Category - Gaming

Amiga CD32 TerribleFire 330 – Game Compatibility List

21st February 2020

This ‘compatibility list’ features all the games that I have played on an Amiga CD32 with a TerribleFire 330 card installed. I have indicated whether each game is compatible (green), partially compatible (amber) or incompatible (red).

Please note that I haven’t exhaustively tested each game to completion (as much as I’d love to, I simply don’t have the time). Consequently there could be the odd issue that I’ve yet to discover even if a game has been given a green light.

These games are all from my personal collection so if a game isn’t listed here then it’s because I don’t own it. If anyone reading this knows of any other titles that do or don’t work on a TerribleFire 330 equipped CD32 then please leave a comment below. I’ll make sure those titles are added to the list.

Last updated: 25th July 2023

TerribleFire 330 Game Compatibility List

Alfred Chicken

Works perfectly.

Alien Breed 3D

Crashes after inputting the code from the code book.

Alien Tower Assault

Doesn’t load.

Bridge Strike

As you would hope for a new game, this works perfectly.

Beneath a Steel Sky

Works perfectly.

Bubba n Stix

Works perfectly.

Chuck Rock

Works perfectly.

Dangerous Streets/Wing Commander

Dangerous streets won’t load and Wing Commander crashes at the start of the intro video.

D/Generation

Works perfectly.

Disposable Hero

Works perfectly.

Fire & Ice

Works perfectly.

Fury of the Furries

Works perfectly.

Gloom

Works perfectly and the extra grunt means you can run the game at max graphical settings with no slowdown!

Guardian

Works perfectly and the extra power of the 030 processor means the game runs really smoothly!

Gunship 2000

Works perfectly and the extra power of the 030 processor means the game runs better.

Heroes of Gorluth

This is a recent game and actually lets you select a special 68030 version of the game from a startup menu. Works better than on a stock CD32 as a result!

James Pond 2

Works perfectly.

James Pond 3

Crashes after intro video.

Jungle Strike

Won’t load at all.

Lamborghini American Challenge

Works perfectly.

Liberation

Works perfectly.

Lotus Trilogy

Works but the initial menu screen where you select Lotus 1, 2 or 3 doesn’t display. You can hear the music in the background and if you press fire it will load Lotus 1 just fine. You can access the other 2 games by blindly selecting them (pull down once or twice before pressing fire).

Lumberjack Reloaded

Plays fine but there is occasionally a little bit of audio corruption with the music.

Microcosm

Works perfectly.

Morph

Works perfectly.

Nick Faldo’s Championship Golf

Works perfectly!

Nigel Mansell’s World Championship

Works but graphics flicker during gameplay.

Oscar/Diggers

Both games work perfectly.

Pinball Fantasies

Initially appears to work then exhibits various weird behaviour during play like slowing to a crawl and ultimately crashing with a screen full of garbage.

Pirates!

Works perfectly.

Pong 4K

As would be expected for a brand new game this works flawlessly.

Reshoot-R

Gameplay is fine but there’s some annoying audio corruption (white noise occasionally playing instead of music) that I’ve not got to the bottom of. So far I’ve only experienced this problem with this game and Lumberjack (both new games).

Roadkill

Works perfectly.

Sabre Team

Works perfectly.

Seek & Destroy

Works perfectly.

Sensible Soccer – European Champions

V1.1 European Champions edition appears to load, music plays but screen is blank. (Thanks to xubidoo for this info). The v1.2 World Cup Edition also doesn’t work and fails to load. (Thanks to Warren for this info).

Simon the Sorcerer

Works perfectly!

Star Crusader

Works perfectly.

Subwar 2050

Works perfectly.

Super Putty

Works perfectly!

Super Skidmarks

Works perfectly!

Super Stardust

Locks up after completing the first level.

Tales of Gorluth

This is a recent game and actually lets you select a special 68030 version of the game from a startup menu. Works better than on a stock CD32 as a result!

The Chaos Engine

Refuses to even load.

Top Gear 2

Works perfectly.

Wing Commander

This loads with all the colours messed up when the TF330 is installed, however if you search online there is a fixed ISO which runs properly. Game runs much better than on a stock CD32 but does have a tendency to lock up so save often. I’m hoping this might be due to my PSU being inadequate so will update this if I manage to get hold of a more powerful replacement.

UPDATE: So I bought a stronger PSU for my CD32. A 57W unit capable of providing stable 5V (up to 4.2A) and 12V (up to 3A) and… it didn’t make a blind bit of difference to the performance of the game sadly.

Zool

Works perfectly.

Zool 2

Works perfectly!

Sherlock Holmes by Infocom – Classic C64 Purchase

9th February 2020

Steven

Commodore 64, Gaming

1 Comment

Sherlock Holmes: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels was the last of a bunch of Infocom adventure games I picked up before Christmas. This, like all my others, is for the Commodore 64 and is in pretty good condition. The box does show some signs of wear but nothing too bad, just some creasing and wear to the corners. Sadly, like Border Zone, it is missing a ‘feelie’. Originally it would have shipped with a little plastic Sherlock Holmes key fob. It’s a little disappointing for sure but I can live without it, it’s the least important part of the package to me anyway.

Contrary to what I had expected, you actually play the role of Doctor Watson rather than Sherlock Holmes. The Crown Jewels have been stolen from the Tower of London and you only have 48 hours to retrieve them. Holmes deduces that this is a deadly trap constructed for him personally and so gets you (Watson) to take his place to throw the perpetrator off guard.

