''Soft Aid'' is a software compilation, released by Quicksilva in March 1985 to support the Famine Relief in Ethiopia. The software was released on

tape Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive *Athletic tape, pressure-sensitiv ...

for the ZX Spectrum and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

home computers. An audio recording of the charity single, Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid also featured on one side of the tape. The tape was unusual in that it was released to help support a charity (possibly unique in computer gaming at the time). The cover featured artwork by British artist David Rowe,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). The tape sold in the United Kingdom for £4.99.

Games included

ZX Spectrum

*'' Spellbound'' *''Starbike'' *''

Kokotoni Wilf ''Kokotoni Wilf'' is an action-adventure game released by Elite Systems in 1984 for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum home computers. The game was inspired by ''Jet Set Willy.'' Gameplay In ''Kokotoni Wilf'', Ulrich the Magician must ...

'' *''The Pyramid'' *''

Horace Goes Skiing The Horace video game series was created in the 1980s by William Tang for Beam Software. The series comprised ''Hungry Horace'', ''Horace Goes Skiing'' and ''Horace and the Spiders''. ''Hungry Horace'' and ''Horace and the Spiders'' were two o ...

'' *''

Gilligan's Gold ''Bagman'' is a platform game released in arcades by Valadon Automation in 1982. It was licensed to Stern for U.S. distribution in 1983 and to Taito in Japan the same year. In France, the game is titled ''Le Bagnard'' (English: ''The Convict''). ...

'' *'' Ant Attack'' *''3D Tank Duel'' *''Jack and the Beanstalk'' *''Sorcery''

Commodore 64

*''Gumshoe'' *''

Beamrider ''Beamrider'' is a fixed shooter written for the Intellivision by David Rolfe and published by Activision in 1983. The game was ported to the Atari 2600 (with a slightly reduced feature set), Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodor ...

'' *''

Star Trader ''Star Trader'' is a 1974 video game and an early example of the space trading genre. The game involves players moving from star to star on a map of the galaxy, buying and selling quantities of six types of merchandise in a competition to make th ...

'' *''

'' *''China Miner'' *''

'' *'' Fred'' *''Gyropod'' *''Falcon Patrol'' *'' Flak''

Reception

''Soft Aid'' topped the UK software sales charts for seventeen weeks in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, setting a record for the longest number of consecutive weeks at number one. The record was eventually broken by

Robocop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferre ...

in 1989.

References

External links

* *{{WoS game, id=0011356, name=Soft Aid 1985 video games Commodore 64 games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games Charity singles Quicksilva games