# VIC-20 Cartridge Software Reviews

## a.k.a. Cartzilla!

First release: July 1997

Copyright notice: © 1997 Ward Shrake. All rights reserved. However, the author and copyright holder grants his permission to any individual(s) for any non-profit use of this document. I just ask that any such people will be fair and honest in giving me my due credit for any and all work that I have done, just as I have gone to great pains to credit those before me. Thanks!

Proofread and converted to hypertext by Marko Mäkelä

## Author's notes

This document was made to spread useful information to current users of the Commodore VIC-20 home computer system. It contains small text reviews of most of the ROM-cartridge software that was ever made for the Vic20 computing system. (There are 180 cartridges reviewed here!)

The purpose of this document is partly amusement and partly to help the system's modern users to identify software that has a good chance of appealing to them, so they can check it out more for themselves.

Note that this text covers only cartridge-based software. There were many, many more programs once released in tape format. However, the author chose not to review tape-based software, for various reasons.

I wrote this because I saw a need for it. If you're bothering to read this document, you probably see a need for it as well. I've long been involved in gaming, on many systems. I have Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 systems, as well as the current Jaguar, the ColecoVision, Commodore's 64 computer, the Vectrex, the Sega Genesis, the Nintendo NES & SNES, and even a few of the real, stand-up, full-sized arcade machines. The list goes on, but you get the idea: I don't only like the Vic20.

I've seen, over and over among all the "classic gaming" groups, some form of the "its a title on a list somewhere, and even though I have no clue what it is or what it does, I have to own one" mentality. If you're rich and have ample space for all these toys, why not. But most of us don't fall into that category, hence the need for solid info. I gave up on the idea of having "everything" a long time ago; some games simply aren't worth having, from a "will I ever play it" standpoint. That goes for the Vic20, and every other gaming system ever made. But there are many games that you'd love, too, if only you knew about them.

Besides, the whole "looking through a catalog of stuff I can have" experience is one all of us like, to one degree or another. And with a catalog this size, you'll stay busy for quite some time, I'd say! Why bother looking at was once available but is no longer sold, you ask? There's simple nostalgia. Or carts to buy amongst other gamers.

But more newsworthy is that most of the Vic20's software library is now freely available to anyone with an Internet account. This is thanks to the hard work of a dedicated crew of Digital Archaeologists. (Paul LeBrasse and Ward Shrake did most of the finding and archiving, with occasional help from other retrogamers on the Internet.) We made sure the Vic20 library didn't become extinct. Then I documented it. (Fifty or a hundred years from now, I hope someone is grateful!) And so far, the copyright owners have thanked us for what we've done, too. Much thanks goes to the people who wrote the Vic20 emulators, as well.

Most of the information in this text file will probably remain "as is" for quite some time. This is because most carts we actually had in our hands, and we don't expect our opinions to change without outside input. However, a handful of carts we did not have at all; the rare few carts that are presently "vaporware". These may change, as we get more info.

Anyway, info about this text is included later on. But to appease those of you with large impatience streaks (most of you?), I put the "fun" stuff (reviews) next, and the explanatory stuff way in the back. The list below is alphabetical by software title, in case you're wondering.

I do hope you will find and keep an appreciation of where our gaming hobby has already been, and where it seems to be going. It's quite a rush, these days, what with all the different emulators and such; for this and all the other gaming systems. We gamers never had it better. Enjoy the ongoing history of the audio-visual amusement experience!

Ward F. Shrake

# Contents

1. Software Titles Reviewed
2. How this List is Organized: A Tutorial
3. Other Sources of Information
4. What Can You Do to Help Make this Document Better?
5. Acknowledgements

# Software Titles Reviewed

1. A World at War
2. A.E.
3. Adventure Land Adventure
4. Aggressor
5. Alien
6. Alien Blitz
7. Alien Sidestep
8. Alphabet Zoo
9. Amok!
10. Ape Escape
11. Apple Panic
12. Arachnoid
13. Arrow
14. Artillery Duel
15. Astroblitz
16. Atlantis
17. Attack of the Mutant Camels
18. Avenger
19. Baldor's Castle
20. Bandits
21. Battlezone
22. Black Hole
23. Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
24. Cannonball Blitz
25. Capture the Flag
26. Cave-in
27. Centipede
28. Choplifter
29. Chuck Norris Superkicks
30. Cloudburst
31. Clowns
32. Commodore Artist
33. Computer War
34. Congo Bongo
35. Cosmic Cruncher
36. Cosmic Jailbreak
37. Creepy Corridors
38. Crossfire
39. Dancing Bear
40. Deadly Duck
41. Deadly Skies
42. Defender
43. Demon Attack
44. Dig Dug
45. Donkey Kong
46. Dot Gobbler
47. Dragonfire
48. Draw Poker (see Poker)
49. Face Maker
50. Fast Eddie
51. Final Orbit / Bumper Bash
52. Fourth Encounter
53. Frogger
54. Galaxian
55. Garden Wars
56. Ghost Manor
57. Gold Fever
58. Gorf
59. Gridrunner
60. HesMon
61. HesWriter
62. Home Babysitter
63. Household Finance
64. IFR (flight simulator)
65. In the Chips
66. Jawbreaker II
67. Jelly Monsters
68. Joust
69. Jungle Hunt
70. Jupiter Lander
71. K-Razy Antiks
72. K-Star Patrol
73. Kids on Keys
74. Kindercomp
75. Lazer Zone
76. Lode Runner
77. Lunar Leeper
78. Machine Language Monitor
79. Mastertype
80. Maze
81. Medieval Joust
82. Menagerie
83. Meteor Run
84. Midnight Drive (see Road Race)
85. Mine Madness
86. Miner 2049'er
87. Mission Impossible Adventure
88. Mobile Attack
89. Mole Attack
90. Money Wars
91. Monster Maze
92. Moon Patrol
93. Moses (with or without 8k RAM)
94. Mosquito Infestation
95. Mountain King
96. Ms. Pac-Man
97. Mutant Herd
98. Number Nabber, Shape Grabber
99. Omega Race
100. Outworld
101. Pac-Man
102. Panic Button
103. Personal Finance
104. Pharaoh's Curse
105. Pinball Spectacular
106. Pipes
107. Pirate's Cove Adventure
108. Poker
109. Polaris
110. Pole Position
111. Predator
112. Princess and Frog
113. Programmer's Aid Cartridge
114. Promenade
115. Protector
116. Q*bert
117. Quick Brown Fox
118. Radar Rat Race
119. Radiotap
120. Raid on Fort Knox
121. Rat Hotel
122. Renaissance
123. River Rescue
124. Road Race
125. Robin Hood
126. Robot Panic
127. Robotron: 2084
128. Sargon II Chess
129. Satellite Patrol
130. Satellites and Meteorites!
131. Scorpion
132. Sea Wolf
133. Seafox
134. Serpentine
135. Shamus
136. Sir Lancelot
137. Skibbereen
138. The Sky is Falling
139. Skyblazer
140. Slot
141. Snake Byte
142. Space Ric-O-Shay
143. Space Snake
144. Speed Math & Bingo Math
145. Spider City
146. Spiders of Mars
147. Spike's Peak
148. Spills & Fills
149. Springer
150. Star Battle
151. Star Post
152. Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
153. Story Machine
154. Sub Chase
155. Submarine Commander
156. Super Amok
157. Super Expander with 3k RAM
158. Super Slot (see Slot)
159. Super Smash
160. Synthesound
161. Tank Atak
162. Terraguard
163. The Count Adventure
164. Threshold
165. Tomarc the Barbarian
166. Tooth Invaders
167. Topper
168. Trashman
169. Turmoil
170. Turtle Graphics
171. Tutankham
172. Type Attack
173. Vic Avenger (see Avenger)
174. Vic FORTH
175. Vic Mon (see Machine Language Monitor)
176. Vic Music Composer
177. Vic Rabbit
178. Vic-20 Atari Cartridge Adapter
179. Video Vermin
180. Videomania
181. Visible Solar System
182. Voodoo Castle Adventure
183. Wizard of Wor
184. Wordcraft 20
185. Write Now!

If you Like This Game... | Then also Try these Similar Games...
--- | ---
Asteroids | Satellites and Meteorites
Astro-Blaster | Threshold
Battlezone | Tank Atak
Berzerk | Amok!, Super Amok
Breakout | Super Smash, Pinball Spectacular
Carnival | Quackers
Centipede | Video Vermin, Arachnoid
Frogger | Princess and Frog, Menagerie
Galaxian | Star Battle
Kaboom! | The Sky is Falling
Lunar Lander | Jupiter Lander
Night Driver | Midnight Drive (Road Race)
Missile Command | Mosquito Infestation
Othello | Renaissance
Pac-Man | Jelly Monsters, Trashman, Cosmic Cruncher
Q*bert | Topper
Rally-X | Radar Rat Race, Raid on Fort Knox
Rip-off | Bandits
Space Invaders | Avenger, Alien Blitz, Alien Sidestep, Type Attack
Tempest | Star Post
Time Pilot | Satellite Patrol

# VIC-20 Cartridge Software Reviews

Game name
  A World at War
Company
  Handic Benelux B.V.
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Board-style war game simulation. (Hex-based maps, turns, etc.)
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard. Disable bank 1 if present.
Comments
  Not given a thorough review, due to its complex nature. You will definitely need the original instructions to use any war game.

Game name
  A.E.
Company
  Broderbund
Author
  Steven Ohmert (198_)
Game Type
  Original shooter, flavored with "Galaxian" & "Missile Command".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent. Technically impressive; uses bit-mapping on a computer that was not designed to do this. The smooth, gliding movement of the ships impresses, as does their recession-into-depth. Uses four background scenes; another classy touch. However, from a purely aesthetic point of view maybe the "hi-res" characters just seem small and hard to see by today's standards? For its day... wow!
Sound
  Good. Nice attempt at an interesting background tune; notes try to rise and fall smoothly. Sound effects are average or better. Considering the limits of Vic20 sound, this is also impressive.
Gameplay
  Good, but takes some getting used to. See comments below.
Overall
  Mixed. Technically speaking, this was leading edge stuff for its day both in graphical ability and gameplay mechanic. But is it a fun game to play? You decide. Some may love it, others may not.
Ad Text
  "A runaway best-seller for the Apple II and the Atari 400/800, is a winner for Vic-20. Giant robot stingrays designed to fight pollution have run amok and are attacking in waves from the sky. A.E.tm ('Stingray' in Japanese) is a graphic masterpiece, with screen after screen of spectacular 3-D effects. The arcade-style action is masterful too, as you launch your remotely-triggered missiles and detonate them precisely to coincide with the swooping, diving, constantly changing flight patterns of the deadly A.E.'s!" (From inside cover, Compute's Gazette, July 1983)
Trivia
  Original (non-Vic20) version designed by Makoto Horai & Jun Wada according to the screen credits. (Was Apple or Atari the first?)
Comments
  The game uses the joystick in a novel way. Left and right do just that, but "fire" is non-standard. Missiles that you fire do not "go off" until you release the fire button. In other words, press and hold fire until the missiles are at the altitude you desire, then release the button, which detonates those missiles. Meaning if you rapidly press and release fire (as in modern games) the missiles simply explode a fraction of an inch over your ship! This takes some getting used to, but it results in an explosion which can destroy more than one ship at a time, too. The overall effect reminds me of the game mechanic used in "Missile Command".

Game name
  Adventure Land Adventure
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1914]
Author
  See Trivia. (1981)
Game Type
  "Scott Adams Adventure Games" series. (#1 of 5.)
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 2 and 3). Keyboard controlled. The game starts when you type "SYS 32592" and hit the RETURN key. (If you are using a software emulator to run any game in this series, try setting your memory expansion to 24k of RAM. These four programs start at $4000, if your emulator asks you that.)
Graphics
  Not applicable. These were text games. You type, it types back.
Sound
  See the trivia notes below, but not applicable for the most part.
Gameplay
  Some will like it, some won't. A good change of pace, regardless.
Overall
  It depends if you like text games or not. The whole Scott Adams series was famous in its time and still has a following online.
Ad Text
  "You wander through an enchanted world trying to recover the 13 lost treasures. You'll encounter wild animals, magical beings, and many other perils and puzzles. Can you rescue the blue ox from the quicksand or find your way out of the maze? For beginning Adventurers and veterans alike." (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" Spring 1983 issue, page 105.)
Ad Text
  Box ads for the entire series read: "Welcome to the mind-boggling adventures of Scott Adams! These true 'computer classics' are among the most entertaining games in personal computing! Each adventure is a completely different mind-fantasy, drawn from the creative imagination of pioneer adventure game-writer Scott Adams. There are 5 Scott Adams Adventure games on cartridge for your VIC-20... we know you'll enjoy them all! Just look at the adventures we have for you!" (Then it describes each as above.)
Trivia
  While the folks at "Scott Adams / Adventure International" should get their fair due for writing the stories and such (on the Vic and other computers), Andy Finkel was responsible for doing the actual programming on the Vic20 versions of the Scott Adams games. Neil Harris was quoted in an online interview, saying that Mr. Finkel had to trim 1/3 the memory out (24k to 16k) of the Vic20 versions to fit them on a cartridge at all. Quite a feat, really.
Trivia
  The games in this series "talked" if you had an add-on piece of hardware called the "Type N Talk". (Otherwise, with a standard Vic20, the text just shows up on the screen as you might expect.) The author hasn't personally heard the quality of this speech but has seen reviews of the Votrax hardware itself, which were good. (And I have to wonder... would emulating this device be possible or practical on today's IBM computers? That would be neat, yes? Even just recording the speech as `.WAV` files would be cool, IMO.)
Trivia
  All the games in this series seem to have one advertisement for another game in the series within its available texts. At least two games list a phone number to call, if your local computer store doesn't carry the Adventure series. That's kinda cute, huh?
Trivia
  The Scott Adams games were part of a larger collection. While the Vic20 only had five of the games, others did exist for other game machines of the time. The Vic order is as follows:
  1. Adventure Land
  2. Pirate's Cove
  3. Mission Impossible
  4. Voodoo Castle
  5. The Count
  For more info about the remaining games, go visit the Internet's online newsgroups that cater to the "text adventure" crowd.
Trivia
  Just in case you've wondered, this Scott Adams is no relation to the Scott Adams that writes the popular "Dilbert" cartoon strip.
Comments
  Merely to conserve some space here, this review is sort of my standard set of observations for the other four Scott Adams games.

Game name
  Aggressor
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C305]
Author
  Jeff Minter (1982)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade coin-op "Defender" by Williams.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Could use the radar screen from the arcade game, but what is there looks good. Not a bad attempt at vector graphic lines!
Sound
  Average. Sound effects are good, but get repetitive quickly.
Gameplay
  Good or better. Fast paced in most places, reasonable balance. Your ship takes awhile to turn around, and without radar, well...
Overall
  Good. Not a bad clone of Defender, given the Vic's limitations.
Trivia
  Actually, I don't believe I've seen any truly good port of Mr. Jarvis' ballistic arcade game on any home machine, until Jeff Minter's "Defender 2000" showed up for my Atari Jaguar system. I guess this was his first official warm-up for the project? Go take a look at the official Atari release of Defender, too. You will see that it has an internal message that says it really was done by HES instead of Atari. Hmmm. Jeff's warm-up number two?
Trivia
  Mr. Minter certainly has a sense of humor. Inside his code is the message "WELL ZAPHOD'S JUST THIS GUY, Y'KNOW". Once you've read Douglas Adam's 5-part "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" trilogy you'll understand that better. And thank Mr. Minter for making you go read an excellent book series when you're all done, OK?

Game name
  Alien
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1906]
Author
  unknown (1981)
Game Type
  Original game involving mazes and digging.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average. Nothing fancy. Most likely based on character graphics.
Sound
  Average. Some simple sound effects, somewhat like the gobbling sounds in Pac-Man, but that's about all. No theme music noted.
Gameplay
  Good. Could probably be addicting to some. The idea of digging holes for the other creatures to fall into, and the heart-beating sound effects might build up some decent gaming tension.
Overall
  Average to good. Not really flawed, but not wildly spectacular. Younger children may love the game. For them, it may be ideal.
Trivia
  This game involves elements from games like Pac-Man (the maze and four characters chasing you) and Apple Panic (the digging). You decide if this makes for a good game or not, but it's interesting.

Game name
  Alien Blitz
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1619]
Author
  Peter Fokkos and Thomas A. Giguere (1981)
Game Type
  "Space Invaders" clone. (Probably unauthorized.)
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick or keyboard play.
Graphics
  Endearingly crude. In other words, much like the original.
Sound
  Keeps your nerves on edge, like the original. Great laser blasts!
Gameplay
  "Just one more..."
Overall
  Fans of the original Space Invaders will not be disappointed!
Ad Text
  "Your mind must be clear, your nerves steel, and your eyes sharp to prevent the intruders from demolishing the three missile bases under your command. To survive the bomb-dropping enemy, you must think as you dodge, duck, hide, and blast your way to victory... or oblivion! Only the fittest can survive the onslaught of ten skill levels and escape with missile bases intact." (UMI catalog)
Trivia
  Internally, this is just a 4k game. Not at all bad, considering! UMI was one of the only companies that had any games ready for release in 1981. It is sort of comical that both Commodore and UMI released a Space Invaders clone as one of the first games. (Man, were people anxious to capitalize on SI's popularity!) The only other company to release in 1981 was Sierra Online, BTW.
Trivia
  The original arcade game has 55 invaders; 5 rows of 11 each. This version only has 40 invaders. Maybe only an "expert" would notice? The Gameboy cartridge, in Gameboy mode, also has 40 invaders, but the Gameboy cart has sounds that are closer to the original game. The SuperGameboy version, however, comes as close to true arcade perfection as I've ever seen; it appears to download code to the SNES and hand over control to it, for some mind-blowing nostalgia! But aside from that one cart this may be the best clone I've seen. Commodore's Avenger comes close, but this has a closer feel, IMO.
Trivia
  With only minor changes, this game would fool most people if you were to put it into an original-looking arcade cabinet. Since this version and the original are both monochromatic, you could even stick a colored overlay across the screen as later SI models did! But don't forget that the original arcade game had no joysticks; it was just a set of buttons; left, right and fire... remember? (Not that I'm seriously suggesting this... just a sick thought!)
Comments
  Space to start game; it may pause for a moment first. Keyboard controls: fire = SPACE, left = LEFT SHIFT, right = RIGHT SHIFT.

Game name
  Alien Sidestep
Company
  OEM
Author
  Kerry Erendson (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of "Space Invaders".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. The movement and/or scrolling effects are well done.
Sound
  Plain. Just the average shooting sounds you'd expect.
Gameplay
  A bit flawed. Fun at first, but after the novelty wears off... The concept was kinda cute, but the experience isn't very deep.
Overall
  An interesting change, but not likely to become widely popular.
Trivia
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run. This would seem to explain the lack of depth in the gameplay.
Comments
  There seems to be only one good way to play the game. You have to move left while shooting quickly, to make a slanting barrage of bullets. This seems to be the only way to actually hit the oncoming aliens. Otherwise, as the name states, they sidestep. Once four aliens have landed past your defenses, it's game over.

Game name
  Alphabet Zoo
Company
  Spinnaker
Author
  Sheldon White (1982)
Game Type
  Educational.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Amok!
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1611]
Author
  Roger L. Merritt (1981)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade coin-op "Berzerk" by Stern.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick or keyboard. Disable bank 1 if present.
Graphics
  Good. The original "Berzerk" was not a graphic wonder to begin with. This is arguably better than the arcade game it is based on.
Sound
  Poor. The original arcade Berzerk game had some speech, which made up for its poor graphics. This just bleeps when you shoot. (No more "Intruder Alert" or "Coin detected in pocket"... sigh!)
Gameplay
  Good, but a bit frustrating once you've seen "Super Amok". Slow-paced? Only one of your bullets is allowed onscreen at a time. (However, if Super Amok seems too hard, maybe this is just right?)
Overall
  Good. Could be lots of fun, even if "Super Amok" is better.
Trivia
  As much as it sounds like I'm complaining about this game, it does show how far the industry had progressed in a short time. Berzerk was not out long in the arcades when this home version had arrived. It was only 1982 when Stern put out "Frenzy", the sequel to their earlier "Berzerk" game. Impressive to consider. It wasn't that many years before, when almost all the games in any arcade where black-and-white with huge blocky graphics; remember Midways first game "Gun Fight"? This is Hi-Res compared!
Trivia
  I figured out the patterns in most of the software companies part numbering schemes. Most are easy enough. But what was UMI thinking? Aside from the first two digits indicating whether a particular game was made on cassette or cartridge, can anyone else see any kind of pattern emerging? Did they use a dart board to choose their other digits? Did they just make up numbers at random, to make it look like they had more games? Wish I knew.
Trivia
  Hey now! Don't be stepping all over my memories! (Hee, hee!) I'm impolitely referring to a new 1996 Sega Saturn game called Amok. I know zip about that game; just thought the name was interesting in this context. Has gaming lost that much creativity? That even names are now being recycled, along with gameplay concepts, etc? Again, I'm not dogging the modern game, just wondering what's up.
Comments
  See also Super Amok. It's much more polished than this game is. The basic difference is that this game used 4k of EPROM and its sequel used 8k. Twice the memory space makes a big difference!

Game name
  Ape Escape
Company
  Spectravideo
Author
  Mike Riedel and Greg Carbonaro (1982)
Game Type
  Variants of two arcade coin-ops; "Space Invaders" and "Rip Off".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Lots of little helicopters and such onscreen, all moving fairly smoothly as they steal portions of the "Spectra Tower".
Sound
  Good to very good. The sound effects are generally good, but the little guy that vacuums up your dead players is way too cool!
Gameplay
  Very good. Everything moves and/or responds quickly.
Overall
  Very good. Perhaps simple in some ways (graphics?) but well done.
Trivia
  The company name was taken directly off the title screen. They seemed to have been a bit inconsistent about their own name.
Comments
  See also "Cosmic Jailbreak". It looks nearly identical. This game might have been sold to Commodore, along with what later was to become "Star Post", which may have been intended to be a clone of the arcade game "Tempest" when it was first programmed. May. That is a whole other story, however, that's still being investigated.

Game name
  Apple Panic
Company
  Creative Software (Licensed from Broderbund)
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Conversion of the arcade coin-op "Space Panic".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain looking backgrounds, with very detailed (hi-res) characters.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Control is too fussy. You have to be pixel-perfect on ladders or it won't allow you to move on them. And so on. Game runs slowly too. Or rather, your character seems to move through molasses.
Overall
  Flawed, but I can sure see where Broderbund got Lode Runner from! They just rebalanced this game and had a classic on their hands. The improved version sold well into the 1990's. This game is more of a history lesson, however, than competition for Loderunner.
Review
  "Space Panic was the first of the climbing coin-ops, but it wasn't a hit until it reached the home market as Apple Panic!" (Seen in EG Trivia, page 111, Apr 83 Electronic Games)
Review
  "Apple Panic... is the computer version of Universal's 'ground-breaking' coin-op, Space Panic. As it happens, the aliens who pursue -- and are, in turn, hunted by -- the game's shovel-wielding hero, bear a singular resemblance to -- you guessed it -- apples! It was therefore a relatively simple matter to redraw the aliens as ripe, red pieces of computer fruit. Other than this minor change in graphics, the computer software version is faithful to its source of inspiration. The action is quick and exciting and this title, which has been around for over a year, continues to do a good business. Like its role model, Apple Panic has become a genuine cult favorite among computer gamers. The ladders, the aliens, the holes -- all the familiar elements are here." (Seen in Jan 83 Electronic Games, on page 52.)
Review
  Another article in Electronic Games, entitled "Closet Classics", (June 1983, pg 84) said this and more... "The object of the game was to catch the aliens by baiting them into pits you'd dug, and then covering them before they escaped. This was accomplished with the 'digging' button. As you got to the higher levels you had to dig two holes, perfectly placed, one above the other, to keep the alien in. The average playing time for Space Panic was 30 seconds. You felt like you'd been hit going up the ladder by a brick falling through the arcade. Or maybe you'd dug a hole too deep to escape from. Whatever it was, Space Panic played too hard and had to be buried. Someone must have seen it though, and liked it, because the game was released as a computer game by Broderbund under the name Apple Panic. This software version is deliciously true to the original. So perhaps there is life after the arcade!"
Review
  A fairly lengthy article on the climbing games genre included a few paragraphs on Space Panic. One quote: "Not only did Space Panic prophesy the advent of climbing games, but of 'digging' games as well!" (See Electronic Games, Jan 83, page 55.)
Trivia
  As you can probably tell, the reason I spent so much time and space on covering this title, is that it is the ancestor to many other games. Games like Loderunner and Donkey Kong apparently were direct descendants of "Space Panic" and/or "Apple Panic". If you can get over the lack of finesse, maybe you'll like this one.

