What day was the original 2001 Marble Blast released?

Title says it all. Curious whether super monkey ball or the original marble blast game came first, for science. Both released in 2001; monkey ball in july. Couldn't find an exact date for marble blast anywhere.

Marble Blast was released on 12th Dec 2002. I don't know where you found 2001 because that is completely wrong.

That's strange ... Wikipedia claims a date of April 13, 2001 for Marble Blast and May 2, 2002 for Marble Blaster. Matan, what's your source?

EDIT: Okay, this is just ... confusing. The Wikipedia edit that added those dates claims that they come from the Marble Blast wiki, which is an even less reliable source. I can't find April 13 specifically attested anywhere, but most sites seem to claim that eGames released Marble Blast sometime in 2001.

Case in point:
30 Nov 2002, no MB:
web.archive.org/web/20021130003058/http://www.garagegames.com/

12th Jan 2003, yes MB:
web.archive.org/web/20030122185649/http://www.garagegames.com/

And FYI, Andrew worked on the MB timelines before which contains important dates:
marbleblast.com/index.php/forum/general-...arble-blast-timeline

The MB wiki is not a reliable source and contains many BS in it.

That doesn't prove your claim, as sources seem to indicate that eGames was publishing MB (at least as a boxed CD) before GarageGames distributed it on their website. So it's possible that copies appeared on shelves much earlier.

I tried looking through the eGames website on web.archive.org, but it's a mess, as they seemed to be renovating the website and switching servers during that period, so it's hard to figure out what it actually looked like.

Andrew's timeline does claim that the eGames version didn't ship until after MBG was already out in 2003, which I find hard to believe given that nearly every source I've checked claims 2002 at the latest. We would probably need an actual staff member to set things straight.

Sent a message to the staff and will let you know when I get an answer. Warning: sleeptime over there right now.

Edit: meanwhile GarageGames's own forums www.garagegames.com/community/forums/43/all/84
You'd think they would put a forum as well for release as soon as possible :thonkfolder:

Mark says this:

It was definitely not April 2001
And pretty sure we released it first on our site.
I would say it likely released at the end of 2002.

Also I asked Alex/Ben and they both said Mark is the go-to person for this so this further settles this dispute.

Edit:
www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/11149

I also can't find reviews of the game BEFORE December 2002 anyway.

IsraeliRD wrote: Edit: meanwhile GarageGames's own forums www.garagegames.com/community/forums/43/all/84

The sole thread on the page ( www.garagegames.com/community/forums/viewthread/8386 ) remarks:

It looks like the final version is not quite the same one we got to play with at IndieCon

I apologize if I'm going off-topic (if so, feel free to bump this into a new topic), but I recall that several years ago (at least ten?), I once stumbled upon screenshots of how Marble Blast would have looked during development in August 2002. From what I remember (the images have since been taken down, and not even Wayback can find them again), the marble used the blah texture, the gems were all purple and square-shaped, and the font in the HUD was green instead of yellow.
A few years ago, I tried to search for it again. While the screenshots to this old version are nowhere to be found, however, there was still some information as to what it was going to be like: ( web.archive.org/web/20021204121057/http:...hot/view.php?qid=314 )

Roll your marble through 30 levels of ramps, loop de loops, and interesting landscapes. Along the way find power ups to increase your speed, jumping ability or strength and use those powers to collect the hidden gems, race through the checkpoints and get the fastest time.

I looked more into it and found other tidbits: ( web.archive.org/web/20021013041127/http:...iew.project&qid=1428 )

Power ups will include SuperSpeed, SuperJump, StickyMarble, SuperBounce, Indestructo, and TimeBonus.

Level objects will include Teleporters, Elevators, Trampolines, Magnets, Wind Tunnels, and some form of interesting Lock/Key combinations.

Hazards include falling off the edge of the world (although this is not the focus of the game), getting smashed by pistons or swinging pendulums, getting sucked up by vacuum cleaners, hit by rogue marbles or being blown up by a mine.

Combining all of these objectives, power ups, and hazards into both large and small levels creates a satisfying progression of levels that begin quite simply, then progress up to complicated and interesting. Some levels will be timed Treasure Hunts, others will simply require that your marble survives to the finish line.

Apparently, to some degree, Matan and co. finished what GarageGames could not.

Also:

Case in point:
30 Nov 2002, no MB:
web.archive.org/web/20021130003058/http://www.garagegames.com/

12th Jan 2003, yes MB:
web.archive.org/web/20030122185649/http://www.garagegames.com/

The product page ( web.archive.org/web/20021216062044/http:...roduct/view.php?id=3 ) lists a review dating from November 30, 2001 at exactly midnight GMT. But then, when I find the reviews page, that same review is dated December 16, 2002 at 19:44 GMT. The site must have glitched out at the time.

After some digging, I found the following:

web.archive.org/web/20030116002132/http:...ullstory.asp?id=4461
web.archive.org/web/20030603182845/http:...e&page=view&qid=4203

Looks like MB was released with GG's game website on December 13, 2002. MBG was released on May 9, 2003.