Expeditions
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Atari 8-bit - USA - 1st edition. |
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Expeditions is a compilation video game developed and published by MECC for the Atari 8-bit in 1983, and later for the Commodore 64 and TRS-80 in 1984. The game is a port of the 1980 title Elementary-Volume 6 for the Apple II. Each of the games appears to have been written in the BASIC respective to each port's platform, though, some probably used assembly routines for the graphics.
Each game a travel simulation where the player must trek through the wilderness and reach a destination while trying to stay alive, though the different ports have different versions of the games.
The Atari 8-bit release has the following games:
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| Fur Trader | A port of Fur Trader. Not sure if it's the original or updated version. |
| Voyageur | A game which plays similar to Oregon, only you play as Indians paddling up the Pigeon River. |
| Oregon | This is an updated version of the 1971 game, not the 1980 version from the Apple II release. |
The Commodore 64 release has the following games:
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| Furs | A completely new game inspired by French Fur Trader. |
| Voyageur | A game which plays similar to Oregon, only you play as Indians paddling up the Pigeon River. |
| Oregon | The 1980 version from the Apple II release with better graphics, not the original 1971 game. |
I have yet to find the TRS-80 release.
Furs is an updated version of Fur Trader from 1978, where you play a Native American leader taking your furs in a small flotilla of canoes along a waterway to sell. In Voyageur, you play a trader taking supplies from Lake Superior up river to a trading post at Fort St. Pierre in Canada. In Oregon, you play a frontier family traveling from Missouri to Oregon to setup a new homestead.
Contents
Personal
| Own? | No. |
|---|---|
| Won? | See individual game pages. |
In my elementary school, each classroom had a computer desk with a Commodore 64. Throughout the school year it would be loaded with different educational software. I remember watching several kids play various games from this title, and even trying some out for myself. I wasn't very impressed with any of it, even as a young child, I was interested in critiquing game mechanics, but I still thought it was interesting since I had so little experience with video games at the time. Three decades later, I was trying to find all the old software I played as a child. I had a hard time finding this title because it's a compilation which sees little documentation on the Web. I did eventually find it in 2019. In my memory, I only played Oregon, but, after replaying the games and remembering some of the random events and cut scenes, I realized that I had seen all three games and just confabulated them. I replayed the games and beat all three.
Media
Cover Art
I can only find a box for the Atari release. It's a terrible box. In addition to it just being stock photos, you never actually see a capital building, you never travel by ocean vessel, and you never meet Eastern cultures. I'm not sure if the Commodore 64 or TRS-80 ports used boxes.
Atari 8-bit cover.
Documentation
Original Atari 8-bit manual.
Revised Commodore 64 manual.
Screenshots
Commodore 64 - Title.
Commodore 64 - Menu.
Play Online
Credits
| Role | Staff |
|---|---|
| Designer - Furs and Voyageur (Atari) | Shirley Keran |
| Design Suggestions - Furs and Voyageur (Atari) | Carolyn Gilman |
| Lead Programmer - Furs and Voyageur (Atari) | Cynthia Schroeder |
| Assistant Programmer - Furs and Voyageur (Atari) | Lance Allred, Tony Prokott |
| Designer - Oregon (Atari) | Don Rawitsch |
| Programmer - Oregon (Atari) | Lance Allred |
| Design Suggestions - Oregon (Atari) | Shirley Keran, Keran Hoelscher |
Links
