309 replies to this topic

[mattkain]

Finally got back to the Midwest and was able to dig my Good Luck Charlie Brown prototype out of storage. Here are some new pics:









Anyone know what the deal is with the strange chip size and layout? I'm not familiar with any other games that looked like this.

The next step: dump the ROM. Anyone in or around northern California have the tools to do this?

Matt Kain

[Tempest]

That looks like a standard prototype to me. I don't see anything odd about the chip size or layout.

PM sent. I know of someone who can dump it for you.

Tempest

[Omegamatrix]

I can't wait. Hopefully there is more of a game under there waiting to be found. Thanks for bringing it to the community Matt.

[mattkain]

Tempest, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 11:17 AM, said:

That looks like a standard prototype to me.  I don't see anything odd about the chip size or layout.

Really? That's normal? I always thought that it was abnormally large. The cart case cannot be closed properly with the chip inside because the chip itself is too big. Interesting.

Matt Kain

[DEBRO]

mattkain, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 3:08 PM, said:

Finally got back to the Midwest and was able to dig my Good Luck Charlie Brown prototype out of storage.  Here are some new pics:

Is my dream finally coming true?

[Allan]

DEBRO, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 4:25 PM, said:

mattkain, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 3:08 PM, said:

Finally got back to the Midwest and was able to dig my Good Luck Charlie Brown prototype out of storage.  Here are some new pics:

Is my dream finally coming true?

 

Aprils Fools!!!!!!























No, just kidding!

Allan

[Crimefighter]

You're a month early...

[Atariboy2600]

Cool that mean I can whip this out^^

Attached Thumbnails

• 
• 

[mos6507]

It looks like an 8K game. I think Miss Piggy's Wedding looks like that.

I hope you find someone to dump the game. I have an EPROM burner/reader I could send you but it's pretty clunky in operation.

Edited by mos6507, Mon Mar 6, 2006 4:58 PM.

[mattkain]

mos6507, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 2:56 PM, said:

It looks like an 8K game.  I think Miss Piggy's Wedding looks like that.

That's what I was thinking. If this is the case, then I seriously wonder if there isn't more gameplay tucked away inside the cart. I was never able to find anything other than the single screen of gameplay which I couldn't ever understand what the objective of it was.

Matt Kain

[Rom Hunter]

Thanks for the pictures, Matt Kain!

I'm looking forward to 'play' this legendary prototype.

I've added the pics to Atarimania:
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=11864

Edited by Rom Hunter, Mon Mar 6, 2006 5:52 PM.

[Atariboy2600]

Rom Hunter, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 6:45 PM, said:

Thanks for the pictures, Matt Kain!

I'm looking forward to 'play' this legendary prototype.

I've added the pics to Atarimania:
http://www.atarimania.com/detail_soft.php?...ERSION_ID=11864

 

Cool hope to get ther real rom and take clear screenshots for your page^_^

[Shawn Sr.]

I just pee'd 2 drops when I saw that cart. PLEASE dump it or sell out the right to dump it to someone.

[supercat]

mattkain, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 6:34 PM, said:

That's what I was thinking.  If this is the case, then I seriously wonder if there isn't more gameplay tucked away inside the cart.  I was never able to find anything other than the single screen of gameplay which I couldn't ever understand what the objective of it was.

 

Given that the cart requires two 2732's, I would tend to think development should have progressed far enough to have more than 4K worth of code. Otherwise why bother burning both chips? Even if all one had was the 2x2732 cart, I would think one would have one EPROM labeled something like "GENERIC HI" which simply contained something like:

  ldx #5
lp:
  lda basecode,x
  sta $80,x
  dex
  bpl lp
  jmp $80
basecode:
  lda $1FF8
  jmp ($1FFC)

This could just sit in the upper ROM socket while different versions of the code went in the lower.

[Tempest]

mattkain, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 6:34 PM, said:

mos6507, on Mon Mar 6, 2006 2:56 PM, said:

It looks like an 8K game.  I think Miss Piggy's Wedding looks like that.