Exploring Victorian London is the highlight of the game for me. Locations are richly described which really helped immerse me in the games world. Playing Watson instead of Holmes is very odd though and I’m not sure why the author decided to do this. Only time will tell if it ultimately proves detrimental to the game.

Invisiclues

Unfortunately I don’t share Sherlock Holmes’ legendary deductive abilities so I’m glad there’s help available in this game. Just typing ‘hint’ brings up an ‘Invisiclues’ help screen. From here you can choose what you need help with from a menu. What’s great about this system is it gently nudges you in the right direction rather than just blurting out the answer. It does this by offering three hints. The first is quite vague but enough to hopefully get you thinking along the correct lines. The the second is less vague and if you still can’t figure it out the final hint is the actual answer. You can also turn this feature off if you think it will pose too great a temptation.

Sherlock Holmes Contents

As with all Infocom games there’s quite of lot of stuff packed inside the slide out tray.

Sliding out the box insert

Sherlock Holmes is no exception here with lots of extra goodies tucked inside the box insert.

The Sherlock Holmes box insert

Inside there’s the instruction manual, the game on a 5.25″ floppy disk, a tourist map of London and a copy of The Thames newspaper.

A look at what’s included inside the Infocom Sherlock Holmes game box

London Tours Guide Map

The Thames newspaper

The manual gives you a few pointers including how to draw a map…

As I mentioned earlier there should also be a little key fob but unfortunately that was missing from the box. However all the important things are present and correct and the fob isn’t required to actually play the game.

You can see the fob that should have been in the box next to the magnifying glass above

Once again this is another lovely addition to my Infocom collection and hopefully it won’t be the last. There aren’t many Infocom games floating around these days so it may be a while before another one crosses my path.

If you enjoyed looking at this page then here’s a look at some of the other Infocom games in my collection that I’ve posted about.

Commodore VIC20 ‘breadbin’ Case Repair

4th February 2020

Steven

Commodore 64, How to's, VIC 20

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Whilst working on my VIC20 recently I noticed a number of issues with the case. The first thing was that most of the little tabs along the back of the lid had broken off. This meant that the case didn’t close properly along the back at all. The other issue I spotted was that a couple of the plastic screw posts that hold the keyboard in place had split. Not sure why, possibly as a result of over-tightening at some point or the plastic expanding and contracting over the years. It was pretty clear that my dear old Commodore VIC20’s case was in need of some repair and TLC.

By the way, even though this post is all about the VIC20 the contents would be just as valid for a Commodore 64.

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Naturally I want my VIC20 to remain in as good a condition as possible so I set about looking for a means to remedy these problems. My search concluded when I came across a company in the US called Soigeneris that 3D prints suitable repair parts. The product I ordered from them was the ‘C64/VIC20 Case Saver Repair Kit‘. The whole thing cost me less than $20 including international shipping (which took about a week). *Note to self – get a 3D printer!

A look at what’s in the repair pack

Inside the pack there are actually 3 different parts to deal with common ‘breadbin’ case issues. New PCB standoffs (not needed here), replacement top case rear tabs and screw post repair sleeves. The drill bit is provided to help centre the PCB standoffs if you are using those.

From left to right: new PCB standoffs (with drill bit), replacement top case rear tabs and screw post repair sleeves.

There are several different case styles and they each have different types of hinge tabs. I had to check which variant mine was before ordering otherwise the replacement may not have fit. My particular VIC20 case needed ‘Type 2B’.

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Fitting the new hinge tabs

I decided to fit the new hing tabs to the back of the upper case lid first. This necessitated completely removing what was left of the existing ones to make way for the replacements.

Cutting what’s left of the existing tabs off with a craft knife

This was a simple matter of slicing the tabs off flush with the edge of the case. I used a sharp craft knife for this (and ended up slicing my thumb open) so do be very careful if you are following this post yourself. The plastic was a lot more brittle and softer than I expected so I applied way too much pressure…

Tabs completely removed allowing the fitment of the replacement

Before proceeding any further I test fitted the tabs to make sure they fitted flush to the edge of the case. Where needed I shaved some more ~~skin~~ plastic off my with knife.

Test fitting of replacement tab

The replacement tabs are well constructed and have been designed to align easily within the existing channels.

Test fitting of replacement tab

The instructions recommend using epoxy glue to fix them in in place as it sets rock hard. It also recommends roughening the surface of the case and cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol before gluing to ensure maximum adhesion.

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I applied a generous amount of epoxy glue and then held the tabs in position using some modelling clamps.

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Even though my epoxy glue is supposed to be quick drying I set the case aside for 24 hours to fully harden before going any further.

Holding the new hinge tabs in place whilst glue sets

Preparing the screw posts

Once I was happy that the glue had fully hardened I moved on to tackling the split screw posts. Thankfully only 2 of the posts were damaged but the kit includes enough replacement parts to fix all of them if necessary.

Broken screw post

Not only was the screw post split but it had also ‘mushroomed’ out at the top. This meant that it would need to be filed down to it’s original size before the repair sleeve would fit over it.

I used some of my wife’s emery boards to sand the post down. They worked really well too!

I used a few emery boards to sand the posts down to size but a small metal file would have done just as well. It took around 5-10 minutes to get it down to the correct size. I was constantly stopping and checking to see if the sleeve would fit. The last thing I wanted was to sand too much off and have the sleeve become loose.

