We actually missed the v6.0 release date by a few days, but it is never late to let you all know that the excellent Atari emulator for macOS has been updated (now version 6.0.1) adding native support for Apple’s ARM processors.

Features Added/Changed:

• Added support for ARM based M1 Macs.
• Update libSDL to version 2.0.14.
• Removed 2k limit on the number of characters that can be pasted into the emulator

Bugs Fixed:

• Fixed issue with not correctly restoring machine type when loading a configuration file.
• Fixed issue with not being able to insert a piggyback cartridge to SDX.

Link: Github

Sponsors on Patreon got an early look at Chloe ports of two classic Amiga demos (Boing and Juggler) late last year, but they are now available to download from Source Solutions, Inc. Two years ago when we first reported on the Chloe, firmware updates were roughly quarterly, but last year there was only one update. Development had stalled, and efforts were focused elsewhere, such as on expanding localization support.

There have been some new technical demos released during that time, including another 6-channel sound demo (showcasing Arkos Tracker 2), an on-system version of the teaser video, and three demos streaming sound and video from disk using the DMA. The older demos have been updated to run at a smooth 30 FPS. But now there’s a new SE Basic IV release with lots of new features that lays the groundwork for more updates later this year.

The changes bring this version of BASIC much more in line with Microsoft BASIC. It now has the same mathematical order of precedence. Boolean operators have been replaced with 16-bit signed bitwise operators (true = -1, false =0). Support has been added for long variable names. Existing string slicing is retained, but LEFT$, MID$ and RIGHT$ are now available. FIX and STRING$ functions are added. Operators now include backslash (\) for truncated division, MOD and bitwise NOT, AND, OR and XOR (~, & and | are available as shorthand for the first three, along with ? for PRINT).

But SE Basic IV isn’t beyond borrowing from other BASIC dialects. This release adds DPOKE and DPEEK (16-bit versions of POKE and PEEK). The OLD command restores a program previously erased with NEW. The STR$ function is extended to support conversion from base 2 to 36 (encompassing BIN$, HEX$ and OCT$). String multiplication is now supported. This can be used to fill a string with a character or even mirror a string.

There are also bugfixes, speed ups and other enhancements. For example, a unified detokenizer now gives the same results in listings and in the editor. Now that all the available calculator functions are assigned, the calculator code is considered complete. The work remaining to complete the firmware includes advanced file handling, advanced sound, and graphics commands. But even without these, the system is already very usable.

I haven’t really introduced myself since I started writing for VITNO back in October 2021, but my name is Adam Dorough (loves retro games, vintage technology and short walks to the refrigerator). I have been running the Retro Gaming Bygones Podcast (https://anchor.fm/retrogamingbygones) just over a year now and just released a podcast titled The Commodore Chronicles Podcast about my favorite childhood computer, the Commodore 64.

I’m hoping community feedback becomes the most important part of the running of the podcast. Between Twitter (@c64chronicles) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/c64chronicles) over the last month, the feedback on this first episode titles has been stellar! On the first episode we covered Pooyan (Datasoft – 1983) and Space Taxi (Muse Software – 1984).

You can listen to this episode of the podcast at https://anchor.fm/commodorechronicles/episodes/Episode-One—Pooyan-and-Space-Taxi-e1d86v3 -or- on most major podcast platforms such as Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Pocket Casts and Radio Public.

On the next episode of the podcast, we’ll cover two ambitious titles, Raid On Bungeling Bay and Project Firestart. I’d love your feedback as well! Thanks!

Bitnamic, through its European branch, Teknamic, is releasing three new games for the ZX Spectrum in the very last day of the year.

The first one is a relaunch. Published as a “Cover Tape” in issue 88 of the Crash magazine, “Countdown to the Death” is the result of the efforts of two young Brazilians: Mario de Paula Leite Gouvea, programmer and creator, and Eduardo Avellar, the music composer.

The game consists of five interconnected mini-games: Hangman, Bonus Machine (slot machine), Bat and Ball (a Breakout clone), Memory, and Repeat It (repeating patterns in the “Simon” style). Variety in gameplay, neat graphics and music, diverse and imaginative sound effects… It’s no wonder that the English publisher put it on the pages of the magazine!

The second game is Depth Charge, a game inspired by two arcade games from the 70’s, Depthcharge by Gremlin and Destroyer by Atari, combining the machanics of both. In the game you control a destroyer fighting submarines that are passing by you under the sea, while of course, they try to destroy your vessel. As in real life, to hit the submarines the destroyer will drop the depthcharges which will slowly finding its way to the bottom of the ocean. To make the game more challenging, the player has to set at what depth they will explode using the up and down keys to move a crosshair before firing, instead of simply dropping charges aimlessly hoping to hit something on its way down.

Depth Charge is very polished and it managed to keep, if not make it better, the gameplay and entertainment value of the original arcade games. You can buy this game bundled with the classic Brazilian magazine, Micro Sistemas, or standalone.

The third game will please the text adventure fans out there. In Saboteur: Deep Cover, you play a spy that has been working undercover at Viridis, an evil corporation that keeps all its secrets very safe. Your job is to find all the evidence of the company’s illegal activities and smuggle it out without being caught. The game is created by Clive Townsend and Andy Remic, with graphics by Clive.

Saboteur: Deep Cover will be sold by Teknamic to all Europe, except England, where it will be available and sold by Cronosoft.

