Throughout the years we've featured many lost and recovered games, this is especially true when it comes to either the Amiga or the Commodore 64. Well, today's news is a bit of a special one. As if you have an Atari XL/XE however, we've been told that the 1986 game 'Trap', which featured music by Ben Daglish, has been recovered as a prototype for the Atari XL/XE. A game whereby some have commented for the Commodore 64 version, that it requires patience to play, is rather difficult but was one of Antony Crowther better C64 games.
Here's the latest. "It is unknown why this program was never released, though it may have to do with the turmoil inside Alligata Software before the publisher had to shut down. The title appears to be complete and fully playable. We are very grateful to Harlequin Software founder Stephen J. Goss for allowing us to archive this Atari XL/XE game that was developed by Russell Knight. Once considered lost, the file was eventually located and dumped by John Hardie of the National Videogame Museum in February 2026."
I'm not so sure it's "complete." I played the c64 version and compared the two. The Commodore 64 version has 3 completely graphically different levels and this does not, it appears to put you in level 2 and that is where you stay. The c64 version has much more detailed sprites especially for an 8-bit game which could mean the one color sprites in this version were preliminary version and explain why it was never released in this form. A working prototype more than a finished product, although it is playable in this form and I'm just guessing. One advantage the prototype has on the Atari compared to the c64 is you get a much bigger area to play the game. It has the potential to be the superior game, but Atari ports usually had this potential but did not get the time or attention they needed. Zybex comes to mind when I think of game that did get Atari love and it is a classic on the Atari but simply a footnote for the c64. I suppose we will never know for sure unless someone involved with the games developement see's the prototype online.
ReplyDeleteinteresting guitar-shaped vessel...
ReplyDeletemy first thought was that it was a screwdriver, the sprites loose their clarity when reduced to one color.
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