Alien Arena was developed by Duncan Brown in 1984 to run on the classic Williams hardware. It is a “capture the flag” style game with a number of interesting twists.

Thanks to the kind generosity of Duncan Brown, the original ROM images for Alien Arena have been made available for free, non-commercial use.

[Description from: http://mamedev.org/roms/alienar/ ]

XPMCK is a music (expressed in MML) compiler kit targeted towards various video game systems. It currently supports the following systems:

Capcom Play System (VGM output only)
ColecoVision
Commodore 64
MSX (KSS output only)
Nintendo Gameboy / Gameboy Color
SEGA Master System
SEGA Game Gear
SEGA Genesis

Besides the compiler and its source code, the kit includes playback libraries for all supported systems, as well as examples and brief documentation.

Changes:

Added support for the fifth Konami SCC channel.
Added a command for writing directly to a memory address or port.
Added the ability to output compressed VGM files (VGZ).
Added an alternative GBC noise frequency table (selected with #GB-NOISE 1).
Modified the data sequences generated at octave changes to use less space.
Updated the manual.

Thanks to the author, mic, himself for the news via ICQ.

http://jiggawatt.org/muzak/xpmck/

XPMCK is a music (expressed in MML) compiler kit targeted towards various video game systems. It currently supports the following systems:

Capcom Play System (VGM output only)
ColecoVision
Commodore 64
MSX (KSS output only)
Nintendo Gameboy / Gameboy Color
SEGA Master System
SEGA Game Gear
SEGA Genesis

Besides the compiler and its source code, the kit includes playback libraries for all supported systems, as well as examples and brief documentation.

Changes:

Added support for the AY-3-8910 (PSG) and Konami SCC to the KSS playback library.
Added a SYNC command for the C64 target.

Thanks to the author, mic, himself for the news via ICQ.

http://jiggawatt.org/muzak/xpmck/

XPMCK is a music (expressed in MML) compiler kit targeted towards various video game systems. It currently supports the following systems:

* Capcom Play System (VGM output)
* Commodore 64
* Nintendo Gameboy / Gameboy Color
* SEGA Master System
* SEGA Game Gear
* SEGA Genesis

Besides the compiler and its source code, the kit includes playback libraries for all supported systems, as well as examples and brief documentation.

Changes:

Added support for default parameters for macros.
Added support for patterns.
Added support for detuning to the C64 playback library.
Added support for EP and MP to the C64 playback library.
Updated the GUI.

Thanks to the author, mic, himself for the news via ICQ.

http://jiggawatt.org/muzak/xpmck/

XPMCK is a music (expressed in MML) compiler kit targeted towards various video game systems. It currently supports the following systems:

* Capcom Play System (VGM output)
* Commodore 64
* Nintendo Gameboy / Gameboy Color
* SEGA Master System
* SEGA Game Gear
* SEGA Genesis

Besides the compiler and its source code, the kit includes playback libraries for all supported systems, as well as examples and brief documentation.

Changes:

Tempo settings up to 300 BPM are now supported.
Fixed some bugs in the handling of duty cycle macros in the GBC player.
Channel 3 on the GBC is now allowed to go down to C in octave 1.

http://jiggawatt.org/muzak/xpmck/

XPMCK is a music (expressed in MML) compiler kit targeted towards various video game systems. It currently supports the following systems:

* Capcom Play System (VGM output)
* Commodore 64
* Nintendo Gameboy / Gameboy Color
* SEGA Master System
* SEGA Game Gear
* SEGA Genesis

Besides the compiler and its source code, the kit includes playback libraries for all supported systems, as well as examples and brief documentation.

Changes:

Added playback code for the Commodore 64.
Added CPS-1 as a supported target (YM2151. VGM output only).
The compiler now outputs header information to be used when creating .gbs/.sid files (C64, GBC).
Volume is now applied individually per operator (Genesis).
Added support for SSG envelope generation (Genesis).

http://jiggawatt.org/muzak/xpmck/

World Rally has been made public by it’s copyrightholder Gaelco S.A.

Please note carefully that these World Rally ROMs are only available for personal, non-commercial use.

http://mamedev.org/mamenews/?p=222

Spectar, released by Exidy in 1980, is the follow-up of Targ. Gameplay is apparently unchanged, you control a vehicle called Whummel into a 9×9 grid maze, chasing down, and being chased by, the alien invaders. Targs have evolved into the more dangerous Rammers, and Spectars appears more often, shooting at player’s ship.

You use a 4 way joystick to guide your vehicle in the maze, and a pushbutton to shoot at enemies. Up to two players can alternate in gameplay.

The most noticeable difference from his predecessor is that to complete a level you must now collect all the gems in the maze, in a Pacman-like game. Rammers and Spectars continue to appear from flashing pods, so you cannot rest and plan your course easily, or you will be overwhelmed by the alien force.

Graphic is highly improved compared to his predecessor: the maze now has barricades that must be avoided or can be used as a shielding against the enemies, and has ten environement settings, changing from the “square-block town” of Targ to a city, a forest, a lunar landscape and many more. The enemies too are smarter and faster, and the fact that they go on spawning from the pods makes the game a even more frenzy challenge.

Thanks to the kind generosity of H.R. Kaufmann, president of Xidy, the original ROM images for Spectar have been made available for free, non-commercial use.

http://mamedev.org/roms/spectar/

Targ is a one or two player shooter game released by Exidy in 1980. Your town is invaded by Targ riders, you must manouvre the heroic vehicle Whummel to destroy them. From time to time, a Spectar comes into screen, and can be destroyed for extra bonus.

Action takes place into a 9×9 grid, “Crystal City”, where the player’s vehicle must avoid and chase down 10 enemy wedge-shaped vehicles. When all enemies are destroyed, you are awarded an extra bonus and can access the following level. Two players can alternate in the game. You use a 4 way joystick to control the Whummel, and a pushbutton to fire at enemies. Progressing in the gameplay causes the Targs to become faster and smarter, for a fast and furious gameplay.

A small trivia on the game and characters name: apparently, Targ stands for Target, Spectar stands for Special Target.

While in that period many western companies licensed games from japanese developers (Exidy itself licensed Nintendo’s Sheriff as Bandido) targ is one of the few western games that made it in the opposite way, being licensed by Sega for japanese distribution.

This game has a sequel, always released in 1980, Spectar.

Thanks to the kind generosity of H.R. Kaufmann, president of Xidy, the original ROM images for Targ have been made available for free, non-commercial use.

http://mamedev.org/roms/targ/