Zybex and Speed Ace

John E. · Post by **John E.** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 4:34 pm

I remember buying the disk versions of these games from a company called Callisto. Apparently they did a deal with Zeppelin for exclusive rights to produce disk versions of these two games. Basically, it was just a simple red disk with the cassette inserts.

The guy at the company also sold a game he'd created himself. Can't for the life of me remember what it was called but Code Masters bought the rights for it and released it as Fruit Machine Simulator. Once he'd done the deal with Code Masters he had to stop selling his version. Can anyone remember what it was originally called?

Post by **Atari Frog** » Sun Apr 10, 2005 10:27 pm

That's a pretty interesting story. Now that you mention it, I seem to recall an ad from the Calisto guys stating such a game was available. I need to look through my piles of mags...

Unfortunately, a number of early commercial games from the UK are still MIA

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avram · Post by **avram** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 4:50 pm

Wasn't Callisto just another label of Zeppelin, albeit a full-price label? I recall sometihng in New Atari User magazine about this and I think their first release was Draconus.

Post by **Atari Frog** » Mon Apr 11, 2005 5:29 pm

No, that was Cognito.

Calisto / Callisto was an early distributor of Atari software in the UK. They also published some titles like Warlok, Cannibals...

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Atari Frog
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John E. · Post by **John E.** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:29 pm

Callisto were not an early distributor of Atari software; they joined pretty late! Perhaps you are mistaking them from an early publisher using a similar name?

If you check your Page 6 mags around the time Zybex/Speed Ace were released you'll see their advert.

avram · Post by **avram** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 4:32 pm

Ah yes, Cognitio, not Callisto. In my defense, they both begin with the letter C.

My wife finds it funny that I can (sort of) remeber these kind of details yet usually forget what happened yesterday. And I'm only 28.

Post by **Atari Frog** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 6:40 pm

John E. wrote:Callisto were not an early distributor of Atari software; they joined pretty late! Perhaps you are mistaking them from an early publisher using a similar name?

Well, check the very first issues of Computer & Video Games (1981-82 era) and you'll notice ads from Calisto. I'm fairly sure they're the same guys.

If you check your Page 6 mags around the time Zybex/Speed Ace were released you'll see their advert.

A bit like the later Micro Discount / Zeppelin deal then? I'll check my mags.

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Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Tue Apr 12, 2005 10:54 pm

avram wrote:And I'm only 28.

Just call me Grandpa, everyone!

John E. · Post by **John E.** » Wed Apr 13, 2005 1:15 pm

Well, check the very first issues of Computer & Video Games (1981-82 era) and you'll notice ads from Calisto. I'm fairly sure they're the same guys.

I bow to your superior knowledge!

A bit like the later Micro Discount / Zeppelin deal then? I'll check my mags.

Yeh, but Zeppelin's Atari output had finished when this deal was done. Callisto were there from the start.

Out of interest (to nobody, probably) Derek Fern sent me loads of the disk versions of the Zeppelin games he released and asked if I could transfer them to a file so he could use them with a hard drive. It was about the time my Atari life was ending so I only did Cavernia (the easy one! No bank switching) but I never sent it to him.

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Atari Frog
http://www.atarimania.com[/quote]

avram · Post by **avram** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 2:46 pm

So what happened to Derek Fern?

Post by **deathtrappomegranate** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:19 pm

avram wrote:So what happened to Derek Fern?

Good question - I know someone who was in contact with him until recently.

If anyone does hear from him, please ask if he has any copies of "Conquest of the Crown", as we really could use a scan of the packaging!

John E. · Post by **John E.** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:10 pm

Sorry to bring this up again but the guy who ran Callisto was Steve Williamson. He's the guy who coded Las Vegas Casino for Zeppelin and Zero War for Harlequin (and Fruit Machine Simulator for Code Masters we now know!).

All came back to me when I saw the Las Vegas Casino dump!

Post by **Atari Frog** » Thu Jun 02, 2005 3:39 pm

Cool information, I didn't know that...

BTW, does anybody know why the music in MD's disk version of Las Vegas Casino disappeared?

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Atari Frog
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John E. · Post by **John E.** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 6:44 pm

Fruitman that was it!

Got a feeling that game will be near impossible to find as it was only available for a limited period before Code Masters got hold of it.

Post by **Atari Frog** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 9:12 pm

I just knew you were going to react

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