Return to Atlantis

Hi guys. I'm new here. I've been monitoring your site for some time, now, with the hope that my questions would be asked by someone else. No luck.
When I bought my first Amiga 500 (in 1987 I believe) I could only afford one game to go with it. It was Return to Atlantis and it cost me around $70.00 at the time. I played it til I puked. Anyway, I've been looking for the adf file all over the net, but no one seems to have it. I come to you with my helmet in my hand hoping that someone here does.
This is a great group you have here and I hope to become more a part of it. I've used the Amiga for everything from games to TV commercials. Someone here said it best. It was the only computer with a soul...

[Twistin'Ghost]

Welcome to EAB, daddy-o! You are right, this game doesn't surface very often, but it's floated to the top at the zone.

Hey Twistin, Thanks a Million! You have no idea how long I've been looking for this adf. I owe you one, buddy! I even swiped your jpg of the box to go with the game and manual in one package. It's so nice and neat to have the game, the box cover and the manual in one digital folder instead of packed away somewhere in a closet. That's how I collect all my memories these days.
I can't get Return to Atlantis to work in Winfellow, though. Maybe I haven't found the magical settings, yet. Winfellow is all I use for now because of it's simplicity. Return to Atlantis is one of the first Amiga games and I suppose it will be tricky. It also uses voice synthesis which I'm sure will make things more complicated.
Anyway, thanks again Twistin. Maybe I can pay you back sometimes...

[Twistin'Ghost]

Hey, my pleasure, dude. Even I was surprised that the only copy I had of this game was in my DMS files from the old days that I have yet to convert over to adf format. Those old E/A games are always a bitch to get working, but at least on a real Amiga, this one was not as much trouble as, say the Archon games, or One On One, etc. The voice synthesis, however, has 'no WinFellow' written all over it, unfortunately.

Hey, what part of Mayberry are you from. I'm here in Mount Pilot...(on the west side of Charlotte).

Well whadaya know! I'm over in Bannertown in Mount Airy. Small world! We are about ten minutes apart. That's weird!

[Twistin'Ghost]

Hehehe...small world, huh? Actually, I am about 25 minutes west of Charlotte...closer to Gastonia. This town in like Mayberry in many ways (only without the subtle charms). TAGS is a great show, though!

I think there is a guy from Gastonia on one of the other Amiga sites, but I can't remember which site (it's a big news site with a message area).

I was watching MAD TV tonight and they did mock-up of the Andy Griffith Show as a bunch of redneck killers. It was great. I always wanted to write a spoof on it. Andy was a sadistical killer who smiled real big while he cut you with a razor...
What amazes me about this board is it's international flavor. We can easily sit at home and converse or trade with people all over the world. The Amiga was good at bringing everyone together with imagination and taste, no matter where they came from.
If only it had gained dominance...

[Twistin'Ghost]

This is true. At least the *real* Amiga people seem to have a certain camaraderie (by 'real', I mean those that really love it, not just owners of real, physical Amigas) and there's seems to be a community spirit that's very solid.

If you wanna see something that is like The Andy Griffith Show gone rabid, check out the film 2000 Maniacs, an HG Lewis slasher film from the early sixties; some yankees travelling through the south are detoured into a town run by Johnny Rebel ghosts on a killing rampage. Dark humor, hillbilly music and lots of gore. A riot!

You read my mind. I saw that movie at a late show in 1968 with a girlfriend and we had to walk home afterwards. She was so creeped out I had to hold her all the way home... it was great!
The real trouble here is that it's not so far from the truth. People "not from around here" get creeped out when they visit. I was a little unnerved myself after I came back from 20 years of service. It either makes you feel secure and at home or alienated. I wouldn't live anywhere else, though.
Say, where did get that great jpg of the Return to Atlantis box? I'd like to get one for every game I have. Is there a stash somewhere?:smileek

[Twistin'Ghost]

Cool - 2000 Maniacs was a late show staple (along with a few other rare obscurities) here in the deep south. Originals posters for that film are worth a fortune (literally) and I had two of them. And stupidly sold them for almost nothing to some dealer in Texas (in the pre-ebay days...am I ever kicking my ass now!)

