Weerd was written by Arthur Gleckler and released in 1982. It was the final TRS?80 game released by Big Five, and only the second one not written by Bill Hogue. Weerd was released near the very end of the TRS?80 game market. The goal in Weerd is to destroy the attacking aliens. The controls are pretty standard: LEFT ARROW and …

Super Nova was based on the very popular arcade game Asteroids, which was released by Atari in 1979. It was the first big success for Bill Hogue and Big Five Software. Super Nova was originally available only on cassette tape. It required a Model I with 16K and Level I or Level II BASIC. Later, Big Five sold a disk …

Stellar Escort was written by Jeff Zinn, and it was the first game distributed by Big Five Software that wasn’t written by Bill Hogue. Stellar Escort has a very distinctive look because of the flashy transition effects when changing screens. There is always something in movement on the screen. Stellar Escort has a number of sound effects, but no music …

Robot Attack was based on the arcade game Berzerk, which was released by Stern Electronics in 1980. The game concept itself is older than that, and can be found in any number of BASIC games, such as Chase, Robots, and Daleks. Robot Attack was notable as the first talking game released by Big Five Software. The game supports the TRISSTICK …

Meteor Mission 2, also known as Meteor Mission II, was based on Taito’s 1979 Lunar Rescue, although it differs from it in many ways. Despite the name, Meteor Mission 2 is not a sequel to Bill Hogue‘s earlier Meteor Mission. Amusingly, the first Alpha Products advertisement to feature Meteor Mission 2 mistakenly used pictures from Meteor Mission instead. The goal …

Many people thought that Galaxy Invasion was based on Space Invaders (including a reviewer for 80 Microcomputing), but this was a common misconception. Galaxy Invasion was based on the arcade game Galaxian, which was released by Namco in 1979. Galaxy Invasion was the first Big Five Software game to feature sound and music. In addition to the tune that plays …

Defense Command was the last TRS?80 game written by Bill Hogue. It was very loosely based by the arcade game Defender, which Williams Electronics released in 1980. There were many Defender clones created for the TRS?80. Notable examples include Alien Defense by Soft Sector Marketing, Penetrator by Melbourne House, and The Eliminator (the official Defender) by Adventure International. The goal …

Cosmic Fighter was loosely based on Astro Fighter, which was released by Data East in 1980. In many ways, Cosmic Fighter looks similar to Galaxy Invasion. However, the similarities are superficial and the games are very different. Your goal in Cosmic Fighter is to shoot the aliens as they descend from the top of the screen. Unlike Galaxy Invasion, you …

Attack Force is a Targ variant. As such it is a shoot 'em up that takes place in a grid-like maze where the player's ship starts out in the bottom right corner while eight alien ramships start out in the top row. As the game begins, the ramships will start chasing the player who has to shoot them to prevent …

As Bounty Bob, the player's goal is to inspect every section of each mine in search of the evil Yukon Yohan while avoiding the various radioactive creatures that inhabit the mine. As Bounty Bob walks over a section of flooring, it fills with color. To complete the level, every section of flooring must be colored. There are ten mines in …

Bounty Bob Strikes Back! is the sequel to Miner 2049er and features similar gameplay. As Bounty Bob, your goal is to claim every inch of 25 challenging mines. To do this, you must walk over each segment of the framework in the mines. To reach each segment of framework, you will need to figure out a way to jump, climb, …

Bounty Bob Strikes Back! is the sequel to Miner 2049er and features similar gameplay. As Bounty Bob, your goal is to claim every inch of 25 challenging mines. To do this, you must walk over each segment of the framework in the mines. To reach each segment of framework, you will need to figure out a way to jump, climb, …