Amstrad Sinclair Ocio + Megaocio (Spain, 1989-1992)

New entry and the first profile of one of so many magazines dedicated to our 'oldies goldies' home computer machines. To start, I'll begin my blogging journey with a Spanish magazine that was launched in late 80s. So, here we go...

 

"Amstrad Sinclair Ocio" (ASO, for brief) magazine was the subsequent sequel to Spanish "Amstrad User" magazine, dedicated exclusively to the world of Amstrad. Once Amstrad acquired Sinclair in 1986, this magazine started its commercial life few years later. dedicated to both computer systems (Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum). Indescomp S.A. was the main editorial, being at the same time the official distributor of Amstrad and Sinclair products in Spain.

From issue 15 on, ASO changed its name to Mega Ocio, but continued the numbering of the previous magazine, covering all 16-bit systems, as computers as consoles. The last issue was published in April of 1992. 

In most of ASO and Megaocio issues, main cover has been always a complete artwork designed by illustrator Miguel Alcón (1964 - 2022). From issue 21 onwards, concept compositions using photographs, linear drawings, logos and screenshots were used as covers.

"The magazine was published monthly. In its early days, the publisher focused on the Amstrad CPC home computer, highlighting its listings in Basic for readers to type on their computers. Most of the listings were for 8-bit computers, making it a magazine for advanced, but not professional, users.

 

It also highlights the "Big Chipo History" section, coordinated by Andrés Samudio, one of the pioneers of conversational adventures in Spain, creator of the famous conversational adventure game "Cozumel." This section provided clues and solutions to various games of the time, thus responding to its readers' needs. 

 

Over the years, the CPC's theme was abandoned to focus on consoles and the Commodore Amiga computer. Some photos in its articles, which reached half a page, were taken directly from the computer monitors of the time, highlighting their "scanlines." This computer entertainment magazine was characterized by not only being dedicated to video games, but also, as previously mentioned, to listings in Basic, many of them compiled by the magazine's own readers, including hardware, solutions, products, etc.

 

It was a magazine whose publications were based on current events, the current market, events, new products, seminars and conferences, analysis of any problems its readers might encounter, word processors, music programs, design, drawings, educational topics, peripheral analysis, etc. Its hardware and game reviews were ultimately based on 16-bit computers. The magazine ended with a flea market and a consulting service on its back pages." (translated from Amstrad ESP)

 

PROGRAMS: As mentioned before, type-ins were published in most of ASO and Megaocio issues, until nº 32, for both type of most popular 8-bit computers of their time, as for Amstrad CPC users as for Sinclair ZX Spectrum ones. Some of them with long machine code routines to type in patiently, employing the proper m/c loader in every case. Games and tools for every reader and enjoy with. 

 

However, pokes + cheat loaders appeared in every ASO issue to make easier your gaming experiences aren't included in this list, except if someone feels interested on them.

 

Finally, some of the following type-ins were preserved and available for free from these sources. Just copy and paste full address in a new tab of your favorite net browser:

Amstrad CPC - https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=database&lemot=Amstrad%20Sinclair%20Ocio&r3=1&r4=1

 

also, https://www.cpc-power.com/index.php?page=database&lemot=MegaOcio&r3=1&r4=1
 

ZX Spectrum - https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?mag_id=19
 

COMPLETE LIST:

1  Borrador de pantalla  Amstrad CPC    ?                       47
   Mozart                Amstrad CPC    Francisco M. Fernández  47

2  Música por interrupc. Amstrad CPC    Luis Jorge García       46-47
   Cuadrator             Amstrad CPC    ?                       48
   Mini Juego            Amstrad CPC    ?                       48
   Hard-Copy             Amstrad CPC    ?                       49
   San Valentín          Amstrad CPC    ?                       49
   Letras Dobles         ZX Spectrum    Carlos D. Pérez         50-51
                                         y Max.
   Marcófono             Amstrad CPC    Hard-Soft               56-59

3  Compresor pantallas   Amstrad CPC    Luis Jorge García       21
   Agenda telefónica     Amstrad CPC    Manuel Ballestero       50-51
   Animator              Amstrad CPC    Luis Jorge García       52-53
   Traductor de memoria  Amstrad CPC    José Pujal              58-59
                                         y Ramón Linares.

