Diablo Brothers
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DirtBagXon
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The thing I can't get out of my head is this was Picmatic's first laserdisc game in the series and maybe they weren't certain of the international take up.
Creating an English dub track would certainly of been extra expense on a new game genre for them. English was an integral part of the latter two titles. So why would they drop it from the Zorton releases after the expense and presumed success that encouraged them to make the follow up titles?
It wouldn't have required any game code changes, as it's just a synced audio track on the laserdisc which they already mastered.
Just so many holes in this story don't add up....
Creating an English dub track would certainly of been extra expense on a new game genre for them. English was an integral part of the latter two titles. So why would they drop it from the Zorton releases after the expense and presumed success that encouraged them to make the follow up titles?
It wouldn't have required any game code changes, as it's just a synced audio track on the laserdisc which they already mastered.
Just so many holes in this story don't add up....
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DirtBagXon
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Ya never knowthe bird in Moonraker without braces winds me up and C3P0 with silver leg, well it's just wrong but I can't really remember that as I only saw Star wars a couple of times in 80s
Please don't take this with any disrespect, but in this particular genre of games, I have read countless threads of users who swear "beyond all reasonable doubt" that the 1983 arcade version of Dragon's Lair started with the drawbridge scene. And they played it.
Despite emphatic evidence now that this was not the case with the existent ROM's from that era and the DLP guys first hand experience, the arguments continue. Even in the last weeks on MAMEWorld this very topic has come up once again.
Now, I'm not to say a prototype ROM doesn't exist for lair that had this scene, or a laserdisc track doesn't exist that contained an English track. But "memories", especially from third parties, are not conclusive evidence and can be misinterpreted for any number of human fallibilities.
I would love to be proven wrong.
It plays really well with a lightgun. Miles better than the WinUAE version.
AAHHH
No no, er I'm confused - goes to take a look at youtube videos of Dragon's Lair
Right I'm back
Where has the opening scene of the Drawbridge Gone
Okay now I only saw Dragon's Lair once in (according to friend) Motorway services cafe when it was out so I can't remember at all what opening scene was but what I can remember is, this game made a big impact on me at the time and I used to play both games on the C64 loads, I know it doesn't represent the Arcade that much but they were still great gamesSkip on a few years I bought a PC with DVD Drive and Creative Labs Video Board with SVHS out and connected to my 25" Sony TV and I bought Dragons lair DVD Game which I still have both of so I can test it out, I can 100% remember it starting with Drawbridge Scene, also I remember being a bit confused with the game as if you compare to Arcade and scenes were in different order so I didn't play it much because it didn't seem right so never got very far but always started with Drawbridge
Like this
This one with Modified Sidam Rom and Software Corner LD is different again
This one different again with Dexter
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DirtBagXon
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Those "blue" score screens immediately tell me that was the EU Atari/Sidam version, not the US Centronics version.
The EU version did include the Drawbridges scene but in a somewhat random order, but it did not have the 7-Segment scoreboard so commonly attributed to this game, instead replacing it with those interjecting blue screens. This EU Atari/Sidam version in now supported in Hypseus, but the PAL laserdisc content required is somewhat hard to find.
Later Home Console versions did also indeed have the drawbridge scene, which is what have been attributed to causing the Mandela Effect of the US arcade version.
@samusaran - Glad you are enjoying Marbella Vice, it is a blast
The EU version did include the Drawbridges scene but in a somewhat random order, but it did not have the 7-Segment scoreboard so commonly attributed to this game, instead replacing it with those interjecting blue screens. This EU Atari/Sidam version in now supported in Hypseus, but the PAL laserdisc content required is somewhat hard to find.
Later Home Console versions did also indeed have the drawbridge scene, which is what have been attributed to causing the Mandela Effect of the US arcade version.
@samusaran - Glad you are enjoying Marbella Vice, it is a blast
K1ngarth3r
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Diablo Brothers was definitely in the arcades here, check out this article:
Coin Slot Trade Paper 1997
Diablo Bros 45" £850
Now this thread has been resurrected I'll look into it a bit further and see what I find out.
