Wow, that brings back memories. I had dig dug, congo bongo, and popeye. Cartridge games loaded fast. never used the tape deck, but it could do some basic programming... in basic! Good on ya :-D
I started out with the 800 and a tape drive. One game. I don't remember what it was exactly, but it was terrible. Did you ever type in all the code for a game out of compute! Magazine?
When I had a Playstation One, I bought a mod chip online for $50 that allowed me to play games that I "Burned" myself...I would go rent a game at Blockbuster and burn a copy of it...and the mod chip made it work...