Squeezing the maximum out of graphing calculators: games on TI-83

In the 80s and 90s, not every child's parents bought a Game Boy. I was one of those kids, and I was the only one on the playground who didn't have GB.

Instead of a console, I had a graphing calculator. My father had a strong desire from childhood to prepare me for the SAT . Therefore, I used TI (Texas Instruments) 83 and software for Windows, necessary to synchronize the calculator with the computer. It was assumed that I would use the software to download training programs and save backup copies of the results stored in the calculator.

But instead I played games on it. Even then, there was already a store for monochrome low-resolution video games written specifically for Texas Instruments' graphical calculators. Most of them sucked (yes, Drug Warz, I mean you), but some turned out to be surprisingly good, considering the features of the platform.

For example, Zelda for TI-83, which used sprites torn from the Zelda series for the Gameboy:
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However, it was a completely original game with a unique external world and completely new dungeons. But do not particularly enjoy it, very few games looked just as good. A more characteristic example of the quality of games for the TI-83 was Bill Nagel's Penguins:


It was quite popular, and I actively exchanged it in high school, where I was finally not the only person with TI-83. My classmates, who did not know that you can run games on graphic calculators, started to consider me a wizard genius for the ability to transfer games from a calculator to a calculator using my link cable. One such game was Mario83:


Like any other platform, it had a clone of Tetris. This game was well suited to such a limited format, because it consisted of only blocks:


Another game that was ported to all possible platforms was Doom. What, doom? On a platform weaker than the first Gameboy? But the developers somehow managed to do it. Although the engine is much simpler, you can still find out Doom in the game:


Gemini is another pseudo three-dimensional game that worked on TI-83, and was distinguished by impressive textured walls. Although she was at about the same technical level as Wolfenstein 3D, for such a simple machine it was a serious achievement:


Sometimes the games were surprisingly difficult. You don't expect to see a deep RPG on some lousy calculator, but there were several of them, and Desolate was considered one of the best:


What about the demo? Of course, there were them. For example, “Two by Two” by Noice. The same effects that could be seen on the Gameboy, albeit a bit more awkward, of course:


The same author created this beautiful demo “Monochromatic”. A suitable name for a system in which true gray shades were not even possible and had to be simulated by turning pixels on and off at the desired frequency:


This demo of the 3D engine works on TI-84 plus, not on TI-83, but I could not miss it, because it has polygonal graphics with flat shading. The demo looks like an Elite imitation:


Although my heart always belongs to the good old TI-83, I have to admit that later graphing calculators were far superior in graphics capabilities. Just look at Mario at TI-89 and compare with it what you saw above:


It is quite predictable that TI-89 (in fact, a stripped-down version of a huge, game-sized TI-92), showed itself in 3D much better. Take a look at Counterstrike (still working on the Wolf3D engine, but it looks much prettier):


And on the calculators was Kirby's Dreamland. Since the TI-89 screen is larger in resolution than the Gameboy (and, on the contrary, the TI-83 has fewer pixels), it has become more popular for copying graphic resources from Gameboy games and creating new single-player campaigns based on them:


Prince of Persia worked on this platform quite well. If you still do not understand, then 89 was a huge step forward compared to 83 and was the best, until the backlit colored graphing calculators appeared on the market. As for me, they have lost all their charm:


And there is no way to ignore Metroid. How can I play it on a blurred TI-89 screen? No better and no worse than on the screen of the first Gameboy. As in all other games, there is no sound in it, because the calculator did not have a sound chip. But this did not stop some developers: they implemented sound support, which was performed in the main 8-bit processor, and brought it out through the port of the connecting cable that is compatible with some headphones:


More primitive 3D graphics. The next time we saw on a portable device polygonal graphics filled only on the Handspring Visor. The fact that amateur developers managed to achieve this on the graphical calculator of the late 80s should inspire you:


King of Fighters? Seriously? Yes indeed. The game, I believe, is ported from the Neo Geo Pocket (monochrome version) or from the Wonder Swan (also without color. Both consoles initially had monochrome versions). Here sprite graphics looks great:


Some of the games looked really beautiful, and they probably became the beginning of the career of many students who, after the spread of smartphones, entered the mobile gaming market. If you add colors, then Air Mission would look quite appropriate on an old phone with support for java-applications:


But we downloaded applications for portable devices and exchanged them long before that. In a sense, graphing calculators were the progenitors of the modern culture of smartphones and app stores. In those days, we could directly share applications, which is not so easy to do with smartphones, and all this content was free!

It was a real find. No sound, usually bad graphics, a blurry screen without backlighting ... but free games! As much as you want! Half the fun was finding new masterpieces and sharing them by cable with friends in the playground or in the school hallway. It even surprises me why Texas Instruments has never paid attention to the underground gaming culture that has arisen around these calculators, and it has never thought “oh, but we can create a real gaming portable console.”

I would buy it. But we must take into account the fact that for many years I bought almost all gaming devices, including slops. If you want to find out what games are for your graphical calculator, then I recommend to visit the sites TiCalc.org and Omnimaga .

TI-83 specifications

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Processor: Zilog Z80 with a frequency of 6 MHz.

Programming language: TI-BASIC, assembler.

User memory: 32 kB of RAM.

Screen: monochrome, 96x64 pixels, 16x8 characters.