Download digitally archived Bally Arcade tape programs that will load with AstroBASIC (the BASIC with the built-in tape-interface).
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Astrogames Tape A1 (Complete) Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Paul Thacker says, "Here is the complete Tape A1 by Astrogames, including the menu and all five programs, Wah's Revenge, Super Pac, Defense Professional, Metro Attack and 3 Voice Tune (Peter Piper). It turns out that Super Pac only runs when loaded via the menu. I'm not sure why, but it is unique in having a short second load. I actually couldn't get Defense Professional to load correctly in MAME through the menu, but it works on real hardware. Maybe this is because it's after the second load of Super Pac." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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Cavern Dale Low (Astrogames). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 198x. Source: Dale Low Tape Collection. Paul Thacker says, "This is a previously unknown game. Steer left and right with the joystick and press the trigger to fire. Firing clears a narrow path through the cavern. You'll need to swerve back and forth to make a big enough gap to pass through. You can also dig directly through the walls, but this uses up your fuel. There was a bug when I reached the end of the last level and it tried to display the score." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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Control 30: Space Mission. Dale Low (Astrogames). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. Arcadian 5, no. 9 (Jul. 22, 1983): 136-137, 140. (BASIC Listing) Arcadian 5, no. 11 (Sep. 28, 1983): 170. (Program Correction) Here are the instructions for Control 30: Space Mission from the July 1983 Arcadian: "Control 30 is a challenging game that makes you the captain of the starship Venture, which has run off its course into a strange galaxy with vicious aliens. Guide the aliens into your missile sights and fire away. But beware! The aliens shoot at you. If they hit your ship, it will become severely damaged. Your ship can only absorb 3 hits before disintegrating. Once the warning "Enemy in range" appears, quit toying around with the controls: quickly shoot it before it destroys you. You must destroy all aliens of one set of 3 before continuing... that means all aliens even ones that leaves your view-port must be tracked down and destroyed. "After one set of 3 have been destroyed a galactic chart will appear looking [like a rectangle with four different quadrants.] The large blip is the alien's new position. The small blip in the center of the screen is your ship's position. Move the small blip into the center of the large blip and pull the trigger. Voila! The new aliens are now ready to commence battle. Each set of aliens is harder to kill than the last because each new set has better accuracy with its laser. Destroy another set and the chart returns. After each set your shield is recharged and you start the next battle with a fresh 'ship' (Any shots that your ship may have absorbed previously are forgotten.) "Point values are as follows: Dynamo: 250 - 300 pts Fargon: 75 - 175 pts Demon: 150 - 450 pts"(Point values vary with each set.)" The original Control 30 instructions submitted to the Arcadian are available here:
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Defense Professional Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Paul Thacker says, "Steer your ship up and down with the joystick and pull the trigger to fire. You can destroy enemy ships for points. Shoot the circles to get extra fuel. The enemy hitboxes seem larger than the ships." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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Lunar Lifeboat Dale Low (Astrogames). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 198x. Source: Dale Low Tape Collection. Paul Thacker says, "This is a text based game where you must land your craft at a low velocity by specifying the burn rate over time, without running out of fuel. A version of this program was published in Small Computer Systems Handbook by Sol Libes, published in 1978, on page 175. It credits the program to David Krauss and Tom Martin, and gives the date March 10, 1977." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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Maze Avenger. Dale Low (Astrogames). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1984. ARCADIAN, 6, no. 11/12 (October 31, 1984): 100. Note that the Arcadian newsletter provided no instructions on how to play this game, but plenty is provided here. "Maze Avenger" is a maze game where the player's character creeps ever so slowly around the maze shooting objects that are not at all easily identifiable. When the character shoots all of the objects on the screen then the player advances to the next level. The player can be hit by-- well-- SOMETHING and it causes the player to be unable to shoot and also to be able to pass through walls. The detailed background and instructions for "Maze Avenger" are here "Maze Avenger" unofficial instructions and tips here: here "Maze Avenger" does not save like a BASIC-only program. See how to work around this problem to be able to save both the BASIC and machine language portion of this (or any) program, here An assembly language disassembly and commented BASIC program for "Maze Avenger" is available here. |
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Menu Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Reviewed in "The Game Player, #17," by Michael Prosise (ARCADIAN 6, no. 5 (Mar. 30, 1984): 41-50.). Reviewed in "Outlet, Product Review Column," by Kevin O'Neill (NIAGARA B.U.G. BULLETIN, 1, no. 7 (Dec. 1984): 25-26.). A menu with five titles that searches for the selected program and automatically loads it. |
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Metropolitan Attack! Uncredited, but probably by Dale Low. AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. ARCADIAN 6, no. 11 (Oct. 31, 1984): 99-128. This is a Missile Command clone written for "AstroBASIC." Michael Prosise reviews the game (briefly) in his December 1983 Game Player column: "Metro Attack. Three cheers for Dale Low! This is a game I could really get excited about! It is the best Missile Command simulation I have ever seen. It contains selectable levels, turns, players, bonus energy points, whew! In short, this game has it all! My personal favorite." See the program's notes for many additional details about this program, including how it came to be archived. |