The three games will be available in cassette in December 31st.

Link: Teknamic

Darren Melbourne returns to the podcast – 5 years after, this time with Retro Games’ CTO Chris Smith, they are talking about the upcoming A500 Mini. I this episode, they talk about the rocky way of getting this onto the road and what it means for the Amiga scene and the Amiga competitive gaming scene, as well. Interview starts at 05:55 Minutes

listen to it at https://scene.world/a500mini

or watch its video version at:

I don’t know about you, but I hated school. I found it overly dramatic, full of bullies and overall drawn out. I didn’t get along with most kids my age either. I found homework and reports tedious and often figured out ways to avoid doing them altogether. I eventually embraced the “slacker” role starting in middle school, being satisfied with Bs and Cs, several hour naps, minimal effort and the scorn of my teachers and professors (three time college dropout here). I had an Algebra II class in where I did the math and realized I only needed an 85% on all of the quizzes and test to pass with a C-grade (I ended up with a B). Only a few teachers and curriculum ever garnered my attention. However, when they busted out the library of edutainment software the school had purchased, they had my immediate attention.

Publishers like Broderbund, The Learning Company, MECC and even Sierra On-Line inspired young minds to enjoy… maybe tolerate school. Whether it were the Apple II, Commodore 64 or an MS-DOS PC, there was a plenty titles amongst the platforms. Many of those games occupy my fondest schoolhood memories. So let’s look back amongst the 1980’s and 1990’s relive those moments.

MECC (Minnesota Educational Computer Consortium) was founded in 1973 in a small city to the northeast of Minneapolis called Brooklyn Center. It’s purpose was to serve as an organization to provide computer services and education to Minnesota school districts. For the majority of those first few years were spent installing mainframes and serving software and databases to Minnesota public schools.

In 1978, MECC had chosen the Apple II as it’s new microcomputer of choice to develop for, passing up the Radio Shack TRS-80 family of computers. This bode well for Apple and MECC alike. A school district could buy an Apple II computer through MECC directly, at cost. Making it a “one-stop-shop” for hardware and software. And though some schools had Commodore PETs and Atari 400/800 computers, the Apple II became the prominent microcomputer throughout the 80’s and even the early 90’s.

The Munchers’ Series – Word, Number and Super Munchers were the first series of edutainment title I played. The goal in the game was simple, follow the path and only eat what corresponded to the level’s title. Do this all while avoiding the troggles, the monsters bent on disrupting your education…

I wouldn’t say these titles warrant a replay, but they do bring up fond memories of elementary school.

The Oregon Trail – You can’t cover edutainment without mentioning The Oregon Trail. This was THE day in every elementary and middle school nerd’s dream.

In The Oregon Trail, you guide your covered wagon party to the west. Hunt for food, cross rivers, barter for supplies, avoid the dreaded dysentery and ALWAYS plan for the worst.

I think what is most amazing about The Oregon Trail is that the most famous 1985 release for DOS and the Apple II we fondly remember as a kid is a remake of 1971 computer game. Today, I play it on a hand-held version produced by Florida toy maker, Basic Fun.

Founded in 1980 by brothers Doug and Gary Carlston in San Rafael, California, Broderbund is a games publisher best known for titles like Prince of Persia, Choplifter, Lode Runner, Karateka and Myst. Famous game designers such as Will Wright (Sim City) and Jordan Mechner (Karateka and Prince of Persia) got their feet in the door starting with Broderbund.

Though Broderbund’s focus was mostly commercial games, it did dabble in education and productivity with titles like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, Banner Mania, The Print Shop and The Treehouse. However, their most famous edutainment titles would be the Carmen Sandiego series.

In the Where in…is Carmen Sandiego series, you take the role of a budding gemshoe hot of the trail of Carmen Sandiego, a world renown thief, and her V.I.L.E. (Villian’s International League of Evil) henchmen, such as Fast Eddie B., Lady Agatha and Scar Graynolt. You’ll chase these criminals over time, the United States, Europe, all over the globe and even space.

Each game featured a guide. For example, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego featured a World Almanac with facts and details about various countries and their best traits and customs. These guides even functioned as a copy protection of sorts, as most of the information was contained in their pages. Today’s most of these games can be played just by searching the Internet Archive at https://archive.org.

I still play these titles today. I have a hand-held Where is the World is Carmen Sandiego game, also made by Basic Fun. I also play the originals on my Commodore 64 and in DOSbox emulation. It’s good simple fun and a wonderful way to remember the simpler times.

Where Broderbund would sometimes dabble into the edutainment and productivity realm, The Learning Company seldom jumped in the mainstream gaming market and focused almost entirely on edutainment and educational titles.

The Learning Company was founded by Ann McCormick, Leslie Grimm, Teri Perl and famed Atari 2600 programmer Warren Robinett in 1980 in Palo Alto, California. The Learning Company are most known for their classics such as; Reader Rabbit, the original Fisher-Price titles, the later editions of the Oregon Trail series and the group of games we’ll cover here, the Super Solvers and Super Seekers series.

The Super Solvers/Super Seekers Series – Whether in a television and radio station, a mountain or ancient caverns with the promise of great treasures or in the halls of the local school, it’s your job to thwart the efforts of Morty Maxwell, the Master of Mischief. Search for clues by solving questions and puzzle using mathematics and geometry, spelling, and expert sleuthing and deduction.

