Unique Coco games (on cartridge)

[jhd]

Most of the Radio Shack-published Coco games were more-or-less blatent copies of existing console or arcade game (e.g. Space Assault = Space Invaders, Galactic Attack = Galaxian, Super Bustout = Breakout, Clowns and Balloons = Circus, etc.)

 

As far as I am aware, and Dino Wars was a unique, original creation. Was Doubleback an original game, or a copy of something?

[Mr SQL]

I think Dino Wars inspired an arcade game, pretty sure doubleback was an original too. Dungeons of Daggorath was unique.

[DracIsBack]

I loved A Mazing World of Malcolm Mortar as a kid

 

[BassGuitari]

Androne: there were plenty of 3D maze type games, but how many had you shoot enemies, find power-up items (more like "sustain your life" items in this case), and locate the exit, in real time? There had to be at least couple (Voyager I?), but I don't know if they had real-time action.

Temple Of Rom: explore a sprawling maze, collect treasure, shoot enemy creatures. Again, in real time. The closest thing that comes to mind at the time of its release is Adventure on the 2600, or Rogue. (Which isn't to say I'm not forgetting anything.)

 

Otherwise, Wildcatting, Stellar Lifeline, and Pinball maybe? Wildcatting is the only game I know of where you prospect for oil. Stellar Lifeline feels like it should be a copy of something, but I cannot for the life of me think of what. Pinball certainly isn't an original concept, but it doesn't seem like it was a clone of any pinball game in particular (plus you could create your own boards and save them to tape, which is kind of cool).

[JamesD]

Downland wasn't a clone of anything but there were certainly other games where you climbed, jumped and avoided drips of acid.

I'm not sure which came first though.

 

If you go with non-cart games there was a lot.

[+thegoldenband]

Spidercide is its own thing (i.e. not a clone) as far as I know. And aren't Phantom Slayer, Poltergeist, and Canyon Climber original too?

 

Also, was Mega-Bug a clone of the Atari 8-bit game Tumble Bugs, or vice versa?

[JamesD]

Spidercide is its own thing (i.e. not a clone) as far as I know. And aren't Phantom Slayer, Poltergeist, and Canyon Climber original too?

 

Also, was Mega-Bug a clone of the Atari 8-bit game Tumble Bugs, or vice versa?

Phantom Slayer wasn't a cart.

Canyon Climber was a Datasoft title and was available on several machines.

I think the Apple II version of Mega-Bug came first (Dung Beetles) but I'm not sure.

The others are originals.

[+thegoldenband]

Phantom Slayer wasn't a cart.

Ah, that explains a lot! I had it in my head as a cart game, and always wondered how I missed out on it BITD -- but I didn't get a disk drive until much later.

 

Canyon Climber was a Datasoft title and was available on several machines.

The destruction effect on the first screen is so "CoCo-esque" that I guess I assumed it was an original. At a glance it looks like the CoCo version is the most impressive -- is that so?

 

I think the Apple II version of Mega-Bug came first (Dung Beetles) but I'm not sure.

The others are originals.

That'd be interesting to find out re: Mega-Bug and Dung Beetles.

 

BTW this is the Digital Press Rarity Guide's auto-generated list of CoCo game cartridges. What's missing?

 

7 Card Stud (Radio Shack)

8 Ball (Anteco Soft)

Alphabet Zoo (Tandy)

Amazing World of Malcolm Mortar (Tandy)

Androne (Radio Shack)

Arkanoid (Tandy)

Atom (Radio Shack)

Backgammon (Radio Shack)

Bingo Math (Radio Shack)

Bridge Tutor I (Tandy)

Bustout (Radio Shack)

Canyon Climber (Radio Shack)

Castle Guard (Radio Shack)

Castle of Tharoggad (Tandy)

Checkers (Radio Shack)

Chess (Radio Shack)

Clowns & Balloons (Radio Shack)

Color Baseball (Radio Shack)

Color Cubes (Radio Shack)

Crosswords (Tandy)

Cyrus World Class Chess (Tandy)

Demolition Derby (Tandy)

Demon Attack (Radio Shack)

Dino Wars (Radio Shack)

Don Pan (Tandy)

Doubleback (Radio Shack)

Downland (Radio Shack)

Dragonfire (Tandy)

Dungeons of Daggorath (Radio Shack)

Facemaker (Tandy)

Football (Radio Shack)

Fraction Fever (Tandy)

Galactic Attack (Radio Shack)

Galax Attax (Anteco Soft)

GFL Championship Football II (Tandy)

Gin Champion (Radio Shack)

Gomoku/Renju (Tandy)

Handyman (Radio Shack)

Katerpillar Attack (Anteco Soft)

