Cartridges
Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 Cartridge list by Company
- 2.1 Academy
- 2.2 Atarisoft
- 2.3 Beyond
- 2.4 Boone
- 2.5 Broderbund
- 2.6 CBS Soft.
- 2.7 Commodore
- 2.8 Creative
- 2.9 Daedalus
- 2.10 EPYX
- 2.11 Handic
- 2.12 HES
- 2.13 Imagic
- 2.14 Koala Tech.
- 2.15 Machine Lang.
- 2.16 MSD
- 2.17 OEM
- 2.18 Parker Bros
- 2.19 Reston
- 2.20 Romox
- 2.21 Sega
- 2.22 Sierra
- 2.23 Sirius
- 2.24 Spectravideo
- 2.25 STACK
- 2.26 Supersoft
- 2.27 TG Software
- 2.28 Thorn EMI
- 2.29 Tigervision
- 2.30 Tronix
- 2.31 Tymac
- 2.32 UMI
- 2.33 Xonox
- 3 Multicarts
Background
In the late 70's and early 80's, memory chips were expensive. As such, computers were often sold with a very minimal amount of memory with a means to expand them later. This is why cartridges were favored for video game consoles; people would purchase the consoles, then as memory dropped in price, more sophisticated games were made available.
The Vic 20 was designed to compete directly against video game consoles. At the time, the selling point for video game consoles was their ability to bring arcade hits home. The Vic 20's limited memory meant that cartridges were the best way to achieve this. As memory prices dropped, we would see more sophisticated games.
Since the Vic 20 was a full fledged computer, various types of software besides games (brown case, not beige) were released on cartridge format to get around the 3.5k limit. Much of this software took advantage of the Vic's peripherals. For instance, the Vic music composer allowed the user to save their music composition on tape. Terminal software made use of the VICModem.
Cartridge list by Company
Academy
A989 IFR
Atarisoft
RX8547 Battlezone RX8504 Centipede RX8507 Defender RX8510 Dig Dug RX8513 Donkey Kong RX8541 Galaxian RX8529 Jungle Hunt RX8532 Moon Patrol RX8544 Ms. Pac-Man RX8501 Pac-Man RX8535 Pole Position RX8520 Robotron: 2084
Beyond
Mountain King
Boone
20001 Crater Raider 20003 Cyclon
Broderbund
Viccart-224 A.E. Viccart-220 Lode Runner Viccart-221 MasterType Viccart-223 SeaFox Viccart-222 Skyblazer
CBS Soft.
22107 K-Razy Antiks 22108 K-Star Patrol
Commodore
VIC-1001 Waterloo Structured BASIC (Commodore Canada release only) VIC-1011A RS232C adapter (plugs on the user port) VIC-1011B RS232C adapter (plugs on the user port) VIC-1110 8K RAM Cartridge VIC-1111 16K RAM Cartridge VIC-1112 IEEE-488 interface cartridge VIC-1210 3K RAM Cartridge VIC-1211 Super Expander VIC-1211A Super Expander with 3K RAM Cartridge VIC-1211M Japanese version of the Super Expander + 3K RAM (shown in VIC-1001 brochure) VIC-1212 Programmers Aid Cartridge VIC-1213 Machine Language Monitor VIC-1901 Avenger VIC-1902 Star Battle VIC-1903 Rally-X (only in Japan?) VIC-1904 Slot / SuperSlot (also marketed as VC-1904 "Las Vegas") VIC-1905 Jelly Monsters VIC-1906 Alien / Super Alien VIC-1907 Jupiter Lander VIC-1908 Poker VIC-1909 Road Race / Midnight Drive VIC-1910 Radar Ratrace VIC-1911 The Sky Is Falling VIC-1912 Mole Attack VIC-1913 Raid On Fort Knox VIC-1914 Adventure Land VIC-1915 Pirate's Cove VIC-1916 Mission Impossible VIC-1917 The Count VIC-1918 Voodoo Castle VIC-1919 Sargon II Chess VIC-1920 Pinball VIC-1921 Super Smash VIC-1922 Cosmic Cruncher VIC-1923 Gorf VIC-1924 Omega Race VIC-1925 Money Wars VIC-1926 Menagerie VIC-1927 Cosmic Jailbreak VIC-1928 Home Babysitter VIC-1929 Personal Finance VIC-1930 Visible Solar System VIC-1931 Clowns VIC-1932 Garden Wars VIC-1933 Speed Math/Bingo Math VIC-1934 === Never Released === VIC-1935 Commodore Artist VIC-1936 === Never Released === (product number reserved for "Space Vultures"?) VIC-1937 Sea Wolf VIC-1938 Tooth Invaders VIC-1939 Star Post VIC-1940 === Never Released === VIC-1941 Number Nabber, Shape Grabber
Creative
VI AP C Apple Panic VI AB C Astroblitz VI BH C Black Hole VI CL C Choplifter VI HF C Household Finance VI CH C In the Chips VI PI C Pipes VI RH C ? Rat Hotel VI SE C Serpentine VI SF C Spills and Fills VI TG C TerraGuard VI TM C Trashman VI VM C Videomania
Daedalus
Baldor's Castle
EPYX
676R Fun With Music 566R Monster Maze
Handic
VIC-7301 Space Snake VIC-7302 Bridge VIC-7303 A World at War
HES
C305 Aggressor C326 Alphabet Zoo C318 Attack of the Mutant Camels C324 Facemaker C312 Gridrunner C302 HesMon C304 HesWriter C325 Kids on Keys C322 Kindercomp C319 Lazer Zone Maze Mosquito Infestation C321 Pharaoh's Curse C316 Predator C308 Protector C310 Robot Panic Satellite Patrol C307 Shamus C323 Story Machine C306 Synthesound C303 Turtle Graphics C301 Vic FORTH
Imagic
720051-1A Atlantis 720050-1A Demon Attack 720052-1A Dragonfire
Koala Tech.