Coin Slot Trade Paper 1997
Diablo Bros 45" £850
Now this thread has been resurrected I'll look into it a bit further and see what I find out.
DirtBagXon
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I have no doubt the name was around. Here's what I have in notes currently:
1. We know "Diablo Brothers" was a Picmatic title for Zorton at some point. (15/11/93 printed manual) 1994
2. We know that cab artwork existed for this title [attached images].
3. We know that Tierras Salvajes had English audio released in 1995.
4. We know that all 3 Picmatic titles ran on "Clone" ALG cab hardware.
5. Your friend says he played a "Picmatic Western" with English audio in late 1990's after Tierras.
Tierras had been in the wild for a couple of years in the late 1990's. We know Artwork existed for cabs for the Diablo name and that the same hardware was used in all 3 games. So it is "feasible" that Tierras (a Spanish Western with Spanish video overlay) may have been installed in a cab that had Diablo artwork.
We have found 2 other occurrences of an English audio track remembered:
Assuming neither of these is your friend, that's 3. One placed in Yorkshire, one in Wales and the other unspecified. These YouTube comments quote '92 and '96 as time frames. Again "guesstimate" as 92 was before any title release and 96 after Tierras.
If the track did exist, maybe it was so bad that Picmatic dropped it due to embarrassment and made better effort in the subsequent titles.... The mystery continues....
DirtBagXon
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I'm surprised Gallaghers Gallery commanded such a high price there.
Robert Grebe himself recently admitted in interview that they sold about 5 copies:
Robert Grebe himself recently admitted in interview that they sold about 5 copies:
K1ngarth3r
Active member
I never believed Gallagher's Gallery sold no more than 5 copies, but don't have any evidence of that. I certainly didn't see it in the arcade. I guess what's out there was the unsold copies. I have the disc and 3 ROM boards for that game.
Regarding the Diablo Bros sighting.
It was seen in 2 arcades over the period of 1996 and 2001, one in Filey, UK and the other up the coast in Scarborough, UK.
1st Arcade = Holdsworth's FunLand Amusements (Around 1996)
2nd Arcade = Unknown, he just said it was a big arcade on the promenade. (Around 1997/98 but confirmed it had gone by 2001).
He's quite familiar with all the Picmatic releases and said it was the English version of Zorton Bros, he also references Tierra Salvajes as Diablo Bros 2 in the UK (In regards the artwork) although I'm not sure where that info came from.
Regarding the Diablo Bros sighting.
It was seen in 2 arcades over the period of 1996 and 2001, one in Filey, UK and the other up the coast in Scarborough, UK.
1st Arcade = Holdsworth's FunLand Amusements (Around 1996)
2nd Arcade = Unknown, he just said it was a big arcade on the promenade. (Around 1997/98 but confirmed it had gone by 2001).
He's quite familiar with all the Picmatic releases and said it was the English version of Zorton Bros, he also references Tierra Salvajes as Diablo Bros 2 in the UK (In regards the artwork) although I'm not sure where that info came from.
DirtBagXon
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"he also references Tierra Salvajes as Diablo Bros 2 in the UK " - That's an interesting revelation, artwork or not.
DirtBagXon
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This is the mystery, there has been no evidence, or even testament, of an English track anywhere outside of the UK reports.
And more, recreativas.org, adb.arcadeitalia.net and even MAME source comments have no mention whatsoever of the name Diablo in association with Picmatic games.
DirtBagXon
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Thanks, we hadn't come across this link, it flits around a little with titles, but doesn't categorically answer any audio track questions, just another "maybe" - sigh...
If arcadeescapezone do hold that game, I'll wager it's either WinUAE looking at their pages, or at best, the Spanish track always associated with Zorton.
Tierras Salvajes has an English audio track yeah, we have this and it was captured via DomesDay86 multiple disc stacking and is available on IA.
Great leads, thank you.
DirtBagXon
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I had a response from arcadeescapezone just on the off-chance. Unfortunately a no go:
Thanks for your inquiry.
The page you are referencing on our website is not a list of games that we have.
It is a directory of games for informational purposes only.
We can't provide the answers you seek since we don't have the game or the hardware that the game ran on.