18 replies to this topic

[Songbird]

Hey, guys,

I just acquired my first bonafide Aircars prototype!!

This cartridge was obtained from a reliable source who indicated that MidNite produced a handful of Aircars carts, mainly for the press, in 1995 when they were trying to get the game published. It does not include a box, manual, or overlay.

It's a very heavy cart, so I'm pretty sure it's got 4 big 32-pin DIP EPROMs inside, but I don't want to open it so as to avoid wrecking the label. The label is what really identifies this as a proto -- it is the same general layout, but the coloring is brighter, the small text is harder to read, *and* there is a ESRB K-A rating in the corner!

The game itself appears to be the same game as the "published" version of Aircars, but a byte compare of the two binaries would be needed to verify this.

Cool stuff!

[Tempest]

Awesome! I'm interested in hearing the results of the byte comparison.

Tempest

[The Helper]

By the way the game plays I think they are all prototypes

[Albert]

Hey, that's pretty cool, Carl! When are you going to scan it so we can take a look?

..Al

[Albert]

Here's a scan of the Aircars prototype that Carl took:



Now I know what to be on the lookout for so I can complete my Aircars Label Variations quest.

Thanks, Carl!

..Al

[Tempest]

Doesn't look all that different. I was expecting a radically different label and you let me down...

"The thrill is gone Sam"
"Max my friend, your so easily jaded."

Tempest

[The Helper]

Hey Carl if you want to make your signature link clickable check this page on how to use UBB code
http://www.aarecover...ok/ubbcode.html

[Songbird]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Tempest:
Doesn't look all that different. I was expecting a radically different label and you let me down...

---

Well, I said the layout was basically the same, then proceeded to point out what was different. So I gave the most accurate description I could before the pic was available...

Re: hyper-linking URLs... it's kind of strange that the board doesn't do this automatically. I had already tried the URL tag once, but it didn't work for me. I'll try it again...

[The Helper]

There you go Carl - now you are Styling! A thing I noticed about this forum is that when you change your signature it updates all your old posts.

[ 11-07-2001: Message edited by: The Helper ]

[Gunstar]

I've tried the URL option a couple of times with no success; it's just easier in my opinion to type out the address and it automatically links. So you can't have a title.

Carl, is there a possibility of Songbird publishing more Aircars carts or was that just a rumor I heard (a while back)?

[ 11-07-2001: Message edited by: Gunstar ]

[Songbird]

I recently dumped the binary from this proto, and am happy to announce that it's different from the published version of Aircars! I haven't seen any differences in the opening sequence of Aircars, so it's hard to say just how different it is, but it's definitely not the same version. Cool!

[Gaztee]

So Carl do we smell yet another new project for Songbird? Giving Aircars some decent playablility . Man you really need to have a holiday you just doing far too much. What's your secret? You found a new algorithm to compress time & increase your capablilites . Whatever it is keep up the great work

[Albert]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Songbird:
I recently dumped the binary from this proto, and am happy to announce that it's different from the published version of Aircars! I haven't seen any differences in the opening sequence of Aircars, so it's hard to say just how different it is, but it's definitely not the same version. Cool!

---

Interesting, is it safe to say that it would be non-trivial to disassemble both versions and then do a file compare on the assembly to see where they differ? I presume Aircars was written in C, in which case the resulting assembly might not be very pretty. But if it was written in straight assembly, maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

..Al

[Songbird]

I'm afraid I don't have much interest in disassembling 2MB of code and graphics and audio to see what the changes are exactly... and 90% of all Jag games were written in assembly, very few had any C code (Wolf 3D and Doom being notable exceptions).

So the best I could hope for is to find some free time (ha!) and play this new version, see if any of the levels look significantly different. But the levels are so big and unfortunately featureless in many cases, again, I don't know how one could easily isolate such differences.

[Gaztee]

Hey Carl,
as you don't have time to play through the cart & spot the differences send it over to me & I will do it for you. Surely that will save you some time? Oh well, no harm in trying

[Tempest]

Strange, I do that for fun with all my prototypes. If you bring it to the Philly Classic I'll play around with it and see what I can find. My guess is that the differences would be very minor and not noticable.

Tempest

[Thunderbird]

I've got 2 different Air Cars Protos that Tom Harker sent when he was developing the Catbox. They're bare board protos (no case). One has a different control panel on the screen and the other is closer to the release version. AFAIK it might be the actual released one.

[Songbird]

Well, it's taken me 9 months, but I've finally verified that, yes, this pre-production cart is different than the published version of Aircars. At a minimum, the options menu is different (no two-player serial option), and the in-game dashboard / op panel is quite different as well.

I didn't compare missions to see if they were different since that could take a LOT of time, but the gameplay appears to be similar.

Very cool that this cart is unique!

[Curt Vendel]

I remember first seeing the demo of Aircars in 94 or 95 at one of the ToadFests at Toad Computers store in MD, the place was seperated into multiple rooms with various demo's and workshops going on and there was a table with 4 jag's running Aircars on display.


Curt