Asteroids Deluxe hard (v1) ROMs - Any players?

andrewb

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I recently got a hold of an Asteroids Deluxe board that had an original set of v1 ROMs, complete with the original Atari stickers. After popping this board in my machine and playing it for a while, I have found that I really love these ROMs.

AD has become one of my favorite games, and am good for maybe 30-35k points on the v2 ROMs, on a good day. However, I find the pace of the v1 ROMs to much faster, and almost make it a completely different game. I find it far more addicting (perhaps because it pisses you off so much more easily.) :)

As a brief aside, it's also worth noting that the v1 ROMs are not the same as the v2 ROMs with the 'hard' dip switch setting. I believe the v2 ROMs on hard are still not as hard as v1, and there's a definite difference in the code, as the alien ship never appears in v1 before the end of the second round, where in v2 it will appear sooner than that, even on the hard setting.

It's understandable that AD was Atari's response to people getting perhaps too good at Asteroids, and arguably they did make it a little too hard from a business/marketing perspective (as the difficulty of the v1 ROMs surely turned the average or new player off), but as a regular player I find the harder gameplay really fun, and almost preferable to the v2 ROMs.

Any other AD lovers out there with opinions?
 
I recently got a hold of an Asteroids Deluxe board that had an original set of v1 ROMs, complete with the original Atari stickers. After popping this board in my machine and playing it for a while, I have found that I really love these ROMs.

AD has become one of my favorite games, and am good for maybe 30-35k points on the v2 ROMs, on a good day. However, I find the pace of the v1 ROMs to much faster, and almost make it a completely different game. I find it far more addicting (perhaps because it pisses you off so much more easily.) :)

As a brief aside, it's also worth noting that the v1 ROMs are not the same as the v2 ROMs with the 'hard' dip switch setting. I believe the v2 ROMs on hard are still not as hard as v1, and there's a definite difference in the code, as the alien ship never appears in v1 before the end of the second round, where in v2 it will appear sooner than that, even on the hard setting.

It's understandable that AD was Atari's response to people getting perhaps too good at Asteroids, and arguably they did make it a little too hard from a business/marketing perspective (as the difficulty of the v1 ROMs surely turned the average or new player off), but as a regular player I find the harder gameplay really fun, and almost preferable to the v2 ROMs.

Any other AD lovers out there with opinions?


My ad is untouched except for me rebuilding the deflection board but yeah you can't beat the original. My highscore is 30k on the original roms. I never intend on changing them :D
 
How can you tell what version roms are on the board?

I'm hoping my old hi-score is still saved when I get mine booted. If so, it will have been in the game since 1991 or something.
 
How can you tell what version roms are on the board?



Sorry, I somehow became unsubscribed from this thread, so I didn't see that there were replies.

The v1 ROMs mostly have -01 in the chip name, if they are mask ROMs with no windows (or -01E if they are EPROMs, with the window). The v1 set ends all -01, except for J1, which ends in -02. If the ROMs mostly end with -02 and -03, then you have the v2 ROM set.

Also, gameplay-wise, in the v1 version the alien ship (i.e., the thing that breaks into pieces) never appears until the end of the second wave. In the v2 version it will appear before the end of the second wave.
 
Sorry, I somehow became unsubscribed from this thread, so I didn't see that there were replies.

The v1 ROMs mostly have -01 in the chip name, if they are mask ROMs with no windows (or -01E if they are EPROMs, with the window). The v1 set ends all -01, except for J1, which ends in -02. If the ROMs mostly end with -02 and -03, then you have the v2 ROM set.

Also, gameplay-wise, in the v1 version the alien ship (i.e., the thing that breaks into pieces) never appears until the end of the second wave. In the v2 version it will appear before the end of the second wave.

I will take a look tonight, thanks.

The seeker asteroids will appear when you completely destroy one full asteroid. You can't hit any other asteroids before that first one is destroyed, however. I do this in the early stages to farm the seekers for points before they become to fast. At least this is how it works on my machine. Usually fatty comes in and makes a mess of that plan though.
 
Sorry, I somehow became unsubscribed from this thread, so I didn't see that there were replies.

The v1 ROMs mostly have -01 in the chip name, if they are mask ROMs with no windows (or -01E if they are EPROMs, with the window). The v1 set ends all -01, except for J1, which ends in -02. If the ROMs mostly end with -02 and -03, then you have the v2 ROM set.

Also, gameplay-wise, in the v1 version the alien ship (i.e., the thing that breaks into pieces) never appears until the end of the second wave. In the v2 version it will appear before the end of the second wave.

If any of your ROMs end in -02 then you have a v2 ROM set.

ALL the ROMs on v1 end in -01, even J1. I've a couple of boards with these, all original atari stickered ROMs.
 
If any of your ROMs end in -02 then you have a v2 ROM set.

ALL the ROMs on v1 end in -01, even J1. I've a couple of boards with these, all original atari stickered ROMs.



Interesting. I have an all original stickered set as well, and J1 is -02. This set also agrees with the sets that are floating around the web. And it's not a matter of me just having the wrong ROM in my set, as the v2 J1 ROM has a different checksum.

Do you have the means to read that J1 ROM? I would be interested to see a dump of it (or at least know the checksum).
 
I love AD and was always curious which ROM version I had. I'll have to check the board to make sure but based on the description I think it's v2.

