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 ![[CoCo Cursor]](cursor1.gif)
A Few COCO-2 Game Pics
(Pics change on refresh)
![[Monsters and Magic]](thumbs/thumpic5.gif)
Monsters and Magic
![[Crionaut Warrior]](thumbs/thumpic2.gif)
Crionaut Warrior
![[Treasure Search]](thumbs/thumpic30.gif)
Treasure Search
![[Maxomar's World]](thumbs/thumpic18.gif)
Maxomar's World
![[OnTarget]](thumbs/thumpic39.gif)
OnTarget
![[Submania]](thumbs/thumpic24.gif)
Submania
 ![[CoCo Cursor]](cursor1.gif)
A Few COCO-3 Game Pics
(Pics change on refresh)
![[B.E. Breakin 1]](thumbs/thumc3_6.gif)
B.E. Breakin 1
![[The Entity]](thumbs/thumc3_37.gif)
The Entity
![[B.E. Breakin 2]](thumbs/thumc3_7.gif)
B.E. Breakin 2
![[Gnome Quest 1]](thumbs/thumc3_10.gif)
Gnome Quest 1
![[Aliax]](thumbs/thumc3_17.gif)
Aliax
![[Gnome Quest 2]](thumbs/thumc3_14.gif)
Gnome Quest 2
 ![[CoCo Cursor]](cursor1.gif)
Please take the poll!
(Poll started 3-3-2000)
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Old Text Adventure Maps
(Click To View Each Map)
![[Time Key Part 2]](thumbs/mappic1.jpg)
Time Key Part 2
Police Cadet 5
Island / Last Dragon
Fortes Fortuna Juvat
The Lightning Man
The Search for Merlin
Ambassador to Dellon
Time Key Part 1
Time Key Part 3
 ![[CoCo Cursor]](cursor1.gif)
Links to Other COCO Sites
CoCo3.com - Resources!
CoCoMan's Web Page
CoCoZilla Home Page
Robert Gault's CoCo Page
Sock Master's CoCo Page
Tandy CoCo Emulation
All Things CoCo
TRS-80 COCO Homepage
Want your page listed here?
Notice any broken links?
Email me with the info!
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Welcome to Mike Snyder's COCO Quest!
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What is this place? This is Coco Quest, a site for my TRS-80 Color
Computer 2 and 3 (COCO2 and COCO3) programs. I wrote dozens of games between
1987 and 1991 which were sold to and distributed by T&D Subscription Software
of Holland, Michigan. I have obtained permission to release my COCO games to
the public - so they may live forever.
What is a COCO? Tandy/Radio-Shack's 8-bit Color Computer
home system. This amazing system was popular in the 80's but quicky died out
in the 90's. It's considered a vintage computer today - like the Commodore 64,
Vic20, Amiga, the TI99/4a, the Apple 2c, and others.
Who cares about COCO games? I do, for one. I spent every spare moment
during high school and my first year of college writing these games. That's
thousands of hours. That was my passion. Furthermore, it was the prelude to
my eventual career as a professional software engineer.
Why put them online? Originally, I wanted to convert my COCO games into
QuickBASIC and compile them as stand-alone .exe's for PC systems. After seeing
some of my early stuff though, even if I could port them (and I'm not sure I
could), they're essentially worthless as IBM/PC games. I don't want to lose them
though, so here they are in their native form for COCO systems!
How can I play? The easiest way is to use a COCO
emulator (available in versions
for DOS, Windows, and Macintosh). Most emulators are freeware. The COCO3
emulator (required to play better/newer games) is available for a modest charge.
The emulator sites are not affiliated with Prowler Productions.
What's an "Emulator?" An emulator is a program that "pretends" to be
a different computer. It's a virtual machine; soft-hardware. In order to use
an emulator, you need the system ROM (a single file, usually) from an
actual computer. Some sites will provide the system ROM for download, but I'm not sure of the
legalities involved in that.
Can I use a real COCO? Definitely you can. The disks I'm providing
here are in ".dsk" format, which is the standard for use with emulators. The
emulators will allow you to assign real drives and .DSK files as if they were
the same. For example, pick MSNYDER1.DSK as Disk 0, and B: (if you have a
real 5.25" Drive) as Disk 1. With a blank disk in the B: drive, do DSKINI1
from the emulator, then BACKUP 0 to 1 to copy the emulator disk to the
real disk.
