the first and last 8KB to get the correct ROM image.

 

I have done it myself and published the ROM at AtariOnline - get the file named "Popeye (1983)(Parker Brothers)(US)(proto).bin". (I actually did it a few years ago already, after you shared your ROM archive here on AtariAge - it contained popeye_WIP8.bin - but then I forgot to tell you.)

 

That being said, the WIP8 ROM differs significantly from both released versions, but I haven't noticed any gameplay differences. It contains the "play 1st level music after Reset" bug.

Thank you for fixing this.  I didn't see anything that stood out for me either other than the vulture on the third screen seemed to come out much more often.  I'll have to play with it some more.

[+Psionic]

On 11/30/2021 at 12:09 PM, Dutchman2000 said:

I found this in an archive.  I'm not sure if this is the final or an earlier version.

I assume this was sourced from Roklan?  The released version of this game has been credited to David Johnson at Western Technologies, but is that actually correct?

[Dutchman2000]

On 1/8/2022 at 12:38 AM, Psionic said:

I assume this was sourced from Roklan?  The released version of this game has been credited to David Johnson at Western Technologies, but is that actually correct?

Correct.  It came from the Roklan/On Time Software archive.