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I thought Pitfall was incompatible with 2-port?


Cobra Kai

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I picked up Pitfall and Pitfall 2 at a used game dealer awhile back, and never bothered to play test them because I didn't feel like hooking up my 5200, plus I didn't think Pitfall would work on my 2-port. Well, low and behold last night I hooked up the old rig and Pitfall works fine in my 2-port thats never had any bios work done to it. So what gives, is the Pitfall incompatibility issue a myth or do only some models of 2-port work?(obviously)

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My Pitfall cartridge won't work on my 2-port 5200, so it's not just a myth.

 

As for why, hopefully one of the more technical-minded will speak up.

907206[/snapback]

Is that what he was asking?

 

As I recall, the reason is the 2-port BIOS added some NTSC/PAL code for a planned european release of the 5200.

This shifted some BIOS fuctions around a bit.

 

IF I recall, there's a "table of contents" that you can call to get at BIOS routines.

Most games use this. Pitfall goes straight to the BIOS routines instead of hitting the index table. Which means it jumps to the wrong routhines because the PAL code moved everything.

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Thanks Mitch!  Is there some way (markings on outside of unit or inside somewhere) we can tell about the BIOS revision?

 

I ask because because I have no problem with Pitfall in my 2-port (just lucky when I picked it up, I guess).

907227[/snapback]

 

As far as I'm aware there's no way of knowing without looking at the model number on the BIOS chip or testing with one of the three incompatible games. Hmm, you might be able to tell with one of the revs of the diagnostic cart as well.

 

Mitch

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Pitfall and a couple others are incompatible with the revised BIOS that was in most 2ports. A few 2ports have the original BIOS and play those games just fine.

 

Mitch

907221[/snapback]

 

So what you are saying is that I have one of the rarest 5200 consoles in the world? Awesome.

 

No really, thanks for answering my question. Thats pretty much what I wanted to know.

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I bought a big 5200 lot one time mainly for Meteorites (which I have on ebay right now btw). But it also came with a shiny new two-port and FOUR nice looking copies of Pitfall. I kept getting the image of this guy buying one new cart after another trying to get one that worked :)

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  • 1 month later...
Thanks Mitch!  Is there some way (markings on outside of unit or inside somewhere) we can tell about the BIOS revision?

 

I ask because because I have no problem with Pitfall in my 2-port (just lucky when I picked it up, I guess).

907227[/snapback]

 

As far as I'm aware there's no way of knowing without looking at the model number on the BIOS chip or testing with one of the three incompatible games. Hmm, you might be able to tell with one of the revs of the diagnostic cart as well.

 

Mitch

907230[/snapback]

 

I'm about 90% sure that the later release Pitfall carts (the ones that BREGames was selling new for a while) work fine on all 2 ports. I've never had compatability issues with my cart on any 2 port and it seems very unlikely that every 2 port I have was already modded.

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Thanks Mitch!  Is there some way (markings on outside of unit or inside somewhere) we can tell about the BIOS revision?

 

I ask because because I have no problem with Pitfall in my 2-port (just lucky when I picked it up, I guess).

907227[/snapback]

 

As far as I'm aware there's no way of knowing without looking at the model number on the BIOS chip or testing with one of the three incompatible games. Hmm, you might be able to tell with one of the revs of the diagnostic cart as well.

 

Mitch

907230[/snapback]

 

I'm about 90% sure that the later release Pitfall carts (the ones that BREGames was selling new for a while) work fine on all 2 ports. I've never had compatability issues with my cart on any 2 port and it seems very unlikely that every 2 port I have was already modded.

928819[/snapback]

 

Can you dump the ROM for your Pitfall cart? Then we would be able to verify if it's different then the standard one. :)

 

Mitch

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Thanks Mitch!  Is there some way (markings on outside of unit or inside somewhere) we can tell about the BIOS revision?

 

I ask because because I have no problem with Pitfall in my 2-port (just lucky when I picked it up, I guess).

907227[/snapback]

 

As far as I'm aware there's no way of knowing without looking at the model number on the BIOS chip or testing with one of the three incompatible games. Hmm, you might be able to tell with one of the revs of the diagnostic cart as well.

 

Mitch

907230[/snapback]

 

I'm about 90% sure that the later release Pitfall carts (the ones that BREGames was selling new for a while) work fine on all 2 ports. I've never had compatability issues with my cart on any 2 port and it seems very unlikely that every 2 port I have was already modded.

928819[/snapback]

 

Can you dump the ROM for your Pitfall cart? Then we would be able to verify if it's different then the standard one. :)

 

Mitch

928898[/snapback]

 

If you have the means to do so, I can send you my cart.

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Thanks Mitch!  Is there some way (markings on outside of unit or inside somewhere) we can tell about the BIOS revision?

 

I ask because because I have no problem with Pitfall in my 2-port (just lucky when I picked it up, I guess).

907227[/snapback]

 

As far as I'm aware there's no way of knowing without looking at the model number on the BIOS chip or testing with one of the three incompatible games. Hmm, you might be able to tell with one of the revs of the diagnostic cart as well.

 

Mitch

907230[/snapback]

 

I'm about 90% sure that the later release Pitfall carts (the ones that BREGames was selling new for a while) work fine on all 2 ports. I've never had compatability issues with my cart on any 2 port and it seems very unlikely that every 2 port I have was already modded.

928819[/snapback]

 

Can you dump the ROM for your Pitfall cart? Then we would be able to verify if it's different then the standard one. :)

 

Mitch

928898[/snapback]

 

If you have the means to do so, I can send you my cart.

928928[/snapback]

 

I can dump it but I would have to open up the cart to do so. Unfortunately, Activision carts have the screws under the label.

Or I could send you a known 2port BIOS to put in one of your 5200s to verify that it indeed does work with a 2port BIOS first. That way we wouldn't ruin the label. I could also test it here I suppose. :D

 

Mitch

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Thanks Mitch!  Is there some way (markings on outside of unit or inside somewhere) we can tell about the BIOS revision?

 

I ask because because I have no problem with Pitfall in my 2-port (just lucky when I picked it up, I guess).

907227[/snapback]

 

As far as I'm aware there's no way of knowing without looking at the model number on the BIOS chip or testing with one of the three incompatible games. Hmm, you might be able to tell with one of the revs of the diagnostic cart as well.

 

Mitch

907230[/snapback]

 

I'm about 90% sure that the later release Pitfall carts (the ones that BREGames was selling new for a while) work fine on all 2 ports. I've never had compatability issues with my cart on any 2 port and it seems very unlikely that every 2 port I have was already modded.

928819[/snapback]

 

Can you dump the ROM for your Pitfall cart? Then we would be able to verify if it's different then the standard one. :)

 

Mitch

928898[/snapback]

 

If you have the means to do so, I can send you my cart.

928928[/snapback]

 

I can dump it but I would have to open up the cart to do so. Unfortunately, Activision carts have the screws under the label.

Or I could send you a known 2port BIOS to put in one of your 5200s to verify that it indeed does work with a 2port BIOS first. That way we wouldn't ruin the label. I could also test it here I suppose. :D

 

Mitch

929056[/snapback]

 

:ponder:

:idea:

 

These work really well

 

:P

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