These were my favorite edutainment titles as a child. In addition to playing them in school, I personally owned Treasure Mountain. Also, a childhood friend had Ancient Empires (my personal favorite in the series) and Midnight Rescue. Even though the challenge is mostly gone by now, they still surprising keep my attention and I find myself pulling them out from time-to-time.

In the mid-1990’s, MECC, Broderbund and The Learning Company would be purchased by Softkey International, founded by famed Shark Tank personality, Kevin O’ Leary. Though Softkey would be profitable for years after purchasing these entities, each of the software developer’s output would slow and lose quality. The edutainment portion of The Learning Company would be sold to Ubisoft and the literature namesake would be sold to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a textbooks, reference works and other literature company.

Though these classic companies don’t exist in their original forms, they’ll always be known for capturing our hearts and minds… Or at least curing our school-time boredom.

It has only been a week since Roger Taylor announced his project to reverse engineer the custom ASIC Radio Shack used in their Color Computer 3 and we have already learned a few interesting things.

He sent two versions of the “GIME” chip off to be opened up and photographed under a microscope. These images revealed some messages etched in to the chip.

Tequila, anyone?

Written on the original 1986 GIME chip was the word “TEQUILA.” Can we now call the original 1986 release version of this chip the “Tequila GIME”?

Tortilla, anyone?

And on the 1987 updated GIME, the word “TORTILLA” can be found:

Since Tandy/Radio Shack is base in Texas, perhaps a love of Mexican food inspired these code names.

Credit where credit is due, too.

The imaging has also revealed the names of the designers, John Prickett (Tandy) and Jim Bruister (VLSI).

These names were previously known, as documented in CoCo: The Colorful History of Tandy’s Underdog Computer, a book by Boisy Pitre and Bill Loguidice.

Roger has been providing near-daily updates to his project on his Patreon page, but the real fun is expected later once the actual reverse engineering of the circuitry begins.

Until then…

In our new episode we welcome Gunnar Vonn Boehn from the one and only Apollo Team. They are known for their stellar Vampire cards which are a must for every Amiga fan. Interview starts at 37:38 Minutes

https://scene.world/vampire

Or watch its video version:

Yandex Retro Games Battle is a game development contest, organized by the Yandex Museum that brought to life amazing games for the ZX Spectrum, like Marsmare: Alienation and White Jaguar. If released in the 80s, these games would have made the developers rich folks and the blockbusters of the time look not so incredible as our memory tells us!

This year, the Yandex Retro Games Battle has exciting news for the game developers, and not only the ZX Spectrum ones! The 2021/2022 edition (v3) has expanded its reach allowing games developed for nothing less than seven platforms: Amstrad CPC 464/6128, Atari 8 bits, BBC Micro / Master, Commodore 64, MSX / MSX2, TRS-80 CoCo, ZX Spectrum 48K / 128K.

Celebrity Jury

Another impressive news is that your game will be judged by stars of game development, including John Romero and the Oliver Twins. Here is the full list:

• John Romero: Programmer, game designer, co-founder of id Software, co-creator of Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Quake and a whole first-person shooter genre.
• Oliver Twins: Andrew Nicholas Oliver and Philip Edward Oliver are legendary game designers, creators of Dizzy character and game series of the same name, as well as lots of other games.
• Yuri Matveev: Editor-in-chief of the Spectrofon magazine in the ’90. Scriptwriter and composer for the Star Heritage game. Currently, head of Step Studio.
• Simon Butler: One of the original pixel pushers from the 1980’s, graphic artist for Ocean Software. 37 years on and still working in game development with more than 300 titles under his belt. Indie titles are his passion but also likes the occasional AAA game.
• Mark R. Jones: Mark worked at the world famous Ocean Software back in the 80s. More recently he is involved in the retro gaming community and helps restore and preserve game artwork. Last year he worked on the graphics for a free ZX Spectrum conversion of the Univeral arcade game ‘Mr. Do’.
• El Mundo del Spectrum: Is a Spanish media (website, podcast, video, books, etc) about Spectrum born in 1996. The staff, Alejandro Ibáñez, Javier Ortiz, Jesús Martínez del Vas (photo) and Juan Francisco Torres, spread information about the past, present and future of the most wonderful machine in history: the Spectrum. Winners of Yandex Retro Games Battle 2019
• Roman Mindlin: Has been working in back office automation at Yandex since 2018. Co-organiser of the demo festival Chaos Constructions. Retro computer collector.
• Mikhail Sudakov: Formerly journalist at Game.EXE, currently editor-in-chief of the KG-Portal.ru and Idpixel.ru websites. Producer of Castlevania: Spectral Interlude for ZX Spectrum. Has the largest collection of licensed games for the ZX Spectrum in Russia.

Rules and Prizes

Games in any genre are eligible to compete. The main rule is that they must run on original computers from the list.

Games also must not:

• Use additional peripherals (except a joystick and mouse)
• Infringe on other people’s copyrights
• Participate in other competitions and exhibitions

The competition results will be announced on December 17, 2022. The jury will evaluate games on their graphics, game play, game design (out of 10 points each), and sound (out of 5 points). The total of the three scores will determine the three winners.

The money prizes are also very attractive. The first place will get USD 1,000; the second USD 800; and the third, USD 500 (Approximate values since they are expressed in Rubles).

