InfernalKeith

"Our" generation of home computers was the first one where the ratio of cumbersome to fun was right for a retro revival. It's a lot easier to grab a TI, a Vic 20 or an Apple II from Ebay and get back into the game than it would be, say, to relive the days of kit computers or punch cards. Also, I'd argue that TI's exit and the Christmas 1983 "fire sale" season is part of the reason we're all still here. How many of our families finally pulled the trigger on a home computer when Sears and Kmart were dumping consoles for $29? Think of all the clearanced-out carts and hardware that got bought, forgotten and stuck in an attic, still resurfacing to this day via Ebay and thrift stores. That surplus largely kept Tenex, Triton and Tex-Comp in business and limped us along until the online world was mainstream enough to bring us together. The closest thing I see to younger generations feeling attached to aging hardware is in console gaming, but I'd put our Commodore/TI/Apple rivalries from back in the day up against them any time.

My package arrived today... and it was a kid's book from Scholastic Book Fair. Something about a bear chasing a fly. Gotta love those mega bulk warehouse sellers. Their refund process was quick and painless, at least, so... free bear book, I guess?

Interesting! I wonder what I'll end up getting for my $4 from that big seller. Just the manual maybe? I remember those odd-shaped boxes now. I wonder how those sold, especially the 32K XB cassette title?

Does anyone know if Scholastic actually produced any of the "Wizware" titles for the 99/4A? I have seen ads that mention TI versions, but I've never seen these in the wild. I was randomly digging around on Ebay and saw a listing for "Electronic Party" listed for the TI on cassette, but it was listed by one of those mega book sellers with 200,000 random listings with no info or photos. The listing was $4 shipped, so I took a chance on it just to see what it was. I hadn't thought about Wizware for years, but I think they published some of the edu-tainment titles we played on the school and library Apple IIe's back in the day. I found mention of Square Pairs, a Memory-type game, also being made for the TI, but again, never seen it in the real world. Anyone know more about these?

Just unearthed an O^2 with detachable joysticks. I have a hardwired console but it's not a system I know a lot about - in fact, until I saw this today, I never knew the non-hardwired version existed. It fires up and plays great, but both sticks seem "stuck" going up. I swapped them out and the same thing keeps happening. I can move left and right, but not down, and if I let go of the stick, it's as if I'm still moving up. I can sorta work with it playing Pick Axe Pete, but it's a problem. Is this a common issue or something anyone's run into? I'm hoping it's a relatively easy fix because otherwise the console works great. Thanks for any help you can provide.

No, shipping is additional.