Game name
  Arachnoid
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [16__]
Author
  Allen Pulsifer (1982)
Game Type
  Clone of the Atari's arcade coin-op "Centipede".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Nicely animated, but simply colored. Smooth motion overall.
Sound
  Average. Some sounds may have been reused in UMI's Video Vermin.
Gameplay
  Good, but I still like the ultra-fast game Video Vermin better.
Overall
  Centipede fans should definitely give it a try. This one may be more polished and balanced, but the pace puts me off a bit.
Trivia
  An internal copyright indicates that Mr. Pulsifer first wrote his code in 1980 although this wasn't put out by UMI till later. So I guess that means Video Vermin was derived from this code?

Game name
  Arrow
Company
  Skyles Electric Works
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program. An accelerator package for your datasette.
Required
  Unknown, as no one we know actually has one.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To use this cart, you'll need the original instructions. May require the original cart, too, if it includes special hardware inside? This must have been popular, judging by repetition of ads run.

Game name
  Artillery Duel
Company
  Xonox
Author
  See Trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Semi-educational two-player game, seen on many other platforms.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Average to good. They do attempt to draw some bit-mapped scenery. They even throw in some moving clouds, across the hilly terrain.
Sound
  Not bad. Decent explosion effects. Nice "your turn" sounds. Some sounds are better than others, but most are competent or better.
Gameplay
  Fun, assuming you like this sort of thing. Boring, if you don't. But the slowed-down pace may be a nice change from time to time.
Overall
  See gameplay. This is a cute, almost "deluxe" version of the game that almost every other platform eventually had. Xonox lacked in imagination in picking this, perhaps, but did make a nice version.
Trivia
  Hidden inside the internals of the game is a message that says "programmed by jerry brinson dedicated to shana, jacob, audrey and frankie". (It's at $7c61, for you hacker types.)
Trivia
  It is interesting that this is one of Xonox's better videogames, and is also their only 16k version for the Vic20 computer. I bet they coded this from scratch and simply ported the others? For this game, I may take back some of my usual nasty Xonox remarks.
Trivia
  Xonox videogames sometimes came in special plastic cases, with two games per cartridge. They felt this helped to make up for the lack of greatness in each individual game. Basically, they had their costs of manufacturing way down, so they could afford to. If you open one of their carts, you'll see some of the best work around; quality boards, epoxied-over onboard chip blobs, etc. But the average gaming consumer of the time disagreed with their idea of quantity-vs-quality. Xonox still has a lousy reputation with classic gamers. I don't blame the programmers; I'm sure they were forced to just do a quick, half-adequate job most of the time. Anyway, the flip side of this particular "Double-ender" was "Chuck Norris Superkicks". Personally, I like the AD game better than CNS.

Game name
  Astroblitz
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of the arcade coin-op "Defender" by Williams.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent. The graphic effects Tom Griner indulged himself in is technically impressive... even to peers like Jeff Minter! (Mr. Minter implied just that, in an online interview with R. Melick.) Full screen use (including borders), scrollies, neat fold-in effect...
Sound
  Good. I like all the effects, except perhaps your own explosion?
Gameplay
  Very good or excellent. Very fast! Balanced well. Nice controls, too. A very smoothly done game, showing off Mr. Griner's ability.
Overall
  Arguably one of the best ever clones of Defender, on any machine.
Trivia
  This is a 4k game internally, which just makes it all the more impressive! (You'll still need 8k of memory to play it, though.)
Comments
  Use UP and FIRE (together) on the joystick to start your game.

Game name
  Atlantis
Company
  Imagic
Author
  See Trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  A port of the Atari 2600 title.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick or keyboard.
Graphics
  Excellent. Very clean and detailed. Beautiful colors. Smooth, fast movement. The graphics are so well done, in fact, that the Imagic games don't run well on my VIC emulator! (Glad I have real VIC's.)
Sound
  Excellent. The shooting effects sound good, and the background noises smoothly build tension, as the game gets faster and...
Gameplay
  Wonderful. Fast, tense, but well balanced. All this, in just 4k?
Overall
  Impressive; give it a try. Imagic sure made some great videogames!
Ad Text
  "... Next, Bill gave Atlantis a shot. The Gorgon attack vessels filled the skies above the underground city of Atlantis. Bill fought back from his two missile posts. As night fell, and the Gorgon death rays took their toll, Bill launched his star fighter and attacked the enemy head-on in the air. But little Billy was no match for the fierce Gorgon warriors. No match for IMAGIC... Let this be a warning to all you cocky, know-it-all, self- proclaimed video game wizards out there: Laboratory tests have proven that IMAGIC games, when played in large doses, may be hazardous to your self-esteem and cause chronic Hugedigitosis (sore thumb). In other words, our games are created by experts for experts." (Partial ad, seen in Jan 83 Electronic Games.)
Trivia
  Box art says "Game program designed by Bruce Pedersen."
Comments
  Keyboard controls are: F1 to start, X and right SHIFT to fire. The Atari version definitely has one extra gun, in the center of the screen, that this lacks. But it doesn't really detract here.

Game name
  Attack of the Mutant Camels
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C318]
Author
  Jeff Minter (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of Atari's arcade coin-op "Centipede", but taken farther.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. It may look plain at first but all that scrolling does not come easy to the little Vic! Tight ML code, you betcha! Mr. Minter either had a good assembler or lots of practice by now.
Sound
  Really nice. Some of the best sound effects on the Vic20, period.
Gameplay
  Fast and furious, with lots to keep track of. Very well balanced.
Overall
  Great! Mr. Minter was destined for videogaming greatness, says I. It was pretty obvious by this point, if one paid any attention.
Trivia
  This game was intended to be the sequel to Gridrunner.
Comments
  I bought my Atari Jaguar (admittedly on close-out) just to play "Tempest 2000" by you-know-who. So am I a bit biased? Sure. But a good game is still a good game, hero worship or no. And I just got in my copy of "Defender 2000"; worth a Jaguar, for those two.

Game name
  Avenger
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1901]
Author
  unknown (1981?)
Game Type
  Clone of "Space Invaders". Most likely unauthorized.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. No complaints. The original game had five rows of eleven invaders each; this game has ten. (Better than most ports had!) Nice coloring, too, although purists like me may object a bit. The rest of the world will think it's a much needed improvement.
Sound
  Good. Nothing to complain about. It's what you would expect. I've only heard one version that comes closer to the original, myself.
Gameplay
  Good. Smoother response than some other ports on other systems.
Overall
  Darn good. I don't think any SI fan will feel any disappointment. It's a simple, fun and addicting game. What more could you want?
Ad Text
  "It's an invasion of space intruders and you're the VIC 'Avenger'. Space action for arcade enthusiasts." (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, page 102, Spring 1983 issue)
Trivia
  It is interesting to note that Commodore's first ever game cart was a version of Space Invaders. (See how popular SI once was?) It is also interesting to note that this is one of the rare times Commodore made no mention onscreen of this being copyrighted by them. In other words, there is no date or copyright displayed. (Commodore later made a version for the C64 computer as well.)

Game name
  Baldor's Castle
Company
  Daedalus Digital
Author
  Martin Kennedy (1983)
Game Type
  Dungeon style adventure game.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 & 2). Type SYS 20182 to start.
Graphics
  Good. A bit plain in places, but good enough to do the job.
Sound
  Average to good. Just the usual sound effects, but done OK.
Gameplay
  Depends on whether you (A) can figure it out without the original instructions, and (B) whether you even like dungeon-type games.
Overall
  See gameplay, and decide for yourself.
Trivia
  Largely written in BASIC, with some machine language routines. The location of the game was also unusual for a cartridge, though not unusual for a game written in Basic. The author apparently just copied the image from his 16k RAM expander's memory area to that same memory area on an (EP)ROM cartridge format. Only this game and the Scott Adams games require a SYS number to start and both because they sit in the area normally used by Basic programs.
Comments
  If you're running this program via a Vic20 software emulator, try setting your RAM expansion memory to 16k. This program starts at memory address $2000 if your emulator asks for that information. After it is loaded into memory, type the SYS 20182 code to start.

Game name
  Bandits
Company
  Sirius
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of the arcade coin-op "Rip Off" by Cinematronics.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent. In fact, so well done that the Vic20 emulator for the IBM PC has a hard time handling this. (Apparently raster effects were used, as well as character set swapping.) Nice moving star field effect. Even colored stars; very nice. Smooth ship movement, lots of colors onscreen, lots of objects... very impressive! (Expect it to look awful on an emulated system, however.)
Sound
  Very good. No music, but the sound effects are well done. Sounds a bit like the best stuff from the better Atari 2600 games.
Gameplay
  Very good. Requires some strategy and thinking ahead as you can't outrun the bad guys once they've gotten ahead of you. Nice job of balancing things, I thought. The arcade coin-op "Rip Off" was an addictive game and I think you'll find this one can be as well.
Overall
  Very nice. Games like this let you know just how little effort, time and skill went into some other Vic20 games. This game hardly looks like it was done on a home console at all, in comparison!
Trivia
  The arcade coin-op "Rip Off" was a black & white, vector graphics game. Even their space ships looked like they came out of earlier coin-ops, such as Space Wars. (The triangular "asteroids" ship.) The game tension and balance made this lots of fun to play. This is another pre-joystick era game; left and right were buttons!

Game name
  Battlezone
Company
  Atarisoft
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade coin-op "Battlezone".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Nicely done vector graphics, fairly quick movements...
Sound
  Good. They did as much as could be done, within the Vic's limits.
Gameplay
  Good or better. They did a pretty good job of capturing the (onscreen) look and feel of the original arcade game, I think.
Overall
  Very good. I'm not a wonderful B'zone player, so true experts may disagree gameplay is perfect. But this is still a very nice port.
Trivia
  Internal messages show a date of "12-31-83" and "(c) 1983 atari".
Trivia
  The original arcade game's cabinet stood eight feet tall. You had to look through a simulated tank periscope to view the screen. The special joysticks, one per tread, made gameplay special, too. The cabinetry alone added something to the gaming experience, but this type of thing later died off. Why? Arcade operators wanted new games to come in a generic box, so they could easily swap out the old guts for a newer game, when the quarters came in slower. Now, they complain that arcade game companies only crank out more and more of the same old generic stuff. No kidding, guys.

Game name
  Black Hole
Company
  Creative software
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, flavored by various early arcade vector games.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Really well done. The opening screen alone (on a real Vic20) is just priceless. Mr. Griner is definitely showing off. The vector style graphics are a feat in themselves, considering the limits of the Vic20's screen resolution and so on. Bravo, Mr. Griner!
Sound
  Average. Hey, if he had to go with minimal sounds to get his very impressive graphics, so be it. Not that the sounds are bad.
Gameplay
  Good. Fans of early arcade games will probably appreciate it more than the average modern-era gamer, who may be a bit confused by it, and why this game would have been a big deal in its day.
Overall
  Very good. Technically impressive but perhaps for limited tastes? At the very least, load it up to see the neat graphical tricks.
Trivia
  This is only a 4k game internally although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
Company
  Sega Enterprises, Inc.
Author
  See Trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Translation of arcade coin-op of same name.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Graphically impressive from a technical standpoint, as they are using the entire screen (including its borders) as part of the playing field. Or at least it looks like it, at first. You can't actually go over there, but it is part of the scenery. Nice recession-into-depth perspective effect. The title has some nice raster effect routines on the letters, which hackers may enjoy.
Sound
  Very good. A quality job on the sound effects but no music plays. There is plenty of sound to keep you busy as the game progresses.
Gameplay
  Very good. I can't see much difference, gameplay-wise, between this Vic20 version and the C64 version. I've never actually seen the arcade game this is based on, so can't comment on that aspect. But the level progression seems steady enough, and pacing is good.
Overall
  Very good. Impressive in a number of technical ways, but still simple enough to be a good, playable game. Well done!
Trivia
  Yes, that Sega. The folks that made Sonic the Hedgehog and the Sega Genesis, years later. They must have really been trying to do well, way back when. It shows in their finished code, and it also shows in their full-color cartridge labels. Beautiful! A hearty cheer for someone who cared, while everyone else did awful looking text labels on their carts. I'm so sick of seeing labels that only printed the name in text. Blah! I am convinced that one of the reasons the Atari 2600 became so popular was their use of colorful graphics on their carts. (And why collectors still want them.) Most of the less popular systems had plain text labels.

Game name
  Cannonball Blitz
Company
  Sierra On-line [CBL-401]
Author
  Screen says "by I.C.G. programer Blip" (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of arcade coin-op "Donkey Kong" by Nintendo.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain looking, but very smoothly animated. They chose resolution over number of colors, essentially. (Compare to Donkey Kong.)
Sound
  Average or better. Nice attempt at background music, good effects.
Gameplay
  You decide. It has that Nintendo-like tourism/exploration feeling to it that I never quite fell in love with. But other gamers feel tourism results in a deeper gaming experience, in some ways.
Overall
  This is a quality game but it is of a game type that I just don't care for much, myself. It was way ahead of the NES era, however, if you want to give it points for something like that.
Comments
  This is actually only a 12k game internally. (8k + another 4k.)

Game name
  Capture the Flag
Company
  Sirius software
Author
  Paul Edelstein (1983)
Game Type
  Original game. Something like a non-violent version of "Doom".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick and/or keyboard.
Graphics
  Awesome. Split-screen graphics with multiple windowing effects and first-person motion, all on a computer that does not even have built-in bit mapping capabilities? Wow. Simply marvelous!
Sound
  Good. Reasonably good tries at tunes, with nice sound effects.
Gameplay
  Where else have we recently seen multi-player, multi-room, first person exploration games? Just add some monsters, and you have a Vic20 version of Doom or Duke Nukem or whatever. How cool!
Overall
  Wonderful. The concept is cool, the execution of it is cool, the fact that it came a decade before this type of thing exploded in popularity makes it way before its time, etc, etc. Check it out!
Comments
  May be hard to figure out without the original instructions. The concept itself is simple enough: two players, each trying to find the flag first. This was a non-computer game a long time before this game came out, but being able to play without a second human being (against the computer) was still a novel idea, back then.

Game name
  Cave-in
Company
  Spectravision
Author
  Greg Carbonaro (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, flavored by Pac-Man and snake/surround games.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. A bit plain or average looking, but they work.
Sound
  Good. Nice opening tune, but it gets a bit repetitive.
Gameplay
  Average to good, but a bit unusual. Has a wide range of levels (6) to choose from; from crawling along to over-in-two-seconds.
Overall
  You decide. It seems like one of those love-it-or-hate-it games.
Trivia
  The company name was taken directly off the title screen. The company seems to have been inconsistent about their own name.

Game name
  Centipede
Company
  Atarisoft
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Translation of Atari's coin-op arcade "Centipede".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Looks just like the real thing, except a bit blocky?
Sound
  Very good. Sounds just like the real thing, for the most part.
Gameplay
  Very good. Only arcade fans could tell the difference, perhaps?
Overall
  Very good. A fine translation, as far as I can tell. It works. I prefer fast, tense games. Try Video Vermin, if you do also.
Trivia
  I don't own a trackball but I presume Atari's 2600 one works.

Game name
  Choplifter
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of Choplifter.
Required
  8k or 16k RAM; two different versions found. Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent. Smooth movement of objects, objects all recognizable, etc. Some subtleties: parallax scrolling stars in background, the neat title screen rotation effect, the angles changing to match proper perspective as you cross the line going home, rotors that seem to be turning on the helicopter, the flag waving at home...
Sound
  Excellent. Rotors sound like they are turning, pitch changes as engine speed changes, etc. Just nice sound effects all around.
Gameplay
  Choplifter is justly famous for its gameplay. In fact, the game was converted from home systems to being an arcade game. Yes, the process worked backwards this time. What more needs be said?
Overall
  An excellent rendition of a classic. Mr. Griner always manages to squeeze out the last ounce of performance; another fine TEG game.
Ad Text
  "Those are your men they're holding hostage! We don't care how you do it, but you've got to shoot your way in there and bring 'em back alive. You've got three choppers, probably not enough but it's all we can spare. And the enemy camp is pretty heavily fortified. With tanks, jet fighters and truly nasty laser bombs. Okay, maybe it's a suicide mission, but somebody's got to do it. Dozens of innocent lives are at stake. We're counting on you... don't let them down!" (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec 1983)
Trivia
  Ad also mentions this program was "selected as some of the 'most innovative computer programs' 1983 CES Software Showcase Awards".

Game name
  Chuck Norris Superkicks
Company
  Xonox
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original tourism & action game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Mixed. Some portions are hi-res, others are very low resolution.
Sound
  Bleeps and such. No impressive effects, and no background music.
Gameplay
  Boring. The idea probably sounded good at the time; a tie-in with a major action star, Pitfall's running character (except overhead) and so on. But the actual gameplay seems like an afterthought.
Overall
  Bad. Looks and plays like the generic port that it is. But from a historical point of view maybe this game is interesting? It's one of the first of the under-imaginative movie tie-in games. I have to wonder if Chuck Norris actually ever saw the finished game?
Trivia
  This game came as half of a "Double-Ender: a two videogame cartridge". Artillery Duel was its better half, in my opinion.

Game name
  Cloudburst
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1636]
Author
  Peter Fokos (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, flavored perhaps by Activision's "Kaboom!" game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Fast and smooth movement, even if the characters are simple.
Sound
  Not bad. Catchy little tune, nice effects. The tune doesn't play incessantly, which makes good sense. More like an attract mode. I wish more games would shut up once in a while. Less is more here.
Gameplay
  Fun. Fast-paced. Might take a while to get used to, but I like it.
Overall
  Simple and fun. What more can you ask of any game?
Trivia
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.
Comments
  Fire button to start. Your character fires in three different directions. Use joystick movement and fire, together, to switch.

Game name
  Clowns
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1931]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Translation of Bally/Midway coin-op arcade game "Clowns".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Paddle controllers, NOT a joystick.
Graphics
  Good enough. Simple, but so was the arcade version of this game.
Sound
  Same as with graphics. Nice funeral dirge, when you die!
Gameplay
  Good. More fun than you'd think by looking at it. Give it a try. (If your characters control poorly, your paddles need cleaning.)
Overall
  Good. An older game but a fun one. Gameplay is the key here.
Ad Text
  "Come one, come all... see the amazing jumping clowns... direct from their show-stopping Bally/Midway arcade tour... A true arcade 'classic'! Colorful acrobats with scoring skill." (Seen in the Spring 1983 "Commodore Power Play" magazine, on page 104)
Trivia
  One of the "arcade classic" series of remakes of older arcade games. The arcade version was made in the late 70's, according to the KLOV (Killer List Of Videogames). There are aspects of other arcade games incorporated into it; namely Carnival and Breakout.

Game name
  Commodore Artist
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1935]
Author
  Richard Blum (Bubblesoft) (1982)
Game Type
  Utility program. Draw pictures on your TV screen.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Optional are joysticks, lightpens and printer.
Ad Text
  "A true lightpen drawing game... you are the artist... you create the picture... multi color!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, page 104, Spring 1983 issue.)
Trivia
  This cart may be rarer than most. It definitely came when the Vic20's commercial lifespan was rapidly dwindling. The cart I have (A) is only 4k internally, (B) has the other 4k half filled with what looks like a C64 utility program, (C) came in a special case the author believes was used only for limited production runs, (D) is fairly hard to find. (Was it ever massed produced? In other words, does anyone have a tan "normal label" version?)
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To fully use this cart, you might need the original instructions.

Game name
  Computer War
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22006]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  War simulation, apparently inspired by the movie "War Games".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Nicely done. Neat blinking light / "computer thinking" effects, good use of bit-mapped graphics, multiple screens, and so on.
Sound
  Nice effects, overall, but no background music.
Gameplay
  You will need the original instructions to really play this game.
Overall
  Without the instructions, who knows. But it does look promising.
Review
  This was reviewed in the Feb 1984 issue of Compute. See page 134.

Game name
  Congo Bongo
Company
  Sega [006-04]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade game "Congo Bongo".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Reasonable, but not great. Has various small flaws. Definitely not a show-off piece compared to its peers. The Vic20 was getting pretty advanced in age, by now. Did Sega just crank this out?
Sound
  I suppose it's intended to build tension, but it just annoys me.
Gameplay
  I've never seen any version of this game that was actually fun, so is it fair to just call this average? The C64 version looked great but wasn't any more fun to play. I never saw an unemulated arcade original, so I have to wonder if even it was any fun?
Overall
  I consider this game a dog, but maybe others will like it.
Trivia
  See the other Sega games as well. (Star Trek and Buck Rogers.) I already said it there, but I'll say it again... bravo for cart labels with some color and art to them! Phooey on text labels! Unfortunately, I consider this carts label to be its high point.

Game name
  Cosmic Cruncher
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1922]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Pac-Man variant. Different graphics but same overall concept.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Fair to average. And I'm being rather generous, I think. Lots of flickering on the 4 characters that chase you, for instance. Big blocky graphics, for another. All in all, it's almost ugly.
Sound
  Not bad, but could be better. The Pac-Man theme can almost be recognized, which is surprising as this was a legalized remake. With some work, the sounds could become fully recognizable...
Gameplay
  Good. It is almost surprising, as the screens look so bad that you almost don't even want to give it a try. Put this game's code for gameplay with say Jelly Monsters character graphics and we would have a really nice port of Pac-Man, I'd say. (There may be more work than that, but it would get you fairly close, fast.)
Overall
  Mixed. Sort of the game that could have been but never was. The authorized version of Pac-Man is no wonder, itself, so maybe...
Ad Text
  "Maneuver your 'Cosmic Cruncher' through the Milky Way and 'Crunch' all the pulsars in the galaxy... eleven challenging levels of play... over 300 color / maze combinations. Exciting arcade action!" (Seen on page 104, Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" magazine.)
Trivia
  Commodore wasn't the only game company to try to make money on an unauthorized Pac-Man game. Magnavox also made a Pac-Man variant to hopefully sell more of their Odyssey2 home game systems. Mags then said Magnavox got sued, lost, and had to change their game to one that wasn't such a close copy of the original. (This adds fuel to the argument that Commodore had similar problems. Whether they were actually threatened or were just scared, I don't know.)
Trivia
  See also Pac-Man, Jelly Monsters, Trashman, and probably others. If any of you ever get tempted to cut up Vic20 cartridges to make "multicarts" or what not, Cosmic Cruncher would be a good choice! It's not like they are rare. They are practically an ultra-common. A reason for this may have been Commodore pushing it harder, since they now knew for sure that they wouldn't get in trouble for it?

