- - - = ( VIC-20 Cartridge Rarity & Gameplay listing ) = - - -

                  By Ward F. Shrake and Paul A. Le Brasse
                  with the help of many folks on the Inet
                       (Version 1.9 ...and counting)
                         Released on April 6, 1999
                   

               Visit "VIC-20 Digital Archaeology" on the web:
                  http://members.aol.com/wshrake/index.htm
                    


                  In the spirit of the "friendly computer"
                  this document may be freely copied and/or
                  used by anyone who wishes to do so. We do
                  ask that you give the authors credit by
                  name if and when you use this listing in 
                  any other context. Thanks in advance!





                           Notes about this document.
     - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

   The Vic20 system has a history that differs from most other "classic"
   game machines. (Such as the Atari 2600, the ColecoVision and others.)
   For those other machines, people who collect video games had bought
   and stored most titles over the decades. Game collectors had complete
   lists of what titles had been released by whom and when. On the other
   hand, the Vic20 software library had not only not been preserved, but 
   there were not even any comprehensive lists of what titles had once
   been made for that system. The Vic20's history and software library
   could have been lost forever if no action was taken to preserve it.

   To make a long story shorter, a few people who liked the Vic20 system
   took the time and effort to find out all of the titles that had once
   been released for the Vic20 system. This list you are reading now is
   one result of the efforts of that team of "Digital Archaeologists".

   Game collectors may be familiar with "rarity listings" for the other 
   game systems. The generally accepted way to make a list is to divide
   it up by company, then list each title alphabetically, with a "rarity
   code" attached to each title. This list did things a bit differently.

   We broke this document into many different categories. This reflects
   the idea that since this is a Digital Archaeology project, and we are
   in essence digging this stuff up from a nearly forgotten past, that we
   are more sure that some titles were really made than we are of others.
   (Note that this list does not include any titles that were released on
   the cassette tape format that was once popular. Tape lists do exist.)

   The "classic" era was famous for vaporware. That is, some company would
   publicly announce that they were going to make some product. They might
   take out ads in magazines, or maybe send out a written press release.
   Then they would, for various reasons, never actually release the item.

   Especially at the end of the Vic20's market lifetime, many odd things
   happened. Some companies changed their minds, while others found that 
   they did not have the money to put something on the market. Some titles
   intended for cart release only made it out as tapes. And of course some
   titles never made it because their parent company went out of business.
   
   Many things all contributed to the Vic20 library's poor preservation.
   Every game historian knows of the industry-wide game "crash" of 1984,
   for instance. When we Digital Archaeologists first took on the task of 
   rescuing the history of the Vic20, things generally were in chaos and 
   disrepair. We did our best to try to restore order, as a labor of love 
   for the sake of the history and nostalgia of this machine and its era. 

   Most cart collectors think in terms of building a collection, one piece
   at a time. The underlying assumption is that they intend to find a list
   of all the titles available, and check off a title at a time as they go.

   In a sense, we Digital Archaeologists were doing just the opposite. All
   the titles "out there" were first just unverified rumors. Each title in
   this list eventually was found by some collector. At that point a title
   had a verbal confirmation that it existed. Finally, one of the people
   interested in preserving the software library itself would be able to
   hold that confirmed cart in their hands and make a digital copy of the
   memory chip that is contained inside each cartridge. We made this list
   the same way we went about this step-by-step process of preservation.
   
   Besides this document, other texts exist that modern Vic20 hobbyists
   or computer historians may find useful or interesting. These can all be
   found on the internet. (Our team wrote many of them, since very little
   other information about the Vic20 was freely available at the time.)

   Among these available documents are a "Frequently Asked Questions" text, 
   various technical documents and archiving utility programs, a list of 
   450+ Vic20 cassette tape games, and more. "Cartzilla" is a huge text
   that takes this list of titles much farther; it actually discusses and 
   reviews 180+ software cartridges now known to exist for the VIC-20.

   It would have been a shame to forget this part of our culture's history.
   We few who first remembered the Vic20 with fondness are glad to see we
   are no longer so few in number. We are pleased that a decade and a half
   after the "friendly computer's" commercial lifespan ended, that people
   still enjoy playing and collecting the games we so lovingly preserved.

                                 Ward F. Shrake _and_ Paul A. Le Brasse






    Explanation of codes used. (Some may differ from what you're used to.)
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
   
   S    Super-Common        Reserved for a few carts that seem to show up 
                            everywhere, always. No shortage of these! These 
                            could be great on gameplay, so don't be harsh...
   C    Common              Generally a semi easy-to-find Vic20 cartridge...
                            but Vic20's might be harder to find than carts 
                            for other classic systems, at least at present.
   U    Uncommon            This means average/middle difficulty in finding.
   R    Rare                Takes a bit of hard work to locate one of these.
                            You'll probably end up searching the Inet for it
                            unless you get really lucky on a thrifting trip.
   ER   Extremely Rare      Nearly impossible to find. May be frustrating!
                            We reserved this category for carts we've only
                            seen 1 or 2 of total, everywhere we've looked.
                            More could show up in time, as more people start
                            to collect for the Vic20. For now, its difficult.
   PR   Prototype only      This category is new, as of version 1.8 of this
                            list. It describes carts that, so far as we can
                            tell, were never released as a production item
                            but that do definitely exist in prototype form.
                            Needless to say, these carts are incredibly rare.
   NR   Never Released      We used to use this category when we had seen or
                            heard of a cart that *might* exist. Please note
                            that we handle this differently now. We first put
                            them in the (seperate) "vaporware" section until
                            someone out there finds one. Only then do we move
                            it up one section, to "confirmed but unarchived". 
                            They finally climb up to the upper section of the
                            list only after the digital code in that cart has 
                            been digitally read and preserved for posterity.





