COLLECTORS CORNER #2

PSS software - New revised edition

Another delve into little differences in the way Oric software was released. We’ve seen that it was the release of the Atmos that prompted software houses to repackage their material. The first thing that some did was to check if it worked with the Atmos and if it was OK then they just stuck a sticker on the outside of the cassette box saying “Atmos compatible”.
Amongst the firms that did this were Personal Software Services, or PSS to you and me. You’ll notice that the box still says “for ORIC-1” and indeed it still works on the old ROM version. In fact this particular title has anOric-1 version for 16K or 48K on one side and the new “Oric V1.1 ROM & Atmos” version on the side shown.
And there it is on the right with a stunning red label. This seems to be in line with the Atmos colour scheme. The other side contains the original Oric-1 version which needed updating for the Atmos. But wait a minute, the old Oric-1 cassettes wouldn’t have the Atmos colour scheme, would they ? Indeed not. Well not quite. In fact the previous labels were a reverse image of the red one. i.e. they were black with red text upon them. It is an easy way to see if you have an early cassette or a later one. What I’m not sure about is if these changes came about all at the same time, or if they were gradually fazed in. Later PSS titles would have a yellow stripe around the bottom featuring the ‘for Oric Atmos’ slogan. (See M.A.R.C) I have yet to establish if any of those came with the old style blue label box. I very much doubt it.
Here then is the original Light Cycle cassette. You may notice it has the same code number (018) and the same copyright date so you can’t rely on that to tell if you have an early version. You need a bit more detective work. With this one you can tell the Atmos version easily - because it says it on the label. Sometimes things aren’t so simple and you can get easily fooled. I’ve had one or two that must have been in the wrong box !!!
I think that all PSS titles eventually had the red label. The later ones would never have had the black label, so it makes for an interesting addition to the collection getting the various versions gathered. As ever, if you know any other details please let me know. I never noticed any differences until recently ! Anyone that is interested in buying, selling or swapping cassettes get in touch with me, or Jim Groom who is also interested in collecting originals.

 

 

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