Messages

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

Perhaps it makes me a toady, but I'm a fan of people bragging about what rare items they have, but only if they share screen shots, videos, tunes, etc.  Obviously I'd rather they shared the whole enchilada (either via download or as a booty), but I'd rather have that little bit of info. than nothing.

I honestly don't see what the big deal here is.

I brought it upon myself for having the gall to respond in the first place. 

I have no ill-will towards the forum honestly, but I've obviously worn out my short welcome.  No harm, no foul.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

Per stated prior, what are you doing here, Mr. 30 post count in 5 years?

It's one thing to be insulting, but let's not get viscous.

Are you eight?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

You coming here and insinuating you've contributed more in general then actual members of this community who post here, let alone work on home brew releases, is indeed insulting.

More in general?  Absolutely not.  In terms of preserving and distributing video game prototypes across multiple platforms... It would seem a sound argument.

So again, I ask, what exactly are you doing here?

It seems nothing.  I suppose I will be on my way. 

Another victory for the forums?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

I suppose there will be a few dick riders who say, "Gee sir, you sure are awesome for having lots of money!" but those sorts of toadies are pretty rare, thankfully.

Thank God for them.  Without those dick-riders, this whole situation could have really gotten sour.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

Per as I said above, so what exactly are you doing here? And yes, coming here to blame toss and throw insults is stirring shit up. 

If you find anything I've said to be "insulting" you're either reading impaired or need to grow thicker skin.

As for why I'm here, the same reason as you I would imagine.  I mean, I joined the site in 2007 well before I ever purchased Marble Madness.  I didn't join 5 some-odd years ago hoping to bust your balls.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

So to that I'd say how you will be judged here by most is probably how you handle the Marble Madness thing, not prior deeds done elsewhere, if that even matters to you or not.

I can assure you, it doesn't.

This doesn't seem like the type of place that would be too fond of prototype hoarders from what I've gathered thus far.

So what exactly are you doing here then? It sounds more or less like you did come here to try to drum up business, only to realize no one here is interested in tossing thousands your way, or to simply brag and stir up shit. Considering all you have is Marble Madness, to be blunt, you don't really have much leverage here.

Read through the MM thread again.  I didn't start fielding offers in that thread, and I certainly didn't "stir shit up."  I didn't so much as mention any intentions of selling the game at all in fact. 

I shared some pictures of a game I unearthed that I thought people would be interested in seeing.  That's pretty much the long and short of it.  I don't really think I need(ed) "leverage," whatever that's supposed to mean.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

If some toolbag offered me a ton of money, I'd take the money, release it anyways, and tell him to pound sand.

Hmmm... I like you're style.

For the sake of clarity, I don't actually use any denomination of paper money to wipe my butthole.  I use toilet paper, but it's only single ply.  Make what you will of that.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

I'd keep my mouth shut instead of teasing people with a few screen shots and empty hope, seemingly with the sole mission of attracting a buyer.  But that's just me.

Buyers for such things come from Forums like Assembler and such, not a place like this.  This is a gamer community first, and a collector community (a distant) second.  This doesn't seem like the type of place that would be too fond of prototype hoarders from what I've gathered thus far.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

So to that I'd say how you will be judged here by most is probably how you handle the Marble Madness thing, not prior deeds done elsewhere, if that even matters to you or not.

I can assure you, it doesn't.

And as I mentioned before, would you even legally have the right to release the Marble Madness TG port in a way that involves money?

No, I don't have the legal rights to distribute the game for money.  With that said, I also don't have the legal rights to distribute it for free.  Beyond not legally owning the intellectual property, most of these prototypes are "loaners" meaning I don't even own the physical game from a legal standpoint.  It's not something I'd lose sleep over though.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

If I had some 10,000$ prototype:

1) I must be wiping my ass with 100$ bills
2) I'd rub it in everyone's face for like, a week
3) Then, I'd rip it/spread it like AIDS in 1985

What if you had a $10,000 prototype that you paid $1,500 for?  What if you were also wiping your ass with $1 dollar bills, and you had to flip each over and use both sides?  What if this obnoxiously over-priced prototype was glitchy, incomplete, and less fun than a trip to the dentist?  What if some malevolent collector came out from the shadows and offered you an awe-inspiring sum of cash for this game as long as it's not shared/distributed?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

I think once you start talking about thousands of dollars, your never gonna get your investment back.