Test fitting the sleeve. Note how the castellation allows it to slip over the post buttresses.

Eventually I found the sleeve would slide into place with moderate force so I stopped sanding. Then I just needed to repeat the process on the other broken post before gluing both sleeves permanently into place.

Gluing the repair sleeves

First I cleaned both the post and inside of the sleeve with isopropyl alcohol to make sure no plastic dust was left from the sanding. Then I mixed up a small amount of epoxy glue and applied it to the top of the post before sliding the sleeve down until the two top surfaces were flush.

Screw post fitted with repair sleeve after sanding it down

I smeared a little extra epoxy on the top of both the posts to fill the splits in the plastic too. There was no need to use any sort of clamp this time as the sleeves were a tight fit. The friction alone was more than sufficient to do the job.

An extra application of epoxy over the top helped fill any splits or gaps.

Once more the case was then set aside for 24 hours to give the glue ample time to harden.

Top part of case with all repairs complete

Reassembly

Now it was time to screw the keyboard back into place and to reunite the top and bottom parts of the case.

Keyboard fitted back into the repaired top case

I must admit I was a little concerned that the added thickness of the sleeves might have prevented the keyboard from fitting correctly.

Keyboard re-fitted – just enough clearance with repair sleeve

Happily, although a tight fit, the keyboard slotted into place without any extra trimming needed.

Screw in repaired post

The screws went into the repaired posts without any issues and were held very securely.

New hinge tabs seated in their corresponding slots on the bottom case

The two halves of the case also fitted back together perfectly. The hinged tabs were very securely held by the epoxy glue and the little tongues aligned perfectly with the grooves on the bottom half of the case. The back of the case was held tightly closed, a vast improvement from how it was before the repair.

Back of VIC20 nicely demonstrating the tightly fitting case halves post repair

This turned out to be a very worthwhile, rewarding and cheap little project. The biggest cost was actually my time, both in preparing the case and making the actual repairs. The whole thing took me three evenings plus a couple of days of glue setting time.

Coupled with my heatsink project and keyboard repair my VIC20 is now in tip top condition again. Hopefully she will be able to take her upcoming 40th birthday in her stride as she marches on up to the big 50.

Cooling my VIC20

2nd February 2020

Steven

How to's, VIC 20

7 Comments

Although my VIC20 is working perfectly I thought it would be prudent to take some precautions to help it continue to lead a long life. I’ve read about chips failing in the VIC, often due to excessive heat build-up. To this end I set about checking just how hot the various chips were getting and see if I could find a way of cooling my VIC20.

Here’s a diagram I knocked up identifying the main chips on my VIC20 motherboard. I made it for my own future reference but it may be helpful to others too.

Commodore VIC20 Motherboard with main chips labelled. (Click for larger version).

The first thing I did was leave my VIC20 running a game for a couple of hours. I chose GORF as it continually runs in ‘attract mode’ which I hoped would give everything a good workout. I let this run for 2 hours before lifting the lid and checking the chip temperatures.

To perform the testing I used a cheap infrared thermometer that I picked up off Amazon. With this gadget I could simply point the laser at a chip to instantly read its temperature. I found that different areas on the same chip could give significantly different temperatures. The difference was often as much as 5C so I noted down the highest temperature measured for each chip.

Chip Temperatures

Perhaps not surprisingly the hottest chip on the board was the VIC running at 46C . The next hottest were the 2 VIA chips at operating at 40C. Running in joint third place was the Character ROM, BASIC, Kernal and CPU chips at 35C each. Last place and probably of little concern were the two large RAM chips in the bottom left which reached 30C. The rest of the chips were all below 30C so I felt these didn’t warrant any further attention.

Packs of Copper Heatsinks

I didn’t want to install a fan in my VIC20 so I decided on heatsinks to help cool things down. Because all the chips are different sizes a ‘one size fits all’ approach wasn’t going to work. To this end I took a few measurements and went looking for something suitable. In the end I settled on these copper heatsinks from Amazon and picked up 3 packs in total. I had already bought a pack of these in case any of the smaller chips needed cooling too.

Copper Heatsinks alongside the thermal tape fixing pads

Although they look square, they’re aren’t quite as they measure 10mm x 11mm. However they are the perfect size to both fit the width of each of the main chips and to be used in multiples to maximise surface coverage on the various chip lengths. They also came supplied with self-adhesive thermal tape which allowed easy installation.

Preparation

Before even thinking of installing the heatsinks I needed to do some cleaning. The chip surfaces needed to be squeaky clean to ensure good adhesion of the thermal tape. Also, besides a few blasts of compressed air I hadn’t got around to cleaning the motherboard since I rescued my VIC20 from the attic. A bottle of Isopropyl alchohol and a box of Lidl’s finest (i.e. cheap) cotton buds was the order of the day here.

Dirty cotton buds after the chips and motherboard had been cleaned with isopropyl alcohol.

All I did was gently wipe the surface of every chip, component, contact and the surface of the board itself until the cotton buds came up clean. Of course if the board was already clean I would have simply cleaned the surface of the main chips and stopped there. The whole cleaning process probably took about half an hour, maybe a bit more but i found it quite therapeutic. I also cleaned the base of the heatsinks just to be sure they were squeaky clean.

Cleaning up with an alcohol soaked cotton bud.