                                                            Rarity code
                                                      Size       |
                                                        |   Game  \      Year
Company     Cartridge name                  Part#        \   play   \    made
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Academy     IFR (Flight Simulator)          [A989]        8k   B     R   1983
Atarisoft   Pac-Man                         [RX8501]      8k   C+    C   1983
Atarisoft   Centipede                       [RX8504]     16k   C     S   1983
Atarisoft   Defender                        [RX8507]     16k   A-    C   1983
Atarisoft   Dig Dug                         [RX8510]     16k   B     C   1983
Atarisoft   Donkey Kong                     [RX8513]     16k   B     C   1983
Atarisoft   Robotron: 2084                  [RX8520]     12k   B-    C   1983
Atarisoft   Jungle Hunt                     [RX8529]     16k   B-    C   1984
Atarisoft   Moon Patrol                     [RX8532]     16k   B-    C   1983
Atarisoft   Pole Position                   [RX8535]     16k   B+    C   1983
Atarisoft   Galaxian                        [RX8541]      8k   C+   ER   1984
Atarisoft   Ms. Pac-Man                     [RX8544]     16k   C+    C   1983
Atarisoft   Battlezone                      [RX8547]     16k   B-    U   1983
Beyond      Mountain King                                16k   A+    R   1983
Boone       Cyclon                                        8k   A    PR   1983
Broderbund  A.E.                           [Viccart-224] 16k   B     R   1982
Broderbund  Lode Runner                    [Viccart-___] 16k   B+    U   1983
Broderbund  MasterType                     [Viccart-221] 16k   B-    R   1983
Broderbund  SeaFox                         [Viccart-___] 16k   B    ER   1983
Broderbund  Skyblazer                      [Viccart-___] 16k   A    ER   1983
CBS Soft.   K-Razy Antiks                   [22107]      12k   B+    C   1982
CBS Soft.   K-Star Patrol                   [22108]      16k   B+    C   1982
Commodore   Avenger  (Vic Avenger)          [Vic-1901]    8k   C+    S   1981
Commodore   Star Battle                     [Vic-1902]    8k   B+    R   1981
Commodore   Slot  (Super Slot)              [Vic-1904]    8k   C     C   1981
Commodore   Jelly Monsters                  [Vic-1905]    8k   A     R   1981?
Commodore   Alien  (Super Alien)            [Vic-1906]    8k   C     C   1981
Commodore   Jupiter Lander                  [Vic-1907]    8k   B     C   1981?
Commodore   Poker  (Draw Poker)             [Vic-1908]    8k   C     C   1981
Commodore   Midnight Drive  (Road Race)     [Vic-1909]    8k   C-    C   1981
Commodore   Radar Rat Race                  [Vic-1910]    8k   B+    C   1981
Commodore   The Sky is Falling              [Vic-1911]    8k   B-    C   1981
Commodore   Mole Attack                     [Vic-1912]    8k   C     C   1981
Commodore   Raid on Fort Knox (Bank Robber) [Vic-1913]    8k   C     C   1982
Commodore   Adventure Land Adventure        [Vic-1914]   16k   B-    C   1981
Commodore   Pirate's Cove Adventure         [Vic-1915]   16k   B-    C   1981
Commodore   Mission Impossible Adventure    [Vic-1916]   16k   B-    C   1981
Commodore   The Count Adventure             [Vic-1917]   16k   B-    C   1981
Commodore   Voodoo Castle Adventure         [Vic-1918]   16k   B-    C   1981
Commodore   Sargon II Chess                 [Vic-1919]    8k   C     C   1982?
Commodore   Pinball (or ...Spectacular)     [Vic-1920]   16k   C+    C   1982
Commodore   Super Smash                     [Vic-1921]    8k   C     C   1982
Commodore   Cosmic Cruncher                 [Vic-1922]    8k   B     S   1982
Commodore   Gorf                            [Vic-1923]    8k   B-    S   1982
Commodore   Omega Race                      [Vic-1924]    8k   A-    S   1982
Commodore   Money Wars                      [Vic-1925]    8k   C+    C   1982
Commodore   Menagerie                       [Vic-1926]    8k   C-    C   1982?
Commodore   Cosmic Jailbreak                [Vic-1927]    8k   C     C   1982
Commodore   Home Babysitter                 [Vic-1928]    8k   C-    C   1982
Commodore   Personal Finance (utility cart) [Vic-1929]    8k   NA    U   1982
Commodore   Visible Solar System            [Vic-1930]    8k   C     C   1982
Commodore   Clowns                          [Vic-1931]    8k   C+    C   1982
Commodore   Garden Wars                     [Vic-1932]    8k   C     C   1982
Commodore   Speed Math & Bingo Math         [Vic-1933]    8k   C-    C   1982
Commodore   Commodore Artist                [Vic-1935]    4k   C     U   1982
Commodore   Sea Wolf                        [Vic-1937]    8k   B-    U   1982
Commodore   Tooth Invaders                  [Vic-1938]    8k   C+    U   1983
Commodore   Star Post                       [Vic-1939]    8k   C     U   1982?
Commodore   Number Nabber, Shape Grabber    [Vic-1941]    8k   NA    U   1982
Creative    Apple Panic                     [VI AP C]    12k   C     C   1982
Creative    Astroblitz                      [VI AB C]     4k   B-    C   1982
Creative    Black Hole                      [VI BH C]     4k   B     U   1982
Creative    Choplifter                      [VI CL C]     8k   A     C   1982
Creative    Household Finance               [VI HF C]     8k   NA    U   1983
Creative    In the Chips                    [VI CH C]    16k   C     R   1983
Creative    Pipes                           [VI PI C]     8k   C     R   1983
Creative    Rat Hotel                       [VI RH C]?    8k   B-    U   1982
Creative    Serpentine                      [VI SE C]     8k   B     C   1982
Creative    Spills and Fills                [VI SF C]     8k   C     R   1983
Creative    TerraGuard                      [VI TG C]     4k   C+    C   1982
Creative    Trashman                        [VI TM C]     8k   B+    C   1982
Creative    Videomania                      [VI VM C]     4k   C     C   1982
Daedalus    Baldor's Castle                              12k   C+   ER   1983
Epyx        Fun with Music                                8k   B    ER   1983
Epyx        Monster Maze                                  8k   C+    U   1982
Handic      A World at War                                8k   C-   ER   198_
Handic      Space Snake                                   8k   D    ER   1982
HES         Vic FORTH        (utility cart) [C301]        8k   NA    C   1982
HES         HesMon           (utility cart) [C302]        8k   NA    C   1982
HES         Turtle Graphics                 [C303]        8k   NA    C   1982
HES         HesWriter        (utility cart) [C304]        8k   NA    U   1982
HES         Aggressor                       [C305]        8k   C     U   1982
HES         Synthesound      (utility cart) [C306]        8k   NA    U   1982
HES         Shamus                          [C307]        8k   A     U   1983
