Posted By
Plus4Vampyre
on 2004-12-09
07:35:39
 |  'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Hi Everybody - yesterday I got a parcel from Italy with items of an ebay auction. In the parcel I found this tape:
[http://members.aol.com/plus4vampyre/emucamp/Cave_Fighter_Cassette.JPG]
[http://members.aol.com/plus4vampyre/emucamp/Cave_Fighter_Mastertronic.jpg]
Csabo, Lando, Sidius and I started a discussion about this Tape. So everybody we need the experinces and knowledge of your all.
I loaded the tape on it is the bubble bus version of Cave fighter side A has different levels as side B
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Posted By
Sidius
on 2004-12-09
07:51:10
 | Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
To be (a fake) or not to be (a fake) - that is here the question ?! 
In any case it's an nice one...
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Posted By
Sidius
on 2004-12-09
08:06:24
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Let's take a look at this !
...or this.
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Posted By
Plus4Vampyre
on 2004-12-09
08:07:02
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Yeah thats a question - strange is: no product number on it and instruction is in italian - but the paper feels like the normal mastertronic paper - the cassette has an mastertronic sticker on both sides and the same coverartwork was used for the game se-kaa of assiah
http://www.lemon64.com/covers/details.php?gameID=2257&ID=1329
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Posted By
SVS
on 2004-12-09
08:27:07
 | Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Well, the English translation of it is:
"GAME GOAL:
You are trapped in an underground cave system and you must attempt to escape, paying attention to available energy level. There are eight levels to pass: you'll find six caves on a side of the cassette (and further six on the other one) lived by various aliens: avoid them and kill them ."
Hoping to have helped.
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Posted By
Plus4Vampyre
on 2004-12-09
09:48:47
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
thank you - thats similar to the original cave fighter instructions
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Posted By
Mosh
on 2004-12-09
10:43:35
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
There a listing for another missing Mastertronic game on http://www.retrogames.co.uk/stock/html/commodore_16__4.html
Apparently Mastertronic put out a C16/+4 version of Election Game? It's not in the Games section, and I've seen Sintech also has a copy for sale, so maybe it exists?
Lemon has C64 version, I guess the cover is similar for C16 version?
http://kim.c64.org/covers/thumbs/election_game_thumb.jpg
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Posted By
MIK
on 2004-12-09
18:24:18
 | Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Was there some illegal pirated racket going on in Italy??
Its was 1985 and if far away in the land of Italy they did release this which may of been an illegal pirated production then who in all honesty would of asked questions?? They could of got away with it back then, many countrys could of. Illegal compurter hardware/software is big in Asia today believe it or not. But 1985 or the 80's was the begining of it all. [wink]
Some italian covers from the past could of been questionable, but to be totally honest I could not question the fact that these were never offially released in Italy because I was not there and still to some degree I can't even question this Cave Fighter.
But this Cave Fighter is a step in the right direction. I asked Plus4Vampyer if the title screen had Bubble Bus on it and he said yes it does... Cave Fighter was also released on the C64 under Bubble Bus, I bouhgt Cave Fighter from an offical outlet and that was Bubble Bus...
And if its not offical it is a very cleaver piece of print!! Computers never had the power back then and as you know Computers today control everything to do with printing.... Maybe it is the art work of Se-Kaa of Assiah and the words Cave Fighter were cleaverly placed on top with some editing on the green, or did these guy have the orginal picture...?
Also at the time on our UK releases the Mastertronic lable logo at the bottom does infact come out of the image and sits just below the main picture its self, but this Cave Fighter it does not and is a mirror of the work done with Se-Kaa of Assiah which was 1984, not 1985's artwork??
Also the cover states (c) Mastertronic SAS 1985... Is SAS the crack team.. ?? 
I was going to say Mastertronic didn't print colour game names on the inside sleave, but they did as seen with Spectipede....
Anther thing this Cave Fighter does not have a Code Number, but every other release from Mastertronic I have for the C16/Plus4 does.
Indeed a rare item and very cool, but we would like to know the truth. Even if it was an illegal production it doesn't harm us or anyone but would be nice to log it correctly because just like everything we have its part of the C16/Plus4 history. We need to know.
Luca do you have any ideas?
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Posted By
Ulysses777
on 2004-12-10
10:31:26
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Another thing to add is that some of the later Mastertronic games (1987-88) had a list of all their C16 games currently available on the inside of the cover, and these never mentioned Cave Fighter, or Election Game.
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Posted By
Plus4Vampyre
on 2004-12-10
17:43:30
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
@Ulysses777 - I think you are right with the Election Game - a lot web shops mixed up the systems - so I am sure the election game Mosh mentioned is a c64 game. And you are also right with the available games at the inside of the cover, but have a look to frensis I count 23 available games , but we know of 41 Mastertronics games.....
In my opnion - this cover & cassette was made either to imitate a mastertrnoic release (a known label sells much better than a unknown) or this was a re-release by Mastertronic Italy. I suppose - they translated the instruction and needed a cover what fits to a game with the name "cave figther" and so the cover from "se-kaa of assiah" fits best
@ Lando : Vegas Jackpot has also a colour game names on the inside sleave
I come to the conclusion the guy who did the cover had the original artwork - if you verify the c64 and this cover - you can see it - cutting out "se-kaa of assiah" and pasting in "cave figther" it does not fit in the cover. And he or she cuts the mountain on the left and made a vulcan out of it
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Posted By
MIK
on 2004-12-11
04:43:52
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
@Plus4Vampyre
My monitor is some kind of low level radiation type so black is a deep black which also makes everything look darker. Your scan is a little dark and I couldn't really see anything between the two images and believe me I looked, but when you said volcano I can just about make it out!
Thats why I said it was cleaver printing because I couldn't see the difference. Still..... for 1985 and without computers to edit the picture it is still amazing! The hand of Michelangelo was behind it.
I would loved to know how they achived it. Very good!!
Thats why I had all my games out the other day, I was doing some detective work to check for differences. I missed Vegas Jackpot, but also noticed Big Mac and Mr Puniverse have the wrong release dates here on the site, but the covers are copyed righted for 1985.... I bought Big Mac the same day as G-Man was released and this would of been 1986, and as I'm sure you know Mr Puniverse was released some time later...
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Posted By
Luca
on 2004-12-14
05:20:00
 | Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
In Italy during the 80ies, there were no legal problems in order to spread pirate copies cause there was no exact laws on this. Thus, no need to enterprise the production of Mastertronic-ish covers and tapes.
That's an original italian Mastertronic tape, as I still have. The incredible software mixup, if it exists, was made by Mastertronic itself.
The thruth is that I haven't get the point: on this site, Cave FIghter is presented in two different tape side level since years! 
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Posted By
Csabo
on 2004-12-14
09:45:16
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
I'm not sure we're on the same page Luca... So let me ask you in a simple way: do you have this particular (Cave Fighter/Mastertronic) tape?
It's not the TAP images that we are worried about. Sure, we do have Side A and Side B. It's the fact whether this is an actual Mastertronic tape, or just some Italian company/person who is illegally using their logo - in which case we.
I think it is a fake. If I understand Plus4Vampyre correctly, when you actually load the tape into a real Plus/4, the first screen is all there with Bubble Bus copyrights and all.
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Posted By
Luca
on 2004-12-14
12:44:40
| Re: 'Strange' Mastertronic Tape
Ah! Now I see!
Ok, I'd never bought that tape, but I can tell you 99.9% for sure that here in Italy the only tape cover I've ever seen is the Mastertronic release's, and not the Bubble Bus!
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