The next task was to carefully attach the thermal tape to the heatsinks. I simply peeled one square off the sheet and carefully aligned it with the edge of a heatink before pressing it firmly into place. It was important to get these aligned correctly otherwise it would have made placing them next to each other very difficult.

Heatsink with thermal tape applied

Once I was ready to attach a heatsink (I’d already loose-fitted them to check the best way to arrange them) I just needed to peel the protective film off the thermal tape. I found a sharp blade was very useful here if I couldn’t catch the edge of the plastic film with my fingernail.

Heatsink with thermal tape applied, protective film removed and ready to be stuck into place

Installation

This was the best part, sticking the heatsinks onto the chips. For the bigger chips like the VIA, VIC and CPU I used 4 heatsinks butted up close to each other. For most of the other chips like the RAM, BASIC and Kernal I just used 2. By this stage I ran out of the ‘not quite square’ heatsinks. Because of this I used 2 of the tall slim heatsinks to top off both of the RAM chips. These were only reaching 30C anyway so didn’t need serious cooling.

Here’s the VIC fully covered by heatsinks.

I found the thermal tape stuck the heatsinks down really well which made it all the more important to position them correctly first time. Moving them around after they’d been stuck down was almost impossible.

First VIA chip done… that ceramic capacitor bent over the lower part of the left VIA chip needed to be carefully bent away before heatsinks could be fitted

From left to right, the BASIC, Kernal and CPU chip (not finished)

Did it actually do anything?

Here’s a photo of the completed project with all the main chips covered by heatsinks. It certainly looks the part now but did the addition of the heatsinks actually have any appreciable impact on cooling my VIC20?

Finished project with all the ‘hottest’ running chips fitted with heatsinks

In order to see if the project actually made any sort of meaningful impact I repeated the same test as before. I popped the lid back on, slid GORF into the cartridge slot and let my VIC simmer for 2 hours. I measured temperatures in the same way as before, noting the highest recorded reading for each one.

I’m happy to say I found that the heatsinks did actually result in a decent improvement in temperatures across the board. The biggest improvement came from the VIC chip which went from hovering around 46C down to 38C, a drop of 8C which is fantastic. The VIA chips fell from 40C to 35C and the VIC Character ROM from 35C to 31C. The remaining chips showed drops of between 2-3C which whilst not as impressive is still an improvement.

I’m not really sure why the different chips exhibited different levels of improvement but nevertheless I’m very happy with the results. My VIC20 is almost 40 years old now and I’m hoping this little project helps it last a good few more!

Vegetables Deluxe Review

28th January 2020

Steven

Amiga, Commodore 64, Reviews

15 Comments

Vegetables Deluxe is a sequel of sorts to the Vegetables game that was released on itch.io early last year by Mike Richmond. It’s a ‘match 3’ type of game similar to Bejewelled or Candy Crush, a genre I don’t think even existed back in the 80’s. Thanks to this game that’s no longer the case and you can now enjoy this genre on both a C64 and Amiga (see end of post).

Physical Presentation

The game is presented in a vibrantly coloured glossy green box with some great artwork on the front. The back of the box includes some nice clear screenshots of the game in action along with a description of what it’s all about.

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Opening up the box reveals an instruction manual and the game on a 5.25″ floppy disk with a snazzy matching label.

Vegetables Deluxe manual and Game on a 5,25″ disk

The instruction manual is nicely illustrated and in full colour throughout. It clearly explains how to play the game and describes the four different game modes on offer.

Vegetables Deluxe manual

Loading up the Game

Upon loading the game you are presented with a lovely title screen complete with music. Pressing the fire button on your joystick starts a game straight away. I did find this a little odd as you’d normally expect to choose the game mode first.

Vegetables Deluxe title screen

To actually get to the menu screen you need to pause the game by pressing ‘P’ on the keyboard and then press ‘Q’.

Vegetables Deluxe menu screen

From the menu screen you can choose whether to have music or just sound effects whilst playing. You can also select from one of four different gameplay modes (more about these later).

The Game

I’m sure most people are aware of what a ‘match 3’ game is but just in case… Basically you have a grid full of randomly coloured objects, or in this case vegetables. You must match 3 or more of the same coloured vegetables either vertically or horizontally to remove them from the screen and earn points. You do this by moving the little selection box around with a joystick, holding the fire button and then moving the stick in a direction. When a group of vegetables disappear, the ones above fall down and new ones randomly appear from the top to take their place. If you run out of matches the game will use one of your available ‘shuffles’ to randomly rearrange the vegetables on the screen so you can carry on. However, if you no longer have any shuffles remaining then the game will end.

Vegetables Deluxe ‘Classic’ mode

To mix things up occasionally an immovable block will appear that impedes your progress. You can also match more than three vegetables for extra bonuses. Matching 4 in a row will cause an entire row to be removed and this is a great way to clear those immovable blocks. Matching 5 in a row will cause every matching vegetable on the screen to removed and will earn you an extra shuffle.

Watch out for the grey immovable blocks, let too many accumulate and you’ll run out of moves!

The screen is broken up into 3 main sections. On the left there is a kind of shopping list which either tells you how many of each vegetable you need to collect, or how many you have collected so far. (More on this later). The centre of the screen is where all the action takes place whilst on the right is where the timer, score and number of shuffles are located.

Game Over! (This was my ‘shopping’ High Score)

Game Modes

There are 4 different modes, each catering towards a different play style.

