Sabrina - the final part

[Ralf]

So, there is a Spanish game called Sabrina about an Italian pop singer called... well, Sabrina as well

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=4298

Let's not discuss Sabrina herself but the game instead It's actually bad but somehow I remembered it recently and I wondered about the ending of it.

So if you check the Amstrad version, there is some animated ending:

http://computeremuzone.com/ficha.php?id=477


If you examine the Spectrum poster or the inlay then you can see this ending too, check the rightmost screenshot:


But it seems there is nothing like that on available Spectrum tape.
Is Spectrum tape image incomplete?

I made the rzx recording of this game once. That's the final message:


What does it mean? "You came to the plate" says Google Translate. Doesn't make much sense. And what is this code?

Thanks for any hints!

[Alessandro]

"Llegaste al plató" means "You reached the set", "set" meaning "scene", i.e. a place where a movie or TV program is staged. The code, if I remember correctly, might refer to a final part (the live music set?) which appears to be missing from the TAP file available in the archive, and from the TZX version hosted by El Trastero Del Spectrum as well. I also seem to remember this was a bug of the Spectrum version.

Back in the day I tried it because a demo version of it appeared on one of those pirated tape magazines sold in newsagents. Novelty value indeed, but very sparse gameplay, dubious design choices (enemies will be dispatched only by hitting them with one of the three blows), you lose a life almost instantly as an enemy touches Sabrina, and not much else to hold your attention beyond a short time. Arnau Jess told me Andrés Garcia, one of the game's authors, explained in a podcast recorded for El Mundo del Spectrum that it came out much worse than in his intentions because of the pressures coming from the publisher to have the game ready within the deadline. I did not listen to the podcast yet so I cannot say anything more.

[Einar Saukas]

And what is this code?

Probably this code would unlock the last part, featuring an animated "music show" to reward your victory.

However if this game release was rushed, there's a good chance this last part was never implemented...

[Ralf]

However if this game release was rushed, there's a good chance this last part was never implemented...

The final part IS implemented in Amstrad version. And Amstrad version seems to be a conversion of Spectrum version, reduced to 2 colours in the gaming stage.

So I would say it was implemented, as we may see on the screenshots. Maybe just it wasn't duplicated to the Spectrum tape by mistake. Or maybe the tape was dumped incorrectly.

[Ivanzx]

However if this game release was rushed, there's a good chance this last part was never implemented...

The final part IS implemented in Amstrad version. And Amstrad version seems to be a conversion of Spectrum version, reduced to 2 colours in the gaming stage.

So I would say it was implemented, as we may see on the screenshots. Maybe just it wasn't duplicated to the Spectrum tape by mistake. Or maybe the tape was dumped incorrectly.

I have contact with the CPC version programmer, J. Navarro, and I asked him yesterday and he said that he converted everything from the Spectrum version he was given, which means that later when manufacturing the Spectrum casettes they cut that part or there was a last minute bug and the final version did not include it I will see him this weekend in Barcelona in person in a retro fair, and I will ask him more details

The people from El Mundo del Spectrum are going to ask the original Spectrum programmer to see if he remembers what may have happened! but defintely, that level or scene was programmed in Spectrum, Let´s see what happened.

[Ralf]

Great news Ivan to hear that! Let's hope that something turns out of this investigation. I'll be watching this thread.

By the way this ending is definitely worth to see it. See it yourself Check the CPC version from Computeremuzone webiste. You can choose the ending there without playing the game.

[Ivanzx]

A pleasure to be of help, Ralf! By the way I can see that there is only 1 tap preserved from Sabrina, and I know for sure that there were, at least, 2 editions of the game... could it be that the one preserved was incomplete? Once I have more time I will try to check or maybe play with pokes my version and see if there is an ending

[Ralf]

Do you own the cassette Ivan? Or know somebody who owns the cassette?

If we check WOS record for this game then we have .tap version only and "Perfect TZX required" info. So maybe it wasn't fully dumped after all.

By the way do you have any contact with Juan Pablo Lopez Grao? Is there any chance to see any update of archive of Spanish Spectrum games in near or not so near future?

[Alessandro]

If we check WOS record for this game then we have .tap version only and "Perfect TZX required" info. So maybe it wasn't fully dumped after all.

Ahem...

the TZX version hosted by El Trastero Del Spectrum

There is a "perfect TZX" file of the Spectrum version available. Trouble is, it also seems, at least by comparing it with the TAP one, to be missing the final part with the show scene.

[Ivanzx]

Do you own the cassette Ivan? Or know somebody who owns the cassette?

