9 January 2008: What the hell went on there, I hear you all ask? The paid-for webspace that this site was hosted on ran out, and by the time I'd notivced what was going on a certain pseudo-religious festival which causes everyone to down tools had intervened. Then, once I'd paid for more webspace, the hosts forgot to re-link the websace with its DNS entry (or whatever they might have meant by all that technical wizardry). Anyway: RDR is back, and now that I'm unemployed I will actually get some time to bash it back into shape again! Now watch this space...
30 September 2007: I said it before, and I will say it again: I have not abandoned the site. This is a message to let you all know that I'm still keeping an eye on things here, and once I get a whole proper block of time (which, unfortunately, is looking like November at the moment), I'll shove a whole bundle of updates here which have been racking up steadily over nearly two years. That's the life of a mad scientist... 6 January 2007: Well, I did it. I finally got the PhD thesis in, had the viva, passed it, corrected what needed correcting, and got the whole lot bound into an incredibly nice black book. Then I had some time off doing things that required no thought. I now have a new job. And, it safe to say, the days of long nights in the lab are well and truly over. There are updates to do on the site which have built up ever further over the course of 2006. And I will do these soon. This site continues to live, and I see no reason to change that.
21 July 2006: Fret ye not, people! This website, in case any of you were concerned, is definitely not dead. The last few months have been filled with what can only be described as PhD panic. There are some updates to come - everything that's been submitted for the site in 2006, for a start - but none of these will happen until the thesis is submitted at the very earliest, and that'll be the end of August. Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy what is still here...
21 December 2005: The mystery of Egypt screen six on the MSX version has been solved, so there's now a solution on the Demos page, even though it wasn't quite worth animating, and the map has been completed. Also, an addition to the Wanted page.
18 December 2005: A random search on Wikipedia has revealed a Rick Dangerous page - which links here. So I thought I'd better link back! The link can be found on the front page, and several others. The "Who, what, why?" page has had a tweak as well.
9 December 2005: Removed a dodgy link at the request of its author - I'm not telling you all what it was. Some modifications to the Rick Dangerous Flash section, including how to make it work in Firefox and Opera, and how to "repair" the antialiased graphics.
4 December 2005: Rick Dangerous Resurrected has been... resurrected! After an enforced hiatus of about a month (cheers, F9 - I won't be going back there!) RDR returns with all the updates I've been promising for the last six months or so! So, here's the list of what I've done. (1) There's an extra cheat for Rick 2 on the PC; (2) Some further information on the MSX game, and a new emulator; (3) Two MSX-related mysteries; (4) The graphics page now contains CGA sprites and tiles for Rick 2, for those that really want it; (5) Fixed some links - one idiotically broken in the C64 page - and added a few more; (6) Added Georg Breitsprecher's Egypt walkthrough (in German...); (7) Added some sound effects from the Amiga version of Rick 1, and the ST victory sequence for Rick 1; (8) XRick has been ported to so many machines I have given it a separate page, along with a whole load of links to the new ports, including Flash, PS2, Gamecube and GP32; (9) Gelatine's "Rick Dangerous III" is actually downloadable; (10) Added a couple of online-playable versions of the 8-bit games, for the Spectrum and Amstrad CPC; (11) A couple of screenshots added for the 32 KB remake; (12) Finally updated the "Meet The Creator" page!
20 June 2005: Also added some version of the Archimedes page (for now, I've got some screenshots), and tweaked the Contact and Remakes pages.
19 June 2005: What's new: (1) The page and maps for the MSX game! The Egypt map isn't quite there though, I need to get past screen 6; (2) Amstrad CPC page updated with a tweak to the Emulators section, though I can't say it's helpful... (3) Some dead links tracked down and replaced, and others introduced; (4) Updated the Conrad Dangerous page, and it's a huge improvement on version 1.0; (5) More new sounds, from the Commodore 64; (6) Tweaks to the main menu. And in other news, it seems Rick Dangerous Forever is back. "Fantastique!" Also look out soon for the Acorn Archimedes version of Rick, though that'll have to wait until July when Kilian Hekhuis gets back from wherever he's gone to...