Casual is for those that want a relaxing experience that keeps the ‘unmovable blocks’ to a minimum. The instructions reckon it’s still possible to reach a game over state in this mode. However during my time playing the game I found this to be more like an endless mode as I kept racking up extra shuffles.

Classic is the default play mode and has you battling to reach a high score whilst dealing with plenty of immovable blocks.

Shopping has you collecting the vegetables shown on the shopping list. If you manage to collect them all then you complete that level and move onto the next with a bigger shopping list.

Shopping mode has you collecting items off the list on the left

Countdown is the hardest mode and has a sliding countdown timer (the coloured bar on the right). This gives you just a few seconds to make a match or you lose a shuffle.

During play if you are struggling to find a match the game will briefly highlight a potential (though not necessarily the best) move you can make. This is a great feature and is one commonly found on modern variants of the game. It’s no use in Countdown mode though, for that you really need to be on the ball!

When you are not playing in shopping mode, the list on the left works the other way round. It actually keeps a tally of what you’ve collected, up to a point anyway. You see the counters only go up to 99 and then reset back to 0. It’s not a big deal and in Casual mode where you could potentially be collecting a mountain of vegetables, entirely understandable.

My thoughts on the game

I tried all the game modes but found the ‘shopping’ mode the most fun. It gives you something extra to work on besides just matching vegetables. I didn’t really enjoy ‘countdown’ mode as the timer destroyed the relaxation side of things. Games started in casual mode simply lasted too long. Without a save option I was never able to actually finish one. I guess people playing it on an emulator or C64 Mini would have the option of using save states but that doesn’t fly on the real thing. Leaving my ageing C64 on until I can come back to finish a game certainly isn’t an option either!

For a game that is all about reaching and beating a high score I was disappointed that there was no way to save a high score to disk. Many C64 games offer this facility now and it’s a shame that Vegetables Deluxe hasn’t followed suit. Of course it’s not the end of the world by any means. You can write your score down (proper old-school style) or snap a pic of the screen with a smartphone. Hopefully one day this feature might be included in an updated version of the game.

The game looks terrific though and all the better for utilising high resolution mode. The vegetables are clearly defined and very colourful and the overall aesthetic is very pleasing to the eye. If you choose to play with sound effects then you won’t hear much at all, just the odd ‘plink’ when you make a match. The music however is brilliant and if you enjoy SID tunes then this is definitely the way to play. I’ve played this game for hours and never tired of listening to the soundtrack so top marks for that.

This is a terrific little puzzle game for the Commodore 64. It looks great, sounds fantastic and is a lot of fun to play. I have no reservations at all in recommending it to anyone looking for a casual gaming experience. It’s published by Double-Sided Games in Canada on cartridge, floppy disk or digital download. There is now also a cassette tape version available from Psytronik in the UK.

Standard vs Deluxe Comparison

I mentioned at the start that this is an updated version of the game. Below you can see a few comparison pics between this and the earlier version. There’s a number of marked improvements over the original game. These include the addition of in-game music and three extra gameplay modes. The Deluxe version also takes advantage of the Commodore 64’s high-res capability to deliver much crisper graphics than you get with the chunkier colour mode used in the original. It actually reminds me a little of a Spectrum game in terms of presentation, especially the font used.

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Amiga Version

Included as a bonus at no extra charge is a complete Amiga port of the game as well! This takes the form of a digital ADF disk image that you can either use in an emulator or on a real Amiga via a GOTEK drive. (I think this bonus is exclusive to the Double-Sided Games release).

Amiga Title Screen

It’s the exact same game with the same choice of game modes, optional music and so on. The music is terrific but I personally prefer the C64 tune. The title screen is also infinitely better on the C64 version with the Amiga’s being text only.

Amiga Vegetables Deluxe game screen

A big benefit of the Amiga version is mouse support which feels like the natural way to play a game like this. It also benefits from the higher resolution and larger colour palette to create a more striking display. Both games are brilliant but I think the C64 version is better in the music department whilst the mouse support gives the Amiga version the edge in gameplay. If the C64 version supported the NEOS or 1351 mouse then that would make it a clear winner for me!

Even though the Amiga version is classed as a bonus addition to the C64 game I would still recommend this to Amiga only gamers as it’s a great game on either system.

Border Zone by Infocom – Classic C64 Purchase

22nd January 2020

Steven

Commodore 64, Gaming

2 Comments

Before Christmas I mentioned that I had picked up a few new Infocom adventure games for my collection. Well this is the second one, Border Zone for the Commodore 64. Again this is in very good condition throughout. The only blemish being that it is missing one of the feelies (a book of matches) but I’m not really too bothered about that.

Infocom Border Zone back cover

This adventure is a little bit different as you actually play three different people during the course of the game. The idea being that you get to see the story unfold from different viewpoints. At certain points in the story the paths of the characters intersect too which should prove interesting. Border Zone is basically a cold war spy thriller which was all the rage back in the 80’s. In a nutshell there’s an assassination plot and you must either try to prevent it, or ensure it succeeds, depending on who you are playing as.

Border Zone opening screen on my Commodore 64

I have to confess that after I started to play this I realised that there is a timer that ticks down while you are playing. This is a real-time timer… it ticks down whether you type a command or not. This is a real turn off for me as I like to take my time, examine everything, draw a map, make myself a cuppa or whatever… I don’t want to be stressing about running out of time. This may well prove to be a deal-breaker on this particular game, only time will tell.

