Rogue

[ijor]

At the same time, i don't see why Mastertronic would have use procopy when any standard duplicator can replicate this protection.

I don't have a fully reasonable explanation about what's going on with this release. As far as we know it doesn't even work correctly, so hard to know what really happened.

As I said, it is possible that they didn't use a software copier themselves. It is possible that they didn't have the original master and they made a master from a non original copy that in turn was copied with a software copier. That might also explain why there is a (deleted) saved game in the disk that is not present in the retail release.

We know a lot of strange things were done on some budget releases. Sometimes they reused cracks. Although, again, that was more common years later.

I really don't know for sure. I just know that the protected track in this release is a manually crafted track that can be created in a standard ST, and yet (almost) be read as the original copy protection.

With a second owner dumping his original it could be confirmed or infirmed.

As I said and Stefan is saying as well, we have three dumps from three different disks. They all match.

[dlfrsilver]

OK, then the mastertronic release is useless.... it's the original version minor the protection (right one), and an erased save game.....

[Marakatti]

I've now resurrected the faulty Mastertronic release with (hopefully correct) explanation, and also updated Brume's non-modified dump for the Epyx release.

Really great research everyone! I'm really impressed of the depth of your knowledge guys, thousand thanks

[Steven Seagal]

In fact it's surprising that the bug didn't break more games.

Also, looks like it fixes the bug for the game 'Realms' that didn't load (I was writing a post about it when you posted the new beta version, which solves the issue). Unless you fixed another bug in this release?

Great this update fixes so you can complete Targhan in Steem SSE

Well it seems we have the answer to that riddle. Haven't checked but if suddenly they work it's a safe bet it was that one bug.

The SCP image didn't work in Steem because the bug that Steven fixed. It affected the internal Steem emulation only (not Pasti).

Yes, and it's by checking the differences with Pasti in traces that I found the bug.

[Stefan jL]

I recently contacted Anthony Guter to see if he had more info regarding the ST version of Rogue from Mastertronic, he was a financial controller there:http://www.aguter.plus.com/mastertronic/index.htm

It turnes out the ST version sold in very low number (305) and there was even an Amiga release from Mastertronic that i did not know about and it sold 80 copies... that makes it a very rare Amiga game

I asked Anthony if i could post his email reply here and he was ok with that.

Hi Anthony!

I have a question about Mastertronics Atari ST release of "Rogue", there
have been some discussions at Atari-Forum that it is likely that
Mastertronics release never was playabe because of a possible badly removed
copy protection, i know yoy don't have technical knowledge about this but
maybe this error was noticed and the game was withdrawn from sale back then
or something? Any info you have about Rogue (for Atari
ST) is welcome

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=32007


Stefan Lindberg

Hi Stefan

I looked at the forum and am amazed that people are so interested in a game
released thirty years ago. The 8 bit versions of Rogue had rather
disappointing sales and, oddly, the Atari version was the most successful.
The Amiga and ST versions were disasters - my sales records show 80 for the
Amiga and 305 for the ST - these suggest either that the stock was pulled or
the games were so awful they were ignored by the buying public. So you may
be right that there was a technical problem and I suggest you get in touch
with anyone with similar knowledge on the Amiga side who may be able to
confirm this. We also had a PC version which sold a normal amount.

At the time I had an ST but I don't remember playing Rogue. Probably because
the game did not appeal to me. Cover art was not too bad, though.

All best

Anthony

[dlfrsilver]

ok, so rogue mastertronic version for Amiga sales were ridiculous. I have preserved a pristine Amiga version of Rogue from epyx (pfffou ) in original.

but hey, this game was released in 1986, a time were the ST was just on the market, and the Amiga was just out in USA. this can explaining that

[AtariZoll]

I think that controlling player movement via mouse was a mistake. That certainly distracted many potential buyers.

[dakidski]

I think that controlling player movement via mouse was a mistake. That certainly distracted many potential buyers.

I certainly agree with this.
Best 16-bit versions is the Epyx-edition on Amiga: http://hol.abime.net/1272

If you insist on mousecontrol, then The Dungeon Revealed on Macintosh is so much better: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dungeon_Revealed