ryanmercer Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I'm Nintendo generation and was a harcore MUD player from 94-2000ish, I recently snatched up two 800xl's and a couple of 2600's... while I've a ton of cartridges for various games... I'm still a sucker for text-based games... That being said are there any good text-based games for the Atari 8-bit line? If so, what is your all time favorite text-based game, preferrably ones that aren't very rare so I can cheaply aquire original cartridges/floppies? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlight_mile Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I was never very cerebral and hated the text based games. But one I entertained for a short time was the Hulk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanmercer Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 I was never very cerebral and hated the text based games. But one I entertained for a short time was the Hulk. Questprobe Featuring The Hulk ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlight_mile Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Questprobe Featuring The Hulk ? Yeah I think so. The top half of the game was comic like pictures and the bottom half was the text area. I am pulling this from memory so I apologize if I am a little off on the description. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I wasn't much into them and Infocomm adventures the only ones I thought worthwhile on home computers at the time. Probably Zork 1, Hitch-hikers Guide, Zork 2, Zork 3 in that order. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 (edited) I'm Nintendo generation and was a harcore MUD player from 94-2000ish, I recently snatched up two 800xl's and a couple of 2600's... while I've a ton of cartridges for various games... I'm still a sucker for text-based games... That being said are there any good text-based games for the Atari 8-bit line? If so, what is your all time favorite text-based game, preferrably ones that aren't very rare so I can cheaply aquire original cartridges/floppies? There are lots of magazine/free text adventures. My first game I played was 'Crash Dive' from ANALOG magazine #18. You really don't need the magazine to successfully play the game. There are compilations of games at ftp.pigwa.net. for instance there are 'adventure' .atr there: http://ftp.pigwa.net/stuff/collections/holmes%20cd/Holmes%201/ATR%20Games/Games%20A-L/index.html Here's a binary load of Crash Dive. (You have to figure how to put the file into an .ATR in emulator, or, I think you can binary load from emulator.) Crash Dive, you are a sailor in a missle silo that is air separated from the rest of a submarine. You have to hold your breath and open the hatch and have about a dozen moves to find the gas mask and put it on, or you die. There is a saboteur that released the poison gas. You have to keep the saboteur from surfacing and handing the submarine, with its nuclear missiles, to an enemy ship on the surface. You can SAVE your game to disk. You enter a three char verb and three char noun on the command line. I think you can spell out the verb noun. GRA PIS for 'grab pistol'. Probably best to rename it to CRASH.XEX or .EXE or .COM. CRASHDIV.zip Edited August 12, 2014 by russg 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanmercer Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Heh thanks, but I want actual disks or cartridges to look for. Although I might give it a go on an emulator, I like original hardware and original software and I have the disposable income to cough up 50$ for a floppy or cartridge (looks like what I'll end up paying for Hitchiker's or Zork). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rybags Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Most worthwhile text adventure games were on floppy, can't think of any on cart and generally the tape-based ones were simplistic though I think Scott Adams Adventures were available on tape. If you're into adventures then the Infocom and Scott Adams ones are probably the best to go for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanmercer Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Floppy isn't an issue, I have an 850 and 810. Haven't tested yet up I bought a CX77 and it has a floppy in it, just have to finishing sorting/cleaning/packaging 500lbs of Lego *shudder* before I can start playing with my new Atarit oys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 ...can't think of any on cart... PowerStar is the only one I can think of, and it doesn't come cheap... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lange Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Enchanter series from Infocom: 1. Enchanter 2. Sorcerer 3. Spellbreaker Great games, great packaging. Bill 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DrVenkman Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 (edited) For me, the best one was the first one I played 30-odd years ago. My original disk is still playable. Edited August 12, 2014 by DrVenkman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snicklin Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Anything from "Level 9", what a company! And "Jinxter" from Magnetic Scrolls. Brilliant game. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+MrFish Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 My most recent favorite text based game is called Centron 3D. Mainly A LOT text with some simple graphics here and there. The game is meant to be played on AtariAge forums though, rather than on an actual Atari computer. So I'm not sure if it really qualifies... