An introduction to computers and BASIC programming through the fun of a video game. Control "Mr. BASIC" and capture the "Bits" and "Bytes" in one of three exciting games. Learn to write simple programs on the Computer Keyboard. Or, use the hand controllers just for fun. These programs use our unique color-coded graphics system to make learning programming as easy as a game.
Your task in this arcade game is to guide a frog across a treacherous road and river, and to safety at the top of the screen. Both these sections are fraught with a variety of hazards, each of which will kill the frog and cost you a life if contact is made.
The Surf's Up and you're ready to go. But wait...there's a shark warning. The only thing to do is jump each time the shark makes his move. Not easy when you're riding on top of a wild, pulsating wave. Any mistake and into the water you go.
Under the thundering surf you find an old sunken Galleon between you and your surfboard. You only have a few seconds of air to negotiate the distance. The Galleon is protected by fast moving octopus. The walls of the Galleon can change shape and just in case you're not too busy, there's a jellyfish standing guard by your surfboard. Make it back on time and you get another ride on the wild surf.
The action gets faster and faster. You test every skill you know plus invent a few new ones, but ride the Wild Surf you will!
Swordquest is an unfinished series of video games produced by Atari, Inc. in the 1980s as part of a contest, consisting of three finished games and a planned but never released fourth game. All of the games came with a comic book that explained the plot, as well as containing part of the solution to a major puzzle that had to be solved to win the contest. Waterworld was the third of the four games. its was based on the seven centers of chakra. It was originally released only through the Atari Club.
Pac & Pal is an arcade game that was released by Namco on July 30, 1983 exclusively in Japan. It runs on Namco Super Pac-Man hardware, and the object of the game is for Pac-Man to eat all the items before he is caught by the ghosts. Most of the items are fruits from the original Pac-Man game, with a few new additions. Their value varies, starting with cherries at 50 points, and ending with keys from 700 to 5000 points. The items had to first be unlocked by turning over cards distributed around the maze (instead of eating keys like in Super Pac-Man). Very few cabinets still exist today, and this is possibly one of the rarest Pac-Man titles to find in playable format outside Japan.
Kevin Ryan's second game, a taekwon-do arcade game which was released in late 1983 for the Apple II and ported to the C-64 in 1984. Similarly to Zoo Master, Kevin did everything from the coding to the graphics and sound effects. After completing Black Belt, Kevin did some contract work for Earthware, including working on a possibly never-released adventure game development system called Megaventure. He stopped doing work with Earthware in 1985, as he had started up at Dynamix.
Popeye is a 1982 arcade game developed and released by Nintendo based on the Popeye cartoon characters licensed from King Features Syndicate. As Popeye, players must collect hearts thrown by Olive Oyl from the top of the screen while being chased by Bluto. Nintendo ported the game to the Famicom as one of its three launch games.
Donkey Kong Jr. for the Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the most recognizable ports of the original arcade game, being re-released and ported many times.
Donkey Kong has kidnapped Pauline, and it is up to Mario, the fearless carpenter, to come to her rescue. Throwing fate to the wind, Mario tries desperately to climb the labyrinth of structural beams from the top of which Donkey Kong taunts him. Help our hero ascend the metal structure by dodging an assortment of fireballs, steel beams, and exploding barrels the angry ape hurls at him. Prepare yourself for a never-ending adventure as Donkey Kong takes Pauline away to the next level every time Mario gets to the top. Based on the arcade game of the same name, this classic will keep hardcore and casual gamers entertained for hours.
This Donkey Kong port differs from the arcade game, having only three stages instead of four.
An unreleased prototype for the Atari 5200. You take control of goofy as he competes in two events, the Marathon Dive and the Pogo Pop.
The Marathon Dive is a game in which you must guide Goofy up a series of platforms so he can reach the diving platform and jump off before the timer runs out. As Goofy climbs up the platforms he must avoid little armored tanks, which will chase Goofy around. Thankfully these tanks can't jump, reverse direction, or use the ladders, so they can be avoided by jumping over them or leading them into a hole (which will cause them to fall down to the next level). Also hindering Goofy's progress are large gaps in the platforms which must be carefully jumped over. If Goofy falls through a hole he'll fall down one level but is otherwise unharmed, however if he is hit by a tank he'll loose a life.
If Goofy makes it to the top of the platform he will run off the end, making it about halfway across the screen before realizing that he's running in mid-air. Now Goofy will begin to fall, and you
Star Jacker is an early vertical scrolling shooter with some interesting characteristics. The player starts out with three fighters with all of the fighters moving and shooting at the same time. Two fighters trail the lead fighter. Star Jacker features a similar scheme with the Namco game Xevious in that the fighters shoot at enemy fighters in the air while dropping bombs on enemies and targets on the ground level.
When any of the fighters is killed, the game momentarily pauses and re-centers the player fighters before continuing at the same point. The game is over when all of the player's fighters are destroyed. Star Jacker allows no continues.
Mario Bros. is an arcade game published by Nintendo and developed by Shigeru Miyamoto. The platform puzzle which first introduced Luigi to the world has both single and multiplayer action with two differing game types, but with the same objective. Crabs, turtles and fighter flies must be cleared out by jumping underneath the platform they sit on, then kicking them away. Each level is cleared when a set number of coins is collected. For the two player mode, the first to collect the set amount of coins wins.
Planetfall is a science fiction interactive fiction computer game written by Steve Meretzky, and the eighth title published by Infocom in 1983. Like most Infocom games, thanks to the portable Z-machine, it was released for several platforms simultaneously. The original release included versions for the PC (both as a booter and for DOS) and Apple II. The Atari ST and Commodore 64 versions were released in 1985. A version for CP/M was also released. Although Planetfall was Meretzky's first title, it proved one of his most popular works and a best-seller for Infocom; it was one of five top-selling titles to be re-released in Solid Gold versions including in-game hints. Planetfall utilizes the Z-machine originally developed for the Zork franchise and was added as a bonus to the "Zork Anthology".
The word planetfall is a portmanteau of planet and landfall, and occasionally used in science fiction to that effect. The book Planetfall written by Arthur Byron Cover, uses the game image on the cover, and is marketed "In the
Crystal Castles is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1983. The player controls a cartoon bear by the name of Bentley Bear, who has to collect gems located throughout trimetric-projected rendered castles while avoiding enemies out to get him as well as the gems.
Crystal Castles is notable for being one of the first arcade action games with an actual ending, whereas most games of the time either continued indefinitely, ended in what was termed a "kill screen" or simply just restarted from the first level, and to contain advance warp zones.
In this basic, top-down shoot-em-up set in space the player can move the ship anywhere on the screen to shoot the incoming enemy ships. There are also static mines that do not attack the player but explode when collided with. As time goes on different types of enemy ship target the player and more of them to shoot.