tremoloman2006 Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 Hello everyone, I am relatively new to the TRS-80 Color Computer. So far I'm really digging it! Is there some sort of online guide/cartridge list I can utilize to help build my collection? I see carts for sale but have no idea what pricing/rarity they are since I cannot find anything to compare them with. Any help would greatly be appreciated! Best regards, Trem 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I don't know of any rarity guide for the coco. Most of the carts from Radio Shack are common, especially early titles. A few like Demon Attack, 5 (7?) Card Stud, and Dragon Fire, are less common. 3rd party carts not sold in Radio Shack make rare on other machines look common by comparison. I've picked up lots with several carts off of ebay for as little as $2 a cart. I think individual carts were about $4 each for a long time but people seem to be asking a lot more these days. I wouldn't spend over $5 on a common cart unless I really had to. Demon Attack or Dragon Fire would be worth $8 or more depending on how many have been on the market recently. If you want an example of the rare, I think Atico (something like that) made a couple cart games that I've never seen on ebay or in person and probably never will. I'd guess they sold in the hundreds. Cyrus chess is fairly rare but you do see it once in a while. I think Cyrus went for over $25 the last time I saw one on ebay. Most coco software was Tape or Disk and it seems a lot of those titles are rare. Tape/disk titles to look for are from Tom Mix Software, Spectral Associates, Computerware, Michtron, etc... 3rd party titles often sell for $15 or more and I've seen a few titles like SR-71 go for over $50. You can find a fairly good list of CoCo games at the link below. It's by no means complete but it will give you an idea of whats out there. Most games weren't on carts. http://www.lcurtisboyle.com/nitros9/coco_game_list.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted December 2, 2012 Share Posted December 2, 2012 I would imagine an original Contras must be pretty rare. The game was delayed, I had forgotten I ordered it and it showed up in the mail two years later. I don't even think the coco was being sold in Radio Shack anymore at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 How bout the space math tape? They had the wildest graphics that drew pictures as it loaded. I remember when the robot moved I almost pissed my pants..You would have to see it to believe it!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr SQL Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 Trem, that's awesome, the CoCo is a fun machine! Some great carts are: Arkanoid (of course ) - this one's a "fat binary" from Radio Shack that actually has two different Arkanoid games depending upon if you've got a CoCo3 or an earlier model. Dino Wars - fun 3D Dinosaur fighting game. Mega-Bug - Great pac game with a sliding magnifying glass; I was just reading on the 6502 vs Z80 thread how this was impossible on the Nec TREK which used the same display hardware as the CoCo. The CoCo has many phat pixel semigraphics modes and the games that use these feel the most retro Lot of great arcade conversions too, most of the software was on tape and disk as previously mentioned but there are many cart titles as well. There are multicarts available similar to the Harmony or the UIEC for the C64 and simpler solutions for loading the tape images from a casette deck or as WAV files. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I've only seen Antico carts once on ebay and they sold for a few hundred. I thought they put other companies games on cart that weren't usually on cart - such as Tom Mix's Katerpiller Attack - and didn't actually make their own games? I can't remember exactly. As mentioned most coco games, even common ones, are rare anymore. Any third party games like JamesD mentioned with Imagic titles are worth a little more, again not a lot more unless you get a desperate buyer out there. I guess I was lucky to get my cart collection when I did and buy up a few big lots of games on the cheap. The only time I've paid more than $5 a game was when I bought Rampage and Arkanoid from Cloud9tech. I think both are worth the money and are very good ports. One game that I can't find is Atom, which is a kind of educational game and a couple like Don Pan and Robot Battle I've only seen once. I saw 7 card stud on ebay once but I think they wanted $20 + shipping which I think is twice its worth IMO. The best games were indeed on tape and disk, especially the third party arcade clones and ports but you can use devices like Drivewire or the SuperIDE with a modern PC to get them on a real coco to play. One word of warning if you go this way, you might want to stay away from DrivePak which was once made by Roger Taylor, now sold to another group, who make these devices similar to Drivewire and SuperIDE. Some have been burned with spending money on devices that were never even made, although the group that took over development is supposedly fulfilling these years overdue orders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I spent my entire past weekend re-learning Dungeons of Daggorath on my 64k coco1. This has to be one of if not the best coco game out there. It is simply fantastic. I'm using "diskdag", disk based version of the game that saves and loads right from the disk drive. Real floppy only, no DW support. It makes the game much more enjoyable, PM me anyone if you'd like me to image the disk for you. I made it down to level four and have that mostly cleared. Great fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhd Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 It has been many years since I saw/played it, but there was some third-party pool game on a cartridge too. I remember seeing one in a Radio Shack store somewhere in the North-East, around 1983 ot '84. It was the only third-party cartridge that I was ever aware of (not