Can I buy a real COCO? Probably. I found quite a few good deals on
Ebay by searching for "COCO2" or "COCO3"
or "Color Computer" or "TRS80" or "TRS-80" or "Tandy Radio Shack Color
Computer." Hunt around and you may find one. You can use a cassette tape
drive or (more preferrably) a COCO disk drive. A real COCO can hook to any
TV (no need for a monitor) with the proper cables. You'll want the optional
COCO joystick too.
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Latest COCO Quest News (Newest First)
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Monday, July 21st, 2014:
I recently started a podcast with my daughter, where we discuss all manner of
videogames. Our focus is on console games (Nintendo, PlayStation, XBox), but
we sometimes talk about interactive fiction, BBS games, old shareware, mobile
games, and more. It's new, and we need to build up our subscriber base. We
hope to keep it going, every week, for many years to come.
You can find the podcast on
iTunes
and Stitcher,
among other places. Some browsers let you subscribe directly to a podcast by using our
feed.
Or just head over to
Videogame Generations
for the latest episodes and show notes.
Saturday, March 7th, 2009:
This one was a surprise. A few weeks ago, I got a tip that "The Entity"
could be found on a CoCo compilation CD (the legalities of which I didn't
really question). My first thought was that it must be some other "Entity."
I think I sold it to T&D, but it may never have been published. When
marketed independently as "Biware Enterprises" prior to that, very few copies
(maybe eight or so) were actually sold. So finding that somebody actually had
kept a copy was, at this point in my search, unthinkable.
Sure enough, it was my CoCo 3 text adventure "The Entity," now available for
download as "msnyder0.dsk" in the
download section. I would have preferred to
include it with "Monster Mash" on the ninth disk, but even though both
disks have quite a bit of free space remaining, both games take up too much
room to fit on a single disk. Perhaps if I find any of the few I
still need to find, I can do some merging then. I'm
still holding out hope for "Time Attack," which I'm positive was
on the "flip side" of a T&D issue (maybe only on cassette, though).


Now the bad news. This game stinks. There may be some jewel of a story
lurking under the bad design -- maybe a clever puzzle or two -- but it's
virtually unplayable. I suppose this is true of every 80's text adventure
I wrote, but this one is doubly disappointing because my nostalgic memories
are of an incredible, well-designed, worthwhile adventure. The only graphics
are the title screen and the room "frame" (border), making it unnecessarily
slow and hard to view without any trade-off benefit for losing the standard
text screen. The screen clears when full, and it of course has no scrollback.
The writing is as rough and uninspired as my earlier games. It features
instant-death, plus time limits on performing certain tasks even though it's
not clear at all what those tasks are. It has no save/load ability (at least,
none that I found -- the source code is no longer available so I can't check
there), so it's a slog just to make progress through trial-and-error. The
parser is as bad as was typical for my games, with simple conveniences like
"x" for "examine" not supported (you must look" at things -- although don't
try too hard, since very little scenery is actually implemented). Looks like
it features a number of obvious misspellings, too. Even just getting started
requires waiting through a slow and unskippable title sequence. It really is
a dud.
So now that you're sold... feel free to download and play it! :).
Some advice, though. If you use an emulator, take advantage of CPU speed-up
(in the Keil emulator, for instance, press [F6] two or three times and watch
the speed at the bottom until it's maxed at "????"). When I have nothing
better to do, I might export the data files and see if I can get some
hints, and then maybe try to solve the game (and post a walkthrough). But
don't hold your breath.
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Older/archived news is available
here.
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My COCO Games Are Available For Free
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Dsk1 |
Dsk2 |
Dsk3 |
Dsk4 |
Dsk5 |
Dsk6 |
Dsk7 |
Dsk8 |
Dsk9 |
Dsk0
Or, download all 10 disks in a single WinZip/PkUnzip
Archive (539k).
Thanks to Tom Dykema of the former T&D Subscription Software for granting me
permission to release my games to the public. I haven't been able to find all
my old games yet, unfortunately. Check my
wanted area to find out what I still need.
Some of these might be games I'll never find because I'm not sure they were
ever even published.
Before you download, keep in mind that you sometimes have to “trick” a CoCo 3
into running some of them. For instance, games like Lord Silvercape, Police
Cadet 5, Virus D, and some of the other “BASIC” games are too big to fit in
memory on a disk system unless you do this trick first:
POKE 38543,33 : POKE 38563,33 : PCLEAR 0
Actually, you might be able to save time by just typing:
PCLEAR 1
If you get an OM (Out of Memory) error running CoCo 3 games, try that. Also,
you might have to “reset” your computer or emulator before running some
games. After a decade, I don't remember why, but I've found that it helps.