Link: Yandex
Source: Planeta Sinclair

When Radio Shack released their third and final version of the Color Computer, the Tandy Color Computer 3, it included a custom ASIC chip. This chip, called the GIME (Graphics Interrupt Memory Enhancement), replicated most features of the Motorola 6847 video display generator chip used in earlier models. It also added new features such as higher resolution graphics with more colors, and a memory management unit. This allowed the CoCo 3 to be backwards compatible while allowing up to 640×225 resolution graphics and the ability to access up to 512K or RAM.

The operations of the GIME are well documented in the Tandy Service Manual for the Color Computer 3 sold by Radio Shack.

The GIME could only display 16 colors (from a palette of 64) on a screen at a time, but clever programmers quickly figured out how to make the hardware display all 64 simultaneously. Radio Shack apparently even knew this trick, and offered a diagnostics program that did it as well.

Even cleverer programs started doing things like this:

And this:

While the demo scene on the CoCo was quite small, it did exist.

256 colors, too?

During the production days of the CoCo 3, a few commercial programs were sold that claimed to offer 256 colors. These colors were only viewable on a composite NTSC monitor, so those using an RGB CM-8 (or similar) monitor or using PAL versions of the CoCo 3 could not participate.

In 2010, CoCo programmer John Linville even created a full motion video player that made use of this 256 color mode:

But … was there more?

The Quest for the “other” 256 Color Mode

There were a number of features planned for the CoCo 3 that never made it in to production. The earliest PCB prototypes had a floppy disk controller built in. They also used a more standard DB9 port for the monitor rather than the odd header connector on the bottom side of production CoCo 3s.

The new hardware capabilities were implemented through an array of logic chips. These chips would later be consolidated in to the custom GIME chip for production.

Indeed, an early specification document provided to Microware Systems Corp specifically mentioned a 256 color mode. (Microware was the company chosen by Radio Shack to do the extensions to Microsoft Extended BASIC to support the new hardware.)

To read a great overview of the efforts to discover if this 256 color mode ever existed check out Nick Marantes’ website:

https://nickmarentes.com/ProjectArchive/256mode.html

Which brings us to…

GIME more info…

Although the GIME was well understood thanks to excellent documentation, no one truly knows how it works. Programmers of various emulators and FPGA projects have had to create their own cleanroom implementation of the GIME by using only the technical references and any behaviors figured out by programmers.

CoCo 3 demos such as those included above would often not initially work on these reverse engineered GIME implementations. Developers would simply find programs that did not work, and figure out how to tweak their virtual GIME until it behaved like real hardware. This means that, to this day, many GIME-bashing demos look different depending on which emulation/recreation you run them on.

Roger Taylor wants to solve this problem. He just launched Project 256 on his Patreon page:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/project-256-58792912

His goal is to sacrifice a few GIME chips (including the original buggy 1986 version and the later “fixed” 1987 version) and have them reverse engineered. This process of decapping has already been used on the CoCo’s original video chip to confirm what the embedded font characters were. It is hoped that the end result to his project will be enough knowledge to do a full clone of the GIME via FPGA. (Note that the GIME-X project has already done a cleanroom FPGA plug-in version of the GIME, adding extra features, but so far no one has done a 100% recreation due to lack of information that would make that even possible.)

Follow Roger’s progress on his Patreon and, if so inclined, consider becoming a sponsor of his efforts.

Maybe one day we will truly know how the GIME works.

Well, this is getting a bit silly.

Awhile back I posted an article discussing the alternate color set available in the 32 column text mode on a Radio Shack Color Computer. It was (mostly) available from Extended Color BASIC via the SCREEN command.

This allowed having a screen that was either “nuclear green” or “whatever color the other is”.

Then, I learned that the 6847T1 variant of the Video Display Generator (VDG) chip that was used in later model Tandy CoCo 2s had some different colors of its own and had to write a second installment of the article.

I also learned that the border color did not have to be black on these 32×16 text screens, at least not on the T1 VDG.

The XRoar emulator handles these differences, so if you don’t have a T1-enabled “Tandy” CoCo 2 around (the ones labeled TRS-80 do not have this chip), you can experiment with me via the online XRoar emulator.

There is a control register mapped in to memory at &HFF22 (65314), and by POKEing values at that location, you can set or clear the various T1 VDG bits. The bits I was interested in were bits 3-6:

BIT 3) ALTERNATE COLOR
BIT 4) LOWERCASE
BIT 5) REVERSE
BIT 6) BORDER=BG

In BASIC, you can easily set a bit by getting the current value (using PEEK) and POKEing back that value OR’d with the bit you want to set. For instance, if I want to enable lowercase, bit 4 (value of 16 or &H10 in hex), I do this:

POKE &HFF22,PEEK(&HFF22) OR &H10

Instead of translating bit values to HEX, you can also use the “power of two” operator to create that value. Two to the power of X will be the bit value. For example:

0 REM BIT VALUES
10 FOR BT=0 TO 7
20 PRINT BT,2^BT
30 NEXT

Running that will produce two columns of numbers. The first column is the bit (0 to 7). The second column is the value (power of two): 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 and 128. If you run this in Color BASIC, you will see it actual shows 32.0000001 and 64.0000001 for those two values due to how floating point works, but they will still work fine for this example.

