Posted By
MIK
on 2021-04-04
18:35:30
 |  ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
If you have a very good memory... you may recall me saying that I once loaded Phantom and the character had a backpack, (a long time ago).
I was thinking about it again today and started wondering if it was linked to something I did and as luck would have it my imagination was right!
I bet Luca has a BIG smile on his face! 
I tested it on the real hardware and with Yape which is where the screen shot comes from and here's how to replicate it using the real cassette or with the .tap images.
Load the 1st floor and once you can move your character hold the Run/Stop and press RESET
Now type X followed by RETURN to go back into BASIC and simply load the game once again and your character should now have a backpack.
Enjoy! 
Just to add...
I wonder if the backpack was always meant to be there? I could also tell you the genuine cassette wasn't well made meaning the game must of crashed and having done a soft reset the backpack appeared by chance. I haven't seen the backpack since the 1980's!!
That said, without the backpack you can stand with your back right next to the wall just by the slightest touch on the joystick as you turn around. With the backpack on this is not possible - tho to be fair it doesn't break the game but instead looks as if it was meant to be this way meaning 'no' backpack was a bug?
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2021-04-04
19:06:47
| Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
Wow, you're right! I tried your instructions and indeed the backpack shows up. What a find!
This is a very odd thing to leave in the game though. Is there any chance that the backpack is supposed to show up during normal gameplay (maybe by doing some in-game action)?
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Posted By
MIK
on 2021-04-06
13:16:36
| Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
I've never seen anything that would give you the backpack in the game normally.
But I'm now wondering... As Tynesoft joked that Phantom was a bit like Gauntlet (US Gold/Atari Inc) you can bet they knew it was also Ghostbusters (Film 1984). And the fact the game cover artist gave the guys backpacks in the picture - maybe it was there all along but was removed/hacked out before release?
The other machine versions don't show the backpack either and unless a C64 grows a Soft Reset button and you so happen to have a copy to test we may never know if it was an elaborate secret only the devs knew about. It would of been easier to have a secret 'word' you typed as you played the game to make the backpack show.
BTW I was looking for a Pause key so I could take the picture from a real TV and I didn't find one but did find that if you hold the P key down the game runs about half the speed. Something left in the game to check the animation maybe?
One last thought... Looking at the image you could almost say the backpack looks like the letter O. If it was a character glitch it wouldn't rotate 90 degree's so you get to see it as you walk up/down the screen. 
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Posted By
Luca
on 2021-04-08
07:56:58
 | Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
MIK I truly remain speechless here, can't believe that. They are two completely different sprites at all! Actually, see the gun in his hand, it's a completely different graphics too! One is the one from the main program, and it gets overlapped by the second, which probably is an older version of the former, and differ just in the main sprite! :O This is...this is sooo weeeeird! Kudos to have spotted it out, mate!
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Posted By
MIK
on 2021-04-08
11:41:38
| Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
Great work digging out the charsets! 
You have good eyes Luca as I didn't notice the gun had also changed! 
I think you have answered the question as to why these differences exist! So indeed, the backpack and the original gun graphics were part of the game all along but were removed from the levels before release. And it just so happens they forgot to update the charset in the main code.
It's crazy though that loading the game back on top of it's self in memory makes the game ignore the level charset but instead uses the main code set.
Maybe Phantom +6D PAL/NTSC could make permanent use of the backpack and original gun?
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Posted By
Luca
on 2021-04-09
07:33:55
| Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
MIK oh well, that crack has been done due to the lack of valid ones, and now is considered to be gone (and just barely appreciated, as you can see from the votes )...but a new stuff could be afforded, why not? Any candidate outta here? 'Coz it really deserves that!
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Posted By
Chronos
on 2021-04-09
13:17:02
 | Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
It's time to a "101%"
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Posted By
Luca
on 2021-04-09
13:48:30
| Re: ECTOBACKPACK ~ Phantom
Great! Go, Chronos!
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