Game name
  Cosmic Jailbreak
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1927]
Author
  Commodore UK (1982)
Game Type
  Variants of arcade coin-ops "Space Invaders" and "Rip Off".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain looking, but it works well enough. You can't easily mistake the characters for anything else. Nice sneaking-in-from-the-side effect. It gets to you over time and helps build up game tension.
Sound
  Pretty good. Has those familiar SI background sounds to it.
Gameplay
  Fun. Give it a try before you dismiss it for its simple looks.
Overall
  Silly but fun. A nice combination of two excellent arcade games.
Comments
  Compare this game to Spectravideo's Ape Escape. Who copied who? Did the Spectravideo authors later sell their game to Commodore, who made this version? Did Commodore just liberate it via their UK offices? Or were both games based on a third I don't know about? There is definitely something going on between these two games. If anyone has some solid info on this, let us know about it.

Game name
  Creepy Corridors
Company
  Sierra On-line, Inc. [CCL-401]
Author
  Don McGlauflin (1983)
Game Type
  Original game, influenced by Wizard of Wor and others.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Only two colors, but the screen resolution is very good. Watch your character and see if he doesn't move like the WoW character.
Sound
  Sparse. Only a few sound effects. Actually, that's kinda nice!
Gameplay
  Fun, if a little slow-paced at first. Avoid monsters while moving through a maze and collecting special objects. Hey, I think I vaguely remember hearing about a game like that; Pac-something or other? Hee, hee. This game also has touches of dungeon style play.
Overall
  They took various ideas and integrated them well. It's a fun game as is, and a model for future integration efforts. Perhaps a good starting point for a modern Vic20 rendition of Wizard of Wor?

Game name
  Crossfire
Company
  Sierra On-line, Inc. [CFL-401]
Author
  Gordon (1981)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the Exidy arcade game "TARG".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Simple, but maybe that is good after a while when things speed up?
Sound
  Average. Nice effects but no music.
Gameplay
  Good enough. Move in four directions and fire at aliens. And of course, avoid them while moving through the maze.
Overall
  I am not personally in love with the game but you can't win them all, right? Maybe others will find the play mechanic appealing.
Review
  "Targ (Exidy): One of the most unique approaches to the maze chase contest presents alien invaders moving over a grid of city streets seen in overview. The game has become a home classic in a slightly altered form as Crossfire from On-line for the Apple II and Atari computers." (Not to mention the Vic20! Text taken from Electronic Games magazine, June 1983, pg 89. The article listed Targ among others they called "some forgotten coin-op gems".)
Trivia
  Title screen says "Jay Sullivan's Crossfire". Not sure why.

Game name
  Dancing Bear
Company
  Koala Technologies
Author
  See Trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Not really a game. Maybe call it an "entertainment experience"?
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Cute. A bit simplistic, perhaps, but very cute! One bear plays the piano while another bear dances on stage. Not quite like the modern phenomenon of Full Motion Video, so don't be scared away.
Sound
  Not bad. Considering the Vic's limits, not bad at all!
Trivia
  Screen credits say "Produced by Audio Light" and list the names of Greg Hospelhorn, Rosemarie Rotunno and Rick Parfitt.
Comments
  Koala later made the Koala Pad device for the C64 machine. This cartridge must have come with some sort of external device; it doesn't seem to respond very well to the normal input devices. Without having one, it wouldn't be fair to do a full review. Nor did we have access to the original instructions. And the screens refers to a cassette, too. Oh well! The cart itself is cute...

Game name
  Deadly Duck
Company
  Sirius
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, perhaps similar to Imagic's Demon Attack.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain-looking due to the black background screen, but well done.
Sound
  Simple effects and not many of them, but it suits the game.
Gameplay
  Good. The dropping bricks which temporarily box you in may be either loved or hated, depending on the player. But it is fun.
Overall
  Fun enough. Demon Attack and others were really just upgrades of Space Invaders, with various twists. Each has its pros and cons.
Comments
  Game is really only 4k in length, although it takes 8k to run.

Game name
  Deadly Skies
Company
  Tronix
Author
  Thomas Kim (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of arcade coin-op game "Carnival".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Nicely done side-scrolling, clean object definitions, etc.
Sound
  Average to good. Just sound effects, but they are done well.
Gameplay
  Fast to frantic. Avoid flying objects out to get you, while your helicopter drops bombs on ground-based targets.
Overall
  Very good. A nicely done update of the carnival game theme, with fast play action and good gaming suspense. How high can you score?
Trivia
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  Defender
Company
  Atarisoft
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade game Defender.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Impressive, but not perfect. The movement is pretty jumpy, to get as much onscreen as they can and move it as fast as they have to.
Sound
  Good. Some of the sounds are very nicely done if a little rough.
Gameplay
  Good. I generally rate all home versions of Defender pretty easily however as I don't think many home machines handle Defender well. It is just too fast and demanding a game to copy it perfectly. Only Jeff Minter's Jaguar game "Defender 2000" gets that nod.
Overall
  Try it yourself. Fans may find some imperfections but someone who is not familiar with the original game may not mind them. The arcade original was a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, anyway.
Review
  "The macho game: Defender. Defender is a game of superlatives. It requires the best hand-eye coordination of all the games (with the possible exception of its sequel, Stargate), and it is the most difficult to teach. Many think it is by far the best, most exciting, and most challenging game there is. Others believe it to be undeniably the worst, the most difficult to understand, the most frustrating, and the most pointless game of all. Defender is the ultimate macho game -- women rarely play it -- because it requires loud, frequent blasting of the enemy." (Seen on page 54 of "Score! Beating the top 16 video games" by Ken Uston, 1982.)
Review
  "Defender has very complicated controls, and you will never be more than a novice without mastering them, learning to use them as automatically as you breathe... Mastering Defender requires some perseverance, but most players find the effort worthwhile." (From pages 76-78 of "How to master the video games", 1981, by Tom Hirschfeld. Bantom Books, ISBN 0-553-20164-6.)
Trivia
  The arcade original was a 1980 Williams effort. It is widely felt to be one of the most demanding and difficult videogames ever devised. Nearly two decades after its initial arcade release the original still commands much respect from those who've played it. Eugene Jarvis, the original programmer, deserves a hall-of-fame award for making it, IMHO. Robotron should seal that deal...
Trivia
  Here's one to keep you awake at night, wondering. Inside the code of the game itself is this message: "COPR.HES,1983 V1.1x". Wow!
Comments
  To give you an idea of how hard the original arcade game was, I once watched a 5-year old play against his older brothers. The five year old, on tiptoes, couldn't even see the screen. He was in "Use the force, Luke" mode the whole time. His scores and his brothers scores weren't much apart. After seeing that and seeing how quickly my quarters were disappearing, I decided two things: (A) I loved the game and (B) there was no way I could afford it!

Game name
  Demon Attack
Company
  Imagic [720050-1A]
Author
  See Trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Translation of Atari 2600 game "Demon Attack".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent technically, but may look plain at a glance, due to the empty black background. The game was faithfully ported over from the popular Atari 2600 console, and looks as good or better.
Sound
  Very good. No music, just sound effects. Just like on the 2600.
Gameplay
  Addictive. This was a very popular game, then, and still fun now.
Overall
  Very good. This game was good enough to spawn many imitators.
Ad Text
  "First, Bill played Demon Attack. Wave after wave of deadly demons bombarded Bill with lasers. The tricky demons split into two, even let loose with a few fireballs. But somehow Bill managed to wipe them out and take off into space searching for the demon's home base. Unfortunately for little Billy, he found it... Let this be a warning to all you cocky, know-it-all, self-proclaimed video game wizards out there: Laboratory tests have proven that IMAGIC games, when played in large doses, may be hazardous to your self-esteem and cause chronic Hugedigitosis (sore thumb). In other words, our games are created by experts for experts." (Partial ad, seen in Jan 83 Electronic Games.)
Trivia
  Box art says "Game program designed by Bruce Pedersen."
Comments
  Another Imagic game that has trouble running well on the PC Vic Vic20 emulator. Apparently, this is because it uses raster scan effects, a very sophisticated programming technique. This fact, coupled with the 4k total code length, makes me wonder if this game was made simply by altering the source code to the original Atari 2600 version? Maybe. It seems possible. Can anyone confirm?

Game name
  Dig Dug
Company
  Atarisoft (Licensed from Namco)
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of Atari's arcade coin-op "Dig Dug".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Fairly good, all in all. Not perfect but not bad, either.
Sound
  Pretty good. You can tell they tried but the song gets old fast.
Gameplay
  Fair. I'm much more satisfied with the C64 version, myself.
Overall
  Decent as a stand-alone but mixed as a copy of the arcade game. Another game rushed out in the last days of the Vic's lifespan?
Trivia
  Internal messages date the game code at "27 OCT 83". (At $a013.)

Game name
  Donkey Kong
Company
  Atarisoft (Licensed from Nintendo)
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of Nintendo's arcade coin-op.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. A little crude but recognizable. Well, maybe really crude? It's hard to believe Atari did their best, with 16k to play with? Other people made really good games, with only 4k to work with. Purists will note some missing between rounds graphics, as well.
Sound
  Good. Recognizable sounds all around. No complaints from me.
Gameplay
  Good. Seems to me to be a good enough conversion in this respect. (Gameplay is generally very important to me. I am usually willing to forgive lapses in graphics to get good gameplay.) After all, this game is fun enough on even the sub-mini B&W Gameboy system.
Overall
  Good. Perhaps I'm under-rating the game a bit as it has never been one of my all-time favorite games. But it plays just as good as the arcade original or any other home system, in my opinion.
Trivia
  Mario makes his debut on the Vic20 machine! And soon to come, the Nintendo home system that took over the post-crash gaming world! This point in time is right at that turning point, from hippies running the gaming industry to it being run by corporate types.

Game name
  Dot Gobbler
Company
  Machine Language Games
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Probably a Pac-Man clone, although this is only a guess.
Required
  Unknown. We haven't seen one and thus don't have it archived yet.
Comments
  One of the rarer carts for the Vic20 library, as our Cartridge List notes. Perhaps not fabulous gameplay, or it would likely be easier to find? Still, it would be interesting to see, someday.

Game name
  Dragonfire
Company
  Imagic [720052-1A]
Author
  See trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Translation of the Atari 2600 game "Dragonfire".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Uses raster effects like the other Imagic games. Has more than one screen, offering more variety than some others.
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  Very good. This is the major thing that Imagic excelled at!
Overall
  Very good. A simple but fun game. Excellent, addictive gameplay.
Ad Text
  "Dragons rule! The young prince hopes to defeat them -- but first he must reclaim the king's treasures. The Prince attempts to cross castle bridges. Hatchling dragons try to prevent him. They hurl deadly fireballs at the agile Prince. He leaps, ducks and sprints to avoid them! When the prince gets across the bridge, he finds a splendid storeroom -- and its ferocious guardian! He can take every treasure he touches. He must grab them all before a magical exit appears and he can escape. But the dragons become smarter and faster! Their fiery breath spells doom!" (From the box art.)
Trivia
  Box art says "Program designed by Tim Yu." Who programmed it?

Game name
  Face Maker
Company
  HES (Licensed from Spinnaker) [C324]
Author
  Jay Stevens (1983)
Game Type
  Educational. For young children. Assemble funny faces on-screen.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. Disable bank 1 if present.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart you may need the original instructions. Then again, maybe not. Fire it up for your toddler and just wing it? (I can't wait to see if my little nephew likes this one or not.)

Game name
  Fast Eddie
Company
  Sirius
Author
  Kathy Bradley (1982)
Game Type
  Original climbing game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Almost Atari-2600 like in its looks. Still, the characters are easy enough to make out. Simple-looking, but what the heck?
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Fast and seemingly well-balanced play. Run around, grab all the stuff, jump over your antagonists, etc. Simple, but can be fun.
Overall
  I tend to agree with the review below. I'd take more games like this one over disappointing arcade conversion, etc.
Review
  "This climbing game sends your on-screen alter-ego, Fast Eddie, zipping up and down ladders and darting along five floors in his quest for prizes. The valuable items float overhead, some stationary, others bopping along at a healthy rate of speed. With the 10 prizes per screen appearing two at a time at different locations, Eddie's task is not an easy one... Game designer Mark Turmell, and Kathy Bradley, who converted Fast Eddie for the Vic-20, have produced a fun game. If not exactly state-of-the-art, it does a good job with the computer's capabilities. The graphics are okay, and the play-action adequate. Not a game to write home about, but not the worst way to pass an evening either." (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec 83, pages 80-81. Review by Charlene Komar.)
Review
  Also reviewed by Compute's Gazette; page 102, October 1983 issue.
Trivia
  Don't confuse this game with "Fast Freddie", a rare arcade game that featured a side-scrolling character that hanglides. The two games have similar names, but are otherwise very different.

Game name
  Final Orbit / Bumper Bash
Company
  Sirius
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Two games in one: a space shoot-em-up and a pinball simulation.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good or better. The space game looks brighter, more colorful than the pinball game, but both are technically impressive. Neither raster effects nor bit-mapping are standard options on the Vic20.
Sound
  Good. Mostly just sound effects, but they work well enough.
Gameplay
  Both games play well and as you might expect for their game types.
Overall
  I really like the pinball simulation. It may not be as realistic as simulations on other (later, more powerful) machines, but it is fun just the same. One of my favorites! The space game is OK but I just don't usually get excited by that type of game. Try it.
Trivia
  This cartridge is odd in a number of ways. It has two 4k games inside one 8k chip for one. But only the pinball game had any copy protection code in it. This may mean that both games were originally intended to be on separate cartridges, but were later combined into one game cartridge. Anyone know more about this?
Comments
  To flip between games use the "C=" key in the lower left corner. The space game controls with a joystick, as you might expect. The F and L keys control the pinball flippers. Press F to load a ball into the ramp, L to adjust, both F and L together to start.

Game name
  Fourth Encounter
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22005]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original vertical shooting game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average or better. Displays some technical finesse in the things that it does, but they are subtle enough to be missed by most of the gaming public. Does a good job of moving multiple objects on the screen at once, even if each of them looks fairly simple. Or odd. The opening wave looks like flying carrots to me.
Sound
  Average. Your "ship dying" sound can get annoying after a while.
Gameplay
  Average. Not bad, but not stunning either.
Overall
  Maybe a little more tweaking in what was there to make it a truly interesting shooting contest? Most of the essential elements are there but they lack that last little oomph to be really great.

Game name
  Frogger
Company
  Parker Brothers (licensed from Sega)
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade coin-op "Frogger".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Poor. Very uninspired. Like they didn't know the Vic20 very well or they just didn't care. Most likely, the latter.
Sound
  Good. Effects OK, song good. But it doesn't play during the game!
Gameplay
  Fair. Most of the mechanics are there but something still lacks.
Overall
  Poor to fair. I can't even seriously call this version "good". If you really want a good version of the original Frogger try the one Starpath made for the Atari 2600 (via their Supercharger).
Trivia
  The original arcade game was put out in 1981 by Sega, who had licensed it from Gremlin. According to information seen in the "2600 Connection" newsletter, Frogger was based on a game from Atari called "Space Race". Frogger is definitely better known. The arcade cabinet artwork included tire tracks near the screen.
Trivia
  This game had 8k of available space to use, but may have been rushed out the doors. Whatever the reason, not all that space was used for game code. About 3k of the 8k is empty. Poor choice! Note that early ads from Parker Brothers show they were making and selling C64 and Vic20 games at the same time... I can only assume they put far less effort into the Vic20 market's game, figuring that you had to take whatever garbage they offered you.

Game name
  Galaxian
Company
  Atarisoft
Author
  See comments. (1984)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade coin-op.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Blocky and fat but they move reasonably well. The designers were definitely convinced from the start that the Vic20 couldn't handle the original graphics "as is". Before you agree totally, take a look at "Star Battle"... Atari's is colorful, Commodore's hi-res. Neither reach arcade emulation perfection. It's a give-and-take.
Sound
  Good. Most of the sound effects are very well done.
Gameplay
  Not bad at all. They captured the arcade look and feel pretty well, all in all. Galaxian was basically an updated Space Invaders game (diving aliens), but wasn't as fast-paced as later vertical shooters. The one-bullet-at-a-time was that way in the arcade, by the way.
Overall
  Aside from the blocky lo-res graphics, not bad. Give it a try.
Trivia
  Internal binary codes reveals this message; " 1984 designer software bill bogenreif 6". (See it at $AFD8 to $AFFF.) One can only speculate that this meant that Atari bought this version from some outside source, rather than program it themselves?
Trivia
  This is one of only two 8k games by Atari; the rest were all 16k. There doesn't seem to be any date-related pattern to explain it. I imagine they weren't as worried about saving $ on memory chips and just used up whatever memory they felt they a game needed.
Trivia
  I have no idea why they waited this long for this cart to be made in the first place. Galaxian was popular for years before they got around to releasing a version. And when they did, apparently it was written by someone outside the company. Why? I can imagine that the "gaming crash" left Atari internally disorganized. So other reports have indicated. This cart and Jungle Hunt are the only two cartridge titles to have been released with an onscreen date of "1984", even though internal messages sometimes date the games well into December of 1983 or even into January 1984. Not even Commodore released any carts beyond 1983; they shifted to the C64 and so did the rest of the marketplace. This definitely helps to explain why Galaxian is such a hard cart to find!

Game name
  Garden Wars
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1932]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, involving mazes and shooting.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very Atari-2600 looking. Almost surreal in some ways. Trippy.
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  I think you either need to (A) be on heavy pharmaceuticals or (B) have the original instructions to understand this game. But the gist of it is the standard run-around-in-a-maze-and-shoot-things. Things seem to move quickly but your movement controls are picky.
Overall
  You decide. I'm staying neutral on this one!

Game name
  Ghost Manor
Company
  Xonox
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original game, released on multiple home gaming systems.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Crude. Almost Looks like a direct port from the 2600 machine.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Awful! One of the most boring games I've ever played. Maybe very small children will find its pacing to their liking. Maybe!
Overall
  Disappointing, even for a Xonox game. The best I can say about it is that maybe we're missing something, without the instructions? With a light gun to shoot the objects this might be OK, but...
Trivia
  Most games by Xonox have a reputation among most classic gamers as being of the lowest possible quality. I most certainly agree! It is interesting to note, however, that internally the cart were made of very high quality parts, suited best for mass production. How's that for misplaced priorities? Making many games, all bad?
Trivia
  Cart label reads: "Plays on Vic20. Use Joystick controllers. Turn off console when inserting cartridge. Read instructions before playing." My cart was a single-ender, by the way, not a double. Which makes no sense, as this isn't stand-alone material.
Comments
  Try pressing F1 then F5 to start the first level. Touch the ghost as many times as you can, then you progress to the next level. If you just stay in the center he'll come to you, but you have to be moving in some direction or it doesn't count. Such fun! Whoopee!

Game name
  Gold Fever
Company
  Tronix
Author
  Corey Ostman (1983)
Game Type
  Original climbing game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Another "hi-res" eye test, uh, I mean game. Seems to be built on character graphics. Some cute animation on the characters.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Not bad. You have to know that ladders are ladders, and that they invisibly extend up and down. You'll see what I mean, when you try it. After learning that, it's just a simple matter of running around collecting all the gold then finding a level's exit door.
Overall
  Not bad on its own merits but pretty good for a 4k game! Could be fun to play just seeing how many levels you can beat. As intended.

Game name
  Gorf
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1923]
Author
  See comments. (1982 Commodore & 1981 Midway)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade coin-op game "Gorf".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Fair to good. This looks oversimplified at a glance but the real arcade machine was the same way. A fairly good copy all in all.
Sound
  Average for a home machine. The arcade original had built-in speech capability, which just wasn't possible to duplicate on most home machines. (The C64 has it, but only if you bought a special piece of add-on hardware called the "Magic Voice." I typed up all the phrases once, and put them on the Internet.)
Gameplay
  Good. A simple-but-enjoyable multi screen space shoot-em-up.
Overall
  A decent copy of an arcade classic. Fun enough, but no speech.
Ad Text
  "(The smash-hit arcade game!) Midway's incredible coin-operated game is now on cartridge for the VIC! Includes 4 completely different games, multiple levels of difficulty, some of the best cartoon graphics ever devised for video games. Invaders, gorfies, death ships, saucers, aliens... it's terrific!" (Seen in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" magazine, page 104.)
Review
  An article in the Summer 1983 issue of "Commodore Power/Play" magazine, pages 38-39, lists ways to use programming bugs to get very high scores. The article was written by Jeff Bruette, one of the Commodore programmers that helped to make this very game.
Trivia
  Onscreen messages credit the following people as authors of this version: Bill Hindorff, Andy Finkel, Jeff Bruette, Eric Cotton, Mike Scott, and Jimmy Snyder. (Displayed in that order onscreen.)
Trivia
  It must have been very interesting to have been around the folks at Commodore in their earliest Vic20 years. This is one of the first game clones actually OK'd by the company that owned the rights. (Earlier games had been made, released, then yanked off the market.) Perhaps because it was so unusual for Commodore at the time, ads then would not let you forget that this conversion was perfectly legitimate and approved by the copyright owners.
Trivia
  It's interesting to note that these officially sanctioned carts were some of the first to have been copy-protected, even in ROM. If you copy the ROM's image to RAM (from an unmodified cart) the resulting image will not run in RAM. My question is, whose idea was this; Commodore or Bally/Midway? (Does anyone know for sure?) I can see BM wanting to protect their stuff, as the whole reason they were collaborating was Commodore tried to infringe on them. But if it was Commodore's idea, how hypocritical were they? Am I too harsh? Over half their first 12 carts are questionable! They make their system popular on the merits of other's games and then decide to protect later games from their own customers? Who did they think they'd attract with that type of marketing? Yeesh! Then again, maybe BM saw it this way, and demanded protection?
Comments
  In the first mission, you can wipe out the entire bottom row of bad guys before they start firing back, if you shoot carefully.

Game name
  Gridrunner
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C312]
Author
  Jeff Minter (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of the arcade coin-op Centipede.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Simple but effective. The game doesn't seem to lack anything.
Sound
  Good. Mostly laser blasts and the like but it all works well.
Gameplay
  Very good. Fast-paced and addicting. If you've never seen the game its a bit like Centipede on steroids, with extra features.
Overall
  Very good. Jeff Minter made his reputation on games like this.
Ad Text
  "$5 says you can't beat Gridrunner. Gridrunner is the toughest, fastest, arcade quality game ever to challenge a Commodore or Atari computer owner..." (HES ad, Compute's Gazette, Oct 1983 pg 19)
Ad Text
  "Is Gridrunner unbeatable? No one, not even the author, has ever achieved the last Gridrunner. It is an extremely fast-paced arcade quality game designed to test your coolness under fire and challenge your reflexes. As the pilot of Gridrunner, a combat ship, you must annihilate the various enemies traveling along the 'Grid.' High scores are possible only through the mastery of the patterns of the X/Y zappers and the Gridsearch Droids which, when destroyed, mutate into potentially lethal pods. Gridrunner has 32 levels of difficulty (20 levels in the Vic 20 version). To this date, the 13th level has been the highest achieved." (HES ad, July 1983 Compute's Gazette magazine, page 31.)
Review
  "...Gridrunner is about alien Droids in the year 2190 who are stealing electricity from Earth's orbiting power station, the 'Grid.' To stop them, a combat ship patrols the Grid. In the game, the Grid is a large lattice on the screen, and Earth's combat ship moves along the lower portion, firing on segmented Droids, dodging the X/Y zappers, and eliminating mutating yellow pods which some times lodge in the lattice." (Text from an article about Jeff Minter. See page 52, August 1983 Compute's Gazette magazine.)
Trivia
  A 1996 Sony Playstation game was released with the same name. What's up with that? Wonder if they knew and did it on purpose?
Comments
  This is a 4k game internally although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  HesMon
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C302]
Author
  T. M. Peterson (1982)
Game Type
  Utility cartridge, used to read and write machine language code.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions. And a good understanding of 6502 machine language programming. Among those who had such needs, this was once a very popular cartridge.

Game name
  HesWriter
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C304]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Utility program. A word processor.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions. It is really doubtful that many will use any memory-limited word processor in this day and age. However, keep in mind that Bill Shakespeare had only a sharpened feather and a bottle of ink... compared to that this is high tech! Any WP beats a typewriter.