Kids on Keys (Tandy)

Kinder Comp (Tandy)

Mega-Bug (Radio Shack)

Microbes (Radio Shack)

Mind-Roll (Tandy)

Monster Maze (Radio Shack)

Panic Button (Tandy)

Pinball (Radio Shack)

Polaris (Radio Shack)

Poltergeist (Radio Shack)

Popcorn (Radio Shack)

Predator (Tandy)

Project Nebula (Radio Shack)

Quasar Commander (Radio Shack)

Rad Warrior (Tandy)

Rampage (Tandy)

Reactoid (Radio Shack)

RoboCop (Tandy)

Robot Battle: Adventures In Programming (Tandy)

Roman Checkers (Radio Shack)

Shanghai (Tandy)

Shooting Gallery (Radio Shack)

Silpheed (Tandy)

Skiing (Radio Shack)

Slay the Nereis (Radio Shack)

Soko-Ban (Tandy)

Space Assault (Radio Shack)

Spidercide (Radio Shack)

Springster (Tandy)

Star Blaster (Micro Works)

Star Blaze (Radio Shack)

Stellar Life Line (Radio Shack)

Super Pitfall (Tandy)

Temple of Rom (Tandy)

Tennis (Radio Shack)

Tetris (Tandy)

Thexder (Tandy)

Wildcatting (Radio Shack)

[BassGuitari]

Downland wasn't a clone of anything but there were certainly other games where you climbed, jumped and avoided drips of acid.

I'm not sure which came first though.

 

If you go with non-cart games there was a lot.

Downland seems analogous to Spelunker. Not sure which came first though.

[JamesD]

Downland seems analogous to Spelunker. Not sure which came first though.

They came out the same year if the Wiki's are correct but the two games have significant differences.

I have a hunch they were developed independently at the same time but were both influenced by an earlier title.

 

Bagman came the year before and may have had some influence on them.

 

[Bill Loguidice]

As far as I am aware, and Dino Wars was a unique, original creation. Was Doubleback an original game, or a copy of something?

 

Dino Wars was original, as was Skiing. Both were by the same author and both were the first cartridges to feature digitized speech.

 

Doubleback was likely inspired by the Atari arcade game, Quantum.

[jhd]

I did not include the sports and board games (and pinball) because while the implementation may be unique, the underlying game concept is not.

 

Canyon Climber is, in large measure, a version of Donkey Kong.

 

I forgot about Wildcatting; this was one of the very first games that I owned for the Coco.

 

Poltergeist is a licensed title (very loosely based on the movie), but I think that it too is unique to the Coco.

[Bill Loguidice]

I did not include the sports and board games (and pinball) because while the implementation may be unique, the underlying game concept is not.

 

Canyon Climber is, in large measure, a version of Donkey Kong.

 

I forgot about Wildcatting; this was one of the very first games that I owned for the Coco.

 

Poltergeist is a licensed title (very loosely based on the movie), but I think that it too is unique to the Coco.

 

The CoCo was full of clones/copies due in large part to Tandy only working with a handful of third parties and keeping tight control of what was published in their stores, i.e., cloning/copying was the only realistic way to get some of the more popular game types on the CoCo since the official versions would never be available. Despite the restrictions, it still had a decent representation of original titles and even the occasional surprise like the aforementioned Poltergeist.

 

A good portion of the third party software (mostly cassettes and disks) that was primarily available through the CoCo-specific magazines were clones/knock-offs, though those too did feature the occasional original title or licensed surprise.

[JamesD]

...
The destruction effect on the first screen is so "CoCo-esque" that I guess I assumed it was an original. At a glance it looks like the CoCo version is the most impressive -- is that so?
...

I have the NEC Trek version and I *thought* it was identical to the CoCo version but the screen probably can't jump around the same.
The Trek can reposition the screen in memory but I'm not sure it can be positioned at as small of offsets.

[RangerG]

Poltergeist is definitely unique, a CoCo exclusive . It may not be a great game, but it was unique.

[DracIsBack]

 

The CoCo was full of clones/copies due in large part to Tandy only working with a handful of third parties and keeping tight control of what was published in their stores, i.e., cloning/copying was the only realistic way to get some of the more popular game types on the CoCo since the official versions would never be available. Despite the restrictions, it still had a decent representation of original titles and even the occasional surprise like the aforementioned Poltergeist.

 

A good portion of the third party software (mostly cassettes and disks) that was primarily available through the CoCo-specific magazines were clones/knock-offs, though those too did feature the occasional original title or licensed surprise.

 

The clones/knockoffs were pretty shameless but sometimes really good. And good for a chuckle. Ie. Gantalet.