PROTOTYPES

Prototypes and alternate versions that need to be archived and shared by those currently hoarding them:
 

Actionauts - Version released was "fixed". Original version still not released (Jose "wonder007" Artiles now owns original).
Ad. D&D: Tower of Mystery - Sean Kelly and Matt Reichert (who reviewed it apparently based on screenshots alone, even though he's often claimed he can't review a game unless he has a copy of it.  Sounds like a sinister mystery to me).
Ad. D&D: Treasure of Tarmin - Sean Kelly, Kevin Horton, and Matt Reichert (who reviewed it apparently based on screenshots, even though he's often claimed he can't review a game unless he has a copy of it).
Amiga Boing demo 2.0 - has an Easter egg in it.
Anteater - Sean Kelly, Matt Reichert (who reviewed it and still has a copy of it), and Kevin Horton (who posted an actual screenshot of it in 2013).
Arcade Pong - fixed paddle bug
Astro Chase - Earliest known version.  Matt Reichert reviewed 3 different versions of it, but shared none of them.
Burgertime - Later version allows selectable difficulty levels using TV Type switch (B/W = easy, COLOR = hard) and fixed the height bug
Choplifter - As usual, Matt Reichert reviewed it, but didn't share it.
Circus Charlie - Found in August 2025.  Owner promised to archive and share it first, but decided to sell it after getting a substantial (likely 5-figure) offer.  I'm also apparently living rent-free in some fool's head.  As long as he's not involved.  Nobody needs another Tank Blitz or Toki mishandling fiasco, or his 2-bit advice on how to quickly devalue a rare cartridge (LINK).
Color Bars - Jose Artiles (LINK)
CommaVid sprite editor - John Hardie
CommaVid TRS-80 tapes (Underworld) - John Hardie
David Lubar materials - given to John Hardie (and as they say, if you give it to John, it's as good as gone)
Donald Duck's Speedboat (5-16-83) - Matt Reichert and Roman "cpuwhiz" Sharnberg claim this is identical to the 4-12-83 version, but at least 2 different prototype carts have been found dated 5-16-83 - only one of which has been archived.
Dungeon - Bob Smith mentioned at the October 2015 PRGE show that he created this, with plans to sell it at John Hardie's National Videogame Museum (this was prior to them opening).  With Smith's passing, the question now is, where's the game?
Fall Guy, The - John Hardie acquired a prototype of this in May 2024.
In Search of the Golden Skull - Sean Kelly and Kevin Horton (who posted an actual screenshot of it in 2013), as well as Matt Reichert (who reviewed it apparently based on screenshots, even though he's often claimed he can't review a game unless he has a copy of it).
Intuition - There's a (very) short list of possible names as to who the unnamed California collector is who paid $10k for the only known prototype of this in September 2022.  If you won't share the code or sell carts of it, at least put out some video footage of it running.
James Bond 007 - version with slightly-different music.  Originally came from Arnie Katz and Bill Kunkel's collection.  This one ended up with Joseph Santulli and was at CGE once, and went missing after that!
Keystone Cannonball - Dan Kitchen developed this Keystone Kapers sequel back in the early 1980s, the idea for which was taken by David Crane and turned into Circus Convoy.
Laser Blast - original version had a bug, possibly related to avoiding the force field
Levee Game, The (AKA Dam Game, Hoover Dam) - Dan Kitchen gave John Hardie the source code listing and an EPROM prototype in February 2024 (LINK)
Loco-Motion - Sean Kelly, Roman Sharnberg, and Matt Reichert (who of course reviewed it and offered to make a video of it, but never did, and don't bother asking him about sharing it LINK.)
Look Ahead - John Hardie (Mark Klein brought it to a past CGE)
Lord of the Rings - (LINK)
Mark of the Mole - Matt Reichert reviewed it.
Miner 2049'er Vol. II - Includes a level select.  Jose Artiles and Matt Reichert (LINK)
Moon Patrol - Matt Reichert reviewed the 6-26-83 version (LINK)  but claims he doesn't have permission to share it.
Nexar - original version has roll-over bug, the later version doesn't.
Ninja Fighter - Ken Love (formerly of Activision) claimed to have this ROM way back in 2001 (LINK) and promised they would be released "soon" (LINK).
Pesco - Atariage version (easier)
Power Lords: Quest for Volcan - earlier version VIDEO 1, VIDEO 2, VIDEO 3
Pursuit of the Pink Panther (Atari 400/800 version) - Matt Reichert mishandling another one (LINK).  The master of (prototype) disaster strikes again.
Ram It - 2 versions (LINK)
Sentinel PAL - Matt Reichert sold it to Jose Artiles
Skeet Shoot - original version had a bug which causes screen to roll
Soccer RS Football (1988) - no music at power-up, missing some sound f/x
Sprint 88 (Sprintmaster) versions - John Hardie has had this for years.
Star Wars: Jedi Arena - Earlier version.  Matt Reichert reviewed it.
Starpath protos - (LINK)
Twist - Ken Love (formerly of Activision) claimed to have this ROM way back in 2001 (LINK) and promised they would be released "soon" (LINK).
Video Life - need true dump of cart, which Yarusso refused to make available for over 20 years now (LINK)


