New Colecovision discovery (I think)

[ianoid]

Alright, so it's been sitting in my basement for a few weeks waiting to be tested. Looks like I have a unique cart not in the latest DP guide. It's got a handwritten label, Sunrise case, seems complete and educational. Story as to how I stumbled upon it pending for when I have time if you guys care.

NUMBER BUMPER for Colecovision.

Oddly, it's not an EEPROM by weight, though I am a little scared to open the sucker. Let's get it dumped before it dies. And, yes, I'm keeping it.

Hey, if I missed the recent discovery of this title or that it's on tape for Adam, do tell.

[sniperCCJVQ]

It's always exciting to heard that kind of discovery.

from the FAQ on newcoleco's web site:

http://www.geocities.com/newcoleco/cvfaq39.html

"Number Bumper SU (Unreleased)"

It's also list in the rumor milll section in DP7.

[Masco73]

I care to hear the story of how you got it. What did you give for it? Other games, money, your soul??

[digitalpress]

That's awesome!

I second Masco's motion: I'd like to hear the story behind it.

Also, is the game any good? Do you need me to dump it?

[Tempest]

Hey wait! I'm the one that's supposed to be making the cool prototype discoveries here!

Tempest

[wberdan]

Alright, so it's been sitting in my basement for a few weeks waiting to be tested. Looks like I have a unique cart not in the latest DP guide. It's got a handwritten label, Sunrise case, seems complete and educational. Story as to how I stumbled upon it pending for when I have time if you guys care.

NUMBER BUMPER for Colecovision.

Oddly, it's not an EEPROM by weight, though I am a little scared to open the sucker. Let's get it dumped before it dies. And, yes, I'm keeping it.

Hey, if I missed the recent discovery of this title or that it's on tape for Adam, do tell.

hmmm.. i dont think the sunrise carts are hard to open are they? can you peel the label back slightly to get at the screw? i would say what is inside the case is more interesting than the label, but im sure you could remove the label somewhat without damaging it. if i had to guess i would say it probably IS on an eprom... it would just be too weird for it to be on a rom. it's entirely possible that it is a single eprom chip with short circuit board, which weighs approximetely the same as some of the coleco games with 2 or 3 regular roms. hold a donkey kong cart and the sunrise cart and see if the weight is distributed unusually in the sunrise cart by comparison. that would be a clue that its on a single eprom.

as for if it came from adam software.. i would guess that would be hard to find out.. i dont know anyone that has kept tabs on what was released from adam. it's odd that it is in a sunrise case also..

does it have a title screen where it asks you to press a number on the keypad, or does it say:

"press key 1, key 2 for options"

or something similar? the latter is a sure way to tell that it was once an adam computer program.

really weird and interesting- if you can, you have to see if you can open it for further clues

willie

[wberdan]

oh another important thing- does it have a company name listed any where in the game?

willie

[ianoid]

It says Sunrise in big bold letters on the title screen.

Joe, should I sent it to you for dumping?

So there's a screw under the handwritten label? I need to work on a few pix for you fools- although the 'Joe Pro' could do it once he receives the cart for dumping and whatnot. Joe, PM me some info as to how to mail it safely and where. And feel free to make a little page as news if you like once you make some screenshots and post the bin.

The cart is REALLY light on it's loafers. I'd be really surprised if it was an EPROM. Weird, huh?

I can also possible debut another thing for the Colecovision list- carts by Sport Game from Brazil. I have hacks (only title screens)/bootlegs by Splice, Digimax and Colecomania ('Mania'), but these Sport Game ones are the weirdest. I can work on a picture of that, too.

Story pending until tonite when I get the time to write more.

[digitalpress]

It says Sunrise in big bold letters on the title screen.

Joe, should I sent it to you for dumping?

Send it along, Ian. I'll be happy to do it for you. I'm hoping you want to release this to the public, it's been awhile since anyone has seen a rumor mill ColecoVision cart surface like this! Great stuff.

[Aswald]

What's the game like?

[ianoid]

It seems to be a puzzle educational math game. I didn't play it long enough to figure it out. I leave that sort of drudgery to people like Tempest 8 )

So, the story behind this isn't that interesting. I'm not industry connected or anything, just a perseverant hunter.

Several months ago I took out an ad calling for old games in a local pennysaver type of paper. Although the ad only ran for 2 weeks, I got calls over the span of a month. Some people were just looking for cheap appraisals and some had inordinate ideas of value. In any case, I bought everything I could afford, which was sorta stupid, but fun. The best thing I got was a Taiwan pirate chip rig with a LIF socket and about 40 games on chips for 2600.