Thus, my above example could have been done like this:

POKE &HFF22,PEEK(&HFF22) OR 2^4

That is setting bit 4 (2^4) to turn on lower case.

If I wanted to set bit 3 (2^3) for the alternate color set, it would be:

POKE &HFF22,PEEK(&HFF22) OR 2^3

This is just an easier way to visualize which bit it is (2^BIT) versus knowing what &H80 or &H04 represents.

But I digress…

I created a simple set of routines that work go through all the various combinations of those bits to show normal, reverse and alternate color screens, with and without borders (where supported) and with or without lowercase enabled. The simple program looks like this:

0 REM 6847T1 VDG &HFF22
0 ' BIT 0) 01
1 ' BIT 1) 02
2 ' BIT 2) 04
3 ' BIT 3) 08 BG COLOR
4 ' BIT 4) 10 LOWERCASE
5 ' BIT 5) 20 REVERSE
6 ' BIT 6) 40 BORDER=BG
7 ' BIT 7) 80

10 CLS:PRINT "6847T1 VDG Demo"
20 L=&HFF22

100 ' NORMAL
110 PRINT "Normal"
120 REM
130 GOSUB 1000
140 PRINT "Normal + Border"
150 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^6
160 GOSUB 1000
170 PRINT "Normal + Border + LC"
180 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^6 OR 2^4
190 GOSUB 1000

200 ' REVERSE NORMAL
210 PRINT "Reverse Normal"
220 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^5
230 GOSUB 1000
240 PRINT "Reverse Normal + Border"
250 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^5 OR 2^6
260 GOSUB 1000
270 PRINT "Reverse Normal + Border + LC"
280 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^5 OR 2^6 OR 2^4
290 GOSUB 1000

300 ' ALT COLOR
310 PRINT "Alt Color"
320 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^3
330 GOSUB 1000
340 PRINT "Alt Color + Border"
350 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^3 OR 2^6
360 GOSUB 1000
370 PRINT "Alt Color + Border + LC"
380 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^3 OR 2^6 OR 2^4
390 GOSUB 1000

400 ' REVERSE ALT COLOR
410 PRINT "Reverse Alt Color"
420 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^5 OR 2^3
430 GOSUB 1000
440 PRINT "Reverse Alt Color + Border"
450 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^5 OR 2^3 OR 2^6
460 GOSUB 1000
470 PRINT "Reverse Alt Color + Border + LC"
480 POKE L,PEEK(L) OR 2^5 OR 2^3 OR 2^6 OR 2^4
490 GOSUB 1000

999 GOTO 999

1000 ' INKEY
1010 IF INKEY$="" THEN 1000
1020 RETURN

If you run that on a standard 6847 VDG CoCo, you will find that borders do not change, and lowercase mode just produces graphics garbage. On a 6847T1 Tandy CoCo 2, you see some different things. Here is what I get in the XRoar emulator:

I had previously learned about the alternate background color being different, but was a bit disappointed I couldn’t make the border go away when in reverse mode — at least, not in the XRoar emulator. (I do not have a real Tandy CoCo 2 to test this on.)

Are there even more colors hidden away in this chip?

To be continued…

Even when I look back and think about the best game developers of my youth, my memories gravitate towards companies like Electronic Arts, Activision, Epyx, Lucasarts, Capcom, Konami and even Nintendo or Sega. However, many of my childhood treasures share an unsung name in gaming history, Dynamix.

Dynamix was founded in 1984, but the founders Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye were programming and releasing software, such Stellar 7, before officially taking the Dynamix moniker. They’re best known as a subsidiary of Sierra On-Line, but before joining them, Dynamix made titles published by Penguin Software, Activision, Electronic Arts, Sega, Data East and Accolade. In 1990, they were purchased by Sierra On-Line and became one of their largest development teams. Eleven years later, Dynamix was fazed out as a part of the acquisition of Sierra On-Line by Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing. Though some of Dynamix’s developers remained, many broke off into new endeavors, including both its founders.

And though their influences are not as profound and lasting as one of the mainstay developers of that day, the quality of their work deserves praise and recognition. So in honor of the late, lost Dynamix, we’ll cover a handful of their best titles.

Stellar 7 (1983, 1990)

Very much an expanded Battlezone clone, Stellar 7 is a rudimentary futuristic tank simulator that originally released for the Apple II and Commodore 64. In 1990, it received a vastly improved MS-DOS, Amiga and Macintosh version.

You are a Raven pilot, an advanced ground-based, tank-like vehicle, and are fighting against the onslaught of the Arcturan army led by the alien warlord, Gir Draxon.

Though the Apple II and Commodore 64 versions are very good games, the MS-DOS version is the better of the experiences. The addition of updated graphics and graphical story line is a very welcome element.

It would see multiple sequels that would expand upon the gameplay and storyline including: Arcticfox (1986), Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon (1991) and Stellar 7: Draxon’s Revenge (1993).

Project Firestart (1989)

An atmospheric, cinematic survival horror title released on the Commodore 64 exclusively, Project Firestart was designed by Tunnell and Slye and published by Electronic Arts in 1989. It is often referred to as the first survival horror game.

Project Firestart takes place in the research ship, Prometheus, as it orbits one of Saturn’s moons, Titan. The protagonist, Agent Jon Hawking, is sent to understand why the crew of the Prometheus has gone radio silent. Upon boarding the Prometheus, Agent Hawking discovers the entire crew has been brutal murdered and strange, aggressive creatures have infested the ship. You’ll need to survive the infestation, acquire records of the events that lead to it and the deaths of the crew and escape the ship.

