Pharaoh's Pursuit by George Broussard

[Frenkel]

Pharaoh's Pursuit by George Broussard by Lone Star Micro:


This game looks a lot like that game by George Broussad. Even the cheat codes are similar.

[Litude]

I wonder could this be the ever so elusive version 1.0 of Pharaoh's Tomb that we've been looking for. Are the levels mostly the same or does the design differ significantly?

[Frenkel]

The copy I have of Pharaoh's Pursuit consists of three files: PP.EXE, PP.PIC and README.NOW. The first two files don't have a last-modified date. README.NOW has a last-modified date of November 8 1990. Its content:

Thanks for purchasing Pharaoh's Pursuit(tm). Here are a few tips for those
new to computers:

1. Format a new disk and place the system on it (Command.. "Format A:/s")
2. Make certain that the disk boots.
3. Copy your master disk to the disk just formatted.
4. If you want to be fancy, create an autoexec.bat file which calls "PP.EXE"
5. Otherwise, boot your system from the new disk and type "PP".
6. Enjoy!

For Hard Drive Users:
*******************
We caution you not to have ANY TSR's or memory resident programs present when
you play Pharaoh's Pursuit. Some TSR's do strange things to the graphics and
can cause you to loose time should you have saved a level which has become
corrupted!
*******************

On some levels, there will be found a large green letter "F". Touch the letter
and everything that moves is frozen. This includes monsters, laser beams and
spikes. Some study is required as when to activate the freeze mode.

Don't forget to send us your registration now to become eligible for awards
and notification of new games and contests.

Pharaoh's Pursuit has 80 levels. Of the first 20 levels, 18 levels can also be found in Pharaoh's Tomb:

Pharaoh's Pursuit               - Pharaoh's Tomb
------------------------------------------------------------------
L01 THE DESERT                  - none
L02 THE HIDDEN ENTRANCE         - none
L03 THE TOMB OF RAMSES III      - E2L02 THE CHAMBER OF SHU
L04 THE ISLAND OF THE NILE      - E3L11 THE TEMPLE OF HARSAPNES
L05 THE SHRINE OF BABYLON       - E2L05 THE HOUSE OF HATHOR
L06 THE CHAMBER OF ARMAGEDDON   - E2L06 MIN'S CHAMBER
L07 THE SHRINE OF PHARAOH       - E4L12 THE TOMB OF RAMSES I
L08 THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD   - E4L16 THE JACKAL ROOM
L09 MIN'S CHAMBER               - E2L08 THE CHAMBER OF ATUM-KHEPRI
L10 THE LOST TOMB               - E2L04 THE ALTAR OF OSIRIS
L11 THE CHAMBER OF SHU          - E2L14 THE STOREROOM OF WORF
L12 THE CHAMBER OF DARKNESS     - E1L12 THE KING'S CHAMBER
L13 AKHENATEN'S KEEP            - E4L17 THE CHAMBER OF DESTINY
L14 THE TEMPLE OF SETI          - E2L01 THE TEMPLE OF DESPAIR
L15 CHAMBER OF THE SETTING SUN  - E4L07 THE CHAMBER OF ARMAGEDDON
L16 THE CHAMBER OF SETH         - E3L08 THE ISLAND OF THE NILE
L17 THE ROYAL HALL              - E2L10 THE SHRINE OF BLINDNESS
L18 THE TEMPLE OF NINEVEH       - E4L13 THE ALTAR TO OZYMANDIAS
L19 THE CHAMBER OF THE MOON GOD - E1L19 THE TEMPLE OF PTAH
L20 WINDY ROOM ONE              - E1L10 WINDY CHAMBER ONE

I haven't really checked the other 60 levels, yet.

[MrFlibble]

Interesting! I'm in no way an expert in Apogee's history, but this seems pretty rare. So this version is a fully commercial game, no shareware episodes?

[pjVgt]

Very interesting find indeed! Maybe it is some sort of exclusive magazine-release? Can You confirm from where You got it?

