Were Vic Rally X & Vic Car Race ever really published ?

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:09 am

Someone has these cartridges ?
I wish to know if they are prototypes or if they are published for a while before Vic Rat Race.

(Title edited by moderator Eslapion for easier understanding)

eslapion · Post by **eslapion** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:22 am

Well, I have the NTSC ROM image of VIC Rally-X and it works. I have had this image since 1983 so I assume this was a real cart.

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:24 am

eslapion wrote:Well, I have the NTSC ROM image of VIC Rally-X and it works. I have had this image since 1983 so I assume this was a real cart.

Yes i've found cart images but i never see a picture of a real cart, Looking to the VIC-20 Cartridge Rarity & Gameplay list these game are not mentioned, there is a updated version ?

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:36 am

I wasnt long time since we saw picture on rally-X cartridge here at Denial. It was with Japan Vic20 sale.

PaulQ · Post by **PaulQ** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 6:36 am

If I recall correctly from another thread, Rally-X was essentially Rat Race, but released for the Japanese market only.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:28 am

nbla000 wrote:Yes i've found cart images but i never see a picture of a real cart, Looking to the VIC-20 Cartridge Rarity & Gameplay list these game are not mentioned, there is a updated version ?

You'll want the online rarity guide at Digital Press... updated every so often with new stuff. Or the next edition of the printed guide due for release next month. And yes, it has Rally-X in it

(well, that's my job now that Ward has retired... I've taken over!)

Victragic · Post by **Victragic** » Mon Jun 25, 2007 5:50 pm

Was Vic Car Race the same as Road Race?

nbla000 · Post by **nbla000** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 12:45 am

Victragic wrote:Was Vic Car Race the same as Road Race?

no IT'S the same of Vic Rally X

ral-clan · Post by **ral-clan** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 6:41 am

From the "Rise and Fall of Commodore" book, apparently these straight rip offs of Bally Midway games (Pac-Man, Rally-X, Galaxian) were all shown at the expo where the VIC was released. A company in Japan had developed them for Commodore (and had done a damn fine job, too).

The book explains that the folks from Bally Midway were at the expo and were shocked to see the unliscenced released. The approached the Commodore booth, and I guess Commodore was embarrased by this. Apparently they signed a deal with Bally Midway there at the expo to liscence the titles.

That's what the book says. I'm not sure what REALLY happened because obviously the titles and some graphics were changed for their world releases.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:55 am

From what I know, Commodore actually got the license from Namco to produce conversions of the games Pac-man, Rally-X and Galaxian via HAL Labs. Which is why the Japanese carts have the proper names on them.

However this license only appears to be for Japan, and hence when shown in the West, Bally threw a fit because they held the license for the arcade machines in the US. Atari of course did the same regarding the Pac-man conversion. Commodore did license Bally titles for conversion on the C64, but I suspect they didn't bother for the Vic20 and just relabelled the games to something else (Radar Rat Race, Star Battle and Jelly Monsters) instead.

6502dude · Post by **6502dude** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 3:36 pm

Victragic wrote:Was Vic Car Race the same as Road Race?

Midnight Drive appears to be same as Road Race.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:15 pm

It is... not sure about different labelled carts, the only difference in my collection is the packaging. Whereas Jupiter Lander and Super Lander have got different cart labels too.

6502dude · Post by **6502dude** » Sat Jun 30, 2007 5:38 pm

Mayhem wrote:Whereas Jupiter Lander and Super Lander have got different cart labels too.

What Commodore up to?

Jupiter Lander and Super Lander really should not be considered as unique games.

Aside from different colours for "land" vs "space" and the a title on the screen of one of them, they are essentially the same game.

Perhaps the different packaging and variation in the games was a regional marketing thing.

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:31 am

I'll go recheck my collection and see... I do have most, if not all, packaging variations on Commodore's releases...

Jupiter Lander/Super Lander
Road Race/Midnight Drive
Slot/Super Slot
Alien/Super Alien
Radar Rat Race/Rat Race

And four packaging variations for Star Battle!

Mayhem · Post by **Mayhem** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 3:52 pm

Having checked my copy of Super Lander, you might be right 6502... the cart has got the same font and styling as the Japanese carts we've seen. Maybe that was supposed to be a Japanese release? Who knows...