Basic Programming attempted to teach simple computer programming on the Atari 2600. It was released in 1979, and it was one of only a few non-gaming cartridges ever designed for the 2600. The programming language was superficially similar to dialects of BASIC, but differed in many important aspects. The extremely small RAM size of the Atari 2600, 128 bytes, severely restricted the possibilities of this cartridge for writing programs.
Origin
The original SARGON was written by Dan and Kathleen 'Kathe' Spracklen in a Z80-based computer called Wavemate Jupiter III[1] using assembly language through TDL Macro Assembler.
The name was originally written entirely in capitals because early computer operating systems such as CP/M did not support lower-case file names.
Introduction
SARGON was introduced at the 1978 West Coast Computer Faire where it won the first computer chess tournament held strictly for microcomputers, with a score of 5-0.[2][3] This success encouraged the authors to seek financial income by selling the program directly to customers. Since magnetic media were not widely available at the time, the authors placed an advert in Byte Magazine and mailed $15 photocopied listings that would work in any Z80-based microcomputer.[1] Availability of the source code allowed porting to other machines. For example, the March–April 1979 issue of Recreational Computing describes a project that converted Sargon to an 8080 program by using macros. L
Side Trak is a black & white man-versus-machine game where the goal is to pick up all of the waiting passengers with your train while avoiding the computer-driver "killer engine" which aims to take you out in a head-on collision. You can control your train via the "fast" button which allows you to temporarily increase your speed on the tracks. You can also use the joystick to switch between several tracks at various junction points.
Each time you make a complete circuit around the track and pass the start marker on the outside track, another car is added to your train. Passengers picked up from the outermost track are worth 10 points. Passengers picked up from each successive inner track are worth an additional 10 points. On top of that, passengers picked up when you have additional cars in tow add another 10 points to car.
Side Trak is the first of several games that were developed on a common Exidy platform which would eventually become host to their most popular games. Early revisions of the platform — Side
Rip Cord was another black & white game released by Exidy in 1979. It was designed and programmed by Arlan Granger. The goal of the game is to jump out of the plane and land safely on one of the many targets down below. The challenge is to avoid the numerous enemy helicopters that occupy the sky in between your plane and the ground.
You control the timing of your jump with the Jump button, at which point your parachutist begins hurtling toward the ground out of control. Pressing the D-Ring button shortly afterwards releases the chute and slows your descent. More importantly, it allows you at this point to control your left/right position via the paddle control to help you avoid the enemies.
Fire One! was a player-versus-player or player-versus-computer submarine showdown, designed and programmed by David Rolfe, Ted Michon, and Susan Ogg for Exidy in 1979. The cabinet was split into two halves, with each player controlling their first-person submarine perspective on their half of the screen.
The primary objective of the game is to find and destroy the enemy's submarine, while avoiding the enemy's torpedoes. Through your virtual periscope you are free to launch one of your 8 torpedoes to take out any of the enemy's various ships for extra points. It takes some time to reload each torpedo tube, so you must be judicious in how you plan your attacks.
In addition to being able to control the left/right rotation of your periscope, the game also features a submerge button which you can use to temporarily hide from the enemy. Holding this button down keeps you hidden but also keeps you out of the action, allowing the enemy free reign over the seas.
In an authentic acre of the old west, two gunslingers (human or android) duel for their lives. Each one has six bullets in his gun, and trees are placed all around.
Each player has to hit his opponent ten times in order to win. At each hit, both players get their guns reloaded. They can also reload their guns anytime by taking the hidden bullets in the tree that matches their outfit