1156 replies to this topic

[Omegamatrix]

Up today we have some PAL goodies:

Fast Food (PAL), Decathlon (HES), Der flinke Architekt (Quelle) aka Master Builder




 newPALroms.zip   12.59K   35 downloads



I've included a PAL Ram It in the picture to show a comparision of the types of round "P" stickers used on the Telesys carts.


Der flinke Architekt (the nimble architect?) matches the PAL Spectravideo rom 100%. This seems very much inline with Quelle... I know lots of their pirated roms are 100% matches to the originals. Having said that though, Fast Food has 3 bytes difference to the Quelle version, and 1 byte difference to the PAL (unknown) version. A quick checked revealed that this byte is for the color of the logo. The pirated versions changed the logo color to black to match the background. This effectively hides the logo on those pirate carts!


Finally we have a PAL Decathlon (HES). HES expanded the rom to 16k and made it F6 bankswitched (which is just regular Atari bankswitching for a 16k cart). This was most likely done for compatibility reasons. All other dumps of Decathlon are FE bankswitched games. FE bankswitching causes some compatibility issues on certain 7800's. For some reason I had a hard time dumping this one (even though it is F6), and finally I had to pull out my reserve dumper. Fortunately it worked.

[Rom Hunter]

All three added.

Thanks, Omega!

[Omegamatrix]

M*A*S*H* PAL version.


 Mash (20th Century Fox) PAL.zip   3.43K   25 downloads

[Rom Hunter]

Added.

Many thanks, Omega!

BTW: does the PAL version of Turmoil actually exist?

Edited by Rom Hunter, Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:10 AM.

[Omegamatrix]

Rom Hunter, on Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:44 AM, said:

BTW: does the PAL version of Turmoil actually exist?

I have no idea. I'm really depending on you for these as I'm no PAL expert. It was on the list of un-dumped games you gave me so that is why it's on the first post. So you're not sure it exists then? Maybe I should remove it from the first post. Are there any games that should be added or removed from there? Maybe PM me a list and I'll see what I can do.

[Rom Hunter]

No, it's ok.

I remember seeing an E-Bay picture of a Turmoil PAL box some years ago, but I never heard of another person owning a PAL Turmoil.

Would be nice to get some confirmation.

[Omegamatrix]

Demolition Herby (PAL). I did a quick check with HOM3, and the differences between the PAL and NTSC roms seem to be mostly color tables. That's what it looks like to me without disassembling the rom (which I don't plan on doing).

A couple of interesting notes here. One is that there is no round "P" sticker on the cartridge designating the game as PAL. I took a chance buying this cause I thought it'd turn out to be NTSC, but it payed off. The second note is with an existing pirated PAL Demolition Herby rom in Rom's collection. I checked, and the only difference between it and the real Demolition Herby (PAL) is an erased logo. It is clear that this pirate rom was made with the PAL version. The is simply because all the other bytes are the same.


 Demolition Herby (Telesys) PAL.zip   3.1K   23 downloads

[Rom Hunter]

Excellent work, Omega.

I'll add it asap.

[Rom Hunter]

Done:
http://www.atarimani...erby_25312.html

Weird.

I always thought the Telesys black and white carts were NTSC only.

Well, only Stargunner (PAL) and Coco Nuts (PAL) left.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:40 AM.

[Omegamatrix]

Rom Hunter, on Mon Aug 16, 2010 7:29 AM, said:

Done:
http://www.atarimani...erby_25312.html

Weird.

I always thought the Telesys black and white carts were NTSC only.

There's probably a PAL B&W Ram It out there too. Who knows?

[Omegamatrix]

Up today we have a PAL proto courtesy of Dino. It is a Home Vision proto labeled Panda:




 Panda (Home Vision) proto.bin   4K   55 downloads


Comparing the proto dump to the rest of the Panda roms, I found that there is some roms which are real close to it. One is the Quelle rom "Der Hungrige Panda", also known as "Panda" by Suntek (the Quelle rom and Suntek rom are 100% the same). The proto has a Home Vision logo while the Quelle or Suntek rom has no logo (its been erased). All the other bytes are the same.

The proto is also close to another Home Vision rom "Panda Chase" in Rom Hunters V5 set. "Panda Chase" has an erased logo, and another 1 byte difference. That 1 byte is a value that is loaded into a timer causing a difference in scanlines. Make that value bigger, and you have more scanlines. "Panda Chase" runs at 295-296 scanlines (odd lines cause B&W to displayed on a PAL system BTW), and Dino's new dump runs at a rock solid 310.

IIRC Rom got the old Home Vision rom from a mass dump of protos. My question is why would the Home Vision logo be erased in one Home Vision game and not the other? Why the difference in scanlines?