[Frenkel]

Originally Posted by MrFlibble

So this version is a fully commercial game, no shareware episodes?

I don't know. The line "Don't forget to send us your registration now to become eligible for awards and notification of new games and contests." in the README.NOW file and the line "Winners shall be the first five previously registered users who correctly supply the information displayed on this announcement screen to Lone Star Micro, Inc." inside the executable let me to think Pharaoh's Pursuit is a shareware game that wasn't divided into episodes like most Apogee games.

Originally Posted by pjVgt

Can You confirm from where You got it?

I found it on some website with disk images. I don't see an email address on that site so I can't ask the website owner where he got it from.

[KO Gilligan]

Both are listed in the DOSBox compatability/support list

[MrFlibble]

Originally Posted by KO Gilligan

Both are listed in the DOSBox compatability/support list

Yeah, I noticed that too.

Any info on the Lone Star Micro company?

Originally Posted by Frenkel

I don't know. The line "Don't forget to send us your registration now to become eligible for awards and notification of new games and contests." in the README.NOW file and the line "Winners shall be the first five previously registered users who correctly supply the information displayed on this announcement screen to Lone Star Micro, Inc." inside the executable let me to think Pharaoh's Pursuit is a shareware game that wasn't divided into episodes like most Apogee games.

Yes, it pretty much could have been a non-Scott Miller-model shareware game, taking into account that the Apogee model was a pretty new thing back then.

Other than that, could it have been something published on some gaming magazine cover disk, like John Carmack's Catacomb?

[Litude]

After looking more deeply into it, I think this is a similar case to that of Maze Adventures, i.e. something developed by Apogee/Micro FX but then published by a completely different company. It's kind of like a retail version of Pharaoh's Tomb since it has all 80 levels in a single executable and not split up into four different episodes/volumes.

@Frenkel: What is the cheat code?

[Frenkel]

About Lone Star Micro, Inc:
Paul Williams was the vice president of sales of Lone Star Micro, Inc from January 1981 to January 1988.

Founded a software distribution company marketing business application
software to national and international resellers. Created a
telemarketing sales team that was responsible for making Lone Star Micro
the number one distributor for Ashton-Tate DBase, MicroPro Wordstar,
Wordperfect, Computer Associates/Easy Series and Digital Research's
programming tools.

I've found some Lone Star Micro ads using Google Books and in these ads they use the same logo as in the title screen of Pharaoh's Pursuit.



About cheats:
In Pharaoh's Pursuit, at the main menu make sure the Scroll Lock status light on your keyboard is on and then press +. This will give you unlimited lives and ammo.

In Pharaoh's Tomb, that cheat also works. In addition, you can also warp to the next level by pressing +, again, this only works when the Scroll Lock status light is on.

It's too bad this level warping cheat isn't available in Pharaoh's Pursuit. It would make it much easier to get to level 80. Now I have to hex edit the save game file to get to level 80 really fast.

[MrFlibble]

Thanks for the info about the company!

[Frenkel]