Is there someone that can burn Roms with the v1 version of the game? I'd love to try it.
 
In test mode, if the second line of numbers has 4 digits its old/hard version, if its 5 digits its later/easy version roms

Mine came with hard roms, too hard for me i had to burn easy ones, but i agree there are differences between the old rev and the easy roms set to hard, both of which are too hard for me cuz i suck
 
In test mode, if the second line of numbers has 4 digits its old/hard version, if its 5 digits its later/easy version roms

Mine came with hard roms, too hard for me i had to burn easy ones, but i agree there are differences between the old rev and the easy roms set to hard, both of which are too hard for me cuz i suck



Ahh, right. I forgot about the numbers in test mode. But you are correct.


Also, for reference, here's a link to the official Atari documentation for the updated ROMs, which includes the numbers for the v2 chips. However, that still doesn't address what the correct numbers should be for v1.

http://arcarc.xmission.com/PDF_Arcade_Atari_Kee/Asteroids_Deluxe/Asteroids_Deluxe_Rom_Update.pdf
 
Thanks for posting this. Now I know I have the v1 ROMs. I'm glad because I prefer more difficult games. I've rarely scored over 20k, but if I get over 10k, I consider it a good game.
 
part of the confusion lies in that we call them rev 2 roms but really there were three releases, and i don't know what the changes were in the second release:

Rev1:
036432-01 @ FH1
036433-01 @ J1
036800-01 @ R2
036430-01 @ D1
036431-01 @ EF1
036799-01 @ NP2
034602-01 @ C8

Rev2:
036431-01 @ EF1
036432-01 @ FH1
036433-02 @ J1
036800-01 @ R2
036430-01 @ D1
036799-01 @ NP2
034602-01 @ C8

Rev3: (hard/easy dip selectable version)
036431-02 @ EF1
036432-02 @ FH1
036433-03 @ J1
036799-01 @ NP2
036800-02 @ R2
034602-01 @ C8
036430-02 @ D1

only the 036433-02 @ J1 rom changed in "Rev 2" but "Rev 3" roms that changed besides J1 are designated as -02 (ie changed from -01)...

they can be compared in mame
 
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oh yeah, the other thing (which i don't like) about the later/easy roms is that it allows "auto-fire" instead of press-per-shot, not sure why they added this but it doesn't feel natural to me (but i don't think it can be turned off)
 
I have an AD Cabaret. I will have to check the board to compare the ROMs, but on mine, the attack asteroid never appears on the first wave, and then every consecutive wave afterward only appears when there are only 4 asteroids left on the screen (any size). if you happen to die, and there is 4 or three asteroids left (any size), the attack asteroid will reappear when you do. If there is two asteroids left and you die by the attackers, it will not reappear that wave.

if you die (by them or otherwise) and reappear before the dis-interested attackers leave the screen and you manage to kill one, all remaining attackers will swarm you again.

My best score is just shy of 45K. It definitely is an infuriating game at times.
 
oh yeah, the other thing (which i don't like) about the later/easy roms is that it allows "auto-fire" instead of press-per-shot, not sure why they added this but it doesn't feel natural to me (but i don't think it can be turned off)



Holy shit, I never knew this. (And I play the crap out of this game.) I actually had to run over to my machine just now to try it.

Ha. Call it lazy mode. I guess I never noticed because I tend to shoot in tight bursts, and the auto mode seems to limit the speed to a slower rate, rather than adjusting the rate so there are always four bullets on the screen. (Now THAT would be a cool feature.) But I'll definitely use it now that I know it's there, as it looks like it can be useful sometimes.

Thanks for posting this.
 
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part of the confusion lies in that we call them rev 2 roms but really there were three releases, and i don't know what the changes were in the second release:
only the 036433-02 @ J1 rom changed in "Rev 2" but "Rev 3" roms that changed besides J1 are designated as -02 (ie changed from -01)...
they can be compared in mame


When you say they can be compared in MAME, what exactly do you mean? (Sorry, I'm not a MAME guy.) You can compare the binaries directly?

Does anyone have a dump of the -01 J1 ROM? I'm REALLY curious to know now what changed. All of the zipped ROM files/versions I found online seem to label your V2 above as V1, and your V3 as V2. I'd never heard of the 'all -01' V1 set until today.

Cool stuff!
 
well yeah you could use mame debugger to step through the code, or use the mame roms to compare the binaries, ie: on a windows computer run
Code:
fc /b 036433-02.j1 036433-01.j1 > differences.txt
(filecompare, binary mode, the two roms, output to a text file) and you can see what the binary differences are... but the debugger might be more useful in determining what the functional differences are if you so desire

it took me a while to realize this also when i upgraded my roms since i was used to firing manually in bursts...

edit: here are the differences if they mean anythnig to you:
 

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oh yeah, the other thing (which i don't like) about the later/easy roms is that it allows "auto-fire" instead of press-per-shot, not sure why they added this but it doesn't feel natural to me (but i don't think it can be turned off)

I never noticed that. I have the ver.3 in mine but have it dip switched to hard.

Also, note in this version when easy is selected it is only "easy" till approx. 30k pts. Mine came w/ a manual and the supplement that details the changes provided in the 5 roms of Ver.3. Might actually play a game real quick now.
 
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