I may not get my entire investment back, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to off-set the initial purchase a great deal through a release.  Like I mentioned before, I've done it numerous times in the past with both NES and Genesis titles.  Some of the games were not complete/good enough to warrant a release, and those are the titles I've released for free.  I purchased Swamp Thing and Dragon's Lair for the Genesis for $800 each, and released those to the Sega collecting community for free.  I spent $1,500 on the God-awful Arcadia VI for the NES and released that for free to the Nintendo collecting community.  I've released dozens of titles over the years, so the notion that anything would collect dust on my shelf is just inaccurate.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

It's an unfortunate character flaw.

Which one? Being trigger happy at throwing insults, or being a hoarder? I'd consider both equally bad, but I mean, you know what you're doing when you go in spending a ton of money on prototypes, and the hassle and flack that might be involved when you keep said unreleased title for yourself. You cant just jump in some close knit community, say "hey look what I got, here is two screen shots" then blow everyone off for weeks on end, then come back and lay blame down on others as to the reasons behind your absence and think no ones going to smack you down. It's in poor form. You're the one with the prototype, any "sharing" of said game kinda falls on you since you decided to take up the responsibility for the titles safe keeping and preservation when you purchased it.

The best way to preserve said game is basically to share it. I know that sucks for your pocket book, but if the sole interest in buying these things is to preserve the work that was done, well, its not going to happen when it just goes for years untouched on a shelf. Dealing with arcade hardware for a decent amount of time, one of the first things that pops into mind is the fact that over time eproms will lose their data. These 20 year old prototypes relying on eproms and all, well, you already know where I am headed with this.

Also, I'd like to mention, and I really don't know if its still the same way now, but it seems like I remember in the arcade community people being more interested in sharing unreleased titles romsets with the entire community instead of simply hoarding them, to make sure a wider audience is available to preserve them. The mentality and goals seemed to differ greatly from the going on's of the prototype business for game consoles, since on the console side typically the potential releaser is only interested in getting their money back first, or in some cases, doesn't care and has no intention of sharing at all what so ever.

Awesome.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

Firstly, I apologize for my derailment of the thread.  I was responding to my name being brought up, but I should have just gone through PM in hindsight.  It was honestly unintentional. 

As for profiting on a potential release, I don't believe I ever have in all of the games I've released.  I have made some money back on my initial investment, but ultimately always end up spending more money than anything else (usually a lot more).  When releasing a game isn't an option, I either release the rom for free or sell the game to another collector.  It all depends on situation. 

I will update the Marble Madness thread at some point today and tie up the remaining loose ends as best I can.

I also want to apologize to community as a whole.  This is a tighter-knit group than most, and I appreciate your collective passion.  When you collect prototypes, you tend to always be on the defensive, which is exactly what happened here.  When I've spent so much time and money releasing games to the public, I tend to get a bit trigger-happy when being accused of hoarding.  It's an unfortunate character flaw.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: So there's this Dino Force alpha version...]

I haven't heard anything about beaglepuss making the MM rom available, so even if he did nanage to get ahold of this, the end result would likely he the same as if any of the other collectors who buy unreleased games to keep them from being released to the public gets it.

On the contrary...

