Marble Madness II: Marble Man prototype arcade machine at California Extreme 2007

I often wondered if there had been an arcade sequel to Marble Madness.

Well it seems there was, at least a prototype.

Found this video of a Marble Madness II Marble Man machine being played at California Extreme 2007 (I am from the midwest so I'm not familiar with these events)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHbhbuCfk80


Another video of just the game (maybe this is emulation, yet undumped ?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NOmGR00MRQ


I did do a couple of searches of these forums but did not see anything posted about Marble Madness II Marble Man. Sorry if this has been discussed in the past.

Anyway..

I did manage to find these pictures & information:

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8619


I cannot help but to be reminded of how there was an Atari arcade Missile Command II prototype.

That was long ago playable in MAME along with Super Centipede, both contained in the Arcade Classics prototype




Missile Command II (emulated, most likely in MAME)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDeuTcHq5UQ


However, unlike Missile Command II + Super Centipede, Marble Madness II hasn't been dumped from what I see.

Would sure love to play it someday.

BTW I didn't realize until recently that Mark Cerny, who is now world-famous for being the lead system architect of the PlayStation 4, wrote the original Marble Madness.

 

I don't remember where I got this pic:

 

Had to edit my post due tonot having the right video for MCII.

 

That's strange, they're two different games?

Well, anything is possible given that there's precious-little info out there.

 

I'm pretty sure they are the same game but at different stages of development/aimed at different countries.

 

how does it play with a joystick vs the trackball? i really liked MM in the arcade, but not really on the NES.

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/55936-can-marble-man-ever-be-released

There was a discussion on this over at Atari Age. This is definitely one of the most sought after arcade games there is. The prototypes have been found in "pieces" in a sense, but there is a rom out there. Unfortunately, the man who wrote this site I think has it, but says the individual proto owners don't want him to share it. It's really the part of classic gaming that continues to sour with me. If these characters aren't selling the arcade proto's, and they weren't the original programmers, what do they care if the rom is released???

http://www.safestuff.com/mmstory.htm

 

Because they don't wish to devalue what they have. While things are getting a little better for carts as a whole proto values drop like rock once the rom hits the net. If someone wants to release a proto to the public (though in truth it isn't really their decision either) at a financial cost to them then it is their choice. They have no duty to though despite what some people think.

 

But they don't have anything from what I remember. It's the game's programmer that doesn't want it released, and I don't think he actually owns any of it (although I guess the rights to the game might be his, but I think they were retained by Atari and whoever owns all that now). I think he's just one of those types opposed to emulation and distribution of the game for no particular reason. The guy at Safestuff was hoping to get source code from him (and the code that allows the game to work with track balls), so that's partly why he's honoring his wishes... I believe most of the other prototypes mentioned in this thread were released by him as he has (or had) all the original Atari prototype machines. He brings them to California Extreme every year.

MMII has been dumped, and MAME drivers have been created for it, and Safestuff doesn't have the only existing board sets for the game (there's at least one other out there), so there's still a chance we'll see it...

 

Yes for whatever the reason the original programmer won't allow release. I don't know if he's not happy with the game or whatever? The note he made there is the thing I mentioned. The owners of the proto's are not selling and don't want to be bothered. So again, I ask what is the harm in releasing the game to the public?

 

Now the problem is getting that large sum of money...

 

The game has been dumped, just not publicly shared.

 

aw, that sucks...i tend to assume it's only a matter of time though, jealous of the guys in the thread who got to experience it!

 

68000 with a 6502 for sound.

 

Does anyone know why the current owners of the rom (if its been dumped) or the arcade boards don't want it out there? Are they waiting for Midway to do some compilation and put it out officially?

My guess is they enjoy having the rarest arcade game and want to keep it that way. At least they bring the arcade machine itself to California Extreme. But not sharing it or selling it could mean the game has the possibility of becoming lost. So much for preservation...