114 replies to this topic

[flicky]

Hi everyone

I found this cartridge today:



I can't find any reference to this game in the NES list in the Digital Press Guide. I think it might be a prototype cartridge of a previously unreleased game. I've never seen a NES proto before, could this be one?

I found the cartridge here in the UK, and when I tried it on my UK NES, the title screen flashes (which is what usually happens with NTSC carts). The title screen states "Published by.." but then there's just blank space. The bottom of the title screen mentions Nintendo of America. So I think it's likely that it's NTSC format.

I believe that Beam Software programmed the 8-bit computer versions of this game, so it's plausible that they would have worked on a NES version. But until I can get access to a NTSC NES machine, or a suitable adaptor for my machine, I can't say how far they got with this.

If anyone's got any thoughts on this, that would be great.

Thanks
Jon

[mojofltr]

I believe Andrew Davie (a member and moderator here at Atariage) programmed the game. He would probably have more information for you about the game itself.


link
link
link

Atariage member, theredeye, might be able to help if you wanted the ROMs dumped. Tempest, another Atariage moderator, is also a good prototype guy to go to, although I don't think he usually deals much with NES stuff... then, I've been wrong before.

---

Just found this in the old Stella BigList Archives:

Quote

Andrew:
It just occurred to me... *I* wrote Exploding Fist on the NES
Never released, I believe... but hell.... I sure do remember writing it!!

Russ Perry Jr:
Hey, was this pretty much complete? Who was it for? And why wasn't it
released? Am I asking too many questions?

Andrew:
Yes it was complete.
It was made in-house by Melbourne House / BEAM Software.
It wasn't released because it was targeted at a really small ROM size (hence
all the headaches I had) and by the time it was started / dropped /
restarted / finished, it was considered uncommercial to release it.
A

Interesting find, for sure! I just hope Andrew peeks in to say hello.

Edited by mojofltr, Thu May 4, 2006 5:40 PM.

[moycon]

I recall WOTEF being one of my favorite C-64 games. This was when the fighting genre was just taking off.

[mojofltr]

I thought I would mention that this is cross-posted at Digital Press.

This way, anyone interested can get whatever information pops up.

Edited by mojofltr, Thu May 4, 2006 7:32 PM.

[Shawn Sr.]

This might sound kinda dumb, but what about calling the phone number on the cart? I'm not sure if it would get you in trouble or not but if it didn't and it wasn't a dead number maybe the guy named would know more about it?

Also as soon as Andrew Davie pops his head in this thread I'm sure he will be able to tell if it's the game he made or not. And he might even know who the Dick fellow is odds would have it.

Best of luck with your new game and congrats on the great score!!

[flicky]

I opened up the cart this evening and have now uploaded some pictures of the circuit board here: http://jon-legg.magix.net/

Cheers
Jon

[Shawn Sr.]

Looks legit to me. Just hope it works

[flicky]

Hi everyone

I'm posting this message to the forums at both Digital Press and Atari Age.

This weekend I had a gaming get together at my place, and we managed to get Way of the Exploding Fist up and running!

Mat (Mayhem) adapted my PAL machine to play NTSC titles, and we managed to get a stable picture when we plugged the cartridge in.

We've taken some photos (variable quality I'm afraid), and I've now posted 4 of them here: http://jon-legg.magix.net/ [click on My Hobby]

These show
1. the intro screen when you turn the macine on
2. the title screen where you can choose the number of players (1, 2 or 3)
3. an in-game screen
4. the high score table showing my user ID and the programmer's name!

Screens 1, 2 and 4 above are stable on my TV, but screen 3 suffers from a *lot* of graphical glitches. The basic game seems to play fine, you can move left and right, punch, kick and jump. When you hit an opponent, you can also see stars above their head on the screenshot I've posted.

I discussed the glitch problem with the others (Mayhem, Steve Rich - Jobf, and Keith Ainsworth). The consensus was that either the game has the glitches as it's not fully developed, or it would need an actual NTSC machine to run 100%, rather than a modded PAL unit.

So now, I am wanting to get the ROM dumped asap, and get hold of a US machine to test this further.

Does anyone know of any NES collectors living in the UK who would have the ability to dump the ROM for me? I would much prefer to do this than risk sending it overseas.

Cheers
Jon

[TheRedEye]

Well, I'm ready to send dumping stuff when Flicky is, I'm still waiting for a reply to my PM though.

Edited by TheRedEye, Fri May 26, 2006 9:47 AM.

[mojofltr]

And now for something scatological:



... and probably unfunny, but I spent 15 minutes on it. It would seem a waste to just delete it or, in this case, flush it down the toilet!