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Metro Attack Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Paul Thacker says, "Use the joystick to move the crosshairs to aim at the incoming missiles, and pull the trigger to fire. You can fire from multiple bases, each of which has limited ammo. Use the knob to switch between bases. This is similar to the version published in The Arcadian as Metropolitan Attack, but the crosshairs flicker more in the newsletter version." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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"Multi-Adventure." Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983, Tape A2. Multi-Adventure is made up of three sub-games: The Forest, Maze A-Changing Walls and Maze B-Invisible. Kevin O'Neill writes in his 1983 review, "'The Forest!' would be, on its own, a very good buy. The player moves his man through as many screens as possible given 1000 time units. Each screen is different. Some screens have small pits that you must hop over, rocky gorges that must be traversed by 'swinging' from ropes that appear at the top of the screen, while other screens contain many small platforms that you must hop onto, to travel to the other side of the screen. There is also a special screen, that only requires one, skillful hop to get across. The small platform will then proceed to carry you across the screen. Your score is saved at a specific memory location, to avoid being destroyed by the next tape load, once you have used up all your time. "The next game segment contains three mazes. The first two are constantly changing, to make them tougher to solve. You can 'eat' through the right-hand wall by squeezing the trigger. The shortest time gets the highest score. This segment is repeated twice. The next maze is an invisible one that you try to maneuver through by hitting the walls, to see where they are."
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(Astrogames)(2000_baud)_tn.jpg) | "Night Bombers." Astrogames (Dale Low). 1983. On Tape A2 with "Multi-Adventure." AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. From the Arcadian advertisement, "Comes in easy and hard versions. 'Easy' gives the player five lives, while 'Hard' gives him only three, plus faster game action." In the March 1984 issue of "Arcadian," Michael Prosise wrote in his "Game Player" review column, "This is a fairly routine sci-fi game, in which bomber planes fly overhead and periodically drop bombs onto your city. You, the player, control a missile launcher and try to intercept the falling bombs." Paul Thacker, on July 25, 2023, when this program was archived on the Bally Alley Astrocade discussion group, wrote: "Here are two versions of Night Bombers from Astrogames Tape A2. The harder version is faster, though both are kind of slow. You only get one slow moving projectile at a time, so line up your shot carefully and lead it by a lot to take out the bombers."
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Pac*Man Dale Low (Astrogames) AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. Source: Tape from Bob Fabris Collection "Pac*Man" (as the name appears on the tape) appears to be an unused Arcadian submission. Dale Low was the programmer behind Astrogames, a tape company. Astrogames published a game called "Super-Pac," but this is probably not the same thing. |
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Peter Piper Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 198x. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Paul Thacker says, "This plays a three voice music tune." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
| Saturn Space Dock | Saturn Space Dock. Dale Low (Astrogames). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. Arcadian 6, no. 2 (Dec. 22, 1983): 12, 15. The object is to make as many safe landings on the green planet of Saturn without running out of fuel. Type in the program and load the *(X) array. Run it and prepare for a challenge. After the land appears, 3 numbers will appear across the top of the screen. They are (1 to r) score, rate of descent, fuel. To land safely, you must land near the center of the pad with rate of descent between 3 and 7. Use the Keypad as your controls: 1 - Left thrust GO - Abort landing + - Right thrust ERASE - Main thrustDrifting down will lower the rate/descent and the main thrust will increase. Use the 1 and + keys to guide your craft to the center of the pad, but wind may tend to blow you around. Crashing will cost you 500 points, but since aborting a landing costs only 50 points, use it whenever you think you are going to crash. Bonus points and fuel are awarded at the completion of each successful landing depending on your rate/descent and how close you are to the center of the pad. |
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Saturn Space Dock Plus Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Dale Low Tape Collection. Paul Thacker says, "It's an enhanced version of Saturn Space Dock published in The Arcadian." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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"Star Wahs" Astrogames (Dale Low). 1984. On Tape A3 with "War Demonstration" and "Tunneller." AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. This text is for the instructions for Astrogames Tape 3: "Star Wahs is a COMBINATION Joystick-Keypad game, requiring skill and quick reflexes. It is for one player only, though it can be a two player game if one monitors the keypad and the other, the joystick. "In Star Wahs you must successfully destroy all forms of alien life. You are the commander of the Starship Wah, which is armed with B-618 photon lasers (able to destroy all aliens from close range). Also you have Type H 3 second defense shields which can block any enemy fire providing it is activated at the correct time. Note: Playing this game requires both joystick and keypad use simultaneously!" In 2023, Paul Thacker wrote, "It's a sequel to 'Wah's Revenge' on tape A1. [...] The complete version includes a title screen, an energy meter, and a scoring system. The war is still rather futile. The ships just keep coming until you run out of energy. If you can't win, are you only driven by revenge?"
