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Topic: I get today a Peter Penguin (Prototype?)
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Eckhard Stolberg
Atari Pro II
  
Member # 39
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posted 04-19-2002 04:15 PM
Matty: The chip at the back is not an extra ROM, but a 74LS04 inverter chip. It is needed, if the game comes on an EPROM chip instead of a ROM chip. What's also strange about this cart are the four jumpers at the front side. Without knowing what pins they connect it's hard to tell what they are for, but my guess would be that they let you choose between 2K and 4K game and between ROM and EPROM chips.The serial number really looks like an ITT number. Maybe this cart is an evaluation copy for ITT to approve before Homevision starts the production. Or maybe Jahfish is right, and the game was sent to Telematch for review. Marco: My theory is that ITT was officially distributing Homevision games in Germany under their own name. IIRC ITT cartridges have been found where there was a Homevision label under the ITT label. I also think that at least some of the games were programmed by Homevision too, maybe even in request by ITT. Look at the two Pumuckl games for example (the ROMs are known as Zoo Fun and Farmyard Fun). These games feature the main character and even the title music of a populat German children TV series at the time. It wouldn't make much sense for a non-German company to base a game on this, and ITT seems to have had an official license for Pumuckl games. At least I have heard about ITT advertisements for Pumuckl games. But if you look at the Zoo Fun game, you can clearly see that is was written on the base of the Panda Chase source code. For example if you loose a life in Zoo Fun, you are shown the number of remaining Pandas. But while the screen display is quite similar in the two games, the gameplay is very different. So it can't just be a simple hack. And AFAIK Panda Chase never was released by ITT, only by Homevision. And while there still are some holes in the Homevision release list, there also are some obscure PAL games, like Clown Downtown or Parachute, which are unaccounted for. It might be possible that these were created by Homevision as well. I'm not sure if Homevision also sold pirated games, but there still are those German label Frogger carts in the Homevision style cartridges. And if Parker Germany really had Homevision build some carts for them, it would seem unlikely that Homevison was a pirate company. Ciao, Eckhard Stolberg
Posts: 283 | From: | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged
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