That's what I was thinking. If this is the case, then I seriously wonder if there isn't more gameplay tucked away inside the cart. I was never able to find anything other than the single screen of gameplay which I couldn't ever understand what the objective of it was.

Matt Kain

 

There probably is. Remember how incomplete we thought Snow White was before it was thoroughly examined. I can't wait to get my hands on this rom...

The catalog entry said that if you lost your kite you would have to rake leaves to get another one. So there probably is another screen. I believe the object of the game was to fly your kite around for as long as you could without getting hit.

Tempest

[moycon]

Video leaf raking is DEBRO's dream come true!!??

Can't wait to see this one, we've all known about it for a long time. Will be nice to see it in action.

[Foxsolo2000]

Jesus the Holy freakin Grail has finally surfaced. Mattkain you possess a true treasure there. I truly hope you can dump this or at the very least allow Tempest to examine it. Many thanks my friend

[2600khz]

Ooh Gimmie I Want A .a26 Copy!

[mattkain]

Hi everyone,

I suppose I should clarify some of my intentions. I've received several PMs concerning dumping the ROM and selling the cart, and I can only say that it's great to see such interest in the game.

1. Playing the game. For those of you who are simply concerned with playing the game, fear not. I have no desire or intention to sit in my basement raking digital leaves and laughing at the many Atari gamers/collectors/enthusiasts who wish they could have a go at GLCB.

2. Selling the game. At present, I'm about 95% certain that I will not be selling the cart any time soon. I would have to get a pretty amazing offer to part with the cart, and I can't really see that happening right now. This isn't to say that I won't sell it in the future, but probably not right now. Also, I confess that I don't really collect video games any more so I'm not as attached to the cart as I was 10 years ago.

3. Dumping the game. I am currently exploring my options for dumping the game. I confess that I'm not really sure how the process works or once the game is dumped what the best way to get it out to the community is (maybe someone can fill me in). I will NOT send the game in the mail. I was bitten twice in my collecting days by using the post (once by someone ripping me off through the mail, and once by someone actually stealing a package that was delivered to me) so I have no intention of mailing my most valuable game anywhere. If and when it gets dumped, it will have to be done in person.

One thing that I want to make absolutely clear: I do not want copies of the game being sold. I will not dump the cart if I feel someone is going to use it to spin a profit. The last thing I want to do is hand the cart over to someone who then dumps the ROM and starts selling GLCB carts for $50 a pop. Perhaps I am being naive, and this is impossible, but ideally I would like everyone to be able to easily obtain the ROM for FREE so they can play the game, analyze the source, or whatever. I am curious if once a game is dumped if there is some central archive where the ROM would be stored and made available to collectors for FREE. This is key to me dumping the cart. Hopefully members of this board can steer me in the right direction. What is the general path that one follows when they want to dump a ROM and make it accessible to the public?

I hope this clarifies some of my feelings. Let me know if any one has any questions, and feel free to flame me if you so desire.

Matt Kain

P.S. Tempest: I'll get back to you on gameplay when I have time to read your overview.

Edited by mattkain, Tue Mar 7, 2006 2:37 PM.

[Dutchman2000]

Matt-

Thanks for making your intentions known. It is great to know that one day we will all be playing this game! As for dumping the game, I can't help you as I am in Chicago. I have all the equipment necessary but you already stated you do no want to send the cart anywhere, and I agree with that. I'm sure AtariAge will be a great site for the game to be distributed as a ROM download. I am going that route when Atari 800 Sinistar is ready.

I'm sure there is someone local who will dump the game for you, if not it looks like I will need to take a road trip....

[CPUWIZ]

mattkain, on Tue Mar 7, 2006 1:36 PM, said:

Hi everyone,

I suppose I should clarify some of my intentions.  I've received several PMs concerning dumping the ROM and selling the cart, and I can only say that it's great to see such interest in the game.

1.  Playing the game. For those of you who are simply concerned with playing the game, fear not.  I have no desire or intention to sit in my basement raking digital leaves and laughing at the many Atari gamers/collectors/enthusiasts who wish they could have a go at GLCB.

