# Computer/Video Games Most People Don't Remember **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [March 8, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594 "2024-03-08T03:41:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/41 "2024-03-09T03:18:19Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > It’s _ **Secret** of Monkey Island_… The third game in the series was _Curse of Monkey Island._ ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/42 "2024-03-09T03:40:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > [Killing Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Time_(video_game)): A very atmospheric FPS set in a haunted 1920s estate. I never played that one, but it reminds me of Clive Barker’s _Undying._ It was an FPS released back in 2001. It was set during the 1920s and you were armed with a conventional weapon and had access to some spells. I thought it was a pretty good game but apparently sales were abysmal. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/43 "2024-03-09T04:21:37Z")
I loved the -hell- out of Mail Order Monsters, but didn’t have my own copy. Instead, my friend with a C64 let me have a save on his computer and we occasionally tried to see which of our critters was better balanced. And now I’m sad. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/44 "2024-03-09T04:45:39Z")
Also Scorched Earth: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Xt3SwPBIGUg/hqdefault.jpg "Scorched Earth: The Mother of all Games") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt3SwPBIGUg) Excellent artillery game (not even sure why that genre is worms-style but Worms came later I think) We had a 286 in our secondary school, for some reason, that was co-opted to play this for a full term before the powers that be found out ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/45 "2024-03-09T04:47:56Z")
You had to be very careful with Scorched Earth - it was the first game I pissed off my friends about by cheesing my way to victory. Because if you played with the interest option it was a winning strategy to buy NOTHING early on, and even if you lost every battle, a few rounds later your wealth was enough to outbuy everyone else on gear and crush them with wads of cash. After I demonstrated that a few times, that option was turned off for all future play. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/46 "2024-03-09T04:51:31Z")
GORILLA.BAS was a poor alternative to Scorched Earth (surprisingly, both coming out in 1991), but it _was_ included on every DOS computer, so it had that going for it. No getting in trouble for installing stuff on school computers. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/47 "2024-03-09T04:55:27Z")
My PC wasn’t enough to play Scorched Earth, I had a similar tank battle game, but it didn’t have the interest or some of the more destructive weapons. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/48 "2024-03-09T04:56:32Z")
I don’t think I ever played Scorched Earth but I have played many like it (you mentioned Worms which is fantastic). ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/49 "2024-03-09T05:22:14Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Because if you played with the interest option it was a winning strategy to buy NOTHING early on, and even if you lost every battle, a few rounds later your wealth was enough to outbuy everyone else on gear and crush them with wads of cash I had not thought about this in decades but yeah I seem to remember the same issue playing on that misused school 286 (hell it could have been the thing that led to someone grassing on us to the teachers 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/50 "2024-03-09T05:34:05Z")
Sabotage was the helicopter game. It was surprisingly good for such a simple concept. > **[Sabotage (video game)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage_(video_game))** > > Sabotage is a fixed shooter video game for the Apple II series of computers, written by Mark Allen and published by On-Line Systems in 1981. > The player controls a gun turret at the bottom of the screen by either keyboard, paddle control, or a single axis of a joystick. The turret can swivel to cover a large area of the screen, but cannot move from its base. Helicopters fly across the screen at varying heights, progressively lower over time, dropping paratroopers. Waves consist of helicopters c... ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/51 "2024-03-09T05:41:07Z")
Does anyone here remember Lunar Lander? It was an arcade game back in the early 80s but you can play it online now: [http://moonlander.seb.ly/](http://moonlander.seb.ly/) ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/52 "2024-03-09T05:42:15Z")
Deathlord > **[Deathlord](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deathlord)** > > Deathlord is a role-playing video game created by Al Escudero and David Wong. It was published by Electronic Arts for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1987. Deathlord is set in a fantasy world resembling Japan. The game has a world of 16 continents, 128 unique monsters, and 20 dungeons, yet fits on two double-density 5¼" floppy disks. > The world of Lorn is under attack from the Deathlord's forces. The Emperor of Kodan has sent word asking for a party to defeat the Deathlord. The party must searc... It was pretty much an Ultima IV clone, which was fine by me. It was a lot harder, though, and I never finished it. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/53 "2024-03-09T05:43:45Z")
