TI-89 Games Archive
Necessary Hardware
In order to put assembly programs on your calculator, you will first need to have a TI Graph Link that connects your calculator to your computer. You can buy the Black Link from TI, which works on PC's and *nix systems for $20, or you can buy the one that works on Apples too for $55. Two places to buy these from are TI and Dimension TI. You could also make one yourself, but this is significantly more complicated.
Once you have a link, you can connect it to your calculator through a Unit to Unit link (which should come with the calculator) and then transfer programs. You can use TI's supported Graph Link software to use the Graph Link with PC's and you can use GtkTiLink in order use the Graph Link with *nix systems. After you have it set up, you can use the software to send or receive programs as well as back up your calculator's data on the computer.
Assembly Introduction
Many of the best TI-89 games and programs are assembly programs. This means that they are written in assembly and compiled into machine code. On the other hand, BASIC, the language that TI lets you write in on your calculator, is written with simpler but slower text commands. Assembly programs can run 1000's of times faster and be more compact than BASIC programs and because of this fact, fast-paced games are usually not written in BASIC. On the other hand, TI does not support assembly programs and so they can often crash and lock up the calculator. If they do crash, you can simply reset the calculator by pushing LEFT-RIGHT-SHIFT-ON, or by taking out a battery and while putting it back in hold the ) and (-) buttons. This will cause you to lose your data but will put the calculator back to normal. I recommend regularly backing up your calculator if you use assembly programs, since they will sometimes crash.
Shells
Assembly programs are much more complicated to write than BASIC programs, as they require you to write even the simplest functions by yourself. Just clearing the screen can take several lines of code. For just this reason, many TI-89 assembly programs, including a lot of the ones below, require a "shell" in order to run. Shells contains so called "lib," or "library," programs so that commonly used functions do not have to be rewritten every time that they are used. One of the more popular shells is DoorsOS, which includes all of the normal library files. The new version of DoorsOS is also relatively stable. Another up-and-coming shell is TeOS, an open source alternative. The only big problem with TeOS is that some programs that work on Doors will sometimes crash on it, as programs are more often tested with DoorsOS. The same thing goes for Universal OS, another TI-89 shell that I included as an alternate to DoorsOS but that might not be compatible with games that work with DoorsOS. I recommend using DoorsOS, but if you want to try using the others, by all means do so.
Programs
Note: In order to run these programs you should use a shell such as DoorsOS, TeOS, or Universal OS (Although a few of these programs are "nostub," meaning that they do not require them; consult the corresponding readme's for more information on this). Also note that not all of them work correctly on Hardware (HW) 2 calculators and Advanced Mathematics Software (AMS) 1.05 or 2.0x calculators. To see what type of calculator you have, you can push F1 : A. If your calculator is version 1.00 it will not say what type of hardware it is. The reason that not all programs will work with this newer software is that TI changed much of the internal calculator software, causing many programs and routines to no longer work.
Warning: This is mentioned below, but I want to emphasize the following due to its extreme importance. If you choose to use HW2Patch, MaxMem, or TIBReceiver, you are altering the FlashROM on your calculator. These programs can add a lot to your calculator, but any errors on them could be fatal to your calculator. For these reason, use them with extreme caution. Also note that by using them, you agree that neither I nor the respective authors of these programs are responsible for any damage that may come to you or your calculator from the direct or indirect usage of these programs. They are provided "as is" with no warranty, implied or expressed.
Click here to download all of these great programs in a single zip file. An included readme contains the same descriptions that are written below.
- BoulderDash: In this great game, by Jimmy Mardell, you must search for diamonds while keeping rocks from falling on you.
- BigDyna: This is another great game but is extremely difficult to get far on. In it, you must move around the screen, dropping bombs and avoiding creatures.
- Columns: This is a version of Sega's classic columns game. It does, however, get very repetitive, and it is also very easy. Might not work well on HW 2 calculators.
- Diamonds: This is a great Arkanoid game in which you move a bouncing ball left and right in order to break blocks. You can only clear one type of block at a time and special blocks in the screen change the type of block that you can clear.
- Dr. Mario: This is a version of Nintendo's Dr. Mario game in which you must rotate pills in order to get 4 or more in a row and clear them. Gets a little repetitive and might crash on HW 2 calculators.
- DStar: This is a good puzzle game in which you move an object around the screen in order to clear the blocks. Your movement is restricted, making the task more complicated.
- Duck Hunt: This is a version of Nintendo's classic Duck Hunt game. In it, you must move around the pointer and try to shoot moving ducks. Get out that aggression now so that you don't have to kill any real ducks!
- Falldown: In this addictive game you move a falling ball left and right so that it is not trapped at the top of the screen. There are openings through which you may go.
- Fractal Explorer: This program allows you to view the Mandelbrot and Julia fractal sets as well as zoom in on them. Fractals are complex and recursive mathematical images that are really neat to view. Might crash on HW 2 calculators.
