Z80 WORKS
This page is dedicated to all the games and prototypes made by Alex on Z80, many years ago.


COMPUTERS
HC-85

I was about 15 years old when my parents, whom I once again thank very much, bought me my first computer, an HC-85. It was the first Sinclair Spectrum compatible computer created by ICE-Felix, the main computer equipment manufacturer in Romania.

Despite the politcal system at the time, we were quite up to date with the Z80 games. I never new how those pirated games were procured in the first place, but the tapes spread pretty quickly.

The desire to play games went always along with the desire to create them. Obviously I started with Basic but soon I realised the assembler was what I needed. Documentation and books were very rare and most of the things were learned by trial and error - but that was the most fun.

Unfortunatelly my HC-85 had problems since day one and used to reset itself randomly. This was how I learned to quickly retype my programs ;)
CIP-03

My second computer, the CIP-03 made by Electronica CIE, was the lucky one, because it saw the best of my Z80 times. I had learned assembler programming using Zeus, Gens and Mons and was able to write funy loaders, to crack games, to find cheats and even to write code in the 16KB of Basic (on a CIP-02 and Cobra) to save screenshots when pressing the reset button.

I continued producing better games and in the end the technical quality was limited only by my free time which, because of school, did run out eventually.

In the high school I had the first contact with 286 and 386 computers and soon my parents, again many thanks, made a considerable effort to buy me a 386DX with 4MB ram. This step forward was the end of my Z80 years, but the passion for creating games remained.



GAMES

The lucky thing was that one day a friend of mine dared to create the necessary interface to hook his tape recorder to his brand new 486 and I was able to move most of my creations from Z80 hardware to DOS emulators and save them from the terrible decaying of the magnetic tapes, which hardly worked in other tape player than my own.

Please ignore the spelling mistakes in these games.


Arthur

June 5th, 1993 - an original adventure game inspired by the "Arthur, le fantôme justicier" french comics featured in the Pif magazine. You are Arthur and you must save your father from the dungeons. About 1 month of development and 30770 bytes of data and assembler code. I was almost 17.





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KEYS:
left=O, right=P, up=Q, down=A, action=N

MENU:
Quit, Pick up, Use item, Pause
Restart, Drop, Close, Use

NOTE:
To use an item from the inventory, press left a couple of times until the item is highlighted.

WALKTHROUGH:
Give the money to the guard to let you pass.
Use the file to cut your chain so you can fly freely.
Dig the last grave and the skull will give you a clue.
Check the king picture (use) and find another clue.
Scare the ghost with the water pistol.
Use the skeleton key to open the cript's door.
Take care with the spiders and use the flashing cross.
To enter the vampire's lair, you need a cross from the cemetery.
Take the small sword and give it to the armour in the castle.
Take the torch from where you scared the ghost and lit it to a fireplace.
Use it to lit the fire at the cauldron.
Use the lever near one ghost.
Give bone to the dog.
Talk to the princess to get the scissors.
Use the scissors to cut a leaf from the room near the pig.
Use the cutter to get a pig's ear.
Use dinamite to enter a locked room, but you need to wear the glasses.
Use the pipe to sing for the snake.
Use the glove in the snake's room to take the bright light.
Now use the glove on the ghost in the tunnels.
Use the key to open the next door.
To swim you must eat the fish.
Use the shell, the leaf and the pig's yar in the cauldron.
Use the bottle to take the smelling potion then drink it.
Use the bellows on the cauldron fire and pick the ashes.
Throw the ashes to the guard.
Enter in the pool with the cup in your inventory to take water.
Cool off the hot cauldron with water.
Use the crawbar on the vampire coffin.
Use the spike and the hammer and then the tongs.
Use the corks in your years to hit the big bell (make sure the file is accessible).
Get soup in the ladle and give it to the poor man in the dungeons.
Give the release papers (have no idea where these should come from!?) to the guard.
Use the fang to open the door and free your father.




Strumf

March 14th, 1993 - a short original adventure game inspired by the "Smurfs" and of course by the Dizzy games. 14260 bytes of data and assembler code. I was 16.





