18 replies to this topic

[Curt Vendel]

Hi everyone,

As promised, I am freely releasing the image of the Universal Dragrace Prototype, for more info, check out the auction on bidiots.com where I won this game:

Bidiots.com Universal Proto Auction

Here is the ROM image of the Universal Prototype Dragrace Game:

Atari Museum Archives - Universal Prototype Rom Image


Curt

[-^Cro§Bow^-]

Well..it works I will say that. I am still having a bit of a time figuring out how the difficulty switches and select do. But at least we now know the buildings are indeed static during the races. Only the road and the cars more...

I haven't won a race yet either..I either blow the car up...or crash into the side. Kinda tough to steer and shift. Todd Rogers should like this one...as it is the literally step up from Activision's Dragster.

[MattyXB]

Thanks for the release. Hard to play. Take me some minutes, till I drive.

First you must press left, up, right and then hold down till the light is green or the man drop the flag. Then press up to drive. Down for switch the speed. From C - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4.

Found 2 different levels with the difficult switches. And maybe you can change a bit more with 2 Players or only 1.

[MattyXB]

Or better:
Left, Up, Right and wait till green or flag drop.
Then short Down and hold Up. For speed change again Down and up till speed is by 4.

After the blue line or white line press Fire. Then the Parachute opens.

[mojofltr]

Use the select switch, your car will turn yellow - play with automatic transmission!

[SteveW]

The game won't even run properly in Stella X.

[bjk7382]

[quote name='mojofltr]Use the select switch' date=' your car will turn yellow - play with automatic transmission![/quote']

Nope, that is the CPU driver. When you plug your joystick into port 2 you can race against the computer.

[oesii]

Quote

The game won't even run properly in Stella X.

You're on a Mac right? Have you tried the new release of Stella 1.2?

http://www.atariage....pic.php?t=50679

Works fine on my end. And if you're using StellaX on Windows, drop it, Z26 is too good

[povlok1]

Quote

Hi everyone,

As promised, I am freely releasing the image of the Universal Dragrace Prototype, for more info, check out the auction on bidiots.com where I won this game:

Bidiots.com Universal Proto Auction

Here is the ROM image of the Universal Prototype Dragrace Game:

Atari Museum Archives - Universal Prototype Rom Image


Curt

Thanks Curt;) very nice of you to make that public.. ))

[povlok1]

after playing it.. I must say.. its DEFINETLY a proto type:) about as unpolished as Michael Jacksons'....errr.....

[mojofltr]

Quote

Nope, that is the CPU driver. When you plug your joystick into port 2 you can race against the computer. :-)

Ahh! That makes more sense. I was wondering what would be fun about dragracing a car with auto transmission! HA! Having a CPU driver is a much better option!

*MoJo would promise to think before he posts from now on, but he'd probably only forget anyways.*

[gambler172]

Thanks for the release
greetings Gambler

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Sorry to bring dig up an old thread, but I've been looking here on Atari Age about this and as far as I can tell, no one has mentioned this so...

I just found a page where a guy details his restoration project of an arcade game called Turbo. From the screenshot it reminds me a lot about this Universal prototupe game. Could it be that they were trying to make their own version of Turbo or is it just a coincidence?

Again, if this has already been covered I apologize...but I can't help but thinking that this 2600 game may in fact be Turbo (if someone proves that theory wrong, that's fine) :wink:

[Shaggy the Atarian]

Whoops, I forgot the URL, sorry.

http://www.basementa...urbo/index.html

[Albert]

Shaggy the Atarian said:

Sorry to bring dig up an old thread, but I've been looking here on Atari Age about this and as far as I can tell, no one has mentioned this so...

I just found a page where a guy details his restoration project of an arcade game called Turbo. From the screenshot it reminds me a lot about this Universal prototupe game. Could it be that they were trying to make their own version of Turbo or is it just a coincidence?

Again, if this has already been covered I apologize...but I can't help but thinking that this 2600 game may in fact be Turbo (if someone proves that theory wrong, that's fine)  :wink:

While there was a connection between Universal (the name silkscreened onto this prototype 2600 board) and Coleco (the company promoting Turbo for the 2600), the Turbo arcade game was made by SEGA. The gameplay mechanics are also different in that this unknown prototype is a drag racing game, similar to Activison's Dragster but not really sharing much with the arcade game Turbo, except for the similar perspective.

You can read Matt Reichert's review of this unknown Universal prototype here.

..Al

[Shaggy the Atarian]

I see, I should have remembered to check there. But when I saw that pic it really made me wonder about it. To be honest I had never heard of Turbo before today. I suppose the mystery around this one will never be solved.

[Tempest]

The city background is reminicent of Turbo, but the similarities stop there. This game is a clone of Dragster, and nothing like Turbo.

Tempest

[Bushie2600]

Tempest said:

The city background is reminicent of Turbo, but the similarities stop there.  This game is a clone of Dragster, and nothing like Turbo.

Tempest

That's right, I own the only known Turbo prototype in existance.

[SS]

Bushie2600 said:

That's right, I own the only known Turbo prototype in existance.  

I think that I heard about that somewhere ...