Here was another game I played, but was terrible at turning left with my crappy mouse. > **[Apache Strike](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_Strike)** > > Apache Strike is a 3D helicopter game first released for the Macintosh in 1987. > Its objective is flying an Apache helicopter through a rudimentary hidden line-rendered cityscape in order to destroy the enemy's strategic defense computer. Enemy helicopters and tanks are encountered and must be shot down along the way. The Apache's position is shown in an onscreen map as well as bearing and distance to the defense computer. Some game events are presented in digitized speech by the Lifelike In-boa... ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/54 "2024-03-09T05:48:46Z")
My first gaming obsession outside of arcade stuff, my ur-computer game, was 1994’s [Legions](https://www.mobygames.com/game/1701/legions/) for the Mac. I didn’t have a computer at the time, but a friend I was visiting in LA had this one and after he introduced me to it I was hooked. You could simulate the [Wars of the Diadochi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Diadochi)! I was still a part-time bio/history major in 1994 (in between a full-time job) with a then current fascination for that period, so it was ready-made history-nerd catnip. I played it obsessively when my buddy was at work for the week I was staying down there and after I came home I resolved to buy a computer 😆. I had been considering getting my own PC for a couple of years by then, but I admit that was the tipping point into actually shelling out the bucks instead of just using a computer lab/work computer. Pretty obscure these days. Back then a crude strategy game based on classical history was not exactly flying off the shelves. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/55 "2024-03-09T06:01:32Z")
Found that game! It was actually called Star Fire, and Exidy was the company that made and sold it. > **[Star Fire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Fire)** > > Star Fire is a first-person arcade coin-operated space combat video game created by Technical Magic for Midway-Bally and licensed for manufacture > to Exidy in December 1978. It was distributed in Japan by Taito and Esco Trading in 1979. Designed by Caltech engineers Ted Michon, and David Rolfe and inspired by the movie Star Wars, the game is not based on a licensed property. > Star Fire was a major success for Exidy, and became the first arcade video game to use an enclosed sit-down cockpit cabinet... ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/56 "2024-03-09T06:08:24Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Excellent artillery game (not even sure why that genre is worms-style but Worms came later I think) My firends and I played the heck out of Scorched Earth in the early 1990s. It was a shareware game, but we sprang for the delux version though I can’t remember what made it better. Sometimes when a tank fired, they would say something in text. Stuff like, “Die!” or other simple phrases. I figured out how to edit the .ini file the game pulled that text from and added things like, “Bob sucks!” that surprised my friends when we played. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/57 "2024-03-09T06:12:31Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Does anyone here remember Lunar Lander? It was an arcade game back in the early 80s but you can play it online now: > > [http://moonlander.seb.ly/](http://moonlander.seb.ly/) Hehe, I remember it, and often play clones of it. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/58 "2024-03-09T10:23:47Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > both coming out in 1991 Nothing new under the sun. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Th_8JUY4Q2o/hqdefault.jpg "Apple IIe Artillery Simulator (1980)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th_8JUY4Q2o) Before that, I remember some TTY-based versions, e.g. > **[More BASIC Computer Games: Artillery-3](https://www.atariarchives.org/morebasicgames/showpage.php?page=2)** > > More BASIC Computer Games: Artillery-3 (Mike Forman, N. E. Lyon, Brian West) ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/59 "2024-03-09T12:37:46Z")
Oh, hey; I loved that the few times I had the opportunity to play it. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594/60 "2024-03-09T15:35:53Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Does anyone here remember Lunar Lander? Oh, yes. One of the best bangs for the buck ever in terms of gameplay vs. computing power. My personal favorite that I still play a lot is [Dino Eggs for the Commodore 64](https://classicreload.com/c64-dino-eggs.html#). I’m guessing a few people will remember that one, but I challenge anyone to beat me at it. I suspect I have spent more time playing Dino Eggs than anyone living. It would be great to arrange a tournament. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-video-games-most-people-dont-remember/998594.md?page=4)