Click to download |
**** DISK #1 (All For CoCo2) **** |
DIR.BAS | T&D's Directory/Menu Program |
RODOC.BAS | Rodoc: A Text Adventure |
HOSTAGE.BAS | Hostage: A Text Adventure |
ORBDERRA.BAS | Orbs of Derra Graphic Adventure |
CADET#1.BAS | Police Cadet Part 1: Text Adventure |
JAVA.BAS | Java: A Generic Video Game |
CRIOLOAD.BAS | Crionaut Warrior Boot Program |
CRIO.BAS | Crionaut Warrior (Run Boot Program Instead) |
CHAMBERS.BAS | Chambers of Krid: Maze Game with a Twist |
TRIORACE.BAS | Triorace: Video Game Featuring 3 Races |
TROOPER.BAS | Earth Trooper: Invaders-Style Arcade Game |
STARLOG.BAS | Info on Star Trek Episodes (Not A Game) |
SANDSTON.BAS | Sandstone: A Text Adventure |
MONSTERS.BAS | Monsters & Magic: Unique Graphic RPG |
SNOFIGHT.BAS | Sno-Fight: A 2-Player Snowball Battle |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #2 (All For CoCo2) **** |
DIR.BAS | T&D's Directory/Menu Program |
DUNMAZE.BAS | Dungeon Maze: Generic 1st Person Maze |
BLASTER.BAS | Blaster: Typical Mothership Shooter |
TILERTWO.BAS | Tiler Tex Part 2: Sort of Pacman-ish |
D-TUNNEL.BAS | Dream Tunnel: Fly Through Dangerous Tunnel |
MNTDEATH.BAS | Mount Death: Another Difficult Tunnel |
TERRON.BAS | Terron: Original Zap-and-Dodge Game |
MAXOMAR.BAS | Maxomar's World: A Text Adventure |
CADET#2.BAS | Police Cadet 2: Haunted Carnival Adventure |
SHOWDOWN.BAS | Starship Showdown: Another 2-Player Battle |
CADET#3.BAS | Police Cadet 3: Gadget Factory Adventure |
CHEMIST.BAS | Crazy Chemist: Potion-Making Simulation |
JOURNEY.BAS | Journey Up: Multi-Level Jumping Game |
SUBMANIA.BAS | Submania: Submarine Video Game |
GENESIS.BAS | The Genesis Project: Text Adventure |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #3 (All For CoCo2) **** |
TILERTEX.BAS | Tiler Tex: A Pacman-ish Arcade Game |
CADET#4.BAS | Police Cadet 4: A Graphic Adventure |
GHOST.BAS | Ghost Hunter: Arcade Based on Ghostbusters |
ROBO.BAS | RoboCrook: Text Adventure, Capture A Robot |
TREASURE.BAS | Treasure Search: A Typical Text Adventure |
SNAKSHAK.BAS | SnakShak: An Original Simulation Game |
DESTIN.BAS | Destination Unknown - Text Adventure |
SILENCE.BAS | Silence Syndrome - A Cool Text Adventure |
WARRIOR3.BAS | Crionaut Warrior 3: Yet Another Maze Game |
SAUCER.BAS | Flying Saucer Adventure: Text Adventure Game |
MOWER.BAS | Mower Madness: A Robotron/Pacman Hybrid |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #4 (For CoCo2 & CoCo3) **** |
SPEEDGAM.BAS | Speed Games: 7 simple arcade games in 1 prog. |
ONTARGET.BAS | On Target: A point-and-click game of speed. |
TIMETRAP.BAS | TimeTrap: Arcade game inspired by “Tempest”. |
COUNTRY.BAS | Country Club Adventure: Get there by noon! |
SHADOW.BAS | Shadow World Adventure: Experiments in Time. |
ADVTUT.BAS | Adventure Tutorial: Learn to write adventures. |
ADVSAM.BAS | Adventure Sample: Sample adventure for above. |
The following games on this disk image are for CoCo-3 systems only. |
RAHINST.BAS | Rahul's Quest Instructions: Info for below. |
RAHUL.BIN | Rahul's Quest: Help Rahul with the letter of love. |
NAMETUNE.BAS | Name This Tune: Guess song titles for 2-players. |
VIRUS-D.BAS | Virus-D: Beat the virus in this circuit board arcade. |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #5 (All For CoCo3) **** |
FACTORY.BIN | Food Factory: A simple, interesting arcade game. |
BREAKIN1.BIN | B.E. Breakin 1: A simple arkanoid-style game. |
BREAKIN2.BIN | B.E. Breakin 2: Faster, inspired sequel to the above. |
SILVCAPE.BAS | Lord Silvercape: A unique graphic adventure. |
MANUAL.BAS | Gnome Quest 1 Manual: Instructions for the game. |
GNOME1.BIN | Gnome Quest 1: Launch this to play it! |
2.BIN | GQ1 Data File: Just a data file for the above. |
