Atari Road Runner laserdisc prototype

DLP said:
>>
>> The entry and photos for Road Runner on DLP is gone,
>>

We still have the information on the laserdisc version of Road Runner... including pics of the hardware used. Click the link below...

It's actually kinda cool.... the laserdisc player had the ability to play the background footage forward and backwards seamlessly depending on if you were moving the joystick left or right on the screen.

Click to expand...

Do we know what player it had that did this? I'm not an LD player expert, but I'm curious if all players can do this, or if it's a special feature to some of them.

I didn't see a player shown in any of the pics (which is also odd, as if it was removed for the pics or something).
 
andrewb said:
Do we know what player it had that did this? I'm not an LD player expert, but I'm curious if all players can do this, or if it's a special feature to some of them.

I didn't see a player shown in any of the pics (which is also odd, as if it was removed for the pics or something).
Click to expand...

It used the Philips 22VP931 which was what was used in Firefox and Freedom Fighter. This laserdisc player had incredibly fast seek times. I don't know the exact times, but Firefox would seek maybe every 2 seconds?.... Freedom Fighter was even faster. Probably seeking every 1 second? If you watch the raw footage of Freedom Fighter you'd see what I mean. It's crazy fast.
 
DLP said:
>>
>> The entry and photos for Road Runner on DLP is gone,
>>

We still have the information on the laserdisc version of Road Runner... including pics of the hardware used. Click the link below...

It's actually kinda cool.... the laserdisc player had the ability to play the background footage forward and backwards seamlessly depending on if you were moving the joystick left or right on the screen.



.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I didn't see them before but I do now. Strange.

Just from watching the prototype footage from those YouTube videos you can tell that model laserdisc player being used was really unique. It's very impressive tech how the player is implemented and interfaced with. I literally said 'whoa' when I saw the onscreen road runner go backwards a bit to get away from the coyote and the background footage moved accordingly. Real shame Atari dropped the laserdisc player, as the cut scenes really added to the game IMO, but it sounds like these lastest-gen players were going to be just as unreliable as previous gen players (if Owen's comment has any factual basis). Which makes it even more impressive considering how many times that one proto has appeared running at CAX (and even more terrifying IMO that it might break at any moment).
 
  • Like
Reactions: DLP
DirkDDS is the owner of the laserdisc prototype IIRC. If anyone else has one (or a disc), it would be Scott Evans I'd guess. He has posted very detailed imagery of the cabinet and PCBs in the past.
 
I wish the resolution was higher, so I could read the labels on the EPROMS and the board locations of them. In any case, I have compiled the ROMS for the main program, sound and graphics.
 
Any chance we can get some high quality up to date gameplay footage of the laser disc version of this game? I'd love to see how different it is from the system 1 version! :)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

ArcadeJason
Black widow prototype
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
McHale
McHale
QB-3 prototype recreation
Replies
3
Views
440
toledoflyer
Glitch
Arcade1Up Prototype Found
2 3
Replies
40
Views
3K
Patrick Verner
Patrick Verner
Stun Runner or Sprint??
Replies
2
Views
225
bakerhillpins
RetroCJT
M.I.A. - 1988 Data East "Bloody Wolf" Lost Prototype Archival Thread
Replies
7
Views
443
RetroCJT
RetroCJT
Back
Top Bottom