The Top 10 Calculator Games
By Jeffrey | October 17, 2007
Math is not one of my strong suits. Well, advanced math anyway.
It’s a simple explanation: about the same time that started taking advanced math classes I also purchased a graphing calculator.
Although, it never really fit that profile. It was more of a low-powered Game Boy in my hands.
Here are the top 10 games that made it that way.
10 - Tetris
Ah yes, the ubiquitous puzzle game that exists in one form or another on almost every game platform in existence, and the graphic calculator is no exception.
I could go on and on describing the gameplay, the graphics, and whatever other mundane features that are part of it, but I won’t waste my time. If you’ve played any version of Tetris then you’ve played this one.
Still, though, it was still the perfectly classic gameplay that made the game as famous as it is.
9 - Blinded by the Dark
No, unlike the song, this was not a reference to the white rabbit.
Instead, it was a brilliantly coded RPG that made use of a technique known as “raycasting” - a technique also used in 3D incarnations on the PC like Wolfenstein 3D.
Unfortunately, it made Blinded by the Dark run a tad slow, but it looked cool enough to make the list, and that’s what counts.
8 - Megacar
As the screenshot shows, this game was designed in a style similar to the PC game Death Rally, albeit with a tad more toned down graphics.
It ran incredibly smooth and it’s choice of black and white graphics helped keep sight of where you were headed. A map editor was included, as well, that let you convert bitmap files in to new tracks.
It was quite addicting, and drained more than a few AAA batteries.
7 - Super Mario 86
The TI-86 seemed to be the calculator platform of choice for most of the best games, and Super Mario 86 was one of the reasons why.
It was coded in grayscale to give the appearance of a larger “color” palette, included a “teacher key” to quickly shut the game off, but most impressive, it even included sound accurate to the original NES version.
Granted, most gamers - including myself - didn’t go to the effort of getting sound from the TI-86, but still, it’s the thought, right?
6 - Dragon Quest 86
It is almost unbelievable, but it’s true: Dragon Quest was “ported” to the TI-86. Although it wasn’t a port of any Dragon Quest game in particular, all of the recognizable graphics, enemies, battle sequences, etc. are all included.
The down side is the low replayability factory. But seeing as how it only needs to last you 50 minutes or so until class ends, it was perfect.
It even ran at a decent frame rate. Not too shabby for a machine designed to draw various forms of y = mx + b.
5 - Vertigo
In a game similar to Marble Madness, the player attempted to navigate a white ball to the gem stone in each of the 50 levels.
It was presented in an isometric - pseudo 3D - point of view, and included realistic physics.
Unfortunately, the grayscale was quite dark, and would sometimes make it difficult to see your ball or your destination.
Still, it was very original, and definitely worth the enormous 75k download.
4 - Lotus Turbo Challenge
Like the rest of the games included on this list, Lotus Turbo Challenge is an example of the incredible feats that a programmer was able to get out of the portable number cruncher.
Similar to the early Top Gear and Pole Position games, the player controlled a car from the rear view and traversed scrolling tracks while competing against the computer cars.
It could be infuriating at times with its time-limited races, but this same aggravation also served to motivate the player to continually try to beat each level.
3 - Wormy
This nibbles-esque game was far underpraised when it was released back in 2002, which was a large part of the reason the programmer, Shiar, quit the calculator scene.
I knew him, and beta tested this game throughout development, and I was thrilled at the game that it became.
Like all nibbles games, your goal was to guide your “snake” to each of the “apples” in order to eat them all and finish the level. With each bite your tail would grow longer.
Wormy through a twist in to that idea - literally - by allowing your “snake” to turn in all directions instead of the 4 most nibbles games limited you to.
Besides the traditional gameplay the game included various gameplay modes, such as “Capture The Flag”, and also allowed for multiplayer over the calculator link cable.
2 - Gran Tourismo
Just like in the other Gran Turismo games, there are a variety of different car brands that all include many different makes and models. Once you’ve purchased your first car, you can buy a number of upgrades to help it perform better.
Incredibly, each car had different handling, acceleration, and speed.
The graphics were incredible and the driving flows smoothly on the screen, and the gameplay was deep, providing hours worth of gaming.
1 - TI Chess
Another game that has been done countless times, but TI Chess did it exactly how it should be done.
The graphics were just adequate for the game, but the impressive feature was the difficult computer AI that made the game a challenge to play over and over again.
It was not the most original game on this list, and not even the most unique, but it was perfect at what it did, and that was to give you a Chess game that would hold your attention during those long lectures on Sines and Tangents.
Final Thoughts
You probably would love to debate the positions that the game listed occupied, or whether they even deserved a place at all. So…
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Also, all games listed above can be downloaded in the file archives at ticalc.org.
Topics: Guides |
Command and Conquer for the 89
Posted by: tehMati on October 20th, 2007 at 2:19 pmi used to have tetris on my graphing calculator. i needed something to do during math! actually, my teacher is the one who gave us the program!
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Posted by: My Ghillie » The Top 10 Calculator Games at SavvyGeek on October 20th, 2007 at 11:35 pmNo pimpquest?
Posted by: tdk on October 21st, 2007 at 2:27 pmWhat about good ‘ol chu chu rocket…anyone?
Posted by: chainsaw on October 21st, 2007 at 8:05 pmWhat about Galaxian? That game kicked ass.
Posted by: Chimpy on October 21st, 2007 at 8:22 pmWhat, no Drug Wars? :)
I remember back around ‘98 or so when I was in middle/high school Drug Wars was pretty much the coolest game anyone could have. If you had that game on your TI, *everyone* wanted to hang out and play it…
I guess it was the whole rebellion thing that made it cool, because it wasn’t the easiest game to play. I think you had 100 ‘days’ in which to make a million dollars through dealing drugs and at the end of it, it was game over. Kinda like a 15 minute game of dragon quest.
Posted by: MarcJ on October 23rd, 2007 at 12:10 amMy personal favorite was Bomberdude for the TI-89, it was a perfect port of Bomberman with great replayability.
Posted by: AlexB on October 24th, 2007 at 9:28 pmAre you kidding me?!?!? Fucking BLOCKDUDE!!!
Posted by: Manta on October 28th, 2007 at 1:56 pmI wholeheartedly agree manta, who didnt play blockdude????
Posted by: i agree manta on October 28th, 2007 at 9:02 pmYeah, but will it play Doom?
Posted by: Dalin on October 30th, 2007 at 10:44 pmActually…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H__2grmkCHA
*laugh*
Posted by: Jeffrey on October 31st, 2007 at 11:15 amwhat about pheonix? or dance dance revolution? or rush hour?
Posted by: noble 600 on April 30th, 2008 at 4:52 pm