Spectrum Computing

Whilst I agree about Beach Volley, Inspector Gadget etc I'd still stick with the original publisher as Ocean, Melbourne House etc as they would have licensed them to Erbe, even if they chose not to publish the games themselves in the UK. They were the ones who produced the games and originally advertised them etc.

I guess it's kind of confusing having entries in the database that refer to the Erbe versions as "re-releases" as they're not really but I don't know if there's a better way round it? Could you add some note to the effect that they were advertised for UK sale but then only released in Spain via a third party?

richl wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:46 pm Whilst I agree about Beach Volley, Inspector Gadget etc I'd still stick with the original publisher as Ocean, Melbourne House etc as they would have licensed them to Erbe, even if they chose not to publish the games themselves in the UK. They were the ones who produced the games and originally advertised them etc.

"Original publisher" is a quite ambiguous term when we also have "original price" and "original publication" which do refer to the first published version, although I'm not sure there's any better way to word it.

richl wrote: ↑Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:46 pm I guess it's kind of confusing having entries in the database that refer to the Erbe versions as "re-releases" as they're not really but I don't know if there's a better way round it?

Yes, I don't see why entries should be called "Re-release #1", "Re-release #2" etc in the releases table. Just flagging the "Original Release" seems sufficient to me.

Updated, now that releases can be marked as "Never Released"

Things that don't exist

Beach Volley (485) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Ocean (10508) (the files at WoS are a from a cracked Spanish version, and the box front shown is the same for all formats).

• The Erbe (4437) release should be the "Original Release", the Ocean release should be marked "Never Released".

Inspector Gadget (2489) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Melbourne House (9522) (the scrapping was reported here: https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/mag.php ... 63&page=20).

• The Erbe (4437) release should be the "Original Release", the Melbourne House release should be marked "Never Released".

Vampire's Empire (5540) - reviewed and advertised but never released by Gremlin (5561).

• The DroSoft (4025) release should be marked "Original Release", the Gremlin release should be marked "Never Released".

None of these titles had a Hit Squad (14438) re-release:
Firefly (1772)
Passing Shot (3629)
Legend of Kage (2848)
Superbowl (5058)

• All these releases should be removed

None of these titles had a Ricochet (12321) re-release:
Confuzion (1048)
The Covenant (1098)
Gobbleman (2074)
Helichopper (2280)
Throne of Fire (5243)

• All these releases should be removed

Maze Mania (3092) was not re-released on the Rack It (11956) label (the snapshot is of a Rack-It version, so it was presumably planned)

• The Rack-It release should be marked "Never Released".

ACE (56) and ACE 2 (59) were not re-released individually by Encore, only as a compilation.

• These two releases should be removed.

StooB wrote: ↑Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:44 pm Superman - The Game (5069)

- original publisher is Telecomsoft (14343), not Firebird (4722) according to the original inlay (not available here, but uploaded by zzapmort to archive.org: https://archive.org/download/spectrumin ... nlay01.jpg)

Update on this one:

"Original Publisher" should be Beyond (1662), who published the C64 version.

Releases:

• the release by Beyond should be marked as "Never Released"
• the "Original Release" is from Telecomsoft (14343) in 1986 (see: http://birdsanctuary.co.uk/history-beyo ... -Ownership)
• the Prism Leisure (11640) release is correct (same inlay, but with a Prism logo over the Telecomsoft logo, they also used unsold Telecomsoft cassettes)
• the Zafi Chip (15645) release is correct
• the Zafiro Software Division (15646) release should be removed as Zafiro are the owners of Zafi Chip - there's no evidence they produced a Zafiro specific version

Dates for Players Premier (11553) releases:

5458 Turbo Cup Challenge (1990 - from cassette label)
11670 Super Ski Challenge (1990 - from cassette label)

Players (11554) releases:

1600 Eliminator (1990 - from inlay)
4022 Ranarama (1990 - from inlay)
1775 Firelord (1990 - from inlay)
2341 Hollywood Poker (1988 - from inlay)
2523 Eagles Nest (1988 - from inlay)
2933 Los Angeles Police Department (1991 - from inlay, nb: this for the 2nd Players release, not LA Drugs Bust)
2957 Macadam Bumper (1990 - from inlay)
3898 Prohibition (1990 - from inlay)
2458 Impossaball (must be 1990 - as it is "Collectors Edition 2" inbetween Elimator #1 and Ranarama #3)

Also:

2256 Hawk Storm is Players not Players Premier.

Mastertronic Plus (9372) releases:

Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing (426)
Fighting Warrior (1757)
Enterprise (1636)

were all released in 1989 according to their inlays.

and

Manic Miner (3012) - Mastertronic Added Dimension (9370) release is from 1989 (from inlay)

As discussed in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1146&start=20#p17070

Rorthron wrote: ↑Mon Dec 24, 2018 1:17 pmThe Millipede entry in that link doesn't look right:

1. It looks like the same game as Megapede. Should it not be combined with Megapede?
2. The translation is called Ciempies, but that is not listed as an AKA.