Todd Rogers alternate carts (good luck getting these, as there's a good chance they only exist in Todd's mind, much like his high score records):

Adventures of Tron (one stops at 999,999, the other rolls)
Blackjack - stops at 999 (instead of 1,000)
Journey Escape (has border around screen, or no border)
Reactor (one stops at 999,999, the other rolls)
Sky Jinks
Stampede (rolls at 100,000 instead of 10,000)
Taz (rare 1984 re-release)

Atari Force - Liberator - Curt Vendel claimed to have a copy of this, but like most of his claims, he fell short on actually doing anything with it.  Martin Goldberg donated 14 platters that Vendel had to The Strong museum (LINK)
California Games - A letter dated November 30th, 1988 surfaced in December 2020 from John Hardie that was sent from Atari to Epyx, asking on the status of the game's development.  Hardie redacted the names, thereby making further investigation impossible (LINK). Some historian.
Jungle River Cruise - John Hardie has had this for years (LINK), as does Matt Reichert (LINK)
Pole Position II - Apparently the final version of the code exists on a RM05 backup platter and was in the possession of one Curt Vendel for years. After he died, Marty Goldberg donated it and 13 other platters to The Strong museum, basically putting it out of reach for anyone to retrieve the code from it (LINK)
Pursuit of the Pink Panther - Matt Reichert was in contact with the owner and posted screenshots and a video of it (LINK), but then lost the owner's email a few months later (LINK).  Apparently having both screenshots and video of the game wasn't enough for him to review it.
Tumbleweeds - John Hardie has had this for years (LINK), as does Matt Reichert (LINK)
Wing War - (LINK)

Madden Football - Jose "wonder007" Artiles has had a copy of the source code for over a decade but has yet to do anything with it (LINK)
smiley face 7800 diagnostic - John Hardie
Muppet Go Round - As usual, Matt Reichert reviewed it, but didn't share it.
 

Toki - The person who found the prototype entrusted Roman Scharnburg with a copy of it.  5 year later and long after the person disappeared, Schamburg apparently lost the only copy of it and is glad to be absolved of any responsibility of having to do the right thing (LINK) (i.e. sharing it with anyone else, other than his 'inner circle' like Matt Reichert, that is LINK), or so he thinks.  Maybe we should call him Roman Scamburg...

Atari server equipment - Curt Vendel owned at least 2 different VAX systems and several data platters for them, as well as a collection of 9-track backup tapes from Atari Inc., Atari Corp., and Atari Games - the majority were VAX/VMS backups, along with a few from the Data General MV/8000 system and some of unknown origin.  It was Ken Van Mersbergen who archived all of the 9-track backup tapes as well as the RM02 platters that Vendel had, but the RM05 platters mentioned in this thread were never archived as Vendel never had the proper equipment to do so (and in all the time he owned them, he never bothered to acquire them or work with someone who did).  Mersbergen claims there were 14 platters, which ended up in the inept hands of Marty Goldberg, who turned around and donated them to The Strong museum.  The Strong does't own the equipment needed to archive them, nor are they likely to loan them out to anyone to be archived.  The unarchived platters are believed to contain data from the last few years of Atari under Warner (1982-1984).  If there's any hope of recovering any of the known games that were under development (such as VCS Bagman, Ballblazer, Robotron: 2084, SwordQuest AirWorld, etc), those platters are likely the last chance of finding them.  This equipment should have been given to a real museum, like the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, to be archived and preserved.
Jerome Domurate collection -  In April 2020, all of his materials (prototypes, development disks, paperwork, etc) ended up with the National Videogame Museum (LINK).  John Hardie posted a few screenshots of artwork from one of the disks... and nothing else.
John Van Ryzin collection - Ryzin donated all his materials (prototypes, paperwork, etc) to the National Videogame Museum.  So now the wait begins until John Hardie decides to either scan the material and make it available to everyone, or donate the material to Atarimania.

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