5200 Realsports Basketball Protos Released

[Albert]

Although two different versions of Realsports Basketball were programmed for the Atari 5200, neither version would ultimately be released for sale, a fate also shared by the 2600 game sharing the same title. Through the work of several individuals, two previously unavailable ROMs for the game are now availble for downloading. This includes an early version of Realsports Basketball that varies in many significant ways from what would eventually become the final version of the game that was taken further to completion. The earlier version of Realsports Basketball was started by one programmer and then taken over by Patrick Bass, who abandoned it to start work on a second version of the game. Patrick Bass sadly passed away in 1998, and his brother, Ben Bass, worked with Ken Van Mersbergen to ensure that the final version of the game would be shared with the public. Matt Reichert, who owns a prototype cartridge of the early version of the game, gave us the binary for that version to release. Matt has written up an extensive review of Realsports Basketball over at AtariProtos.com, covering the differences between the various prototypes that have been uncovered for the game. You can learn more and download the early version of Realsports Basketball here and the final version here.

[Tempest]

Little typo there. Patrick only did the later one, we have no idea who did the first one. We only know that he took over and scrapped that version.

 

Tempest

[Albert]

Little typo there.  Patrick only did the later one, we have no idea who did the first one.  We only know that he took over and scrapped that version.

 

Fixed, thanks.

 

..Al

[+Cafeman]

Is the ROM supposed to run on 5200 emulators? It crashes on Atari800win 3.0, in 5200 mode of course.

[oesii]

The ROM is a good dump, I played it on the Mac which won't help you too much

 

Hopefully, someone can offer a tweak to get it working with Atari800winPlus.

[kenfused]

Is the ROM supposed to run on 5200 emulators? It crashes on Atari800win 3.0, in 5200 mode of course.

Which one crashes? With the 16K version you have to choose 2 chip catridge type.

[+Cafeman]

okay, I got it to work thanks to kenfused's help.

 

Cons: Erm .. one-on-one 8bit basketball isn't very fun! It would have grown dull after 1 day, I think. I know it wasn't finished though. RS Baseball and Soccer are much better for the day. Slow, no real strategy, kind of drowsy feel to it.

 

Pros: nice use of colors and animation, seems glitch-free too especially for an incomplete demo. Does it use analog control? Does the 2nd firebutton do anything?

 

It needs a defense steal move and some shadows, and better sound FX. Pretty cool to try it out though. what % done is it estimated to be at?

[+Cafeman]

Note -- the above post is for the older version.

 

I am now trying the newer version which is considerably more fun!

[+Cafeman]

Oh, yeah! The newer version is much, much better. I like the doubles mode! I couldn't understand if I could control my teammate in any way. Still don't know if the 2nd fire button does anything, in fact I don't know where that button is mapped on Atari800win.

[jnice]

Hi Cafeman,

 

Check out the atariprotos.com site for the RS basketball review, and it'll answer a lot of questions about the control scheme. Selecting 1, 2 or 3 makes you shoot different types of shots, the upper button works with selecting a player in doubles mode...

 

I really wish there were better football and basketball games for the 5200, but I get the feeling that I'd have to make these myself. It'd be really cool to have a faster-moving football game with (at least) faster movement and better defense, if not better graphics, better run plays, and a one-player option. Call it "Pam Bowl"?

 

As for basketball, it would probably be difficult to make a much better game than what's offered here, with the system's limitations. If it can't even handle the "One on One" game, then I'm not very confident about what more could be done. However, I do think football could be improved, if someone actually WANTED enough to make it happen. If I ever get time to learn machine language, maybe we'll see it in ten years.

[Tempest]

BTW I just realized that the early version of RSBB is shown in one of the catalogs. Check it out:

 

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?...6&currentPage=2

 

Notice how it's just called Basketball? There's a mention of RS Basketball in a later catalog (the Atari Stars one), but no picture.

 

Tempest

[Albert]

BTW I just realized that the early version of RSBB is shown in one of the catalogs.  Check it out:

 

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?...6&currentPage=2

 

Notice how it's just called Basketball?  There's a mention of RS Basketball in a later catalog (the Atari Stars one), but no picture.

 

That's very cool.

 

..Al

[Henry Lee]

BTW I just realized that the early version of RSBB is shown in one of the catalogs.  Check it out:

 

http://www.atariage.com/catalog_page.html?...6&currentPage=2

 

Notice how it's just called Basketball?  There's a mention of RS Basketball in a later catalog (the Atari Stars one), but no picture.  

 

Tempest

 

But it does say RealSports on top as the main category of the sport titles, they just didn't repeat it on every game-

[Mock]

...and the dsecription says "REAL basketball"...lol....thought that was cool.

[Godzilla]

wow thats incredible! Thanks for getting that out for all to finally see!

[jnice]

In a different thread, it was mentioned that Atari had given up protecting the "RealSports" name. Does this also mean that the games themselves aren't being protected by Infogrames? And would this be a title AtariAge would consider making repro carts of and sell them in the store?

 

I'm not sure if this is the first title I'd want to purchase, but the 5200 section is pretty thin these days for games.

[Albert]

In a different thread, it was mentioned that Atari had given up protecting the "RealSports" name.  Does this also mean that the games themselves aren't being protected by Infogrames?  And would this be a title AtariAge would consider making repro carts of and sell them in the store?

 

Atari may have given up the "RealSports" name, but they still own the copyrights on the actual games themselves. It's not a title I would attempt to sell without working out a licensing arrangement with them first.

 

I'm not sure if this is the first title I'd want to purchase, but the 5200 section is pretty thin these days for games.

 

Yes. Adventure II is coming along nicely, not sure we'll see any other 5200 titles added to the store in the near future as there's not too much 5200 homebrew development taking place.

 

..Al