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Old School Games You Should Be Plugging Into

Written by John Teehan

My first computer was a TRS-80 sometime in 1983.

I became an instant computer nerd. Later than some, way earlier than most. And while I spent a lot of time teaching myself basic programming and (a couple of years later) going on-line, I also played a lot of games.

A lot of games.

Like most nerds, I was socially maladroit. Eventually, once I hit college in 1985, I made a lot of friends, did a decent amount of partying, and became somewhat socially acceptable. But through all of this, I was still into computer games. The late 80s was a great time for this. While computers were horrendously primitive compared to what we have today, acceptable graphics were coming on the scene, midi sound, and truly immersive play.

I still think about many of those games today. And I also give thanks that one of the characteristics of the modern age is that nothing ever really disappears forever anymore. There’s always a way to find something online.

In this case, a few months ago, I started noodling around archive.org when I read how there was a large cache of 80s and 90s computer games sitting there–and that there was a built-in DOS emulator so I could play these games online with my “modern” computer and not regret shedding my collection of classic computers a dozen years ago.

I’ve gone through a list of some of my all-time favorite games from that era, and found working, playable versions at archive.org and would like to share them with you today.

I don’t have the kind of time I used to for computer games, but I was more than happy to make some time for these.

You will, too.

Sid Meier’s Pirates! 
Microprose, 1987

Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of whatever’s in the fridge!

Pirates! is easily one of the best and most popular games ever made. Since my original copy purchased in 1988 to run on my monochrome CGA monitored IBM 8086 (that’s a 16-bit processer, kids!) I have owned versions made for the Mac, NES, Windows, PlayStation, PSP, and iPad. There were and are also versions for the Commodore 64, Sega Genesis, Apple II, Xbox, Wii, and even Blackberry. It’s probably one of the most ported computer games in history.

Why?

It’s a nice, fun game. In Pirates!, you play a young sea dog out for adventure. There are elements of trading games as you buy and sell cargo across the Caribbean, combat as you fight off pirates, hunt down pirates, or turn pirate yourself and go after government ships and innocent merchants. You can earn letters of marque under the flags of the British, French, Dutch, or Spanish and thereby achieve nobility, useful marriages, and hints to where your enslaved family is being held, and… of course… buried treasure. You can attack ships, towns, ports, and cities. There’s one-on-one dueling with pirates, and always the risk of mutiny. Your adventures span decades as you go from green upstart to elder seasons admiral of the seas. It’s a game where wealthy retirement is an option–should you be so lucky.

That’s a lot of game. And it’s amazing how much story and adventure they could cram into such a tiny computer. As I mentioned, it’s been remade a bunch of times, and the most recent versions are slick looking with great sounds and visuals and all that, but nothing quite beats the primitive first edition I played back in the day. It was a game to inspire, and part of what it inspired with me and my roommate was to dress and talk like pirates while playing. We even had little plastic swords we’d wave around as we spied fat, slow Spanish merchantmen heavy with gold on the horizon.

Avast and aaaaarrr!

And you can play it too–you can even choose the 16-color rendition if you want. It’s okay. But it’s not the same as 4-color. Check it out at https://archive.org/details/msdos_Sid_Meiers_Pirates_1987

Oh, and you’ll need the manual to get around the primitive copy protection. You’ll be asked a pirate-lore question at the start of each new character. To find the answer, you need to consult a page from the manual. You can find that at https://archive.org/details/Pirates-Manual

Space Rogue 
Origin Systems, 1989

While Pirates! may have been ported out a bunch of times, Space Rogue pretty much never left the era of 16-bit computing. Just the same, it was a game that launched other games that went on to be huge hits. From Space Rogue, Origins developed Wing Commander and their dozen sequels (and forgettable movie).

From Wing Commander, Electronic Arts (after purchasing Origins) eventually came out with Mass Effect. I may not be able to draw a direct line between the awesomeness of 2008’s Mass Effect and the awesomeness of 1989’s Space Rogue, there is some definite influence. So I say.

Space Rogue is a combination roleplaying science fiction game and space combat. You play the captain of a small vessel who embarks on a journey to solve the threat of the alien Manchi while also dealing with space pirates, bounty hunters, and other dangers. You upgrade your ship by engaging in playing merchant, smuggler, pirate, or even bounty hunter. You have a main quest involving princesses and aliens, and various side quests which eventually lead you to the Manchi home world and the final showdown. There is a lot of similarity between this game and Microsoft’s Freelancer (which I also love).