HES         Protector                       [C308]        8k   B-    R   1983
HES         Robot Panic                     [C310]        8k   B     R   1982
HES         Gridrunner                      [C312]        4k   B+    C   1982
HES         Predator                        [C316]        8k   B+    R   1982
HES         Attack of the Mutant Camels     [C318]        8k   A     R   1983
HES         Lazer Zone                      [C319]        8k   A     R   1983
HES         Pharaoh's Curse                 [C321]       16k   A     R   1983
HES         Kindercomp                      [C322]       16k   NA    R   1983
HES         Story Machine                   [C323]       12k   NA   ER   1983
HES         Facemaker                       [C324]        8k   NA    R   1983
HES         Kids on Keys                    [C325]        8k   NA    R   1983
HES         Alphabet Zoo                    [C326]       16k   NA    R   1982
HES         Maze                            [C3__]        8k   C+    R   1983
HES         Mosquito Infestation            [C3__]        4k   B-    R   1982
HES         Satellite Patrol                [C3__]        4k   B-    R   1982
Imagic      Demon Attack                    [720050-1A]   4k   A     C   1983
Imagic      Atlantis                        [720051-1A]   4k   A     C   1983
Imagic      Dragonfire                      [720052-1A]   8k   B+    U   1983
Koala Tech. Dancing Bear                                 16k   C+   ER   1983
Mach. Lang. Amazing Maze                                  4k   C    ER   198_
Mach. Lang. Dot Gobbler                                   4k   A-   ER   198_
MSD         Mobile Attack                                 8k   C+   ER   198_
OEM         Alien Sidestep                                4k   C-   ER   1983
OEM         Bug Crusher                                   4k   ?    ER   1983
OEM         Space Ric-O-Shay                              4k   ?    ER   198_
Parker      Frogger                         [PB1410]      8k   D     S   1983
Parker      Q*Bert                          [PB1420]      4k   C     C   1983
Parker      Tutankham                       [PB1430]      8k   A     U   1983
Reston      Miner 2049'er                                 8k   A+    R   1983
Romox       Princess & Frog                               8k   C    ER   1983
Romox       Topper                                        8k   B    ER   1983
Romox       Typo                                          8k   C+   ER   1983
Sega        Star Trek  (S.O.S.)             [004-04]      8k   B+    C   1983
Sega        Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom     [005-04]     16k   B-    C   1983
Sega        Congo Bongo                     [006-04]      8k   C     C   1983
Sierra      Crossfire                       [CFL-401]     4k   B+    U   1981
Sierra      Lunar Leeper                    [LLL-401]    12k   A     R   1981
Sierra      Threshold                       [THL-401]     8k   A     R   1981
Sierra      Cannonball Blitz                [CBL-401]    12k   B-    R   1982
Sierra      Jawbreaker II                   [JBL-401]     8k   C+    U   1982
Sierra      Creepy Corridors                [CCL-401]     8k   B+    R   1983
Sirius      Deadly Duck                     [220__]       4k   B     R   1982
Sirius      Fast Eddie                      [220__]       8k   C     R   1982
Sirius      Snake Byte                      [22031]       4k   C     R   1982
Sirius      Turmoil                         [22005]       8k   B     U   1982
Sirius      Type Attack                     [22010]       8k   B     R   1982
Sirius      Bandits                         [220__]       8k   B+    U   1983
Sirius      Capture the Flag                [220__]       8k   B+    R   1983
Sirius      Final Orbit/Bumper Bash (2 on 1)[220__]       8k   C/B+  R   1983
Sirius      Spider City                     [22015]       4k   B+    R   1983
Sirius      Squish'Em                       [220__]       _k   ?    ER   1983
Spectra.    Ape Escape                      [SC-215]      8k   C+    R   1982
Spectra.    Cave-in                         [SC-207]      8k   C-    R   1982
Supersoft   Tank Atak                                     8k   C    ER   1982
TG Software Droids                                        8k   C    ER   1983
Thorn EMI   River Rescue                    [THC 22001]   8k   C-    C   1982
Thorn EMI   Vic Music Composer              [THC 22002]   8k   NA    U   1982
Thorn EMI   Submarine Commander             [THC 22003]  12k   C     C   1982
Thorn EMI   Mutant Herd                     [THC 22004]   8k   C-    C   1982
Thorn EMI   Fourth Encounter                [THC 22005]   8k   D+    U   1983
Thorn EMI   Computer War                    [THC 22006]   8k   C     R   1983
Thorn EMI   Medieval Joust                  [THC 22007]   8k   C    ER   1983
Thorn EMI   Mine Madness                    [THC 22008]   8k   C-   ER   1983
Tigervision Polaris                         [7-007-20]    8k   B    ER   1983
Tigervision Springer                        [7-006-20]   16k   C    ER   1983
Tronix      Deadly Skies                                  4k   B+    R   1983
Tronix      Gold Fever                                    4k   C+    R   1983
Tronix      Scorpion                                      8k   B     R   1983
UMI         Alien Blitz                     [1619]        4k   B-    R   1981
UMI         Amok                            [1611]        4k   C     R   1981
UMI         Outworld                        [1635]       16k   B+    R   1981
UMI         Arachnoid                       [1605]       12k   B     R   1982
UMI         Cloudburst                      [1636]        4k   C     R   1982
UMI         Meteor Run                      [1613]        8k   D+    R   1982
UMI         Renaissance                     [1600]       12k   C-    R   1982
UMI         Skibbereen                      [1641]        4k   C+    R   1982
UMI         Satellites and Meteorites       [1650]        8k   A-    R   1982
UMI         Sub Chase                       [16__]        4k   C    ER   1982
UMI         Video Vermin                    [1638]        8k   A     R   1982
UMI         Spiders of Mars                 [1604]       16k   B+    R   1982
UMI         Super Amok                      [1642]        8k   A     R   198_
Xonox       Spike's Peak  (GM=2)            [6215]        8k   C+    R   1983
Xonox       Ghost Manor  (SP=1)             [6215]        8k   D     R   1983
Xonox       Robin Hood  (SL=2)              [6225]        8k   D     R   1983
Xonox       Sir Lancelot  (RH=1)            [6225]        8k   C+    R   1983
Xonox       Chuck Norris Superkicks  (AD=2) [6235]        8k   C     R   1983
Xonox       Artillery Duel  (CNS=1)         [6235]        8k   B     R   1983
Xonox       Motocross Racer  (TTB=2)        [6245]        8k   C    ER   1984
Xonox       Tomarc the Barbarian  (MR=1)    [6245]        8k   D+   ER   1984
  
