So, if you know your history well enough, you may know about Donkey Kong 3: Dai Gyakushuu, the semi-sequel to DK3. What you might not know is that unlike other Hudson Mario games, the game is not dumped at all, and thus almost no one outside of Japan (and very few within) has ever played it. Well, an auction is going on for it here: https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w209209055
While it does not include the box nor manual (the latter of which could be useful for finding out the story), if bought the game could finally become playable. But I can't do it alone. The bids are rising fast, and there's no way I'll have enough money to win. So, please, if you care about this game or Mario preservation at all, now is the time to act. Message me and I'll give you my Paypal if you wish to contribute funds to help win this.
Please, assist me in dumping one of the rarest Mario games in existence.
As a sharp x1 fan, i'm interested in contributing. Please pm me with details.
How are you planning on dumping the 3-inch floppy?
PM sent :)
Post Merge: December 14, 2017, 11:14:24 am
Good news, with the help of very generous donors, I now have around 200 USD (20,000 yen) to spend on this. Many thanks to the donors, it's because of them that this game will finally be freely playable outside of Japan.
One day left and already at 15k yens, don't go all victorious before it's over.
Well, it helps that we've now got $291 8)
Quote from: MasterDisk on December 15, 2017, 04:17:03 am
One day left and already at 15k yens, don't go all victorious before it's over.
Lmao don't be a dick man. We'll try our best
Post Merge: December 16, 2017, 06:43:00 am
We won :)
Update, I have the disk and a drive. I'm gonna try to figure out how to use the drive properly before sticking the disk in it
(https://i.imgur.com/EJtTNbdm.jpg)
Maybe i'll post it on many different forums. It might take me some time to figure this out, though. I already have many resources/ideas.
Quote from: famiac on January 27, 2018, 11:50:25 pm
Update, I have the disk and a drive. I'm gonna try to figure out how to use the drive properly before sticking the disk in it
(https://i.imgur.com/EJtTNbdm.jpg)
Nice! Tokugawa should be able to help with that.
At least you got it up and running so that's like half the project considering how fragile they are. :) really hope you manage to make that cable and hook it up to your PC. :-[
Quote from: togemet2 on February 18, 2018, 02:43:00 am
Any updates? I've seen these a few times online and am very keen on one day being able to play this. I have been searching for it for quite a while! :)
Just wrote famiac (the dumper). It was on track to be dumped by the end of last week, so if it's not already dumped it should be very soon.
The game is dumped.
Here's the game (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LQEHA2AteUTkDbU0JTLIAurTXpOU4iJO/view). I have now sold the disk
Thank you aitsu124 and Retrospectives for your help. :)
Cheers
Nice write-up. Very cool stuff!
I enjoyed reading this. Thanks for preserving this. You should post to assembler games as well if you haven't. I'm sure they would appreciate this as well.
Thanks a lot for reading :)
I posted in a couple of other places as well, as suggested.
Wow I never expected the dumping process will be more problematic than winning the disk!
Awesome story!
Great to hear! Thanks again for dumping it. I've notified everyone at Nintendo Age. :)
I'm tired and am going to get some rest now, but will play it as soon as possible tomorrow.
Congratulations of the dumping!!! Although wish that I could provide more techniqal support I am glad the process was finally successful and that the game now is available for everyone to enjoy! :) Everyone who cares about Nintendo preservation should be very thankful to Famiac since this is really an obscure gem! :) Thank you so much!
Edit: I buy the floppy from you if it's for sale. Saw your PM now and answered, thanks.
Grats!
I'd recommend posting this over lostlevels.org as well.
I did a video discussing it and my thoughts on it just now. Link is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65hSd5Gg-FQ
Not sure why the sound isn't synced, I've had that issue on XMillenium before but not while I was playing it. Makes me think it was a recorder issue. ???
Quote from: togemet2 on February 22, 2018, 12:34:15 pm
Ah. This is your channel. I think I've crossed over it a few times. Cool video. :D
Thanks, I plan to upload new videos about DK3: DG whenever possible. :)
I could also make videos regarding the MBS 655,460 point score-loop I found, a documented but unfilmed SMB Special glitch, and things of that nature. Let me know if anything like that sounds interesting, if there's interest I should be able to film them fairly easily as well.
Quote from: togemet2 on February 23, 2018, 01:07:45 am
That sounds super interesting! I'd definitely be interested in seeing a video on those~
Great! I might actually make a full video on my strategies for MBS. Everyone I've seen play it sucks at, except for one Japanese guy who did fairly well, so I'd like to show my strategies. (For context, my high score right now is around triple what that Japanese guy got.)
I'm actually better at Punch Ball than a lot of people I see as well, just don't talk about it much because the gap between me and everyone else is somewhat small and I also don't enjoy it as much. But I might still be able to make it to some undocumented phases. 8)
Quote from: togemet2 on February 23, 2018, 06:08:39 am
I actually really enjoyed Punch Ball. (as well as VS. SMB). Shame not too many people have played them though. I can understand that they wouldn't probably look or feel like the NES Mario games, but they're still fine. :D
Even though I never really loved Punch Ball, I agree completely on Vs. SMB. Used to have a good retro arcade by me, with dedicateds, that had it. Now all the ones near me have a lot of games, but they're all on multicades. If I recall, one that has Vs. SMB has reversed buttons and a weird screen. This original one also had some rare stuff, such as a working Baby Pac-Man. And then, without warning, they closed. :'(
I'll try to do something regarding Punch Ball at some point. Do you have any tips for working better with the ice physics?
