Tandy Color Computer Cart Collection and Games to Revisit

The Tandy Color Computer(also nicknamed the CoCo) is a line of home computers released in 1980 to compete with the Commodore Vic 20. This budget computer series went through various hardware revisions over the decade and offered several video games on disks, tapes, and cartridge format. This video focuses on the cartridges offered for the Computer as well as sharing some game play of my favorite games. All footage shown was using a Color Computer 3 and real carts with the use of a Switch-a-roo device. What are your picks for games? Have you played a CoCo? Make sure to comment, like, and subscribe! bit.ly/2Gkxwxe
Facebook: bit.ly/2P5dObr
Twitter: / swlovinist

[@tcphvacr9950]

That’s the system I grew up with, got it in 1984. I remember playing Dungeons of Daggorath, and the feeling of dread when encountering the knight and not having enough character build up to take him on, and running away to live. Once I got the disc drive a year later, oh man! Living in style! Thanks for posting.

[@ebirac2007]

My heart would pump when the Knight just popped in front of me then the disappointment when he he killed me. It was great!

[@davidmoltrup51]

​@ebirac2007 I learned a cheat to defeating the more difficult enemies. Drop a bunch of items!! The enemies would pick up all the discarded items, before they could attack, so you get a huge advantage with nearly killing them before they can even attack!

[@andrew01040]

Thanks for showing Canyon Climber, it's one of my 1st computer games!

[@derrickthegatorriverboat6993]

When a was 7 years old i wanted to Nintendo so bad, i begged my dad for one. On my 8th birthday he drove me to Radio Shack and bought me a tandy color computer because "it plays games and it'll help me with homework ". I was so angry, but i still had fun with it.

[@CoindoorDave]

Amazing! I got my CoCo1 out of storage and powered it on for the first time in 30 years - and it worked flawlessly! I've since restored it back to it's original glory, gotten a CoCoSDC cart that holds my entire collection, and a CoCoVGA which looks FANTASTIC.

[@SlipperywhenRhett]

Thanks for the video! My dad worked for Tandy and Radio Shak, and we ran our CoCo2 ragged! There was a programming book we had that allowed you to create your own games. This really brought me back to some good times

[@jamestoalan3274]

This really made my day watching this...i still have my trs80 clr cpu2...i wrote alot of basic back then...spend alot of my childhood sitting in front this unit.but yes DUNGEUNS OF DAGGARATH!!!....SMH i was completly obsessed with that game.Thank You so much for this video....i will be showing this to my older brother and sister...oh the kids as well...by the way i was 8yrs old when we got this for Christmas in 1980.God Bless.

[@randybradley4151]

Loved this computer. I remember my friend and I buying out every Radio Shack in Ontario in the early 90's of all of their Colour Computer game stock. Games were running as low as a quarter and he purchased 1000s of games and around 40 or so different titles. Some of my favs on the system are Canyon Climber, Downloands, Shanghai, Dungeons of Daggorath, Castle of Tharoggad (Daggorath spelt backwards), Monkey Kong, Dunkey Munkey, Sailor Man, Lunar Rover, Moon Hopper, Robocop, Rad Warrior, Mega Bug, Temple of Rom and so many others. There was a similar game to Downlands but I forget what it was called. Thanks for the video. Brings back the nostalgia of not just playing this awesome library but hunting games down at yard sales and in stores. Also the Coco club meetings my friends and I would go to every Tuesdays.

[@randybradley4151]

I also forgot a recommendation for GFL Football. The game run like a VR perspective and takes a while getting used to but once you figure it out it is a stellar game.

[@CoindoorDave]

The CoCo was also featured in "Revenge of the Nerds", during the "climactic" battle of the bands at the end.

[@RoyCyberPunk]

It also appeared in one of the Friday The 13 movies with a kid playing Zaxxon.😎👍🏽

[@chadcunnington7152]

It was also used in Diff'rent Strokes, and the Trans-Am cars from Knight Rider, as well, and KITT used the same program from Revenge Of The Nerds, "Audio Spectrum Analyzer", by Steve Bjork, (who sadky passed away mid 2023)

[@BollingHolt]

Man, I miss my CoCo 2! I started calling BBSes for the first time on that machine. Had a printer (Tandy DMP-133) with it as well. I got many years of productive use from that machine. I wish I still had it.