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KEYS:
start=SPACE, left=Z, right=X, jump=SPACE, action=ENTER

WALKTHROUGH:
Give the ball to the cat.
Use the lighting rod on the tree near the pool.
Jump in the tree next to the well and use the door mechanism.
Jump on the barrel and pick up the key.
Use it to open the door at the mine.
Use the pickaxe on the well and pick the oil pump before jumping in.
Talk to the inventor and pick the imitation strumf.
Oil the mechanism and go up (don't go under the lift).
Give the imitation strumf to Gargamel.
From the funny strumf get the present but use it only in the mine on the rock.
Fill the condom from the lover srumf with H2 in the cellar.
With the floating balloon walk on the ice in the mine cave.
Use the boiler next to the ice.




Image

1993 - a small puzzle game where you must move the 15 tiles and arrange them in a 4x4 grid to restore the original image.
First you choose the keyboard mode (1 or 2). Then you can select the image with O and P - see the image number. Press ENTER to choose and again to scramble.


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KEYS:
start=ENTER
left=O, right=P, up=Q, down=A
return to menu=ESCAPE


World Beyond

January 24th, 1993 - an arcade game where you must fight enemies through many levels. You can hit with your fist or you can throw your axe.
Graphics from Dizzy, Renegade 2, Tiger Road. You can redefine the keys.






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KEYS:
redefine as left=O, right=P, down=A, throw axe=Q, hit=N

NOTE:
I have a note saying press [R] for inifinite lives, but I have no idea when.
The game migh hang when paused or on the top scores screen.


JW Manison

Decembner 25th, 1992 - an adventure game inspired by readings about text adventures and Manic Mansion by Lucas Arts.
I have a noted saying 5 days of work, finished on Christmas - I'm amazed how productive I was.
You are a detective who must find a secret file belonging to the owner of the mansion, doctor JW.
Beside him, in the house you'll also meet his brother, Barton, and the butler, Steve.





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KEYS:
left=Z, right=X, word=ENTER, pause=H, abort=Q

VERBS:
help, enter, pick up, drop, give, use, play

NOTE:
There are some small bugs in the logic depending on the order you solve puzzles.
Also I think the bottle in the pantry should not be visible until lights are on.
I suppose the name should've been "JW Mansion" :).

WALKTHROUGH:
To enter doors, use the "enter" verb.
Open the refrigerator ("play") and "pick up" the foul cheese.
Walk around and find the Steve and "give" him the cheese. He will quickly leave for the bathroom.
Use the toilet brush with the toilet to get Steve's key.
Use the keys in the office to open the desk and pick up the tape.
Use the tape in the stereo from the living room and remember the beeps of the tune.
Pick the book in the library and use it near the right shelves to open the passage to the lab.
Play at the computer and enter the beeps from the tune to get the code (WFT).
Give the money to Burton to get some change.
Use the coins to play at the second arcade in the video games room.
Enter the "wft" name to get the 1032413 secret code.
Open ("play") the wardrobe in the bedroom and find the big key.
Use the big key to open the door in the bathroom and enter the pantry.
Use the bulb in the pantry to turn the lights on.
Pick up the bottle and fill it with wine in the kitchen where the refrigerator is (on the red bottle on the table).
When JW gets in this room, give him the wine.
Now go to the safe in the secret lab and enter the secret code to find the file.




Turbo 4x4

December 4th, 1992 - a race game inspired by handheld console.
Written in 3 days at a friend of mine.





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KEYS:
left=1, right=0

CHEATS:
invulnerability: POKE 41970, 195; POKE 41971, 212; POKE 41972, 163


Dizzy - Magic Island

September 23th, 1992 - fan-made adventure game inspired by the Dizzy games.
28286 bytes of data and code, finished at 6am :)





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KEYS:
left=6, right=7, jump=SPACE, action=ENTER, quit=Q

NOTE:
There is a small bug when entering some location, the current item is dropped, so take care to pick it up again.
Also minor bugs with refreshing background behind player when entering locations.
Dialogs are not in English, but they're not too smart anyway.

