Soft Aid
Soft Aid was a Charity Computer Game Software edition, released by Quicksilva in late 1985 to support the Famine Relief in Ethiopia. The software was released on tape for the ZX Spectrum computer and the Commodore 64.
On one side of the tape, as well as games, the charity single, Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid was also available if the tape was played (at this point) on an audio tape recorder.
The tape was unusual in that it was released to help support a charity (possibly unique in computer gaming at the time). To help bring home this point, the cover featured an artwork by British artist David Rowe,[1] showing a desert landscape, a bright blue sky (upon which the Soft Aid title was written in yellow scrawl, and a sub-title of Feed the world written in red), a tree (backed by distant mountains) and a person of indeterminate gender, clearly representing the starving people of Ethiopia, sitting on the desert, with their head on one hand. It also listed the games found on the tape for both games systems.
The tape sold in the United Kingdom for £4.99
Games included
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
The following Sinclair ZX Spectrum games were available on the tape:
- Spellbound
- Starbike
- Kokotoni Wilf
- The Pyramid (video game)
- Horace Goes Skiing
- Gilligan's Gold
- Ant Attack
- 3d Tank Duel
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- Sorcery
Commodore 64
The following Commodore 64 games were available:
- Gumshoe
- Beamrider
- Star Trader
- Kokotoni Wilf
- China Miner
- Gilligan's Gold
- Fred
- Gyropod
- Falcon Patrol
- Flak
References
- ↑ CRASH magazine: The Online Edition - Features - ON THE COVER - DAVID ROWE, cover artist talks about how he got started illustrating computer games (Issue No. 15 APRIL 1985)