[@snowlauncher79]

I was about 10 when I got this computer for a Christmas gift. I remember some of the titles I owned were; Panic Button, Don Pan, Robot Battle, Shooting Gallery, and Dragon Fire, which was my favorite... Good memories!

[@noelchrisjohnbenson8161]

I'll never forget the joy I had waking up one Christmas and seeing that under the tree and not completely knowing what it was. I opened the keyboard part, and just stared like "what?". My parents got me an old color TV from a yardsale and brought it upstairs all at once. My dad hated video games, and didn't like how much time I spent on Atari, lol, and didn't quite know it was another platform for games, lol. Of course I did alot of the programs they had, like that book that teaches you how to code "Hangman" or one I liked "Timebomb", like a strange animation. I had the Temple of RaakaTu on the tape, along with Space Mickey, and Dungeons of Daggorath. I loved that Space Mickey, everytime I see it, I still remember how excited I was to be a step up from the Atari 2600, lmao.

[@TheRobotMan1968]

Many thanks for the excellent video. The CoCo was never very well distributed in the UK but we did have the similar Dragon 32. Always had an interest in the Tandy/Radio Shack computers and have been researching the history of the CoCo recently (just for fun!) so found your video really interesting. Again, many thanks for continuing to do updates at this difficult time and your good wishes mean a great deal. Take care and keep safe for you and all your family.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

When I was a kid there was a letter into Video Games & Computer Entertainment bemoaning the failure of the Tandy CoCo 3. That thing was _nuts_. It had 128k of RAM for $100 bucks. It's graphics chips could hang with the NES no problem. Some nut job with the 512 ram expansion wrote a Donkey Kong _emulator_ for it. It should have blown up.

[@sesa1076]

Was just talking to my Da last night about playing color baseball all the time. He remembered clowns and balloons too. I had the cassette adapter and had Pooyan on cassette as well. Simpler times. I love it. Even tried some programming once, I seem to remember you could type in codes to make pictures, short games etc. One was a birthday horoscope generator.

[@manderson9289]

I had a coco 2 and lost many hours of my life to the game "downland".

[@lonnieeastin6401]

That's my OG computer! I was 10 in 1980 when my parents came home from Radio Shack with it. While they were downstairs playing the CoCo's Space Invader knockoff. I was upstairs reading the Basic Language guide. I really wanted to write a Dungeons and Dragons game. Never really did. But I did get into programming. BTW. I believe it had 4K of RAM. When I wrote a program too big for 4K of RAM. My dad happily went out and upgraded it to 16K. Electrical Engineer and all that. (He was, not me)

[@danvanvoorst7329]

Thank you for sharing! Enjoyed!

[@cfbmoo1]

You can get new hardware and games for the CoCo still today. I picked up a refurbished CoCo3 from Cloud9 but also found others who made things like the CoCo SDC which basically lets you put an SD card in a cartridge and load it with programs. I filled that up with stuff on the Color Computer Archive and it works amazingly well. There are even people releasing new games for the CoCo today and even making full blown cartridge versions. There's even people who get together every week and do a show about the CoCo called CoCoTalk.

[@mattmyers9351]

If RadioShack is still around at all as a company they should be smart and get with these games developers and release a Tandy color computer mini!

[@bradvaughn841]

I got a coco2 for my first computer for Chistmas back in the early 80's. I remember those things fondly. I liked Bedlam? I think. Old text based game about an asylum. thanks for bringing back the memories!

[@jasonshouseoffunandvideoga7169]

Rampage and robocop look awesome! Amazing job with the vid John. 👊

[@chadcunnington7152]

Robocop was sadly one of the worst videogame ports on the Coco 3, the graphics and sound were horrible, but the actual music during gameplay was the pits ...