Here are some links for you to consider:
-  My release of the unreleased Genesis title Beastball http://segaage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=43&threadid=55098 .  The Download can be found here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4f5kdjyHmF-ZDM5YjdiMzAtMWNlZS00MjExLThiOTgtNTgxMDUzYjU2ZDNh/edit?pli=1&hl=en_US

-  My release of the Unreleased Genesis title Swamp Thing  http://segaage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=49&threadid=41542

-  My release of the Unreleased Genesis game Dragon's Lair and the Unreleased NES game Arcadia VI  http://segaage.com/auth/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=49&threadid=52638

-  My release of the Unreleased NES game Kitty's Catch, Unreleased NES engine for Tommy T's Sound editor, and a host of other NES titles  http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=35&threadid=20492

-  My release of the unreleased NES game Hoppin' Mad  http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=20344

-  Although it's DreamTR's game, I dumped and repro'd Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat for the Genesis http://segaage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=43&threadid=53310

I'm currently in the process of releasing Bill's Tomato game for the Genesis, and it should be ready within the next month or two.  That release will fund the release of a few more unreleased NES titles I have had in the works for some time now.

Now, I have to ask, how many releases have you played a role in?  The question is rhetorical of course, as I'm sure I already know the answer. 

The reason I haven't said anything in regard to Marble Madness in some time is because there's nothing to say.  Outside of Sadler offering to let me borrow a multi-tap, there hasn't been a single member of this community offering up anything outside of "Gimme TEH ROMZ!"  You get more bees with honey, and more roms with tact. 

I'm not going to drop tens of thousands of dollars on a game(s) and get nothing in return, that's not how I operate.  If MM were a good candidate to be reproduced and offset my initial investment, that's what I would have done.  It wasn't, so I didn't.

If this Dino Force game is real, and it's on Assembler, then it's already too late.  The big time collectors will scoop this up and put it on a shelf (and no, they're not French).  A $5,000 community fund raiser wouldn't add up to a down payment for a game of this caliber. 

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo ever drive]

Not sure how you would do CD games though . . .

Couldn't you just burn CDr like we have been doing for years?

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo ever drive]

I ordered mine the other day.  I can't wait until it arrives.  I've enjoyed their SNES and Genesis releases so far, but I'm even more excited for this one.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Thank you for those pics!  It's awesome to see this on a console!  I use to dump quarters into the arcade machine.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying them.  These things are a lot more fun when you share them with people that are equally enthusiastic.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Here's a pic of the board to hold you over for a moment (Note: I added the stickers.  The EPROMs had no covering when the game was purchased).


As for the preservation of the game, I think I have things under control lol.  This ain't my first rodeo fellas.  I've purchased, dumped, and preserved hundreds of prototypes over the years.  This is nothing new for me.

Now, back to my original post....
Can anyone fill me in on other owners of the game?  Someone mentioned early on in the thread that there are "very few" of these out there.  Well, how few?  Was there a Yahoo Japan auction?  What other history can you tell me about the game.

I have more pics and screen shots that I will be slowly leaking over course of the day/week.  I'm really interested in the history of the game at the moment though, not it's potential distribution.  No offense meant of course, just don't want to put the carriage in front of the horse is all.

All I know about the game is that the guy who had the prototype to the arcade of Marble Madness 2 supposedly had the pce/turbo version and he wouldn't dump neither rom. This was of course many years ago on zophar domain's message board (mid to late 90s ish?) and to this day I bet whoever he is probably will never dump the roms. BTW, sorry for the delayed response, been real busy at work as of late just got home. ^^

The Marble Madness 2 arcade rom has been available for years now.  Are you sure you're remembering the story correctly?  Do you remember if he posted any actual proof of his TG-16 prototype? 

I read at one point that there was a Yahoo Japan auction "A long time ago" for a Marble Madness prototype, but I'm wondering if it's all a bunch of internet lore at this point.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

What does widescreen do? Does it make for a 16:9 presentation?

Haven't tried it to be honest.  I could give it a spin I suppose.

I do love the fact that this game has gone undiscovered for 20+ years, and the first question someone has after it's finally unearthed is "What does widescreen do?"  Hahahaha!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Game inserted into my region modded Duo-r.


Debug message I mentioned earlier.


Credits.


Attract mode.


Attract mode pic 2.


"Practice Race."


"Beginner Race."


"Intermediate Race."


"Aerial Race."


"Silly Race."


"Ultimate Race."


Debug menu 1


Debug menu 2.  If you hit the run button, the songs from the game begin to play.  The keys for the song light up on the keyboards, effectively showing you how to play all the tunes.  How fucking cool is that?


