• Tag Archives 1982

  • Flight-Command (DOS)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Flight-Command (Dos)

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/177258742417/retrocgads-usa-1982

    This is an ad for a flight simulator from 1982. It is for DOS-based PCs, which at the time would have only been the IBM PC. This must have been one of the earliest flight simulators available for the PC.

    I couldn’t really find much on this game though the requirements tell a story. It only required 64K of RAM which was what the original IBM PC came with when it was introduced. It also requires an 80-column display. Though you could have a 40-column display with the PC I don’t know if that was particularly common. Interestingly, it also requires BASICA so I assume that this game was written in BASIC. This game was probably only available via direct order as in this ad.

    Like I said, I couldn’t really find much on this one but I limited my googling to 5 minutes or so. The ad pops up various times in 1982 and 1983 issues of PC Magazine. If anybody has any screenshots, post them in the comments.


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana DOS Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Super Donkey Kong (Coleco Adam)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Donkey Kong is one of the most famous arcade games of all time. It was released by Nintendo in 1981 and quickly became hugely successful with dozens of companies licensing the characters for everything from cereal boxes to stuffed animals and beyond.

    Coleco was the company lucky enough to get the initial license for a home conversion of the game. They developed Donkey Kong for their ColecoVision system and included it as the pack-in game. While it was a decent conversion and help sell a huge numbers of systems for Coleco, more recent ports show that it could have been even better.

    There was an enhanced version for the Coleco Adam that used more of the systems memory and made for an improved game. There was also a homebrew Super Donkey Kong developed for the Coleco Adam that had more animations, cut scenes and a new level and was overall an even better game. The Coleco Adam was essentially a ColecoVision expanded into a full blown computer. I think this version was based off of an earlier version partially developed for the ColecoVision but never finished.

    As has happened with many games in the past (especially those on the Atari 7800), cost cutting by using less RAM and/or less development time impacted the quality of the original game.

    —

    Game: Super Donkey Kong
    Year: 1982
    Developer: Nintendo
    Version: Coleco ADAM

    http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/163731480151/letande-game-super-donkey-kong-year-1982


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Atari ’82 in Review

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    video_game_magazines_atari_age_atariage_vol1num4_atariage_vol1num4_15-jpg-small

    Source: Atari Age – Volume 1, Number 4 – November December 1982

    This is an advertisement from the November/December 1982 issue of Atari Age. Atari Age was a magazine distributed to Atari Club members from 1982 until 1984. This particular ad is highlighting all of the Atari releases for the Atari 2600 in 1982. This would have been published before Atari would have known what a disaster Christmas 1982 and most of the following year would be.

    Many of the games on this list are quite good (Defender, Yar’s Revenge, etc.) but some were disappointments (e.g. Pac-Man) and others outright disasters (e.g. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial). E.T. is credited with being a major contributor to the video game crash of 1982/1983 which resulted from too many crappy games being shoveled onto the market. A very large number of E.T. carts ended up in a landfill.





    📂This entry was posted in Atari 2600 Retro Games 📎and tagged