Supergame Flyers

[Captain Cozmos]

6 hours ago, retroillucid said:

If you're serious about it, then feel free to use this mockup I made
It was made to look like the Super Game version

 

Your work is a great reference point.  I am not sure why the pictures are so saturated where the colors do not match.
Taking the pictures into account it would be cool to live in a white mushroom with a yellow top.

 

No matter what the graphic are, Smurf uses the BIOS PutOBJ and Activate so I have to convert it all over to that format.
Modern programing has been using RLE and all the VRAM space available.
It looks great but the problem comes up when it scrolls because it scrolls those OBJECT tables.

The Mushroom is one of the 3 (Garagamels Castle, Spider Web and the Mushroom)
There are 8 possible places those 3 can be on the screen at one time so they are assigned a number which is a position in that table.  The Mushroom is number 3.
I could go on with boring data but I'll try to work on this in my spare time.

Edited June 4 by Captain Cozmos

[Supergun]

Well, yes, in the higher resolution screenshot, it is more clear that the fix layer graphics (top and bottom text/score display areas) are actually consistent with ColecoVision Gorf.

 

It has the player1 text, the score, the mission number, extra lives icons, and even the mission name.

 

And now I understand that the “doom droid” is some kind of super final boss even bigger than the famous flagship. Also makes sense.

 

But where I get completely lost is in the most basic and obvious fault whereas Gorf is a stationary vertical space shooter. (Galaxian, Galaga, etc.) So why in the heck is there: A) no upwards facing vertical player spaceship anywhere at the bottom of the screen? and B) a strange completely out of place horizontal space ship at the left side of the screen shooting (and being shot at) by the doom droid on the right?

 

What so Coleco suddenly decided that Gorf was going to pull a Konami Life Force / Salamander move and now have vertical and horizontal levels in the same game?

[Supergun]

And btw, for the record, as much as I loved (still do love) the “enhancements” and “extras” and bonuses, etc. that Coleco implemented into their games (regular and super) it was just this exact “taking liberties” with adding and changing content that got them into trouble with Nintendo.

 

The story goes that Nintendo was mighty upset at the liberties Coleco was taking with DK Junior (by adding in a completely invented level) and served them with a stern “no way Jose”.

[Captain Cozmos]

3 minutes ago, Supergun said:

And btw, for the record, as much as I loved (still do love) the “enhancements” and “extras” and bonuses, etc. that Coleco implemented into their games (regular and super) it was just this exact “taking liberties” with adding and changing content that got them into trouble with Nintendo.

 

The story goes that Nintendo was mighty upset at the liberties Coleco was taking with DK Junior (by adding in a completely invented level) and served them with a stern “no way Jose”.

I did this for Rocky Super Boxing.  I added the missing music and blank screen to the pause button.
Ain't no one, anywhere said a thing since.  So it was a short lived popularity but only on this website.
Same goes for the Mr. Do prototype image I found buried inside the Colecovision Mr. Do rom.  Not a peep.

[Tempest]

2 minutes ago, Captain Cozmos said:

I did this for Rocky Super Boxing.  I added the missing music and blank screen to the pause button.
Ain't no one, anywhere said a thing since.  So it was a short lived popularity but only on this website.
Same goes for the Mr. Do prototype image I found buried inside the Colecovision Mr. Do rom.  Not a peep.

I didn't know there was missing music in Rocky. Was it purposely disabled for some reason?

[Supergun]

The Rocky pause music appears in the famous “music demo” ColecoVision proto rom that’s been around since 1996.

[Captain Cozmos]

As far as Gorf goes, I can only reference facts as I know them.

Atari release Galaxian which was in contrast to the game inside Gorf.
I have disassembled Gorf and you have the room.  It was released at 16k.

 

What I suspect about the "Doom Droid" is that it is supposed to bounce around the screen and you shoot at it from below.
Just an average every day level to fill in the hole left by Galaxian.
The background could be like any other game and just a background.

I would like to add back the missing content, Venture, Mousetrap and Cosmic Adventure are in the same boat.  It's a matter of free time and motivation.
I think it was opcode that was making some type of 3D Venture game so I didn't add the missing treasures and features.  Plenty of projects to go around.

