This is a collection of type-in programs found in the Japanese computer magazine micomBASIC (マイコン BASIC) from the '80s and '90s. These programs were typed in by @eientei from the applesaucefdc Discord server. I have put them here with explanations of how they work.
The list of Apple II programs so far:
- Graphic Maze by Kida Kazushige (木田 和重), 1985.
- The Octopus by Shinji Minamiyama (南山 真爾), 1985.
- The Active Balls by Shinji Minamiyama (南山 真爾), 1986.
There are several other sources of micomBASIC information, including:
- Micom BASIC (マイコン BASIC) Bibliography Project: A list of all of the available programs by system type. From this list, there are only seven Apple II type-in programs.
- micomBASIC (マイコン BASIC): Scanned copies of all of the issues from December 1984 to December 1994.
- msx.org: Short descriptions of some of the content for each issue from Novembber 1993 to December 1992.
- s-sasaji.ddo.jp/bm: Descriptions of many of the issues in Japanese, complete with the list of programs in each issue. Unfortunately, finding the programs is much more difficult.
I got into this because @eientei asked for help figuring out why their type-in of Graphic Maze wasn't working. I looked at the assembly language and made some "educated" guesses about what was going on. It turned out that those guesses weren't exactly right, but they got me interested in figuring out how the program worked. I've always been intrigued by maze-generating programs.
Later, @eientei mentioned The Active Balls, so I started disassembling that. In the process I found the "hidden" sprite of the octopus, which led to The Octopus.
Now I'm so far down the rabbit hole, I might as well finish. :-)
I'd really like to know if the authors of these programs are still around and active.