Back in the 1980’s, Atarisoft were doing official conversions for the Commodore 64. Typo Attack was one of them! The game was originally released on the Atari 8-bit computer range and was an educational arcade game for adults and children.
We learnt of this conversion thanks to Mat Allen, who documented the conversion briefly in Digital Press many years ago. However, we were not sure how far the game got, or why it was cancelled, but we guessed it was due to Atarisoft breaking up in 1984.
However, Phobos/Ready64 found a snippet in Video Game Update (August 1984 – see scans) which suggests that Jack Tramiel got Atarisoft to stop all C64 developments and focus just on Atari. It wasn’t the video game crash that caused the cancellation of titles. Thanks to Roberto Nicoletti and Phobos for the heads up.
After many years of no further progress, in 2023, Bertrand from AtariMania informed us of the following from an internal document:
Two “test reports” were initiated on April 30th, 1984 for “REV. 0” and May 11th, 1984 for “REV. 1”. No idea whether any more work was done on this title before Tramiel took over less than two months later.
This was promising, and confirmed that were was indeed a development under way at some stage for the Commodore 64 edition.
Then, out of the blue – Steven Yaeger got in touch via the comments and confirmed that they converted Typo Attack for the C64. Steve was only given access to the original Atari 800 version and a VHS of the game being played and was responsible for all the code, graphics conversion and sound effects.
It was also confirmed that the port was completed, and felt that Jack Tramiel’s take over of Atari was responsible for it being cancelled.
Steve thankfully had backed up all of his source code some years ago, and kindly dug out and compiled a final version of the game in cartridge format for inclusion into the GTW archives. NOTE: The game is in NTSC format, and it can crash on PAL machines in its original state.
It is an almost perfect conversion of the Atari original, and has been done very well indeed. It is meant as an educational title, so don’t expect something like Dropzone – but it is yet another important piece of our C64 history preserved.
So after 39 years gathering dust, the long lost Commodore 64 conversion of Typo Attack by Atarisoft has been saved and preserved for you to enjoy. Yet another case closed!
Contributions: Mat Allen, Bertrand / Atari Frog, Steven Yaeger, Martin Pugh, Jazzcat, Phobos/Ready64, Roberto Nicoletti
Supporting content
Available downloads
- Game_TypoAttack64 (zip)
Gallery
Update history
- 11/09/24 – Atarisoft closure update.
- 18/09/23 – Full game preserved and added to the site.
- 10/09/23 – Details from the developer added.
- 03/09/23 – Details about game’s existence added.
Under a contract with AtariSoft, I wrote Typo Attack for the Commodore 64. As usual for AtariSoft game conversions, the only access I was given to the original Atari 800 version of the game, was a VHS tape of it being played. I was responsible for the coding, graphics, and sound effects. The port was completed and ready to release prior to when Tramiel took over but I don’t think it was ever released. There is a possibility that I might still have the source code and maybe even a ROM with it on it.
Thanks SYaeger for getting in touch and confirming about your time on the game. I’ll be in touch shortly and will update the page in the meantime.
According to an internal Atari document I have, two “test reports” were initiated on April 30th, 1984 for “REV. 0” and May 11th, 1984 for “REV. 1”. No idea whether any more work was done on this title before Tramiel took over less than two months later.
Thanks again Betrand! As with DKJR – I’ve updated the page with those details confirming.