Radio Shack Games Packs

written by Matthew Reed

Radio Shack Games Pack Two

Cover of Games Pack Two

Most people considered the Big Five Software games to be the finest games ever written for the TRS-80 Model I and III. They were sold directly through Big Five Software and were resold by many other companies.

Radio Shack also sold Big Five Software games in two collections compiled by Cogito Software. Games Pack Two and Games Pack Three first appeared in the 1984 Radio Shack catalog and contained four Big Five games: Defense Command, Stellar Escort, Cosmic Fighter and Meteor Mission 2. As the packaging stated: “You can look forward to hours of fun for the family, friends, or even the gang at the office.”

Both collections were sold on cassette and self-booting disk. Only minor modifications were made to the games, the biggest being that all copyright messages were changed to “Licensed to Tandy Corporation.”

Games Pack Two

Games Pack Two1 contained two Big Five Software games, Defense Command and Stellar Escort. Both the cassette version (catalog number 26-1925) and the disk version (catalog number 26-1926) of Games Pack Two cost $24.95.

The Games Pack Two manual contained different descriptions for the games than those used by Big Five Software. Here is their description for Defense Command:

The Kromorfkrom Empire has stolen our Krotnium Star Cruiser Fuel Cells. Your mission: Recover and hold the cells so our Star Cruisers can warp into the battle zone and return them to Earth. But beware — if the aliens reclaim the cells, they will unleash their most terrifying weapon … the Solar Waster!

Here is their description for Stellar Escort:

You must escort Federation Supply Cruisers through front-line enemy zones loaded with Cretonian vessels. Along the way, you will encounter merciless RAM CRAFT, indiscriminate CRUNCHER, and the awesome KILR MINES. Only the skilled will survive!

Radio Shack Games Pack Three

Cover of Games Pack Three

Games Pack Three

Like Games Pack Two, Games Pack Three contained two Big Five Software games, Cosmic Fighter and Meteor Mission 2. Both the cassette version (catalog number 26-1923) and the disk version (catalog number 26-1924) of Games Pack Three cost $24.95.

Here is their description for Cosmic Fighter:

From deep space they came, aliens from a far flung world. All that keeps Earth from being lasered into cosmic debris are an abandoned Fighter Ship and your nimble fingers at the keyboard or joystiuck. But can even Earth’s mightiest stand long against … the awesome Syborians?

Here is their description for Meteor Mission 2:

Six U.A.S.A. (Universal Aeronautics and Space Administration) astronauts have crashed on PHILO VII, a large, gravity-bearing asteroid. They’re waiting for your rescue shuttle to snatch them from their rocky perch. But a steady stream of asteroid fragments drifting between your shuttle and PHILO VII suggests that there may be endings other than happy ones …

Legacy

The TRS-80 Model I and Model III games market collapsed around 1983, and Games Pack Two and Games Pack Three became one of the few ways to find classic Big Five Software games. They remained in the Radio Shack catalog until 1987 and were available until Cogito Software shut down in 1988.


  1. Why did the numbering start with two? It was probably because one of Radio Shack’s earliest pieces of software was Games Pack I (catalog number 26-1805), a collection of six games for Level I systems. Having both Games Pack One and Games Pack I was probably considered too confusing. ↩︎

Categories: Arcade Games, Software