• Tag Archives Apple II

  • The KoalaPad

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    Source: Family Computing – Issue Number 9 – May 1984



    Back in the 8-bit days there seemed to be a neverending supply of peripheral attachments you could get for your computer. After a disk and/or tape drive, joysticks, a printer, and perhaps a modem, the Koalapad was one of the more popular choices, at least among Commodore 64 owners. It was also available for 8-bit Atari computers, the Apple II and of course the DOS based PCs of the day.

    The KoalaPad was a touchpad of sorts that could serve two basic functions. The most popular function was perhaps as an art tool. Along with the pen/stylus that came along with it, you could use it to draw with the included KoalaWare graphics program. However, the more interesting functionality, at least for the time, was as a touchpad interface. Just like a touchpad on a modern laptop, it could be used to move a cursor around, select menu items, drag things around, etc. Sure, that’s nothing special today but at the time it was pretty novel.

    There were a number of other programs that ultimately supported the KoalaPad but I think the more popular were art programs, especially KoalaWare itself. There just weren’t too many GUI programs on 8-bit computers until things like GEOS came along a few years later. The KoalaPad was introduced in 1983 and was pretty well supported through 1984. However, by that time, the Macintosh had come along and popularized the mouse which would become the dominant interface device. But maybe if the Commodore 64 had stuck around a few more years we would all be using a KoalaPad 2.0 supporting gestures…

    The ad above is from the May 1984 issue of Family Computing.


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  • Run For It (Apple II, Atari)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: enter – Issue Number 14 – January/February 1985 – – Run For It (Apple II, Atari)

    Run For It seems to be one of those rare games that was released for the Apple II and Atari 8-bit computers but not the Commodore 64. At least that seemed pretty rare by 1985 when this game was released. In this game you control a robot as he progresses upwards through a maze. This game is a fixed/flip screen game which was a popular genre before side-scrolling platformers took over the world. In this type of game, all game play takes place on a single screen at a time. You must overcome enemies and obstacles in order to reach the exit, wherever on the screen that may be. In the case of this game the exit would be near the top of each screen. Simply progressing through a maze isn’t challenging enough so you have a timer and enemies to destroy or avoid. Your robot has a gun to aid in that task. Time can be increased by collecting tokens or will be decreased when you contact enemies. Your goal is to reach the top of the building before time runs out.

    This is an okay game if you like this sort of thing but it’s nothing exceptional. Like the side-scrolling platformers that came later there were just so many games of this type that it is hard to stand-out. It won’t be terribly easy to find an original copy of this one either as this wasn’t exactly a game that took the world by storm. Fortunately, it’s easy enough to play via emulation.

    The ad above is from the January/February 1985 issue of Enter magazine. The screen shots are from the Atari 8-bit version of the game.


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  • MagicSoft (1984)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/189369752559/retrocgads-usa-1984

    As far as I’m concerned, the Wizardry and Ultima series still represent some of the best Role-Playing Games ever made. The nice thing about computer based RPGs was that you could expand and modify them to some extent, even if that was not officially supported. You could do it the hard way with something like a disk sector editor or you could use third-party tools made for the purpose.

    This particular ad from 1984 is advertising two different tools from a company called MagicSoft. The first is called “Wizard’s Toolkit #1” and allows you to edit Wizardry I, II and III by adding new weapons, monsters and certain other items. These games were available for multiple computers and it isn’t clear which computers may have been supported.

    The second tool is called “Exodus Construction Set” and was made to modify Ultima III: Exodus. From the description, it seems to allow an even more extensive level of editing. However, it apparently was only made for the Apple II version of Ultima III.

    A third tool, Wizard’s Toolkit #2, is mentioned as forthcoming as well though I don’t know if it was ever released. Some developers would eventually release official tools for this kind of editing but in 1984 this was pretty new territory.


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