[@mattpike7268]

This is the #1 reason I'm subbed. Love the obscure stuff!

[@SaltieCat]

We got a TRS-80 in 1982. Loved MegaBug!

[@chadcunnington7152]

Megabug was an awesome game, and was actually a clone of an old videogame from the Apple ][, aptly named, "Dung Beetles" ...

[@mightymattd8822]

Very nice John. We had a CoCo 1 when I was a kid, upgraded to the 3 later on. We had several of the games you showcased. Temple of Rom was one that enjoyed as well.

[@RealMaxoou262]

I remember as a child we had Downland and Qbert on this thing...still see the red escape button ...

[@jeff97ish]

It is always good to see a new John Hancock video. Especially now. My state is on lockdown except for essential visits. So I am stuck at home. This video has lifted my spirits!

[@briannorthFW]

My friend had a Tandy Color computer, we never knew that it had game carts-however when he had it, we would just play NES anyways at that time, however Rampage would have been fun to play!

[@IVnik8or]

Downland is such a great game. It gets extremely difficult, I was never able to finish it. Bedlam is another great Trs80 game, it was one of the first text based adventures. You are trying to escape an insane asylum and meet up with some funny characters. It was a cassette based game.

[@robertosala1974]

I loved Downland!! I bought my Coco 2 back in 1985 and Coco 3 in 1989 - I still have dozens of 5 1/4 diskettes with dozens of games and software !!! I’m one of those geeks that saw his friends playing outside while I was mostly playing or programming these computers! And they still work!!!

[@gamblincabbie9505]

On Color Baseball, you can actually set your lineup (Name and Batting Average)

[@chadcunnington7152]

There was also a way to force a strike on the computer opponent, as well. You could move your catcher in front of the batter, and the computer would register that the pitch was good, and literally strike out the player ...

[@NickTheHick]

My friend had this when we were kids. I fell in love with Dungeons of Daggorath. Amazing game for it's time.

[@danestegman155]

Good video! I never knew there was that many cartridges out for the the Ccco computer! I remember seeing this system in Radio Shack!

[@adencross464]

I just got a coco 3. I have a 16k coco 2, a 64k coco 2 and a 128k coco 3. I have around 30ish cartridges and two tape decks. I love the system.

[@Shonuff42080]

I got this in 87 Christmas I wanted a nes my grandparents got me this .

[@Astech31]

Dungeons of daggorath was the first game I ever played, was about 4 or 5 at the time. I tried typing in like 3-4 pages of code that came with the basic code book. Took me like an hour at that age and must have got one thing wrong and it didn’t work and erased....not sure I’ve ever been that mad since

[@CanKenMakeIt]

You need to get a CocoSDC drive emulator and visit the Color Computer Archive. And tune it to CocoTalk Saturdays at 2PM ET.

[@codefenix5460]

This was such a joy to watch. I still have my childhood CoCo3 plus tons of software and add-ons for it. Always a blast to revisit. Thanks for posting this.

[@mrg466]

I thought Coco was just a emulator.

[@landmind666]

I had the 2 then 3, many great games. Most i can not rememder their names.

[@jeff97ish]

I also wish you and the family the best and sending prayers your way.

[@claudiosoltie4174]

I really enjoy playing on my coco 2 using the sd cart. It has lots of good games. The other computer I enjoy collecting for is the Dragon Tano 64 and cartridges, which are very rare.

[@jeff97ish]

Cool video! Thanks John!

[@johnhancockretro]

You are most welcome

[@dwaynechrest52]

Tandy ! It’s been awhile. Great video !!

[@thisisakodibox2635]

Loved the Coco! Had that same model even. Got it as a hand-me-down with no cartridges but with a dual floppy drive and stacks of Rainbow computer magazine which i typed user submitted games and apps. Thanks for sharing as always

[@ColdPotato]

I held off on buying daggorath because there was a demo at radio shack and I didn't know to light a torch. So it was just dark. Eventually got it, best game.