It is actually possible to slow the timer down by entering the command ‘slow’. This certainly helps things but still doesn’t stop my anxiety levels whilst playing…

Border Zone ‘Feelies’

As with all Infocom games there’s plenty of extras packed inside the slide out tray.

Sliding out the box insert

Border Zone is no exception here with lots of extra goodies tucked inside the box insert.

The Border Zone box insert

Starting with the standard stuff first, there’s the instruction manual, a reference card for the C64 version of the game, the game on a 5.25″ floppy disk, and a registration card.

Feelies galore…

Also included is a map of the border between Frobnia and Litzenburg and a business card from ‘Riznik’s Antiques’. Additionally there’s an ‘I am Frobnia – Fortunate Tourists Guide and Phrasebook’ to help set the scene. As I mentioned earlier there should also be a little book of matches but unfortunately that was missing from the box.

All in all this is a fantastic item and another worthy addition to my Infocom collection, albeit one that I may never finish due to the timer.

If you enjoyed looking at this page then here’s a look at some of the other Infocom games in my collection that I’ve posted about.

Freeze 64 Issue 33 Fanzine is out now

21st January 2020

Steven

Commodore 64

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Arriving much earlier in the week than is the norm, Freeze 64 Issue 33 glided onto my doormat today. This is the first issue of 2020 and I hope that there’s many more to come.

Freeze 64 Issue 33 comes with a ‘Mikie’ cheat card (no. 28) .

Issue #33’s featured game and interview is Head Over Heels and its coder, Colin Porch. There’s also a bumper crop of cheats and pokes for Frostbyte, Dragonspire, Freeze64 and Crazy Blaster. Meanwhile, creeping out of the Mouldy Cupboard this time around is the shameful ~~Night Rider~~ Niterider from 1984.

Freeze 64 in its native habitat…

In another interesting interview, Chris Stanley delves into the making of his recently released ‘Mancave’ game. Of course all the regular sections like Zzapback!, Secret Squirrel and My C64 Heaven make a return too. We also have the 2019 Freeze 64 Game of the Year awards to enjoy.

Quick peek at the contents of this issue.

If you fancy your own copy then head over to the Freeze64 website and show your support by purchasing this issue.

I need your clothes, your boots… and your copy of Freeze 64! (Sorry couldn’t resist – my T800 model has finally reached a point where it’s starting to look like a Terminator and I wanted to show it off!)

Here’s a link to my previews of several earlier editions of Freeze64 if you’d like to check out what you’ve been missing!

Amiga Future #142 – January/February edition out now.

17th January 2020

Steven

Amiga

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The latest issue of Amiga Future (Amiga Future #142) arrived through the post a couple of days ago. Another great issue crammed with interesting Amiga stuff from cover to cover.

Amiga Future #142 Front Cover

What’s in this issue?

If you’ve ever considered getting a modern ‘clone’ Amiga then you’re in luck. In this issue there’s a particularly useful 5-page article looking into the various FPGA Amiga clones on the market.

There’s plenty of reviews to read through too. Games such as Insanity Fight, Blastaway and Goldrush plus programs including IBrowse 2.5, DiskPrint and AddressMaster are all covered. There’s plenty of news, letters and interviews too. There’s also a healthy showing of adverts which is certainly encouraging with regards to reflecting the current state of the Amiga scene.

If you pay attention a new game for the Commodore VIC20 even gets a small write-up and a screenshot too!

Index of what’s in Issue #142

I’m happy to report a return to form for the Cover CD this time around. There’s full versions of both AddressMaster and DiskPrint on the CD, both of which used to be sold commercially for €10+ each. These packages are reviewed in the magazine as well.

Below is a little peek at some of the stuff inside Amiga Future #142. If you’d like to purchase a copy then do please take a look here and support what is now the last remaining commercially printed Amiga magazine!

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Never come across Amiga Future magazine before? Perhaps you’d care to take a look at some of my other Amiga Future magazine previews here.

Audio Tape Cassette Storage – Solution/Review

6th January 2020

Steven

Commodore 64, VIC 20, Vintage Hi-Fi

11 Comments

My audio tape cassette storage problem has been bugging me for quite some time now. Over the years I’ve accumulated a lot of cassette tapes (both music and games) and that number is constantly increasing. I’ve been storing a lot of them in those old drawer units (the ones usually covered in tacky looking wood effect vinyl). Whilst this is an effective storage method I’ve always found them a bit of a pain to use and also my tapes are hidden away out of sight. I’ve also got loads of tapes stacked on top of each other on a shelf and this is far from ideal too. Forty year old tapes are not something I want to risk playing Jenga with!

EDIT (2024): I now produce my own cassette storage racks which you can check out here: Cassette Storage Racks.

All this leads me to the reason for posting this article. After searching around for a while for a better solution I finally found one I’m happy with so I thought I’d share it.

This is a link to the racks featured in this post.

The Solution

The audio tape cassette storage solution I found is a purpose made wooden rack that can hold 60 cassettes in their boxes. It’s manufactured by a company in Germany called ‘Protected’ and are available for sale on . Delivery took less than a week by DHL.

The packaging the racks arrived in.

The racks came individually packaged. Opening the cardboard box (carefully to avoid cutting into it) revealed the nicely bubble-wrapped rack inside.