Edited June 4 by Captain Cozmos

[Captain Cozmos]

6 minutes ago, Tempest said:

I didn't know there was missing music in Rocky. Was it purposely disabled for some reason?

I don't know why they pulled it but it was on the ADAM Music Box demo so It took it off there, added it to Rocky, updated the tables, rewrote the pause button then reassembled it.

 

 

Edited June 4 by Captain Cozmos

[Supergun]

7 minutes ago, Captain Cozmos said:

I did this for Rocky Super Boxing.  I added the missing music and blank screen to the pause button.
Ain't no one, anywhere said a thing since.  So it was a short lived popularity but only on this website.
Same goes for the Mr. Do prototype image I found buried inside the Colecovision Mr. Do rom.  Not a peep.

Just clarifying that my comments were not aimed at you and the awesome work you do! I was merely referencing the super game flyers and Coleco’s enhancements to those games of that time period.

 

Please continue to do what you do. It is noticed and appreciated! Thank you!

[Captain Cozmos]

9 minutes ago, Supergun said:

Just clarifying that my comments were not aimed at you and the awesome work you do! I was merely referencing the super game flyers and Coleco’s enhancements to those games of that time period.

 

Please continue to do what you do. It is noticed and appreciated! Thank you!

Oh dude....No issues there.
My comment was aimed at fame is short lived.  Just ask my kids how much they love me around Christmas and Birthdays vs any other time of the year.

Edited June 4 by Captain Cozmos

[NIAD]

16 hours ago, Supergun said:

I’m a bit perplexed by this Super Gorf screenshot. I mean, like, what exactly are we looking at? I don’t see anything familiar to Gorf nor anything conducive to a vertical stationary shooter? If anything, it looks like a side scrolling shooter. Perhaps a screenshot mixup with a Super Cosmic Avenger or even another game or system?

 

Well, Coleco artists took numerous liberties in mock-up drawings but more importantly, when it came to Super Game versions of games that were previously released on cartridge, it seems like the programmers and graphic artists had a lot of flexibility to expand upon a game with new levels and gameplay. For instance, look at the SubRoc Super Game with all the additions to it over the cartridge version especially the all new underwater gameplay.

 

Retroillucid has even done the same with the "Super Game" version of Gorf that he has been working on for a number of years.

 

Anyone else notice that the player ship in this mock-up looks similar to He-Man's ship in the Master of the Universe game for the CV and Inty?

 

[Jess Ragan]

On 6/3/2024 at 5:00 AM, Supergun said:

I’m a bit perplexed by this Super Gorf screenshot. I mean, like, what exactly are we looking at? I don’t see anything familiar to Gorf nor anything conducive to a vertical stationary shooter? If anything, it looks like a side scrolling shooter. Perhaps a screenshot mixup with a Super Cosmic Avenger or even another game or system?

 

Looks about as much like the arcade version of GORF as the ColecoVision version did. Cough, cough.

[Captain Cozmos]

The latest Smurf Residence for Super Smurf Rescue

 

 

 

Mostly from the magazine but also with a proper Smurf village look with the white spots on the red tops.
Maybe a yellow flower box.

However, I am needled by the fact that the door is red, the bottom is yellow but the window is green if you use the magazine colors give or take a hue.

 

 

I think I can improve the window a bit but it's good for now.

Edited June 5 by Captain Cozmos

[Captain Cozmos]

Revised

[Supergun]

Wait, so you are using the super games screen shot extra details, but implementing them with the original games screen shot color pattern?

 

Why and why not?
Just curious?

 

(like why change the color pattern?)

[Captain Cozmos]

5 hours ago, Supergun said:

Wait, so you are using the super games screen shot extra details, but implementing them with the original games screen shot color pattern?

 

Why and why not?
Just curious?

 

(like why change the color pattern?)

The Super Game uses the original palette of colors, the pictures are washed out from the camera and TV they used back then.
The original SGM module was basically the ADAM with no keyboard and using the stringy drive.  Extra memory but using the original sound and graphics.

The tree leaves and ground are not blue.