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Super Graphix (Test Version, Fireworks!!) Dale Low. AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 198x. Source: Dale Low Tape Collection. Paul Thacker says, "This is a previously unknown program that displays a fireworks show." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
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Super Pac Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Paul Thacker says, "This program crashes unless loaded via the menu program, so I haven't made a standalone version. It includes a short second load. It's a Pac-Man clone with a randomized maze. The maze wraps left to right, but not top to bottom. The maze often randomizes such that some pellets or even the ghost is surrounded by walls. You can use the trigger to eat through a wall, at the cost of points. There is one ghost. It tries to navigate directly to you, getting blocked by walls in the way. It is very difficult to pass by directly because it can move diagonally and you can't. More than once, I encountered a bug where the level didn't end after I ate the last pellet. This game is very different than Dale Low's unpublished Arcadian submission Pac*Man." |
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"Tunneller" and "Tunneller Super Deluxe Plus." Astrogames (Dale Low). 1984. On Tape A3 with "War Demonstration" and "Star Wahs." AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. From the manual for Astrogames Tape A3: "You are Milo, the man, whose object is to gather up all parts of a key, and enter the door on the far right of the screen. There are five different aliens whose purpose is to stop you! You may not enter the door unless you have all pieces of the key. Your statistics are displayed at the top of the screen: The depth you have reached, your present score, and beside the ' ' is the number of key pieces that you still have to pickup. Finally, the number beside the asterisk is the number of men remaining." On February 4, 2023, Paul Thacker said, "This game has detailed characters and fast movement. Use the joystick to move through the playfield and collect all the icons (keys, maybe?) while avoiding the enemy. Once you've collected everything, exit the stage on the right side. There is also a bonus stage where you have to navigate through a narrow corridor without hitting the walls. The sooner you reach the end, the more points you get." On July 26, 2023, Paul Thacker wrote, "When I archived Tunneller from Dale Low's tapes, there was a wrinkle I wasn't aware of. There are actually two versions of the game. The previously archived version is the deluxe version, which is for one player only and includes a bonus stage. The standard version doesn't have the bonus stage, but does support one or two players. Invite a friend over for a Tunneller competition." These additional links provide more information about the game. The threads often include discussions relating to the game and sometimes provide tips and programming notes. When a game can be downloaded from BallyAlley.com, then it is normally the preferred method to play the game, as it often contains additional material compiled from these threads.
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Wah's Revenge Astrogames (Dale Low). AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. 1983. Source: Tape A1. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. Paul Thacker says, "Use the joystick to move your ship left and right and pull the trigger to fire at the Wah ships. You'll get a 'Danger' warning when the Wahs are about to attack, so you can move out of the line of fire." This link leads to the program archived on the BallyAlley Bally Arcade/Astrocade discussion forum on Groups.io. This program will eventually be available as a direct download from BallyAlley.com. |
/War_Demonstration_(1984)(Astrogames)(2000_baud)_tn.jpg) | "War Demonstration." Astrogames (Dale Low). 1984. On Tape A3 with "Star Wahs" and "Tunneller." AstroBASIC, 2000-Baud. Advertisement: ARCADIAN 6, no. 3 (Jan. 27, 1984): 32. The instructions for this program state: "This program uses the graphic capabilities of the Astrocade to illustrate the bombing of a city. Stages: 1 - Drawing of graphic city and landscape. 2 - Setting of the sun with traffic sound effects. 3 - Falling of five bombs. 4 - Spaceship is released to save population. 5 - Explosion of the city." Paul Thacker, on July 26, 2023, when this program was archived on the Bally Alley Astrocade discussion group, wrote: "It shows an alien attack on a city and isn't interactive. At the end, it sort of looks like it crashes, though you can actually hit a key and restart it." Adam Trionfo replied on the same day, "This one has the feel of J. Fenton's 'Nuke the !$&!' mixed in with Mike Peace's 'Chicago Loop' from the AstroBASIC manual. The city feels 'alive' with the sound of traffic and moving cars and then come some bombs to ruin everyone's day and the city is completely gone. The message here is that war is futile and in the end it seems, in this demo, at least, that the world is literally vaporized. "This one is another program find that put some perspective on the time period when this program was written in 1983."
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