All 80 Pharaoh's Pursuit levels

Pharaoh's Pursuit                 - Pharaoh's Tomb
------------------------------------------------------------------
L01 THE DESERT                    - none
L02 THE HIDDEN ENTRANCE           - none
L03 THE TOMB OF RAMSES III        - E2L02 THE CHAMBER OF SHU
L04 THE ISLAND OF THE NILE        - E3L11 THE TEMPLE OF HARSAPNES
L05 THE SHRINE OF BABYLON         - E2L05 THE HOUSE OF HATHOR
L06 THE CHAMBER OF ARMAGEDDON     - E2L06 MIN'S CHAMBER
L07 THE SHRINE OF PHARAOH         - E4L12 THE TOMB OF RAMSES I
L08 THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD     - E4L16 THE JACKAL ROOM
L09 MIN'S CHAMBER                 - E2L08 THE CHAMBER OF ATUM-KHEPRI
L10 THE LOST TOMB                 - E2L04 THE ALTAR OF OSIRIS
L11 THE CHAMBER OF SHU            - E2L14 THE STOREROOM OF WORF
L12 THE CHAMBER OF DARKNESS       - E1L12 THE KING'S CHAMBER
L13 AKHENATEN'S KEEP              - E4L17 THE CHAMBER OF DESTINY
L14 THE TEMPLE OF SETI            - E2L01 THE TEMPLE OF DESPAIR
L15 CHAMBER OF THE SETTING SUN    - E4L07 THE CHAMBER OF ARMAGEDDON
L16 THE CHAMBER OF SETH           - E3L08 THE ISLAND OF THE NILE
L17 THE ROYAL HALL                - E2L10 THE SHRINE OF BLINDNESS
L18 THE TEMPLE OF NINEVEH         - E4L13 THE ALTAR TO OZYMANDIAS
L19 THE CHAMBER OF THE MOON GOD   - E1L19 THE TEMPLE OF PTAH
L20 WINDY ROOM ONE                - E1L10 WINDY CHAMBER ONE
L21 THE SHRINE OF THE JACKAL      - E1L14 THE TEMPLE OF AMUN-RE
L22 THE TEMPLE OF THOTH           - E1L02 THE ANTEROOM
L23 THE TEMPLE OF GEB             - E2L03 THE TEMPLE OF GEB
L24 THE WELL OF SOULS             - E1L20 THE LOST TOMB
L25 THE HOUSE OF HATHOR           - E1L05 THE GRAND GALLERY
L26 KARNAK'S TOMB                 - E1L06 THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER
L27 THE TEMPLE OF DESPAIR         - E1L03 THE WELL OF SOULS
L28 THE ALTAR OF THEBES           - E1L09 KARNAK'S TOMB
L29 THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD     - E2L09 THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD
L30 THE SHRINE OF BLINDNESS       - E1L17 SOBEK'S CHAMBER
L31 THE CHAMBER OF THE QUEEN'S    - E2L11 THE CHAMBER OF THE QUEEN'S
L32 THE FORGOTTEN CHAMBER         - E3L02 THE SANCTUARY
L33 THE ALTAR OF OSIRIS           - E3L03 HYPOSTLE HALL
L34 THE TEMPLE OF AMUN-RE         - E1L11 THE SHRINE OF THE JACKAL
L35 THE STOREROOM OF WORF         - E3L07 THE ALTAR OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT
L36 THE CHAMBER OF ISIS           - E2L16 AKHENATEN'S KEEP
L37 THE CHAMBER OF HORUS          - E3L09 THE ANTEROOM OF NEFERTARI
L38 THE TEMPLE OF DOOM            - E2L18 THE TEMPLE OF SETI
L39 THE TEMPLE OF PTAH            - E3L15 THE TOMB OF RAMSES II
L40 WINDY ROOM TWO                - E1L16 WINDY CHAMBER TWO
L41 THE TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX      - E3L01 THE TEMPLE OF THE SPHINX
L42 THE SANCTUARY                 - E3L20 THE FORGOTTEN CHAMBER
L43 HYPOSTLE HALL                 - E2L13 THE TOMB OF RAMSES III
L44 THE CHAMBER OF ATUM-KHEPRI    - E3L10 THE ARCHER ROOM
L45 THE TEMPLE OF THUTMOSE        - E3L12 THE PRIEST CHAMBER
L46 THE TREASURE CHAMBER          - E3L06 THE TREASURE CHAMBER
L47 THE ALTAR OF QUEEN HATSHEPSUT - E2L15 THE CHAMBER OF DARKNESS