Thinking about it, I looked back in the V2 collection at a rom called X'Mission (Home Vision). Did X'Mission come from the same lot of proto dumps Rom got a long time ago? It runs at 292 lines, and has no Home Vision logo. Yet Rick Weis says his actual Home Vision cart of X'Mission has a Home Vision logo on the screen. It'd be good to know if any more Home Vision roms from that big dump have this exact same situation, where the proto has no logo but an actual Home Vision cart has been found that does.


Rom did you keep those proto roms seperate and make a note of them so we know which ones to look at?

[Rom Hunter]

Yes, it's time to replace some of the doubtful, so called "Home Vision" Roms that have no logo on screen with dumps of the real carts.

I'm talking about Panda Chase, Parachute, Topy and X'Mission.

Mind you: these are most probably the true original versions of the games and they still have to be archived.


I'm going to replace Panda Chase with Dino's ROM asap.

I'm quite certain it's closer the the actual Home Vision cart ROM.


Stupid old hat Good2600 info.

It was the only source of ROM information back then.


Thanks for dumping and examining, guys!

Edited by Rom Hunter, Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:49 PM.

[Rom Hunter]

Ok, it's added:
http://www.atarimani...hase_11784.html

Talking about Panda Chase:
I still have my doubts about Zoo Fun (based on Panda Chase) being a genuine Home Vision game.
http://www.atarimani...-fun_15668.html

My guess is that ITT made a conversion from Home Vision's Panda Chase to Pumuckl I (the then popular German TV Gnome):
http://www.atarimani...l-i_s12870.html

ITT never officially released it and then Suntek and Quelle came along and picked it up.

It just doesn't make any sense that a Taiwanese company like Home Vision transformed one of their own games into another one, containing a German children's TV star.

Another mystery is why Farmyard Fun from Suntek (unknown game SS-034) contains the Pumuckl song:
http://www.atarimani...tek_s14547.html

Perhaps ITT took over the never released Play Farm from Home Vision and translated it into another Pumuckl game (Pumuckl II?)

According to their ads they were planning to release other Pumuckl based games.

ITT then never officially released it and along came Suntek and Quelle.

In short: Home Vision still contains some unsolved riddles.


BTW: it would be nice if Rick would ROM dump his Topy and Mission'X carts.

Also, we need to check if Parachute contains a Home Vision logo.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:10 AM.

[Gaztee]

I think I have a couple of the Pal carts on the undumped list. Will have a check tomorrow after I've had my morning sleep! (I hate working nights!) Where can I send them to be dumped IF I do still have them??

Where can I locate a copy of the source code for Frostbite?? Thought I'd ask as I'm here!!

[Rom Hunter]

Gaztee, on Tue Sep 7, 2010 9:09 PM, said:

I think I have a couple of the Pal carts on the undumped list. Will have a check tomorrow after I've had my morning sleep! (I hate working nights!) Where can I send them to be dumped IF I do still have them??

Where can I locate a copy of the source code for Frostbite?? Thought I'd ask as I'm here!!

You can send them to Dino.

Perhaps Nukey knows the source code for Frostbite.

[Nukey Shay]

No source code I'm aware of. I'd used a disassembly to create a Supercharger-compatable Frostbite.

[Omegamatrix]

Here is what appears to be a demo cart from GEM Intl courtesy of Dino. I didn't think GEM was a known company until I found it listed with Home Vision on Atarimania. I couldn't find it because the search engine doesn't return best matches or partial results.




 Jacky Jump (GEM demo cart) PAL.bin   4K   32 downloads



Now this cart is beautiful all wrapped in a shiny gold label like that. Clearly you can see "Bobby Go Home" written on the white label below. Bobby Go Home has been pirated to death by many companies. Who is the original company though? Well the rom in this cart has the Bit Corp logo still on it. So I don't think it was a Home Vision original ha ha. Now what is interesting is why Home Vision didn't erase the Bit Corp logo???


Even in this Home Vision ad for "Jacky Jump" you can see the Bit Corp logo:




If Home Vision stole this game from Bit Corp, then they were pretty blatant about it. Now a quick check with CloneSpy reveals that this dump is exactly the same as "Felix Return (AKA Bobby Is Going Home) (1983) (Goliath - Hot Shot) (83-116) (PAL).bin" in Rom Hunters V5 collection. All known dumps for Bobby is Going Home are compared below:

