From the forum issue 122

[kiwimike]

The only game I ever saw, I'm not even sure I had a go(!), on an Apple 2 was in a computer shop. It was a side scrolling shmup. The player controlled the craft, looked a bit like a Space Shuttle, fired forwards and dropped bombs a la Scramble. Maybe called Star Blaster or Blazer?

Star Blazer, by I think DataSoft. Great game!! One of my favourites, and I think the first game I ever 'beat', I think there were only 5 stages.. needed a few more.

Yeah, Star Blazer was a great game. It had some good arcadey games, the Apple II. Hard Hat Mack, Sammy Lightfoot, Stella 7, Choplifter, Sea dragon, a great version of Jungler, and some great Invader & Pac clones

[ncf1]

I agree kiwimike - I mean we got ours in '79, and for me anyway there was no question the Apple II was better than, say, the Atari. For the late 70's/early 80's the games really were fantastic - I mean we're talking about the very beginning of the home computer days, and those early efforts were certainly nothing to sneeze at. Even when we got our C64 a few years later I still would play the Apple II games.. there's just something about that machine I love. *grabs tissue box and blows nose very loudly, waking up cat*

[stvd]

It's got to be Autoduel.

Why? Because It's the only game I've ever played on the Apple II

[kiwimike]

I agree kiwimike - I mean we got ours in '79, and for me anyway there was no question the Apple II was better than, say, the Atari. For the late 70's/early 80's the games really were fantastic - I mean we're talking about the very beginning of the home computer days, and those early efforts were certainly nothing to sneeze at. Even when we got our C64 a few years later I still would play the Apple II games.. there's just something about that machine I love. *grabs tissue box and blows nose very loudly, waking up cat*

And how could I forget Lode Runner! Terrific game.

There is something about the Apple, even down to the keyboard itself, the solid feel of it

[kiwimike]

I'm sure others in Australasia will vouch for how fortunate we were in the early '80s with our choice of eight bit computers available (albeit probably quite a bit more expensive!). We had the combination of the UK and US markets, as well as the Hong Kong beasts. So we had Apples & Ataris alongside the Sinclairs and Amstrads, and everyone had the C64! As well as V tech and other Hong Kongs, Sega sc computers etc. Such an exciting time to be a kid!

[paranoid marvin]

Never played on one; didn't Tandy used to sell these? Expensive computers that weren't as good as the (far cheaper) British equivalents.

May be a US-centric 'From the Forum' this month!

[kiwimike]

Lol, it probably will be 'US-Centric.' Always made us laugh, down here, this 'UK' and 'US' stuff. As mentioned, we had a mish mash of both markets, giving us a good look at both groups of machines. It made it fun, and from a neutral point of view it was fun to see the games coming from each area, British and American games were so distinctive to their origin.
It is amusing to see UK people knock books (like Kents Ultimate history), as US centric, yet the opposite does happen just as much when it originates from the UK. You can understand it of course, which is why IMO we were lucky down here to have a market that combined all the models from everywhere else.

[ncf1]

Yes it was just as you mentioned Kiwimike here as well in Oz - you had the option of pretty much all of the popular machines of the time. Apple, C64, Spectrum, as you said it was a kid's dream. Although I don't recall many, or anyone actually, who had an Amstrad.. although I'm sure it would have been available. Yes actually if I remember correctly I considered purchasing one as it had the nifty datasette attached on but... well I'll be honest here, no kids at school had one so where on earth was I going to get games from? Although I will add I was one of the good kids that actually worked, saved up, and bought games. But naturally hedged my bets and copied them like crazy as well *Reminds self to see Pastor Bob this weekend to admit such hitherto un-admitted things*.

[kiwimike]

I had a 464 I bought off my Uncle at one stage. It was available down here, in NZ it had a huge TV campaign to get it going. The shame was that little software made it down here so few people went for it, thinking it had no games. You would go into stores, see racks of Spectrum, C64 and Atari software, and then a small selection of average Amsoft titles. No contest!

While still at school, my computer was a ZX81 because I had to buy myself and it was all I could afford. From there I moved to Spec, where as you say most of your friends had them, hence a ready library of games. Most of us pined for a disk based machine though.

Back on Apple games, this was the machine that introduced me to text adventures as well. Transylvania was my first one, and it just seemed incredible to me at the time. From there it was onto the Infocom ones. We used to stay after school with a group to play games, and were lucky enough to be given a key to the room and allowed to stay late into evenings. I have many happy memories of games nights, where they'd be a doz or so mates gathered around the four Apple IIs the school had. We'd start with arcade games like Starblazer, Wolfenstein, Lode R etc...eventually we would all have the same text adventure going at once, everyone firing suggestions at one another. The original way to 'multiplay', I always found text adventures really fun like that!

[ncf1]

*sniffs*.. you're making me tear up man, memories.. cut it out! It started with Hitchhiker's for me, and Transylvania, I think they were the only games they allowed on the computers.. anything else and you got in trouble! So naturally they were the first two games I copied, and played endlessly at home. (must also pray to father err.. Bob for that as well, geez better not think too much of thieving school days..) hehe.
Nah the Apple II was great, I loved that machine. Your days remind me a lot of mine, trying to figure out that babel fish puzzle in Hitchhikers... yeah right, as kids, youre going to figure that out?? Only found out how to beat it decades later with the advent of the internet!

[kiwimike]

Lol we solved the Babel fish at a brainstorming session...on my own there would've been no chance

[lavalyte]

Hard Hat Mack... nice platformer in the Donkey Kong mould.

[antsbull]

For me, it was Prince of Persia - which came out first on the Apple ][.

I grew up in New Zealand too, and had friends with Apple ]['s, as well as friends with C64, Spectrums, Master Systems, NES's and PCs, so we got to experience everything going around at the time.

The Apple II was never really much of an arcade powerhouse

I completely disagree with that, I'm assuming you didn't actually know much about them to make that sort of a comment - To name a few: Threshold, Lode Runner, Robotron, Choplifter, Karateka, Battlezone, Night Mission Pinball, Hard Hat Mack. You don't have talent like Jordan Mechner, Warren Schwader, John Romero, Bill Budge and Nasir Gebelli developing for a platform and not have a whole slew of great arcade games.

[PanzerGeneral]

My personal fave's would be the Kings Quest series, I always found the Apple's colour display to be a bit limited-but the Kings Quest series looked really good, never made me want to give up my 800XL though.

[Matt_B]

The Apple II was never really much of an arcade powerhouse

I completely disagree with that, I'm assuming you didn't actually know much about them to make that sort of a comment - To name a few: Threshold, Lode Runner, Robotron, Choplifter, Karateka, Battlezone, Night Mission Pinball, Hard Hat Mack. You don't have talent like Jordan Mechner, Warren Schwader, John Romero, Bill Budge and Nasir Gebelli developing for a platform and not have a whole slew of great arcade games.

Yes, I've played most of them, and some are pretty good for their time and the limitations of the hardware, but I'd hardly think any of them are amongst the greatest arcade games of the 8-bit era. On the other hand, the machine does boast some of the greatest strategy and adventure games of the period, and it's in that context that I meant it.

And yes, Prince of Persia is a great game, but it has to be said that the Apple II version is no looker especially to someone who played the PC VGA version first.