3.BIN | GQ1 Data File: Another data file for above. |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #6 (All For CoCo3) **** |
DIR.BAS | T&D's Directory/Menu Program |
SMURFINS.BAS | Smurf Quest Instructions: Info for the game below. |
SMURF.BIN | Smurf Quest: The “Gnome” re-used as a Smurf. |
QUESTINS.BAS | Cavern Quest 2 Instructions: Info for game below. |
CQUEST2.BAS | Cavern Quest 2: A poor-man's Pitfall. No vines. |
GOPHER.BAS | Gopher: My very first CoCo3 game. Pacman-ish. |
MANUAL.BAS | Gnome Quest 2 Manual: Instructions for the game. |
GNOME2.BIN | Gnome Quest 2: Launch this to play it! |
2.BIN | GQ2 Data File: Just a data file for the above. |
3.BIN | GQ2 Data File: Another data file for above. |
4.BIN | GQ2 Data File: Last data file for Gnome Quest 2. |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #7 (All but 1 are CoCo3) **** |
SNOW-SKI.BAS | Snow Ski: Vertical scrolling CoCo2 Game. |
CADET#5.BAS | Police Cadet 5: Final adventure in the series. |
ALIAX.BIN | Aliax: Inspired by the “digging” in Super Mario 2. |
GALAXYQ.BIN | Galaxy Q: Good idea ruined by slow scrolling. |
ELDUS.BAS | Eldus Intro: Intro/Instructions to game below. |
ELDUS.BIN | Eldus: Tile-based Quest for the Pool of Life. Hard! |
PROG1.BIN | Eldus Resource File: Run ELDUS.BIN instead. |
PROG2.BIN | Eldus Resource File: Another one, see above. |
PROG3.BIN | Eldus Resource File: The last one, see above. |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #8 (All For CoCo3) **** |
WHOPART1.BIN | Doctor Who, Deadly Alliance: Escape from Ru. |
WHOPART2.BIN | Doctor Who, Deadly Alliance: The Island Search. |
WHOPART3.BIN | Doctor Who, Deadly Alliance: Iron City. |
WHOPART4.BIN | Doctor Who, Deadly Alliance: Planet of Destruction. |
RIVERINS.BAS | River Raid Instructions: Info for game below. |
RIVER.BIN | River Raid: Vertical scrolling boat/blasting game. |
RIVROOMS.DAT | River Raid Data File: Run RIVER.BIN instead. |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #9 (All For CoCo3) **** |
MM.BIN | Monster Mash: Action platformer. Good design. |
X2.BIN | Monster Mash Data File: Run MM.BIN instead. |
X3.BIN | Another Monster Mash data file. |
X4.BIN | The last Monster Mash data file. |
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Click to download |
**** DISK #10 (All For CoCo3) **** |
FONT.BIN | Font definition data file for The Entity. |
ENTITY1.BIN | The Entity text adventure game (exec this to play). |
ENTITY2.BIN | A data file used by The Entity. |
ENTITY3.BIN | Another data file for The Entity. |
(blank file name) | Room/description data for The Entity. |
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Games and T&D Issues I Still Need
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I've now collected T&D issues beginning with my contributions, up to #121.
Are there any issues higher than that? Does anybody know? I haven't
been able to find several of my best games
(as fate would have it) which include Space Ace (I was unaware of an
existing arcade game by the same name, so T&D listed it as Space Race),
Gnome Quest 3, and Camel Quest (which, the more
I think about it, may never have even been completed, let alone sold or
distributed). If you have any T&D issues above #121 let me know. I think some
of the disks may have been double-sided or something (I know Time Attack
was on a T&D flip-side -- maybe cassette only -- but I haven't yet found that
one either) and perhaps I've only gotten the front side (and only disks) and
that's why I haven't been able to find those programs. I'm really not sure.
If you can help me out, contact me by emailing
wyndo@prowler-pro.com.
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This site is copyright © 2000 by Prowler Productions.
Mike Snyder's COCO Games are copyright © T&D Software.
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