Dancing Bear
Machine Lang.
Amazing Maze Dot Gobbler Tank Wars
MSD
Mobile Attack VTE-40
OEM
Alien Sidestep Bug Crusher Space Ric-O-Shay
Parker Bros
PB1410 Frogger PB1420 Q*Bert PB1430 Tutankham
Reston
Miner 2049'er
Romox
Princess & Frog Topper Typo
Sega
005-04 Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom 006-04 Congo Bongo 004-04 Star Trek: Strategic Operations Simulator 001-04 Tac-Scan (not released - prototype only)
Sierra
CBL-401 Cannonball Blitz CCL-401 Creepy Corridors CFL-401 Crossfire JBL-401 Jawbreaker II LLL-401 Lunar Leeper THL-401 Threshold
Sirius
Bandits Capture the Flag Deadly Duck Fast Eddie Final Orbit/Bumper Bash (2-on-1) 22031 Snake Byte 22015 Spider City Squish'Em 22005 Turmoil 22010 Type Attack
Spectravideo
SC-215 Ape Escape SC-207 Cave-in SC-208 Number Crunch
STACK
VS152 VICKIT 5 (6502 Assembler) VS0169 VICKIT 3 (Supergraphics) VS0171 VICKIT 4 (High Speed Cassette Operations & Machine Code Monitor) VS0174 VICKIT 1 (Programming Aids) VS0175 VICKIT 2 (Supergraphics Programming Aids)
Supersoft
Tank Atak
TG Software
Droids
Thorn EMI
THC 22006 Computer War THC 22005 Fourth Encounter THC 22007 Medieval Joust THC 22008 Mine Madness THC 22004 Mutant Herd THC 22001 River Rescue THC 22003 Submarine Commander THC 22002 Vic Music Composer
Tigervision
7-007-20 Polaris 7-006-20 Springer
Tronix
Deadly Skies Gold Fever Scorpion
Tymac
V2CDF D'fuse Key Quest
UMI
1619 Alien Blitz 1611 Amok 1605 Arachnoid 1636 Cloudburst 1613 Meteor Run 1635 Outworld 1600 Renaissance 1650 Satellites and Meteorites 1641 Skibbereen 1604 Spiders of Mars Sub Chase 1642 Super Amok 1638 Video Vermin 16?? Wordcraft-20
Xonox
6235 Artillery Duel 6235 Chuck Norris Superkicks 6215 Ghost Manor 6245 Motocross Racer 6225 Robin Hood 6225 Sir Lancelot 6215 Spike's Peak 6245 Tomarc the Barbarian
Note that Xonox carts sometimes came two-per-case, as "double-enders". These carts had 2 sides (front and back?) that plugged into the VIC-20. 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.
Multicarts
At the end of 2006, after numerous discussion concerning the usage of octal flip-flops or latches connected to the IO2 and IO3 lines of the VIC-20 as a means of selecting a particular section of a large capacity non volatile memory, two different projects were started to create multicarts for the VIC-20.
The Behr Bonz multicart
The Behr Bonz created by Eslapion in 2008 is geared towards a "historical preservation only" approach with a content of 127 games that were all originally published as cartridges and all of these having being available as commercial products prior to the VIC-20's production being stopped.
The first production run of the Behr Bonz has sold 100 units worldwide with two additional pre-production units freely donated to the creator of the menu system, V1and3, and the designer of the promotional web page, AlanR.
This product was available in NTSC and PAL flavors with content selected and screen adjusted for respective systems. The price tag of 30$ US per unit was the same for both variants with only the content of the 27C160 EPROM being different.
A second production run of 81 units began shipping in May 2015 and sold out in June 2016. This run had an improved menu from e5frog which allowed to jump directly to any specific game by pressing a sequence of a number from 1 to 8 followed by a letter from A to Q. It also carried a 'Reset to Menu' button which allowed the selection of another game without the need to power cycle the VIC-20. Initially offered for 48$US, the price later dropped to 36$US per unit and was the same for both variants.
The Behr Bonz is currently out of production and unavailable.
The Final Expansion
The Megacart
The Megacart is an all encompassive cart which provides both multicart capabilities as well as RAM expansion. Unlike the Behr Bonz, the Megacart contains games as well as utility software published as cartridges or on disk or tape. It also contains utility software and games created after the VIC-20 was no longer produced.
The Megacart is expected to be released in 2009 with a price tag of approx. 100$ US.
The Megacart's hardware was created by 6502dude and the menu system by Carlsson and NBLA000.
The Penultimate Cartridge
The UltiMem
UltiMem, VIC-MIDI
The Ultra Vic-20 Cart
The Ultra Vic-20 Cart is being created by fsporsche(Fred Santos) It will have every program ever made for the Vic-20 with a plus feature of a SD/Card reader built in.
The Ultra Vic-20 Cart is in Development and is expected to be released in 2011 with a price tag of approx. $99.00
The Vic Flash Plugin
By Marko Mäkelä [1]