PSI-5 Trading Company

The 1985 courier game, in a browser. First the original voyage, with new graphics. Then the same bridge, with more than one player.

The game

PSI-5 Trading Company is an Accolade game from 1985. You take a contract, hire a crew of oddballs, and fly a dangerous route while the officers report in, each in their own voice. Aymu Skump still says “Ve iz startink evasive manuvrink.” Boris Tarkov is still Boris. Grolo is still a bear, Yeela still works the console with her appendage, and Swiglitz still has snakes for hair.

This is that game, played in the browser. The same contracts, the same orders, the same crew dossiers, and the voyage music from the original. The console keeps its shape: the view forward, the officer at their station, the order line, and the status page.

First, the exact game

The first version is the original, recreated as closely as the disk allows, with the pictures brought up to date. On a quiet watch the officer blinks and works the controls. When too many hostile ships are on the board, that same officer panics. A poor stress rating panics at three hostiles. An expert holds until nine.

The left frame in each pair is the Commodore station sprite. The right frame is the same officer in the remake.

Commodore 64 sprite of Grolo, a small bear at a weapons console — Grolo, Scollian weapons. Still a bear.

Grolo redrawn as a serious teddy bear in a duty uniform — Grolo, Scollian weapons. Still a bear.

Commodore 64 sprite of Yeela, a purple mound with a green trunk — Yeela, Glork weapons. She works the console with the appendage, not a pair of hands.

Yeela redrawn as a purple furred creature with a green appendage — Yeela, Glork weapons. She works the console with the appendage, not a pair of hands.

Commodore 64 sprite of Swiglitz, a yellow alien with snake-like hair — Swiglitz, Altros repair. The snake hair stays.

Swiglitz redrawn with scaled snake hair and a green uniform — Swiglitz, Altros repair. The snake hair stays.

Calm, then panic

Both clips are Swiglitz at the same repair bench. The camera does not move. Calm is a blink and small work at the controls. Panic is the same action, a little larger, once the board is crowded with hostile ships.

Calm duty.

Panic, after his stress threshold.

A few of the others

Jaru Lagon, a blue-skinned navigator with red hair — Jaru Lagon

KLG-7A, a robot with eyes on stalks — KLG-7A

Then, multiplayer

When the single-player game is the original, the next version is the same ship with more than one person aboard. Players pass orders across the bridge instead of one captain holding the keyboard. The crew, the jokes, and the voyage stay.