28 March 2005: Just in case you're wondering, this site is not dead. It will be updated once I get the time, and have something significant to update with (probably when I've got undisputed info on the fan-created MSX game and get a chance to test it). It may be the summer of 2005 before there are any more updates. But in the meantime I am still available to answer Rick-related questions and all suggestions for updates, new content, remake updates, etc. are all being recorded, filed and *will* be included eventually. Just though everyone might like to know this.
September 5 2004: After a few minor problems, the demos for Rick 2 are up. However, as Spin can't deal with multiload levels just yet, the demos are for a single game, with the recording stopped at the end of each level and restarted after the next level has loaded. Also, there were a couple of AY sound samples on World Of Spectrum that I've nicked, but I need more - these will be put up when I can explore AY ripping.
September 2 2004: The "Rollback" version of Spin does exist, cheers to Paul Dunn for sending it to me. This has allowed me to make an RZX file for the whole of the ZX Spectrum version of Rick 1! Rick 2 will follow in the not-too-distant future...
August 30 2004: So, my second year PhD report is in, and there's finally time for an update. For a start, the site is now presented in CSS, so have it turned on or everything will look shit. Now for the real updates: (1) Some new graphics - the complete set of Rick 1 tiles and sprites, courtesy of Kilian Hekhuis; (2) A couple of additions to the remakes - XRick for Pocket PC and Scottige's all-new remake of Rick 1; (3) The new "Wanted" page. (4) Amiga versions of all the theme tunes, plus sone mew MIDI files, added to the Sounds page, which is now presented in a new format. (5) Tweaks of the ZX Spectrum page. (6) Some definite progress with the Mysteries.
June 20 2004: It seems the word of Rick has spread far away to Australia, where Ben Wagner has issued a demo of a new game based very heavily on Rick: Conrad Dangerous. Also out there, there is a version of South America coded in Java, for slightly more advanced mobile phones than what I've got... so I can't test it! Still, both are featured in the Remakes section. Also updated there is Rick Dangerous 32 KB, which I've finally had a chance to test. Finally, there's been a heavy addition to the Atari ST page, switching to a new emulator and links to some alternative disk images, for greater choice.
April 4 2004:
Long time, no updates! That's what a PhD does to you. Anyway, here's a run-down of updates.
(1) Minor tweaks on the text for the machine-specific pages, so that they're up-to-date. (2) An all-new "Roll of Honour" page for anyone that's ever mailed me about the site. (3) Added real Amiga screenshots - they're *not* the same as the ST, even though only a hawk could tell the difference. (4) Two new demo animations, and an RZX of a tricky passage in the Fat Guy's HQ. (5) Fixed the broken links to the tiles on the Graphics page - but no new ones, I don;t have the time! (6) A few map updates: first, an all-new map, for Dangerous Xmas! Adjusted the main maps page to include Rick 2½ and Dangerous Xmas. Fixed the South America map, which had a couple of traps missing. Also realigned all the maps for M$IE5, as that's what everyone (presumably) will be using! If it doesn't work on M$IE6, hard luck. (7) Added a new Unsolved Mystery - in Egypt, again. (8) Added links to more reviews, and cut some dead ones. (9) Added more links to retrogaming websites.
November 19 2003:
No updates to report here this time. But it seems the "other" Rick site out there, Rick Dangerous Forever, is in trouble. As the news, dated 16th November, is in French, and my French is nowhere near as good as it used to be (say, as "St. Anger" is compared with "Ride The Lightning"...), I can't give the definitive story, but it seems Alexandre has given up on not only his Rick remake, but also the entire site. It looks like someone with some kind of grudge may have tried to wreck it.
This will not happen here. I may be busier than Frank the tortoise, but there will still be updates here when there is a decent batch of updates to do.
September 21 2003: It's been a long and stressful summer with my PhD work, but I have returned to add the following: (1) Hex codes for infinite bullets and dynamite on the PC version of Rick 1; (2) Updated the bit about Spectrum emulators, to include my new recommendation, Spectaculator, along with a host of other info; (3) Provided rips of the sprites from the ST version of Rick 1 on the new Graphics page; (4) Started a new part of the "Demos" page for forthcoming ZX Spectrum RZX demos; (5) Started a new section for bits of the two games that even I can't figure out; (6) A few more links on the Links page; (7) Updated the links to reviews of the Spectrum games.
April 26 2003: There's now even more hex code cheats for the PC version of Rick 1 and 2 - plus the EXE files you'll need if you want to cheat at Rick 1...
