Albert Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 We're pleased to announce the revelation of another long-lost Atari prototype, this time featuring a game for the 7800: Q*bert! Parker Brothers, who owned the rights to publish game console and home computers versions of Q*bert, licensed Q*bert to Atari for use on the 2600 as well as for the 7800. Until now, no proof had ever surfaced that any development for a 7800 version of Q*bert had commenced, much less having reached a state where the game was playable. Thanks to the efforts of several classic gaming enthusiasts, we're now able to share with you this new 7800 prototype. Curt Vendel of AtariMuseum.com discovered the source code to Q*bert earlier this year, in a batch of printouts he acquired from an ex-Atari employee. He then passed along these printouts to Ken Van Mersbergen, who scanned in the source and got it compiling. And finally, Ken Siders polished the binary a bit to remove some obvious bugs and make the game playable. To download the binary and view some screenshots, please have a look here. I have also attached the binary to this message. Enjoy! ..Al qbert.zip Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Mmm--kay... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829136 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Boy... it sure is ashame I don't have a emulator on this mac here to try it out. hmmm Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829145 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Is that the right format to load into a CC2? Can't remember. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829149 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 APRIL FOOLS!!! If it's not.... then holy christ, today is a great day. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829150 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariboy Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Sounds real Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829155 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted April 1, 2005 Author Share Posted April 1, 2005 Boy... it sure is ashame I don't have a emulator on this mac here to try it out. hmmm A new version of MESS was released for OS X recently, and it actually works quite well! However, it does not take screenshots properly, so I had to use the Windows version to take the screenshots that I posted here. Having decent 7800 emulation under OS X makes me happy! ..Al Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829157 Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 April Fools or not.. HALE-FREAKIN'-LUIA!!! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829161 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 First though: April Fools. Hey, there's a binary, I can download it. Hmm, 32K, and in a hex editor it looks real. Okay, so it doesn't have an A78 header, but the one off of Joust was handy. Holy crap. Folks, either someone has been HARD at work making an April Fool's joke, or this is the real thing. It actually plays! I died on the second level. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829163 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 I think the coilys are missing. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829169 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted April 1, 2005 Author Share Posted April 1, 2005 I think the coilys are missing. Yeah, I don't think any of the enemies are present besides the red balls (I mentioned this on my brief writeup of the game here--second paragraph). ..Al Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829170 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamemaster_ca_2003 Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Man This might be Ligitimate. If it is April Fools Please continue development. Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829174 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 I just noticed that this came from scans of a source code listing? Any chance of the source code getting released? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829187 Share on other sites More sharing options...
pctechie Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 How do we know this isn't a fake? It looks like a fake. And its April 1 Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829191 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 How do we know this isn't a fake? It looks like a fake. And its April 1 Because it runs? See the main AA page. Here's one with an a78 header to make it easier to run on an emulator. qbert.a78.zip Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829203 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Monkey Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 The graphics are really nice.. This would be worth finishing.. unlike that Turbo proto... Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829212 Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 I got to Wave 2 board 1 with my keyboard. Yehaw!!! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829213 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 If this is real I'd like to see Curt and Ken give us some more background as to how they came to find this awesome game and if they know what the CX-designation was for this title. The April Fools joke may be that, if this is 110% legitimate as it seems it is, that they held on to this until April Fools day to confuse people even more, and the April 1 release its self is the April Fools Joke. Got it? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829229 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Oh dammit. I just tried it on my Cuttle cart II and it just says April Fools. Dammit I wish this was real. Well you got us good. Allan Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829254 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Kenfused posted a Q*Bert style avatar recently Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829259 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferris Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Told ya it was some sort of elaborate april fools joke. My guess is Ken or someone has been working on a Q-Bert 7800 game and instead of posting a "work in progress" thread they turned it into a goodass april fools. If it were real Curt and Ken would be making a great bit of hype about it on their sites, etc. Good job Al! Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829263 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danno Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Oh dammit. I just tried it on my Cuttle cart II and it just says April Fools. Dammit I wish this was real. Well you got us good. Allan So how does that explain why it runs in every emulator? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829265 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Helmet Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Wasn't this how beef drp started out...? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829294 Share on other sites More sharing options...
birdie3 Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 How did you get it to say "Happy April Fool's Day" or whatever the message is? Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829302 Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 1, 2005 Share Posted April 1, 2005 Oh dammit. I just tried it on my Cuttle cart II and it just says April Fools. Dammit I wish this was real. Well you got us good. Allan So how does that explain why it runs in every emulator? I was just joking. It might say it somewhere in the game but I haven't found it yet. It is fantastic though. Nice job. Allan Quote Link to comment https://forums.atariage.com/topic/67240-atari-7800-qbert-prototype-revealed/#findComment-829355 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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