Game name
  Home Babysitter
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1928]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Educational / entertainment for small children.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Big and simple. It fits the theme and does the job well enough.
Sound
  Interesting. The ABC song is kinda cute, I think. The memories...
Gameplay
  Geared to a very low age bracket. For its market, its pretty good.
Overall
  Should work well at its intended purpose of entertaining toddlers. It may even help teach them something in the process. If nothing else, they'll learn the very basic concepts of using a computer.
Trivia
  The title screen calls this program "Home Babysitter II". Why? Was there another one put out on tape, or planned as a cartridge? What happened to #1? Tape? Or am I missing something obvious?
Comments
  The cartridge includes sections on counting, learning your ABCs, and assembling funny faces on the screen. Small children will need some adult help to get started. Once they know the keys to press (remember that pressing RESTORE takes you back to the main menu, for one) they may do just fine on their own.

Game name
  Household Finance
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  "A home application program."
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  See Personal Finance by Commodore. Creative licensed this title to them. The two seem to be identical, other than the titles.

Game name
  IFR (flight simulator)
Company
  Academy Software
Author
  Rom Wanttaja (1983)
Game Type
  Flight simulator. (Instrument flight only.)
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average. Just a display of gauges on a cockpit; no scenery of any kind. Yes, this is functional and fits the theme -- instruments only -- but the gauges are still not quite graphic masterpieces.
Sound
  Good to very good. I like the engine idling noises and such.
Gameplay
  That depends. I like it, but mostly because of all the cool ways I've found of crashing. It doubt it was intended to be amusing but it is the way I play it! (Useful info... hit "E" to eject!)
Overall
  You have to have a taste for this sort of thing. More realistic flight sims exist today (at least speaking graphically) but this one has its individual charms. Overall, not bad for Vic20 flight. Probably excellent, if you just want to fly by instruments. For its time, this was probably amazing... and for 8k it still is!
Review
  "Has a quality of realism which sets it apart from others, even those I've tested in flight school." (Compute's Gazette.)
Review
  "Great program!" (Info-64.)
Review
  "It is tremendous fun." (Compute's Gazette.)
Review
  "Flight tested by an air traffic controller, two skilled pilots and an elementary school class. Highly recommended by all." (Midnite Gazette.)
Review
  "This is an unbelievably realistic simulation of the difficulties facing a pilot in instrument flying. I'm a 747 pilot and I think that this simulation could do a lot to improve the reactions and instrument scan habits of even very experienced pilots." (747 pilot, Power Play, Feb/Mar 85, pg 31)
Trivia
  The author recently contacted Paul LeBrasse, making some nice remarks on our Vic20 resurrection work. (Thanks!) He also said he writes books for a living now, so check that out. He claims that this cartridge sold 30,000+ copies on the Vic20 alone. This is believable, if you've ever seen how steadily his ad ran in any of the big Commodore mags back when. He later made a version for the C64 computer as well. (Thanks for all the info; appreciated!)
Comments
  You definitely need the original instructions if you hope to fly the plane with any degree of success and actually land it. But you can also have fun discovering key-presses by Zen, as I do.

Game name
  In the Chips
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Gene Genoar (1983)
Game Type
  "Concept home education program"
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Jawbreaker II
Company
  Sierra On-line Inc. [JBL-401]
Author
  Doug Whittaker (1982)
Game Type
  Maze & eating game. Original, but flavored by Pac-Man just a bit.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Large and blocky, but it doesn't really seem to detract.
Sound
  Good. Decent theme music and some nice sound effects.
Gameplay
  Good. Probably best played by younger children or those who like games that are somewhat slower paced. But it can be fun.
Overall
  Good. Nothing sensational perhaps, but a fun look at a simple game with some personality. A cute "alternative" game, for those times when you're sick of the same-old-thing syndrome?
Review
  I can't find the article now, but I know I read of at least one reviewer that liked this game a lot, from way back when. (Sorry!)
Trivia
  Released on multiple hardware systems as were most On-line games.

Game name
  Jelly Monsters
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1905]
Author
  unknown (1981?)
Game Type
  Clone of arcade classic "Pac-Man". Apparently very unauthorized.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick or keyboard play.
Graphics
  Some flicker and occasional glitches, but overall very good. Uses up nearly all of the screen for its maze, unlike Atari's version. Impressive technically, considering the hardware limitations! (Q: is the flicker due to this being a PAL-based/European game?)
Sound
  Sounds closer to the original than Atari's official version does.
Gameplay
  Not bad at all! Beats most other game console versions by a mile.
Overall
  Very good. It's hard to believe this was done on a 3k computer! Atari should have just slapped their name on this one instead.
Trivia
  This is another one of Commodore's earliest-released carts that is heavily rumored to have been a "way too close to the original" clone of an arcade classic, so it was pulled off the market. This is probable as Vic-1922 is another Pac-Man clone, but has been changed quite a bit from the original. Probably due to its legal status, this is one of the harder Commodore cartridges to find.
Comments
  Use the cursor keys to center the screen image at start-up. This is not a bug, per se, but a built-in feature of the Vic20.

Game name
  Joust
Company
  Atari
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Vaporware. (Translation of the arcade coin-op game "Joust".)
Ad Text
  Shown in an ad in Compute! on page 4, June 1984 issue. This ad shows computers lined up, with boxes of Atari games piled up on top. The effect was a list of sorts; what games had come out for each system. Stargate was no longer listed, but now Joust was shown for the Vic20. No screen shots or other "proof" were shown. I really doubt we'll ever see a production cart, but perhaps a prototype exists somewhere? (On cassette or disk, most likely.)
Trivia
  The original arcade game, by the way, was a 1982 Williams effort. One of its main claims to fame was that it was the first game to allow two players to play at one time, instead of taking turns.

Game name
  Jungle Hunt
Company
  Atarisoft (Licensed from Taito)
Author
  unknown (1984)
Game Type
  Translation of the arcade coin-op "Jungle Hunt".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Fairly good. They got all the individual elements into the game but each of them is a bit blocky; almost abstract looking. The usable screen is cut nearly in half. Is that good or bad? The horizontal dimension is more important to the gameplay than the vertical one is and it creates a cinema-like wide-screen effect! Besides, the arcade original wasn't really a graphic masterpiece.
Sound
  Good. They captured the feeling of the arcade game fairly well.
Gameplay
  Good. Simple perhaps, but fun. Captures the arcade's feel well. Master each screen's required skill, and move on to the next one. Each task is fairly simple to master but keeps you coming back.
Overall
  Good. I liked the arcade original quite a bit. Although this is not a perfect translation it captures the look and feel well. Perhaps a good game to try if other games frustrate you easily?

Game name
  Jupiter Lander
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1907]
Author
  Hitoshi Suzuki, HAL laboratory (1981)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade game "Lunar Lander".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard controlled.
Graphics
  Fair, but better than I remember the original arcade game being. The original game was one of Atari's first B&W vector graphics units, produced at roughly the time Asteroids came out.
Sound
  Good. Simple, but fits the mood of the original game.
Gameplay
  Hard! Some people may find it frustrating, at least at first. Modern players may feel its too much work and too little reward. However, this is pretty much true to the original arcade game.
Overall
  It definitely represents a piece of gaming's early history. Try it yourself, then decide whether that is good or not.
Ad Text
  "Pilot your 'Jupiter Lander' through the treacherous crevices of a mysterious planet. Variable rocket thrust, anti-gravity, horizontal retros." (Seen in Spring 1983 Power Play magazine, page 102)
Review
  "This is a pretty slick lander game with some interesting variations. The best point is that it provides a close-up of the landing site." (From Electronic Games magazine, Nov 1982, page 49)
Trivia
  Definitely gives one a feel for how far home computers had grown. This is arguably as good as the original arcade version was.
Trivia
  Commodore may have gotten away with copying Atari's 1979 coin-op game "Lunar Lander" when they made this game, primarily because Atari apparently copied theirs from an earlier PDP-11 game of the same name. This game is very deeply rooted in gaming history!
Comments
  See on-screen instructions for keys; 3 function keys are used as upward thrusters, A and D keys are used to move left and right.

Game name
  K-Razy Antiks
Company
  CBS Software (by K-byte & Kay Enterprises co.)
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Original maze game, ported to many platforms.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Mixed results. Mostly, its done very well, but with some slight imperfections or things that could have been done better. For instance, the ant animation is good but the anteater's is fair.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  It looks like it has a lot to it but I didn't quite "get it". I didn't have the original documentation so I'll cut it some slack.
Overall
  See gameplay. It has potential, if one understands its rules.

Game name
  K-Star Patrol
Company
  CBS Software (by K-byte & Kay Enterprises co.)
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Original horizontally-scrolling space shooter.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Simple, both in coloration and general shape.
Sound
  Average. Just sound effects.
Gameplay
  Too slow paced for me to enjoy much. Maybe a good beginning game? Not much reward for the player as I see it. Just target practice.
Overall
  I didn't play this game much. If it just repeats the same idea over and over, at a snail's pace, I'd say they wasted the 16k. It did include some novel ideas, but none that I think really made much of a difference in the overall gameplay experience.

Game name
  Kids on Keys
Company
  HES (Licensed from Spinnaker) [C325]
Author
  Frank Tendick (1983)
Game Type
  Educational.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Kindercomp
Company
  HES (licensed from Spinnaker) [C322]
Author
  Jonathan Creighton (1983)
Game Type
  Educational.
Required
  16k RAM (8k in banks 3 & 5). Joystick. Disable bank 1 if present.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Lazer Zone
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C3__]
Author
  Jeff Minter (1983)
Game Type
  Original shooting game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain black background looks, well, too plain before you begin to play. You'll be thankful for the lack of distractions, later on!
Sound
  Very nice sound effects and lots of them.
Gameplay
  Geez! Too much to keep track of simultaneously until you develop new skills to. Which means, you play it a lot. This is not to be taken as a complaint, by the way. It will keep you coming back.
Overall
  Thank you, Mr. Minter. Another ballistic blast-fest to enjoy! But as said elsewhere, this game requires more than just a good aim to feel you've mastered it. The unusual play mechanic offers a nice respite from the same-old-same-old videogaming blues.
Review
  "Jeff Minter's latest, Lazer Zone, has a novel play-mechanic. The computerist controls shooters which move along the bottom and right-hand edges of the playfield depending on which direction the player pushes the stick. There's a lot of subtlety along with the shooting in this one." (Seen in Electronic Games, Sep 84, page 64)

Game name
  Lode Runner
Company
  Broderbund
Author
  Mike Wise and Doug Smith (198_)
Game Type
  Climb and run game, with some puzzle-solving aspects involved.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Plainly colored but detailed enough. Great character animation.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Wonderful in any of its ports. Extremely well balanced and paced.
Overall
  A classic game. In any of its versions, on just about any gaming platform, Lode Runner can offer hours of contented entertainment.
Ad Text
  "...You will maneuver through scene after scene, running, jumping, drilling passages and outfoxing enemy guards in a secret underground hideaway as you pick up chests of gold stolen from the citizens of the Bungeling Empire. There's no end to the thrills, chills and challenge." (Partial text from Broderbund ad in Dec 1983 Compute's Gazette.)
Trivia
  See the entry for Apple Panic for some historical notations.

Game name
  Lunar Leeper
Company
  Sierra On-line Inc. [LLL-401]
Author
  Dr. Bob of I.C.G (1981)
Game Type
  Original space game, heavily influenced by coin-op Defender.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 1 and 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Nicely done. A static screen shot will not show off the wonderful character animation. One of the best efforts on the Vic20. See it!
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  Fun. Sort of like a simplified Defender. You are still trying to rescue land-based people in a space ship but you have fewer enemies to contend with here. Some may consider that improvement!
Overall
  This is a very well done game. Especially due to its youthful age (1981) this is a very impressive piece. Play it. Show it off.

Game name
  Machine Language Monitor
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1213]
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program. A tool for programmers who want to code in ML.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions. This program may also be called VicMon at times. The keyboard commands used in the program are explained in the "Vic Revealed" book by Nick Hampshire, if you can't find the original docs anywhere. (If I ever get some free time, maybe I'll type them in and upload.)

Game name
  Mastertype
Company
  Broderbund
Author
  See trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Educational game. Learn to touch-type by shooting space objects.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Some graphics are more detailed than others but it works. The explosions look unrealistic but are very colorful.
Sound
  Good. Sound effects almost sound blurred sometimes, but are nice and clear on others. Nice deep Game Over effects, nice zaps, etc.
Gameplay
  Fun enough. It has its tension built-in if you don't know how to touch type very well! (Hee hee.) But that's the point, isn't it?
Overall
  Good for either learning to touch-type better or blasting things.
Trivia
  Title screen says the copyright is held by "Lightning software", and credits "Bruce Zweig & Jim Fox with Edward Chu" as authors.
Trivia
  I couldn't resist bragging about this... I own a prototype cart of this game! In a special, hand-openable case, with a dot matrix printer label which states "Mastertype. Sample. Property of Broderbund software not to be sold or given away." It also has a handwritten "38" in the upper right corner. A piece of history?
Comments
  To really use this cart, you may need the original instructions. However, if you're willing to experiment with touch-typing, know that your four left fingers rest on the ASDF keys, the right hand sits on the JKL: keys and your thumbs rest near the space bar. This is the "home position" that is used when touch typing. It will make sense as the game progresses through its exercises.

Game name
  Maze
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C3__]
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1983)
Game Type
  Original treasure collection / maze game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Another techie show piece by Mr. Griner. Neat title effects! Character based, but nice animation on the various characters.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Good or better. Nice tension from the monsters chasing you. The concept isn't very original but the game is fun to play.
Overall
  Dungeon games were very popular in this time period. This is a nice example of that genre. Competent in all areas, I'd say.
Trivia
  I am slightly biased against this program since my absolute, all-time favorite simple dungeon game is a 1982 piece by Don Worth of Quality Software... "Beneath Apple Manor" for the Apple II. It kicks butt, in my humble opinion! That game is the only reason I still have an Apple II computer, actually. Don, if you still have the source code, please release it on the net. The world deserves to see more of that game, IMHO. Another good one was Epyx's "Sword of Fargoal" game, released on both the Vic20 and the C64.

Game name
  Medieval Joust
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22007]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original game; a medieval jousting simulation.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good, considering Vic20 limits. Hi-res and split-screened.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Without the original instructions, who knows?
Overall
  It has potential, I suppose, once you figure it out. Might be an interesting novelty item. Where else can you simulate jousting?

Game name
  Menagerie
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1926]
Author
  D. W. Johnson (1982?)
Game Type
  Variant of arcade coin-op Frogger.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain looking. Big empty backgrounds, big one-color characters. The characters are nicely drawn and detailed however.
Sound
  Below average to pitiful. Could be much better, even on the Vic.
Gameplay
  I like the original Frogger better. So will you, most likely.
Overall
  This is one of Commodore's worst efforts, as far as originality, gameplay and sound is concerned. What were they thinking? This is the type of game that should have been released on tape only.
Trivia
  I am beginning to think Commodore got pretty lazy, or something, at about the mid section of their Vic20 cartridge library. Had they already bought up all the good licenses then available? This game and a few near it, number wise, strike me as "filler".
Comments
  Normally, I'd say that you should go see the authorized version of Frogger but it isn't much better. Sigh. Go see it anyway.

Game name
  Meteor Run
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1613]
Author
  Roger L. Merritt (1982)
Game Type
  Part Defender, part Asteroids.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Mixed. The backgrounds are plain, the ship is nicely detailed and somewhat colorful, the aliens look like they got lost during a game of Space Invaders and the meteors look like chocolate chip cookies. Some movement is slow and jerky, some is smoothly done.
Sound
  Average to annoying.
Gameplay
  Not all that much fun. Partly because I'm comparing it to the two games it was obviously modeled on; Defender and Asteroids. Both are much more fun than this game. The sum is less than its parts.
Overall
  Roger Merritt and UMI both did much better. Not their best!
Ad Text
  "You're in command with Meteor Run... guiding your craft through treacherous meteor fields... fighting alien ships... dodging exploding photon torpedoes... fighting your way to the red star, Alderbaran. The closer you get, the more hazards you encounter. You're surrounded with challenging adventure! This action-packed game will hold you spellbound for hours. Just imagine the fun you'll have!" (Seen in Electronic Games magazine, Nov 82, page 44)
Comments
  (From Eric Gustafson, via the Internet) "In Meteor Run, it's possible to kill aliens without ever pressing fire. Once you start a game, your ship doesn't appear until you actually hit the fire button - but meteors start to appear and the aliens are buzzing about. If an alien hits a meteor, he's destroyed. Wait a while and the game will clear levels for you. I used to leave my Vic on for hours - you see, the manual promised that you eventually got to a 'black hole', and I reasoned that eventually the game would kill aliens off by itself until it got there. Sadly, I suspect that any 'black hole' was simply poetic writing on the part of the authors." (I verified it. It works, but I never saw points registered for it. As to the black hole I haven't a clue.)

Game name
  Mine Madness
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 2200_]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original maze / elevator game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average. A hi-res set of character graphics with very few colors.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Darned if I know. I haven't figured out the point to it all. Just don't get squished by the elevators coming down; that's obvious.
Overall
  Not much fun at all, if you don't know how to play it. May be a fun game. It certainly tries to be tense and fast paced.
Trivia
  Almost surely one of the last cartridges put out by Thorn EMI for the Vic20. It seems rarer and harder to find than its siblings.

Game name
  Miner 2049'er
Company
  Reston (See comments.)
Author
  Jerry Brecher (1983)
Game Type
  Climb and run game, released on many gaming platforms.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent. Very nicely done, all around. Bright colors, clear layouts, nice graphic and technical flourishes throughout.
Sound
  Excellent. Few sound effects but what is there is very well done.
Gameplay
  Great. A very nice version of the popular game. Don't be ashamed to show it off to people who own other consoles. Play, play, play!
Overall
  A wonderful example of what could be done if only programmers and their employers took the time and effort to do it right. As this was a late release (1983), it is all the more impressive. Most other companies were slacking off horribly on Vic stuff by then.
Trivia
  Full cartridge label text: "MINER 2049er - VIC20 by Jerry Brecher Original design by Bill Hogue. (c) 1983 by Big Five Software Licensed in conjunction with Compu-Vid International ISBN 0-8359-4423-9"
Comments
  Press fire to start each level. It is making sure you're ready.

Game name
  Mission Impossible Adventure
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1916]
Author
  Andy Finkel (1981)
Game Type
  "Scott Adams Adventure Games" series. (#3 of 5.)
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 2 and 3). Keyboard controlled. The game starts when you type "SYS 32592" and hit the RETURN key.
Ad Text
  "'Good morning, you mission is to ...' and so it starts. Can you complete your mission in time? Is the world's first automated nuclear reactor doomed? This one 'radiates' with excitement!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, Spring 1983, page 105)
Comments
  See the entry for Adventure Land Adventure for more information on any of the games in this series.

Game name
  Mobile Attack
Company
  MSD
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Variant of arcade coin-op "Targ".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Simple but functional.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Good. Smooth enough movement, reasonable game balance, good pace.
Overall
  Good. I like fast paced games with good response... this works.
Comments
  We only have access to a tape version so far. The cart is presumed to be identical or better. See also Crossfire; it's very similar.

Game name
  Mole Attack
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1912]
Author
  unknown (1981?)
Game Type
  Part of Commodore's "Children's series".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. The graphics of the moles are large and easy to recognize. At least at first. As the game speeds up, you'll make mistakes.
Sound
  Good. Definitely aimed at little kids; hit the moles on the head, and you get the expected bonk noise. Hit them on the butt, and...
Gameplay
  Excellent for its intended audience. Some fun, even for adults. And maybe hilarious at adult parties, with enough cold beverages?
Overall
  My little nephews ought to love this when they get old enough!
Ad Text
  "A colorful 'cartoon action' game. You're trying to keep those nasty moles underground where they belong but they keep popping up! How many can you clunk before time runs out? Fast, fun, frantic!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play", Spring 1983, page 105)
Review
  "It's a mole invasion! The pesty little devils are popping up all over, and its up to you to rout the beasts and send them fleeing back underground -- and you've only got 60 seconds to do it!... Mole Attack will probably be a favorite among younger arcaders. Even though the eye-catching graphics combine well with the time-limit excitement, adults will probably find the game too simple and repetitive to get many repeat plays." (Review by Charlene Komar, page 70, in the June 1983 issue of Electronic Games.)
Comments
  The keyboard may work better than the joystick does, as it is set up more like the 3-by-3 grid the moles are displayed in. Ideally you'd have a custom-made controller for this game, with a big arcade button per mole. I just might make one for my nephews.

Game name
  Money Wars
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1925]
Author
  Commodore and Hal Lab. (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of "Space Invaders" for the most part.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Graphics
  Fair to middling. Mostly plain, but some nice effects. Your death by electrocution is cute in a sick sorta way, for instance.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Fair. It moves too slowly for me to love it. Kids might like it, as might anyone who likes slower paced games.
Overall
  Fair to good. Depends on how much credit you give them for their creative flair in re-using elements from various other games.
Comments
  When using an IBM and an emulator, use the comma (,) key to move right. The semi-colon key (;) mentioned onscreen is differently placed on the original Vic20 keyboard.

Game name
  Monster Maze
Company
  Epyx / Automated Simulations
Author
  R. A. Schilling (1982)
Game Type
  First-person maze game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Simplistic line drawings for rooms and you don't even want to see the monsters up close. Then again you could diss Doom and its clones, many years later, for being blurry and pixelated, so...
Sound
  Average, but they were trying. Sorta cute funeral dirge.
Gameplay
  You can get the basic idea by just fooling around but having the original instructions would be nice. Standard maze stuff, mostly, except for the fact that you are looking at it via first person.
Overall
  See gameplay. Not a bad game. I prefer Epyx's "Sword of Fargoal" myself but what the heck. One of Epyx's first efforts at gaming.
Trivia
  Just waiting to be "DOOM"-ized by somebody? See also Capture the Flag and Creepy Corridors for similar honors.
Comments
  Some keys to use: P shows an overhead map and R is to restart.

Game name
  Moon Patrol
Company
  Atarisoft [RX8532]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Translation of William's 1982 arcade coin-op "Moon Patrol".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Good or better. Not all they could be? Atari was also releasing a version for the Commodore 64 then; their effort went there? Don't get me wrong. These graphics aren't bad, just large and blocky.
Sound
  Very good. The tune is catchy and the effects all sound good.
Gameplay
  Good. Some other home versions are better but this is not bad.
Overall
  Good to very good. A nice porting job, overall.
Ad Text
  "Leaping patrol cars? Yes, you drive a Moon Buggy across the lunar landscape in this action-packed cartridge that combines all the thrills and challenges of space driving and maze games." (From the multi-lingual box art.)
Trivia
  Internal messages at $a013 say "Jan 16 1984 FPR rev 5L".
Trivia
  Atarisoft put part numbers on their outer box art but not on the actual carts. This makes it harder for us to track part numbers as most places to buy these old carts only have the cart itself. The reason we want the info is to help track down vaporware; to either confirm a cart was actually made or was just planned. We can't tell if there is a pattern until we get more part numbers. Any solid info appreciated if you have access to original boxes for any of the other Vic20 game cartridges by Atarisoft. Thanks!

Game name
  Moses (with or without 8k RAM)
Company
  Century
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program; 65C02 machine language assembler.
Required
  Unknown, as we don't have one.
Trivia
  Ads claim 27 new opcodes available. The 65C02 is an upgraded and more advanced processor than the standard variety 6502 chip.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart you'll need the original instructions, etc.