  (Note that Xonox carts sometimes came two-per-case, as "double-enders".
  In other words, these carts had 2 sides that plugged into the computer.
  The initials seen above show what cart was paired with what other cart.
  All of the Xonox carts above were made as both single and double-enders
  but only the double-ender's part numbers are shown in the list above.)

  
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 


                     Confirmed but unarchived cartridges


OEM         Blackjack                   Confirmed by:  Charles Bremer
Spectra...  Number Crunch (SC208)       Confirmed by:  ?? via Paul LeBrasse


  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
        

        Hardware section. Please note that many of the items found below
        are pure hardware, or are at least more firmware than software.
        Some of them are just plain hard to categorize. Because Jim
        Brain already maintains a huge list of every single thing that
        Commodore ever put out, I see no reason to try to duplicate
        those existing efforts here. This is Vic20 cartridge-port-only 
        stuff. (Note that even then, there are grey areas to consider.)


                - - - = ( Utility cartridges, etc ) = - - -


Arbutus Total   Promqueen                     EPROM programming hardware. 
                                              (This plugs into the Vic's user 
                                              port, not the cartridge port.) 
Cardco          Write Now!                    word processor
Century         Moses                         65C02 assembler, 27 new opcodes
Century         Moses w/ 8K RAM               65C02 assembler, 27 new opcodes
Commodore       Basic version 4.0             [Vic-____]       (4k ROM)
Commodore       Machine Language Monitor      [Vic-1213]       (_k ROM) 
Commodore       Programmer's Aid Cartridge    [Vic-1212]       (4k ROM)
Commodore       Super Expander with 3K RAM    [Vic-1211A]      (4k ROM)
Commodore       Victerm 40                    [Vic-1610]       (4k ROM) 
Commodore       See game list for titles.     To keep the 19xx number series
                                              as intact as possible, a few
                                              non-game items were listed in
                                              the first section of this list.
Data 20         Display Manager               40/80 column display device
Data 20         Video Pak                     40/80 column display device
Eastern         Vic Rabbit                    datasette accelerator cart
HES             See game list for titles.     To keep the HES cart numbering
                                              system as intact as possible, a
                                              few non-game items are listed in
                                              the first section of this list.
Jason-Ranheim   Promenade                     EPROM programming hardware.
                                              (Plugs into the Vic's user port.
                                              A C64 version was also made.)
Kantronics      Radiotap                      Amateur radio interface item.
Quick Brown Fox Quick Brown Fox               word processor    (8k ROM)
Skyles          Arrow                         datasette accelerator cart
UMI             Wordcraft 20                  [16__]            (16k ROM)
 


            - - - = ( RAM expansion memory cartridges ) = - - -
            

                  Notes: I'll just briefly say that this
                  section really needs a lot of work, and
                  leave it at that. Any added info welcome!


Abaris, Inc.    Ram cartridge, 16k      with battery backup
APS             RAM module,    64k
Assembly Tech.  RAM cartridge, 16k
Cardco          "Cardram 16",  16K      Two banks of 8k. One 8-section dip
                                        switch selects where each 8k goes;
                                        four slot choices per each 8k bank.
Century         RAM Cartridge,  8k
Century         RAM Cartridge, 16k
Century         RAM Cartridge, 64k
Commodore       RAM cartridge,  3k      [Vic-1211]
Commodore       RAM cartridge,  8k      [Vic-1110]   Internally, the PC board
                                        seems to be ready to accept another
                                        8k of memory. Could solder more in.
Commodore       RAM cartridge, 16k      [Vic-1111]
Compuscope      RAM cartridge,  8k              
Compuscope      RAM cartridge, 16k
MSD, Inc.       RAM cartridge,  8k
Personal...     RAM cartridge,  8k      ...Peripheral Products
RAM electronics RAM cartridge, 32k      Configurable. Marko's was set up to
                                        be a switchable 3k, 0k, 24k set-up.
Stonechip Elec. "Vixen" cart,  16k 
UMI             RAM cartridge,  3k
UMI             RAM cartridge,  8k
Xetec           RAM cartridge, 32k      Each 8k bank has an on/off dip switch.