L48 THE KING'S CHAMBER            - E2L20 THE SHRINE OF PHARAOH
L49 THE ANTEROOM OF NEFERTARI     - E2L17 THE TEMPLE OF DOOM
L50 THE ARCHER ROOM               - E3L04 THE ALTAR OF THEBES
L51 THE TEMPLE OF HARSAPHES       - E2L19 THE CHAMBER OF THE MOON GOD
L52 THE PRIEST CHAMBER            - E3L05 THE TEMPLE OF THUTMOSE
L53 THE PILLARS OF SESOSTRIS      - E4L14 THE KEEP OF HATTUSILIS
L54 THE SPIKE ROOM                - E4L10 MEGIDDO'S KEEP
L55 THE TOMB OF RAMSES II         - E2L07 THE TEMPLE OF THOTH
L56 THE JACKAL'S KEEP             - E4L02 THE SANCTUARY OF AMARNA
L57 THE CHAMBER OF FEAR           - E3L17 THE CHAMBER OF FEAR
L58 THE CHAMBER OF ANUBIS         - E3L19 KING TUTANKHATEN'S CHAMBER
L59 KING TUTANKHATEN'S CHAMBER    - E4L03 THE ROYAL HALL
L60 WINDY ROOM THREE              - E2L12 WINDY CHAMBER THREE
L61 THE CHAMBER OF DEATH          - E4L01 THE CHAMBER OF DEATH
L62 THE SANCTUARY OF AMARNA       - E3L16 THE JACKAL'S KEEP
L63 SOBEK'S CHAMBER               - E3L18 CHAMBER OF THE SETTING SUN
L64 THE ALTAR OF HAPI             - E4L18 THE GREAT TEMPLE
L65 THE HIEROGLYPH ROOM           - E4L05 THE HIEROGLYPH ROOM
L66 THE ALTAR OF HELIOPOLIS       - E4L06 THE ALTAR OF HELIOPOLIS
L67 THE QUEEN'S CHAMBER           - E1L15 THE CHAMBER OF ANUBIS
L68 THE GRAND GALLERY             - E4L08 THE SHRINE OF BABYLON
L69 THE ROOM OF KADESH            - E4L09 THE ROOM OF KADESH
L70 MEGIDDO'S KEEP                - E1L04 THE CHAMBER OF ISIS
L71 THE CHAMBER OF MAAT           - E4L10 THE TEMPLE OF NINEVEH
L72 THE TOMB OF RAMSES I          - E1L07 THE CHAMBER OF SETH
L73 THE ALTAR TO OZYMANDIAS       - E1L18 THE CHAMBER OF MAAT
L74 THE KEEP OF HATTUSILIS        - E3L13 THE PILLARS OF SESOSTRIS
L75 THE TREASURE ROOM             - E4L15 THE TREASURE ROOM
L76 THE JACKAL ROOM               - E1L08 THE TEMPLE OF MONTU
L77 THE CHAMBER OF DESTINY        - E1L13 THE CHAMBER OF HORUS
L78 THE GREAT TEMPLE              - E4L04 THE ALTAR OF HAPI
L79 THE PHARAOH'S ANTEROOM        - E4L19 THE PHARAOH'S ANTEROOM
L80 THE PHARAOH'S TOMB            - E4L20 THE PHARAOH'S TOMB
none                              - E1L01 AT THE PYRAMID
none                              - E3L14 THE SPIKE ROOM

Notice that in Pharaoh's Pursuit there are two levels named THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD.

[MrFlibble]

Interesting! I've noticed that some level titles have been swapped across the versions, like here:

L53 THE PILLARS OF SESOSTRIS      - E4L14 THE KEEP OF HATTUSILIS
L74 THE KEEP OF HATTUSILIS        - E3L13 THE PILLARS OF SESOSTRIS

Does this also mean the levels were swapped? Do the levels generally have the same layout in the different versions when they share the same title?

[Frenkel]

All 80 Pharaoh's Pursuit levels
All 80 Pharaoh's Tomb levels

[Frenkel]

• Grabbing the brown key is easier in L78 of Pharaoh's Pursuit than in E4L04 of Pharaoh's Tomb.
• L48 has a weird open space in the upper right hand corner, while in E2L02 it has a cross in that position.
• In L20 it has a ring in the upper right hand corner, while in E1L10 the ledge is smaller.
• The starting position in L40 isn't between two enemies like in E1L16.
• L60 is easier than E2L12.

So it looks like Pharaoh's Pursuit was made after Pharaoh's Tomb.