My cat loves it when I open new parcels!

All three of mine arrived in great shape. I must admit I was a little wary about ordering at first as I wasn’t sure if these were getting knocked together in someone’s garden shed. There is only one (poor) photo on the Amazon website and precious little info provided. However I was very pleased to discover a high standard of both manufacture and finish.

Nicely finished woodwork

A Closer Look

The racks are constructed from solid strips of pine wood and the back panel is made of plywood. All the strips of wood forming the slots are perfectly aligned and fit perfectly flush. There are no sharp edges or splinters to worry about as everything has been sanded smooth and edges rounded off. The back is a little rough but once in use you’re never going to see or touch it again.

There are 4 pre-drilled holes in each corner so you can wall mount the racks. Somewhat disappointingly plugs and screws are not provided. However this is not that big a deal and most people my age have probably got loads in a jam jar somewhere in their shed or garage. I would also recommend the use of a washer as the holes are quite big. Using a washer will also prevent you from driving a screw right through the thin plywood back panel.

width…

Size wise the racks are approximately 20″ (51cm) long and 13.5″ (34cm) tall.

height…

I opted for the natural pine finish but they also offer a white one too. I’ve not seen that in the flesh so can’t comment on the finish of it. I guess you could also either varnish or paint them to suite your colour scheme too. I’m quite happy to keep the bare wood finish for my setup though.

Closer look at the slot construction

The slots are perfectly sized and I’ve not found any cassettes that wouldn’t fit into the them.

A selection of VIC20 games slotted in nicely

The rack is slightly shallower than a cassette is deep (2″ or 50mm) which means tapes stick out about 1/2″ (12mm). This allows you to easily get your fingers around them when you need to get them out.

Top of rack makes for a useful display area.

You can even use the top of the rack as a small shelf for extra storage or display purposes. I’m still experimenting with what looks best but will probably settle for displaying double-cassette boxes or the odd big box game.

Racks filling up nicely…

Finishing Words

I have to say I really love these racks and I’m glad I’ve finally found a storage solution that fulfils my desire to display my stuff too. I filled my three racks straight away so have just ordered another three. With six racks I’ll have the capacity to store 360 tapes in total. That’ll allow me to store all the tapes I currently own and hopefully leave me with enough empty slots to accommodate future purchases, fingers crossed.

The racks are available from Amazon here:

Update: 1st April 2020

Fitted the extra three racks so as promised here’s a photo of the finished project. I still have a few empty slots left thankfully but how long for is anyone’s guess!

Finished project with enough space for 360 cassette tapes.

Hope you found this article useful!

JollyDisk – a Merry 8-Bit Christmas

31st December 2019

Steven

Commodore 64

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I spotted this little festive treat quite by chance just a few days before Christmas. It’s called ‘JollyDisk’ and is basically a series of animated Christmas cards along with some nice SID based Christmas carols. There’s also an animated Yule Log ‘Jukebox’ thrown in for good measure too.

From time of ordering to delivery from the USA to the UK took ten days. Given the time of year I thought this was pretty good. What wasn’t so good was the £13.11 customs charges I got stung for. Only £5.11 of that total was actually import duties, the other £8 was tacked on by Royal Mail for ‘handling fees’. Anyhoo… them’s the breaks as they say so I won’t hold that against it. As for the Royal Mail… you robbers…

JollyDisk Contents

Anyway my JollyDisk came neatly packaged inside a ZipLock bag with a colourful card inlay showing what it’s all about. There was also a nice ‘Stirring Dragon Games’ sticker, a keyboard overlay (remember those?) and of course the actual 5.25″ JollyDisk itself!

The JollyDisk is actually double sided. The first side is devoted to the multimedia Christmas cards whilst the flip side hosts the Yule Log Jukebox.

Christmas Cards

JollyDisk Title Screen

After a few moments you are greeted with a nice title screen before moving on to the Christmas cards. The cards are beautifully presented in full multi-colour graphics featuring a number of animations that help bring the scene to life.

Pay attention to this one to spot a special appearance…

In one scene for example, Santa’s sleigh streaks across a moonlit sky (closely following by E.T. if you pay attention!). Others feature animated animals, snow falling, twinkling lights and much more. It’s clear that a lot of love went into creating each scene.

A fox gazes into a moonlit sky…

Accompanying each screen is a Christmas carol performed gracefully by the C64’s SID chip. There’s a different carol for each screen ranging from Silent Night to Deck the Halls and of course Jingle Bells is in there somewhere too!

Winter scene featuring a deer taking a drink

Once each music track has finished the next scene is automatically loaded off the floppy disk.

Traditional Christmas scene

Once the final Christmas Card has been displayed it loops right back to the start. This means you can leave it on for as long as you like and have it constantly cycling through different scenes and carols.

A kid playing on a C64 in their bedroom at Christmas – something most of us can probably relate to!

It’s the sort of thing a computer shop in the 80’s might have left on display during the festive season.

The last scene before looping back to the beginning

Yule Log

The second side of the JollyDisk features a fully animated Yule Log created entirely from PETSCII graphics. This ‘Jukebox’ is where that keyboard overlay comes in handy.

The keyboard Overlay in use

The keyboard overlay sits over the function keys and reminds you which keys do what.

F1 turns the sound off.
F3 changes the fireplace design (there are 2 to choose from).
F5 selects a crackling fire sound.
F7 skips to the next song.

