• Tag Archives ColecoVision

  • TV Gamer (Winter 1983)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: TV Gamer – Winter 1983

    TV gamer was a relatively short lived gaming magazine published in the U.K. from 1983 to 1985. It eventually merged into another magazine called Big K. The Winter 1983 issue includes:

    News Pages

    • Hardware – New hardware covered includes the Turbo steering wheel controller for use with Turbo on the Colecovision, a keyboard for the Atari VCS (though the release was cancelled in the U.K.), Spectravideo’s Compumate which was another device meant to turn the VCS/2600 into a computer, and much more.
    • Software – New Vectrex games announced including Pole Position, Star Castle and Dark Tower; lots of new Colecovision games including Gorf, Wizard of Wor, Space Fury, Looping, Pepper II, Space Panic, Donkey Kong Jr., Popeye, Frogger, Tutankham, Super Cobra, Spectron, Super Cross force, Armored Assault, nova Blast, Wing War, Moonsweeper and Fathom; new Intellivision games include Beamrider, Q*Bert, Super Cobra, Popeye, and Tutankham; and for the Atari VCS/2600 are many titles including Joust, Moon Patrol, Enduro, Robot Tank, Decathalon, Space Shuttle, Subterraner, Laser Gates, Death Star Battle, Ewok Adventure, Q*Bert, Popeye, Lord of the Rings, Super Cobra, Stargunner, Ram It, Demolition Herby, Master Builder, and more.

    System Factfiles

    • Atari – Everything you could want to know about the Atari VCS/2600. Some interesting info: it was launched in 1977 in the U.S. and 1978 in the U.K, as of 1983 a total of about 12 million had been sold with 750,000 of those being in Britain, one of the more interesting accessories was the Starpath Supercharger which was a device for playing cassette based games on the 2600, and as of 1983 there were 150 games to choose from in the U.K.
    • Coleco – The Colecovision was more expensive than the 2600 but also newer and more technically capable. It was meant to be expanded with three different modules including the Atari 2600 adapter (an adapter to allow you to play 2600 games), Turbo Drive (a driving controller for Turbo and perhaps other driving games, and a computer expansion (basically turning it into a Coleco Adam). These were not particularly successful, especially the computer expansion.
    • Intellivision – The Intellivision followed the release of the Atari VCS by only about a year. In price and capability it fell in between the 2600 and Colecovision. The Intellivision also had a computer expansion planned. Turning video game systems into computers seemed to be the next big thing but people just bought more capable computers instead.
    • Vectrex – The Vectrex was unique in a number of ways. First of all, unlike the other systems it had its own display and was portable (though not exactly a handheld). It also featured a vector display which made it very good for conversions of vector based arcade games. 21 games were available for it as of 1983 but sadly it never progressed much beyond that.

    • Atari – This is really an entire games guide with many games listed. Those that are new include Alpha Beam with Ernie, Astro Attack, Battlezone, Black Hole, Dig Dug, Demolition Herby, Dream Flight, Enduro, Fathom, Forest, Galactic, Ground Zero, Jumping Jack, Jawbreaker, Kangaroo, Keystone Kapers, King Kong, Labrinth, Mafia, Magic Puzzle, Missile War, Ms. Pac-Man, Nuts, Overkill, Pac Kong, Pharoah’s Curse, Pole Position, Quick Step, Ram It, Save Our Ship, Sea Master, Skin Diver, Solar Storm, Space Eagle, Space Robot, Stargunner, Squirrel & Snail, Time Race, Tom Boy, Tutankham, and Zaxxon (preview).
    • Coleco – A games guide for the Colecovision. New games include Donkey Kong Jr., Looping, Pepper II, Q*Bert, Space Fury, Space Panic, and Wizard of Wor (preview).
    • Intellivision – A games guide for the Intellivision. New games include Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasures of Tarmin and Pinball.
    • Vectrex – A games guide for the Vectrex. New games include Animation, Artmaster, Bedlam, Flipper Pinball, Fortress of Narzod, Melody Master, Spike, Soccer, and Webwarp.

    Competitions

    • Win five Activision cartridges! – A total of 50 cartridges are being given away, 5 for each winner. all you have to do is to complete a word search than includes the names of 24 Activision games.
    • Win a Coleco Computer! – Make as many words as you can out of the word ‘Colecovision’ for your chance to win one of three Coleco Adam computers.
    • Win a Vectrex, complete with Light-pen – An interesting contest in which you are given a white page with three black dots. You may add up to 20 additional dots and connect them with straight lines to create your own design. This is supposed to mimic drawing on the Vectrex with the light-pen.
    • Win an Intellivoice and B17 Bomber cartridge – The Intellivoice added voice capabilities to games that supported it (including B17). To win, you must come up with a voice script for Burger Time.

    Club Section

    • Letters – Letters from readers discussing X-rated games, Colecovision joysticks, games from America, and more.
    • The Programmers strike back! – Easter eggs that programmers have hidden in games including Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Empire Strikes Back and more.
    • Games Clubs – are they worth it? – Most are free so the answer is yet. Often these clubs include some sort of free magazine or newsletter and discounts. Examples include Fun Club News (Activision), VCS Owners Club Bulletin (Atari) and Parker Video Games Club Newsletter.
    • Your Ideal Games Machine – Features desired in a future games machine as provided by readers. Examples include stereo sound, inter-changeable controllers, the ability to work from tape or cartridge, the ability to use headphones, keyboard, wireless controllers, portable systems and more.
    • Puzzle Page – Find 16 video game characters in the given image.