- HW2Patch: A program that modifies your FlashROM in order to fix problems that arise when running assembly programs (like these games) on Hardware 2 calculators running AMS 2.01 through AMS 2.05. I suggest using it in tandem with TIB Receiver in order to reduce risks associated with modifying the FlashROM. **WARNING** Bugs in this program may be fatal for your calculator when running it on your calculator. Use at your own risk.
- Jezzball: Jezzball: Simply put, Jezzball rules! In it, you move the cursor around and drop lines in order to trap balls. Every subsequent level has one additional ball and it gets harder and harder to trap them all.
- MaxMem: A program that fixes a bug in Hardware 1 calculators with AMS 2.01 or higher. I suggest using it in tandem with TIB Receiver in order to reduce risks associated with modifying the FlashROM. **WARNING** Bugs in this program may be fatal for your calculator when running it on your calculator. Use at your own risk.
- Nibbles: Nibbles: Nibbles is a classic worm game in which you move around a worm to collect dots. Each dot that you collect causes you to grow, and you must avoid hitting yourself, and so this game becomes more complicated to control with each dot that you collect. Each individual level gets more difficult to navigate around, in terms of which pixels you may move inside of.
- PacMan: This is a great version of the classic PacMan game. In it, you move a little smiley face around the screen through a maze and pick up small dots while you're at it. You must pick up all of the dots in order to pass through each level, but beware: ghosts will move around the maze, trying to catch you.
- Pang: This is another cool game but can get boring after a little while. In it, you must break up bouncing balls into little balls and then clear the little balls from the screen. The more you break up, the faster they will come.
- Periodic Table: This program is a complete periodic table. It has a lot of information about every element and is used in a nice, graphical manner.
- Phoenix: This is a classic shoot-em-up game that every person with a TI-89 must have. In it, you control a spaceship and shoot aliens. After shooting them, you will sometimes find money with which you can buy better ships and weapons. Contains several levels of difficulty so that you will never find it too easy or hard.
- Pipeline: In this game you must put pipes in place in order to contain water that starts to flow. It is fun for a little while but can get repetative, as the progressive levels do not get much more difficult.
- Queue: This is a Tetris-like game which is nearly as addictive. The pieces and controls are like those of Tetris, except that after every line that you clear, the pieces above it can fall, allowing you to get 10 lines at once. It also has a tetris mode, but this is not quite as good as the stand-alone version of tetris, written by Jimmy Mardell.
- Sokoban: In this game you must push boxes onto dots without trapping them in place. Can be challenging but after a certain level may seem impossible, as you must solve each level before advancing.
- Solitaire: This is a good implementation of that classic one-player card game that we all know of as solitaire. It boasts good looking, grayscale graphics and many statistics about your play.
- SPong: This is currently the best TI-89 version of Pong, a game in which you must move a paddle up and down in order to hit a ball back and forth. It has a challeging computer opponent except the ball always bounces in the same directions. At a mere 4k, however, it is worth the calculator space.
- Super Mario Quest: This is the best port of Mario that there is on the TI-89. It is of the original Nintendo Mario and you can adjust the speed of play. Takes up a lot of memory and can sometimes crash but is worth it if you really like playing Mario (or if you just want to brag to all your friends about how you have Mario on your calculator!).
- Tanks: This is a difficult version of Tanks, the game in which you take turns trying to shoot an opponent with a tank, taking into account wind speed and choosing an angle and force with which to shoot. Contains one and two player modes.
- Tetris: Tetris is one of the best games ever created. In it you must rotate and drop pieces in order to create lines. This is a must-have puzzle game. Pieces may move slower on HW 2 calculators.
- TIBReceiver: This program allows you to send any ROM version to your calculator and for the purposes of patching a FlashROM version with HW2Patch or MaxMem is safer than sending patching it right on your calculator. although it is risky nontheless. **WARNING** Bugs in this program may be fatal for your calculator when running it on your calculator. Use at your own risk.
- TI-Chess: This version of TI-Chess four levels of AI for one-player play and also allows two-player play. It was one of the first good programs for the TI-89 written in C using the TI-GCC compiler.
- TI-Miner: This version of Minesweeper for the TI-89 has great graphics and gameplay. For all practical purposes, it looks just like Minesweeper for Windows, and it has made a nice transition to this platform. In this puzzle game, there is a grid with several mines and you must locate all of them, using information from non-mine squares that indicate how many mines are located in the surrounding eight squares for each.
- Tunnel: In Tunnel, you move a pointer left and right in order to follow the tunnel. Can go a little fast at times but is a good game and a very nice implementation of Tunnel.
- TurboBreakout68k: This is a great implementation of Breakout. In it, you are a paddle at the bottom of the screen, and you move left and right, hitting a ball up in order to break blocks. This version contains many special items that constantly keep the gameplay interesting.
- Yoshi: This is a puzzle game in which you can rotate and drop pieces in order to make vertical pairs. Can get repetative or too easy after a while but is worth a try.
