I’ve started organizing my early Apple II game collection, trying to determine which titles to keep and which to part with. This first selection includes many games that have been with me for over 20 years, making the decision particularly challenging. While I would love to keep everything I’ve decided that I need to move on and hopefully many of these will find new and caring homes.
Retro365 
Beautiful collection! Under your POV which is your master list of the best AppleII games?
Thanks, Chris:)
I find myself in a somewhat special position as I have never owned an Apple II during its heyday and I don’t have any nostalgia for the machine or its games. My interest comes from the historical significance of the computer and the pioneering developers who worked on it.
That said, I’ve always been fascinated by Nasir Gebelli’s fast-paced action games, as well as the Starcraft titles from Japan, released by Brøderbund – great action games, though most clones of popular arcade games.
As a gamer, I think Robert Clardy’s “Campaign” series is some of the titles I enjoy the most . While simple by today’s standards, they really capture the magic and imagination of what I love with role-playing and exploration. Interestingly, I’ve never been much of an Ultima fan… there’s something about the series that has never quite managed to capture my interest.
Do you have a list of your best Apple II games?
No, I actually asked you because I would love to learn more about this machine that I never knew about. I was a PC user in the 80s, but not an Apple II, and I’m very curious about it, since they were machines that ran in parallel for a while.
That’s interesting, I was also an IBM PC user from the early ’80s and on… While I used other platforms (C64, Amiga, etc…) the PC, was always what I found most interesting and here in Denmark no one used the Apple II.
I failed to see its significance until around 2000 when the machine and its history really started to capture my imagination.
In my mind the Apple II and its eco-system is interesting from its inception to around 1982 and I think most games from that era is interesting as they typical is the work of a single developer… before games became “unpersonal” creations.
Interesting, I’m from Spain and the cheap PC arrived here a bit late from Amstrad. Last year I was on a trip to Copenhagen and visited the DK exhibition held at the Royal Library, in the Black Diamond space, and it gave me an idea of the reality of Denmark in terms of the journey of classic computer software there. Although the reign of the PC is vast, and I’m excited to do archaeology on that, I will investigate further into the early software of Apple II.
Good luck on your quest… such an interesting subject – you’re always more than welcome to write if anything at all:)
Wow, I could see a few On-Line Systems games peaking out. Cranston Manor has intrigued me, one of those early Sierra games which didn’t get as much notice as their other games. I’d love to get a copy of that or Wizard and the Princess some day.
Amazing collection! It would be amazing if you can keep it intact. I recently started a small collection. (Maybe 10 games.) Found your site trying to find out more about California Pacific’s Progame imprint.
Thanks:) Glad to hear you’re collecting as well. Let me know if I can help you with anything.
I managed to acquire Akalabeth and Ultima 1 from the Progame imprint in a larger Apple II lot. Other than your website it’s as if these never existed. What do you know about Progame especially Akalabeth and Ultima 1?
That’s amazing, those are very elusive and extremely sought after – congrats!
I don’t know if I have too much to say, those were “re-releases” under California Pacific’s “budget” label.
Al Remmer was fighting addiction and his company were heading into financial difficulties (bankruptcy) and I believe the Progame label was an effort to boost sales of already published titles – I’m sure someone knows more about it than me.
Hej Ernst,
Jeg er interesseret i tidlig spilhistorie og -bevaring og tænkte på, om du måske kunne hjælpe mig med et par spørgsmål vedrørende tidlige Apple II-spil, da du har sådan en fantastisk samling af dem.
Disse er alle teksteventyr, der i øjeblikket er tabt, uden at der findes nogen kendte spilbare kopier. Jeg tænkte på, om måske du eller nogen af de andre tidlige Apple II-spilsamlere, som du måske kender, nogensinde har set kopier af nogen af disse:
World of Odyssey (Powersoft, 1979)
Pacifica (Rainbow Computing, 1979)
Bureaucracy (Med Systems, 1980)
Toxopholy (Spider Software, 1980)
Doom Valley (Superior Software, 1982)
Glamis Castle (Crystalware, 1982)
Cave-In (Great Games Ink., 1982)
Jeg har også et par spørgsmål om tidlig dansk spilhistorie, som du måske kan hjælpe mig med, men det vil jeg spørge om næste gang, hvis du er interesseret.
I øvrigt undskyld hvis mit dansk er lidt akavet. Jeg kan tale svensk og har læst norsk, så jeg har ligesom taget dansk op undervejs uden noget formelt studie.
Tak!
Hej Rob
Tusinde tak for beskeden:)
Altid dejligt og spændende at møde andre med samme passion for den tidlige spilhistorie.
Jeg har kendskab til titlerne men har aldrig, i mine 25 år som samler, stødt på nogen af dem – jeg mener dog at havde set en kopi af Glamis Castle, så det burde findes derude.
Ofte blev “upcoming” titler annonceret sammen med udviklernes allerede eksisterende titler i de tidlige electronic og computer magasiner. En del af disse titler blev aldrig til noget og lever nu i dag kun som “lore”.
Og så er der selvfølgelig det fact at visse titler kun blev solgt i ekstremt små oplæg.
Jeg ved at Renga in Blue, som altid laver fantastisk research og har massevis af super spændende information, har dækket nogle af titlerne, men ellers kender jeg ikke nogen som umiddelbart har nogen info omkring disse.
Du skal være så velkommen til at spørge omkring dansk spilhistorie – du kan altid skrive til retro365er – google mail – com:) så skal jeg se om jeg kan svare…
– og så er dit dansk da helt perfekt, meget imponerende:)
Mange hilsner
Ernst