Personally, I hadn’t experienced Project Firestart until just a few years ago and I’ve fell for it’s very Alien-like theme and influence. It has quite the deep storyline, advanced graphics and suspenseful sound and music. The control and action are a bit slow, as the game would really benefit from a more powerful machine. Too bad that it never saw ports to the Amiga, Atari ST or MS-DOS machines of the era.

There’s a great review on the website here: http://www.vintageisthenewold.com/retro-revisited-we-review-project-firestart-a-cinematic-survival-horror-for-the-c64

Red Baron (1990)

Red Baron is a combat-driven flight simulator set within the story line of World War I. It was originally released for MS-DOS in 1990, later seeing releases for Amiga and Macintosh computers. It is the first Sierra On-Line published Dynamix game.

The gameplay revolves around historic German and Allied air combat of the World War I era, including the famous Manfred von Richthofen, the eponymous Red Baron himself. The player can choose the campaigns of the German or Allied forces.

An incredibly well-reviewed title by the gaming media. With multiple aircraft, varying missions, excellent graphics and easy to learn controls, Red Baron is still a brilliant title worth revisiting today.

Rise of the Dragon (1990)

Rise of the Dragon is a first-person, point n’ click adventure released in 1990 for MS-DOS and Macintosh, but eventually it saw releases on the Amiga and Sega CD.

Rise of the Dragon features a dark, dystopian theme. It follows a future Los Angeles plagued with crime, drugs and every evil known to man. Our protagonist Blade, a former police officer turned private detective, is tasked to solve the murder of the Mayor of LA’s daughter. You’ll uncover a massive crime syndicate and a deadly drug that mutilates its users. It was definitely a coming-of-age title for a young teenager.

It’s another extremely well-reviewed title from Dynamix on all platforms, and definitely a premier point n’ click fans would appreciate.

The Incredible Machine (1993)

The Incredible Machine is a Rube Goldberg Puzzle Simulator released in 1993 for DOS, Macintosh, FM Towns and PC-98.

Players are give the task of solving puzzle tasks like “Scare the Cat”, “Place the Ball in the Basket” or “Turn on the Fan”. You’ll be given an inventory of various items such as bowling balls, seesaws and scissors. Levels will have varying gravity or air pressure to change the physics of floating balloon.

Multiple sequels where released included The Incredible Machine 2, Return of the Incredible Machine: Contraptions, The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions and lastly The Incredible Machine Mega Pack on GOG.com.

It’s brilliantly fun!

Metaltech: Earthsiege I (1994) and II (1995)

The Metaltech: Earthsiege series are mechanized vehicle simulators for PCs, DOS in 1994 and then Windows 95 in 1995, respectively.

In the distant future, mankind creates true artificial intelligence in the creation of the Cybrid, cybernetic-hybrid machines. Mass production of Cybrids for use as soldiers of war lead to the creation turning on its creators, forcing humanity into hiding. The first Earthsiege game takes place 20+ years after the events of the Cybrid rebellion.

In some aspects, the Earthsiege series is very much in the camp of Dynamix’s first release, Stellar 7. They share similar combat elements, but Earthsiege has a more fleshed out story line and far more detailed gameplay.

Both titles had mixed reviews, as many reviewers complained about the difficulty level of both titles. However, many reviewers enjoyed its more simulation-like theme over its competitor, Mechwarrior 2.

Starsiege: Tribes (1998)

Starsiege: Tribes is a team-based, online first-person shooter for Windows platforms. It was released in late 1998.

Tribes takes place in the 40^th century, with humanity has split into heavily-divided and violent factions bent on fighting for control of the galaxy. The player will join the front line efforts of one of the four main “tribes” and go to war.

Gameplay is very much typical FPS, with five game types: Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, Capture and Hold, Defend and Destroy and lastly, Find and Retrieve.

Tribes was my very first experience with online gaming and I spent far too much time on it in the summer of 1999 and 2000. It is still heavily played today and the gaming community has updated the engine for modern computers. Check out https://playt1.com/.

In a previous article I discussed the Radio Shack Color Computer’s lesser known text mode screen colors. Below you can see the normal, normal reversed, alternate and alternate reversed color modes:

During a recent discussion with CoCo FPGA programmer Roger Taylor, he mentioned something I was unaware of. He has spent years working on an FPGA recreation of the various Color Computers and casually mentioned a difference in the colors of the video display generator chip found in later model Color Computer 2s.

These machines, while cosmetically similar to previous CoCo 2 models, are identifiable by the case badge reading “Tandy” instead of “TRS-80”. If powered up, you can also tell the difference by the font. The Tandy Color Computer 2 machines had a round O instead of the square O:

The Tandy machines also have a zero with a slash through it, though that is not showing in either of those screen shots.

In addition to having “Tandy” on the outside, and round Os and slashed zeros on the inside, these model Color Computer 2s also had actual lowercase letters instead of inverted uppercase letters that represented lowercase:

You could get a Tandy CoCo 2 in to lowercase using these POKEs:

0 REM LOWERCASE.BAS
10 PRINT "Look, ma! Lowercase!"
20 POKE &H95AC,57:POKE &HFF22,PEEK(&HFF22) OR &H10
30 GOTO 30

The thing I did not realize was that the colors are a bit different between the original 6847 VDG chip used in the TRS-80 CoCo 1s and 2s and the 6847T1 VDG chip used in the later Tandy CoCo 2s. Roger was aware of this since he had been working on faithfully emulating the differences between the chips.

