# Computer Games, Old school style

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-old-school-style/640848>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [November 13, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-old-school-style/640848 "2012-11-13T00:39:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-old-school-style/640848/61 "2012-11-25T04:08:09Z")

</div>

On the arcade consoles, I loved _Joust_, but I think _Major Havoc_ was one of the best games I ever played.

When I first started working, back in the 1980s, I had an old CP/M machine and I played some sort of “Adventure” style game, similar to _Zork_. I was looking at the credits one day and realized I worked with one of the designers of the “Adventure” game (whatever it was called). _Zork_ was a blast, too.

I used to play _LARP_ on Unix computers, and at one time, was trying to port it to the IBM-PC.

On the IBM-PC, though, _Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards_ was flipping hilarious for its cheesy play and graphics. I also loved _Leather Goddesses of Phobos_.

Then, in the 1990s, I played _The Incredible Machine_ at lunchtime at work. It was awesome!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [December 4, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-old-school-style/640848/62 "2012-12-04T21:09:50Z")

</div>

> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#):
>
> The other problem I can think of (well, besides the fact that they never made a sequel) is…
> 
> Early in the game, you need to have your toothbrush with you when Earth is destroyed - otherwise, near the end of the game, Marvin will ask you for a toothbrush to fix something (actually, Marvin could ask you for one of something like a dozen items, and you needed to discover the way to see into the future to see what Marvin would do, but “the version I remember was,” if you didn’t have your toothbrush with you, he would always ask for that), but it doesn’t exist any more, so you can’t possibly win the game, and yet you are never told about this, so you might spend hours going over every possible detail, not realizing that the one thing you need no longer exists.

I read somewhere that this was fixed in later editions via the time travel mechanic of the Heart of Gold. But I don’t remember it ever taking you back that far.

The big thing I missed was the cheese sandwich and giving it to the dog. Fortunately, I figured this out when I pulled up a walkthrough to help me get that stupid Babelfish.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-old-school-style/640848.md?page=3)