Tunnels & Trolls Coleco Game

[Porkbelly]

Ah, nostalgia! Does anyone remember the infamous T&T cartridge game for Coleco that never was....

Or was it? There are rumors that a demo did exist, does anyone know?

[ProfGremlin]

Sept 24, 2009 13:43:25 GMT -5 Porkbelly said:

Or was it? There are rumors that a demo did exist, does anyone know?

I'll keep looking but initial findings don't bode well.

my.ais.net/~xtreme/SF/Coleco/Tunnels_and_Trolls/index.html

This particular game was advertized in many different places - magazines, trade shows, pack-in inserts, and other places. This was to be a battery-backed role-playing game for the Colecovision. However, despite this advertizing, it turns out the screenshots of the game were merely mockups and the only real code for the game (that has been discovered thus far) is thiis ROM - which loads the ADAM BIOS, displays an animated title screen, and resets. There is no game here... just more lies from a pre-crash game maker.

[ProfGremlin]

Sept 24, 2009 17:50:55 GMT -5 ProfGremlin said:

I'll keep looking...

Ok, a couple links further in and I found these two pages:

An interview with one of the Coleco programmers who was working on the game. See the end of the interview for the download.
www.gooddealgames.com/interviews/int_Philipp%20Klaus%20Krause.html

And another site detailing a bit more of the map itself: www.pdroms.de/news/7905/

Of course, to play these you'll probably need an emulator so here's a list for your selection:
Windows - www.zophar.net/coleco.html
Mac - www.zophar.net/macintosh/coleco.html

[mahrundl]

Sweet! Have an Exalt for digging that up, Prof!

[jongjungbu]

Exalt! Exalt! Interesting, very interesting. Wish it was more than a techdemo!

[machfront]

Yep. Being a fan of the 70s and 80s video games, I've come across chatter about this off and on. But I had no idea the original programmer is currently working on a new homebrew of it. Interesting. Honestly, I didn't think the homebrew Coleco community was doing anywhere nearly as much as the Atari 2600 homebrew gang. Very cool.

[ProfGremlin]

Sept 24, 2009 19:33:51 GMT -5 mahrundl said:

Sweet! Have an Exalt for digging that up, Prof!

Thanks, Mahrundl! I like to exercise my Google-fu every so often and if I can glean some advantage for my fellow Trolls so much the better.

[ProfGremlin]

Sept 24, 2009 19:48:31 GMT -5 jongjungbu said:

Exalt! Exalt!

Thank you as well, Jongjungbu. Always happy to be of service.

[Porkbelly]

Wow, exalt to the prof for digging out that ROM! It works too.

How frustrating it must have been not being able to get past the title screen. Surely there was a way!!

Interesting interview with Philip Krause, but I don't think he was an original Coleco designer. Very cool to see programmers are still out there trying to make this a reality!

Check out these guys too...

www.colecovision.dk/coll-trolls.htm

[machfront]

Oh, that second screenshot gets my old-school video game bits all tingly. ;D

[Hogscape]

Sept 25, 2009 4:37:15 GMT -5 machfront said:

Oh, that second screenshot gets my old-school video game bits all tingly. ;D

Agreed - except for 'hp' - that's just not right, should be CON or CN... No wonder it never got off the ground!

[jongjungbu]

Plus, they could never afford any equipment. That warrior has only 2 gp? Poor guy can't even afford a stick to swing with.

[grrraall]

I found 2 different Tunnels & Trolls coleco files on the net. The first is just a map with nothing else to do than "exploring" it. The second one is a fun intro with a dragon carving the words "Tunnels and Trolls" on a stone by spitting fire on it. But it is not a game. So where did you find the real file?

[jongjungbu]

Based on reading some of the above posts and links, grrraall, what you found is all there is. That's it at the moment, for the coleco version. Try the PC version, Crusaders of Khazan. That apparently looks to be a full game.

[grrraall]

OK, thank you. I thought the coleco game was a different game altogether.