    …and more!


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  • Miner 2049er

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Video & Arcade Games – Volume 1, Number 2 – Fall 1983



    In Miner 2049er, you play the role of Bounty Bob, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as he searches for the villain Yukon Yohan. This search occurs in an abandoned Uranium mine. Miner 2049er is a sort of juxtaposition of past and future. While the theme and even the title reflect gold mining in the 1840s, this is a Uranium mine and the obstacles you face are futuristic in nature. things like matter transporters and jet-speed floaters among other odd items. In addition, you will have to face various creatures that have mutated due to radiation. Only in video games and sci fi does radiation make you stronger.

    Game play is pretty straightforward. You must walk over all sections of the mine in order to “claim” it. Each screen consists of platforms and ladders. Along the way you’ll find weapons and other objects to help you in addition to the mutated creatures you must fight.

    Miner 2049er was first developed for the Atari 800 and then ported to a wide variety of other systems. Miner 2049er was unique for its time in terms of size. It was much larger than normal, especially for a platform game. Miner 2049er consisted of 10 separate screens at a time when most other similar style games only had 3 or 4. Because games for the Atari 800 were typically released on cartridge, this meant a cartridge size of 16K instead of the more typical 8K.

    The large size of Miner 2049er led to a fairly high priced game for the time. Miner 2049er initially sold for $49.99 which adjusted for inflation would be about $133 today. The Atari 2600 version was released as two separate games and in total still encompassed barely more than half the levels: Miner 2049er contained three levels and Miner 2049er Volume II contained three levels. Other computer ports were a bit easier because they were mostly on disk. Sure, you may have a bit of a load time between levels but it was much cheaper to produce that way.

    Despite the high price, especially for the Atari 8-bit cartridge version, Miner 2049er was a very popular game. It received outstanding reviews and even though the graphics were really only mediocre, even for the time, the playability was excellent. It’s truly one of the classics that every gamer should at least try. Without games like Miner 2049er, there may never have been games like Super Mario Bros.

    In addition to the Atari 8bit and Atari 2600 versions, Miner 2049er also made its way to the Commodore 64, Atari 5200, VIC-20, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Apple II, IBM PC, TI-99/4A and a variety of other platforms. There were also a couple of later re-releases on the Game Boy, Windows Mobile, Blackberry and iOS. There was even an official emulator released of the Atari 8-bit version but it only worked with older versions of Windows (pre Windows 7). If you want to play it today and don’t have original hardware, the best way is probably to emulate your favorite version.

    Screen shots above are from the Commodore 64 version…because the Commodore 64 is my favorite retro platform. The ads above are from the Fall 1983 issue of Video & Arcade Games.


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  • Video Games (December 1982)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    Source: Video Games – Volume 1, Number 3 – December 1982



    Video Games was an early 1980s video game magazine covering systems like the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Arcadia 2001, Vectrex and others of the time. The December 1982 issue includes:

    Features

    • Video Games Interview: Ken Uston – From stockbroker to blackjack whiz to video game maven, the celebrated author knows no bounds. An exclusive interview by Roger Dionne.
    • Programming for Dollars – Game designers are turning ideas into megabucks. Who are they, how do they do it and could you become one of them? Dale Archibald is on the case.
    • The Selling of Intellivision – The maker of Barbie has come a long way, baby. An inside look at Mattel and its prime-time duel with Atari. Also, a rare interview with George Pimpton. Susan Prince and Steve Hanks do the job.
    • The House That Pac Built – Space Invaders, Galaxian, Pac-Man, Gorf, Ms. Pac-Man, Tron! Midway Manufacturing has done them all. On the even of the Company’s 25th anniversary, Andrea Stone paid a visit to the coin-op Goliath.

    Special Section

    • From Cutoffs To Pinstripes – On Atari’s 10th birthday, Video Games brings you the company that started it all. An incredible report by Steve Bloom.

    Departments

    • Hyperspace – A few words of hype from the editor.
    • Double Speak – Some words of advice from our readers.
    • Blips – Pac-Man gets a TV show, gamer clubs, Siggraph ’82, drugs in arcades, the latest and greatest high scores, why Wall Street is saying all those terrible things about video games.
    • Soft Spot – Perry Greenberg pulls no punches as he guides you through the ever-expanding software maze. Reviews of 16 brand new cartridges, including Atlantis, Pitfall and The Empire Strikes Back.
    • Book Beat – The mad, mad, mad world of a video game book author. Between hands of poker and the change of cartridges, Roger Dionne found the time to tell us how it’s done.
    • Coin-Op Shop – Eugene Jarvis returns with more expert opinions on the latest batch of quarter-eaters. Je also has a few things to say about Tron.
    • Hard Sell – The TV-game system that nobody knows. Introducing Emerson’s Arcadia 2001. Critique by Sue Adamo.
    • Comic Relief – Our resident funny men are back on the loose. John Holmstrom’s “Bernie,” Gene Williams’ “Joysticks,” and Peter Bugge “Video Kid.”
    • Outtakes

    …and more!


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