How to play Party Mix online
Party Mix uses paddle controllers, and the emulator switches to paddle mode automatically. Two-player games use the left pair of paddles; four-player games use both pairs, as two teams.
- Turn your paddle knob: left and right arrow keys
- Paddle button: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Switch between the two games in a load: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Number of players: F9 (right difficulty switch) – A for two players, B for four
- Game difficulty: F4 (left difficulty switch), see below
- Switch between paddle and joystick mode: Alt + L
The five games
The tape held the games in three parts, called loads, because only one fitted in the Supercharger’s memory at a time. Load 1 is Bop a Buggy, load 2 holds Tug of War and Wizard’s Keep, and load 3 holds Down on the Line and Handcar.
- Bop a Buggy: a race across several screens to the finish line. Turn the knob to point your buggy and press the button to drive. Obstacles slow you down, and “boppers” throw bricks that knock buggies backwards. With four players, each team has one driver and one bopper; with two, the boppers are automatic.
- Tug of War: the knobs do nothing here. Press the button as fast as you can to pull the rope, and drag the other side over the white centre line.
- Wizard’s Keep: the knob sets how fast your wizard swings his arm, and the button throws a fireball at targets: chickens 2 points, ships 3, chalices 5 and jesters 7. Both teams share the same targets, and the first to 99 points wins. Position A on the left difficulty switch makes targets faster.
- Down on the Line: workers take packages off the left-hand conveyor belts, pass them across, and put them on the right-hand belt whose roller matches the package colour. The team that moves the most packages between 8:00 and 5:00 on the clock wins. Position A on the left difficulty switch sends more packages.
- Handcar: a railway race through the desert. Keep your driver’s arm level with the handcar’s crossbar and it speeds up; let the bar get away and it slows. First to the second crossing sign wins. Position B on the left difficulty switch makes it easier to speed up.
Tips
- Handcar: follow the bar. Don’t try to get ahead of the crossbar; let it lead and keep the arm beside it.
- Wizard’s Keep: go for jesters. One is worth more than three chickens.
- Down on the Line: check the colours. If the roller colours are hard to tell apart, the manual suggests setting the TV to black-and-white (F2).
About Starpath
Starpath began in 1981 as Arcadia Corporation and changed its name after Emerson launched a console called the Arcadia 2001. As the games market collapsed, Starpath was bought by Epyx in 1984. Dennis Caswell, who also wrote the first-person maze game Escape from the Mindmaster for the Supercharger, went on to create Impossible Mission for the Commodore 64 at Epyx.
Similar games to play next
- Warlords – the classic four-player paddle battle
- Video Olympics – Atari’s collection of paddle games for friends
- Sweat! The Decathlon Game – Starpath’s unfinished decathlon game, later reworked by Epyx as Summer Games
- Escape from the Mindmaster – Dennis Caswell’s first-person maze game for the Supercharger