Featured on Kotaku. (https://kotaku.com/you-can-finally-play-a-long-lost-donkey-kong-game-1823308987)
Quote from: MasterDisk on February 26, 2018, 12:36:34 am
Featured on Kotaku. (https://kotaku.com/you-can-finally-play-a-long-lost-donkey-kong-game-1823308987)
Noticed that. I can't believe we actually managed to get this so mainstream. So many people are finding out about it! Maybe we can even get some on board to dump the other versions of it sometime, as well as the undumped versions of MBS and Punch Ball.
It's weird to think that so many more people played it over this past weekend than played it during the past thirty three years before it.
I also uploaded two more videos showing more stages here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl5Xtg7-Uf0&t=106s and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIOCYT2TcpY&t=12s
Quote from: togemet2 on February 26, 2018, 02:25:51 am
More undumped Mario games? Count me in! What versions are they exactly? I could always keep an eye out. I do a lot of this sort of stuff haha. A couple of friends and I are working on getting Super Mario Land 2 and Yoshi's Cookie prototypes dumped. Hopefully everything goes well with that. :crazy:
Well, MBS has undumped versions for the PC-6601, MZ-2200, and Hitachi S1. Punch Ball has undumped versions for the MZ-1500, IBM JX, and Hitachi S1. Finally, DK3: DG has undumped versions for the PC-8801 and PC-6601. Some of these are easier to come by than others.
Also, if you look back I found proto footage of SMB2J, so if you look for protos a lot that's something to keep an eye out for.
Forgot about the SML2 proto, love SML2 so definitely looking forward to that!
Quote from: togemet2 on February 26, 2018, 12:57:56 pm
I might've seen some of the Punchball ones a while ago for sale on YJA. :D
Really? I've never been able to find any record of its undumped versions selling. Do you recall when this was?
Quote from: togemet2 on February 26, 2018, 08:55:30 pm
I believe it was early last year.
Which version(s) was it?
Thanks for videos aitsu.
Things to notice: The flag you talking about is called an S-Flag or here in Japan as the "スペシャルフラッグ" (Special Flag), it just give you bonus points and nothing more. It is actually a property of Namco and first occured in the game Rally-X. It's common as a cameo in different Namco games. I have also seen it being unofficially used in other games from other companyes.
Back in the day it is common knowledge that cameos and even sound effects that are used internally by a company was normal. Example in Metroid/Kid Icarus which share it's engine, even enemies e.t.c. Regards of this DK3 game, when you shoot DK and hit him, it makes the same or very similar sound as when eating ecstasy pills in Devil World.
I notice you got some issues with sound and save state in Xmil. I will send another emulator to you, but please add BIOS files yourself.
Quote from: togemet2 on February 27, 2018, 01:39:00 am
Very interesting. Didn't even notice there was an S-Flag there! Nor the similarities in sound from Devil World. Great finds.
Thanks, I guess I have brain damaged after being exposed to gaming life for the majority of life haha. ;)
Quote from: Retrospectives on February 27, 2018, 01:15:23 am
Thanks for videos aitsu.
Things to notice: The flag you talking about is called an S-Flag or here in Japan as the "スペシャルフラッグ" (Special Flag), it just give you bonus points and nothing more. It is actually a property of Namco and first occured in the game Rally-X. It's common as a cameo in different Namco games. I have also seen it being unofficially used in other games from other companyes.
Back in the day it is common knowledge that cameos and even sound effects that are used internally by a company was normal. Example in Metroid/Kid Icarus which share it's engine, even enemies e.t.c. Regards of this DK3 game, when you shoot DK and hit him, it makes the same or very similar sound as when eating ecstasy pills in Devil World.
I notice you got some issues with sound and save state in Xmil. I will send another emulator to you, but please add BIOS files yourself.
Thanks for the emulator, I can now use save states and it runs better overall. :)
If it's not the flag that's doing it, do you know how the player is skipping stages here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXCxpVOyOYI&t=568s
Quote from: aitsu124 on February 27, 2018, 01:57:34 am
Thanks for the emulator, I can now use save states and it runs better overall. :)
If it's not the flag that's doing it, do you know how the player is skipping stages here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXCxpVOyOYI&t=568s
Save states just to demonstrate the different levels? :) As far as key operations are executed it's just like the manual says. TK: 4 and 6 + Space so I really doubt the flag does something special. ;)
Anyway, glad emulator worked. Only times I use Xmil is for debug and other things not related to direct gameplay.
Quote from: Retrospectives on February 27, 2018, 02:07:55 am
Save states just to demonstrate the different levels? :) As far as key operations are executed it's just like the manual says. TK: 4 and 6 + Space so I really doubt the flag does something special. ;)
Anyway, glad emulator worked. Only times I use Xmil is for debug and other things not related to direct gameplay.
Interesting. Huh. Well, thanks for the assistance with this. I'll respond to your PM tomorrow as it's very late in the US right now and I've got to get some rest.
Post Merge: February 28, 2018, 05:57:08 pm
Posted video showing final stages here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4v18dfU-Sg&t=1s
Featured on the site of one of the largent french association that strive for preserving old games, mo5.com.
French beware (http://mag.mo5.com/actu/133473/le-rarissime-donkey-kong-3-dai-gyakushuu-enfin-preserve-en-ligne/).
Thanks for sharing MasterDisk! :D
Aitsu, I haven't forgot about you. I'll send you the scans tonight (Japan night). :pow: