Katt Games Master Keyboard

J

Jibbo

Rear Admiral
Anyone ever seen one of these things? (See attached files)

It's a Katt Games Master Keyboard.

Here it is with the Strike Commander keyboard overlay. Apparently there's a Wing Commander one that you can buy. Anyone seen these before, have a spare WC overlay?
 

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Nope, I'm in the same position -- I found the actual device a while back, but not the Wing Commander overlay.

I did some research a while back and found very little... the company apparently went out of business very quickly, and didn't sell many keybaords (which would make ones for a game as simple as WC even rarer, if even manufactured, I'd think).

There's another brand, the Master Pilot made by Quickshot, which is much easier to find and has cards for most of the WC games... looks cooler, too (like a modern jet VDU, and it lights up and stuff). There's also simple 80s-ish keyboard overlays from companies for Privateer and Prophecy out there...
 
Actually, I've talked about this before -- I'd love to paint a real keyboard to look like the WCP keyboard matte. Someday, when I know someone who's good at painting things...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Actually, I've talked about this before -- I'd love to paint a real keyboard to look like the WCP keyboard matte. Someday, when I know someone who's good at painting things...
Click to expand...


Hmm. That might be an interesting project. I'd go with airbrushing everything though. Paint's just too thick and clumpy.

On another note, I'll be in charge of maintaining a nice 44" wide Epson printer within a month. If we ever have any large things that we might want to print... maybe reproductions of posters and such or large star maps I should be able to get them printed at a very good cost.
 
Oh wow, what a wonderful get! I've got a KATT but I have never found any of the cards... and I'd kill to see them :D

(I'm also sorry your posts aren't going up instantly, the system keeps asking me to approve them. I'm not sure why, I've never seen it do that before!)
 
So I received the KGMK package today. It's beyond what I had even imagined. I believe what I have here is everything that was ever made for the keyboard. It looks like it even has the upgraded ROM chip for the additional overlays. There is a bit of paperwork that was included as well. It states the upgraded ROM chip not only adds the new game overlays, but also includes the original 41 game/keyboard overlays. There's a lot to unwrap here. In the meantime, here is the overlay (matt) list:

New / Sealed

Aces of the Pacific
Air Warrior
ATAC - The Secret War Against Drugs
Task Force 1942
Birds of Prey
Civilization
F-14 Fleet Defender
F-15 Strike Eagle II
F-117A
Flight of the Intruder
Jet Fighter II
Jump Jet
Keyboard ABC
Keyboard Qwert
Kids Board
Mantis Experimental Fighter
Megafortress
Red Storm Rising
Silent Service II
Special Forces
Spectre
Strike Commander
Ultima Underworld
Ultima Underworld II
Ultrabots
Wing Commander
Wing Commander: Academy
Wing Commander: Privateer
World Circuit

Used (but in good condition)

1942 The Pacific Air War
A-10 Tank Killer
Aces Over Europe
A.T.P. Airline Transport Pilot
B-17 Flying Fortress
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
Comanche Maximum Overkill
F-15 Strike Eagle III
Falcon 3.0
Flight Simulator 4.0
Flight Simulator 5.0
Gunship 2000 & Mission Builder
Hornet Naval Strike Fighter
Keyboard Qwert
MiG-29: Deadly Adversary of Falcon 3.0
Red Baron
Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe
Stunt Island
Tie Fighter
Tornado
X-Wing

At least this now confirms all of these overlays (matts) were actually produced way back in the early 1990s. I think those who own this keyboard oddity suspected they might exist from this archivedorder form. Cheers for now!
 
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A fold-out that came with the KGMK upgrade ROM chip actually clarifies quite a bit about the product and gives a sneak peek at some of the additional overlays (matts).
 
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Check out the historical archive in its entirety @ GamesThatWerent.com. Thanks go to Bandit LOAF for mirroring the archive. Wcnews.com was the only website with any info on the KATT Games Master Keyboard when I first started this archival/research project a few years back. Cheers!
 
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I'll add another update to the queue to point people to the article and the archive! It's really neat stuff, so cool that you did so much work to preserve it.
 
These are such a great find!
I had expected them to correspond with the normal keyboard locations (so Autopilot in Privateer would be at the A key location). Instead someone remapped the controls and added color coding!
 
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