Hi there!

StooB wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:07 am

• the Zafi Chip (15645) release is correct
• the Zafiro Software Division (15646) release should be removed as Zafiro are the owners of Zafi Chip - there's no evidence they produced a Zafiro specific version

In fact, there exist two releases from Zafiro, the first being released under the Zafi Chip label (circa 1986), and the second one under the Z Cobra label (circa 1987). So I'd say it should be adjusted instead of removed.

Cheers,
Juan

jpablo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 29, 2019 9:30 am Hi there!

StooB wrote: ↑Thu Jan 24, 2019 11:07 am

• the Zafi Chip (15645) release is correct
• the Zafiro Software Division (15646) release should be removed as Zafiro are the owners of Zafi Chip - there's no evidence they produced a Zafiro specific version

In fact, there exist two releases from Zafiro, the first being released under the Zafi Chip label (circa 1986), and the second one under the Z Cobra label (circa 1987). So I'd say it should be adjusted instead of removed.

Cheers,
Juan

Yes, the 1987 Z Cobra release is already listed at Superman. It's re-release #4 from Zafiro that needs to go.

Yep - you're right, sorry. It definitely should go.

These games have "authored with DAAD" in their comments section but have not yet been associated with DAAD in the "authored with" field...

La Aventura Espacial https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5975
La Aventura Original https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5977
Chichen Itza https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=6078
Cozumel https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=6183
Jabato https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=6493
Los Templos Sagrados https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=7082

The "DAAD" in the comments section needs to be removed and an "authored with DAAD" added to those entries.

DAAD only currently shows three games...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=30013

On a related note... DAAD is now also available with the message language as "English", as well as the original Spanish.

8BitAG wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:49 pm (Also note that the original publisher of the Spectrum version of Castle Warlock was The Guild)

What exactly do you mean?

The archive currently says this game was published as standalone by Adventure Probe Software, and inside compilations by The Guild. Is this correct?

Einar Saukas wrote: ↑Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:12 am

8BitAG wrote: ↑Mon Nov 12, 2018 6:49 pm (Also note that the original publisher of the Spectrum version of Castle Warlock was The Guild)

What exactly do you mean?

The archive currently says this game was published as standalone by Adventure Probe Software, and inside compilations by The Guild. Is this correct?

I believe that the "headline" publisher in the archive should reflect the initial publisher? Certainly not the one who published the game two or three years after... that's why I would say The Guild was the initial publisher.

The Guild published Castle Warlock way before Adventure Probe Software... Adventure Probe only took on Ken's titles after the Guild closed shop in the autumn of 1993. The fact that Castle Warlock may have only appeared on compilations is irrelevant in terms of The Guild being the initial publisher imo.

That makes the date for the Adventure Probe release incorrect, by the way. Adventure Probe Software didn't publish before 1992 and (as mentioned above) they didn't take on the Ken Bond games, from the defunct The Guild, until 1993.

The Guild is an interesting company in terms of preservation and compilations, by the way, because they did "pick and mix" compilations where you could choose which four titles titles went on your tape, from a selection of thirty odd games... meaning that there could be many combinations and permutations of compilation releases out there.

Following on from the above post... there are a few gaps in my Adventure Probe (fanzine) collection at key points which is stopping me tying up a few loose ends with regards to the Ken Bond text adventures.

For example, The Base...
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5991
is listed as being published by The Guild in 1988.

The Guild did not exist prior to 1991 so this date, in terms of the Guild publication is wrong.

The 1988 date seems likely to refer to the Amstrad version of the game, which was published by Recreation Re-creation Software and, before that by Ken Bond himself. I think, Tony Collins of the Guild and Philip Reynolds (of The Adventure Workshop, initially doing the ports for Tony's The Guild) converted a lot of Ken's games over from the Amstrad to the Spectrum... these conversions were all produced from 1991 onwards. (I would presume that the "Ant" on the loading screen is probably Tony.)

In relation to the above, Philip M. Reynolds needs adding as the programmer to the games...
The Test https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=10938
The Base https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 96&id=5991
The Spiro Legacy https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... 6&id=10233

Philip's exisiting profile is at http://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.ph ... l_id=11462

This game seems to be missing from the database...

Rupert the Bear and Jack Frost (2011)
by Richard Gray
writing as RG Paddler

Text Adventure
Produced using the PAW [info taken from the game itself]

Unofficial license - Rupert the Bear

Richard's website no longer seems to be online, but you can read his bio on an archived page here...
https://web.archive.org/web/20100507123 ... on.com:80/

The Rupert the Bear page doesn't seem to be archived but the file can be downloaded from the TZX Vault...
http://www.tzxvault.org/Spectrum/TZX/Ru ... kFrost.zip

{Richard is on Facebook it seems at https://www.facebook.com/rgpaddler and on YouTube]

In the [MOD] Haunted house game, there are some wrong magazine references.