counting hardware devices). I later had a dump of it on cassette tape, but I don't recall the title/publisher. I would hazard a guess that the non-game cartridges are even more rare because of limited sales -- e.g. Audio Spectrum Analyzer, the "business" cartridges like Scripsit(sp?), Color File, and even a spreadsheet cartridge. I think that there was also a presentation-graphics cartridge and even a diagnostics cartridge. Some of the really early cartridges (Dino Wars, Roman Checkers, Wildcatting) were discontinued in favour of more "fun" games. I actually had Robot Battle; it included a mini-programming language and it shipped with a huge manual, similar to Color Logo. Were there ever any store-demo cartridges? I remember watching a really impressive (for the time) demo just before I got my Coco in May or June of 1982 but I think that it was loaded from tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 It has been many years since I saw/played it, but there was some third-party pool game on a cartridge too. I remember seeing one in a Radio Shack store somewhere in the North-East, around 1983 ot '84. It was the only third-party cartridge that I was ever aware of (not counting hardware devices). I later had a dump of it on cassette tape, but I don't recall the title/publisher. Sounds like 8-Ball? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I have wildcatting and katterpillar attack on cart also demo derby color baseball and downland. also math bingo. all bought at radio shack. I gotta get out my coco2 n play em!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+thanatos Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 One game that I can't find is Atom, which is a kind of educational game and a couple like Don Pan and Robot Battle I've only seen once. I saw 7 card stud on ebay once but I think they wanted $20 + shipping which I think is twice its worth IMO. This one is mine. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 I have wildcatting and katterpillar attack on cart also demo derby color baseball and downland. also math bingo. all bought at radio shack. I gotta get out my coco2 n play em!! Then you probably have one of the white label Anteco carts. One of the holy grails of coco carts. Got a pic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Its at my parents house 160 miles away. Next time I head down there I will checker out to verify the color and make of the cart. I remember playing the game tho. Will post a pic when I drive down there one of these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Isn't this where we are sopposed to start crying "ROM dump!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremoloman2006 Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Wow! Thank you everyone for your posts! I got into the CoCo due to "Downland" and "Canyon Climber". I *LOVE* both of these games! I'm eager to try some of the tape adventures like "Bedlam". Are any of the cassette games available as MP3? Best regards, Trem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtariLeaf Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 Isn't this where we are sopposed to start crying "ROM dump!" LOL no, Katerpiller Attack came out mostly on cassette and disk so its been out there from the beginning. Pretty good centipede clone. One of my favorites on the Coco. I'll give ya $10 for it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted December 4, 2012 Share Posted December 4, 2012 (edited) Whats it really worth. Dont matter i dont sell any games or anything ever just wondering on how much. Is there a place where theres a cart pic and sreenshot already so I know if its the same game were talking about. Edited December 5, 2012 by Jinks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tremoloman2006 Posted December 4, 2012 Author Share Posted December 4, 2012 Lot of great arcade conversions too, most of the software was on tape and disk as previously mentioned but there are many cart titles as well. There are multicarts available similar to the Harmony or the UIEC for the C64 and simpler solutions for loading the tape images from a casette deck or as WAV files. Hey SQL! Where are programs available via WAV? Also... multi-cart / flash drives? I searched the web and didn't find anything. If you could post a link to these I'd GREATLY appreciate it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raskar42 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 you can find some of the carts listed in the old catalogs. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/ one of my favorite games is Polaris. works great with the analog sticks. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Polaris was an awesome version of Missile Command! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Ok thats the game I have on cart. With the twitchy stick it was easy to get killed!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raskar42 Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I found a partial cart list here http://www.cocopedia.com/wiki/index.php/Software i've been looking for information on education games called disney space probe no luck yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinks Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) oh space probe was on tape wasnt it? I think I got that one 2. Edited December 5, 2012 by Jinks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesD Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 I found a partial cart list here http://www.cocopedia...ex.php/Software i've been looking for information on education games called disney space probe no luck yet. I think it's 'Space Probe: Math' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie_ Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Polaris was an awesome version of Missile Command! Yes. I like this one a lot and play it often. With the three missile stations it is a lot of fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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