[Klove]

All,

Just a quick email to let you know that I happened to find the prototypes of Kaboom and River Raid 3 for the SNES.

Kaboom! is at best... "OK"

Anyway.. "There ya' have it!" They do in-fact exist.

[Tempest]

Really? Can you release the roms or are there copyright issues?

Tempest

[Cafeman]

AHA! I knew I saw a picture of SNES River Raid years ago in a magazine! I've asked all kinds of people if they had access to a picture of it, and nobody could dig one up -- I asked some recent mag editors, I asked Bill Kunkle, nobody had one.

So ... what are you going to do with those prototypes? How about posting a picture of River Raid SNES, or better yet, a few pictures? Or email them to me and I'll put 'em up at my own River Raid Homage Page!!

[liquid_sky]

Wow, alot of good finds lately on all fronts, 2600, 7800 (well.. Pitfighter was crap but hey, they broke the code) and now SNES.. classic gaming will never die!

(course they said that about disco too but it deserved to die.. whole nother story there )

[Elvis8Atari]

Hi Ken,
I guess you saw my post from a few days ago concering Kaboom 2 for Snes. Gee if Kaboom 2 and River Raid 3 do get released as roms you can all thank me for starting the topic..maybe even give me another star =-) lol.
Anyway, I am hoping activision would be kind enough to release some ROMs and screenshots of these games. Even though Kaboom 2 might only be "ok" at best I would still love to play it! Kaboom is my favorite Atari game and the possibility of playing the sequil is exciting. Long live the Mad Bomber! Now lets see Kaboom 2! http://www.geocities.com/elvis8atari
Sincerely,
Mike Matei

[Nukey Shay]

Hey, maybe you should post a question about "Journey To Rivendell"...maybe a proto will show up

Wishing makes it so? Wasn't that in Xenocide? Maybe we could call you Demostonies.

[Eduardo]

Hey Ken:

It would be interesting to see some screenshots of that Kaboom! proto for the SNES, I'm curious to know if it was an enhanced version or just a port of the classic game, another question is that what kind of control were you guys at Activision thinking to use for it, any aditional info that you could learn by all means let us know first.

[PatrickDBowlingo]

Hey now, dont forget me when giving out those stars!

I was the one who actually played those at the Summer CES all those years ago and shared my experiences with everyone!!!!

[Elvis8Atari]

Hey Ken,
Whats going on? Can we see screenshots and will it be possible for Kaboom 2 and River Raid 3 to become Roms? Don't tease us lets see some previews :-)
>Mike
http://www.geocities.com/elvis8atari

[garyp]

I'd like to see you prove to us that they exist Ken. Or shall we just take your word for it?

[Elvis8Atari]

How about a screenshot of River raid 3 and Kaboom 2. What exactly were the prototypes you found anyway? Snes carts for the games? GazP is right. Lets see some proof of this big find.

[garyp]

I think Ken is just being a tease, to see how much response he'll get. Chances are we won't see screenshots (please prove me wrong), let alone ROM dumps etc.

[Elvis8Atari]

Maybe Ken isn't allowed to talk about it.
I just played Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure for Ninteno's GameBoy Advance. First of all, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure was origionaly a Snes game. All they did was make it into a GameBoy game. I'd rather play David Crane's original 2600 versions anyway. The new Mayan Adventure doesn't have the appeal of the original 2600 games at all.
Since Kaboom 2 and River Raid 3 were going to be Snes games it would be cool to see them come out for GameBoy Advance. (it will never happen though) It doesn't matter anyway because the only way to play Kaboom is with a set of 2600 paddles. Any other version that was ever out sucked. RiverRaid 3 would be cool to see on GBA though. Perhaps Activision will make some more new GBA games. I wonder if David Crane is getting royalties for Pitfall for GBA. Hmm..

[Klove]

All,

As you might expect... "I cannot release the roms to the general public."

As for showing screen shots, I cannot do that either. I need to get approval from our Legal Dept and I don't thikn they're going to be so keen to do so. :-(

I can tell you, that what I have of River Raid SNES, is mainly a source code dump from August of '93. You'd have to recompile it in order to view it. I had one of my programmers do so just we could figure out what exactly we have on the floppy.

As for Kaboom Gensis, It look's to pretty much to be a "Technology Demo". Good at best. Very repetetive. There's some-sort of mad doctor on a flying carpet, throwing down bombs to a kid who runs back 'n' forth trying to catch them. Not very impressive and very slow.

The graphics are .. again.. OK at best. This version look's as though it was done by High Voltage Software. I'm sure you poeople out there in the Jaguar world have heard of them.

I thk they did "White Men Can't Jump"

Besides the Anthology project, I'm also working on a concept for a new Kaboom. Nothing concrete at the moment, but I will try and get Larry Kaplan involved in some way, shape or form.

At the mo, it look's as though I'm going to try and have the Mad Bomber team-up with Harry Hooligan (from Keystone Kapers).

The story will take place years after the Mad Bomber has been captured and put in prison.

Harry Hooligan will aid the Mad Bomber in a daring jailbreak. They'll work as a team in trying to blow-up significant structures, buildings, etc.

Still incredibly early in the design phase, but we'll see what happens."

Regards,

Ken

[Ze_ro]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ken @ Activision:
All,

As you might expect... "I cannot release the roms to the general public."

As for showing screen shots, I cannot do that either. I need to get approval from our Legal Dept and I don't thikn they're going to be so keen to do so. :-(

---

Damn

quote:

---

Besides the Anthology project, I'm also working on a concept for a new Kaboom. Nothing concrete at the moment, but I will try and get Larry Kaplan involved in some way, shape or form.

At the mo, it look's as though I'm going to try and have the Mad Bomber team-up with Harry Hooligan (from Keystone Kapers).

---

Sounds good! Any idea what platform this game is going to be released on? Is it intended to be a remake with fancy 3D graphics, or will it be a completely different game altogether? I realize it's early in the design phase, but any information would be great.

--Zero

[Elvis8Atari]

I doubt Larry Kaplan would do any programming for a new Kaboom game. It would be great if you get an idea together for Kaboom 2 and submit it to Activision.
It would be nice to see a game like that for the gamecube but Nintendo would probably never go for it. The main problem I see with your idea is that it doesn't seem like there will be much bomb catching going on. The magic behind the original Kaboom was that you got sucked into the game because it was addictive (zen). I think a Kaboom 2 game should basically be the same concept as the origional. If a Kaboom 2 was actually going to be made this is what I think the requirements for it would need to be for it to be succesful..

It should star the madbomber.

The main part of gameplay should be catching bombs.

The graphics and sound for the new version should be updated to todays standards.

The game should be comprised of different boards. Ex board 1 the madbomber is trying to blow you up in New york. board 2 he's trying to bomb you on the ocean. Board 3 he's in a space ship trying to bomb you on the moon. (these are just examples that would make the game more entertaining to look at while you play)

The game would have to be released with a new type of paddle controller. Kaboom can simply not be played without a paddle style controller.

Anyway
I like your idea about teaming him up with the dude from Keystone Kapers. Perhaps the could work as partners bombing stuff on different levels. The begining of the game could be a short story of how they both went to jail for a few years and are now planning on taking over the world together. :-)

I definitly agree though that Larry Kaplan and David Crane would have to be top consultants on the game.

My kaboom website is currently being updated with new features. Check back in a few weeks at the new address http://www.geocities.com/kaboomonline

Thanks
>Mike