[@bxpress6507]

Miss my coco2..still have it but was not powering on..the best word processing software I found was on cassette called telewriter..very good..I don't have any of games now

[@jsb0714]

I had a CoCo 2 in the mid '80s. I think I was able to find every item in Temple of Rom. My brother and I would name the players in Color Baseball after characters in Transformers. Also owned Panic Button and Demolition Derby.

[@alexabadi7458]

Great video, thank you !

[@Ki11ersix]

thanks for this video! Can I ask what the name of the BLUE cartridge with the Dragon on it is? I had that one as a kid and forgot what it was called.

[@johnhancockretro]

Dragonfire

[@Ki11ersix]

John Hancock thank you!!!!

[@tokesalotta1521]

Oh man, I had one of these. I remember Polaris. I think the one we played the most was called downland

[@mrttype]

Thanks for demonstrating this computer for those of us who had no exposure to it. I was hoping to see some Silpheed footage after I’d spotted the cartridge there. Had the updated one on Sega CD.

[@theodorerelic2718]

I was around 18-20 when computers like this and the Vic-20 came out, so I didn't get to experience them in my teens (my first Vic-20 was when I was 21, for example). I remember the TRS-80 (often nicknamed the "Trash-80" back then) chiefly because of Wargames...fun movie. But fortunately I did eventually find a Coco at a local thrift store for $4.94, with those awful controls and hookups several years back. Everything works on it, but I need to buy games. It was much easier to find games for the Ti-99/4a that I also found at the same thrift, also for the same price. But several of those games looked good, especially Demon Attack. Thanks for the video!

[@CanKenMakeIt]

Get a CocoSDC from the Zippster Zone and visit the Color Computer Archive.

[@chadcunnington7152]

There was a brilliant comeback reply for VIC-20 / C64 owners, though. We called it the "Commode Door", because we thought if TRS-80 computers belong in the trash, then these clearly belong in the toilet ...

[@SomeOrangeCat]

The Coco2 was my first computer.

[@majorhavok9423]

I had one when I was a kid! My first computer! Awesome!👍

[@AsifAlli]

loved this vid. Super Pitfall was super fan back in the day on the Coco3

[@chadcunnington7152]

Got my first 64K Coco 2, way back in 1986, and eventually upgraded to the 128k Coco 3, sometime from ~1991. My first one was second hand, and included 4 pirated games on audio Cassette, plus a couple of original games on cartridge Rompak, including Color Baseball, and Microbes, (Asteroid clone), which are both featured here ...

[@cromagnatron7155]

Great collection, thanks for sharing. It looks like for this system it's hard to find a cartridge complete with box and manual.

[@gamblincabbie9505]

Also not to pick a fight or anything,, but the CoCo's Super Pitfall was definitely the better version, especially when comparing it to the POS Nintendo Port. You actually got a hint (flashing items) as to where things were, and five different caves instead of just the layout of the NES (with no hints again) I will give you, it's definitely an acquired taste game, but you to dismiss it out of hand...

[@gentoolive]

Those are the computers i grew up on, got the coco 1 around 80-81 and went through the coco 2 and coco 3 through the 80's. os-9 was a great OS for it's time.

[@mtshark7]

Awesome collection John! I still have my Coco 3 and all the games. I should hook it up and see if it still works.

[@danieldougan269]

The CoCo 2 was my first computer. My dad got it for me after the CoCo 3 came out (much less the Tandy 1000 or the Amiga). I had _Color Baseball_ as my only cartridge. I did not like my CoCo 2. It might have been cool in 1983, but by 1987 when I got it, it was pretty obsolete. But it was cheap, and that's why my dad picked it out. My friends all had NES machines by that point, and I felt cheated because this thing was so cludgy.

[@boss864]

I still play Dungeons of Daggorath on my CC2

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

That’s freaking nuts!

[@xenosns]

Ah cool!! I still have my trs80 and a few games

[@michaelelias1372]

I had coco 2 and 3! Loved Radwarior and Downland!