When I played Space Rogue, it was on a monochrome Mac Plus. It’s kind of neat to see it available in glorious 16-color EGA. It’s a fun and engaging game and highly recommended. It requires some decent hand-eye coordination as you battle other ships, and especially as you navigate the wormholes that connect you to different parts of the galaxy. The space combat graphics are pretty straightforward FPS style. The roleplaying portions or more of a top-down walk through space stations, research stations, and the like.

Fun stuff, with some excellent storytelling and intrigue.

https://archive.org/details/msdos_Space_Rogue_1989

The Dark Heart of Uukrul 
Broderbund, 1989

This was a much underappreciated game, which is a shame as it was probably one of the best fantasy RPG dungeon crawls to come out of the late 80s. The writing was top notch, the character development felt real, and the puzzles and challenges were not for the faint of heart. It was a pretty much a perfect RPG simulation for the time.

It suffered, most likely, because Broderbund was known more for educational games and cheap desktop publishing software, so it may have been a little guilty by association–at least by those who forgot about some of the other great games they put out such as Lode Runner, Myst, and Prince of Persia.

Also, the game had no music or sound.

The game itself, though, succeeded as a reliable Dungeons & Dragons sort of experience with leveling, healing temples, a marketplace, monsters, wizards, turn-based combat, stats, etc. It ran smoothly and it was hours and hours of immersive cavern-crawling.

If fantasy games are more your speed and you’ve not played this, you’re really missing out on a classic experience.

Really… this game rules.

https://archive.org/details/msdos_The_Dark_Heart_of_Uukrul_1989

Curse of the Azure Bonds 
Strategic Simulations, Inc., 1989

As for simulations of the Dungeons & Dragons gaming experience goes, Curse of the Azure Bonds stands at the very top. It’s the second game of a four-part series with some notable and necessary improvements from the first game of the series (Pools of Radiance) and the strongest storytelling of all four. Like many dungeon crawlers of the time, the screen is split between a first-person perspective, character list, and story area until combat comes around, in which case it’s an angled top-down.

Character creation and development is straight out of the AD&D rulebook, as are spells, monsters, skills, equipment, and gameplay. There is a large charm to playing by the old rule set, when THAC0 was a thing and the lower the number, the better your armor class.

Nostalgia aside, the game was well-crafted in its own right with a strong story and clear path for adventure with a decent number of side dungeons and wandering monsters to contend with. If I had any criticism, is that computers can sometimes be truly heartless dungeon masters. They don’t fudge roles to keep characters alive when things go bad just to make sure everyone is still having fun.

 And everyone gets a turn in combat. Everyone. E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E–even the monsters.

This can lead to looooong combat sequences where it’s your party against, say, 32 orcs and every single one of those fuckers gets turn. Sometimes that turn is just “waiting” or “guarding”, but a lot of times it’s shooting an arrow at your head because…everyone gets a turn. Heh. Okay, I sound bitter. I shouldn’t. It’s only fair. But really? 32 orcs at once? And those were just the guards. There was also a wizard flinging lightning bolts.

But fair’s fair. Even the spell system is right out of the rulebooks as far as things like area effect are concerned. This can work for you if you manage to catch those 32 freaking orcs in an enclosed space and you have a fireball spell handy. Of course you have to wait for each one to fail their saving throw, take damage, and die, but it’s satisfying. And it’s neat when you manage to bounce a lightning spell off a wall and hit an evil wizard from behind.

Sweet.

I’ve played other games that seek to mimic the AD&D experience, but this is probably the most true. Yes, you have to use your imagination, somewhat, in the face of 1989 16-color graphics, but you’d be using your imagination even more when just sitting around a table chewing on dice and lead miniatures.

You, too, can experience all this yourself at:

archive.org/details/msdos_Curse_of_the_Azure_Bonds_1989

Those are just four games of many I enjoyed that can be found at archive.org.

Look for Lightspeed, MegaTraveller, Bard’s Tale, Ultima, Myst, Wing Commander, Doom, and many others. Yeah, new games are great with their amazing graphics and sound, but you can’t deny the charm of old school computer gaming.

Give it a shot. If you’re open and imaginative, you may surprise yourself with how much these old games are. If you’re an old phart like me, well… choo! choo! Next stop Nostalgia Town. Grab a can of Jolt cola and get gaming.

Cheers!

–John

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