I discovered that the XRoar emulator already handled this. Consider this example, based on a suggestion by Cathe Cita in the Color Computer Facebook group:

10 CLS
20 PRINT STRING$(128,255);STRING$(128,255);
30 SCREEN 0,1
40 GOTO 40

The intent of this code is to clear the 32×16 text screen, then fill the top half with CHR$(255) — orange-ish blocks.

Code Note: For speed, I used “PRINT STRING$(num,char)”, though I could have also done something like “FOR I=0 TO 255:PRINT CHR$(255);:NEXT” but that would have been much slower.

It then switches in to the alternate color set with SCREEN 0,1. One a pre-Tandy CoCo with the original VDG chip, it looks like this:

But on the Tandy model with the 6847T1 VDG chip, it looks like this:

I do not have a real Tandy CoCo 2 here to verify the colors against this XRoar emulator example, but I am told they are accurate.

This means the T1 color set is more like this:

While I was aware of the lowercase and improved font of the 6847T1 VDG, these alternate colors were a surprise to me. Why did Motorola change it? Did they change it on purpose? I know the 6847 was used in several other computer (and at least one game) systems, but was this 6847T1 variant used elsewhere?

Let me know in the comments.

A colorful finale

And here’s all the variations I know of, so far, 6847 and 6847T1, in one gallery:

Until next time…

As you all know, I am pretty much retired from Vintage is the New Old these days, however I couldn’t resist logging in today to share some interesting News. Found by pure accident while browsing the Bomb Jack DX thread on Forum64. It seems that an Atari XL/XE version of Bomb Jack was entered into the Gacek ABBUC 2021 Competition and received 1st place. If you would like to download the game and also read a bit more about it, follow the links I have added below. Have fun guys!

Source: AtariOnline.PL
AtariAge: Thread
Video: YouTube
Follow me on Twitter: @CommodoreBlog

Find out by watching our new video series called “Phaze101 Retro Quiz”.

In each video you will be asked a short question about a retro game and shown three possible answers. You only have a few seconds to guess and then the correct answer is shown. Don’t worry if you get the answer wrong … it will be fun to take a trip down memory lane and maybe learn some interesting new facts. And, why not, it might also make you want to play the game!

There will be weekly episodes, but occasionally we might release more. Be sure to subscribe to our channel https://www.youtube.com/phaze101 to be notified when a new episode is released.

Please note that this is a quiz a like video and not a real quiz.

You can watch the first one here https://tinyurl.com/p101-retroquiz

In our new podcast episode we are happy to have Nicola and Anthony Caulfield: a filmmaking team from London, responsible for awesome documentaries like From Bedrooms To Billions and its sequel The Amiga Years. We are talking with them about their new project The Rubber-Keyed Wonder – a documentary about the ZX Spectrum which is currently on Kickstarter. Interview starts at 09:47 minutes

https://scene.world/40yrszxsprectrum

There is also a video version:

Back them in their kickstarter: http://kck.st/30JCKzf

The Brazilian magazine Clube MSX is a common subject here on ViTNO since we love supporting their efforts to create one of the best magazines out there. One of the common messages we often receive after publishing the news is, “it looks great but too bad I don’t speak (or read) Portuguese.”

Well, we are pleased to learn that the new issue #14 will be, for the first time, published in Portuguese and English. I can only imagine how happy it will be a lot of MSX enthusiasts will be reading this.

If we got your attention, here are the facts you need to know. 

The magazine crowdfunding campaign starts this Friday, November 5th, on the website Catarse. The Clube MSX #14, the last of 2021, will include a double-sided centrefold poster of the game Souls Keeper (Oniric Factor, 2021) and the disk magazine Gold Disk #4, including seven exclusive games for the MSX.

Another big news is that there will also be an English version of the magazine for the first time! The English version was only possible because of the interest of the MSX enthusiasts in more than ten countries that had already bought the magazine’s past issues, including Germany, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Canada, Spain, United States, French, Netherlands, England, Italy and Japan! 

SAME QUALITY, SAME CONTENT, TWO FLAVOURS!

For R$ 29,00 (~ USD5.00)+ shipping (including options for international shipping), the reader can already acquire Clube MSX #14 in English or Portuguese packed with the extras that are already a magazine’s tradition. There will also be rewards for those who order more than one magazine and a particular tier for collectors who want to acquire both issues in English and Portuguese.

The pre-sale has already started this Friday on Catarse (which accepts international credit cards) at https://www.catarse.me/clubemsx14. The campaign runs through December 20th.

Although the campaign site doesn’t have a specific page in English, it is straightforward to get the information you need to order the magazine. You need to go to the page linked above, scroll all the way down and pick your language. If you have any questions regarding ordering the magazine or international shipping, you can contact the publisher at contato@clubemsx.com.br, and they will be more than happy to guide you.

The magazine is planned to be shipped in Jan 2022.

MAIN FEATURES OF THE 14th ISSUE

Among the features of Clube MSX #14 you will be able to read the 5th part of the special article about MSX networking, covering the MSXHub service; reviews of the games Souls Keeper, Westen House, MinQ, Oohnograms and more.