Oddly, weeks after the last calls trickled in, I got a call from a guy with a large amount of Colecovision stuff including 130 unique carts and all of the tabletops. He had a firm price in mind, and I couldn't really topple it. He was insisting on $500 for the lot + $140 for the tabletops.

I rushed to make an appointment with the guy and took out a few hundred in cash hoping I could drop the price by waving money in front of him.

I got to his house and like most of the people I have bought stuff from, he had alot of piles of stuff and this was just one of them. His Colecovision collection was pretty top notch. Apparently he had been competing with a friend to get the most CV games and then his friend had moved away. Fortunately, the other CV guy had left him all the empty boxes from his games, and they were in a separate box for me as well. Highlights included the boxes for Qubes, Frogger 2, Tourny Tennis (Imagic plastic), a couple Spy Hunters, and more. He also had loads of hardware (2 boxed CV's, one shabby and one excellent, as well as all boxed parts), as well as all the peripherals boxed and a bunch of ADAM stuff.

He also had some TI stuff he was going to through in to sweeten the deal, as well as a pile of instructions (for nearly all of the CV carts he had) and various other items. Fortunately the TI stuff included some rare items that I would have paid a few bucks for alone like Hopper, Soundtrack Trolley, 4A flyer and more.

I surveyed the CV stuff, and saw Number Bumper and assumed it was some kind of copy of a known cart, but my hopes were up that it was unique. I don't read the rumor section much. I was much more excited that his collection included Tomarc/Motocross Racer- the last cart (non-Bit) that I needed to complete my collection. I almost paid $175 for that alone a few months ago. Glad I didn't.

Unfortunately the guy wasn't budging on price. He started saying something about checking out eBay and started waving his Rev 3 DP guide around. I asked him if I could buy his guide, but he wanted to keep it. The guy was really nice, actually.

So, with some adieu I handed over a load of cash and he helped me load the car. It was a full carload. It's taken me months to empty the shit out of my car (my car was totalled with a bunch of CV and ADAM stuff still in the trunk, which was a hassle to move home.) I need to liquidate the ADAM stuff since it's too hard to move and too heavy (I already have an ADAM in my collection), but the rest (aside from NB and TB/MR) have been put on my tradelist. I kept a load of boxes which I need and may be upgrades. When I finally unpack my collection I'll have some crazy stuff to trade. Still, check out my tradelist- I may have something you need.

So, it took me a long time to even get to hooking up a CV to play (I'm temporary in Seattle now that my wife nixed the place- we're moving to the bay area, and I'll finally be able to unpack my collection after having it in storage for 2 years.) I had to ascend the pile of NESes, trip over the saturns and step on the SNES to get to the TV in my basement where I test stuff out. I played it for all of 2 minutes until I had to move on to more pressing matters- taking pictures of stuff to eBay and thus decrease how much I have to move.

Not the best story, but hey, it's all I've got!

[wberdan]

It says Sunrise in big bold letters on the title screen.

id say you lucked right the hell out then... it sounds like a legitimate thing completely.... weird that it is light like a rom though.. thats really strange.
cant wait to play it, hahahah

willie

[Tom61]

Might be an EEPROM, it wouldn't have/need the window nor the socket that'd make it heavier than a normal ROM.

[Charlie]

I was checking MY Colecovision collection and I discovered a new game too. It's just like Donkey Kong, except it says "JASON DONKEY KONG"... in fact, my copy of Ladybug is a "JASON LADYBUG" cart. Fuck me, I'm rich!

Just kidding... congrads Ianoid. Amazing how in this day and age we're (meaning you guys) discovering new carts. Never fails to amaze me.

[digitalpress]

Thanks for posting that story, Ian. I love hearing how these kinds of finds go down. You should use that in your next column!

[Tempest]

I've seen prototypes with single EPROMs that are so light it's almost impossible to tell they had one by weighing it. I bet it is an EPROM with a short board inside.

Tempest

[wberdan]

I've seen prototypes with single EPROMs that are so light it's almost impossible to tell they had one by weighing it. I bet it is an EPROM with a short board inside.

Tempest

send it to me ian and we'll find out for sure. ill crack it open with my proto hammer

willie

[newcoleco]

This is a very good story! My english skill was good enough to perfectly understand every words. Congratulation!

The only way for me to have a new prototype in my collection is to program a new one myself. You are very lucky, Ian!

[Tempest]

What I want to know is what ever happened to that Energy Quizz game? Wasn't that found in Canada somewhere?

Tempest

[chadtower]

Ianoid... I've been pondering taking out such an ad for quite some time but have never done it. Could you elaborate on what the text of the ad said as well as what prices you were offering people? Those are the two main items that have always held me up. Wondering just how much I should be offering people for their items (when half of them are going to quote ebay anyway) as reasonable to both them AND me... without going low enough to rip them off like a Gamestop.