Sargon

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Hayden Book Company

Sargon is one of those games where if they had made it just a little more user-friendly, it would have gone a long way. Basically, Sargon is a chess simulator where you battle against a computer opponent. You pick whether you want to control the black pieces or the white pieces. Then, it gets a bit more complicated for us folks that know how to play chess, but don't know the coordinates of a chess board…or for people like me that think much more clearly with a visual aid. Yes, you can press the Escape key and see the board like in the screenshot, but I got tired of swapping back and forth between screens. I wound up drawing out a chess board and the pieces and moving stuff around as needed. That aided me with both figuring out what coordinate to move to and let me strategize a bit more like if I was in front of a real chess board. If I had a real chess board, I'd probably have that in front of me instead. While I never participated in this activity, Sargon seems like it's the computer equivalent of playing chess with someone by mail, where one person mails the chess move (what piece to what coordinate) to the other player and vice versa. Anyway, if you know chess well enough to know the coordinates of each square on the board, then you'll probably be right at home here. For the rest of us, you'll find a decent game of chess bogged down by the need to constantly look up references to get your bearings as you play. If Sargon was a little more user-friendly for novice players, I would have bumped the score up a bit, but chess experts will likely enjoy this game quite a bit more than I did.

Review added: 12/09/2025

Space

Also known as: N/A

Developer: EduWare Services

Space is a bit better than I thought it would be…It's a text-based RPG where you take the role of a military recruit in outer space. You pick which branch of the military that you want to enlist in, then you "serve" with each year allowing you to obtain bonuses to your skills. I halfway expected this to be the entire game…so when I was honorably discharged from the military after sustaining an injury, I was surprised to see that the game was going to continue with my character having adventures as a civilian. After putting more time into this, I've come to realize that when you make a new character, you have the option to leave the service every four years, or attempt to enlist again to gain more skills. Re-enlisting has the benefit of obtaining more skills…but it comes at the risk of potentially seeing your character die in service. After leaving the service, there are a few different scenarios that your character can attempt. However, if your character dies at any point - in service or during a scenario, they're gone for good. For the most part, I liked Space…for its time, I felt like it was a solid game. While some folks may not like the lack of visuals, if you’ve got an imagination, don't mind reading, and want to play an early RPG, you can't really go wrong if you give Space a try.

Review added: 12/09/2025

Space II

Also known as: N/A

Developer: EduWare Services

I was torn on whether I wanted to include Space II or not, then decided to just go for it. The reason for my hesitation is that Space II is essentially an expansion pack of the first game. But, it's also a stand-alone game that you don't need the original Space to play, so I've decided to add it here. Space II is essentially the same basic game of Space, which is solid and entertaining, but it has two new game scenarios. Like the first game, you start out as a young little whippersnapper enlisting in the military. You do service in the military to boost your stats. You can continue to re-enlist to add to your stats, but at the rest of getting injured on duty which may hamper your character instead. After getting out of the military, your adventures begin. The game's creator, David Mullich, called Space II an exercise in risk-benefit analysis. Through the scenarios, the character that you create is presented with dangerous options through the game, and the player has to determine if the potential rewards are worth the potential risks that you take. Psychodelia, for example, is a scenario where you experiment with drugs to try to boost your stats…that dastardly drug called "Pepsi" is here. If they had Crystal Pepsi, I probably would have overdosed. Oh, how I wish Pepsi would bring that clear nectar of the immortals back for us regular folk to consume. Anyway, if you liked the first Space, but would like some new scenarios to participate in, then you'll like Space II. If the first game was enough for you, then you may not want to re-enlist in Space II.

Review added: 12/09/2025

Stunt Cycle

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Progamma International, Inc.

Stunt Cycle is a game that I want to like…but the developers made it difficult...well, at least in this port of the game. I haven't had  chance to play the arcade original as I type this. Anyway, in Stunt Cycle, you are a stuntman on a motorcycle. Your goal is to drive down the track and successfully land a jump over one or more vehicles. The catch? For some reason, unless you land on the ramp on the other side of the jump, you've automatically crashed and, based on the "Funeral March" tones that play, perished from the fall. So, the key to advancing on and getting more vehicles to jump over, is to gauge how much speed you need when hitting the ramp. All of that is fine and can actually be fun. The problem is that finding the right speeds and such is trial and error…and every time you attempt a jump, you need to come all the way from the top of the screen and make your way down to the bottom of the screen. This results in Stunt Cycle feeling very repetitive very quickly. If it was only a second or two between jumps, then constantly failing while trying to find the right formula for each jump wouldn't be so bad…but having to wait a bit before each jump is kind of a pain…and while it's honestly not THAT long of a wait, the waiting time adds up over multiple attempts. If Stunt Cycle had been tweaked just a tad, especially with less time between runs,  I think that this could have been a fun game to pass a few minutes with. As it is, it's just shy of passable…Programma International overshot the second ramp upon landing with this game.

Review added: 12/14/2025