Game name
  Mosquito Infestation
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C3__]
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Part "Missile Command", part Galaxian.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain looking, but relatively sophisticated for a machine that wasn't supposed to be able to do bit-mapping. The title effect is a show-off piece for sure. (Jeff Minter once commented online about Mr. Griner's coding skills, using proportional fonts as his example.) Does it compare to Tempest 2000? No, but for a Vic...
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Response seems a little slow, so you'll have to plan in advance rather than just do twitch responses. But chasing all those bugs around builds more game tension than you might think. And lest you think the game is pointless and soon over, that funky looking hose thing at the top of the screen is a refill for your bug spray gun.
Overall
  Good to very good. The game can be fairly fun and its coded well. There isn't much to whine about; maybe that plain looking arm? If that. The Intellivision bragged about its graphical abilities; do you remember that doctor game they put out? Enough said, eh?
Trivia
  A secret message found coded into the carts internals (at $AF4B to $AFFF): "(THIS SPACE FOR RENT)(THIS MEMORY IS PROTECTED BY A MEMOGUARD ALARM SYSTEM-SOFTWARE PIRATES BEWARRE(C)1982-)!PROGRAM BY TOM GRINER, 777-36 SAN ANTONIO RD. PALO ALTO, CA. 94303! TAKEO" (Might TAKEO perhaps have originally been TAKEOFF?... my guess.)
Comments
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  Mountain King
Company
  Beyond
Author
  Concept by Bob Matson, programmed by Jim Stolzenfeld. (1983)
Game Type
  Original game, released for many home gaming platforms.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Nice! This is one of the better graphical games. None of the ports were all that complex looking, so they spent time on getting the movement very smooth and making the character animations good.
Sound
  Great. The sound effects actually add to the gameplay instead of just being something tacked on at various intervals. The falling effect, for instance, is really enhanced by the sounds. It makes the game experience deeper because of it... which is very, very rare for a Vic20 game. Bravo for your extra effort, folks!
Gameplay
  Lots of fun. I suppose the gameplay is much the same on most of the other ports. Same concept, anyway. This games response to your input is very finely tuned. Just quality all the way.
Overall
  Bravo! 1983 seemed to be a turning point in the Vic's life. Some programmers got better with time while others just gave up and did as little as possible once the market started moving towards the C64. This is a fine example of quality, craftsmanship and fun!
Trivia
  The Vic20's programmers were definitely learning the machine well at this point. Too bad the market dropped out of Vic20 stuff... but then again, we all had fun with our C64's, right? Just as a point of interest, take a look at other 1983 games. Like Frogger, for one. Or Ms Pac-Man. I rest my case about quality standards!

Game name
  Ms. Pac-Man
Company
  Atarisoft
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of arcade coin-op.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Average, maybe even poor. The characters are blocky as heck. The Vic20 is capable of far more but you'd never know it from this! It is pretty hard to see how a game like this wasted all of 16k?
Sound
  Good. The sounds are recognizable enough to enhance the gameplay.
Gameplay
  Good. I play the accelerated arcade version most, so perhaps my sense of timing is off when I feel like this pace is a bit slow? But aside from nit-picky purist type flaws the gameplay is good.
Overall
  Good but not great. Maybe I'm being harsh on this game as it is one of my (and lots of others) all-time arcade favorites, but I think they could have done better on this conversion. It isn't bad, per se, just not a convincing simulation of the real thing. I guess it's good enough for casual play if you are not a purist.
Trivia
  Internal messages at $a013 say "Dec 31 1983 Revision 4L".
Comments
  Another game I loved in its arcade version but am not thrilled with at home. For those of you who love Ms. Pac-Man (arcade), if you are disappointed with the VIC version, try the Atari 7800 one. It is fast and smooth and all on one screen. I like that version best, even though I have fancier versions for later home machines like the Sega Genesis, and many other home ports of the game. I feel that only the actual emulated arcade code beats the 7800.

Game name
  Mutant Herd
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22004]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, involving herding creatures into a central pen.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain and simple. What were they thinking about on color choices?
Sound
  Average. Some of the sounds can get annoying fast.
Gameplay
  Mixed. One of those "you'll love it or hate it" things.
Overall
  I didn't like it much, but others play it often. You decide.

Game name
  Number Nabber, Shape Grabber
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1941]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Educational. Two math-related games on one cartridge.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. Disable bank 1 if present.
Trivia
  The last known cartridge in the series made by Commodore. If any one knows of a Vic20 cart number higher than #1941, let us know. But with carts of such dubious value to the Vic's main market, which happened to be avid gamers, this is probably the last one.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you may need the original instructions.

Game name
  Omega Race
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1924]
Author
  Andy Finkel with Eric Cotton (March 1982)
Game Type
  Translation of the coin-op arcade game "Omega Race".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Excellent. Translating vector graphics is always hard to do.
Sound
  Excellent. They seemed to have captured the arcade's essence.
Gameplay
  Excellent. They did a good job of converting this classic game.
Overall
  Excellent. Commodore worked hard on this game, and it shows.
Ad Text
  "(The smash-hit arcade game!) The ultimate space game. You've got one Omegan fighter maneuvering against droid ships, command ships, death ships, photon mines and vapor mines. Fantastic 'rubber band' boundaries, multiple levels of difficulty... all the features that make the Bally/Midway game so successful! One or two players" (Seen in Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play"; page 104.)
Review
  "This translation of the coin-op space shoot is, in the minds of many, the best game currently available for the Vic-20. It's not in full color, but that's only a minor annoyance." (Seen in the Nov 1982 issue of Electronic Games, page 49.) A photo caption in that same article says "Despite the monochrome graphics, Omega Race is a top-notch computer game program."
Review
  "High-powered conversion of the classic arcade game. Race around an oblong block where the score is displayed, firing lasers at Droid ships and mines they've planted in space. Lack of gravity is convincingly worked into action; you must wheel around and hit the engines to stop. Droids turn into Command ships if not knocked out fast enough. These become Death Ships, which release more powerful Vapor Mines." (From page 53, Jan/Feb 1985 Computer Games)
Trivia
  Yes, this game is reproduced in black and white instead of color. The reason for that is simple; the original arcade game was also black and white! It was an early "vector graphics" based game. In other words, the arcade graphics were similar to those of the arcade classic "Asteroids," or to those on the Vectrex machine. The arcade original of Omega Race was a 1981 Midway game.
Trivia
  One of the first video games with a built-in secret feature? "Power Play" magazine, put out by Commodore themselves, ran a two-page article on bugs found in this game and in Gorf, another converted arcade classic. (See Summer 1983 issue, page 38.) In part it says "...is not really a bug in the true sense, so let's call it an 'undocumented feature.' Normally in this game you get three ships when you start. However, if you hold down the SHIFT key while pressing either F1 (for joystick) or F3 (for paddle) at the beginning of the game, you will get -- count 'em -- five ships! Let's see if that improves your score!" (Article written by Jeff Bruette, one of Commodore's in-house game programmers.)
Trivia
  An interview with Andy Finkel, another Commodore programmer, said that there is another secret key-press sequence. If you hold down Commodore, Ctrl, and Shift at the title screen, then press Return you will see the programmer's credit screen. You may have to wait a few seconds into the title or press the keys twice, but it does work. (Interview by Rick Melick and posted on his homepage.)

Game name
  Outworld
Company
  UMI (licensed from Tensor Technology?) [1635]
Author
  Thomas A. Giguere (1981)
Game Type
  Original game, heavily influenced by "Missile Command" and others.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Very nice. Colorful, detailed, nice moving starfield... they even went so far as to sign their name to it in script! A cute touch.
Sound
  Good. They really tried. Impressive, given the Vic's limitations.
Gameplay
  Fun. The play mechanic is a mix of many games; protecting your ground-based city with a moving crosshair is obviously Missile Command. However, the asteroids that drop on you break into two and then four pieces as in Asteroids. And the force field over a cityscape looks a lot like Imagic's Atlantis game. All in all, I think they integrated these separate elements well. It plays well.
Overall
  A good game regardless but all the more impressive since it was done in 1981; right in the beginning of the Vic's lifespan. Some game companies took until 1983 to start making similar efforts!

Game name
  Pac-Man
Company
  Atari
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Official translation of the "Pac-Man" arcade coin-op.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick required.
Graphics
  Fair. The maze seems half-sized and there are some small glitches in the character's graphics. Even so, the graphics are much more recognizable than those in the infamous Atari 2600 conversion!
Sound
  Fair. Some parts sounds like Pac-Man should. Some aren't so good.
Gameplay
  Good. Not much better or worse than game console versions of the arcade classic. At least it lets you choose a level to begin on.
Overall
  Playable but perhaps a bit uninspired? Flawed but still OK.
Trivia
  The arcade version was a 1980 Midway game, licensed from Namco. Many other versions of Pac-Man came out for virtually every game system before and since. It couldn't be helped. Pac-Man was hugely popular then and still rakes in some coins in the arcades today.

Game name
  Panic Button
Company
  First Star Software, Inc.
Author
  unknown (198_)
Comments
  Vaporware? The game was reviewed in the May 1984 issue of Compute magazine. See page 124 for the details. Nothing else known yet as no one we've heard of seems to have seen a copy of this game. We'd love to get our hands on one to archive it for everybody. First Star had a very good reputation on other machines so if this cart does really exist it's probably a pretty good game.

Game name
  Personal Finance
Company
  Commodore (Licensed from Creative Software) [Vic-1929]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Not a game; a home utility to help you with your finances.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard controlled.
Trivia
  One of the hardest Commodore cartridges to find. Probably due to its non-game nature; the Vic20 was primarily used by avid gamers.
Trivia
  Creative Software may have sold their "Household Finance" cart to Commodore. Both companies separately released this one program.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Pharaoh's Curse
Company
  HES (licensed from Synapse Software) [C321]
Author
  Alick Dziabczenko (1983)
Game Type
  Original climb and run game.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Nice! Mono-colored (Hi-Res) characters may detract a bit but the overall effect is very well done. Nice character animation, good thought put into each level's particular look and so on.
Sound
  Could use a little more work but they made a reasonable effort. Nobody seems to have mastered the Vic's sound capabilities enough to keep from being annoying after a (short) while. A nice try.
Gameplay
  Whoa! Boy did they make good use of their 16k memory! (I'm sure I haven't said that yet!) Multiple levels that actually look and feel like different levels, instead of just another screen? Wow. This is one of the deepest Vic20 gaming experiences I've seen.
Overall
  You have to see this one. Another example of what the Vic20 was capable of doing all along, once programmers learned the machine for a couple of years or so. (Then just as they were getting very good at it, along comes the C64, and bye-bye Vic20 market!) This is one to show to people if they tell you the Vic20 died due to poor software titles, low machine capabilities and so on.
Ad Text
  "A fortune -- yours for the taking. But can you avoid the ghost of Rama & the evil mummy? Are you nimble enough to leap the chasms and avoid the booby traps standing between you and freedom?" (Text from Synapse Software ad in Oct 1983 "Compute's Gazette" magazine)
Trivia
  Title screen says: "Original by Steve Coleman". Also says something about entering a "secret code word" or using the joystick? (Internal codes says something about you getting it right, too.) The original cart was copy-protected; maybe the code word was a reference to a look-up authentication code? If someone has a copy of the original docs would you let us know for sure? If it was an authentication-type protection code, it may have been one of the first of its kind. Of course other options are probable too.

Game name
  Pinball Spectacular
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1920]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  A variant of both pinball simulations and Breakout-style games.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Paddle controller.
Graphics
  Large and blocky, but at least they are colorful. Nice scrolling title / instructions screen. Fair to middling in overall quality.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Some interesting ideas but I don't care what their ad says... this does NOT play "just like" real pinball. For one, pinball has electro-mechanical flippers, not a Breakout style paddle. Yeesh! Lots of hidden stuff to find/activate, or so others tell me.
Overall
  A decent game on its own merits, but real pinball this is not! I normally wouldn't bristle this much over Commodore's stretching the truth, but on this one I do take offense. Heck, I've been a "real pinball" fan since the days that someone first told me that "Space Invaders" was just a fad that would soon pass, and in any case no videogame could ever replace pinball machines. So there!
Ad Text
  "Plays just like a true pinball machine... only computerized... flashing lights ... quick 'flipper' action!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, Spring 1983 issue, page 103)
Trivia
  An article appeared in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" magazine; see page 72. The then-current champ, Joe Ferrari, talks about strategies he used to score over 1,500,000 points.

Game name
  Pipes
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  "Concept home education program"
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Ad Text
  "Arlo is a hard-working plumber, but a touch absent-minded. He's building a water supply system for the whole neighborhood, and he really has his hands full. Help Arlo decide what kind of pipe to buy and where to put it... his limited budget doesn't leave him much margin for error. Figure out the shortest, most economical way to get everyone hooked up... and just hope poor Arlo has remembered to open and close the right valves. A marvelously entertaining and challenging exercise in planning, economics and spatial relationships for all ages." (Seen in EG, Dec 83, page 78)
Trivia
  Ad also mentions this program was "selected as some of the 'most innovative computer programs' 1983 CES Software Showcase Awards"
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Pirate's Cove Adventure
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1915]
Author
  Andy Finkel (1981)
Game Type
  "Scott Adams Adventure Games" series. (#2 of 5.)
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 2 and 3). Keyboard controlled. The game starts when you type "SYS 32592" and hit the RETURN key.
Ad Text
  "'Yo-Ho-Ho and a bottle of rum...' You'll meet up with the pirate and his daffy bird, and encounter many strange sights as you attempt to go from your London flat to Treasure Island. Can you recover Long John Silver's lost treasures?" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play", Spring 1983 issue, page 105)
Comments
  See the entry for Adventure Land Adventure for more information on any of the games in this series.

Game name
  Poker
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1908]
Author
  S. Matsuoka (1981)
Game Type
  Video poker game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Graphics
  Mixed. Nice deck of cards but awfully blocky title graphics.
Sound
  Average at best. You'll want to make liberal use of a counter-clockwise hand motion, after finding your volume control knob.
Gameplay
  Sorta neat. I like the card games on my IBM just fine, thanks, but this was a trip down memory lane. I just wish the darned game didn't make me wait so long between button presses. Oh well.
Overall
  Las Vegas' poker machines look much nicer, but this is cheaper.
Ad Text
  "Casino-style poker recreates the real thing! Superb animation and sound effects add to the fun, mystery, and luck." (Ad in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" magazine, page 103.)
Review
  An article in the Nov '82 issue of "Electronic Games" has a photo caption for this game. It says "The high resolution graphics of Poker produce a beautiful electronic deck of playing cards." Keep in mind that the Intellivision had "high resolution" back then.
Trivia
  Internal codes indicate the program was written by S. Matsuoka of HAL Labs in Tokyo, Japan. But no credits were given onscreen.

Game name
  Polaris
Company
  Tigervision
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original submarine game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Hi-res graphics but with a very limited color palette. Maybe this suits the game just fine, as its supposed to be underwater?
Sound
  Average, maybe even a little sparse. Just missile sound effects.
Gameplay
  Multi-screen (and therefore multi-mission) does enhance gameplay. You're not endlessly repeating the same exact tasks all the time. And it's paced fast enough to please me, which isn't too easy.
Overall
  More fun than it looks at first. Give it a try before you dismiss the game as an underachiever. It "grew on me" quickly enough.
Ad Text
  "Polaris. Three screens triple the action. Captain a sub in enemy waters. In three action-filled screens, you're attacked by everything from bombers and subs to underwater mines. With 16 progressive levels of difficulty, only a military genius gets through." (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec 83, page 128. B&W ad; 1/4 page.)
Trivia
  The ad above also stated that the game was "nominated 'Best Action Video Game' (by) Electronic Games Magazine".
Trivia
  The screen credits "the electronic boat division of Tigervision" for what that's worth. No person was actually named, however.

Game name
  Pole Position
Company
  Atarisoft (Licensed from Namco)
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Translation of the arcade game "Pole Position".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Pretty good. Considering the limitations of the Vic, impressive. They simply dropped some game features (like road signs) rather than try to include them and make the whole game suffer due to it. (Wise.) Some flicker at times, perhaps, but nothing too annoying.
Sound
  Good. Sound effects are nice, engine noise is nice. Well done.
Gameplay
  Good. Purists may object to the missing stuff. Others won't care.
Overall
  Good or better. Someone was really getting to know the Vic. See what I've said before, about the programmers maturing at the end?
Trivia
  Internal messages at $a013 date the cart at "Jan 30, 1984".
Trivia
  One subtle graphic detail that may go unnoticed; notice that the screen goes from full left to full right. No border. Neat, eh?

Game name
  Predator
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C316]
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, perhaps with a bit of influence from "Joust".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Pushing the poor little Vic into territory it was never meant to go! Bit-mapped graphics, tiny little fonts, etc. Check out the impressive little animation, complete with fireworks, when you set the top high score. Cute touches like that make games special. When Jeff Minter was interviewed online, he said much the same.
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  Unusual subject matter makes it harder to "get into" the game at first, but gameplay is well balanced.
Overall
  Some may love its style of gameplay, some may not. But it is a technologically impressive game either way.
Trivia
  A message found secretly coded into the carts internals (at $BFA6 to $BFFF): "PROGRAMMED BY TOM GRINER 777-36 SAN ANTONIO RD.PALO ALTO CALIF. U.S.A.(C)1982-KEEP OUT..." Mr. Griner said in an online interview that he once kept a list of all who responded.

Game name
  Princess and Frog
Company
  Romox Inc.
Author
  Bob Horn (1983)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade coin-op game Frogger.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Colorful enough. Might be impressive on some other gaming console.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Experienced gamers might not like it, but perhaps kids would? You decide, but personally I like many other Frogger clones better.
Overall
  I tend to agree with the magazine review shown below.
Review
  "This is a copy of Frogger and a pathetic one at that. Since Parker Brothers and Sierra already make excellent versions of Frogger for the Atari, the last thing anybody needs is another one. Romox puts their games on erasable chips that allow you to go back to the store and have another game transferred onto them. With games like this, that may be the only redeeming quality." (Review text for Atari computer version, from page 52 of Computer Games magazine, Jan/Feb 1985 issue.) We have no knowledge about the internals Romox used for Vic20 carts; ROM, EPROM or EEPROM?

Game name
  Programmer's Aid Cartridge
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1212]
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Trivia
  This seems to be 4k internally, although it requires 8k to run.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Promenade
Company
  Jason-Ranheim
Author
  unknown
Game Type
  Utility package. Specialized hardware for very advanced users.
Trivia
  Included here because the company's main product, the Promenade EPROM programming tool, could create cartridges from parts the company sold. Even as late as July 1996, the company still sells parts and the latest (C64) Promenade EPROM programming tool. But no longer has any stock of any Vic20 products, unfortunately. Believe me, I asked them more than once, with no luck! Oh well.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this product, you'll need the original instructions and all the original hardware plus other accessories and EPROMs. Aside from the historical interest, go find a modern ROM burner.

Game name
  Protector
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C308]
Author
  Alick Dziabczenko (1983)
Game Type
  Variants of both "Scramble" and Defender.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good to very good. They look a bit plain at times but everything is clearly defined, the color use is good and the animation nice.
Sound
  Above average but still not fabulous. This is more the Vic20's fault than the programmer's fault. He certainly worked at it.
Gameplay
  Somewhat difficult, but rewarding. He squeezed a heck of a lot into an 8k game! The puzzle solving and action mix is well done.
Overall
  Very nice! Give this one a good, long look. It deserves it.

Game name
  Q*bert
Company
  Parker Brothers (licensed from Mylstar Electronics, Inc.)
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of the arcade coin-op "Q*bert".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Below average. I don't think they tried very hard. Note that each of the "sprites" are surrounded by a black border all the time, indicating that the simplest form of character graphics were used. The large size of the individual blocks confirms they were.
Sound
  Fair. The tune, which doesn't play much, is short but done well. The sound effects sound a bit muffled but are generally OK.
Gameplay
  Average. The diagonal movement scheme is tricky on any system so I won't mark down for that. Game speed is fairly good, overall.
Overall
  Average at best. This is not the best conversion, by a long shot!
Review
  "(A-) A mostly successful conversion of the arcade hit. Hop your 'hose-nose' around the pyramid until all the cubes are the same color. Various weird and amusing enemies are chasing you. The home game lacks the incredible sound effects of the arcade game, and the graphics aren't nearly as good. But it's still fun to leap onto a flying disk and watch Coily take a dive off the pyramid." (From Computer Games, page 53, Jan/Feb 1985 issue)
Trivia
  Note that the early ads from Parker Brothers show that they were making and selling C64 and Vic20 games at the same time. I can only assume they put far less effort into the Vic20 market's game as this version is rather uninspired. OK, but certainly not great.
Trivia
  The original arcade game had cool "speech" features, for lack of a better word, that most home games never did reproduce well. The original arcade game also had an electro-mechanical "thumper" in the bottom of its cabinet. When Q*bert falls, he appears to fall off the screen. Then there was a short pause. Then it sounded and felt as if something had hit the bottom of the game's cabinet. In its properly working original cabinet, this gave the impression that Q*bert had been the object that had struck bottom. This made it almost worth losing a guy, just to hear and feel it happen!
Comments
  The joystick uses diagonals only. Turn the joystick partway on its side to try to compensate for this, if it bothers you. Just about every home system conversion dealt had this same problem.

Game name
  Quick Brown Fox
Company
  Quick Brown Fox
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program. A word processor.
Required
  Unknown, as we don't have one archived yet. It was very popular during its day, so it must have been pretty good then? The same company released tape-based add-ons for it, besides their cart.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions. And I can't see the Vic's memory and screen limits being a big plus.

Game name
  Radar Rat Race
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1910]
Author
  Bill Hindorff (Nov 5, 1981)
Game Type
  Unauthorized clone of the arcade coin-op game "Rally-X".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Everything that Rally-X had, this has, except changed a bit to look less like the every-detail-intact copy that it is. Just change the mice and cats to be cars, the cheese to be flags, and redo the onscreen text, and you have Rally-X. Seriously.
Sound
  Generally good. The background music gets a bit old, but it is at a lower volume level, so there. ("Three blind mice, see how they run...") The sound effects are OK, but could be better.
Gameplay
  Just like Rally-X. Everything seems to have be duplicated. The changes in the graphics don't hurt the gameplay a bit. Still fun.
Overall
  Give this one a try. It is a lot of fun, and will grow on you.
Ad Text
  "The magical mouse maze makes for a fast-paced, challenging game of wit, strategy and reflexes. Excellent graphics." (From the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play", page 103)
Review
  "This scrolling maze chase sends the player scurrying along corridors on a mission to grab all the available cheese." (Seen in Nov 1982 issue of "Electronic Games", page 49.)
Trivia
  Another one of Commodore's early attempts to get away with copying another manufacturer's games and sell them as their own? (See also Star Battle and Jelly Monsters.) Those two were apparently yanked off the market early. This clone of Rally-X was apparently very popular at the time, judging by the relative ease of finding one.
Trivia
  The arcade coin-op "Rally-X" was a 1980 Midway game. The arcade industry saw Rally-X as the next big thing, until Pac-Man took an unexpected popularity ride. Rally-X was all but forgotten then. It had serious potential, I'll grant you that. Simple enough to attract a wide audience, with enough tension to keep interest up among the more advanced players. A quarter hog, for sure. But the best laid plans of mice and men... (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
Trivia
  There are some interesting notes hidden inside the actual code of the game... "this program was created by -bill hindorff- nov. 5, 1981 vic commandos k. of p., usa" it says at $A34B in the unmodified game code. (Does K of P = "King of Prussia, PA"?)
Trivia
  Neil Harris confirmed that "Vic Commandos" was the in-house name for the small group that was working to launch the Vic20 system. He also mentioned in that same online interview that the group often spent long lunches at local video arcades doing "R&D" work.
Trivia
  This game is so close to being Rally-X, that the "cheese" almost resembles the original flags and all the other graphics also look very close to their inspirations. But the clincher as far as I'm concerned; the onscreen text has precisely the right amount of characters to have originally been text right from "Rally-X"! I suspect they made a literal copy first, then made their changes.

