vghf – Set Side B https://setsideb.com The Flipside of Gaming Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:28:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://setsideb.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/cropped-mascot512-32x32.png vghf – Set Side B https://setsideb.com 32 32 The Video Game History Foundation Examines a Famicom Punch-Out Prototype https://setsideb.com/the-video-game-history-foundation-examines-a-famicom-punch-out-prototype/ https://setsideb.com/the-video-game-history-foundation-examines-a-famicom-punch-out-prototype/#respond Fri, 10 Apr 2026 14:00:00 +0000 https://setsideb.com/?p=11976 Continue reading "The Video Game History Foundation Examines a Famicom Punch-Out Prototype"]]> Frank Cifaldi presents a look at a mysterious prototype of NES Punch-Out!! that’s turned up. It’s only got four working boxers, with Bald Bull missing key moves, but it also has quite a few working features, including the password system. It’s completely silent though. The game that is, not the video (5 minutes).

The weirdnesses continue…. The cartridge has mock-up art on it that looks like the “black-box” trade dress early NES games had. The chips on the cart are mask ROMs, not EPROMs. In the attract more scroll, arcade names are used for some of the fighters, like Pizza Pasta, Piston Hurricane and Vodka Drunkinski.

]]> https://setsideb.com/the-video-game-history-foundation-examines-a-famicom-punch-out-prototype/feed/ 0 Coleco’s Tarzan for the Atari VCS/2600 Found After 40 Years https://setsideb.com/colecos-tarzan-for-the-atari-vcs-2600-found-after-40-years/ Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:00:00 +0000 https://setsideb.com/?p=7585 Continue reading "Coleco’s Tarzan for the Atari VCS/2600 Found After 40 Years"]]>
The lost Atari 2600 version of Coleco’s Tarzan game, from the VGHF article

As reported in a post at the excellent Video Game History Foundation, a copy of the unreleased Atari port of the Colecovision Tarzan game has been found, bought from a former Coleco employee. It used an unusual bankswitching scheme, but has been hacked to use a more common system, and both versions of the ROM are available from the Internet Archive. Both are 16K, very large for an Atari game, but microscopic by the standards of data today.

The Colecovision version of Tarzan was a late release, and had unusually good animation for its time, and repetitive, yet atmospheric, music. Here’s a Youtube link of the first loop of that version of the game (5 1/2 minutes):

I tried a little of the 2600 version, and I couldn’t make out how to get further than a few screens in. That single button control scheme is a real hassle! Here that is (four minutes 1/2). Dig that opening theme song! Don’t dig that gameplay music, though. It didn’t sound as bad when I played it, I think it was an issue with the recording.

The article has a run that gets further into it (7 minutes):

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