Got some new goodies and cleaned up my old sale list, so here's a brand new post with some TI 99/4A goodies, common and uncommon. I'm happy to ship anywhere. Lots of trades and sales over the years, on and off AA, buy with confidence. Will ship anywhere. Message me if you're interested in anything. Thanks! Keith HIGHLIGHTED ITEMS Dow/4 Gazelle flight sim cassette (John T. Dow, 1982) w/manual 20 Speech Synthesizer 25 Beige Program (Cassette) Recorder w/cable + power cord 25 Joystick Y-Adapter for Atari/Commodore sticks 15 50 bulk lot cartridges for homebrew shells (some DOAs, no title picks) 100 LOOSE CARTS, INDIVIDUALLY PRICED Name | label color | shell color | price Bigfoot (MBX optional) white white 25 Buck Rogers red white 20 Burgertime red white 10 Connect Four red white 5 Connect Four black white 5 Disk Manager black black 10 Disk Manager 2 black white 15 Disk Manager 2 black black 15 Disk Manager 2 blue white 15 Equations green black 6 Facemaker green white 6 Hopper red white 10 Hunt the Wumpus red black 5 Hunt the Wumpus red white 5 Hunt the Wumpus black black 5 Hustle black black 6 Jawbreaker II red white 8 Laws of Arithmetic blue black 6 Laws of Arithmetic blue white 6 M A S H red white 15 Microsoft Multiplan purple white 5 Microsoft Multiplan purple black 5 Microsurgeon red white 8 Moon Mine red white 10 Music Maker black black 6 Music Maker green white 6 Numeration 1 green white 6 Numeration 2 blue white 6 Parsec red white 6 Personal Report Generator mauve white 6 Plato Interpreter gold white 20 Pole Position 10 Reading Flight black black 6 Reading Fun green white 6 Reading Fun green black 6 Reading Rally black black 6 Return to Pirate’s Isle red white 10 Scholastic Spelling Lev 3 black black 5 Securities Analysis black black 5 Sneggit red white 15 Statistics black black 8 Story Machine green white 6 Subtraction black black 6 Super Demon Attack red white 10 TI Extended BASIC black black 20 TI Extended BASIC blue white 20 TI Logo II green white 8 Treasure Island red white 25 Tunnels of Doom red white 10 Tunnels of Doom red black 10 Video Chess black black 6 Video Graphs green white 6 Video Graphs green black 6 ZeroZap red white 5 COMMON LOOSE CARTS all common loose carts $3 each or 4 for $10 Name | label color | shell color Addition (Milliken) black black Addition (Milliken) green white Addition and Subtraction 1 black black Addition and Subtraction 1 green black Adventure red black Adventure black white Adventure black black Alien Addition green white Alien Addition green black Alligator Mix green white Alligator Mix blue black Alligator Mix green black Alpiner purple black Alpiner red white Alpiner red black A-maze-ing red black A-maze-ing black black The Attack black black The Attack red white The Attack red black Beginning Grammar black black Beginning Grammar green white Beginning Grammar green black Blackjack and Poker red black Blackjack and Poker red white Blackjack and Poker black black Blasto red black Blasto black black Car Wars black black Chisholm Trail black black Chisholm Trail red black Demolition Division green white Division (Milliken) black black Division (Milliken) green white Division 1 (Scott Foresman) green white Division 1(Scott Foresman) black black Early Learning Fun black black Early Learning Fun green white Early Learning Fun green black Early Reading green black Early Reading black black Early Reading green white Football black black Football red black Hangman black black Hangman red white Home Financial Decisions black black Home Financial Decisions mauve white Home Financial Decisions mauve black Household Budget black black Household Budget mauve black Household Budget mauve white Indoor Soccer black black Meteor Multiplication green white Minus Mission green white Minus Mission green black Multiplication (Milliken) black black Multiplication 1 (Scott F) black black Multiplication 1 (Scott F) green black Multiplication 1 (Scott F) white white Munchman red black Munchman black black Number Magic green black Number Magic green white Othello black black Othello red white Othello red black Parsec red black Parsec purple black Personal Real Estate black black Personal Real Estate mauve white Personal Record Keeping mauve black Personal Record Keeping black black Tax/Investment Record black white Tax/Investment Record black black Terminal Emulator II black black Terminal Emulator II mauve black Terminal Emulator II mauve white TI Invaders black black TI Writer mauve white TI Writer black black Tombstone City black black Tombstone City red black Touch Typing Tutor green black Touch Typing Tutor black black Touch Typing Tutor green white Books and printed matter: TI BASIC Reference Card 2 TI Extended BASIC reference card 2 Compute's First Book of TI Games 5 How To Use the TI 99/4A Computer 5 TI 99/4A Favorite Programs Explained 5 TI 99/4A Game Programs 5 CASSETTES (just cassette and blank jewel box) Pirate Adventure 5 Oldies But Goodies I 3 Oldies But Goodies II 3 Beginner's BASIC Tutor 3 Personal Financial Aids 5 Market Simulation 5 Teach Yourself BASIC 3 Speak and Math 10 Spell Writer 10 Graphing Package 10 Mystery Melody 10 BOXED COMPLETE SOFTWARE (cartridge unless otherwise notes) Addition and Subtraction 1 5 Alpiner 5 The Attack 5 Beginner’s BASIC Tutor (cassette) 5 Blackjack and Poker 5 Car Wars 5 Demolition Division 5 Football 5 Hangman 5 Household Budget Mgmt 2 Hunt the Wumpus 5 Indoor Soccer 5 Laws of Arithmetic 10 Market Simulation (cassette) 10 Meteor Multiplication 5 Microsurgeon 12 Minus Mission 5 Moon Mine 12 Munchman 5 Mystery Melody 10 Oldies But Goodies Games I (cassette) 5 Othello 5 Parsec 5 Personal Record Keeping 2 Programming Aids 1 (Cass) 5 Strange Odyssey (cassette, requires Adventure cart) 10 Teach Yourself BASIC (cassette) 5 Teach Yourself BASIC (cassette, newer manual art) 5 Tombstone City 5 Touch Typing Tutor 5 Video Chess 10 Video Graphs 10 ZeroZap 5

Proof of life... Operation "Finish All My Abandoned Projects From a Decade Ago" is in full swing.