[@sesa2984]

I totally remember those loosey goosey controllers! This was my first computer/videogame/anything back in the 80s. My scottish Grandpa gave it to me. I had clowns and balloons and color baseball (which I used to play with my Dad alot) and basic math on cartridge, and I had a cassette of Pooyan and one other game with the cassette adapter. I barely knew that you could collect games. In those days, you just had the games you had and played the games you had over and over. And I remember I had a book of basic code that you could program stuff with. I think I spent a whole day typing in a page of code once and it displayed some kind of a still picture. I also coded a tiny fortune telling simple text game once, but they were gone as soon as you turned it off. Maybe there was a way to record them to cassette but I was like 6, 7 and 8 and who knew. I wish then I'd known how important that stuff would become and done more with it. I could probably at least afford a car now!

[@sesa2984]

Basically whatever your parents gave you.

[@sesa2984]

Oh I def had kids on keys too. barely remember what it was cause clowns and balloons got the most playtime. i remember my tape machine had radio shack written on it. Actually the whole system said "Radio shack Tendy color computer." Back when radio shack was cool. And SO cool.

[@mamoruisamu1]

The Living Computer Museum has one and I’ve enjoyed playing around with it. Good to know about the third model in case I get a good chance to pick one up!

[@jimb032]

Love it! I'm jealous of your game collection. But I have an awesome hardware collection that I am the original owner of, with boxes!: Coco 2, Coco 3, Multipak, FD-501, RS-232, Orchestra 90, CCR-82, 2x Deluxe Joystick, that same Suncom rebranded joystick you have. Don't scoff too much at the coco's graphics, especially the 3. It could keep up with any 8 bit computer of the time.

[@CoindoorDave]

"Polaris" makes a cameo in "This is Spinal Tap" (on the tour bus)

[@randystiles230]

3 day till my coco 2 gets here!!!!! It has a cocosd with it loaded!! I will be looking for a coco3 near the end of the summer.

[@iEditProjects]

This was my very first computer. I was too poor to buy many games so I wrote them out of Rainbow Magazine 😂

[@bdre5555]

I was a Proud Candy 1000x owner. Played a ton of the Black Cauldron by sierra on it

[@redstratus97]

Kids On Keys!! I had that for my Apple IIc when I was little! Fond memories of that learning game.

[@jstinn123]

An envious collection. Dungeons of Daggorath and Downland, in my option are the best COCO games. Which are your favorite?

[@Kw1161]

I still have a Coco3 with a disk drive. I was using it more for my college homework using MicroWare OS9, after my Amiga 500 disk drive broke and I was waiting for a replacement. T/S word worked and printed really well. Rainbow Magazine really helped using OS9. The only game I remember playing was The Sands of Egypt. I worked at Radio Shack part-time for about 3 years, so remember selling many games, but Dungeon s of D. sold the best for the Coco..., but very few school related programs to make it useful.

[@paulv4806]

Awesome!

[@MikeDancy]

Are you related to Herbie Hancock? I owned a COC-2 and Megabug was my first game for it. then I got the Clowns and balloons one then the dungeons game. I miss the Rainbow magazines where it was just filled with code and you had to type it all out to play a game.

[@BathBombTheRussians]

I used to play some weird game that you controlled a robot that turned into a spaceship on mine 😂 it was horrible but I was mesmerized

[@darrencarter9812]

You should review some of the modern transcode ports like Defender, Joust, and Pac-Man.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Does it support paddle controllers (volume controllers)?

[@smallsthetimelord4066]

Just got a TRS-80 coco! I am excited to get some epic games for it. (I'm trying to find a way to play Zork on my TRS-80 coco. What would be the best way to do that?)

[@cfbmoo1]

You could check out the Color Computer Archive and see if they have it there. These days loading games on a CoCo is either done by original cartridge, working cassette tape setup, working disk drive setup, modern drive wire setup, modern CoCoSDC cartridge, or having a cassette tape cable hooked to a PC sound card, smart phone, etc to play a WAV file while the CoCo reads it as a cassette tape through the cassette tape port.

