At 08:40 AM 6/28/99 -0400, you wrote:
>There's your best bet right there. What kinds of carts is it going to be
>legal to burn to get signed anyhow? You're going to get Hasbro to open up
>the entire archive, or are there a few that get priority?
I'm not sure I understand the question, but it's really a promotional
gimmick. A worthy one, but still, a gimmick.
Just like Coke Wins or Chase the Chuckwagon or that guy on RGVC who wants a
custom version of Outlaw.
The idea is that Save Mary was to be the last game ever released by Atari
Corp. for the 2600. It had a long development cycle, which was probably
why it never came out. I believe it was completed some time in 1991.
Atari already had Klax, another puzzle game, so it probably didn't make
sense to follow that up with Save Mary. So Klax became the last cart ever
released (unless Sentinel or another title takes that honor, I don't think
so).
Klax was never released in an NTSC variation, I don't think. So that would
also be a nice game to manufacture.
I know Russ gave it a lackluster review, but it seems like a pretty fun
puzzle game from the description, if you like that sort of thing. Also,
Tod Frye doesn't have much 2600 work to be proud of. Other than Pac-Man,
he did at least one of the Swordquest games and the unreleased(?) 2600
Xevious. Save Mary would be a way for him to show that he can pull off a
more complicated kernel. For those who follow sports, it's a little like
when the Red Sox hired back Bill Buckner as a way to stop blaming him for
the '86 world series choke.
So it works on that angle.
But basically it's mostly a way for Hasbro to say to the press (tongue
slightly in cheek):
"FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION
ATARI INTERACTIVE RELEASES FIRST 2600 GAME IN YEARS!
ATARI INTERACTIVE (A SUBSIDIARY OF HASBRO) HAS DECIDED TO RELEASE THE LAST
ATARI 2600 TITLE, SAVE MARY, WRITTEN FOR THE UNIT IN 1991. SAVE MARY IS A
TWIST ON THE TETRIS PUZZLE GENRE WITH SHADES OF LEMMINGS, WHERE YOU DROP
BRICKS INTO A GULLY IN ORDER TO SAVE HELPLESS MARY FROM THE RISING FLOOD
WATERS. IT WAS ONE OF SEVERAL TITLES CREATED THROUGH ATARI CORP'S DEAL
WITH NOLAN BUSHNELL'S (FOUNDER OF ATARI) AXLON, WHICH BROUGHT US MANY OF
THE MORE TECHNICALLY ADVANCED FINAL GAMES FOR THE 2600 IN WHICH IT
VALIANTLY FOUGHT TO STAY COMPETITIVE AGAINST THE NINTENDO 8-BIT SYSTEM.
SAVE MARY WILL APPEAR COMPLETE IN AN AUTHENTIC ATARI-STYLE BOX AT THE
CLASSIC GAMING EXPO IN LAS VEGAS THIS AUGUST. THE CARTRIDGE WILL BE
RELEASED IN SMALL QUANTITIES. 250 WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE SHOW, ALL
SIGNED BY GAME CREATOR TOD FRYE, WHO ALSO PROGRAMMED THE INFAMOUS 2600
PAC-MAN, OFTEN CITED AS THE CAUSE OF THE VIDEOGAME CRASH OF THE EARLY 80S.
"I'D LIKE TO BE JUDGED AS A 2600 PROGRAMMER FAR MORE BASED ON WHAT I DID
WITH SAVE MARY THAN WITH PAC-MAN.", SAID TOD FRYE.
'AFTER 22 YEARS, THERE ARE STILL A SMALL BUT LOYAL GROUP OF PEOPLE OUT
THERE WHO LOVE THEIR ATARI 2600 AND WILL BE BOTH SHOCKED AND THRILLED WITH
THIS RELEASE. BY RELEASING SAVE MARY AT THE CLASSIC GAMING EXPO, IT
SYMBOLIZE'S ATARI INTERACTIVE'S ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND APPRECIATION FOR
CLASSIC GAME FANS AND COLLECTORS, AND ITS CONTINUITY WITH ATARI'S PAST.',
SAID PRESIDENT TOM DUESENBERRY."
Don't you think this would wind up in Wired and all other sorts of press??
=========================================================
== Glenn Saunders --3D Graphics / Videography / Web development-- ==
== krishna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/1698 ==
== Cyberpunks homepage http://cyberpunks.atari.org ==
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