[Andrew Davie]

flicky, on Fri May 5, 2006 9:00 AM, said:

Hi everyone

I found this cartridge today:

[Jon

TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

I wrote this. I thought it was lost forever, as I don't have a copy of the binary.
I'll be happy to answer questions. It was a speculative project, with no publsher. I took too long in development, and as there was no buyer, it was canned. I still remember a bit about how it was programmed.

Dick Lehrberg was BEAM's USA rep. He probably carried this cart around with him to publishers, trying to find a buyer. It's possible he left it with one on loan, and it just got forgotten, and eventually dumped.

I have to say, I'm *really stoked* that this has shown up after all these years.

Cheers
A

[Mayhem]

Yes, at a blustery Preston flea market! If you trace journies, I really wonder how it got there.

The game does pretty much seem complete aside from the graphical glitching, I assume it was finished when handed to Dick? Hopefully Jon can get this baby dumped in the near future...

Edited by MayhemUK, Sat May 27, 2006 5:35 AM.

[Andrew Davie]

MayhemUK, on Sat May 27, 2006 9:33 PM, said:

Yes, at a blustery Preston flea market! If you trace journies, I really wonder how it got there.

The game does pretty much seem complete aside from the graphical glitching, I assume it was finished when handed to Dick? Hopefully Jon can get this baby dumped in the near future...

The glitching is almost certainly a PAL/NTSC issue. There's no reason Dick would have had a PAL version in his hands, and the display system was *very* timing-critical. It bankswitches on 10 consecutive character-lines. Each character-line therefore had 256 characters available, into which every frame of the fighter's graphics (for that line) was super-packed. It was an interesting task. The switching of banks occurs at the end of the last scanline of the character, and obviously had to happen very quickly.

I can't wait for Jon to send me the cart and, finally, to have that baby back in my hands again!

Cheers
A

[mojofltr]

@Andrew: I just read the entire thread over at DP. (Anyone who hasn't read it, should go now!) I wasn't sure of whether you were being entirely serious or not (seen the quirky sense of humor here on occasion), but I think you made some interesting points along the way.

Cheers

[Keiyentai]

Wow cool find. So did Andrew ever get his little bundle back?

[Mayhem]

He wasn't being serious btw

(unless he suddenly decides to change his mind )

Anyhow, the cart has been dumped out and is ready for unveiling at Eurocon in two months time.

[flicky]

Hi everyone

I thought I'd let you know what I'm going to do with the Exploding Fist cartridge.

As Mat has said, the game will be on display for the first time at a convention we're co-organising here in the UK, Eurocon 2006 (www.sincil.co.uk/eurocon2006) After this, the ROM will be made generally available.

Now for the big news: I intend to sell the cartridge - but on the condition that I keep it until Eurocon has ended, and the ROM has been released.

The main reason I am doing this is that I have always wanted to get a classic arcade machine, and I see this find as enabling me to raise the cash to finally afford one. I would ideally like a cocktail cabinet from before 1985 or so.

The best scenario for me would be to agree a sale before Eurocon, enabling me to get hold of an arcade machine BEFORE Eurocon 2006 takes place, so I can take it along to the convention.

I am announcing this now, as I am open to offers for the Exploding Fist cart from now onwards (please send these privately).

I'm not going to set a deadline on this at this stage. However, any offers which will in any way make it easier for me to get hold of an arcade machine within the next 2 months will get preference. A trade or part exchange would be particularly welcome!

Please LMK if you have any questions about any of this.

Cheers
Jon

[Andrew Davie]

Keiyentai, on Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:28 PM, said:

Wow cool find. So did Andrew ever get his little bundle back?

No. I can't discuss this further, as the whole thing is now in the hands of my lawyers.

[madhatter667]

Has Eurocon come and gone? Just curious, as I was wanting to check out the ROM.

[Mayhem]

Eurocon is at the end of the month

[~~NationalGameDepot]

Are the ROM's yet available for this game? I have been pumped about playing this ever since I heard about it? I know Eurocon is over and I know the game was indeed sold. Would love to be able to get ahold of the ROMs though, I would even toss in a few bucks if that would make a difference.
~~NGD

[mojofltr]

Um... bump!

I noticed this on Mayhem's YouTube account and thought I'd post it here for anyone who was interested:

[MausGames]

Was this rom ever made available to the general public?

Is it a knockoff of Fist Of The North Star or what?

[Marc Oberhäuser]

MausGames, on Tue Nov 27, 2007 9:33 PM, said:

Is it a knockoff of Fist Of The North Star or what?

You don't know Exploding Fist? Check this...

[deathtrappomegranate]

This game caused quite a stir when it was released for the Spectrum, although that version was very easy to beat.