|
This, they said, was the computer that would conquer the world.
But it didn't, did it? If it had, you might be viewing this page on a
mega-advanced variant of the mighty Apple II series of computers.
Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer in the 1970s with the
creation of the Apple I, a Heathkit-style, build-it-yourself computer kit. The
sales were so promising on the Apple I that the two, with the help from some
marketing geniuses of the day, stepped up to a mass-produced, ready-to-use unit
called the Apple II. Armed with a cassette data storage device, a couple of
small game paddles, and an RF modulator to hook it up to users' TV sets, the
Apple II took off. The beauty of the Apple II's architecture was its
expandibility. When the Apple II+ arrived, there was a disk drive, a dedicated
monitor, 48k of RAM (impressive for a home computer around 1980), and third
party software publishers were making it a viable platform. Not long after, the
Apple IIe hit the market, with 64k of RAM and even more software. The Apple IIc
- a heavy all-in-one unit with a built-in floppy drive, 128k of RAM, and a
suitcase-style handle - was touted as a portable computer for business, and in
1984, the Apple IIGS appeared, completely changing the structure and offering
unbelievable graphics and sound for a home computer at that time. Sadly, around
1984, two other machines yanked the carpet out from under the feet of the Apple
II series - IBM's increasingly prolific PCs, and Apple's own Macintosh.
The Apple II computers may seem out-of-place in a retrospective about video
games, but I feel compelled to make that exception. The Apple II was my first
computer (well, actually, the Franklin ACE 1000, a clone machine that landed
Franklin Computers on the losing end of an Apple copyright infringement lawsuit,
was my first computer). It not only allowed me to play the games I already
loved, such as Zaxxon and
Robotron: 2084, but it introduced
me to more sophisticated games that my beloved old Atari
2600 and Odyssey 2 consoles would
never have been able to handle. Strategic games, simulations, and more. And I
could also now program my own games on the Apple II, and I did so quite
frequently - or at least I tried to! (I may use this section to introduce some
of my humble game-programming efforts to the world if I work up the nerve.) It
was a cool machine.
When I got that 300 baud modem in 1983, I remember thinking how cool it would
be to program a game that two people could play, "live." And I tried
to program it myself, but no other kids at school had an Apple II, so I gave up
on it for the time being, instead getting into the world of online Bulletin
Board Systems...in other words, the Apple II is responsible for this site's
existence. The original LogBook episode guides
were written in an Apple II text editor.
The Phosphor Dot Fossils Apple II Archive will probably include very
few arcade adaptations, aside from one or two outstanding examples; it will
focus primarily on games that were unique to the Apple II. I will be using this
section of Phosphor Dot Fossils to take you back to an earlier age when game
play was still the key element...but real computer power, all 128 whopping
kilobytes of it, meant that the game play could be much more interesting than
ever before.
- Akalabeth
- Archon
- Cavern Creatures
- Create With Garfield!
- Ghostbusters
- The Halley Project
- High Rise
- The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
- Intergalactic Trade: Mark II
- Lode Runner
- Mr. Cool
- Music Construction Set
- Mystery House
- The Newsroom
- Pac-Man
- Project Space Station
- Robotron: 2084
- Skyfox
- Super Zaxxon
- Taipan!
- Taxman
- Telengard
- Tranquility Base
- Ultima
- Ultima III: Exodus
- Ultima IV: Quest Of The Avatar
- Ultima V: Warriors Of Destiny
- Zaxxon
- Zork I
|