          - - - = ( Expansion chassis or "motherboards" ) = - - -


                    (Please note that we are just now 
                    beginning to list any features that 
                    may have been on these items. More 
                    features may exist on each item.)


Apropos Tech.   RAMAX                   2-slots, with 27k 
Apropos Tech.   RAMAX Jr.               2-slots, with 19k        
APS             Select-A-Ram            2-slots, with 64k
Cardco          Cardboard 3             3-slots,
Cardco          Cardboard 6             6-slots,
Compuscope      Expander                4-slots,
Compuscope      Supermother             8-slots, pause...
Computer Place  CP Vic-20 Expander      4-slots,
Data Toolbox    Quad-slot               4-slots, reset, fuse
HES             HesCard 20              5-slots, 5 select buttons, reset.
High Tech Ent.  Busmaster               6-slots,
High Tech Ent.  Busmaster II            6-slots, soft enable
High Tech Ent.  Minibus                 3-slots,
Voice World     24K Golden RAM          4-slots,
  
  
  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

                "Vaporware" section -- carts which MIGHT exist



        Note that the market for the VIC-20 changed over to the C64 at
        roughly the end of 1983. In general, this means that carts that
        were planned to have been made for the VIC-20, which were first
        announced towards the middle or end of 1983, are less likely to
        have been made than carts announced earlier. In general. Don't
        take that as absolute gospel; there are always exceptions. But
        as a rule of thumb, it is fair to assume that carts announced
        near the end of 1983 probably got made as C64 carts instead, or
        got dropped entirely. Remember that even if a company decided
        not to go ahead with something as a production item, that does
        not rule out one or more prototype copies waiting to be found.
        And if prototypes can be found, they can surely be archived. We
        now have the hardware and know-how to duplicate tapes or ROMs.



