Donald’s Alphabet Chase
=======================
Cracked by cybernesto, April 2015

This title was originally available as a .nib file even though the Disk was in ProDOS format. The conversion to a .dsk file was performed with the help of AppleCommander.
The copy protection was based on a simple check where a different Donald figure would be shown on screen and a matching number had to be entered.
A simple trace with the debugger showed how the check was done. After that it was only a question of locating the code on the disk. Nibbles Away III sector editor was very helpful finding the code on track 19, sector 4, byte 94.
Replacing the BNE instruction with two NOPs were enough to jump over the code check. Now pressing any number after the code check prompt will start the game.
I hope your kids enjoy playing with this bit of nostalgia. My 4 and 3 year old kids sure do!

Attached you can find a review of this game from Computist Issue # 78

Donald's Alphabet Chase 
*** 

$14.95 for 128K Apple II 
Disney Software 

When Disney's new alphabet game ar- 
rived, I popped it into a drive and started 
playing with barely a glance at the manual. 
The result was a 'different kind' of gaming 
experience. 

Moving from room to room in and around 
Donald's house, the player presses alphabet 
keys to help Donald find and chase down 
pesky "silly letters" (who swing from light 
fixtures, scamper along fences, hop on fur- 
niture, etc . before being collected) . I quickly 
discovered that, when you get all the letters 
in any location (listed in a box at the screen's 
upper left comer), the program plays a por- 
tion of the Alphabet Song; so, I tackled the 
chase on a room-by-room basis. One can, 
however, press any un-caught letter's key; 
and Donald will go to the correct room and 
find the letter selected. "Cute hires artwork, 
nice animation, decent 'old-Apple' sound", 
I decided, "but, really, too easy — there's 
not even a score! Only a three-year-old 
could get much from this kind of challenge. 
.. Aha!!" Sure enough, right on the box it 
says "Ages 2-5, Preschool". 

A "Challenge", to be sure, is where you 
find it. For young pre-readers, pressing al- 
phabet keys — especially, A key to get a 
particular letter — can be a genuine chal- 
lenge as well as a valuable learning experi- 
ence. (In Center for Giftedness parlance, we 
are talking about developing eye-hand coor- 
dination, fine-motor skills, letter recogni- 
tion, ...AND slipping in a bit of 'computer 
literacy' preparation.) That the player gets 
to try out new skills On A Computer and 
Make Fun Things Happen — well, this is 
heavy stuff indeed. Add the powerful bene- 
fits of parental involvement — a 12-page 
booklet suggests several parent-child 
'Chase' activities and you've got a strong, 
attractive, and entertaining route to building 
reading foundation skills.