Game name
  Radiotap
Company
  Kantronics
Author
  unknown (1984)
Game Type
  Specialized hardware. Interface package for ham radio operators.
Review
  This cartridge was reviewed in the April 1984 issue of Compute. See page 100 for the article.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this, you'll need all the original instructions and hardware, ham radio equipment, etc, etc. This came out towards the end of the Vic's life, when it was obvious that many people would soon replace their Vic20 with something like the C64. It gave the Vic20 something useful to do, or that was its pitch.

Game name
  Raid on Fort Knox
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1913]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Maze game. See also "Radar Rat Race".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. The graphic characters are smallish but fairly precise.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Slow-paced in the early rounds, with little danger of being hurt. The game adds more guards each round, so it gets more difficult.
Overall
  Average. Try Radar Rat Race for a better but similar game, if you feel this one is too slow for adult play. Kids may love it.
Ad Text
  "You're scurrying through a complex of tunnels below Fort Knox. Just ahead you spot the gold... now grab it and try to escape before the guards find you." (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, Spring 1983 issue, page 102.)
Trivia
  This game is basically a rewritten version of a Commodore game called "Bank Robber". BR has a copyright date of 1981, ROFK has a date of 1982. Other than that and screen color changes, they appear to be identical. Makes me wonder if BR wasn't originally going to be Commodore's # Vic-1903? Could be, perhaps.

Game name
  Rat Hotel
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Joanne Lee / "Jolee" (1982)
Game Type
  Original game, involving climb-and-run and treasure collection.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Simple, but they do the job well enough. Nice scrolling.
Sound
  Simple, but it does the job. Theme music gets a bit repetitive, but it helps add a bit of tension to the game. Effects are OK.
Gameplay
  The gameplay is the fun part here. Slow at first, but the speed builds with each round, adding to the "chase" tension. And you have to know which are the safe spots to hide out in, like a rat. Hurry, but too much speed equals mistakes! Pretty well-balanced.
Overall
  One of my personal favorites and one reason I became re-interested in Vic20 software in the first place. Really. Try it. It is fun to play, even if the graphics are laughable by today's standards.
Review
  The game was reviewed in the Nov 1983 issue of Compute's Gazette.

Game name
  Renaissance
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1600]
Author
  Louis X. Savain (1982)
Game Type
  Computerized version of "Othello" board game.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a thorough review, as I don't play Othello myself and therefore don't feel qualified to comment. Try it for yourself.

Game name
  River Rescue
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22001]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of the Atari 2600 game "River Raid" by Activision.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Fair to good. Some portions are better than others, but overall Activision did a much better job on the Atari 2600 version.
Sound
  Average. Nothing to write home about. Again, Activision beat it.
Gameplay
  Average to good. It depends if you like fast-paced games or not; this game depends on blazing speeds to amaze you as it goes on. If you don't know that, you'll quit in boredom pretty early on.
Overall
  Average to good. The Activision game is much better rounded and will appeal to a larger audience. Nevertheless it has some charm. Just don't try to use it to show off what your Vic20 can do!
Trivia
  A pain to fit the original cart into its slot! Good luck, if you use a third-party expansion chassis, like I do. It barely fits. This is obviously Thorn EMI's first-ever Vic20 game; it shows.
Comments
  This game scrolls sideways instead of vertically, but other than that, its obvious this is a game based on Activision's classic. (They both have copyright dates of 1982.) I'm willing to cut them some slack simply because this is their first-ever Vic20 game, but it could have been much better. How hard were they trying?

Game name
  Road Race
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1909]
Author
  J. Suzuki, HAL laboratory, Japan (1981)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade coin-op "Night Driver".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard controlled.
Graphics
  Good. Compared to the original B&W game, perhaps even very good.
Sound
  Good but not great. Adequate sound effects.
Gameplay
  Fair. I suppose you have to get used to it first, over time?
Overall
  Good. True enough to the original coin-op, but not a great game.
Trivia
  The original Atari arcade coin-op was black and white. It had the excuse of being born in 1976, so what did you expect?
Trivia
  Because this title is based on a mid-seventies arcade title, it may seem a bit uninspired in its play. However, the idea of being in the driver's seat was a novel idea in its time. And don't be too hard on the graphics; Pong was only four years old in 1976!

Game name
  Robin Hood
Company
  Xonox
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original game, ported to many platforms.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  It's fairly obvious that this was a port of a multi-system game.
Sound
  Average or better. They seemed to have tried to make some decent background music. It's catchy, within the limits of Vic20 sound.
Gameplay
  Why bother? Maybe some people will like it, but it isn't for me.
Overall
  My opinion on most of Xonox' games should be well understood by now. Most of Xonox's programmers probably had the talent to do much more, but they apparently had to cater to the lowest common denominator to make all the games alike across many platforms. I blame Xonox's management; they apparently thought that any random plastic box sitting on a store's shelves would be a money magnet.

Game name
  Robot Panic
Company
  HES (Licensed from Rabbit Software UK) [C310]
Author
  Steve Clark (1982)
Game Type
  Original vertically-scrolling space shooter.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  At first glance, this is an underachiever. The backgrounds are plain, empty and black. Your ship is a bit colorful and has some nice detailing but the enemy ships are rather plain looking. But once you start playing the game it becomes obvious where they put their main emphasis; many fast-moving things onscreen at once. Empty backgrounds are almost a necessity once you start playing!
Sound
  Average or better. Nice effects.
Gameplay
  Fast paced and fun. If it had fancier background art this would be a lot like the modern arcade classic "Raiden". Really! Try it.
Overall
  They named the game aptly; the panic part of things, I mean. It's obvious they made the game to take advantage of what the Vic does well, and just ignored what it wasn't really good at. Good plan.

Game name
  Robotron: 2084
Company
  Atarisoft
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of William's arcade game "Robotron: 2084".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Fair enough, within the limits of the Vic20. Disappointing, of course, compared to the original arcade machine, but no shock.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Without two joysticks it just isn't the same experience at all.
Overall
  Don't expect miracles, but give it a shot. None of the home game versions really capture the original's pacing, tension, or sheer number of enemies onscreen. I know, because I own the original arcade game itself, along with beaucoup home renditions for my collection of various gaming platforms, new and old. None of the home games I've seen really come all that close. Judge them as separate products? I think you have to, in a few cases like this.
Trivia
  Another classic Eugene Jarvis blastfest. (See also Defender.) He really knows gaming, that's for darn sure! Bless his hyperactive heart for giving the world such pure adrenaline rushes, says I.
Comments
  Just to give you an idea of the original's intensity, I paid big bucks for two brand new arcade joysticks to upgrade my original cabinet. These sticks use no mechanical switches inside; instead they use beams of light. Even with these sticks you'd better move fast; I don't last forever regardless, but man is that fun! I'm just glad I don't have to keep pumping quarters into the game. My six year old nephew also loves the original game, even if he has to stand on a chair just to see the screen and control it. I can't wait to see what he thinks of other games, after Robotron.

Game name
  Sargon II Chess
Company
  Commodore (Licensed from Hayden Book Co. Inc.) [Vic-1919]
Author
  Dan & Kathe Spracklen (1982?)
Game Type
  Chess simulation.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Trivia
  The copyright date listed onscreen predates the existence of the Vic20 and therefore cannot be accurately used to tell when this program was created. Anyone have solid info on when it was made? I suspect it was made in 1982, judging by its part # positioning.
Comments
  I don't play chess so I couldn't see the point in reviewing this game. (At least I'm honest.) Obviously, newer versions for more powerful machines are going to play at a more expert level. When this program was made, electronic chess was still a novelty item. The idea of playing chess, against a computer, at home, may as well have been science fiction just a few years before. Of course calculators and digital watches were recent hits then too, so...

Game name
  Satellite Patrol
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C3__]
Author
  Teddysoft (1982)
Game Type
  Variants of "Time Pilot" and/or "Asteroids".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Really blocky in places but the color use is well done. The main part of the screen looks somewhat plainly done and this may hide the technically impressive multi-directional scrolling effects at first. The moving border effects are nicely done, as well. Some of the Vic's library just aren't done any justice in screen shots.
Sound
  Average but nicely done.
Gameplay
  Fun, but the multi-directional scrolling must have been quite trippy for its time! Nice pacing and good game tension build-up.
Overall
  I like its gameplay and am impressed by its technical aspects too.
Comments
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  Satellites and Meteorites!
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1650]
Author
  Roger L. Merritt (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of the arcade coin-op game "Asteroids".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Lots of stuff onscreen, all moving around at once.
Sound
  OK. The makers spent most of their resources getting the gameplay and screen "right". I can forgive the lack of background music.
Gameplay
  Darn good! This is the best Asteroids variant on the Vic by far.
Overall
  Excellent. It may not be a "Raiden" for lots of things onscreen at once, but it sure is impressive within a Vic20's limitations!

Game name
  Scorpion
Company
  Tronix
Author
  Jimmy Huey (1983)
Game Type
  Overhead-view maze-type shooter.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Well done. Detailed characters and nice multi-direction scrolling.
Sound
  Pretty good. Love that "chain gun" sound effect!
Gameplay
  Very good. The company prided itself on its fast-paced games.
Overall
  If you like shooting sprees, you should like this one a lot!
Review
  "If you're sick of escorting frogs across the street, you can now shoot them and feed them to your family. Scorpion is an extremely fast-moving action/maze game. With eight enemies, you don't have to look far for something to kill. The maze scrolls all four ways and the radar scanner tells you where you are. Three difficulty settings, 32 levels." ("Computer Games", Jan/Feb 1985, page 54)
Trivia
  Was this game one of the first quad-directional scrollers? (In other words, a game that showed only part of the screen at any one time and let you move the world to you when going off-screen.) Most game screens at the time stayed put, and never changed.

Game name
  Sea Wolf
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1937]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Authorized translation of coin-op game "Sea Wolf".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Simple-looking, but this matches the arcade original.
Sound
  Very good. Again, they match the original game pretty well.
Gameplay
  Very good. Much like the original arcade game.
Overall
  Very good. I miss the periscope of the original, but that's all.
Ad Text
  "As submarine commander you are in charge of sinking and destroying all enemy ships... destroyers, freighters and P.T. boats... an explosive Bally/Midway 'arcade classic'. Fast action fun!!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play", Spring 1983, page 104)
Trivia
  The original coin-op was a 1975 game by Midway. The ad text above is refering to older arcade games Commodore was converting over. When Commodore switched over (from the Vic20 to the C64) later, some of these games were re-converted. The simpler games, like Sea Wolf, are probably closer translations on the Vic20 than C64. Perhaps they felt that with more time having passed, the games needed to be updated? And also, to better show off the new C64.
Trivia
  "Next Generation" magazine, issue 24, makes reference to a game that may be the direct ancestor of both this game and its video arcade parent. See article on Sega's co-founder, for some more info on the electro-mechanical (non-video) game "Periscope".
Trivia
  The original game's cabinet made the game much more convincing and fun. A realistic metal periscope came down from the top of the cabinet. You looked through the periscope at the game screen. When you turned the periscope to the left or right, your torpedos' aiming mechanism would move with it... much like Space Invaders' moving base at the bottom of the screen. They added a visually interesting twist, however. You had four torpedos at a time. Then you had to wait momentarily for the game to reload you. Inside the periscope's eyepiece was an optical illusion similar to a "heads up" see-through display in aircraft. To know how many torpedos you had available, you had to be looking through the eyepiece. You saw a little red symbol lit up for each remaining torpedo. You fired, then one of them would turn off. When all four were gone you had to wait until they all lit up again. Meanwhile, ships were going by and you were helpless to do anything about it until they reloaded. The effect helped to make the game more immersive. It added to the game, through suspense and pace. "Come on, come on, oh finally" you would think, then blast your next four torpedos away... Did I mention that you fired them using a thumb button, also on the periscope assembly? Sigh... a joystick does this game no justice! BTW, the original Battlezone also had a periscope controller.
Trivia
  This game got lots of space here (A) because I just happen to like the game, (B) because I had lots of reference materials on it, and (C) because it is a link in an evolutionary process. Think of this as a different way to play Space Invaders, basically. (Which in a sense was similar to the earlier, mechanical shooting games found at carnivals.) The concept remains pretty much the same, even if the details changed over time. And they are all fun, too!

Game name
  Seafox
Company
  Broderbund
Author
  Programmed by Mike Wise (1983)
Game Type
  Original submarine game.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Plainly colored, but the animation and fine detailing are good.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  A bit more complex than most. It's probably the type of thing where you "feel like you got your money's worth" because of it.
Overall
  I like games that are simpler and faster paced, but this does seem to be a well-balanced game with real thought put into making it.
Trivia
  The title screens credit Ed Hobbs with the concept, apparently.

Game name
  Serpentine
Company
  Creative Software (Licensed from Broderbund)
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Maze / snake / eating game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Animation of the snake movement is pretty good.
Sound
  Fair. Effects are OK, the song gets annoying after a while.
Gameplay
  Good. Seems lame at first, then gets more fun as you keep playing.
Overall
  Good. Grows on you... give it a try.
Ad Text
  "In the Kingdom of Serpents, the only rule is eat or be eaten. Three huge and evil red snakes are slithering through a complex series of mazes, closing in on your good blue serpent from all sides. Move fast and watch your tail! Try to survive long enough to let your eggs hatch into reinforcements. Swallow the magical frogs or your enemy's eggs and you can get the strength to go on... but look out to your left... and ahead of you! They've got you surrounded, and it looks like meal time." (Seen in EG, Dec 83)
Trivia
  Ad also mentions this program was "selected as some of the 'most innovative computer programs' 1983 CES Software Showcase Awards"

Game name
  Shamus
Company
  HES (licensed from Synapse Software Inc.) [C307]
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of "Berzerk" with some new features added.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Hi-res graphics with cool visual effects.
Sound
  Nice music. Sound effects in general are very good in this one.
Gameplay
  "Fast-paced" does no justice to the higher levels of this game. "Die in two seconds after entering a room" is more like it. Of course individual tastes vary, but personally I love this game!
Overall
  Wonderful. I wouldn't change a thing. The C64 version kicks, too.
Ad Text
  "The odor tells you the Shadow's there -- in one of four levels of 32 rooms, each bristling with danger. You know it won't be a high school prom, but there's no turning back. Shamus -- the sleuth adventure classic." (Synapse Software ad in Oct 1983 Compute's Gazette magazine)
Trivia
  The arcade game "Berzerk" had a few phrases of speech, which kept players coming back for more. That isn't really needed here; the rapid pace and frantic gameplay makes up for the missing speech.

Game name
  Sir Lancelot
Company
  Xonox
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of the arcade coin-op game "Joust".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very plain background coloring and detail, but the animation of the active characters is done well. They feel too small, however, but I suppose they did fit a lot onto the screen that way. Given their design concept, I doubt it could be done much better.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Similar enough to the real arcade Joust to make non-avid players happy, but falling short of being the same experience. A large screen is necessary to play and enjoy the game. A standard monitor might be OK, but a large TV would be better. Why? Because you are required to quickly judge small graphic differences, to stay above your opponent's lance, just as in the original Joust.
Overall
  One of the only Xonox games I like. It is flawed in some ways but given the limits of the Vic20, I don't think programmers of the time could do significantly better. It's a very good effort.

Game name
  Skibbereen
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1641]
Author
  Joanne Lee / "Jolee" (1982)
Game Type
  Combination of Breakout and Pong variants, for two players.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Paddle controllers, NOT a joystick.
Graphics
  Simple but colorful. Breakout clones in general aren't very much more than big, brightly colored blocks on the screen.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  A nice variant of the Breakout experience. Having two opposing sides competing against one another was a nice idea, I think.
Overall
  A simple enough game, with good game play and some nice twists. One of the few simultaneous multi-player or paddle games.
Trivia
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  The Sky is Falling
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1911]
Author
  unknown (1981)
Game Type
  Part of the "Children's series".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Uses paddle controllers, NOT joysticks.
Graphics
  Good. Simple, but effective. Lots of rows of stuff to fall down.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Good. Something like "Kaboom!" (for the Atari 2600) in concept.
Overall
  Good. For its intended audience of children, probably great. For adults, who've presumably played "Kaboom!" before, nothing new.
Ad Text
  "Help Chicken Little by catching pieces of the sky as they fall! A great 'first game' to teach motor skills... fun and challenging!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play", Spring 1983, page 105.)
Trivia
  Some folks might say this is just a clone of the popular Atari 2600 console game "Kaboom!" by Activision. Others may point to an earlier Atari arcade coin-op game (called "Avalanche") as the ancestral game idea behind both "Kaboom!" & "The sky is falling".

Game name
  Skyblazer
Company
  Broderbund
Author
  Jeff Silverman and Tony Suzuki (1983)
Game Type
  Original game, vaguely influenced by "Defender".
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Really nice! Check out some of the more subtle tricks; the stars in the background scrolling by at different speeds (parallax), the smooth animation and movement of everything, etc. Even the attract mode is a viewing pleasure. Especially considering that an attract mode is largely an unnecessary frill in a non-arcade (home) game!
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Deep and well balanced with the potential for many hours of happy gaming. Broderbund generally gave you more than your money is worth.
Overall
  I'm surprised this cartridge is as hard to find as it is. Or at least I was, until I realized people don't want to give theirs up!

Game name
  Slot
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1904]
Author
  unknown (1981)
Game Type
  Slot machine simulation.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average. Character-based graphics used, but they work out OK. They are colorful and fairly recognizable, if nothing else.
Sound
  Good. Fairly nice effects, overall. Even the wheels spinning has a nice sound to it. Nice fanfare for when you've won, too.
Gameplay
  Very good, if your expectations are reasonable. The only real improvements modern systems have other this are in audio-visuals.
Overall
  Good to very good. If it keeps me from going to a real gambling establishment, and saves me all that lost money, its excellent! Either way, it can be a relaxing way to kill some free time.
Ad Text
  "Colorful slot machine game works just like the real thing! Great music and sound effects." (Seen in Spring 1983 "Commodore Power Play" magazine, page 102.)
Review
  An article in the Nov 1982 issue of "Electronic Games" magazine has a photo caption that says "The Vic-20's Slot Machine cartridge carries its simulation so far that it actually has a coin slot."
Trivia
  Perhaps Commodore's first "legal" cartridge for the Vic20? The previous carts, numerically, seemed to be non-authorized versions of other company's most popular games. (Avenger #1901 is really "Space Invaders", Star Battle #1902 is really "Galaxian", and #1903 is still an unconfirmed title we haven't managed to find, which leads us to believe it may have been more of the same.)
Comments
  Fire inserts a coin(s), joystick back pulls the lever for you.

Game name
  Snake Byte
Company
  Sirius Software [22031]
Author
  Dan Stanfield (1982)
Game Type
  Snake chase game; like the light cycles in the 1982 movie "Tron".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Abstract art. That's what comes to mind when I see these graphics. They are nicely done, for this genre of game; don't get me wrong. But it's hard to identify with colored lines as game characters.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Interesting, if you like this type of game. I never really got into it myself. Try it out. See if you like it more than I do.
Overall
  For a game made in only 4k of memory this is not bad. But compared to later 8k or 16k games, its just not all that deep. Go watch the movie "Tron" again and pay attention to the light cycles. It's a kick to think of this game and that movie as being historical peers. Computer hardware is obsoleted quickly; games even more so. Nevertheless, both can be fun to playfully revisit once in a while.
Ad Text
  "What has 4k bytes and is addictive? Snake Byte. The game starts out politely. You, the Snake, may accept or decline the presence of the Perilous Purple Plums. Next, simply slither around the screen, chomping down apples as you go. Sound easy? Well, no more Mr. nice guy... Each time you eat an apple, your Snake grows longer and moves faster. Soon, your head doesn't know what its tail is doing. If you bump into a wall or a bouncing Plum or even yourself, you break your fangs. But, if you're a snappy Snake and scarf up all ten apples, a door will appear and you're off to a more difficult maze. Snake Byte, a game you can sink your teeth in to. It's an antidote for boredom. Fangs alot, Sirius!" (Box.)
Review
  Game was reviewed in the March 1984 issue of Compute, page 122.
Trivia
  Box art says "Game design by Chuck Sommerville. Vic-20 version by Dan Stanfield."
Trivia
  This game is 4k long; the box art even says so. In other words, Snakebyte is half the code size of most of the later Vic20 carts, and a quarter of the size of even later games. This would explain why the game seems so simplistic in most aspects. Not bad for 4k? (Once your cart archivists looked, we found many more cartridges that were really only 4k in length... see our cart list for more.)

Game name
  Space Ric-O-Shay
Company
  OEM
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Unknown at this time. Presumed to be a space shooter.
Required
  Unknown. We haven't yet had access to one, to archive it.
Comments
  "VGA2000" has screenshots up on his web site, so it must exist. However, he has the only copy we are aware of, at present.

Game name
  Space Snake
Company
  Handic Benelux B.V.
Author
  Geert Hofstede (1982)
Game Type
  Original "dodging objects" game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Paddle or keyboard. Disable Bank 1 if present.
Graphics
  Average. The movement is smooth enough with some color.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Most people would say it is frustrating, I think. Semi-pointless. Internally, it appears to be made up largely of BASIC code.
Overall
  Flawed. Probably OK as a tape game, but if this was ever truly a cartridge game (still unconfirmed as yet), I doubt it sold many. Then again, it came out in 1982; still fairly early, I suppose.

Game name
  Speed Math & Bingo Math
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1933]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Educational. Two versions of math drills for youngsters.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you may need the original instructions.

Game name
  Spider City
Company
  Sirius
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original space shooter, with some influence from Defender.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  The advanced techniques used will give Vic emulators fits, so it is fairly obvious that Sirius spent some time on their graphics!
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  Good grief! This has that same sense of gaming tension that the original arcade Defender did and many of the same play elements. Definitely faced paced. I hope your joystick is heavy duty!
Overall
  Give it a shot, but if you're using an emulated Vic20, good luck.
Trivia
  Was this game originally intended to be called "Flash Gordon" and released by 20th Century Fox? An ad in the Summer 1983 issue of "Commodore Power/Play" magazine (page 100) has a pre-release ad for such a game. The screen shot looks like Spider City and the text mentions that name... "Space Rescue game on cartridge for the Vic20. Maneuver through underground tunnels and battle spider warriors to save American spacemen trapped in Spider City. Package features a full-color poster from the film." So who knows?

Game name
  Spiders of Mars
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1604]
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Variant of arcade coin-op "Defender" by Williams.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain backgrounds and huge characters, but with smooth scrolling and fast movement throughout the game. A good set of compromises.
Sound
  Average. It could use a more macho-sounding laser gun, though!
Gameplay
  Not the same experience as Defender, but much the same pacing.
Overall
  Give it a try, especially if you are a fan of arcade Defender.
Review
  "You're the Martian Fly, defending your planet against spiders and their winged allies. They attack from all sides using smart bombs and homing missiles. If the spider makes it to the surface, you're dead. The enemy attack in large numbers and their weapons are very accurate. This game is similar to Defender, but with more interesting enemies. True arcade action, great graphics and sound effects. (A)" (From "Computer Games", Jan/Feb 1985, pg 55)

Game name
  Spike's Peak
Company
  Xonox
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original game, ported to many platforms.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average or better. Nicely done (if surreal looking) mountains. The graphics on most screens are a little plain, but not bad looking.
Sound
  Average or better. A nice try at a catchy opening tune. I like the feet-stamping sounds the monster characters make; it adds a bit more gaming tension, which generally gets you more involved.
Gameplay
  Better than most by Xonox. I suppose this one could hold its own against most games of the times, especially on gaming consoles. Some of the screens feel just a bit like Miner 2049'er variants.
Overall
  Years ago as a double-ender cart, this probably wasn't a bad deal. Now, as a freebie ROM image, it certainly warrants a second look.