20 Century  Flash Gordon        Summer 83 Power Play; press release only. It
                                may have come out as Spider City by Sirius.
Atarisoft   Joust               Name listed in later ads, not in others, so
                                this title was probably one of the last of
                                the planned releases. There are four part
                                numbers missing from the series, with three
                                of those coming towards the end, so this 
                                makes sense. There is some confusion in the 
                                RX85__ series, but it looks like these holes 
                                are 16 or 17, 22 or 23, 25 or 26, and RX8538.
Atarisoft   Mario Bros.         Jimmy Huey said this was once in development.
                                No idea what part number it would have been,
                                aside from it being one of the latter ones,
                                as Stargate apparently is the earliest one.
Atarisoft   Stargate            Name listed in early ads, not in later ads. I
                                am guessing from the part number series that
                                this was intended to be RX8516 or RX8517, as
                                a Robotron (#20) box said Stargate was out
                                already, and the other carts the box listed 
                                were shown in perfect "part number" order.
Atarisoft   Typo Attack         Tape? Seen on pg. 31, Sep84 "Compute!" Again,
                                no idea what part number it would have been,
                                but four holes exist, 3 of them later ones.
Boone       Crater Raider       Tape? Seen in full page ad, Oct & Nov 83 
                                Compute's Gazette, along with Cyclons (Which
                                was later released as a tape by SoftSmith.)
Broderbund  Martian Raider      Tape? Seen in ad, 7/83 Compute's Gazette
Broderbund  Multi-Sound Sythesizer    Seen in ad, 7/83 Compute's Gazette
Broderbund  Shark Trap          Seen in ad in 7/83 Compute's Gazette. More
                                recently, Leo LaFlamme confirmed that this
                                game does exist as a tape. The instructions
                                said his copy was the "cassette version"; in
                                other words, we still do not know for sure
                                if this came out as a cartridge or not? The
                                tape part number seems to be: "007 3108321".
                                That number came off the top of the tape 
                                where the write protect tabs are, Leo said.
Commodore   [Vic-1903]          Info needed. This cart may be very difficult
                                to figure out? Brent Santin sent me some 1982
                                promotional literature that lists two names
                                that never have been found by collectors, as
                                of yet. Both were claimed to be cartridges;
                                the names were "Bridge; teach and play" and
                                "VicWriter 1" which was a word processor. If
                                the word processor went into a non-19xx list
                                that leaves Bridge as a possible for #1903?
Commodore   [Vic-1934]          Name needed. (See comments for # 1940, below.)
Commodore   [Vic-1936]          Brent Santin found a third-party catalog from
                                Sep 1982 that said this one was going to be
                                "Space Vultures" when it was released. Which
                                never happened, but at least now we know what
                                it was going to be! Before this, we'd had the
                                name, but no confirmation that it was going
                                to be a cart, nor its part #. "Space Vultures"
                                had been shown on some boxes for the Vic20
                                system itself but without any further comment;
                                the screen shot shown was clearly hand-drawn.
                                From the available evidence, it appears this
                                game was going to be a home port of Centuri's
                                arcade game "Phoenix". Which is where things
                                get interesting... a number of companies had
                                said they were going to put out a version of
                                Phoenix, but few of them ever did. It was not
                                from lack of interest, either; Atari ended up
                                sueing Imagic for the Intellivision's version 
                                of "Demon Attack" which Atari said was just a
                                disguised version of Phoenix. More news as I
                                do more research, but I do know that Emerson
                                released a game called "Space Vultures" for 
                                their own home game system, the Arcadia 2001.
                                (Likely not the same; different processors.)
                                Even in the arcade, there were many clones of
                                Phoenix, including some unauthorized bootlegs.
                                I'm guessing Commodore had one ready to go to
                                market, but wasn't ready to risk legal action
                                given that they'd been through that before?
Commodore   [Vic-1940]          Name needed. (See also # 1934, above.) These
                                two carts were most likely going to be games
                                by Bally / Midway; an analysis of the pattern
                                of Commodore's latter releases shows they had
                                some sort of 2-then-1 agreement, apparently to
                                offset legal threats made by B/M against CBM?
                                We knew that much, but little more. Thanks to
                                Brent Santin, we now know more; a catalog he
                                found lists "Wizard of Wor" and "Dog Patch"
                                as soon to be released, as of September 1982.
                                It appears these were to be # 1934 and 1940.
                                How far these were developed, we don't know.
                                It seems the release of the Commodore 64 put
                                an end to the development of these carts? We
                                do know that "Wizard of Wor" was released on
                                the C64 as a cartridge; it had "speech" when
                                plugged into Commodore's new "Magic Voice" 
                                add-on device. "Dog Patch" would have been a
                                home port of a 1977 arcade game. Being able
                                to put out game software, for a major system,
                                might have seemed very good to Bally/Midway?
                                They had made their own game system in 1978,
                                and later got out of the market due to "stiff
                                competition" -- presumably Atari and others.
Commodore   Jack Attack         It was said in an article in the spring 1984 
                                issue of "Power Play" that Commodore planned
                                to make a game called "Jack Attack" for the 
                                C64 and the Vic20. The C64 version exists and
                                I just got in confirmation of a version from
                                1984 for the Commodore Plus/4 as well. (Jeff
                                Hellige owns a boxed copy.) But as far as I
                                know, no one has found a Vic20 version? If it
                                did come out as a cart, we presume it would
                                have been a brown-case, hand-assembled one,
                                as the Vic20 was dying, commercially, by then.
                                And since Commodore was the one killing it,
                                (to push the C64) I doubt they ever made one?
                                But if it did exist, and as a cart, the part
                                number would likely have been Vic-1942? Note
                                the we now have the existing holes plugged in 
                                Commodore's part # list, up through Vic-1941. 
Commodore   [Vic-2011]          VIC-Stat cartridge, per Jim Brain "CBM list".
Commodore   [Vic-2012]          VIC-Graph cartridge, per Jim Brain "CBM list".
Commodore   [Vic-2013]          VIC-Forth cartridge, per Jim Brain "CBM list".
Commodore   Basic 4.0           We have what seems to be a ROM image from a 4k                                
                                add-on to Commodore's built-in "BASIC 2.0"; 
                                it claims to be "BASIC 4.0" and it does work.
                                But we aren't 100% sure of its origin, what
                                part number it would have been and so on? (We
                                guess it would have been in the #12xx series?)
Commodore   (other info)        Box art for the Vic20 system showed 2 unknown
                                titles, but with little further comment. From
                                the information available there it is hard to
                                even know if these were planned as carts or as
                                tapes: "Speed type" and "Electronic Calendar"?
Creative    Alien Hotel         Peter Fokos (of UMI fame) told Ward Shrake
                                this news: "Joann Lee worked on a project we
                                started for Creative called Alien Hotel. I
                                don't think it was ever finished because of
                                the 84 crash, that's when we closed Tensor."
Creative    Save New York       Press release only, in Jan 85 Computer Games.
                                Most likely only came out for the C64, but
                                the late announcement is intriguing in itself.
Datamost    Round About         Unconfirmed, but on other collector's lists.
Epyx        Alien Garden        May 1983 Electronic Games advertisement.
Epyx        PlatterMania        May 1983 Electronic Games advertisement.
First Star  Panic Button        Full review seen in May 84 "Compute!" mag
HES         Fort Apocyalpse     Seen: Ad page 79, Nov83 Compute's Gazette
HES         Necromancer         Seen: 1-line ad, pg111 Dec83 Compute's Gazette
HES         Slime               1-line ad @ $13, pg111 Dec83 Computes Gazette
Jini Micro  Mini Jini           Seen in 1/2 page (99) ad in July 83 Gazette
Oceans Int  Blockbuster         Seen in press release, pg 40, Aug83 Gazette
Oceans Int  Close Encounters    Seen in press release, pg 40, Aug83 Gazette
Oceans Int  Frogman             Seen in press release, pg 40, Aug83 Gazette
Oceans Int  Tank Wars           Seen in press release, pg 40, Aug83 Gazette
                                Note that some of the confirmed carts listed
                                in the section above were once listed as
                                being available from Oceans International.
                                The confirmed copies are either from some
                                other (or simply an unknown) manufacturer.
                                Amazing Maze, Blackjack, Dot Gobbler and         
                                Space-Ric-O-Shay were all once this way so it
                                would be premature to rule out finding more.
Microware   (five titles)       See Tymac company below. Bought them out?
Microware   Key Quest           2-page review seen in Dec83 Compute's Gazette
Parker      Super Cobra         Cliff Gregory saw this listed in a catalog of
                                Parker Brothers games, saying it was going to
                                come out in the fall of 1983, for the Vic20
                                and for other systems. Unconfirmed otherwise.
Protecto    Atari VCS Adapter   Seen in various ads, unconfirmed otherwise.
                                The ads were fancy and expensive looking, but
                                never actually showed pictures of the item.
Quick Brown QuickFinger         Tape? 7/83 1-pg ad, Compute Gazette, pg. 79
Quick Brown QuickMail           Tape? 7/83 1-pg ad, Compute Gazette, pg. 79
Quick Brown QuickSpell          Tape? 7/83 1-pg ad, Compute Gazette, pg. 79
Romox       Anteater            Seen in Oct83 Compute!, page 45. Full page ad
Showcase    Astro Patrol        The name "Showcase Software" turns out to be
Showcase    Chicken             just another name for "Synapse Software". Ads
Showcase    Doughboy            back in 1983 made it appear that way -- their
Showcase    Glub Club           address and phone information were identical
Showcase    Pussyfootin'        and even their shipping costs were the same --
Showcase    Salmon run          but that guess was confirmed; a "New Products"
Showcase    Squeeze             announcement in the October 1983 "Compute!'s
                                Gazette" magazine (page 140) reads as follows.
                                "Synapse Software, a producer of games for
                                Atari computers, has established the Showcase
                                Software line for the VIC-20. The initial
                                games produced are Astro-Patrol, a shoot-em-
                                up game; Squeeze, a humorous game set on a
                                farm; and Salmon Run. Each game sells for
                                $19.95". (Ward can verify that those three do
                                exist, at least as tape games; I own all three
                                of those titles as Synapse cassettes.) Ward's
                                interest in these titles (and one listed as a
                                Synapse game, below) is that earlier ads said
                                Synapse planned to make some of these as carts.
                                Background info: although Synapse ran only a
                                handful of ads in Compute! during 1983 & 1984,
                                they did run ads in the Compute!'s Gazette on
                                a pretty regular basis. July 1983 to October
                                1983 had ads which included small references 
                                to three titles they say were then "available" 
                                with "cartridge versions available soon". The
                                names listed were "Astro Patrol" and "Squeeze"
                                and "Harrier". Then in October came that "New
                                Product" announcement listed above. Then the
                                November issue had no ads from Synapse at all.
                                Then in the December 1983 Gazette, which also
                                had no ad from Synapse, comes an ad from this
                                "Showcase Software" company. This December ad 
                                lists these seven titles as being for the VIC
                                only, format unspecified. (Tape assumed.) The
                                ad in December seems like an attempt to dump 
                                available stocks of remaining VIC-20 titles at 
                                bargain prices? They offered 1 free game with 
                                the purchase of any 2 of the other titles. The
                                VIC-20 market was all but finished; Synapse 
                                ads in the Gazette during 1984 are C64-only. 
                                (They also take out more pages-per-issue.) We
                                are tracking down which of these titles ever
                                got ported over to the C64; some seem to have.
Sierra      Escape from         This is NOT a cartridge! This is a game that
            Mt. Drash           was sold as a tape. See this URL for more...
                                http://members.aol.com/wshrake/want-ult.htm
Sierra      Sammy Lightfoot     Mentioned in Oct 83 Gazette ad, but not in ad 
                                for December. Did it only come out on C64?
Sierra      Tronsworld          Unconfirmed, but on other collector's lists.
Sirius      Fantastic Voyage    Seen: summer 83 Power Play
Sirius      Repton              Seen: $25, 1-line ad, pg79, Nov83 C. Gazette
Spinnaker   Story Machine       Seen: 6/84 Power Play ad. (Licensed to HES?)
Spinnaker   Alphabet Zoo        Was this released as a HES cart only? Both? A
                                fair amount of Spinnaker stuff was released
                                by HesWare, and it can get a bit confusing.
Synapse     Harrier             See "Showcase Software" titles above for more 
                                information. This is the only title that was
                                promised early on as being "available" that
                                was not sold later through Showcase Software.
                                Why this one title was different is unknown.
TG Software Nightstrike         Seen: 1/85 Computer Games
Tymac       Bomber word         Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81. (MW?)
Tymac       D'fuse              Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81. 
Tymac       Dot-a-lot           Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81. (MW?)
Tymac       Key Quest           Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81. (MW?)
Tymac       Res Q               Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81.
Tymac       Space Bats          Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81.
Tymac       Tic Attack          Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81. (MW?)
Tymac       Zap                 Seen: 1/84 Compute's Gazette, page 81. (MW?)

