The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

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scotland
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby scotland » October 31st, 2017, 6:48 am

Sut wrote: You’re probably aware of the 3 main games in the series: Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy 1&2.

However thanks to the wonders of emulation I’ve been playing some ‘side story’ games in the series.

The Perils of Willy (Vic 20).
This game is exclusive to the Vic 20 (Scotland you might want to check it out ?). Apparently they couldn’t get the original to fit on the Vic 20 so they created this game. Not as devious as the main entries but still has that ‘one more go’ feel to the levels.


Thanks Sut - I will see if I can find a way to play this on my VIC-20.

I have to admit, I keep reading about the Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy as iconic Speccy games, and I have never played them. I will have to just embrace emulation to try, but good to know to expect very hard games.

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scotland
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby scotland » June 24th, 2018, 10:36 am

Having fun with a TRS-80 model 1 emulator. Computers like the VIC-20 rapidly became games machines, but other computers, like the Apple II had serious business uses. You'll often find VisiCalc and other business applications,here are some odd programs from those early days

trs8001.JPG
trs8001.JPG (26.1 KiB) Viewed 2055 times

(an example of a too specialized business application)

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trs8002.JPG (47.57 KiB) Viewed 2055 times

(Eliza is an AI 'chatterbot' program that sort of rephrases your inputs as a question)

trs8003.JPG
trs8003.JPG (58.41 KiB) Viewed 2055 times

(Nothing wrong with a word processor, but 'Dict-a-Matic" would not have been a name I would have chosen)

newmodelarmy
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby newmodelarmy » June 24th, 2018, 9:19 pm

FinalLapTwinkie1 wrote:The Commodore 64 had some excellent RPG games. There were several Dungeons & Dragons games. You could build your characters up and transfer them to the next game. Thankfully Buck Rodgers Countdown to Doomsday was ported to the Sega Genesis with about ever thing intact gameplay wise. On the C64 I used to have incredible characters with huge stats from playing through a game then restarting and transferring them to the new game. I miss those floppy saves. Not the load times though. LOL.

The C64 had some great strategy games like Conflict in Vietnam, Nato Commander and the board game RISK is even entertaining in computer form. Several simulation air combat games like Ace, Ace of Aces - which is more playable then the Atari 7800 version, Hellcat Ace and Top Gun.  G.I. Joe is a vehicle and character battle game. Something both NES versions should have been.

Most of the arcade ports were faithful to the arcade versions. One of my favorites is BagitMan which is known by Bag Man in arcade form. Spy Hunter is a very well done version. For me it is second only to the Colecovision in home conversions.

Pirates on the C64 is one of the best versions sure it has been ported to the NES, Genesis, Xbox, PSP, Wii and PC but the Commodore 64 has one of the biggest maps. It allowed you to explore more areas and who would not want a crew about to munity from starving before getting to the Yucatan Peninsula. The prize was Gran Granada and overthrowing the governor. Believe me it was worth the long trek. The battles allowed for more strategy when attacking towns or fortresses.

Sports games on the C64 still hold up well today. It had one of the best bowling games in 10th Frame bowling. The Summer, Winter and World games series still make great party games for friends looking for something different.

The Commodore 64 has lots of games to explore and I am still learning of forgotten titles all time.


I was crushed by a wave of nostalgia reading your post! I was a huge C-64 fan back in the day. You listed some great games. One simulation game worthing checking out is Gunship (made by Microprose). I loved those strategy games you mentioned, some others include Micro League Baseball and Crusade in Europe. The C-64 had it all.

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scotland
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby scotland » June 28th, 2018, 11:28 am

Here's an interesting snippet from a video game manual about finding a bug

bug1.JPG
bug1.JPG (35.39 KiB) Viewed 1998 times


(Now keep in mind programs were still only a few kilobytes in size)

bug2.JPG
bug2.JPG (28.1 KiB) Viewed 1998 times


I like that you can ask for an extra feature, at the cost of $25 an hour.

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scotland
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby scotland » January 8th, 2023, 7:30 am

One of the features of the old 8 bit computers was how local they were. Due to different tv tech, as well as languages, even a big company like Warner owned Atari hesitated to invest in what was needed to work across Europe. That opened the door for small European companies. In addition, it semed like branding was massively important. Schools in the US usually had Apple IIs, not Ataris. When Nintendo rose , it also had to fight this battle. Europe was put on the back bhrner, and the brand was a game machine with high quality control on the games.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 8th, 2023, 9:06 am

This thread is great.

First, the idea of a software company that responds to users personally is mind-blowing! Today, despite global connectivity, you can't even get an address! Back then they would take special requests!!

Next, I love the cover to the Eliza program. I think "What is your problem?" would be spoken in a much different (less nice) tone in this day and age! LOL

I do remember using Eliza.
Me: "I'm mad"
Eliza: "Why are you mad?"
It just went back and forth.

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scotland
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby scotland » January 8th, 2023, 3:49 pm

This thread is fun - Sut, a big fan of the Sinclair ZX81, started this thread more than 8 years ago to have fun talking about that parallel stream. Those family computers were important for video gaming. I certainly grew up where gaming and programming went hand in hand. This site, while the community is a console community, usually appreciates the fun from family computers.

I had that TYCO bendy snake track in slot cars as well. I had the same result that the spokes were too wide, and the slot cars too small for that to be effective. It was a sort of evolution from Hot Wheels, but like vibrating football, didn't give too much lasting fun.

I was just talking Eliza to a teenager recently, probably in association with our modern chat bots. I have a book on my bookshelf, Exploring Artificial Intelligence on your Commodore 64 by none other than Tim Hartnell from 1984, which includes not just an Eliza program for the C64, as well as background, therapeutic value, and controversies that includes people like Carl Sagan thinking that something like Eliza could be a low-cost mental healthcare tool. I saw that Tim Hartnell died in 1991 at age 40 - I hadn't known he had died before seeing the real explosion in computer adoption.

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ASalvaro
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby ASalvaro » February 5th, 2023, 4:24 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:This thread is great.

First, the idea of a software company that responds to users personally is mind-blowing! Today, despite global connectivity, you can't even get an address! Back then they would take special requests!!

Next, I love the cover to the Eliza program. I think "What is your problem?" would be spoken in a much different (less nice) tone in this day and age! LOL

I do remember using Eliza.
Me: "I'm mad"
Eliza: "Why are you mad?"
It just went back and forth.

Remember using S.A.M on the Atari back then?
Image

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby VideoGameCritic » February 5th, 2023, 6:11 pm

Yes I did and it worked pretty well. You could just type in whatever and SAM will say it. Naturally my friends and I would make him say the most obscene things.

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scotland
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Re: The 8-bit Home Computer Users Thread

Postby scotland » February 6th, 2023, 9:35 am

I remember S.A.M!
sam.jpg
sam.jpg (101.79 KiB) Viewed 514 times

We used it on the Commodore 64. I think we tried to order pizza with it one night.


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