Game name
  Spills & Fills
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Marc-Thomas Clifton (1983)
Game Type
  "Concept home education software."
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Springer
Company
  Tigervision
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Original platform game.
Required
  16k RAM. (8k each in banks 3 & 5.) Joystick.
Graphics
  Plain looking. Compares to many of Atari's early 2600 games.
Sound
  Yuck! Turn the volume down. The opening "music" sounds awful.
Gameplay
  I'd have to admit that I didn't play this enough to make a solid opinion of it. The risk/reward ratio didn't keep me coming back. The use of multiple screens may be a plus, however, assuming you like the initial experience enough to want to come back for more!
Overall
  Just to be fair, try it yourself. But for myself, I see why this is a hard-to-find game. A last minute "Vic20 is dying out" effort.
Ad Text
  "Springer. Three screens triple the action. Help Springer, a magical rabbit, jump from cloud to cloud on a thrill-filled trek to the sun. Along the way, there are bonus points to collect and dragons to fight. And, remember, Springer has three screens. So the farther you get the harder it gets." (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec 83, page 110. Ad was about a quarter page in size.)
Trivia
  The ad above has three screenshots shown, but as they are barely larger than an inch a piece, and the ad was black and white, you really can't view that much difference between the 3 screens. And with the real game fired up? Same things, in different positions.

Game name
  Star Battle
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1902]
Author
  See Trivia. (1981)
Game Type
  Clone of arcade classic "Galaxian". (Apparently unauthorized.)
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick or keyboard play.
Graphics
  Good overall, but with some occasional glitches. Very colorful.
Sound
  Good. Very clear separation of background music and the noises of ships, lasers. This might kick butt with a good subwoofer!
Gameplay
  Very good. Arguably better than the authorized version.
Overall
  Very good. One of the better Galaxian clones on any game console.
Ad Text
  "The deadliest fleet in the universe is zeroing in on your star base. This mission is your greatest challenge... while you protect your base from the deadly drones you must be wary of the diving flagships with their trained escorts. This is Star Battle." (From the box art / instruction sheet. Same text also shown in French.)
Review
  "Letting the invaders peel out of the formation and swoop low across the field to bomb the player's movable cannon at close range is the principle behind Galaxian. The SI sequel combines less predictable invader movements with a more exciting visual treatment." (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec 1983, pages 53 & 60.)
Trivia
  The onscreen titles only show part of these internal messages: "(C) 1981 COMMODORE JAPAN THIS PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY - SATORU IWATA - APR.19.1981 HAL LABORATORY AKIHABARA TOKYO JAPAN"
Trivia
  The coin-op game "Galaxian" was a 1979 game put out by Midway, who licensed it from Namco. The game was essentially an updated version of Space Invaders, which was a 1978 game made by Taito... but which was in turn licensed from Midway. Got all that?
Trivia
  Rumored to have been pulled off the market due to legal problems. Could well be true. Opening screens refers to "Commodore Japan". (Was this an attempt to avoid US copyright law enforcement?) The French/English box art sheet was apparently meant for Canada. And this is one of the hardest Commodore-made Vic20 carts to find.

Game name
  Star Post
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1939]
Author
  See Trivia. (1982?)
Game Type
  Original space shooting game... but see comments.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. Disable bank 1 if present.
Graphics
  Average. Nice in some places, fairly crude and blocky in others.
Sound
  Good. Some nice effects; laser zaps and tension effects are good.
Gameplay
  Mixed. One of those "some will like it and others hate it" things.
Overall
  Good, but with reservations.
Ad Text
  "3D space action... you control the laser to destroy the flying aliens and objects. Allow less than 8 hits on your base and advance to the next level!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play", on page 104 of the Spring 1983 issue)
Trivia
  Internal codes indicate the design was by Greg Carbonaro and programming was by Mike Wriedel. No on-screen credits were given. These two gents normally wrote games for Spectravideo. (See also the write-ups on "Ape Escape" and "Cosmic Jailbreak").
Comments
  The play mechanic is a bit hard to get used to. This hides a real resemblance to Atari's coin-op game "Tempest" in some ways. In fact, I bet that good coders with time on their hands might be able to remake this game into a Vic20 clone of Tempest. Fire up the game. Look at it and consider these thoughts. First reverse the direction the monsters travel (inward to outward). Should be easy enough. Next, change the background to be a framework web instead of the odd patchwork space station design that it is now. Now look at the game. Couldn't you just tweak things from there? Might this not be just what Commodore did, but in reverse? I bet it is possible. It seems the game may have existed earlier than it was released. That much can be seen from the dating found inside the code, compared with its post-1983 list positioning. And it was originally written by two guys from outside Commodore, who'd been liberally "influenced" by popular arcade games before. It was written earlier, but released later. Doesn't this sound as if re-writes were necessary before release? Even though Commodore had apparently bought a functioning game from these gents? By now Commodore had been scared off of too-close copies, so that fits. We have another mystery on our hands, but an interesting one...

Game name
  Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator
Company
  Sega Enterprises, Inc. [004-04]
Author
  See Trivia. (1983)
Game Type
  Original space simulation game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good. Nice raster title effect, clean screen layouts, good split-screen control, etc. Someone knew the Vic pretty well.
Sound
  Good. No background music, but the sound effects are acceptable.
Gameplay
  Good. I was never fond of this type of game (it was released on many other platforms as well) but it is well done, nonetheless.
Overall
  Very high quality, all around. It may have been a multi-system port, but it is a well done. Fans of the game should love it.
Trivia
  Hidden internal message at $AD82: "STAR TREK BY ERIC J POPEJOY 2138293641". I don't know if that is a date code or what? First five digits could be a date: 2-13-1982. What about the other ones?
Trivia
  The full-color cartridge label is beautiful, as are the other early Sega games. (Congo Bongo and Buck Rogers.) Bravo, Sega!

Game name
  Story Machine
Company
  HES (Licensed from Spinnaker) [C323]
Author
  Michael Cranford (1983)
Game Type
  Educational.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5).
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Sub Chase
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [16__]
Author
  Roger L. Merritt (1982)
Game Type
  Original submarine game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Average or better. Not really great or bad. They do the job.
Sound
  Just simple sound effects, but they work OK.
Gameplay
  Like Sea Wolf, but backwards. You are the destroyer at the top of the screen, dropping depth charges on the submarines below. Your large ship doesn't turn around very quickly, so plan ahead accordingly. Kind of neat to have more ammo available than Sea Wolf, however.
Overall
  Not bad at all, especially for a game made in 4k of memory!
Trivia
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  Submarine Commander
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22003]
Author
  Gary York (1983)
Game Type
  Original global warfare strategy game.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Graphics
  Good or better. The Vic20 had definite limits to deal with. They managed to get a lot on screen, make it legible, & balance things.
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  Don't know. We don't have access to the original instructions.
Overall
  What is there, looks like it has potential. But without docs...
Comments
  This is actually a 12k game internally. (8k + another 4k.)
Trivia
  The morse code in the beginning of the game is trying to say "Programmed by Gary York OSI". The pauses for word breaks are omitted, and the morseing is quite fast.

Game name
  Super Amok
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1642]
Author
  Roger L. Merritt (198_)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade coin-op "Berzerk". (And upgrade of "Amok".)
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very good indeed! Much improved from their "Amok" game. Lots of nifty added features, like smooth scrolling to the next screen.
Sound
  Good... but no speech, as the original "Berzerk" game had. But most other home conversions had no speech either. (The Atari 5200 Berzerk game claimed to have some speech built into the cart.)
Gameplay
  Very good! Fun to play and fairly addicting too.
Overall
  A well done clone of "Berzerk". Very professionally done. And a nice game as a stand-alone, too. Amok was OK, but this kills it.
Review
  "Pity the poor robot guard! It seems that no matter where it tries to hold down a job, some would-be hero comes dashing in, trying to shoot the whole robot squad on some fool mission! How's a fellow supposed to keep his chips together? It's no different in Super Amok... All in all, Roger Merritt has done a nice job with this variation on an increasingly-familiar theme. Play action is fine, with a plus in a pause when the gamer moves to a new passage eliminating the old 'walk-through-a-door-and-into-a-bullet' syndrome. Also, its graphics are adequate, with the hero particularly charming when in motion... In sum, a solid game if a bit less than overwhelmingly original." (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec83, page 86. Review by Charlene Komar.)
Trivia
  Just for your info, the original "Berzerk" was a Stern game.

Game name
  Super Expander with 3k RAM
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1211A]
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Trivia
  There are two parts to this; 4k of ROM, and 3k of internal RAM.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions and/or the original cartridge. (A ROM image won't give you the 3k RAM.)

Game name
  Super Smash
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1921]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Clone of "Breakout".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Paddle controllers.
Graphics
  Very simple, as any Breakout clone is. Big colorful blocks. Might be easy to see on an older laptop, if you're running in emulation.
Sound
  See overall.
Gameplay
  See overall.
Overall
  Just what you'd expect from a Breakout clone. Simple and fun.
Ad Text
  "The World Championship is at stake! As a finalist do you have the cat-like reflexes to return the speeding ball and take the crown?" (Seen in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" page 103)
Comments
  It may be hard to believe no, but this title was once a benchmark game. The early Apple ][ series, for instance, used their version of Breakout to demonstrate their graphic capabilities, when they were first pushing it. The Vic plays Breakout with ease, too. I wonder if there was any competition between Apple & CBM, with this game? There certainly was some strong competition over price!

Game name
  Synthesound
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C306]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Educational.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. Disable bank 1 if present.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Tank Atak
Company
  Supersoft
Author
  B. Cotton (1982)
Game Type
  Variant of arcade coin-op "Battlezone".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Not a graphic masterpiece, but then again some people would argue that the vector graphics of the original B'zone weren't either. Do you like your B'zone graphics solid or outlined? Personally, I prefer the original flavor. Your mileage may vary.
Sound
  What's there is average, but something seems lacking. The sound of your tank moving in B'zone, added some tension and excitement.
Gameplay
  Could use a bit more fine-tuning, I think. It has some parts that are arguably better than B'zone (its speed) but may lack balance.
Overall
  A playable but somewhat flawed clone of an arcade classic. Try it out, especially if trueness to the original doesn't bother you.

Game name
  Terraguard
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Original space shooting game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  OK but not up to the author's later standards. Some of the effects and such seem to be recycled for use in some of his other games? The exploding characters, for instance, are also used in Predator.
Sound
  Average. Again, I know I've heard these same sounds before.
Gameplay
  Fun enough, but not insanely fun. Not hugely flawed; it's just that I've come to expect quite a bit from Mr. Griner's later works, and this does not compare favorably to those other games.
Overall
  See gameplay. You can definitely see Mr. Griner has a handle on some areas of the gaming experience, but they aren't yet as well integrated as his later works were. One of his earliest works? Sometimes, early games were hand-coded, later ones assembled; the difference in available programming tools may be reflected here?
Comments
  This is a 4k game internally, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  The Count Adventure
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1917]
Author
  Andy Finkel (1981)
Game Type
  "Scott Adams Adventure Games" series. (#5 of 5.)
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 2 and 3). Keyboard controlled. The game starts when you type "SYS 32592" and hit the RETURN key.
Ad Text
  "You wake up in a large brass bed in a castle somewhere in Transylvania. Who are you, what are you doing here, and WHY did the postman deliver a bottle of blood? It's LOVE AT FIRST BYTE!" (Seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, Spring 1983, page 105)
Comments
  See the entry for Adventure Land Adventure for more information on any of the games in this series.

Game name
  Threshold
Company
  Sierra On-line Inc. [THL-401]
Author
  I.C.G. (1981)
Game Type
  Translation of "Astro-Blaster"; 198x Sega/Gremlin arcade coin-op.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good overall. Maybe fair compared to the original arcade? Those graphics weren't astounding, but they were better than these are. Most of the elements are still there, for the most part.
Sound
  Good enough, although missing the original's built-in speech, which added a lot to the game. (Mostly frustration, but still!) However, if you didn't know about the original, it would be fine.
Gameplay
  Good. Fun as is, and pretty much like the arcade originals, at least in concept. It lost the docking level, for instance. (It is more like FMV now, than a separate level requiring skill. Sigh.)
Overall
  Very good. I miss the arcade original, but this is a good game.
Review
  "Threshold resembles most multi-scenario invasion games with one major difference: Some vertical movement is permitted. This idea, adapted from the world's most popular NON-SF invasion game, Centipede, further reduces the stifling effects of patterned target movement on overall play." (Seen in Dec 83 EG, page 59) Unfortunately, on the Vic20 version, there is no vertical moving.
Trivia
  Astro-Fighter and Astro-Blaster, the arcade ancestors of this game, were never widely available. I saw one AB machine many years ago. I would dearly love to find and play another. For me this is one of those "fish that got away" stories, so this game is of more interest to me than most. The fact that it is not a bad copy, even though it is missing speech, etc, helped convince me to pay much more attention to the Vic20. There were other versions of this game released at home; I know of an Apple II version and one for the Atari 2600, at least. Both are hard to find. The rumor among those who collect "real" arcade games is that AB machines were not all that reliable to begin with and may be rare as a result. Bottom line: any port in a storm if you want to play these games! I hope somebody emulates this game, in full, some day. Until then this Vic20 port and its brothers will serve me just fine.
Trivia
  See Adventure Land Adventure for comments on a plug-in speech device made for the Vic20. Anyone want to re-add speech to this game using it?
Comments
  Twenty-eight continuous shots until your laser overheats, for those of you who are counting. (Hee, hee!) Can't play this game like it was Raiden, that's for sure! It was a whole other era, then. Sierra, by the way, was one of the first companies to get out games in 1981; only UMI and Commodore jumped in that early.

Game name
  Tomarc the Barbarian
Company
  Xonox
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Original dungeon game, ported to many platforms.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Rather crudely done. Looks just like a port from the Atari 2600.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Rather tedious and boring, without the instructions. I doubt it is much better even with them. Not that I'll play this game long to make sure! It's multi-screen, so it might be fairly "deep" (pardon the dungeon pun) if you're willing to spend the effort?
Overall
  There are much better dungeon games, in my humble opinion. Try a game of Pharaoh's Curse or Tutankham instead, for instance.

Game name
  Tooth Invaders
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1938]
Author
  unknown (1983)
Game Type
  Arcade / educational game, teaching kids to brush and floss.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Very simple and somewhat blocky, but they do the job OK.
Sound
  Average or better. The sounds are pretty cute all in all. It fits.
Gameplay
  Fun enough for kids or when you want a fairly non-stressful game.
Overall
  Too bad this came out late in Commodore's scheme of things. It's a better game than some of their earlier efforts were, and a bit more original, too. (It wasn't that original, though, what with Activision's "Plaque Attack" game for the Atari 2600.)
Ad Text
  "Prevent tooth decay and battle D.K. Germ using your toothbrush and dental floss. A great arcade / educational game." (Seen on page 104 of the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play")
Trivia
  This cart is unusual in a number of subtle ways. It is rarer than some by Commodore, as it came out when the Vic was being replaced by Commodore's C64 computer. But its release date (1983) precedes the release dates of carts that came after it, numerically. In other words, #1939 / "Star Post" is dated as 1982. Wow. Weird. Or typical Commodore thinking... take your pick! I suspect this is really a 1983 game, and the others were simply back-dated.

Game name
  Topper
Company
  Romox Inc. (Apparently made by TJS Industries)
Author
  Tim Schmidt (1983)
Game Type
  Variant of the arcade game Q*bert.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good or better. Cute effects here and there, and nothing detracts.
Sound
  Average or better. Decent attempt at a catchy tune.
Gameplay
  A largely cute and fun copy of Q*bert's gameplay, with some twists like tiles that disappear at times. Can be fun on its own merits.
Overall
  See gameplay. Q*bert on this system was such a disappointment that I'm tempted to tell you to play this instead. At least more often!
Comments
  If you are playing the game under an emulated Vic20 system you may have trouble playing this game. (If you're using keyboard controls to emulate a joystick.) This is because you are using only diagonal controls throughout the game; in other words, two buttons each, pressed simultaneously, for each individual time you move around. To move left and up, you have to actually press both those keys.

Game name
  Trashman
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Clone of the arcade coin-op classic "Pac-Man".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick or keyboard controlled.
Graphics
  Good. Smallish player characters. However, the maze is larger because of it. This is a good trade-off as far as I'm concerned.
Sound
  Good. Not a clone of Pac-Man's sounds, which I feel is refreshing. The "game over" funeral dirge sound effect is a nice touch!
Gameplay
  A fun and addictive game; what more can you ask? (Higher levels are close to the speed level I prefer for a Pac-Man clone.)
Overall
  Quite good. Anyone who likes Pac-Man should be happy with this.
Review
  "...If Trashman sounds a lot like another well-known maze game, well, that's probably because there are an awful lot of similarities. But, nevertheless, it's a fine game. The graphics are very good and the setting is colorful. So if you own a Vic20 and you like to play maze games, this one's for you." (Seen in Dec 83 issue of Electronic Games, page 86. Review by Charlene Komar.)
Comments
  If anyone out there ever decides to do a better job on Pac-Man than the official Atari version, consider using this game as a starting point. You could do much worse.

Game name
  Turmoil
Company
  Sirius Software, Inc.
Author
  See Trivia. (1982)
Game Type
  Shoot-em-up.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Good. Simple shapes and lines, but colorful and clearly defined.
Sound
  Average or better.
Gameplay
  Good grief! This is almost too quickly paced... and I like fast games as a general rule! But it never struck me as being unfair or arbitrary; when you die, its simply because you're not fast enough, not because the game just decided to cheat.
Overall
  This is probably required training for anyone who's ever wondered what it would be like to "go postal" with a machine gun. (Except that this way is more socially approved, thank you very much.) The game must be in the top 10 "quickest game over" rankings, IMO. Try it out on an emulated Vic20 using a fast Pentium, if you doubt it!
Review
  Reviewed on page 162 of the October 1983 issue of "Compute!".
Trivia
  Screen says "Designed by Mark Turmell". (But programmed by whom?)

Game name
  Turtle Graphics
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) [C303]
Author
  David Malmberg (1982)
Game Type
  Utility / educational title.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Tutankham
Company
  Parker Brothers
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Translation of arcade coin-op game "Tutankham".
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. Disable Bank 1 if present.
Graphics
  Nicely done, with a good sense of finished "polish" throughout.
Sound
  Good. The Vic limits it, but only a little.
Gameplay
  Just in case the rest of the game isn't putting enough pressure on you, the game itself is timed. Lots to do. Plenty to watch out for.
Overall
  One of the better games, overall. Deep and varied, but balanced.
Review
  "Those who've tired of the predictable adventuring and lack of action in such early 2600 titles as Adventure and Haunted House from Atari, will undoubtedly find Tutankham one of the most pleasant surprises of 1983. This game has all the flavor an adventure fan could want -- secret passages, puzzles, and strategic use of an allotment of three lives and three laser flares (capable of destroying all enemy creatures within the area). Since it also offers all the action devotees of, say, Wizard of Wor might ever crave, Tut is perhaps Parker's best entry since Frogger! ...This is a real nail-biting, compulsive piece of game playing... Tutankham may be a few letters short, but there's very little missing here. This is a fine simulation of the arcade cult favorite and you'll soon be surprised at just how addictive this contest can become." (Seen in Electronic Games, Dec 83, page 60. Review by Bill Kunkel. Game reviewed was for the Atari 2600.)
Trivia
  A review in the Dec 83 issue of Electronic Games (page 60) says that the game title was originally to be "Tutankhamen". However, "the last two letters didn't fit on the arcade casing!?"
Trivia
  The arcade original was a 1982 Stern game, licensed from Konami.

Game name
  Type Attack
Company
  Sirius
Author
  See Trivia. (1982)
Game Type
  Edutainment; teaches you to type while playing a shooting game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Not really fancy, but well done. Resembles Space Invaders.
Sound
  Good. I especially like the little funeral dirge when you die.
Gameplay
  They did a lot with a simple (and somewhat limiting) concept. The balance between single character skills and entire words was a nice touch both for the educational and the gameplay elements.
Overall
  Probably educational (teaches touch typing skills), but also fun.
Trivia
  Let the title screen run a while and it will tell you "SIRIUS GIVES YOU TYPE ATTACK BY ERNIE BROCK AND JIM HAUSER" then it also adds "FAST ACTION TYPING FUN" to describe itself. Isn't that cute?

Game name
  Vic FORTH
Company
  HES (Human Engineered Software) Licensed from Datatronic. [C301]
Author
  See Trivia. (1982)
Game Type
  Utility program. An implementation of the FORTH computer language.
Required
  8k in bank 5. Keyboard.
Review
  Reviewed in the October 1983 issue of Compute; see page 154.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.
Trivia
  Internal messages at $BF67 say "PETER BENGTSON 1982".

Game name
  Vic Music Composer
Company
  Thorn EMI [THC 22002]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Educational.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Keyboard.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions.

Game name
  Vic Rabbit
Company
  Eastern House
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program. An accelerator for your datasette.
Required
  Unknown, as we haven't found one to archive just yet.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you'll need the original instructions. And you might need the original cart, as well? (See also Arrow.)

Game name
  Vic-20 Atari Cartridge Adapter
Company
  Unsure; see ad text below.
Author
  Unsure; see ad text below.
Game Type
  Vaporware. Ads came out, but no one has ever actually seen one.
Ad Text
  "Atari Cartridge Adapter for the Vic20 -- Allows game cartridges designed for use on Atari video game machines to be used on a Vic 20 computer. Produced in cooperation with the Computer Works of Phoenix." (New Product release seen in "Commodore Power Play" magazine, Spring 1983 issue, page 99.)
Ad Text
  "Fantastic!! VIC 20tm COMPUTER WILL PLAY ATARI GAME CARTRIDGES when you plug in our GAME LOADER! Wow!! Now you can play all Atari game cartridges on your 'VIC-20tm Computer.' Atari VCS cartridge video games, Activision, Imagic, M-Network cartridges will all play on your 'VIC-20tm Computer,' when you use our new 'GAME-LOADER' plus you get fantastic VIC-20tm sound and graphics. List price $99.00 Sale $89.00 (Includes Free ATARI Game $32.50 List)" (Ad from Protecto, in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" magazine, on page 103.)
Ad Text
  Also advertised in some 1983 issues of "The Torpet" magazine, which was an "Independent Commodore Users' magazine" put out by the Toronto Pet Users Group, or TPUG. Ad text reads: "NEW. Introducing... Cardapter 1. Explore a new galaxy of entertainment pleasure with your Vic-20 computer. Designed by: The Computer Works. Manufactured and Distributed by: Cardco, Inc" They do not show the device itself in the ad. Instead, they show a box that says "NEW. Cardapter 1. Play Atari Cartridge Games On Your Vic-20." Some small print at the bottom of the page says "Dealer inquiries invited", and it lists addresses to contact in Kansas (the US), West Canada, England & Europe, and East Canada.
Comments
  This is sort of the "Holy Grail" of Vic20 Vaporware, so far. Tons of expensive looking ads appeared for a while, but no person or magazine seems to have seen any actual hardware, just the ads... If you are into heavy masochism, err, I mean collecting rare and hard-to-track-down items, this is your mission. If not, it makes much more sense to plop down a few bucks at a yard sale for a real Atari 2600 system. (Radio Shack may still be selling them commercially via mail order, too?) Or better yet, find yourself a working Atari 7800 unit. It plays Atari 2600 and 7800 games.

Game name
  Video Vermin
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [1638]
Author
  Mike Wacker (1982)
Game Type
  Clone of arcade coin-op Centipede.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick. Disable bank 1 if present.
Graphics
  Good. A pretty recognizable attempt at Centipede's graphics.
Sound
  Average.
Gameplay
  Excellent! Very fast paced. Joystick control a bit sloppy, though. I haven't tried it with a trackball controller yet, but I will eventually. This is one of my favorites... on any gaming system!
Overall
  I like this clone better than I like the "official" Centipede, or even the arcade version. Hardly a purist point of view; for shame!
Trivia
  See also UMI's 16k version of Centipede, called Arachnoid. It is possible that this is a radically cut-down version of that game, although it doesn't show up in the gameplay if you ask me. Coded messages inside VV code indicate that its name may have once been Bug Attack. This could have been a working title only, however. Something happened; there seems to be elements common to both.