            
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            Info you can help us to find, to fill in some blanks. 



   Missing carts:
   If you actually own a cart that is not shown somewhere in our lists, up
   above, please let Ward know about it, and he'll add it to this listing.
   But remember to check the other sections out, if you have a utility or
   hardware type item, as these are not generally shown in the top section.
   The top section is only for *archived* software cartridges, followed by
   vaporware listings, then hardware, utilities, RAM expanders, et cetera.

   
   Part numbers: 
   In various places there are blank or incomplete part numbers shown. If
   we knew them, we'd list them. But we don't, just yet. Some manufacturers
   listed no part numbers on the carts themselves, but listed these on the
   package's outer box instead. Atarisoft did this for sure. Creative seems
   to be another one. Ditto for Sirius and Parker Brothers. Starting with
   version 1.8 of this list, I've made educated (but incomplete) guesses for
   some company lists, based on their patterns for other systems. If you have 
   any original software boxes, or other paperwork, help us all out on this.
   Paul and I went through our collections long ago, so it is up to you now!


   Information about certain rumored carts:
   Anything we can get, will help! Ward enjoys being able to get different
   peices of these historical puzzles, and over time, fit together what must
   have happened. We've regained quite a bit of history that way, with the
   help of all of you out there in internet land. There are a few remaining
   mysteries, of course... quite a number, in fact. (Ward may start up a new
   section on his web page, just to handle this sort of detective work.)


