Zzap!64 ELITE
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A RESET MAGAZINE STAFF Production No. 07,# 06July 2015 $6 Zzap!64Zzap!64 CELEBRATING 30 YEARS ELITEELITE STILL FLYING HIGH Reset... #07 The magazine for the casual Commodore 64 user. Editorial/Credits Unkle K Page 3 C64 Elite Anthony Olver Page 4 Reset Mix-i-disk Reset Page 10 Pixel Pix - An Insight Simon Quernhorst Page 11 News Reset Page 12 Games Scene Reset Page 14 Coming Soon! Reset Page 18 High Scoring Heroes The Scorelord Page 19 Let There Be Zzap! Merman Page 20 Memories of Zzap! Professor Brian Strain Page 24 Game Review - Ghosts ’n Goblins Arcade Ant, Gazunta Page 32 Blast From The Past - A Zzap! Retrospective Ausretrogamer Page 34 Game Review - Jam It Rob, Unkle K Page 40 Zzap! Back Mayhem Page 42 Reset Rewind - Pastfinder Rob Page 48 Game Review - Trance Sector Ultimate Rob, Roy Page 52 That was the Game That Wasn’t Part 2 Frank Gasking Page 54 Format Wars - Thing on a Spring Last Chance Page 60 Reset Mini-bytes! Reset Page 66 How We Brought Zzap Back PaulEMoz Page 68 The Missing Medals Roberto Dillon Page 76 Reset Q&A Reset Page 79 Lloyd Mangram’s Mailbag Lloyd Mangram Page 80 Final Thoughts Unkle K Page 82 Blow The Cartridge - Pastfinder Gazunta Page 83 Issue #07, July 2015 Page 3 Hello old friend! It’s hard to believe that a computer One thing that really set Zzap apart was the magazine could have such a positive effect, enthusiasm of its writers, particularly in not only on its readership, but on the the early days. They had a passion for the industry as a whole. Zzap!64’s lasting C64 and gaming, and this was most certainly legacy and influence on gaming magazines reflected in the writing. Chris Anderson’s (both print and online) is a true testament decision to hire school kids with a passion to its greatness. But what was it that made for computer games (and an obvious talent Zzap so good? for writing) as staff writers was inspired and set the tone for many years thereafter. When Zzap!64 was first released, there was nothing quite like it. It was friendly, I am very proud to be able to help quirky and humorous, as well as having its acknowledge and celebrate the 30th very own, unique style (not to mention those anniversary of Zzap No.1 in Reset. It is iconic Oli Frey covers and of course, the also a reminder of how long it has actually megatapes!). I have said this before, but been, how far we have come and how things reading Zzap each month was like hearing have changed since the infancy of computer from an old friend. It was supposed to be gaming. It has been great to hear from some like that. of the ex-Zzap staff and read about how fondly they remember their time working at Over its nine year run (nearly!), the the greatest computer magazine ever. magazine’s staff and content fluctuated, but it’s probably this very reason that it I sincerely hope that you have as much fun managed to hang on for so long! With each reading the issue as we did making it. Oh, new era the magazine entered, it changed to and I haven’t even mentioned Elite yet! Oh reflect its readership and the Commodore well. gaming market as a whole. For long time Sincerely, readers this may have been off-putting, particularly near the end of its run, but it Unkle K was necessary for it to remain viable. Credits: Reset Magazine Staff: Kevin Tilley (Unkle K) - Editor, Staff Writer, Design Paul Morrison (PaulEMoz) - Staff Writer Anthony Stiller (Ant) - Staff Writer, art Cameron Davis (Gazunta) - Staff Writer, art Alex Boz (Ausretrogamer) - Staff Writer Rob Caporetto (Hellfire 64) - Staff Writer Andrew Fisher (Merman) - Staff Writer Shane Wood (Zap) - Webmaster Contributors: Frank Gasking (Enigma), Roy Fielding (Roysterini), Jari Karjalainen (Last Chance), Mat Allen (Mayhem), Roberto Dillon, Professor Brian Strain, Anthony Olver (Elite Archives), Lloyd Mangram, Paul Sumner, Jason McKenzie (Kenz), Raj Singh, Simon Quernhorst (Goat), The Scorelord Special thanks to the participating Zzap’ers: Roger Kean, Sean Masterson, Steve Jarratt, Gordon Houghton, Paul Glancey, Paul Rand, Phil King, Ian Osborne Special thanks to the Reset Mix-i-disk contributors: Richard Bayliss (TND), Anthony Stiller (Ant), Simon Quernhorst (Goat), Ernst Neubeck (inc-x), the Darkness team and everyone else involved in the various productions. Front cover art and design by Anthony Stiller. Back cover art by Oliver Frey. Some screenshots, graphics and clipart © various sources on the internet. If you require an image to be removed please contact [email protected] Visit the Reset Magazine homepage at http://reset.cbm8bit.com/ Visit Reset Magazine on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ResetC64Magazine Find Reset Magazine Staff at the CSDB Follow us on Twitter: @ResetC64 All text remains the © of the author. Reset is a non-profit, free publication. We print Reset with best results in A5 with a 180gsm glossy cover. Produced 2015 © Reset… Issue #07, July 2015 Page 4 C64 Elite... Elite is one of the most iconic and recognisable computer games of the 1980’s. The C64 version was an instant hit, receiving high praise from the gaming press and has become a classic in its own right. 