The two Microhobby references refer to the Activision Ghostbusters game.

In the first, it tells about a bank account (clearly the Activision game, not this) and in the second it talks about 'the Activision game'. This is because the Haunted House game was published in Microhobby Cassette under the name 'Cazafantasmas' ('Ghostbusters', hence the confusion).

More info in this post.

Challenge of the Gobots by Reaktor.

Both in the loading screen and the inlay we can read who are the authors:



Whereas in the game entry, the authors are Tony cooper and Ben Daglish. It doesn't match.

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 6:37 am Challenge of the Gobots by Reaktor.

Both in the loading screen and the inlay we can read who are the authors:



Whereas in the game entry, the authors are Tony cooper and Ben Daglish. It doesn't match.

Actually "A. Cooper" obviously means Anthony Cooper (thus "Tony Cooper"), so this name is correct.

"Ben Daglish" composed the game music according to several sources.

The database was just missing the designer names. I'm adding them now.

Thanks!

BTW in case anyone wonders the reason I'm fixing problems posted here (and other threads) randomly, without following any specific order...

The reason is, my current priority is to test and improve ZX-Ed. Therefore I'm trying to work first on issues as diverse as possible, to exercise all the functionality provided by ZX-Ed.

Making ZX-Ed more productive will allow others (mostly R-Tape?) to fix the remaining issues quickly, without depending on me to do it.

In the meantime, please keep posting everybody! Your help is very much appreciated!

A curious question this time: Mad Nurse by Firebird.



According to the game entry (and the loading screen you can see here) the author is Peter Cough.

But [mention]Mort[/mention] scanned the corresponding inlay, whose back side:

https://archive.org/download/spectrumin ... nlay02.jpg

It says:

MAD NURSE
(c) 1986 SIMON PICK
Conversion by SOFTWARE CREATIONS

Maybe S. Pick made the original game for, say, C64 or Amstrad, and P. Cough is the author of the Spectrum version?

Or is there something wrong?

Juan F. Ramirez wrote: ↑Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:10 am
Maybe S. Pick made the original game for, say, C64 or Amstrad, and P. Cough is the author of the Spectrum version?

Or is there something wrong?

Concept and C64 version by Simon Pick according to his interview here:
https://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=https% ... n_pick.php

Spectrum conversion by Peter Gough according to his interview here:
http://zxspectrumgames.blogspot.com/200 ... rview.html

Ah, thanks for the info, so everything is ok.

There's also a scrolly message at the start of the game that mentions the authors of the C64 and Spectrum versions. "Hello and welcome to Mad Nurse by Firebird Software. Produced by Software Creations and coded by Peter Gough from the Commodore original by Simon Pick. Guide Mad Nurse around the wards and rescue the accident prone babies."

Unrelated, but at around address 45200 there's some uncompiled source code still left in the game. I reformatted it to make it easier to read.

Spoiler

Code: Select all

        inc ix
        inc ix
        ex af,af'
        dec a
        jr nz,gar       ; overwritten with something.

        ld c,a          ; matches up with $B053.
        ld ix,table
        add ix,bc
        ld hl,arear
        ld a,16
labour  ex af,af'
        ld a,28
        add (ix+0)
        ld e,a
        ld d,(ix+1)
        ldi
        ldi
        inc ix
        inc ix
        ex af,af'
        dec a
        jr nz,labour

        ret

carot   xor a
        ld (splatt),a

kilmer  ld a,(kild)
        dec a
        ld (kild),a
        and a
        ret nz

        ld a,1
        ld (fyrod),a
        ret

DECBAB  ld a,(babz)
        and a
        ret z

        dec a
        ld (babz),a

TODLER  ld hl,5080h+9-34
        ld (snooke),hl
        ld a,(babz)
        ld l,a
        ld h,0
        jp PRNFG

BOGAS   ld a,(gasl)
        and a
        ret z

        ld (repati),a
        ld b,a
sleepy  push bc
        ld de,10
        call adscor
        ld a,(repati)
        dec a
        ld (repati),a
        ld hl,50c6h-2
        ld (snooke),hl
        ld l,a
        ld h,0
        call prnfg
        ld b,50
        call rumor
        ld b,5
gavay   call pause
        djnz gavay

        pop bc
        djnz sleepy

        ret

arear   ds 32

copyar  ds 32

repati

For some reason the game "Salen Tan Ricos" has two entries on the database, one for the game itself and the other one as part of the CSSCGC Crap Games Contest 2011.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... id=0027129
https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/index.p ... id=0031207