Can you upload it?

endi, I hope this board doesn't have any rules against posting links - I found the Enterprise version of Chuckie Egg, pictured in the screenshot above over at the www.theoldcomputer.com website.

Hi, szipucsu!  Thank you. 

Disappointing to hear you think it might be an unofficial conversion - I run a fan-site for this particular game, hence my interest.  However, the reason I thought it might be official is that there are numerous differences between the official Spectrum release and this one; the second set of keys are slightly different as the Enterprise 128 version supports a native joystick. The player starts with six lives, instead of four and, most strikingly, the status bars of information at the top are in blue, rather than red in the Spectrum release. There is no little tune at the start of the game, or when Harry dies and the animated rectangles between levels are mainly red and blue, instead of many colours. There is also a pause just before the start of each life, which requires a key press to begin or continue the game, allowing you to take a little breather.

Was it common for Enterprise users to go to the effort of decompiling Spectrum releases, porting them to the Enterprise, modifying them as described above and then /not/ leave a note on the title screen to the effect that it had been unofficially ported?

Would be great to get it confirmed or not.  Maybe Zozosoft can help! 

I've also noticed that there is an Enterprise port of Elite - which looks like the Spectrum version but, again, appears to have slightly different colours.  Although there is a scan of the inlay for that on the page you just linked, but it is marked under Kazettaborító terv so, presumably, that one's definitely a fan-port?

Sam.

Was it common for Enterprise users to go to the effort of decompiling Spectrum releases, porting them to the Enterprise, modifying them as described above and then /not/ leave a note on the title screen to the effect that it had been unofficially ported?

In the title screen there is usually no information about whether the game is official or not. Some converters (I mean people who convert) leave their name in the game, some not.
But a "veteran" Enterprise user knows that e.g. Novotrade, A-studio games are official, while Attus, Moonlight, Endi (and so on, excuse me if I left somebody ) aren't.
Novotrade (which is practically the same as A-studio) was a company having compact with the "Centrum Áruházak" (the shop where the Enterprise computers and Enterprise programmes were sold for high prices). And also Entersoft games are official.

Hello Sam!

The Chuckie is a unofficial conversion.

Was it common for Enterprise users to go to the effort of decompiling Spectrum releases, porting them to the Enterprise, modifying them as described above and then /not/ leave a note on the title screen to the effect that it had been unofficially ported?

Yes is a very common!
Usually not need full decompile, only needed to search the hw specific routines: keyboard/joystick, sound, and color attributes.
The first two is very simple, only needed to find all IN (FEh), OUT (FEh), and IN (1Fh) instructions.
The most common method for replace these, the loader program have a simulation routines, place the routine addresses to the RST CALLs, and then in the binary program code needed to replace for example the OUT (FEh),A to RST 10h, NOP
You can see this method in the Chuckie code if compare the original version with the Enterprise version.

Normally you can convert the Spectrum controlls and sound to the Enterprise less than 5 minutes

The biggest problem the colors. The Enterprise video chip can be programmed for very similar video mode than the Spectrum, but the attributum values are different. This means if you running a Spectrum code without any modifications you got a wrong colors.
You can see the results in the Chuckie (And also exist a Bomber Man with a green walls )

The hardest work in the conversion to find and modify the attribute routines and/or datas in the game.

Sometimes make a additional problem if the game calling routines from the Spectrum ROM. Then needed to write a simulation routines in your loader program which can simulate these calls.
In the Chuckie it is use the BEEP routine for the music. But who converted the game to Enterprise not simulated this ROM routine, this is the reason why missing the musics.
For the other sounds the game use a direct port out these are simulted and you can hear the sound.

If you (or anyone else ) wanted I can make a better Enterprise conversion of the Chuckie! With a correct colors and music

Hi, Zozosoft!

Wow.  Thanks for the comprehensive reply!  The main reason I thought it might be an official port, was because I have been in contact with someone who worked for the company behind the game (A&F) several years after this game was released.  He wasn't with them at around the time this might have been officially released (1985ish), but he joined them and worked on a PC version around 1988/9.  Anyway, he was convinced that there /was/ an official Enterprise port and possibly also an Oric / Atmos port.

It was for this reason that I thought it might be an original.  I did actually discover the official porting instructions that you linked whilst browsing yesterday, but your detailed description is actually the most convincing.  I thought the blue colouring might have been evidence of someone putting an Enterprise spin on an official port - but it sounds like that is merely a symptom of the conversion between the Spectrum / Enterprise hardware.  The lack of an update on the title screen also makes me think it's unlikely to be an official port.  Finally, your right - the lack of music is pretty damning.

I think, then, I will be classifying it as a unofficial port on my site, The Chuckie Egg Professional's Resource Kit. 

The only Enterprise 128 emulators I could find were Windows-only, which makes it a bit hard for me to make use of them as I run Linux.  Unfortunately, MESS support doesn't seem great either - the bottom of the screen was cut off and placed at the top when I tried.  For those reasons, I wouldn't want to give you false hope that I would play it to a significantly degree - but if you did improve the Chuckie Egg port at any point, I'd love to hear about it.  I host a big MESS-compatible archive of disk and cassette images of the various ports of Chuckie Egg, and will be adding the Enterprise version I already have to it.  Would be delighted to add any improvements you make!

As an aside, I knew very little about the Enterprise computers until I started reading around, because of this.  I've never been a great fan of the Spectrum, mainly because of the dodgy colour clashes it suffered from, and the often monochrome graphics.  The more I read about the Enterprise, the more it sounds like a vast improvment over the Spectrum.  I'm certainly going to look into it a bit more - can anyone recommend some of the best Enterprise home-grown games?  I mean games that were written especially for the Enterprise and make best use of it's capabilities ...

Thanks,

Sam.

Hmm ... how did I miss that?!

Sam.

I've never been a great fan of the Spectrum, mainly because of the dodgy colour clashes it suffered from, and the often monochrome graphics.  The more I read about the Enterprise, the more it sounds like a vast improvment over the Spectrum.

If you bore the Spectrum graphics and want to see the full power of the Enterprise video chip then check the Enterprise Slideshow 2, 3!