4  Discover              Amstrad CPC    Manuel Ballestero       42-45
   Letras multicolor     Amstrad CPC    ?                       46
   Criba de Eratóstenes  Amstrad CPC    Luis Jorge García       46
   Curvas de Dragón II   Amstrad CPC    ?                       46
   Asteroides *          Amstrad CPC    Honorio García          47

* Probably, Asteroides (also called Space Storm) type-in was copied from British magazine Amstrad Computer User #54 (May 1989), developed as Space Storm I by David Hall.

5  Sprites BASIC         Amstrad CPC    Manuel Ballestero       28-29
   Counter               ZX Spectrum    Carlos Doral Pérez      30-31
                                         y Max.
   Impresión de gráficos ZX Spectrum    Carlos Doral Pérez      58-59

6  Chequeo de Joysticks  Amstrad CPC    Amstrad Ocio            15
   Traductor de Memoria  Amstrad CPC    Amstrad Ocio            29
   Mongui                Amstrad CPC    Óscar Valladares        35-40
   Bonoloto              ZX Spectrum    José Glez. Villareal    43-46
   Bingo                 Amstrad PCW    José Luis Frases        47-50

7  Sopa de Letras        Amstrad CPC    Jaime Oliva             26-28
   Recover +3            Spectrum +3    Amstrad Sinclair Ocio   47

8  Inteligencia art.     Amstrad CPC    Sergio Ríos Aguilar     42-44

9  No listings at all, except poke-loaders

10 Impresión en pantalla Amstrad CPC    Luis Jorge García       28-29
   Volcado de pantallas  Amstrad CPC    A.S.O.                  49

11 Rutina FILL           ZX Spectrum    A.S.O.                  8-9
   Paisajes fractales    Amstrad CPC    A.S.O.                  50-51
   Protector ficheros    Amstrad CPC    A.S.O.                  52

12 Lector cabeceras      Amstrad CPC    Ricardo Palomares       24-25
   Editor Caracteres     ZX Spectrum    José G. Villareal       30-32

13 Lectura de teclas     Amstrad CPC    Gamesoft                13-15
   Micro-Agenda de Luxe  Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  25-29
   Editor de Sprites     ZX Spectrum    A.S.O.                  30-32

14 Database Plus         Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  24-27
   Efectos "FX"          ZX Spectrum    A.S.O.                  30-31

 

As Megaocio:

15 Contabilidad          Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  42-44
   Turbo CPC-Word        Amstrad CPC    BMF-Soft                68-71
   Dagoba                Amstrad CPC    Jorge Pérez Barreiro    72-75
   Cuatro en Raya        PC MS-DOS      César Valencia Perello  76-77
   Cavern                ZX Spectrum    ?                       78
   NIM                   CBM Amiga      J. G. Villarreal        79-81

16 Digitalizador         Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  58-60

17 Micro-Tenis           Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  72-73
   Base de Datos         Amstrad CPC    Enrique Sánchez         100-103
   Parchíse              Amstrad PCW    Alfredo Comas           104-107
   Ahorcado 2000         Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  108-109
   Miliman               ZX Spectrum    ?                       110
   IFF20BJ               CBM Amiga      Juan José Valverde      111-113

18 Perseguir y disparar  Amstrad CPC    Pedro Muñoz Samarriba   64
   Túnel Multicolor      Amstrad CPC    Juan Manuel Gutiérrez   64
   Orden Alfabético      Amstrad CPC    Juan Antonio García     65
   Bota, bota...         Amstrad CPC    José Manuel Robledo     65
   Urgg!                 Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  68-71

