Bizarre Tailgunner (2) Experience

From: Mark Shostak <shostak_at_nortel.ca>
Date: Wed Aug 20 1997 - 17:50:00 EDT

(was: RE: interesting coincidence..)

In message "interesting coincidence..", you write:

> >I haven't done any ROM comparisons for Tailgunner.

My TG2 originally used 2708s so I converted it to use 2532s by reading
in the 2708s and combining the images. Once I had figured the original
addressing and mapped the various locations, I burned the new roms. All
seemed to be ok as the game powered up and entered the attract mode.
However, once I started playing the game it was apparent that something
was very wrong.

First I noticed a small twitch in the approaching enemies. Their movement
seemed to become more and more jerky, until the ships would actually dis-
appear from one location and reappear somewhere else. The next major shock
was to see the enemies start going backwards! As you know they *always*
move forward. The last oddity was the shield. Instead of being geometric,
the shield kind of bends into an oval shape. Really weird!

Anyway, my point; thinking I had somehow managed to corrupt my rom images
I double checked them against the TG roms someone sent me in a file called
CinemROMS.tar. I don't know if the roms in that file were taken from a TG
or a TG2. However, the roms from my TG2 compared perfectly with the roms in
the file.

Incidently, the roms I burned showed the correct checksum and even compare
with no errors to the rom files. Finally, I burned a new set and they worked
fine. Although that was years ago, I saved the chips and occasionally put
them in the game for a laugh. It also helps increase the challenge!

What other really bizarre things have you seen come from a cinematronics game?

> Does anybody with an easily accessible Tailgunner II want to do a ROM compare?

I have the TG2 files if you want to compare them.

> Hey Tailgunner is a blast! It's one of my top Cinematronics games! Simple
> but Zen like.

Definitely!

Cheers,
Mark
                                                                                                          
Received on Wed Aug 20 14:53:13 1997

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