                   *** ATARI 2600 CloneSpy Lister v1.4 ***
                       (c)2000/2003 - Thomas Jentzsch

(1/12)                                       0  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11
 0 BIGH  (CCE) PAL························   · 99 99 99 93 94 94 77 76 76 76 76
 1 BIGH  (Dynamics) PAL···················   =  · 99 99 94 94 94 76 76 76 77 76
 2 BIGH  (Quelle) PAL·····················   =  =  · 99 94 94 94 76 76 76 77 76
 3 BIGH  (Bit Corporation) PAL············   =  =  =  · 94 95 95 76 77 76 76 76
 4 BIGH  (Bit Corporation demo cart) PAL··   =  =  =  =  · 97 97 76 76 76 76 76
 5 BIGH  (GEM demo cart) PAL··············   =  =  =  =  =  ·100 77 78 77 78 77
 6 BIGH  (Goliath - Hot Shot) PAL·········   =  =  =  =  =  =  · 77 78 77 78 77
 7 BIGH  (CCE)····························   =  =  =  =  =  =  =  · 99 99 99 99
 8 BIGH  (Bit Corporation)················   =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  · 99 99 99
 9 BIGH  (Rentacom)·······················   =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  · 99 99
10 BIGH  (2600 Screen Search Console)·····   =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  · 99
11 BIGH  (JVP)····························   =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  =  ·

Unique files:    1
Total files :   12

[Rom Hunter]

Added to V6 and the database.

It will be listed as Jacky Jump, because that was the title Home Vision (GEM / VDI) had in mind for this game.

IMO the copy used for the Jacky Jump review must have been a cart similar to this one (who knows even exactly this one), because of the Bit Corp logo still on screen.

Many thanks, guys!

Dino, if you have the time, could you make a nice front and back scan of that cart?

Would be great.

BTW: the screenshots in the review of Jacky Jump show IMO the SECAM color palette.

Edited by Rom Hunter, Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:57 AM.

[Wickeycolumbus]

Rom Hunter, on Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:34 AM, said:

BTW: the screenshots in the review of Jacky Jump show IMO the SECAM color palette.

I don't think so, SECAM doesn't have an orange. Here is how Bobby is Going Home would look on a SECAM console unmodified:

[Rom Hunter]

Wickeycolumbus, on Wed Sep 15, 2010 3:35 PM, said:

Rom Hunter, on Wed Sep 15, 2010 2:34 AM, said:

BTW: the screenshots in the review of Jacky Jump show IMO the SECAM color palette.

I don't think so, SECAM doesn't have an orange. Here is how Bobby is Going Home would look on a SECAM console unmodified:

I know, but the way the colors are divided is the same as SECAM.

In other formats there are more different colors on screen.

Think orange = pink and it's identical.

Perhaps the printing of the magazine made the pink look orange.

Also, it's a French magazine and review, so SECAM seems very logical.

[Dino]

Omegamatrix, on Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:39 PM, said:

Clearly you can see "Bobby Go Home" written on the white label below. Bobby Go Home has been pirated to death by many companies. Who is the original company though? Well the rom in this cart has the Bit Corp logo still on it. So I don't think it was a Home Vision original ha ha. Now what is interesting is why Home Vision didn't erase the Bit Corp logo???

I don't think there is much dispute over the fact that its an original Bitcorp/puzzy release. Its almost certain that Puzzy changed its name to Bitcorp soon after inception and that's why there are so few PAL puzzys around (and also why no PG 206-209s have ever surfaced)

[Rom Hunter]

Dino, on Thu Sep 16, 2010 6:38 PM, said:

Omegamatrix, on Tue Sep 14, 2010 7:39 PM, said:

Clearly you can see "Bobby Go Home" written on the white label below. Bobby Go Home has been pirated to death by many companies. Who is the original company though? Well the rom in this cart has the Bit Corp logo still on it. So I don't think it was a Home Vision original ha ha. Now what is interesting is why Home Vision didn't erase the Bit Corp logo???

I don't think there is much dispute over the fact that its an original Bitcorp/puzzy release. Its almost certain that Puzzy changed its name to Bitcorp soon after inception and that's why there are so few PAL puzzys around (and also why no PG 206-209s have ever surfaced)

Exactly my thoughts.

[maiki]

Also, the PAL version of Burgertime is missing...

Might this be the one?

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 380273080404

[Omegamatrix]

maiki, on Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:52 PM, said:

Also, the PAL version of Burgertime is missing...

Might this be the one?

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 380273080404

I added BurgerTime to the first post. The one you linked to is NTSC though. I asked the seller.


Rom, you should go through the screenshots on Atarimania. There are some for BurgerTime (Telegames USA) PAL, but no rom dump yet.

[Rom Hunter]

Omegamatrix, on Sun Oct 3, 2010 3:35 AM, said:

maiki, on Tue Sep 28, 2010 3:52 PM, said:

Also, the PAL version of Burgertime is missing...

Might this be the one?

eBay Auction -- Item Number: 380273080404

I added BurgerTime to the first post. The one you linked to is NTSC though. I asked the seller.


Rom, you should go through the screenshots on Atarimania. There are some for BurgerTime (Telegames USA) PAL, but no rom dump yet.

Will do that.

Thanks!