If we check WOS record for this game then we have .tap version only and "Perfect TZX required" info. So maybe it wasn't fully dumped after all.

By the way do you have any contact with Juan Pablo Lopez Grao? Is there any chance to see any update of archive of Spanish Spectrum games in near or not so near future?

Yep! I own a tape! I own the one with the cover you first posted ANd this weekend I am also going to meet one of the main guys in the preservation team, so I will ask him, beacause I know he also owns a Sabrina tape

About Juan Pablo, I think they said there would be an update soon, but as Alessandro pointed out, in the Trastero you can find some juicy updates

[^m00h^]

Cheers mates, sorted !!!

Now it has the final cut:

https://vtrd.in/release.php?r=61ad4dc0e ... 44973cd7d3

Since the original Spectrum final cut was missing, they had to convert it from MSX and CPC, Tiboh did it (as always!) At the highest level !!!
Graphics are partly taken from both MSX and CPC. With music they had to use a midi file with Sabrina's song and the converter to convert it to AY ".

Huge thanks to Slider and Tiboh for their common work!

[RMartins]

Although recovering the game by doing a conversion from MSX and CPC version is a really nice thing to do, we should try to really find the original complete Spectrum version.

[+3code]

How must this be added in the database? As "mod"?

[Ralf]

Great job guys! The original ending may be lost forever so it's great to see it restored from other versions,

[^m00h^]

Sabrina has been updated, now the final cut includes ay music from the Sardina remix amstrad game. Also it has initial screen 'Iber Software' now:

https://vtrd.in/release.php?r=4377e50ec ... cda71ae074

[Einar Saukas]

How must this be added in the database? As "mod"?

Yes, I think that's a good choice.

[Ralf]

[mention]^m00h^[/mention]
If I could give an advice, this mod is great but it could be improved.

Currently you need to load it in USR 0 mode - type commands from Basic and Tr-Dos. Believe me, it eliminates over 80% of Speccy fans from seeing the game. It should be simple, click on the file and it runs in the emulator.

If you provide some cheats already, you should enable people to just see the final as an start option.

I'm also not sure about the colours in the final. In the original it seems that Sabrina was black on white. You made her white on black.
Was it a deliberate choice?

[Einar Saukas]

Currently you need to load it in USR 0 mode - type commands from Basic and Tr-Dos. Believe me, it eliminates over 80% of Speccy fans from seeing the game. It should be simple, click on the file and it runs in the emulator.

This is trivial to fix:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/2 ... um/Usr0x01

[Ralf]

This is trivial to fix:

I didn't know it. Thanks.
However this program is a tape image and here we have a disk image.
Would applying it really be trivial?

A note to the mod authors - any chance for the tape version?

[Einar Saukas]

However this program is a tape image and here we have a disk image.
Would applying it really be trivial?

Yes

It just executes a short assembly routine to switch to USR 0 mode, afterwards load a program from tape using BASIC. You just need to replace the BASIC part.

[rastersoft]

Back in the day I tried it because a demo version of it appeared on one of those pirated tape magazines sold in newsagents.

Mmmm... I remember a demo in the Microhobby magazine, quite legal...

[Alessandro]

Back in the day I tried it because a demo version of it appeared on one of those pirated tape magazines sold in newsagents.

Mmmm... I remember a demo in the Microhobby magazine, quite legal...

Maybe it was the same demo, those tape magazines sometimes included demo versions passed off as full games.

[rastersoft]

Mmmm... I remember a demo in the Microhobby magazine, quite legal...

Maybe it was the same demo, those tape magazines sometimes included demo versions passed off as full games.

I don't know others, but in the case of Microhobby, they always put clearly that those tapes contained demos, never the complete game.

[zup]

This is trivial to fix:

I didn't know it. Thanks.
However this program is a tape image and here we have a disk image.
Would applying it really be trivial?

A note to the mod authors - any chance for the tape version?

Some time ago, I made a +3(e) disk image that used the extra memory on 128k to store the second part of the game. When you finished the first level, instead of loading the second level it got the data already stored and started the second part of the game.

I used some POKEs and time-compression to reach the end of the game... and everything worked as intended.

Making a tape version from that image should be trivial... but obviously it won't be the original thing.

[Alessandro]

I don't know others, but in the case of Microhobby, they always put clearly that those tapes contained demos, never the complete game.

I know. What I meant was, these "magazines" (Special Program, New Special Playgames, Run Games etc.) did not only publish pirated games, badly translated with false names, but sometimes, they also reserved the same treatment to demos, passing them off as full games.