Greetings you absolute weirdo. My name is Jim McGinley and I played these games 42 years ago. Click a game, watch the video, then play a level. I love them and now you'll love them.

Most games start boring so links are provided to higher levels. You can save your game (Ctrl+S) - 3 slots per game. You can copy a game (Ctrl+C), paste it into an e-mail (Ctrl+V) and send it to a friend. They can paste it into this site and continue your game! Should you reach higher levels or find interesting moments e-mail them to me (jim@bigpants.ca) for main menu consideration.

Consider buying Endlight, our chaotic action game with a TRS-80 heart.

• NEWS

  July 6, 2024	Added Penetrator
  July 2, 2024	Added Scarfman
  July 1, 2024	Added Outhouse, Defense Command, Crazy Painter
  July 1, 2024	Released website v1.0

  
  
• ABOUT
  "The Games I Used to Play" showcases the games I used to play on my TRS-80 42 years ago. Every week I'll be releasing a TRS-80 game and an accompanying video for those of you with no time to play. Despite the gap, I can play these games better than ever.
  
  This is only possible thanks to
  
  
  • The original trs80gp - A TRS-80 Model 1,2,3,4,12,16,6000,MC-10,Color Computer,DT-1,Videotex Emulator created by George Phillips
    
    
  • The TRS-80 Model III Emulator in Javascript created by Peter Phillips (ported the above)
    
    
  • The orginal game developers (many have officially released their games to the public domain)
    
    
  • People preserving the original games Welcome To Ira Goldklang's TRS-80 Revived Site, The Big List of TRS-80 Software
    
    
  What do I bring to the table?
  My looks.
  
  
• CONTROLS
  Esc
  Trs-80 Break
  \
  Trs-80 Clear
  Ctrl+P
  Pause
  the washroom calls
  Ctrl+S
  Save
  save permanently, you have 3 slots per game
  Ctrl+L
  Load
  load latest save
  Ctrl+C
  Copy
  copy game to memory
  Ctrl+V
  Paste
  restore copy, preserve in text document,
  e-mail to friend, share on website

Best Moments	8:05     9:30     11:00
Distributed By	Soft Sector Marketing, Inc.
Resolution	128 x 48
Memory	16KB

Outhouse is one of the greatest games ever made. The TRS-80's answer to Robotron (the greatest game ever made). A perfect marriage of theme and gameplay, which is a rare thing indeed. There's nothing you can do to make Outhouse better. The limitations of the TRS-80 work in the games favour, rather than against it. Outhouse must be played with a keyboard. i.e. switching directions with a joystick/thumbstick would be problematic at higher levels.

In the video I attempt to beat Level 18 without smart bombs (the refuge of the weak). No human has ever seen Level 18, so consider yourself lucky. While I'm not using any cheats, I am constantly saving and reloading.

Consider buying Endlight, our chaotic action game with TRS-80 guts.

STUFF

• Article: Brilliant Interview With J. Weaver Jr
  "Finish one of today’s games and 'win' the credit roll — you’ll watch a hundred names go by. To me, that’s like working on an assembly line in Detroit, which I went to college to try to avoid in the first place."
  
  
• Video: Outhouse on the TRS-80 Color Computer
  While I've never played it myself, it feels very different. And by different I mean bad. I blame the CoCo.
  
  
• Video: Inspiration from the Trash: The TRS-80's Lost Game Designs
  At GDC 2012, I define the TRS-80 aesthetic using Outhouse as a prime example.
  
  
• Video: Tandy Assembly 2018
  I play Outhouse live in front of an audience of TRS-80 fans. Do I make history and beat Level 18? Does my daughter come running in to congratulate me?
  
  
• Game: dOUbT HOUSE (2020)
  a free modern, mouse controlled remake by Syusuke_Takaoka
  
  
• Game: The Outhouse (2020)
  a chunky colouful pixel remake by FUED
  
  

Best Moments	3:53     7:55     9:58
Company	Big Five Software
Resolution	128 x 48
Memory	16KB

Despite the gap (and thanks to modern save & reload) I managed to reach 56,000+ points which showcases this unique classic at its absolute best. Accept no substitutes. Defense Command was one of the later games created by legendary TRS-80 game developer Big Five Software. Every Big Five Software game has a signature eyeball enemy - look for it. Today we'd call Defense Command a 2nd or 3rd generation game, where the developers finally understood the hardware inside and out, and could use every trick in the book.

As far as I know, Defense Command's unique design (the bastard child of Defender and Galaga) has been completely forgotten. Additionally, the standard Space Invaders performance trick of allowing the player only one bullet in the air at a time has been elevated here - likely unintentionaly. If you can align multiple enemies above you, you can essentialy fire many single shots in a row destroying enemies instantly. This feels incredible and is essential at higher levels.

Consider buying Endlight, our chaotic action game with TRS-80 soul.

STUFF

• Article: Matthew Reed writes about Defense Command
  "In my opinion, Defense Command is the most impressive of the Big Five Software games for the TRS-80."
  
  
• Video: Good Morning America Interviews Bill Hogue and Jeff Konyu
  Bill Hogue was 20 and Jeff Konyu was 16. "Their company made half a million dollars last year." Truly they were the TRS-80 Carmack and Romero.
  
