Soft Aid
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 for the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 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,[1].
The tape sold in the United Kingdom for £4.99.
Games included
ZX Spectrum
- Spellbound
- Starbike
- Kokotoni Wilf
- The Pyramid
- Horace Goes Skiing
- Gilligan's Gold
- Ant Attack
- 3D Tank Duel
- Jack and the Beanstalk
- Sorcery
Commodore 64
- Gumshoe
- Beamrider
- Star Trader
- Kokotoni Wilf
- China Miner
- Gilligan's Gold
- Fred
- Gyropod
- Falcon Patrol
- Flak
Reception
Soft Aid topped the UK software sales charts for seventeen weeks in 1985, setting a record for the longest number of consecutive weeks at number one.[2] The record was eventually broken by Robocop in 1989.[2]
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)
- "Robocop Blasts Chart Record". New Computer Express. No. 5. Future Publishing. 10 June 1989. Retrieved 20 November 2021.