WALKTHROUGH:
Drop the flower from your inventory for a second and use the lever hidden in the tree to open the door.
Now take the flower to Dyaln who gives you his keys.
Enter his house in the next screen and take the rope.
Use the rope at the well and jump in.
Thake the big key and exit the well. Pick it up if he drops it.
Use the key at the castle door and enter.
Try to find the lights switch, near the entrance (hit action while walking step by step).
Take the sticks and light them at the burning torch inside the caslte (first room).
Use them near the door of the abandoned house to burn the weeds.
Use the sharp dagger and cut a leaf from the bushes outside the castle.
Use the torch near Zodark to lower the elevator.
Then go up and pick the ring.
Use the pickaxe to break the other door of the castle.
Now, having the ring on, you can go to the other land from the flashing spot at the volcano.
In the other land, don't wander around or you'll get lost.
Bring and put in the cauldron the leaf, the clover and the dring potion from the abandoned house.
Now fill the empty bottle with the potion in the cauldron.
Take it to Grand Dizzy and give him to drink.
Fill it again and save Dylan and Daisy too.
After saving your friends, talk to the wizzard from the other land.
Now it's time to find Zodark's heart, at the left tower.
To destroy it you must throw it in the vulcano.




Aligator

1992 - a shmup game inspired by Air Wolf on arcades.





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KEYS:
up=A, down=Z, fire=N, pause=H


Jungle Quest

1992 - a first try to adventure games.

Unfortunately this is unplayable due to missing data - probably the background graphics failed to load.



DOWNLOAD

KEYS:
left=O, right=P, action=B, pause=H


Gun Combat

February 17th, 1992 - a reflex based game.
First you must pick as many bullets as possible before oxygen runs out.
Then you must shoot the bad guys who pop at the four windows of the house.
Take care not to shoot any women.






DOWNLOAD

KEYS:
start=ENTER
bullets stage: left=O, right=P, up=Q, down=A, continue=ENTER
shooting stage: window top left=1, top right=6, bottom left=Q, bottom right=T


Runner Loader

1992 - a maze escape game.
You must find your way to the blue gate to finish as many levels as possible. You can shoot a hole in the wall you're facing, but bullets are limited. Pick happy faces on the way to score.






DOWNLOAD

KEYS:
start=S left=O, right=P, up=Q, down=A, fire=N, reset=R


Fly

1992 A silly game of reflex where you must catch a passing fly at a specific moment.
This was the first game written in assembler so it's more of a test.
You must enter colors for border, paper and ink (ex 4, 4, 0) - press ENTER after each.
Press ENTER when the fly is at the 5th flower from the left (counting from all 9 flowers).





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KEYS:
action=ENTER


Master of World

1991 The game that rised the quality bar.
It was inspired by Master of Puppets by Metallica.
You're against the master of the world. In the first level you have to duck and hit two kinds of enemiey comming. After the hordes end, you get to the second level where you have to kill the evil master. Take a note of the code written in the second level backgrounds (571). You'll need it to disarm the bomb at the end.






DOWNLOAD

KEYS:
left=O, right=P, down=Q, fire=1


Blooky

1991 - a clone of Betty or Arkanoid, where you must catch the ball with moving paddle.
Note that you can reenter the screen by exiting on the sides.





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KEYS:
left=Z, right=M


others...

There were a couple more games that didn't make it to the PC emulators, amongs which Cyborg, Moon Patrol, and my last one, Spiderman, featuring loadable levels and inspired by the Renegade fighting game. And of course countless wannabe games I did while learning, since the day I managed to print something on the screen.


DEVELOPMENT NOTES

During my Z80 years, I filled about 3 notebooks with all sort of things, from character codes, algorithms and assembler routines, up to all sorts of games projects, some finished, some never started. Here are a couple of page scans:


Thank you for your interest in my Z80 works.
If you need to contact me, check my profile page.


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