The songs that play are the same Christmas carols that featured on side one. However there do seem to be a few more on offer here. I think there’s ten in total. In addition to moving sequentially through them with F7 you can also directly access each one using the number keys. Playing the songs like this causes them to play on a loop, particularly handy if you have a favourite.

JollyDisk Yule Log menu screen

The crackling fire sound enabled by pressing F5 is quite effective. I assume it’s been created using various snippets of white noise but it’s pretty effective and definitely relaxing. In fact I’ve actually got it running in the background whilst I type this article!

A static photo wouldn’t have done the Yule Log justice so here’s an animated GIF…

Here’s an animated GIF I created of the crackling fire. You’ll just have to imagine the Christmas carols playing or the sounds of the log crackling – either that or buy a copy for yourself 🙂

All in all this is a delightful little product. It’s definitely something I will look forward to digging out every year to experience some 8-bit Christmas cheer.

As I write this it’s still available physically for $24.99 or $14.99 digitally from Stirring Dragon Games if you are interested in getting hold of a copy yourself.

Plundered Hearts by Infocom – Classic C64 Purchase

30th December 2019

Steven

Commodore 64, Gaming

32 Comments

I was lucky enough to bag a few new adventure games for my collection in the run up to Christmas. One them was this, the big box release of Plundered Hearts by Infocom. I paid a little more than I probably should have as it’s quite a rare game and is in beautiful condition. It’s definitely been well cared for by its previous owner. It is resplendent with all the extra ‘feelies’ and paperwork inside its pristine box too.

Infocom Plundered Hearts back cover

This adventure tells the story of a young woman who sets sail for the West Indies in search of her sick father. Along the way you will encounter pirates, puzzles, vicious crocodiles and even romance. This sounds like it could be a really good yarn and given the pirate subject matter has made its way into my play list quite near the top!

Ooer missus – Plundered Hearts running on my Commodore 64

Plundered Hearts ‘Feelies’

As always with Infocom games, a huge part of their appeal for me is the extras (feelies) tucked inside the box. All of these bits and bobs came as standard with each copy of the game sold. No premium priced ‘special’ or ‘collectors’ editions here designed to fleece the customer. No siree, everyone got the same fully loaded edition. How times have changed – you’re lucky to get a sheet of paper listing the game controls these days!

Sliding out the box insert

Happily Plundered Hearts is no exception here with lots of extra goodies tucked inside the box insert.

The Plundered Hearts box insert

There’s the instruction manual, a reference card for the C64 version of the game, the game on a 5.25″ floppy disk, a registration card and a coupon book containing offers for other games and merchandise.

Plundered Hearts Feelies

Incidentally there’s some great offers inside the coupon book but sadly it looks like I missed the expiration date by a few days…

I’d definitely be taking advantage of this offer of a free Infocom T-Shirt if the coupon was still valid!

Opening up the blue velvet pouch reveals even more goodies… There’s a beautifully hand written letter from Jean Lafond helping to set the scene for the game. A 50 Guinea note from the Bank of St. Sinistra rounds off the list of feelies and looks pretty convincing although is sadly not legal tender in the UK.

Letter and 50 guinea note contained within the blue velvet pouch

All in all this is a fantastic item and a very worthy addition to my Infocom collection.

If you enjoyed looking at this page then here’s a look at some of the other Infocom games in my collection that I’ve posted about.

A look at K&A Plus #14 Magazine

28th December 2019

Steven

Amiga, Commodore 64

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Received my copy of K&A Plus #14 today. As is normal with these things I was pretty excited to see what articles it contained. My excitement level was further increased because this issue came with a cover mounted floppy disk. The disk was an optional extra €5 but I felt it was well worth it.

K&A Plus #14 Front Cover

Here’s a look at the magazine cover and that snazzy cover disk in more detail.

K&A Plus #14

The Cover Disk

The last issue (#13) had a cover mounted CD containing Amiga goodies. This time around there’s a 5.25″ floppy disk packed with programs for the good old Commodore 64.

It comes housed in a regular paper sleeve with a nice colour label emblazoned with ‘Good Old 8-Bit Games #1’. This suggests it may be the first of a series of disks… I certainly hope so! The disk is double sided and features 12 games spread across those two sides.

K&A Plus #14 Floppy Disk

There’s plenty to read through in this issue but here’s a few of my highlights. First off there was an interesting article looking at Desert Strike, one of my favourite Amiga games, and just how much it may have been based on real events. I also really enjoyed the article looking at Iron Lord, a mighty fine looking adventure game which released on both the C64 and Amiga.

A BASIC program listing… in 2019!

Possibly the most memorable section though was the ‘BASIC 10 Liner Contest’. This was a competition held to find out who could write the best game using just 10 lines of BASIC code. The standout part of this article was the inclusion of some of the programs as ‘listings’ that you can type in! Now that really takes me back to the 80’s when I would spend hours typing in programs from Your Computer magazine, Commodore Horizons and several others. Good times indeed.

Magazine Preview

Here’s a quick look at the contents page of the magazine.

K&A Plus #14 Contents

And here’s a little preview of some of the stuff in this issue:

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If you’ve never come across this magazine before you might want to take a look at some of my previews of previous issues here.

If you want to find out more about K&A Plus #14 or order yourself a copy, head on over to the Komoda & Amiga Plus website. The magazine is produced in Poland but they produce an English language version too. Shipping to the UK only takes a few days.