And yes, there's a lot of those creepy types around here. Underneath the layer is an underbelly that I'll bet a lot of people believe is a lost product of a bygone era, but this faction still exists. And there's still the Billy Jack-type townsfolk types. But it's better than it was. I can get along better with those people, however, than I can with youth who call a cab to rob the driver and then shoot him down in cold blood for $12.

It's funny, because I just returned to NC after 16+ years away, as well. Small world.

Box scans.
Yeah, I actually have several scans of Return To Atlantis - that was the smallest of the collection. The Exotica page has a nice scan of the European (I think) box cover. There's about 1100 gorgeous coverscans at this site, as well (to say nothing of their staggering music colllection!)

Another site with some nice E/A box scans is GOTCHA. Those scans can be had here.
The downside on these scans is that they are compressed so much that they are very murky, plus the web url is slapped on very haphazardly, ruining the images. (sigh)

Plus I have one more slightly bigger scan of RTA that I don't remember where it came from. Box art collecting is one of my hobbies. I collect them for most every classic game platform (no PC ones, however, unless the game happens to also exist on the Amiga). You really don't wanna know how many I have. I scan my own, as well, when I have time (almost never). So that's around 500 originals (and less than 50 of them I have scanned).

Our upcoming Amiga games database will feature coverscans, in addition to screenshots and massive info. It's an enormous task to create, so the launch date gets deferred quite a bit, but will be worth the wait. [/plug]

Your right about a choice place to live. I've been all over the world, but I return here. The climate is moderate with practically no natural disaster threats, like hurricanes, twisters, earthquakes or extreme temperatures.
I can walk down the street in town at night alone and not worry about being attacked. People are honest here, maybe too honest.
Sure there are some crazies, but go to any city and stand on the street for a minute. Craziness will reveal itself.
As for box collecting, I collect images too. I have hundreds of toys all through the house. Mostly sci-fi, robots, superheros and the like. I buy on ebay mostly. It's also a great place to nab jpg's of toys and their boxes. I have thousands in my data base that show the toy's front, back, side, etc along with the boxes. I believe that the box completes the story. Usually they are more rare than the toy is.
It is only natural that as I do so with toys, I should also get all I can in the game data base. Sometimes I wonder where this virtual collecting will lead us. My jpg collection is better than any book on the subject and instantly accessible. It can be shared with anyone taking away the sickness of hoarding things.
Thanks again for the links. It gives me another direction for perfecting this collection...
One more question. What's the deal on the Amiga Dreams site? It seems to be private. They want you to send them an email form for an access code. Well, I did it. Now I'm waiting for a reply...

[Twistin'Ghost]

Cool...I have some toy scans (a few), but mostly old games (like board games and such). I picked up an old scrabble game at a thrift store once from before it was called Scrabble. CA thrift stores rule. My roomie there was a big toy collector and seller (but he mostly goes for the Japanese stuff, like robots and monsters...that stuff commands incredibly high prices on ebay!) I browse ebay weekly for cool scans...glad to know I'm not the only one with this disease. Must be something in the NC water that breeds packrats! I'm also big on old record labels, cover art, picture sleeves, etc.

Amiga Dreams...for some reason, I am drawing a blank on that site. Can you post the URL...I just can't remember it.

// Amigaboy : Amiga Dreams is the Dreamzone

Hey, I didn't mean to turn this conversation around so much. I don't know the rules here for how long a thread (I guess you call it) should be, but I am enjoying it nonetheless.
Collecting jpg's as a virtual alternative to the real thing has many advantages. You can update them, they won't break or get dusty and there is always room for more. I suspect that in the future selling quality scans of nice subjects will become a lucrative business. Better get 'em now while they're free.
Here's one of my robots. He was made in 1955 by the Marx toy company.