[@cfbmoo1]

Oh and there's the real old stand by. Typing it all in by hand if you have the source.

[@smallsthetimelord4066]

@@cfbmoo1 Thanks! I should be able to do either on of these once I get a TRS-80 with 32k ram (apparently that's what zork requires and I have a 16k model)

[@mikehot6669]

Very good video

[@johnhancockretro]

Thank you

[@mikehot6669]

@@johnhancockretro i just bought coco 1, 2 and 3 and i'm gonna try games you recommend. Thanks

[@ms-ex8em]

do u know about the Acorn Archimedes BBC A3000? can it read Amiga disks? floppies? thanks....

[@johnhancockretro]

Know of the computer, but not hands on.

[@CR-sq7hw]

Do a video of you opinion on ever drive cart and emulation

[@lc-productions7811]

THANK YOU FOR THE VIDEO THIS EXCELLENT, PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, AVOID THE CORONAVIRUS COV19 GREETINGS FROM VENEZUELA ALREADY SHARED THIS VIDEO AND I GIVE YOU MY LIKE # 5 😉 👍

[@bradleymcavoy3432]

Vaguely Aware of This System. Was Aware of Commodore Vic-20 Predecessor to C64 but I had an Apple 2, Atari 2600 and Intellivision All My Family Could Afford we The Time, Interesting System Though.

[@imaxjunior6531]

I remember playing its Donkey Kong version and thought it was really fun to play, but hard.

[@MGSY666]

The graphics remind me of my rubber key spectrum 48k. Hope you're managing to keep safe John.

[@elliotdavies3557]

Would you compare the tandy to the atari 2600? If so what do you prefer atari 2600 or the tandy?

[@johnhancockretro]

I would say the Vic-20 was more like the 2600. Definitely prefer the 2600 but had a lot more experience with the 2600 growing up.

[@rager1969]

Didn't someone do a really good port of Donkey Kong on CoCo a few years back?

[@johnhancockretro]

Yes, need 512k I do believe to run it.

[@deadrat4508]

I have a coco 3

[@glockmatics]

3:27 TP roll cable management lmao 😂

[@Thistlebrew]

Sweet, I have 90% of what you do....means I'm nearing the end of collecting for it :)

[@johnhancockretro]

what carts are you missing?

[@Thistlebrew]

7 card stud, crossword, checkers, kids on keys, kindercomp, super logo....(well the anteco carts like you are as well 8 ball, etc)....basic aid was in a batch a month or so ago but it went for 500 which gets into the "too hard to explain to the wife" territory :)

[@Kstrader23]

Never had one. But I do like older 8bit computers. I love my Atari computers ti-99a and commodore 64!!

[@bassguitari928]

If you really want to get some mileage out of the TRS-80 Color, there was a ridiculous amount of great games that came out on tape and disk. The cartridge library is limited and overall pretty weak (a handful of standouts notwithstanding), and you’re missing out if you limit yourself to cartridges on this thing.

[@johnhancockretro]

Can a multicart play the tape and disk games? What is the easiest way to play these on real hardware?

[@bassguitari928]

John Hancock the easiest way is probably with a CoCoSDC SD floppy emulator cartridge. DriveWire/serial transfer is another option, although more cumbersome. Cassette files in .wav or other non-compressed audio format can be played straight from the headphone jack on your laptop, phone, or device-you just need a TRS-80 cassette cable. For the files themselves, just pop over to colorcomputerarchive.com-there are hundreds of games, applications, utilities, etc. all ready to go!

[@mrg466]

I liked The Temple of Rom (although it could use a bit more music)!

[@thecococrewpodcast1946]

I don't see any red Retro Tinker cartridges... You need to try Fahrfall -- you only live once! :-)

[@grimlockarts8386]

Panic Button was a good one

[@scottishgamer7210]

The ZX Spectrum version of RoboCop is the best game

[@oscarbarrera6649]

Tengo esta computadora en su caja original nueva

[@mofrare]

Starblaze?

[@johnhancockretro]

4:59 :)