Atari 8-bit - APX - 1982

Kangaroo

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Genre: Arcade - Platformer (Single Screen)
Year: 1982
Language: Machine Language
Publisher: APX
Controls: Joystick
Developer: GCC
Players: 1 / 2 (alt.) / Demo
Country
Coder(s): Leiterman, James
License: Commercial
Graphics: —
Medium
Sound: —
Rarity: 8
Cover: —
Serial: 20236
Dump: Download

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AtariUSA · 1983

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James Leiterman speaks...

"General Computer was contracted to only do a 5200 version. While at Atari, I had written a reverse disassembler that converted binary files back into source code with some documentation. I went through and corrected the mistakes of the tool to build the 800 version and sent it over to APX. They published it with no credit back to me as I requested. So, essentially, it was an internal hack! Mine had red strawberries while theirs had a purplish red or some non-red color."

The official disk and prototype cartridge versions are slightly different:
- the cartridge release only works on early systems
- the released version has a 1982 copyright, the prototype says 1983
- the title screen jumps to ADVANCED difficulty on the disk release
- the disk version has an additional demo mode
- the strawberries are not the same color.

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Rating7.7/10

Hits: 8,078
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Votes: 71

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COMMENTS (6)

Scott Stilphen7 Aug 2017
The 1982 copyright date obviously reflects the coin-op's copyright date, and not when this version was programmed or released. In fact, the same time the system was advertised in Atari Age magazine (Sept/Oct 1982), the arcade game was being advertised. The 5200 version wasn't mentioned until the July/August 1983 issue.
Scott Stilphen7 Aug 2017
The 1982 copyright date obviously reflects the coin-op's copyright date, and not when this version was programmed or released. In fact, the same time the system was advertised in Atari Age magazine (Sept/Oct 1982), the arcade game was being advertised. The 5200 version wasn't mentioned until the July/August 1983 issue.
rave.N3 Feb 2016
The strawberries ARE slightly different colors, APX vs 5200. They are both red (in PAL), so have a chuckle at the "non-red" comment, but APX has a deep rich red whereas 5200 has a pale red. So I'm sure this model 800 cartridge said to be "prototype" is actually an incomplete transfer of the 5200 cart back into an 800 cart (i.e. made last) because the berries are pale red like 5200 but also because of the Pause button. APX allows any key for pause/unpause. 5200 has a special pause button on its special controller, and keys don't pause, except for the "shift-9" combination the emulator uses to simulate the 5200 controller. My "4th compilation" is also an incomplete 5200-to-800 conversion, and it doesn't have ANY pause button. The 800 cart here allows only the Spacebar to pause/unpause, they had to reinvent the wheel and ended up with a different solution other than APX. This cart's pre-XL and no demo derive from more incompleteness in its 5200-to-800 attempt, not from being older.
rave.N3 Feb 2016
I gotta call "BS" to everything on this page's "Trivia" section, the "James Leiterman speaks..." and 5 point differences between model 800 disk vs model 800 cartridge. The cart you claim is prototype must have come last, not first, the 1983 vs 1982 dates are NOT backward. The cart actually has demo mode and is not pre-XL, there are unresolved bugs preventing these things from working. I know because I found a 4th compilation in cartridge form which runs XL and has Demo, all with its software LOADER and if I strip off the loader to create an actual cartridge, then it no longer runs XL and it no longer runs Demo. Another big clue is the APX disk (1982) plays sound fx during Demo, when the 5200 cart (1982-83) mutes during Demo, and model 800 versions saying 1983 also mute during Demo, so the one with sound in Demo is the oldest, because the full volume sound fx are annoying & something which would've been changed quickly. There aren't different files having different colors. Every version including the model 5200 shows off two different color schemes depending on whether you press Start in PAL vs NTSC. PAL looks right, NTSC does not, and no other game acts this way. Rumor is the emulator corrects coloration across the 2 video modes done automatically, no game need try doing it themselves. To keep things simple I recommend using the 5200 cartridge, it's 16KB so it makes you guess if it's 1 chip or 2 chip (it is 2) but the 16K file can be converted to 32K so that then we can forget about chip count. The runner up version is a model 800 file says 1983 and plays Demo without sound on an XL.
rave.N2 Feb 2016
am I high? Kangaroo runs best in PAL mode on my emulator (PowerPC Atari800MacX v4.6 on OS X 10.4.8, the last great OS X no shit I'm serious). NTSC has purple fruit and red tree trunks whereas PAL shows red fruit and brown tree trunks must reboot when switching video. But the big thing is the monkeys, seems like they're supposed to be rendered by rapidly flickering colors but flickering doesn't take place in NTSC, exactly like the rocket tail flame in another game named "Countdown". The green foliage also twitches in PAL but this looks more right than in NTSC, plants and animals jump to life in PAL mode. Is the game really PAL or do I have emulation trouble with this only in NTSC?
Punkydudester13 Dec 2014
This game is in my top 10 games, I just really liked this game for some reason and I thought it was done really well. This version had the best graphics of all the system I had seen it on.

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Kangaroo

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