Debug menu 3.  You can change the wave on the screen and it controls the pitch of a song.  Kinda weird.


Debug gameplay 1.


Debug gameplay 2.


Debug gameplay 3.  You'll notice on the first debug screen there's a "Pallette Filter" option.  For the above screen shot I chose the "Monochrome" option, but there are like ten different styles to choose from.

That's it for now guys.  I hope you're enjoying everything so far!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Well, I have plenty to report:

Firstly, I took a picture of the opening screen and each level.  The game opens up in the exact same fashion as the "Off the Wall" prototype does.  The player is greeted with "Tengen presents: Debug Level II."

After a bit messing around, I discovered an insanely awesome debug menu.  I have pictures of each "Test" that will likely do more justice than my simple explanation would.  Each test has to do with sound effect and things of that nature, but one choice allows you to mess with the color pallet.  At the end of all the test, the game defaults to a debug mode that allows you to "fly" your Marble across each landscape.  The color of the level depends on the pallet you chose.  I'm sure this sounds insanely confusing, but the pictures will help put things together.

As an aside, the second Marble is pictured leading me to believe this is a legitimate two player game.

I'm putting some primitive watermarks on the pictures and plan on uploading them shortly.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

We've discussed Marble Madness off and on over the years and nobody's been able to give solid info., so I doubt you'll get much now (though I'd love to see someone come forward).  Heh, you probably already know more about it than all of us put together.

That's a bummer.  I'll have to poke around a bit more apparently.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Nice to see it's not one-player only like the SMS version!

I haven't had the chance to actually try playing with a second player though (I am adapter-less at the moment), so I'm not 100% sure that the second player has been implemented yet.  I will have to pick up a multi-tap and give her a run-through.

The game comes equipped with a stage select feature (Simply pressing the select button does the trick).  I plan on posting (at least) a single screen shot from each level of the game.  The game itself does have an ending, but on the off-chance this is released, I would hate to spoil things (as anti-climatic as they may be).

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Behold the latest AbCard]

Haha, that's fantastic.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Behold the latest AbCard]

Hot damn, the craftsmanship is outstanding.  I must say, I couldn't be more impressed.

Did you guys create your own flash programmer for the pcbs?  If so, do you have any pictures of that?

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: Behold the latest AbCard]

Will Aetherbyte being adding EPROMs to the board or smaller mask roms?  I'm just trying to wrap my head around what the final product would look like.

Excellent work btw to all involved.  That pcb is mighty impressive looking.  I've gone through the process of (attempting) to have Genesis pcbs produced, so I can appreciate the amount of work involved in such an endeavor.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Im curious now..  who are ya?  lol

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=off&sclient=psy-ab&q=beaglepuss+prototype&oq=beaglepuss+prototype&gs_l=hp.3...480.4921.0.6582.20.18.0.2.2.0.185.1891.5j11.18.0...0.0.DLA64cdzMb8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=a78cf0cc3a51342a&biw=1440&bih=770

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

I will say that the purchase cost me many thousands of dollars already though.  This wasn't something that I just stumbled upon, but something I actively sought out. 

Yes I agree it's a highly valuable item.
The idea of fan press everyone wins, you recoup your money and possibly make a profit and we get a new HuCard release 

I couldn't agree more, which is why I've gone with such a release so many times in the past.  Again, I don't want to get carried away just yet.  There's a lot that needs to happen before I could commit to anything like that.

Congrats on the find! I'm very happy to hear you'd like to get this out to the community, thank you so much!

Easy does it friendo, I don't want to get too much into talks of releases and rom distributions just yet.  One step at a time. 

At the moment I'm interested in sharing pictures, screen shots, and maybe some video.  I'm also interested in gathering up what data there is to be had on the game currently.

We'll see where we end up when the dust settles.  If you know who I am (or starting to figure it out), you'd know that I'm no hoarder.  I am a dirty profiteer though, and I'm not interested in throwing money away.  It was a massive initial investment that I plan on recouping at the very least.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

I will say that the purchase cost me many thousands of dollars already though.  This wasn't something that I just stumbled upon, but something I actively sought out. 

