Were Magazine Type-In Games Really That Bad? // Coding Again Like It's The 80s

Kari • April 19, 2025
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About

Hi, I’m Kari and I’m just a girl in her 20s who loves sharing my passion for making, fixing, coding and collecting cool retro things. So, join me as I travel back in time and experience old computers and video games systems from the 70s, 80s and 90s (sometimes 00s as well ;) for the first time. Through seeing how things worked, showing my attempts at restoring/repairing and fixing them when needed, trying out classic accessories and software, and playing video games from the past. Likewise, I love to explore old programming languages, from typing in programs from books and magazine listings, to trying my hand at converting old code to work with modern systems. I even share my love for all things pop culture, paying homage to timeless icons, through making and sharing files for you to make and do yourself, using newer technologies like 3D-printing and laser cutting. -x-x-Kari-x-x-

Video Description

https://www.pcbway.com - PCB fabrication, assembly, 3D printing, CNC machining & more! šŸ‘©ā€šŸ’» Join me today as I experience for the first time, the trials and tribulations of typing in some 80s computer games from a 1984 copy of famous C&VG (Computer and Video Games) Magazine ... Using 5 different retro computers, I test, and load up 5 of the 7 type-in games to see really how good these listings were!šŸ•¹ļø 🟣 In the video, I firstly type in a version of FROGGER on my Commodore 64 ... only for it to crash, with the dreaded syntax error, so after lots of debugging, especially with having to work out what PETSCII characters were used, I finally get to play it ... Inspired by the first game, I then go on to type-in and play a superhero themed game called THUNDERMAN for my Texas Instruments TI-99/4A ... Finally I quickly show 3 more games, I found already typed in, on 3 additional computers, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Acorn BBC Micro and Commodore VIC-20. 🟣 Remember to let me know in the comments, your experiences with magazine type in games, good or bad. I'd love to hear about them!šŸ¤“ *🚨🚨🚨 DISCLAIMER 🚨🚨🚨* šŸ”µ Please do not take this video as a tutorial / advice. I'm not an expert, this is just my hobby. ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ *šŸ”— LINKS šŸ”—* ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ Link below, to the 2 games, and code I typed in 🟢 *FROGGER* and *THUNDERMAN* šŸ‘‡ šŸ”— https://tinyurl.com/mr3xnsyx And if you want to check my code (as there maybe still some mistakes lol), here is a link to a PDF version of the magazine I was using, on the Internet Archive šŸ‘‡ 🟢 *C&VG Magazine, October 1984* šŸ”— https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_036_1984-10_EMAP_Publishing_GB Additional links, to the other 3 games I played in the video, that I found online. 🟢 *LOOP-DE-LOOP* for the ZX Spectrum šŸ‘‡ šŸ”— https://worldofspectrum.org/archive/software/games/loop-de-loop-cvg 🟢 *BOUNCER BERT* for the Commodore VIC-20 šŸ‘‡ šŸ”— http://www.vic20listings.freeolamail.com/mag_cavg.html 🟢 *ENCHANTED CASTLE* for the BBC Micro šŸ‘‡ šŸ”— https://bbcmicro.co.uk/game.php?id=2091 ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ *šŸ“‹ GEAR I USE IN/OR TO MAKE THE VIDEO šŸ“‹* ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ _(affiliate)_ 🟔 List of gear I use over on Amazon US ā¬‡ļø https://www.amazon.com/shop/karilawler 🟔 List of gear I use over on Amazon UK ā¬‡ļø https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/karilawler ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ *šŸ“± SOCIALS šŸ“±* ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ 🟠 https://www.patreon.com/c/karilawler šŸ‘ˆ *Patreon* 🟠 https://twitter.com/karilawler šŸ‘ˆ *X* 🟠 https://www.instagram.com/karilawler šŸ‘ˆ *Instagram* 🟠 https://www.facebook.com/itskarilawler šŸ‘ˆ *Facebook* 🟠 https://www.tiktok.com/@karilawler šŸ‘ˆ *TikTok* 🟠 https://www.threads.com/@karilawler šŸ‘ˆ *Threads* 🟠 https://bsky.app/profile/kari.bsky.social šŸ‘ˆ *Bluesky* ╔═╦╗╔╦╗╔═╦═╦╦╦╦╗╔═╗ ā•‘ā•šā•£ā•‘ā•‘ā•‘ā•šā•£ā•šā•£ā•”ā•£ā•”ā•£ā•‘ā•šā•£ā•ā•£ ā• ā•—ā•‘ā•šā•ā•‘ā•‘ā• ā•—ā•‘ā•šā•£ā•‘ā•‘ā•‘ā•‘ā•‘ā•ā•£ ā•šā•ā•©ā•ā•ā•©ā•ā•©ā•ā•©ā•ā•©ā•ā•šā•©ā•ā•©ā•ā• https://www.youtube.com/@karilawler?sub_confirmation=1 (this, my main channel) https://www.youtube.com/@karilawler2?sub_confirmation=1 (my second channel) ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ *šŸŽ¶ MUSIC & SFX šŸŽ¶* ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ _(affiliate)_ šŸ”“ Like the music? Find my playlist with the music I've use in my videos here šŸ‘‰ https://share.epidemicsound.com/70hk8a/?playlist=vlrb25580c0ilg27mdkcm2sg5ayigp9u šŸ”“ _(and, if you sign up to Epidemic Sound through the playlist link, you'll get 7 days for free!)_ ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ *šŸŽžļø CHAPTERS šŸŽžļø* ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ā–‘ 0:00 - Intro to type-In game listings 1:33 - C64 - Checking out FROGGER listing 3:33 - Typing in the listing 4:33 - Trying to debug the game 7:57 - Success, finally get to play FROGGER 10:09 - TI-99/4A - Checking out THUNDERMAN 12:15 - Playing THUNDERMAN 14:32 - ZX Spectrum - Playing LOOP-DE-LOOP 15:21 - VIC-20 - Playing BOUNCER BERT 16:03 - BBC Micro - Playing ENCHANTED CASTLE 17:33 - Final conclusion and some extra questions 18:56 - Patreon announcement and thanks 19:30 - Watch me play FROGGER #retrogames #coding #c64

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