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Text File | 2006-10-19 | 4KB | 65 lines

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 1994

      MORE NEVER RELEASED OFFICIAL TI SOFTWARE
     by Charles Good

     Programs under development by TI and others for the 99/4A but never
officially released keep appearing out of the woodwork.

     SAGUARO CITY.  Copyright Texas Instruments 1981.  This looks like it is
the original version of what TI officially released under the name "Tombstone
City".  We have it as an EA5 loadable program file on disk 857B.  There are two
graphic differences between this and Tombstone City.  1- The title shows as
"Saguaro City".  2- There are Saguaro cacti constantly on display in the upper
left and right of the screen, but dead bad guys (morgs) are displayed as
tombstones in the desert outside of town.  In the officially released game
(Tombstone City) the dead morgs all look like cacti and there are no
tombstones.  It seems to me that TI got its names mixed up.  The title
"Tombstone City" should go with the (never released) that shows the tombstones,
and "Saguaro City" should have been the title to the (officially released)
version that shows all the cacti.
     ---------------------
     FANTASY.  I had gram files of this game sitting around my software
collection for some time, but I couldn't get them to work.  Recently I
carefully read my Gram Kracker and P-Gram documentation and began playing
around with the headers of my FANTASY files.  As a result of these efforts I
now have a partially working version of FANTASY.

     There is nothing in the printed literature concerning this game (nothing
in the CYC, no advertisments in any 1983/84 computer magazines) and no mention
of TI or a copyright on the game's title screen.  There is little doubt however
that this was under development by TI prior to abandoning the Home Computer in
late 1983.  I think this game was on TI's gram emulator, used by the company to
demo 99/4A cartridge software at public exhibitions in 1983.  Examining with a
sector editor the Fantasy gram file that loads into RAM at <6000, I find the
text "SOLID STATE CARTRIDGE" and "(c) 1983 TI".  These text strings do not
appear anywhere in the game, but suggest ownership by TI.  "Solid State
Cartridge" is an official TI service mark (trade mark) that can not legally be
used by others.

     When the game starts you hear a female voice say "Help! Help!".
Apparently it is your job to rescue her.  You are given your choice of 1 or 2
players and then 1- Ship at sea  2-Ship's deck  3-Jungle  4-Jungle maze.  These
are apparently game lavels.  Successful completion of one level automatically
advances you to the next.  The game uses joysticks or the split keyboard for
movement and firing.  Continuously, the girl says "Help!" or "Help me!".

     1-Ship at sea.  The girl is on a pirate ship.  The hero is in a balloon
which has to be guided to the ship's deck.  The ship's cannons try to shoot
down the balloon.
     2-Ship's deck.  Our hero has to fight off the ship's crew and get to the
girl who is in a cabin in the center of the ship.  I have never been able to do
this successfully.
     3-Jungle.  Our hero is in a balloon floating over the jungle.  Flying
above the jungle are two large ugly birds which try to puncture the balloon.
Our hero has to avoid the birds.
     4-Jungle maze.  This is a multi level "Donkey Kong" like maze.  Our hero
is at the bottom of the maze and has to climb to the top where the "Help help"
girl can be seen.  I can't get this level to work at all.  The computer seems
to be locked up.

     Anyone who wants partially working gram files of this game can have them
be sending me a disk and paid return mailer.
     .PL 1