Yes I agree it's a highly valuable item.
The idea of fan press everyone wins, you recoup your money and possibly make a profit and we get a new HuCard release 

I couldn't agree more, which is why I've gone with such a release so many times in the past.  Again, I don't want to get carried away just yet.  There's a lot that needs to happen before I could commit to anything like that.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

I'm new to the game here, but even I find this impressive.  The prototype board is gorgeous and immaculate!  Any chance we could see some in-game shots?

I will have in-game screen shots within the day for certain.  You have my word.

If you are who I think you are, then I am very happy indeed.

Nice find either way.

Much appreciated.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Here's Thibaut's email:  thibautg@yahoo.com

BTW any chance of getting a fan press similar to this http://sapphire.anime4ever.de/
and possibly on hucard if made contact/ linked up with some forum members here: https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=12141.0

I'm sure our friend Thibaut will find me soon enough, I won't be searching him out just yet.

As for the Hu-card release, I rather like the idea.  I've released prototypes for the NES (Kitty's Catch and Hoppin' Mad) as well as for the Genesis (Beastball and Dragon's Lair) on their respected software with a decent amount of success.  Again, that's down the road a bit, though I would entertain the idea for certain.

I will say that the purchase cost me many thousands of dollars already though.  This wasn't something that I just stumbled upon, but something I actively sought out.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Now, back to my original post....
Can anyone fill me in on other owners of the game?  Someone mentioned early on in the thread that there are "very few" of these out there. 

If this is for real, this is the only known prototype of this game.
There were screenshots of the game in issues of PC Engine Fan Magazine and some western magazines took info from that source.

Oh, it's very real.  Again, if you had an idea of who I am as far as prototype collecting is concerned, you'd already know that...

I've read that there are two other Marble Madness prototypes in collector's hands, one of which sold at auction on Yahoo Japan.  How are you so sure that this is the only known copy currently when I've read otherwise (during my brief search).

But because you were nice enough to actually answer my question, here's a screen shot of the game in action:

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Here's a pic of the board to hold you over for a moment (Note: I added the stickers.  The EPROMs had no covering when the game was purchased).


As for the preservation of the game, I think I have things under control lol.  This ain't my first rodeo fellas.  I've purchased, dumped, and preserved hundreds of prototypes over the years.  This is nothing new for me.

Now, back to my original post....
Can anyone fill me in on other owners of the game?  Someone mentioned early on in the thread that there are "very few" of these out there.  Well, how few?  Was there a Yahoo Japan auction?  What other history can you tell me about the game.

I have more pics and screen shots that I will be slowly leaking over course of the day/week.  I'm really interested in the history of the game at the moment though, not it's potential distribution.  No offense meant of course, just don't want to put the carriage in front of the horse is all.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / I got myself a Marble Madness prototype!]

Hi everyone!

I've been a member of the forum for years, but haven't had a good enough reason to post until now lol. 

I purchased a massive lot of prototype materials from Tengen/Atari, one of which is a Turbografx-16 copy of the unreleased title "Marble Madness."  I bought the lot untested, and in many instances unlabeled (as was the case with the MM prototype).  I knew the game was a TG-16/PC Engine prototype from Tengen though, so I was willing to take a shot.  I figured I'd end up with a prototype copy of KLAX at the very least.  The lot got in today, and immediately fired up the card to find it to be Marble Madness.

I've heard stories of other copies existing, but through all my searching I haven't been able to find concrete evidence to prove it.  Was there a copy for sale on Yahoo Japan?  Does anyone know any collectors that own a copy?  The title screen on mine is slightly different than that of the scans that are floating around, so I'm sure there were other proto cards out there at one point.  The game is fully playable to the end, but I don't know how complete it is exactly.

I will be updating with pics and screen shots shortly.  If you have an idea of who I am, you can trust that this is not some lame hoax.  For the time being though, I'm just trying to find as much info as possible on the game.