Game name
  Videomania
Company
  Creative Software
Author
  Tom E. Griner (1982)
Game Type
  Original shooting game.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Graphics
  Simple graphics with some nice visual effects touches added.
Sound
  Good. Nice rendition of "The entertainer" song, within Vic limits.
Gameplay
  Almost flawed in its simplicity. Just run around a single screen, chasing and avoiding monsters that you shoot at. Lacks something. Then again, many of the console games were this way all the time.
Overall
  One of Mr. Griner's earlier works. His later games were better... and bigger. This is a 4k game, although it requires 8k to run.

Game name
  Visible Solar System
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1930]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Educational. Explore the science of Astronomy.
Required
  8k RAM in bank 5. Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To really use this cart, you may need the original instructions.

Game name
  Voodoo Castle Adventure
Company
  Commodore [Vic-1918]
Author
  Alexis Adams (1981)
Game Type
  "Scott Adams Adventure Games" series. (#4 of 5.)
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 2 and 3). Keyboard controlled. The game starts when you type "SYS 32592" and hit the RETURN key.
Ad Text
  "Count Christo has a fiendish curse put on him by his enemies. There he lies, and you are his only hope. Can you rescue him, or is he forever doomed? (Beware of the voodoo man!)" (Seen in the Spring 1983 issue of "Commodore Power Play" on page 105.)
Trivia
  Text ad inside the game: "ask for ADVENTURE 5, -THE COUNT- at your favorite dealer. It will be LOVE AT FIRST BYTE!" Sort of cute in itself, I think: bad "byte" jokes ran rampant way back when. The text went on to say the game was "dedicated to all moms"; cute.
Comments
  See the entry for Adventure Land Adventure for more information on any of the games in this series.

Game name
  Wizard of Wor
Company
  Commodore [Vic-19__]
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Vaporware, until we find one to archive and review. It would have been a port of the 1981 Bally/Midway arcade game "Wizard of Wor".
Comments

  The entries for this game were originally far too long. I've kept some here, and did a lot of condensing on the rest. (I had lots of notes, both pro and con, on the subject. Considering how huge the rest of this document is already, what's here is plenty!)

  Until more definite information comes to light, this is all just speculation. The author is contacting some of Commodore's own original programmers, hopefully for more definite answers. But guesses are the nature of such titles until a copy is discovered.

  The questions raised here may help answer questions about other titles companies once planned, maybe started, and with any luck, hopefully completed but never released... up until now? (Such things have been known to happen on other retrogaming machines!) Even if we just match Vic-19xx part numbers to titles, that is something, and worth the effort and space in my opinion, so here goes nothing...

  Fact
    Please note that four part numbers are currently blank or empty, in Commodore's Vic20 numerical part number series. (And that is assuming the series ends with #1941. Were any carts ever planned beyond that?) The missing numbers are: 1903, 1934, 1936 and 1940.
  Rumor
    One retro-gamer swears he saw "Wizard of Wor" listed in some sort of ad or brochure from Commodore many years ago. That person said he kept waiting for the game to come out, but he never found a copy of the game. He said that it definitely had a Commodore part number listed (Vic-19xx), but he could not remember which it was.
  Fact
    There were other arcade conversions done then from Bally/Midway that were as old as "Wizard of Wor" was in the arcades, toward the end of the Vic20's life. Vic-1931 or Clowns was a late '70s release, according to the "Killer List Of Videogames". Vic-1937 or Sea Wolf was a 1975 arcade release. (Both these games most definitely were converted and mass-produced.) Commodore referred then to these older B/M games as "arcade classics" in their ads.
  Rumor
    As I stated (online) some time ago, I suspect that this series of "arcade classics" was part of a settlement Commodore made with Bally/Midway, to avoid in-court prosecution for earlier copyright infringements. The breakdown seemed to me to be one ported arcade classic for each two original Vic20 carts Commodore released. If Commodore was forced to, they'd have more incentive to release these older games, even if they felt their prime years had passed.
  Fact
    Commodore did release a WoW cartridge for their C64 computer. It even "talked", much like the arcade version did, but only if you had a device called the "Magic Voice" attached. (Jeff Bruette programmed it. Its speech phrases were printed in the Winter 1983 issue of Commodore Power Play, on page 40). C64 Gorf also talks.
  Rumor
    In my opinion, and also that of magazines at the time, Commodore was trying to kill off their Vic20 market, to allow their new C64 to grab its market share and then some. So it would have made some sense, marketing-wise, to only release WoW for the Commodore 64.
  Rumor
    But then again, a person could argue that maybe the speech option was only for the C64; that a non-speech one could exist for Vic20 without hurting the C64's market? (Or that Commodore didn't do things that made sense very often, so why bother using any logic?)
  Rumor
    Recent online interviews, conducted by Rick Melick, seem to back up the idea that WoW was just dropped, sometime near the end of the Vic20's life, when the C64 was beginning to take its market. Andy Finkel, one of Commodore's original Vic20 programmers, seems to remember this being the case. (But he seems to have forgotten the details, so perhaps even he could be mistaken?) However, this pushes WoW out of the rumorware category; an insider did confirm it was once a real project that Commodore was working on!
  Questions
    Commodore apparently intended to release more arcade classics by Bally/Midway, late in the Vic20's life. But what other one(s) did Commodore plan to make? And how far did they get on each of them? (Would this info be listed in EG's old "Software Encyclopedia"?) Do any ex-Commodore employees have copies of unreleased games? Finished or not, it would be an interesting piece of history! And are there some undiscovered treasures sitting out there, waiting for someone with a passion for the Vic20 to find them? I guess we won't know for sure until more sources of information surface...

Game name
  Wordcraft 20
Company
  UMI (United Microware Industries, Inc.) [16__]
Author
  unknown (1982)
Game Type
  Utility program; word processor.
Required
  16k RAM (8k each in banks 3 & 5). Joystick.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. To use this cart, you'll need the original instructions, maybe more.

Game name
  Write Now!
Company
  Cardco
Author
  unknown (198_)
Game Type
  Utility program; word processor.
Required
  Unknown, as we don't have one archived as yet.
Comments
  Not given a very thorough review due to its non-game nature. Touse this cart, you'll need the original instructions, maybe more.

# How this List is Organized: A Tutorial

Below are some notes on what you can expect to find in this document. It is primarily done by one person, who is doing this for his own enjoyment. As this is neither a co-operative group project, nor a paid project, I get to do things any way I choose to. (Which is nice.) So, here's how I chose to do it.

Some reviews are very short, and others are much longer. Sometimes this just means I know more about one piece of software than another. Sometimes this is a reflection of my level of interest, which may vary from one to another. For the most part, they all include information which should enable each user to decide for themselves if they want to explore more on their own. (Which is all any review is really supposed to do anyway, if you think about the process.)

I standardized certain things, and put them into a preset format. This allows me to simplify the process somewhat, and you to read it easier. If I can just list certain common details by their category name, for instance, I can spend more time explaining what makes one piece of software different from another. (Which is another thing that a review is supposed to be useful for, right?) I suppose you could think of it as being in an ASCII database format, sort of.

I had some fun including historical information, for lack of a better term. I know that many younger gamers never saw the eight foot tall "real" version of Battlezone, when it was new to the arcades, for instance. So, stuff like that I tried to include. Or that some of the fun of a game like Sea Wolf, when it was new in the arcades, was the fancy cabinetry. It allowed you to pretend you were in a submarine, by using a real-looking periscope to look through and to fire torpedos with. These things are not obvious; without knowing about them from some outside source, you'd never guess them just from seeing a programs output on a TV or monitor. So, I included lots of stuff like that. I hope it is interesting to you. (Enjoy!) I tried to keep in mind that users could be from two main schools of thought on this; older arcaders trying to relive the glory days through finding good home versions of their old favorites, as well as younger home game enthusiasts who perhaps have no idea what there was to be excited about, back in those "good old days" of gaming's infancy!

So without further adieu, let's explain what each category means to you...

## Categories

### Game name

This is where the title of each cartridge goes. Self-explanatory.

### Company

This is the spot for the name of the company that made the game. Also listed here will be the company's item model number, if any.

In cases where more than one company worked on a particular game, the company that actually mass-produced or distributed the actual item is listed first, followed by whomever they licensed it from. Software licensing was quite common in this time period, and it gets confusing from time to time. (Internal clues are recently making me wonder if it didn't go on more than we know of, too. In other words, usually a company made it themselves but maybe not. Commodore may have simply purchased half of "their" own carts.)

### Author

This is the spot used to show who actually programmed this piece of software and what year it was made. This information is most likely from either the cartridge's label or some onscreen text. Failing that, catalogs, box art and similar sources were used.

In cases where author or date information remain unclear, I fill it in with "unknown" or "198_" as a placeholder and reminder. We really made an extreme effort to fill these things in. However, some people assumed everyone then knew who was doing something so they never make a strong effort to actually write that info down.

If you think you know who wrote a title, please contact us. We see this as an art form. We want to know who these artists were.

Dates in general can be a pain in the butt to determine with any type of pinpoint accuracy. Generally, you are lucky to get any type of onscreen dating. When you do, it will sometimes conflict with what the box art says. And in some extreme circumstances, both of these conflict with messages found inside the games code! Or their dating messages all agree, but then the cart doesn't fit into a logical sequence once you begin to consider the company's part number series. Still, I did the best I could do, for now.

Compounding these problems is the lack of standardization as to what a given date actually means. Is it when a project was but a dream on paper? When they started coding it? Somewhere in the middle of the project? Or when they finished it? Some titles may have been done, but sat a while unreleased then came out later. Too bad Vic20 carts aren't old enough to do carbon dating, eh? But even then, that only proves the date of mass production!

All in all, I don't envy historians doing dating for a living!

Sometimes other sources of information -- magazines, text hidden inside blocks of internal codes, etc -- can be used to determine who the artists were. Until a positive determination is made and confirmed, this information may temporarily be listed elsewhere. At this point, my own sources of information are pretty dried up.

Disgusted at the overwhelming lack of onscreen credits given by most major gaming companies, I took it upon myself to dig deep into the actual hexadecimal game code itself, searching for any clues or confirmations of such clues. Sure enough, a number of carts had author information tucked away inside, away from the view of most gamers. (And presumably, their bosses at the time!)

When I found something interesting, I list it below in Trivia. I haven't checked each cart with CBM ASCII yet; just standard ASCII. Maybe one day searches for Graphic Characters will add more here? Playing with hex editors also changed many memory size notes too.

One thing I think is really cool, myself, is that some of these authors have already been "found" again. So this category is not at all a moot point. It's very useful, I think, for giving credit where it is due. History should remember all artists by name!

Individual dates shown for each piece helps interested parties to see the growth of an artist over the evolution of their careers. Also, to more readily see the growth of the industry as a whole and to see the effects of a cross-pollination of ideas over time. Which is why I've gone to all the trouble to find these things.

And by the way, if any of these authors want to comment on their own games, or even on games by "competitors", by all means! It would be nice to have some feedback from programmers for later. Check Rick Melick's WWW page; Rick already has a number of very interesting interviews posted. I'm sure we'd all welcome more!

### Game Type

A brief idea of what type of software this cartridge is. In the majority of cases this is some sort of videogame, but a handful of utility cartridges did exist. (Utilities are listed as such.)

If a particular piece of Vic20 software is essentially a copy of a game that originated in the video arcade market, it usually got treated differently in these reviews. That is, in addition to my efforts to describe what it looks and feels like on the Vic20, I tried to compare the two versions; to see if it was a "good" copy of the original. The Vic20 has definite hardware limits, so some things are more forgivable than others, but I feel the reviews are fair and honest. A bad copy is still a bad copy, after all.

A few terms are used to indicate differences in heritage. But to make sure the lineage can easily be traced, I did go to pains to mention the names of the arcade original, in cases were two names were used. If a name appearing here is listed in quotes, that is an indication that I'm refering to an arcade game as an ancestor.

The word "clone" means a piece is obvious to knowledgeable persons to be a copy based on a previous work. Whether that copy was an authorized one or not is usually noted if it can be determined.

Unauthorized, copy-cat clones happened frequently in the gaming industry then, and they still do. Witness the explosion of the Space Invaders or Pac-Man genres, back when, or the multitude of Street Fighter clones now. Imagination and creativity are rare in corporate gaming establishments; in the hippyish culture that was in charge of gaming before the crash, there was more of it, IMO.

A "translation" is an attempt to convincingly duplicate the main features of a much more powerful coin-operated arcade machine of the time, using a much less powerful home computer. Results vary. This term generally denotes it is an authorized attempt, anyway.

The word "variant" indicates that while it may be obvious which previous work this effort was based on, there are enough changes to the original idea to consider this piece as a separate entity. This could be an attempt to avoid copyright infringement, while still making a generally similar game. Or an attempt to revive a once-popular "formula" by adding gimmicks. Or it could just be a step along the evolutionary ladder: gaming's or a programmer's.

The word "original" simply means that the author does not know of any single previous work that this piece is largely based on. It goes without saying, however, that the entire body of previous art always affects and influences all art that follows it.

### Required

This is where you look to see how much additional memory will be required to run this software. This is helpful if you are running a copy of a cartridge's ROM memory (called a ROM image) within some sort of RAM expansion, in an actual Vic-20 computer system.

This section also tells you what controllers to use, too; whether a joystick works, a set of paddle controllers, or whatever.

Memory may be a moot point if you are using an emulated Vic20. (For instance, the "PC Vic" emulation software that I use on my IBM compatible sets up each game's memory automatically. Most ROM images work fine with it, and most of my comments throughout this document are references to that one particular emulator.)

However, keep in mind that this is important information if you wish to view or use a ROM image within RAM. You cannot run a 16k software cartridge image in only 8k of expansion RAM, any more than you can put 16 gallons of water into an 8 gallon container.

The most trouble-free memory configuration to have on a real Vic system is a full 32k of RAM expansion; you can run anything then. Second best is a 16k RAM expander that has small switches on it that allow you to put two 8k banks wherever you need to put them to run a particular piece of software. Third best are multiple 8k RAM expansion cartridges fitted into an "expansion chassis" board. Without at least one 8k RAM expander, you cannot use ROM images.

Technically-inclined person should also note that the RAM memory space is always shown as being rounded up to the nearest 8k. This is because 8k is, for all reasonable intents, the smallest single amount of memory that can be used. In other words, the companies that made a cartridge game may have only used 4k of ROM or EPROM memory; however, to play it back, you still need 8k of RAM. This is mostly of interest to hacker types, not to the average gamer.

For more technical information, please see the VIC-20 Gamer's FAQ or one of the other documents to be found on the Internet.

### Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Overall

These four ratings categories are used to tell you a little about the software itself. These are subjective remarks; in other words, just my opinion. One person wrote all these reviews, with just a little outside shoulder-surfing. If nothing else this should lead to consistency from review to review, which is a good thing.

Recognition of reviewer bias should be pretty clear. I tend to like fast-paced, intense action games best... games like the arcade versions of Asteroids, Defender and Robotron really appeal to me. But I also like slower, simpler "cute" games at times.

I think what I like most in the games I love best, is a sense of highly polished "one-ness"; a single-mindedness of purpose. The game exists for one reason, whatever it is, and that's enough. I believe this was easier to achieve, back in the days when games were made by a single person, and not by a corporate committee.

And except for games made by Xonox, I feel I've been consistently fair. Then again, Xonox has a bad reputation throughout retrogaming, for all the classic systems, so maybe I've been fairer than I think.

Generally, the sound on most Vic20 programs is nothing to brag about. The very limited sound capabilities of the machine itself are at fault; it could do "Atari 2600" console style bleeps and simple effects well, but that was all it was designed for. If you see I've rated a game's sound as "average" then consider it to be no better or worse than sounds you'd expect to hear on a 2600. ("Average or better" may mean compared to Activision games, not the earlier efforts that Atari themselves made.) Is this a cop out? Not really. This saves us both some time and effort. And if there isn't much of an audible difference between systems, why claim there is? Besides, we've all heard the Atari 2600 before.

I may skip these categories entirely, for educational titles. The same goes with word processors and the like. These are usually no comparison to entertainment games anyway, in terms of graphics, so I don't think the comparison would be a fair, informative one. With these (rarer) titles, you have to take what is available; if the other categories make it sound interesting, go check it out. (And don't expect much from word processors with only 22 screen columns across, and with about enough memory to edit postcards!)

Keep in mind that no review is an absolute. They are made just to give you a baseline to start on. If it sounds like something you want to see, then by all means, go check it out on your own.

### Ad Text

This section quotes the text of advertisements that the company once had printed. This is included in part to offset my/our own possible biases. But it also serves a more interesting function, in having the makers describe their works in their own words.

Including this should show you what the company wanted "you" to know about the product they were attempting to sell to the gaming public at the time. The text source of each quoted ad is listed, but note that the same ad may have run in other places as well. If I had more text resources available to me, I'd include more. (Sending photocopies of ads to me would be appreciated, BTW.)

### Review

This section quotes industry reviews of the time, to show what contemporary experts thought of each piece. In some cases, this will closely match what the makers had said. In other cases, it does not. Hopefully, this gives you an overall impression of the quality of each piece, both promised and actually observed. I hope these two together function as a check-and-balance system. (Besides, the reviews are also a part of the software's history.) All sources are identified. Multiple reviews are encouraged.

### Trivia

This section is used to record anything that the reviewer feels is important or of possible historical interest. Some of these things are already passing from even expert knowledge, let alone public knowledge, and I feel it is important to preserve them.

Sometimes programmers "hid" coded comments internally; either their own names as authors, messages to their fans, whatever. I have included all these I've found so far, and plan to keep on looking through the internal codes to find more, later on. (If you find something I've missed, we'll be interested in hearing!)

This was often the "fun stuff", as far as I was concerned when I wrote all these reviews. (Hadda have something to keep me going!) Once the "digging up" process is finished, and all the obvious facts about an object are cataloged, the next logical step for a Digital Archaeologist is to start playing detective, so at least for my own amusement, that's what I imagine I'll be doing next.

### Comments

Can sometimes be used to augment the Trivia section, but is meant more for explaining things that you might need to know to run a particular title. Use of non-standard controls, blah, blah...

# Other Sources of Information

This list expands on the information that is contained in another text document: the VIC-20 Cartridge List, made by Ward Shrake and Paul LeBrasse. That text is more a summary of what was available in the heyday of the VIC-20 computing system, in list format. This text talks more in depth about what each of those listed items does, and gives a reasoned opinion of how well each item actually does it. See both documents, if you want the most complete info on Vic20 software.

Note that cartridge-based VIC-20 programs are usually games. A small amount of non-game software does exist in cartridge format as well, for various specialized purposes. In general, most games can be used without actually having the instructions, but this may not be the case with specialized hardware. This list does not attempt to detail how to actually use each and every device. Sorry. However, this list does tell you what expansion RAM memory you will need to run each of the reviewed items and where that expansion must be located. It also notes what input device (keyboard, joystick, etc) you must use. If something is obviously non-intuitive, I try to explain what to do, at least enough to get you started on exploring things more on your own.

Also available is a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) text and other VIC-20 documents that may be of interest to modern VIC-20 users. The "Vic20 Gamer's FAQ" will be of use to you, to answer techie questions, so that you yourself can actually use the software we've reviewed.

All of these texts should be available on the Internet, via FTP or WWW Web sites. (One of these sites is ftp.funet.fi, for instance.) Note that Usenet Newsgroups exist for the discussion of old Commodore hardware and software, including the VIC-20. A great starting place would be to get the main FAQ for the comp.sys.cbm Usenet newsgroup. Another starting place would be to use a WWW search engine like Yahoo (www.yahoo.com) to search on "Vic20". Look up the sites it tells you about, then check each of those sites for links to other Vic20 sites.

# What Can You Do to Help Make this Document Better?

This first edition will probably stand "as-is" for a while. If anyone has any input to add to it, please send it to me via snail mail if email bounces back. As a general rule, I haven't had a consistent Internet email address for some time. Even when the address itself remained consistent, I often didn't have an active account. Why? I simply didn't have the time. I just finished up my second college degree. Before, I was on-and-off the net for months because of that. And now, I want a brand new ISP as every other email seems to be pointless "spam"... which should go away when those inconsiderate commercial slobs no longer have my correct email address. (So there. See what thanks you get, when you post helpful messages and such?)

I don't have concrete plans for a second edition at this point. I may just plan to collect whatever comes in, store it a while, and put out maybe one major update with everything in it... depending on overall input. Things like photocopies of ads would be nice to have. If you have copies of any info that is not listed here, then by all means send me a photocopy of it! My snail mail address is as below; please don't abuse it. Ward Shrake, PO Box 4699, Covina, CA USA 91723-4699.

Remember, that address is NOT for asking general questions that could be easily answered via effort on your part, for instance. That is why I wrote a FAQ: so people would read it. That is also what the Usenet newsgroup comp.sys.cbm is for. Sorry, but my time is limited enough as it is. I prefer to work only on things that (A) I enjoy a lot on a personal level and that (B) stand to benefit quite a few other people. (What do you want, your money back?) Besides, I really need a nice long rest, after all these insanely huge self-imposed Vic20 projects!

# Acknowledgements

This text was written all by my lonesome: just Ward Shrake. Yes, I must be nuts to type all this. Sue me. I had fun doing it, usually.

And where else could I find such virgin writing territory, among the "classic era" game machines? The others were deemed to be "no fun", writing-wise, as they were all fairly well documented. So I suppose I owe Commodore themselves a hearty thanks for two things. First, for putting the Vic20 on the market. Then for killing its market off so efficiently that almost everyone forgot all about it!

Paul LeBrasse was a great help on most things Vic20 related. I said so in the Vic20 FAQ, but thought I'd mention it again. Thanks, Paul. You Vic20 fans out there really don't know how much you owe the man!

And kudos again to all those people I mentioned in the Vic20 gamers FAQ. Thanks to all who encouraged us, sold/traded carts, or were just plain friendly and supportive of our Vic20 rescue operations. Paul and I appreciated every kindness done to us. All of us benefitted from it; all those ROM images had to come from somewhere. Even if we had to pay out of our pockets for most carts, still, others located them for us.

Other "Classic" computing and/or gaming systems have their following, too. In fact, most of the organization of this document was based on ideas the author got while searching out information on other gaming systems. The software reviews done for the TurboGrafx 16 system, for instance, are extremely well done. I made this document after seeing what BT Garner and others had done with the TurboGrafx library. I owe them a debt, in as much as their reviews helped me to find some TG16 software I really liked, with minimal effort. After seeing how useful their information was, I wanted to make a similar effort for the VIC.

No good reason as to why. I just wanted to do it, and say that I did. Again, maybe someone will think this is pretty neat 50 years from now. I like that idea! Jeff Minter has said he likes having his Vic20 games available to anyone, for all time, now that they're archived. So do I. (Anyone that has taken as many art history classes as I have recently could probably see my point on this.) It's just neat. So why not? I can see myself now, trying to play these games in a retirement home...

As long as I'm crediting other's work as an inspiration for my own, I should probably also mention the efforts of the folks on the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.video.arcade.collecting... much of their info was useful to me, both personally and towards creating this document. The "Killer List of Videogames", for instance, deserves much thanks! It doesn't go into nearly as much detail as my list here does, but it lists 950 or so arcade coin-op games, and that's not bad. I have long enjoyed the true arcade gaming hobby, so I was pleased to find out that the Vic20 offered games I couldn't easily find elsewhere... at least, not until MAME ("Multi Arcade Machine Emulator") came into existence! And man, are all those neat emulators eating up all my time, recently!

That's all, folks! I hope you enjoyed this and found it useful. Bye!