2.  Selling the game.  At present, I'm about 95% certain that I will not be selling the cart any time soon.  I would have to get a pretty amazing offer to part with the cart, and I can't really see that happening right now.  This isn't to say that I won't sell it in the future, but probably not right now.  Also, I confess that I don't really collect video games any more so I'm not as attached to the cart as I was 10 years ago. 

3.  Dumping the game.  I am currently exploring my options for dumping the game.  I confess that I'm not really sure how the process works or once the game is dumped what the best way to get it out to the community is (maybe someone can fill me in).  I will NOT send the game in the mail.  I was bitten twice in my collecting days by using the post (once by someone ripping me off through the mail, and once by someone actually stealing a package that was delivered to me) so I have no intention of mailing my most valuable game anywhere.  If and when it gets dumped, it will have to be done in person. 

One thing that I want to make absolutely clear: I do not want copies of the game being sold.  I will not dump the cart if I feel someone is going to use it to spin a profit.  The last thing I want to do is hand the cart over to someone who then dumps the ROM and starts selling GLCB carts for $50 a pop.  Perhaps I am being naive, and this is impossible, but ideally I would like everyone to be able to easily obtain the ROM for FREE so they can play the game, analyze the source, or whatever.  I am curious if once a game is dumped if there is some central archive where the ROM would be stored and made available to collectors for FREE.  This is key to me dumping the cart.  Hopefully members of this board can steer me in the right direction.  What is the general path that one follows when they want to dump a ROM and make it accessible to the public?

I hope this clarifies some of my feelings.  Let me know if any one has any questions, and feel free to flame me if you so desire.

Matt Kain

P.S. Tempest: I'll get back to you on gameplay when I have time to read your overview.

 

Where are you located? Don't say Northern California, it doesn't tell me much.

[Tempest]

The 'dumping' process is pretty straight forward. Bascially you pop out the EPROMs using a special tool and plug each one into a special device called an EPROM reader/burner. The EPROM reader is connected to your computer (mine uses the parallel port) and there is some software you run that will read each EPROM and output the contents to a file. This is where we get all those .bin files for emulators. Some people also have cart readers which can actually read the EPROMs without having to pop them out of the board. A 7800 can be modified for this task.

The process is perfectly safe and will not harm the prototype. The only real dangers are static electricity (easily remedied by touching something metal before touching the ERPOM) and bending the legs on the EPROM (which shouldn't happen if you use the right tool to pull them out). I've dumped literally hundreds of prototypes, and I've never damaged one.


Tempest

[mattkain]

Dutchman2000, on Tue Mar 7, 2006 12:44 PM, said:

I can't help you as I am in Chicago. 

Geez. I was just in Southern Wisconsin 2 weeks ago and flew out of O'Hare. How's that for a missed opportunity?

Matt Kain

[sku_u]

mattkain, on Tue Mar 7, 2006 4:36 PM, said:

Perhaps I am being naive, and this is impossible, but ideally I would like everyone to be able to easily obtain the ROM for FREE so they can play the game, analyze the source, or whatever.  I am curious if once a game is dumped if there is some central archive where the ROM would be stored and made available to collectors for FREE.  This is key to me dumping the cart.  Hopefully members of this board can steer me in the right direction.  What is the general path that one follows when they want to dump a ROM and make it accessible to the public?

Simply post it to this message and/or PM Albert asking him to add the ROM to the Atariage Rarity Guide database where hundreds of binary files are also archived for free download. Also make clear whether or not you want others posting the ROM on their site for free download. Atarimania.com is another big resource for binary files as are the Stella Archives.

[mattkain]

sku_u, on Tue Mar 7, 2006 1:31 PM, said:

Simply post it to this message and/or PM Albert asking him to add the ROM to the Atariage Rarity Guide database where hundreds of binary files are also archived for free download. 

I like the sound of this. This is most likely the path that I'll take. Thanks to everyone for all the information and help so far.

Matt Kain