  
• Article: Defense Command Manual
  "Guard the fuel cells from the evil Kromorfkrom warriors until one of Earth's Star Cruisers can warp in and reclaim the cells for our side." "The ominous Kromorfkrom Transport Vessel will appear when the game begins."
  
  
• Article: Big Five Software Wiki
  "The company's biggest release came after moving away from the black and white TRS-80." Boo!
  
  
• Article: Big Five Software Internet Archive
  "It's somewhat amusing for me to observe that there seems to be more interest in my games today than there was fifteen years ago!"
  
  
• Article: 1982 Review by Tim Knight
  "Defense Command is a superb game and an original idea. The sounds, graphics, and voices are excellent. Instead of being an imitation of some other arcade game, it is new and a great deal of fun."
  

Best Moments	2:00     5:30     19:00
Company	The Cornsoft Group
Resolution	128 x 48
Memory	16KB

Watch me paint the entire screen white, fulfilling a primal desire I still can't suppress. I finish multiple levels and showcase the criminally overlooked bonus stages. I also try to beat Level 9 which is impossible. An action game without shooting did NOT exist in 1982, and I don't believe this design has ever been copied. Hopefully casinos (and mobile game makers) don't watch this video.

Consider buying Endlight, our chaotic action game that kicks TRS-80 ass.

If you modernize Crazy Painter

1. Keep the chunkiness (128 x 48). Huge pixels are necessary
   
   
2. Remove the enemies. All I want to do is paint. I don't need anything more. If you must add enemies have them die in an explosion of paint that covers the screen helping me (also ensure they don't spawn near player)
   
   
3. Slow player movement so brush can be easily aligned, or add a key I can hold down to "snap to grid". Worth noting touch screen support would likely be brilliant, and render this moot
   
   
4. If you follow this advice, you'll make millions*

Spacebar Strategy Clarification
When you hit spacebar, the code checks whether the entire screen is filled. Code loops from top left to bottom right exiting when it finds a black pixel. This is typically fast. However, if you paint from top left to bottom right, it takes longer and longer to reach a black pixel, so holding spacebar now slows the game down. If you remake Crazy Painter, make this official!

Note to Jim
Emergent was the word you were looking for. i.e. Crazy Painter had emergent gameplay

STUFF

• Article: Matthew Reed writes about Crazy Painter
  "I have always liked Crazy Painter because it is such a change of pace from other games"
  
  
• Article: Creative Computing 1983 Review
  "I like Crazy Painter because as the game progresses in difficulty levels, different creatures are brought into play. " so ... so ... wrong
  
  
• Video: Crazy Painter on the CoCo
  While it lacks our fabled chunkiness, the challenge stage now has a SQUEEGEE!
  
  
• Article: Manual v1.0
  "Become a "Crazy Painter" and create a masterpiece ... if you can." "A mischievous dog, snakes and poisonous turpentine buckets force changes in your painting. In higher skill levels, "paint eaters" start chewing up your work. Suddenly, everyone's a critic."
  
  
• PDF: Manual v2.0
  "Exclusive Bonus Stage: Stop as many CRAZY PAINTER characters as possible without reaching 100." Wait... WHAT?!
  

* = and owe me half

Best Moments	5:35     7:33
Company	The Cornsoft Group
Resolution	64 x 16
Memory	16KB

Scarfman is a fast, chunky, 5 ghost Pac Man clone. The power pellets initially last forever, which is heaven. Eating a dot plays a sound which slightly pauses the game so you FEEL every bite. Against all odds, they built a better beast. The Atari 2600 Pac Man released a year later and sold millions. I never recovered.

Thanks to many reloads, I reached fabled Skill Level 9. The monsters are much smarter, and the power pellets don't last long. At this point you're using power pellets exclusively to eat dots (avoid eating monsters, they intefere too quickly). Scarfman does not appear to go beyond Skill Level 9, which might be a good thing. I no longer hear the munching sound.

When I was a child, I wondered where the scarf was.
As an adult, I still wonder.

Consider buying Endlight, our chaotic action game with TRS-80 street cred.

STUFF

• Article: 1982 Review of Scarfman by Dan Eckblaw in "Space Gamer" (Issue 54, Page 32)
  "I’ve found that this game loses its novelty after a few WEEKS and will spend the rest of its days sitting on a shelf" even in those early days, gamers were a demanding lot :)
  
  
• Article: Matthew Reed reviews Scarfman
  "I think it is the best of the Pac-Man games for the TRS-80."
  
  
• Article: Manual v1
  "Will you SCARF your way to victory? Can you avoid the MONSTERS that guard the maze?" "Nine progressive skill levels make the game more difficult as you get better. Do you have what it takes to reach skill level 9?" I had what it takes!
  
  
• Article: Manual v2
  "Our experience with this game is that it is habit forming. It is not unusual to sit at the game for over 2 hours at a time. The Indianapolis (and world) record is currently at 200,920 points. A good game is 75,000 points. You get a bonus man at 20,000 points which makes the game last longer."
  
  

info coming...