Bump - list current as of today.

If anyone is interested, I put together a quick walkthrough video where I play two games of Sixxit against the computer and narrate. The game audio sounds weird in the video, but you'll get the idea. If you haven't had a chance to play yet or had any questions about the game mechanics, this should help.

The music in Cerberus is really good! You can play it in JS99er if you don't have other access to it.

Sixxit is a dice game for 0-2 players written in TI Extended BASIC. It has two unique AI "players" who can play against you, or each other. You roll ten dice, trying to accumulate sixes or combine other dice to make six. It's a fairly easy game to get the hang of, and I think it came out pretty fun. Let me know if you enjoy it or have any issues with it. SIXXIT.zip

Bump - big update July 29, lots of new goodies and cleared sold stuff/cleaned up the lists.

Many thanks! I had Psyborg on tape back in the day. I ordered all the TImagination games years after the fact, contacting the author through his PO Box. I wish I still had those.

I'm using real hardware and a reliable TI tape recorder set to the default settings. It's the tape, it drags in several places and the integrity of the audio gets noticeably choppy. I'm going to try tightening it up by rewinding and FF'ing it a few times -- I had another tape do the same thing last night, but then play fine the second time through.

Correct. This ^^^ is the instruction booklet. Unfortunately this wasn't one of the companies that recorded the program on both sides of the tape, so if one's bad, that's all you got. I've had amazing luck with these old cassettes overall, but this one has confounded me.

Scored a cassette of this old American Software title, but the tape is bad. Does anyone have a .zip of it they could share?

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After watching that, it's not the Alpha Lock key that's depressed!

I love Khe Sanh, it's one of my favorites. I still get really wrapped up in it when I play. I like Sengoku Jidai but I haven't spent enough time with it yet. Ant Wars is a great idea but the AI's pretty lacking. Hordes was ambitious but so clunky (and only two player!!) that I don't think I've ever actually gotten very far into a game. Tickworld is great. Maze of Ariel I remember liking, but I haven't played it in years. I need to go back and revisit Starship Pegasus and Treasure Trap, but I feel like both of them were in that "good idea, not so hot execution" category. 99'vaders, Ophyss and Backgammon are solid games. I know Winging It was their big title back in the day, but I've never been into flight sims, so it's always been on the "I gotta spend some time on that some other time" pile.

Huh. I actually play TI Yahtzee a lot! I throw it on in emulation while I'm doing mindless work emails or something, and play it the way some people do the one-touch phone games as a distraction. I enjoy it, but I definitely think the AI could be a little better. I can't see it being buried-in-a-pit level terrible, though.

Interesting take, Matthew, and I'd say you're not wrong. Once I started collecting games on other systems (specifically the Vic 20) the differences in programmer mindset became obvious. Some of those Vic games are flat-out ugly, the graphics are hideous and the sound is worse, but at least some of them are just intuitively great games that hold up today even without the filter of nostalgia. Matrix/Gridrunner is exciting even in 2019. Speed has a little to do with it, but it seems like there's just some indefinable quality that makes the game playable and compelling, more so than most TI action offerings. That's why I gravitate toward the turn-based strategy games, the Not Polyoptics titles and such. For me, despite their own weaknesses, they have more staying power and are more unique and interesting. I'm not sure if anyone but me and Walid share that view, though.

I forgot about Tennis! That one's actually fun. Did that ever make it to a cart release?

Is any TI sports game good? Strike Three looks nice but seems borderline nonsensical as a game. I don't think I've ever gotten past the title screen of Football or Indoor Soccer.