April 22 2003: One update that wasn't ready in time for the massive load was the answer to how to make the PC cheats work. Which means I've now got a screenshot for the Fat Guy's Headquarters. So now let's have a big "you rule" to Kilian Hekhuis who has finally explained how to work the hex codes for the PC version - which is now explained on a separate page. Plus, the page needed a bit of tidying up anyway. Now all that remains is to get the Debug file for Rick 1 to work...
April 19 2003: It's been a long time, people... the site is not dead, I've just been very busy with my PhD which I started just after the last update, and here's the first chance I've had to do anything Rick-related. Here's a breakdown of what's new here this time:
So it doesn't look like much, but even this amount takes time that I wouldn't normally have. In fact, I've probably missed quite a bit. I will say, though, it's good to see five figures on the counter! And not only that, but I've seen it at 15,000 hits, and still going, that's more than three times as many as on my "proper" website, the recently-rehashed Deconstruction...
August 23 2002: I've finally got hold of the CPC versions with cheat menus! Wahey! This means there's now a screenshot of the Fat Guy's Headquarters. Also, the menu on the Maps screen now uses the original selection screen from the ST version instead of text - though I've kept some text in there for those amongst you with manky browsers. I've also provided a list of all those who have mailed me about the site, as these are the people who keep it going...
August 7 2002: BIG NEWS! SOUND THE TRUMPETS! RICK LIVES AGAIN!!! That's right, Rick Dangerous III has emerged, from deepest, darkest France where all the Rick fans seem to come from. There's no download available yet - I'll leave that to the programmer to sort out when he's convinced it's good enough for all to see, but I've played an early version and it is looking very promising. Chech out the Remakes section for details of Rick 3 - and not only that, I've finally completed the map to Rick 2½ which... didn't take nearly as long as I thought it might. Still, here's to the resurrection!
July 8 2002: There's two new pages in town! One is the long-awaited Remakes page, containing as much as I know about any new (or old!) Rick games; the other is the Demo Animations page, inserted after two emails from Benoist Pinçon and Brett Gibson which both asked about the same trap. At the moment there's just the one demo in there, but I suspect there will be more in future. There's also some extra reviews, and I've found a new goldmine of Atari ST disks, so it's now possible to download Rick 1 & 2 for the ST again, and I've added a couple of other emulators.
May 16 2002:
I can barely believe it - all this time I've been missing bits from the Ice Caverns of Freezia map. There's a couple of bonus rooms I'd left out. Cheers to Pablo Barzena for pointing out the one beyond the snowball cannon on the second screen; I thought I'd find the others before someone told me, & there's another right at the bottom of screen five, just off to the left, where the ice block falls away revealing the spiky rock.
I'm fairly sure it's all complete now.
Also, there's a long-awaited fix for the PC version of Rick 1. Cheers to Frank Jackelen.
March 24 2002:
It's been a long time coming, but I've finally done it. THIS is what the site should always have looked like, and I'm relieved that I've finally got it up and running. Pretty much everything is vastly improved (or at least I think it is) - and to the 3,751 of you who have visited the site since July 2000 and have been waiting patiently for the finished version - HERE IT IS!!!
I suppose I'll be able to add more - not least to the remakes section once I can work out how I want to do it, because there's a bit to mention in there. There's bound to be a few other bits that could be improved here and there - no worries, I'll find them.
Plus, I've officially launched the Rick Dangerous Bulletin Board that was mentioned to me as an idea by someone over a year ago. All I'll say is - I've finally done it!
September 3 2001: IT'S DONE!!! The Fat Guy's Headquarters completes all the maps! What's more, I've added the tune for the end sequence to the Sounds File.
September 1 2001: The Atomic Mud Mines is mapped! It was easier than the Forests of Vegetablia, that's for sure...
August 30 2001: And now... the Forests of Vegetablia have been mapped! It was an absolute bitch to get right, so I hope everyone appreciates it...!
August 29 2001: After what seems like an eternity since I last did anything to the site (this was July 2000 when the counter was added...) work is again underway on Rick Dangerous Resurrected. It's only a small update, but for anyone struggling with the Ice Caverns Of Freezia, the complete map has been added. There's also a few cosmetic improvements here and there, and the site is now certified GIF-free.