   Dates:
   If you have any solid date for any cart, please let us know! What this
   will do is let us establish a timeline, and compare and contrast it to
   events we know about from other sources. For instance, it would really
   be helpful to know when (exactly) certain carts were planned or talked
   about as "coming soon". That way, we can figure out what else was going
   on, that may have influenced decisions being made throughout the gaming
   industry. Things like the release of the Commodore 64, the gaming crash,
   when other game companies decided to release things which created some
   sort of conflict between competing companies, and so on, all obviously
   had the potential to change the course of VIC-20 history. Without solid
   dates, we can't easily contrast what happened when, and figure out the
   relationships between causes and effects. (Even semi-solid dates help!
   And it doesn't have to be dates of carts, or even for the Vic20 itself.
   Anything with the potential to help explain causes and effects, helps!)

   
   Confirmations of vaporware software:
   If you *now actually own a real cartridge* of a program we listed in our
   "vaporware" section of the list, let Paul or Ward know about it. We have
   only the information we listed, at this time. Many of the rarer carts we 
   initially felt were "NR" (never released) did show up in time. However we
   are highly cautious about old memories of what *might* have been. We do
   insist that confirmations be made only when a person physically owns one.
   And of course, if it is not *anywhere* on our lists, and you're sure its
   not a cartridge for some other gaming system, please, tell us about it!

   
   Pictures of box art, cartridges, tapes, whatever.
   The short story on this is to tell you that there is a CD-ROM project
   going on, and to check Ward's web page for all the details. A few of us
   are pooling our resources, taking some time, and planning to put all
   sorts of Vic20 artwork onto a CD-ROM, readable by common web browsers.
   To see a current list of what we have already, and what we still need, 
   please visit this URL:  http://members.aol.com/wshrake/cdhaves.htm
   (Ward's main web page is at:  http://members.aol.com/wshrake/index.htm )

  
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                Some recent loans from kind folks on the I'net...

   Patrick Wickwire loaned his Cyclon cart for archiving purposes. If it 
        isn't the only one of its kind, it is still remarkably rare! 
   Tom Truszkowski loaned us his "Victerm 40" in prototype form, complete 
        with handwritten label. The name on the label (Jeff Hand) turns
        out to be Commodore's main telecommunications person back then!
   "Uncle Roger" Sinasohn loaned two carts; Dot Gobbler and Fun with
        Music by Epyx. Dot Gobbler was a production cart, but I've only 
        heard of maybe three collectors having a copy, in all the years 
        I've been looking for Vic20 carts. Fun with Music was so rare 
        that I'd never heard a single mention of it being available for 
        the Vic20, until this one got loaned to us! Others have shown
        up since then, but not in any huge numbers, that's for sure.
   Cliff Gregory loaned me two real rarities; Amazing Maze & Bug Crusher.
        Cliff is also helping with oodles of scanned graphics, for the
        CD Project. Cliff has a very impressive Vic20 cart collection.
   Charles Dysert archived Romox's Typo cart, and emailed us the ROM 
        image of the game, too. Getting the ROM that way made our day;
        it's really rare. Nice to know others have the technical skill 
        and desire to keep these old carts from becoming extinct! 
   Francois Leveille sent me "BASIC Ver 4.0" for the Vic20. What comes
        inside the Vic20 normally is version two; the 4.0 version was
        around from the PET days, but Commodore skimped out on things
        when they made the Vic20. (And later, the C64.) A shame, as
        this version of the operating system has many refinements. Of
        note to hacker types is that it has a built-in hex monitor!
   David Strutt sent me Xonox's Motocross Racer. This cart was one of
        the last Vic20 releases Xonox put out. While it is a production
        cartridge, it is rare enough that we were not even aware it was
        ever made for this system, until we were loaned one. (Usually a
        cart like this is at least on our "vaporware" lists.) This cart
        may be the last Xonox released for the Vic20; the only other
        carts shown on other system's lists were all "never released".
   Edward Geist found the first copy of Droids. While he was not
        willing to risk sending his copy through the mails, to loan it
        to me for archiving, he did tell me where to go buy one myself
        when he saw another one up for sale. (Which is just as good!)
   Brent Santin loaned me three carts; "Squish 'Em" and "Vic Rabbit"
        and "Space Ric-o-shay". (Vic Rabbit was actually an EPROM and
        not a complete cart, but the info inside it is just as valid.)
        Squish 'Em came on one of Romox' special cartridges, meant to
        allow a special machine to reprogram it with any game they were
        permitted by license to "sell" to customers. (I'm glad we got
        all three of these, before they had succumbed to bit rot! A big
        thanks to Brent, for his help on both this and the CD Project.)


   Without the kindness of dedicated fans like these people, the Vic20
   cart archiving project would be standing still. Thanks for all your 
   help, folks! If you ever contributed a cart (many did over the years)
   but don't see your name listed here, email me: wshrake@aol.com about 
   it. I plan to make up a complete list over time, hopefully to put on
   the CD Project. But it'd be much quicker if I had reminders. (Please!)

  
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                              Closing comments
                                
   "Digital Archaeology" is an interesting hobby. Other gaming systems have
   dedicated fan followings, who eventually track down all sorts of neat info
   about the games released for their favorite gaming systems. That is what
   I hope will continue to happen for the Vic20, both in stories and items.
   The "big three" console game systems (Atari 2600 VCS, Colecovision, and 
   Intellivision) have fan followings that get to celebrate, from time to
   time, someone's finding of a rumored-but-never-found-before cartridge. I
   love reading the "2600 Connection" newsletter, for just such fun news.
   This is one reason I like the term "digital archaeology" so much, too; it
   does seem a lot like "digging up" forgotten treasures. Understanding the
   historical significance of such a find, or just appreciating it as is,
   makes this hobby a lot of fun. And yes, this is all a sneaky ploy to get
   more of you "out there" interested in helping to find such gems, as Paul
   and I simply cannot do this on our own. Too much physical space to cover,
   for one thing. So keep your eyes open, wherever you are located, OK? You
   never know what one-of-a-kind gem you'll run across in your travels!


(End of document)