It also will include a featured article about the classic Japanese disk magazines Peach Up and Pink Sox; an interview with the Brazilian Paulo Peccin, the creator of the incredible WebMSX emulator; an article teaching you how to create cables for tape recorders; an article covering the MSXDev’21 and much more!

GOLD DISK #4 BRINGS 7 EXCLUSIVE GAMES

What is more nostalgic than a magazine that includes a companion disk, link in the good old days? As it is already a tradition, every holiday special issue, Clube MSX brings a new issue of the disk magazine Gold Disk, produced by Clube MSX. This year, the Gold Disk #4 includes nothing less than seven exclusive games for the MSX1, including two “guest” games created by developers invited by the magazine. The games are 5Shots, Atlantis, Balloon Pop Ex, Indian Night, Ninja Training, Wild West Math and Zombies.

During the campaign, the publishers will post teasers about the games for the backers of the new issue. The teaser for 5Shots was already published, and you can watch it here:

Magazine Specifications:

Clube MSX nº 14

Pages: 40

year: 2021

Period: September-December

Language: Portuguese and English

Format: Print

Dimensions: 20,5 cm x 27,5 cm

Link: Catarse

N10, a small indie developer team has released today a new game for the ZX Spectrum to celebrate their love and passion for Speccy and Duck Tales. 

In Duck Tales: Webby To The Rescue, Uncle Scrooge with his nephews and Webby set off for the Carpathian country, where there is a long-abandoned old castle called Fort Cockroach. Legend says that untold riches are still kept there and no one has ever been able to find them. But, reaching the treasury in the dungeon of the castle, Scrooge and his nephews fall into a trap. Tired of waiting for anyone outside, Webby collects several stones by the river and decides to enter the old castle to find and save her friends. Try to open the best ending and make Uncle Scrooge very happy with the treasures found.

The game is available for free on itch.io (link below) in English and Ukranian.

Link: itch.io

By now I hope you have all have heard of the Amiga 68000 Assembly Course, if not please read and see how you can get it.

First a little story and how it all started by coincidence. I had bought the book of Fabio Ciucci in Italian called “The Complete Couse in Programming Assembly on two Disks”. I read this book and got hooked to it. The book was written between 1994 and 1996 I believe and it is just text files on two disks. While reading the book which I nearly had finished by then a friend of mine Lorenzo told me that he could get in touch with Fabio. I had told Lorenzo how much I enjoyed reading the book so when he told me he could get in touch with Fabio I immediately told him that I have an idea for the book which I would like to ask Fabio. To keep story short I got in touch with Fabio and we had a long conversation. I told him my idea that I would like to stream his book. I also told him why and that is because I want to bring Amiga coding more to the community and his book was the best I have read. It is really a complete book. Fabio kindly gave his approval and I immediately started preparing things.

Two or 3 weeks after I started streaming the book. I do this every week on a Saturday in Italian and same material is covered in English on Sunday. Why in two languages?

1. I wanted to show the book in its original form and since I can understand Italian and also speak Italian (not perfect Italian but manage somehow) I thought I should be able to do it. Fabio wanted to bring the book to the Italian community and hence I followed his track.
2. Since the book is so good I thought it should be translated in English but the book is huge 1872 pages hence it will be easier to stream it in English than actually translating it and that is what I did.

Now today, after 38 episodes of this series in both Italian and English I realise that both tasks are huge however by streaming it is brought quicker to the community. The road ahead is long but it will be all streamed eventually. All streams are edited and then uploaded to Youtube.

If you are interested in getting this course then start watching the first 18 episodes of the series on Youtube here

• ENG: https://tinyurl.com/A68K-ENG
• ITA: https://tinyurl.com/A68K-ITA

Also, on patreon and Ko-fi there are the full 38 Episodes which you can find here

• https://www.patreon.com/phaze101
• https://ko-fi.com/phaze101

Note I want to give something back to the supporters of Phaze101 and hence why they get early access but eventually all videos will be available publicaly to everyone on Youtube.

While here I also want to thank first of all Fabio Ciucci for giving me this opportunity and also all those that help me out during the stream. Last but not least all the Phaze101 members that help me in one way or another outside the stream and that thanks to them I am able to bring this to the Amiga community.

If you like the work please remember to hit the like button, it is all we ask for.

A long awaited Japanese-style RPG was released for the Commodore 64 on 26 October 2021: Briley Witch Chronicles, by Sarah Jane Avory. It’s a huge game, taking up more than 600 KB. To play it on a C64 you’ll need a 1 MB EasyFlash cartridge. Of course you can run it on Vice, and the Vice-based The C64 Mini and Maxi.

It’s a story-drive game where you, as a witch, explore the world and progress through the story with your (talking) cat. You can learn new spells and your cat can learn new skills. There’s combat, dialogue with others, cut-scenes and more. Thanks to the cartridge format, the game can hold enough sprites to provide smooth animation of all characters, along with portraits and a lot of dialog. The game’s author says she can speed-run through the game in about seven hours, but a more normal playthrough takes about 12 hours, for someone who knows exactly what to do. Someone experiencing the game for the first time is likely to need around 20 hours.

Reception of the game has been very positive. You can watch a video to get a taste of the gameplay. The game is available on itch.io for a price of $9.99 + VAT.