Upper Reaches of Apshai (TRS-80, Atari 8-bit)
http://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/151339503999/upper-reaches-of-apshai-trs-80-atari-8-bit
- Category Archives TRS-80
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Protector II, Shamus, Picnic Paranoia (TRS-80 Color Computer)
Advertisement for Protector II, Shamus and Picnic Paranoia for the TRS-80 Color Computer from the October 1983 issue of Color Computer Magazine.
Source: Color Computer Magazine – Issue Number 8 – October 1983
Radio Shack’s Color Computer never seemed to have as much third party support as the other major 8-bit computers of the day. I’m not sure exactly why since Radio Shack supported it for a very long time. I suspect that most CoCo owners tended to get their software through Radio Shack so if it wasn’t sold there it probably didn’t sell nearly as well.
However, there was some third party support, particularly in the early days. This ad from the October 1983 issue of Color Computer Magazine shows three popular games at the time from Synapse. Synapse was primarily an Atari 8-bit developer, later moving on the the Commodore 64 and other systems. Protector II, Shamus and Picnic Paranoia were all available on other 8-bit computers as well. I’m not sure how the CoCo versions compared but the screen shots seem to indicate that they are on par with other versions, at least graphically.
For more on Shamus, see here and for more on Picnic Paranoia, see here.
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Color Computer Magazine, January 1984
Source: Color Computer Magazine – Issue Number 11
The TRS-80 Color Computer seemed like the black sheep of the 8-bit world. School’s mostly used Apple IIs, Commodore produced the most successful and popular 8-bit computer of all time with the Commodore 64 and Atari was there at the beginning with the best games playing computer of its time (until the Commodore 64 came along anyway). The TRS-80 Color Computer was also there early on and was commercially available almost as long as the Commodore 64. However, outside of Radio Shack, it seems like you never heard anything about it. While Radio Shack supported it well for a long time, third party support was weaker than it was for most other 8-bit computers at the time. It was barely covered in multi-format magazines and dedicated magazines were few and far between, however, Color Computer Magazine was one such magazine.
The January 1984 issue of Color Computer Magazine included the following:
Departments
- INKEY$ – Letters from readers regarding piracy, the MC-10 computer, software rental, finding extra memory on a 32K Color Computer, OS-9 vs. Flex, plus a listing of a handful of bulletin boards that support the Color Computer.
- Color Computing for Kids – A review of the various BASIC commands discussed thus far in previous editions of this column.
- New Products – New products featured this month include The Personal Touch (a program for creating banners), FICA-83 (a program fro calculating the approximate monthly pension check under the 1983 changes to the Social Security Act), Supercord (a computer-typewriter interface), KB-500 Keyboard (a keyboard replacement), O-Pak (various utilities for OS9), The Color Computer 2 and Extended Color Computer 2, Tax Command (tax software), and more.
- End of File – Computers, world peace and a freer world.
Features
- Disk Drive Indicator – Instructions for how to add an on/off indicator light to your Color Computer disk drive.
- Cruncher – A type-in program that reduces the size of your own programs by getting rid of extra spaces, remarks and extra letters in variables.
- CompuServe Connection – An overview of the CompuServe online service and what it provides.
- Fifteen Database Managers – An overview and comparison of 15 different database managers available for the Color Computer. These include C.C. File, Color Data Organizer, Color File, Database Manager, Disk Data Handler, Filesys, Filemastr, Flexi Filer, Furst & Report Writer Combination, Homebase, Personafile, Personal File Manager, Pro Color File, RMS, and TIMS.
- The Dragon! – A detailed review with photos of the Dragon, a Color Computer compatible (mostly) machine produced by the Tano Corporation.
- Search! – A type-in program for searching text strings in ROM.
- Digital Video Camera – Overview of a very lo-res (~0.03 megapixels) digital camera for the Color Computer for about $300.
- ?REDO Remover – A subroutine for error checking user input.
- Generic Tests – A template for creating electronic tests.
- How To Remember Not To Forget – Some subroutines that make doing date conversions and manipulations a little easier.
- File It – A type-in database management system for the Color Computer.
- Stepper – A type-in program that eases debugging by allowing you to step through your programs a line at a time.
- Directory:XXX – A type-in program that will list the directory of a cassette along with important information like file type and whether there are gaps, etc.
Reviews
- Arex – A worm-type game on cassette for $34.95 and requiring 16K
- Babylon – An educational game that teaches math by placing you in the role of king of a small Babylonian town in which you have to balance food supplies, defenses, and population. It comes on cassette and requires 16K.
- Beyond the Cimeeon Moon – A rather difficult graphics/text adventure that was available on cassette for $24.95 and disk for $29.95.
- Musical Lights – A configurable graphics/light show that changes in time to the music coming from your cassette deck.
- Spectrum Starblaster – A small pass-through device that turns your joystick fire button into a rapid-fire button.
- Starship Hercules – An action/strategy game inspired by Star Trek. It is big but slow as it is written in BASIC.
- Zeus – An arcade game in which you, as the might sorcerer, must defend yourself from lighting bolts from Zeus. You have a rechargeable staff to shoot down the lighting bolts and a shield to help you.
- Outhouse – An arcade game in which you mus stop the thief from stealing your toilet paper. It’s almost as if the creators of this game foresaw COVID.
- Hyperzone – A first person space shooter.
- Gin Champion – Play five different versions of Gin…
- Celestial Basic – A book that contains BASIC programs to do thing like locate the exact position of a star at a given time.
- Wizard 64 – A sort of fantasy adventure maze game. When it comes time to fight, you issue a command but the computer does the fighting for you.
- Pooyan – Conversion of the classic arcade game for the Color Computer.
- Dragon Cruncher – Converts BASIC programs between the Dragon and Color Computer.
- Ms. Nibbler – Kind of like Ms. Pac-Man but with a nautical theme.
- The Compelte Handbook of Personal Computer Communications – A book for the beginning online explorer.
- A Mozart Composer – A program that compose music based on Musikalisches Wurfelspiel.
- TRS-80 Color Computer Assembly Language Program – A book for teaching assembly language on the Color Computer.
- Glaxxons – A Galaxian inspired arcade game.
- Bumpers – A maze game with the novelty of invisible walls.
- Fury – Battle airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, parachuters and more. This game even features speech.
- Buzzrd Bait – A pretty good clone of Joust.
- DWP 210 Daisy Wheel Printer – Daisy Wheel printers were relatively inexpensive and could do perfect letter quality but they were not capable of graphics and were very slow (this one a whopping 18 characters per second).
- Time Patrol – This one looks a lot like Time Pilot.
- Words About Things/Words That Act – Two educational programs that teach nouns and verbs.
- HJL Keyboard – The original Color Computer keyboard was terrible so there were a number of aftermarket alternatives. This seems to be a pretty decent one.
- Math Invasion – Educational software for teaching addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
- Firecopter – A 3D wire-frame game in which you fly a helicopter armed with water canons to fight pyromaniacal robots.
- Calixto Island – A text adventure game with an action film theme.
…and more!