30 years on, Elite is still played today and the fourth game in the series, Elite Dangerous, was only released at the very end of 2014. Elite fanatic and owner of The Elite Archives, Anthony Olver, tells us all we need to know about the classic space trader on our beloved breadbin. Over to you Anthony! MEMORIES sure all his chores were done. An early Christmas It was only a 20 minute present, he had suggested. journey home in the car, yet it seemed like an eternity. When they arrived home, he The twelve year old boy rushed to help get the wished he didn’t have to groceries inside and packed leave his newfound prize in away. He then set up the the boot of the car with the Commodore 64 on the kitchen rest of his parent’s table, with cables reaching shopping, but his father had across to the television and said that he had to wait power socket. He carefully until he arrived home before took ELITE out of its bag. he could open it. The box was bulging and as he tore the plastic away the lid The boy’s mind wandered back lifted slightly as the to the collection of games in pressure holding the contents the computer shop, and how inside eased. He removed the one game stood out from all lid and laid out the contents of the others. He had already across the kitchen table. played it at school. His computer teacher had brought Inside the box was The Space in a copy and loaded it onto Traders Flight Training one of the school’s BBC Manual, a novella entitled Microcomputers the year “The Dark Wheel”, a Quick Key before. The boy had Control Guide, a keyboard frantically searched for a overlay, a Ship copy for his beloved Identification Chart, an Commodore 64, but alas, it Elite Membership card, a Disk was only available on the BBC Upgrade Offer card, and the and some other machine called game cassette itself. He took an Electron or something. the cassette and placed it into the datasette player and Last week when he went to the reset the counter to zero. He computer shop he couldn’t took a deep breath, believe his eyes when there, excitement building inside sitting on the “New Release” him, and pressed SHIFT and shelf was ELITE. ELITE for RUN STOP simultaneously on the Commodore 64. He had the Commodore 64’s keyboard. pestered his parents all week The screen responded: “PRESS about the game. He had PLAY ON TAPE”. He did so. doubled his efforts to make Issue #07, July 2015 Page 5 The screen lit up with the familiar flight grid scanner and other system flickering and colour changing information such as shield status, laser interweaved lines that indicated that temperature and energy banks status. He the game was indeed loading. As he was pressed “Y” on the keyboard. waiting for the game to load, he picked The screen changed to show Commander up the Space Traders Flight Training Jameson’s status and equipment. He was Manual and began to flick through the Clean, Harmless, docked at Lave with 7.0 pages. He read about the interior of the Light Years of fuel and 100 credits to Cobra Mk III, the ship he would soon be his name. His Cobra Mk III was equipped flying, and how it had seats for a pilot with a single paltry Pulse Laser. He and co-pilot, there was an escape pod, a navigated through the various menus, special suit locker, a RemLock supply buying cargo and equipping his ship as case (what was that? He had wondered), best he could. He set course for Diso facilities for an AutoDock system, and and pressed “F1” to launch from the much more. There were ‘ratings’ that station. were “a dispassionate assessment of your performance in combat so far”. The A hexagonal series of lines appeared as manual told of beginning as HARMLESS, the Cobra exited the station and and progressing through ratings such as launched into space. He saw the planet MOSTLY HARMLESS, POOR, AVERAGE, etc. on Lave spinning below him. A blip appeared your way to becoming DEADLY, and finally on the scanner as another ship launched ELITE.