Crackpots – PAL Conversion V1.2

UPDATE TO V1.2 AS OF 26/2/2026

**Fixed the blue sky as it is now a proper mid blue without the purple tint to it.**This PAL remaster hack is now hacked from scratch using a NTSC retail cartridge rather than a

Unknown Publisher PAL version which was slower than PAL 50.0fps The game now runs smoother without it lurching or moving sluggish. Runs now at a perfect 312 Scanlines at Perfect 50.0fps (ENABLE STELLA'S DEVELOPMENT MODE FOR INFO ANFD SEE FOR YOURSELF.)

Yes you are reading right. A real PAL 50Hz version of Crackpots. Here is the PAL Version of Crackpots for the Atari 2600 (Closest game for it is from H.E.S's Boom-Bang) that is like a similar styled game to the one released by Activision from 1983.

After digging up and searching deep online. I came across archive.org that has a list of Atari 2600 ROMs on there. One caught my eye on there that showed a "Unknown" Publisher of the game Crackpots from "archive.org"

After downloading it and opening it up on Stella. I was surprised to came across a legitimate PAL release of Crackpots ( minus the Activision sprite logo and with the wrong colours making it like a NTSC50 release) I said to myself "You beauty"

I gather around by opening this ROM on Hack-O-Matic 3. went ahead with checking the addresses. I implemented the Activision logo with the rainbow banner on it along with the "Copyright 1983" HEX data into this ROM. Saving bits and pieces as I go of course.

Now everything here is now been done up with the following fixes:

NEW AS OF 2/1/26 - Corrected the playfield scanlines to properly show at 312 scanline resolution and now properly running at 50.0fps and not 316 scanline resolution at 48-49fps

Corrected the sky colour and sunset colours

made the buildings int he background a caramel brown.

restore the Activision logo with the correct rainbow banner colours

bricks, bugs and pot plants with plants now have the right colours.

player character has a more beige colour skin than a yellow skin like it's NTSC version counterpart.

Game ROM Hack works well on a real Atari 2600 4-Switch Vadar PAL console I used to test it on.

Works flawlessly on Stella (Atari 2600 Emulator.)

Lastly, Works well on the Atari 2600+.

Give this PAL version a go and enjoy it on real PAL 50Hz speed.

==============================================================================

NOTE: When trying to patch this, Make sure when patching this using Lunar IPS, On the drop menu, Change the setting from “Most Common ROM Files” to “All Files” so that you can patch this to a Atari 2600 ROM format. This ROM Hack WORKS well on the 2600+ using the Harmony Cart by flashing the ROM Hack to it.

• Originally Conceived and Designed by Dan Kitchen by Activision 1983: PAL Version Hack by J.Russell - Colour Palette changes, logo and text restored.