15 replies to this topic

[Foxsolo2000]

Have there been many Raiders of the Lost Ark protos discovered? I ask for Rom Hunter has once again raised the question of the infamous key and after reading through several threads I began to wonder if anyone had studied prototypes of this game or WIPs to see if anything was different from the original?

[Tempest]

To the best of my knowledge no true WIP versions of raiders have been found, only final releases.

Tempest

[Foxsolo2000]

Tempest, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:15 PM, said:

To the best of my knowledge no true WIP versions of raiders have been found, only final releases.

Tempest

Was that normal? I mean most games had at least a couple of WIPs discovered and Raiders sure isn't the most straight forward game in existence so you would think that there would be a couple of prototypes knocking around?

[keilbaca]

Foxsolo2000, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:46 AM, said:

Tempest, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:15 PM, said:

To the best of my knowledge no true WIP versions of raiders have been found, only final releases.

Tempest

Was that normal? I mean most games had at least a couple of WIPs discovered and Raiders sure isn't the most straight forward game in existence so you would think that there would be a couple of prototypes knocking around?

They were EPROMS with labels attached to them (some protos have several labels stacked on top of each other). They could have just rewrote over the cart, to the final release, the last one before they put the game in production.

Then again that would make the most sense to me, but if I'm just talking out of my ass, I'm sure Tempest will correct me.

Edited by keilbaca, Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:03 AM.

[Tempest]

keilbaca, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:02 AM, said:

Foxsolo2000, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 8:46 AM, said:

Tempest, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 2:15 PM, said:

To the best of my knowledge no true WIP versions of raiders have been found, only final releases.

Tempest

Was that normal? I mean most games had at least a couple of WIPs discovered and Raiders sure isn't the most straight forward game in existence so you would think that there would be a couple of prototypes knocking around?

They were EPROMS with labels attached to them (some protos have several labels stacked on top of each other). They could have just rewrote over the cart, to the final release, the last one before they put the game in production.

Then again that would make the most sense to me, but if I'm just talking out of my ass, I'm sure Tempest will correct me.

That's correct. EPROMs were expensive, so they reused them when possible. Why would you want to keep a WIP version of a game around when you have a better version? Generally the only reason WIP versions still exist is that they were taken home and not returned, or hidden somewhere and forgotten about.


Tempest

[Foxsolo2000]

I guess you are right. I am just surprised that HSW didn't take a couple home as other programmers usually did. Hope a prototype of this does surface

[crsdawg]

about a year and a half ago i ebayed, then side dealed a few carts from a guy. 3 of the protos came with early versions of the manual(hand typed) and all are wips. these games were a flea market find and the other carts i saw him auction were all wips(to the best of my knowledge). i believe tempest picked up a very early saboteur from this same person.

anyway, one item i missed on was a raiders eeprom cart that also came with early version instructions. i'd be very surprised if that one wasn't a wip as well.

i'm still kicking myself for not bidding more, it would have completed my hsw collection, heh heh. live and learn.

Edited by crsdawg, Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:27 AM.

[Tempest]

crsdawg, on Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:25 AM, said:

about a year and a half ago i ebayed, then side dealed a few carts from a guy. 3 of the protos came with early versions of the manual(hand typed) and all are wips. these games were a flea market find and the other carts i saw him auction were all wips(to the best of my knowledge). i believe tempest picked up a very early saboteur from this same person.

anyway, one item i missed on was a raiders eeprom cart that also came with early version instructions. i'd be very surprised if that one wasn't a wip as well.

i'm still kicking myself for not bidding more, it would have completed my hsw collection, heh heh. live and learn.

Yeah I vaugly remember that. The version of Saboteur I got out of that deal was VERY early (and very interesting). The only reason I won is that people decided not to outbid me on it because they know I'm a Saboteur nut.

Tempest

[Foxsolo2000]

So there is at least one out there. I hope the owner reads this and shows the rom to Tempest

[MattyXB]

I own one Proto from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I buy it from an Atari Age User for some years as he sold his collection. He dump the Prototype and some Bytes were different. But not the gameplay itself.

What me wonder, it has not work on my Atari 2600 VCS Jr. PAL. But on my Atari 7800 it work without problems.

And I saw one sold on eBay later. The price was not high, but I have not buy it, because one is enough.

[Tempest]

MattyXB, on Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:12 PM, said:

I own one Proto from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I buy it from an Atari Age User for some years as he sold his collection. He dump the Prototype and some Bytes were different. But not the gameplay itself.

What me wonder, it has not work on my Atari 2600 VCS Jr. PAL. But on my Atari 7800 it work without problems.

And I saw one sold on eBay later. The price was not high, but I have not buy it, because one is enough.

The different bytes in your proto were a bankswitching 'hot spot'. Nothing that affects the game.

Tempest

[Godzilla]

i've always wondered about this one, wasn't it called fox bat at one point? a game this complicated, imho, has to have some interestering proto/skeletons in it's closet...

[Foxsolo2000]

Godzilla, on Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:17 PM, said:

i've always wondered about this one, wasn't it called fox bat at one point? a game this complicated, imho, has to have some interestering proto/skeletons in it's closet...

Foxbat? Was that a codeword for it or a real title Atari was considering?

[Tempest]

Godzilla, on Tue Sep 19, 2006 5:17 PM, said:

i've always wondered about this one, wasn't it called fox bat at one point? a game this complicated, imho, has to have some interestering proto/skeletons in it's closet...

That was an error on Atari's part from what I understand. Foxbat was probably a plane game of some sort.


Tempest

[Curt Vendel]

I have never seen a lab loaner on that game, nor have I yet to find its source code which would be a truly great find since its a really nice engine and could be really helpful in writing new games.



Curt

Tempest, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 9:15 AM, said:

To the best of my knowledge no true WIP versions of raiders have been found, only final releases.

Tempest

[Buyatari]

This really would be a great find. We still haven't figured this one out.