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanmercer Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 My most recent favorite text based game is called Centron 3D. Mainly A LOT text with some simple graphics here and there. The game is meant to be played on AtariAge forums though, rather than on an actual Atari computer. So I'm not sure if it really qualifies... Eh not in this case but still sounds neat, I'll add it to my stuff to get to folder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 (edited) Heh thanks, but I want actual disks or cartridges to look for. Although I might give it a go on an emulator, I like original hardware and original software and I have the disposable income to cough up 50$ for a floppy or cartridge (looks like what I'll end up paying for Hitchiker's or Zork). The ftp.pigwa.net has Infocom .atrs (ZORK I, II, III, Enchanter A,B, Sorcerer and Spellbreaker.) I appreciate you might like to have legitimate copies of games, but that is a lot harder than pigwa. I believe Infocom games weren't copy protected, so the .ATRs and pigwa are like originals. If you wanted to play infocom on real hardware, you could make floppy disks out of the .atrs, or use APE/SIO2PC interface to your PC. I think the magazine games were probably easier to solve than Infocom games. I'm not a text adventure enthusiast, so somebody else could give you better advice. Edited August 12, 2014 by russg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanmercer Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 I've been trying to wrap my head around APE/SIO2PC interface to your PC, if I just got these two I'd be ready to roll yeah? http://www.atarimax.com/sio2pc/documentation/index.html USB Interface w/ SIO JACK http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/index.html Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Kit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidmt Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Absolutely the Infocom games were the best in the text adventure genre, by far. I agree with the Enchanter series being one of the best, that was actually my first Infocom game I ever purchased and I'll always have fond memories of it. Hitchhikers Guide is awesome if you are fan of the book. I really liked Cutthroats which was a sea treasure hunt story. They are all great in my opinion. I wish I had foresight to own the entire collection-great packaging and lots of cool extras. It would be a great collection to have on the shelf. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gozar Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Has anyone tried recent text adventures on the Atari? I think the .z3 files should work with the Atari interpreter, I just haven't had a chance to try. (http://www.ifarchive.org/indexes/if-archiveXgamesXzcode.html) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 most text based game played on the VIC20 and it was the Star Trek game... not the SEGA action like one but with all the phaser, torpedo, long range radar thing... it was a 16k basic game if my memories are right... that was intense... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven/TQA Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 while thinking here how "imersive" that game was... while here at gamescom Cologne... with all that Oculus Rift stuff, Xbox one, PS4 and other next gen... this Star Trek game mentioned and Haunted House on a B/W TV playing with a 2600... that were intense and like RoF falling of the suite when first time Jaggie jumps and smashing the screen... never will forget that while my heart was pumping... it took then til PSX and Resident Evil... huj... when the first Zombie came or the Dogs jumped through the smashing windows... ok... sorry... off topic... ah and again on VIC... Submarine Commander which is much much better than the weak A8 port... that was intense, too... (ok... but not text based...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+wongojack Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 This is no way what you meant when you asked, but its fun: As opposed to Infocom, this might be more fun for you to start with: http://www.homestarrunner.com/dungeonman.html An intro http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail94.html Always check the wiki: http://www.hrwiki.org/wiki/Thy_Dungeonman If you've never experienced Strong Bad then this might not make much sense. Basically it is a lovingly done text adventure parody. There are two sequels to this game as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 (edited) I've been trying to wrap my head around APE/SIO2PC interface to your PC, if I just got these two I'd be ready to roll yeah? http://www.atarimax.com/sio2pc/documentation/index.html USB Interface w/ SIO JACK http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/index.html Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Kit You don't need a maxflash cart to use any game. The APE/SIO2PC interface with a USB plug will connect your SIO cable to the PC. Then you need APE software to run the 'disk drive emulator'. APE software comes in a somewhat crippled version for free. The maxflash cart is to put games on a cart. I'm not sure how you burn a game on a maxflash cart. Probably you have to have the cart connected in a real A8 and use the APE interface and SIO cable and Maxflash Studio PC software to burn it. If you're going to have to have APE interface and APE software to burn the flash cart, you'd already have what you need to run 99% of .ROM and .XEX/COM/EXE files without the need for the flash cart. There are 16 meg game collection ATR that have 100s of games on them. Edited August 12, 2014 by russg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Can't do wrong with Zork and the zorkish Enchanter trilogy. Try Suspended if you want something really hard.... Level 9 games had lots of text, too although I never played all through one. The only drawback with Infocom games is that they are not that 'atariish' as you can play them on most devices using bits and bytes and a (soft) keyboard Scott Adams games give a more period feeling but Infocom has far superior content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Android8675 Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I've been trying to wrap my head around APE/SIO2PC interface to your PC, if I just got these two I'd be ready to roll yeah? http://www.atarimax.com/sio2pc/documentation/index.html USB Interface w/ SIO JACK http://www.atarimax.com/flashcart/documentation/index.html Maxflash USB Cartridge Programmer Kit Just get the SIO2PC and a registered copy or APE if you want to put your Atari online, or just use AspeQT which is a much better freeware equivalent. If you have a serial port on your PC just get the serial SIO2PC. The SIO2PC/USB is just the serial with a serial<->usb chip. SIO2PC just makes your atari think it's connected to various Atari disk/hard drives. With APE registered you can also rip disks from a 1050 drive to your PC. -- my favorite text games are Hitchikers, anything by Yahtzee Crowshaw, A Mind Forever Voyaging, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, Zork, Planetfall, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.