The only colors I may have changed are the spots on top of the mushroom to be consistent with what a Smurf house has represented to be in the past.  Red with white spots or solid red.

If you use a photo editor with a color corrector you will find that the colors line up exactly with the original game.

I am using this logic.
Unless the game shows up then the game does not exist outside these 40 year old blurry pictures so liberties may have to be taken.

Such as a more attractive window on top of the mushroom.
 

This 1st screen is seen maybe once throughout the entire game for less than 20 seconds while you start moving to the right.

If you have the original Super Smurf game then I am all in to fix the bugs and release it as the original programmer intended otherwise I have to work with what I've got.

 

The game description says you are being chased by the cat.  Do you see him in any one of these pictures? How would I interpret that for the game?

Where is that ghost coming from, what are it's movements?  Is that a small bone Smurf is jumping over?  Is that dark spot in the daisy patch a ladybug, does it move?

A thousand questions that can not be filled in without the original game, source code or the programmer which I think just died earlier this year.

 

Edited June 5 by Captain Cozmos

[Captain Cozmos]

I could always turn this into a Papa Smurf adventure?

 

Golden Mushroom House with Papa Smurf doing the rescue.

 

[rwest]

Very cool reference material, thanks for sharing it.

 

Does anyone know if the Super Game Pack Turbo was ever released? 

[Supergun]

6 hours ago, Captain Cozmos said:

The Super Game uses the original palette of colors, the pictures are washed out from the camera and TV they used back then.

I agree that old fuzzy screenshots are always hard to work with and yes the colors in most pictures fade over time. But I think dismissing the Smurf house screenshot as just “washed out colors” rather than “different colors” is a stretch.

 

original released game:

 

unreleased super game:

 

your restoration work:

 

Yes, your color matching is excellent. No doubt there. And your extra detail is nice. But the super game colors look like a white wall with a yellow roof and a blue window?

[Supergun]

And btw here is a slightly better quality screen grab of the new castle screen:

[ColecoFan1981]

1 minute ago, Supergun said:

And btw here is a slightly better quality screen grab of the new castle screen:

Ghosts!

 

~Ben

[Captain Cozmos]

I love ghosts.
What is that ghost coming out of?  A Hat?  Garagamel's shoes?  A dead mouse the cat caught?  An old Smurf ghost?

[Captain Cozmos]

16 minutes ago, Supergun said:

I agree that old fuzzy screenshots are always hard to work with and yes the colors in most pictures fade over time. But I think dismissing the Smurf house screenshot as just “washed out colors” rather than “different colors” is a stretch.

 

original released game:

 

unreleased super game:

 

your restoration work:

 

Yes, your color matching is excellent. No doubt there. And your extra detail is nice. But the super game colors look like a white wall with a yellow roof and a blue window?

I tried the color combination of white with a yellow roof and white is just too loud on the Colecovision unless it is used sparingly.
The one restored picture is Retrolucid's work.
What I am working on this weekend is converting the recreated house into an object then updating pattern placement and code to handle the larger frame.  But I will take you observations under advisement.
 

Edited June 5 by Captain Cozmos

[Supergun]

I honestly don’t know what to think now. And you are probably more right then me with your ideas. There will always be at least some amount of subjectivity required when doing this kind of work.

 

And here’s an early beta screenshot of the original game which shows a window on the house:

 

 

and here’s proof that these were all likely composite screen mock ups because it’s the same score, yet, all kinds of changes:

 

Edited June 6 by Supergun

[ColecoFan1981]

2 hours ago, Supergun said:

I honestly don’t know what to think now. And you are probably more right then me with your ideas. There will always be at least some amount of subjectivity required when doing this kind of work.

 

And here’s an early beta screenshot of the original game which shows a window on the house:

 

 

and here’s proof that these were all likely composite screen mock ups because it’s the same score, yet, all kinds of changes:

 

And, here's a prototype (20K) Smurf Rescue cartridge being played (with the French-language title Schtroumpfs).

 

Not that much different from the final, except for a different scoreboard, trees and foliage, and a rather buggy music engine (same as the 1st cartridge release of Donkey Kong).

 

~Ben

Edited June 6 by ColecoFan1981