19 Squash                Amstrad CPC    Juan Antonio García     72
   Puzzle                Amstrad CPC    Juan José V.            72
   Fire                  Amstrad CPC    José González           72
   CPC-DOS               Amstrad CPC    José Manuel Rodríguez   73
   Lámpara               Amstrad CPC    Tomás López             73
   Tenis y Frontón       Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  74
   Parchís               Amstrad CPC    Javier Macías           75-78
   Paranoid              Amstrad PCW    Jorge Pérez Barreiro    79-81
   Buscador de POKEs     ZX Spectrum    A.S.O.                  82

20 Ficheros              Amstrad CPC    José Luengo             68
   Space Pang            Amstrad CPC    Francisco J. Olivares   68
   Conversor             Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  68
   La Gran Ciudad        Amstrad CPC    Víctor Pachecho         69
   Música Maestro        Amstrad CPC    David Molina            69
   Graph-X               Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  70-73

21 Acid                  Amstrad CPC    Julio Ramos             82
   Juegos de letras      Amstrad CPC    Jordi Cebria            82
   Cumpleaños Feliz      Amstrad CPC    César Valencia          83
   Metralla              Amstrad CPC    ?                       83
   Borrador              Amstrad CPC    ?                       83
   Composer              Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  90-93
   Invaders 3D           PC MS-DOS      César Valencia Perello  94-95
   El Faraón             ZX Spectrum    ?                       96-97

22 Volcado de memoria    Amstrad CPC    John Badley - C.V.P.    70
   Bolasbotan            Amstrad CPC    ?                       70
   Bola mágica           Amstrad CPC    ?                       71
   Borrado 1             Amstrad CPC    C. V. P.                71
   Interminable          Amstrad CPC    ?                       71
   El Golpe              Amstrad CPC    Juan M. Ronda Camús     72-74

23 Push-Pop              Amstrad CPC    ?                       60
   Mega-Texto            Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  60
   Mega-Flop             Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  61
   Cargador discos       Amstrad CPC    C. V. P.                61
   Tirachinas            Amstrad CPC    C. V. P.                61
   Meganoid (+ Editor)   Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  62-64
   Super-Symon           PC MS-DOS      César Valencia Perello  65
   Thron                 Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  66-67
   Batalla               ZX Spectrum    ?                       68-69

24 Trapper               Amstrad CPC    ?                       68
   Magic                 Amstrad CPC    ?                       68
   CLS Multicolor        Amstrad CPC    ?                       68
   Multi-Prog            Amstrad CPC    A.S.O.                  69
   Música                Amstrad CPC    A.S.O.                  70-71
   Ruleta numérica       Amstrad CPC    A.S.O.                  71

25 Aterriza como puedas  Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                68
   Música                Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                68
   Números romanos       Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Tablas de multiplicar Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Cursor                Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Pirámide              Amstrad CPC    ?                       70-71

26 Snake                 Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                68
   Palabras              Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Reflejos              Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Hockey Espacial       Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                70-71

27 Presentaciones        Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                68
   Efectos de pantalla   Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                68
   Bosque                Amstrad CPC    Simon Watson / Megaocio 68
   Mensajes con scroll   Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Intereses             Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Árboles               Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                70-71

28 Tetron                Amstrad CPC    César Valencia Perello  90-95

29 Cuatro en raya        Amstrad CPC    Steve Bennett           68
   Guerras de números    Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69
   Morse                 Amstrad CPC    Megaocio                69

30 Disk Doctor           Amstrad CPC    Zak Hirt                70-71

31 Conversor Amiga-PC    CBM Amiga      Ricardo Palomares       67-69
 

From issue 32 to last 36, no more listings were published.

 

Hope you find this info quite interesting for any documentation you need. I observed some short CPC programs appeared between issues 15 to 23 were taken or copied from another Amstrad magazines back in time. You may find them at CPC Power web archive and their relationship with their respective original listings.