# ID this old ('90-'94) PC game. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491 "2002-10-02T03:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/1 "2002-10-02T03:01:18Z")
I’m trying to put my finger on a game I used to play quite a bit. This is all I can remember about it: It was a top-down battle game where the two sides controlled various amounts of mechs/robots. Some of the units’ names include: behemoth, crossbow, dragon, mercury, and goliath. It could be played against the computer or as a turn-based multi-player game on one computer (battles occured in real time). The units, aside from having “life” (or something), also had a “coolant” meter, and could over-heat, thus becoming inoperative for a certain amount of time, and would even blow up if they overheated too much. Thanks in advance… I need to get to bed, so someone help me before I spend all night thinking about this. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/2 "2002-10-02T03:22:32Z")
Sounds like something related to Battletech, they had a few games in that time period, but I don’t recognize some of the mech names you gave, so it might have been something that was ‘inspired’ by Battletech. ---
**Author:** ![Juggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/juggler/32/3194_2.png) [@Juggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juggler)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/3 "2002-10-02T03:24:23Z")
Mechwarrior? ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/4 "2002-10-02T03:24:32Z")
Don’t know the exact game, but it’s obviously based on the Battletech universe. Could it be the original Mechwarrior, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/5 "2002-10-02T03:37:50Z")
pretty sure it’s not mechwarrior… haven’t all those had cockpit view-type gameplay? This did not. I can’t seem to find a picture of the original Mechwarrior online to be sure though. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/6 "2002-10-02T03:46:12Z")
Yeah, the first Mechwarrior had a cockpit view - at least the SNES version did, which is the only one I played. I do know there were other PC games based on the Battletech universe, including an RPG. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/7 "2002-10-02T03:59:16Z")
The first two Battletech PC (Crescent Hawk’s Interception and Crescent Hawk’s Revenge) games were top down games; a straight RPG and a strategy game. Neither resolved the combat in real time, though, which eliminates them as possibilities. Mechwarrior, however, was a cockpit view game. Are you certain it was a PC game? It sounds like a certain Amiga game from that period… ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/8 "2002-10-02T04:18:38Z")
absolutely certain… I know this isn’t much to go on, but it is sooooo frustrating. Is there a good, extensive catalogue of PC games w/ screen shots somewhere online. This has been bugging me for hours now. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/9 "2002-10-02T04:49:27Z")
You can try [www.mobygames.com](http://www.mobygames.com), but for obscure games they tend to not have much. Let’s try this; did you move on a grid or did it have hexagons? Released on CD or floppy disk? Do you recall a publisher? You say combat was “real-time”; you do mean that the player controlled the units that were fighting before it went back out to the turn based screen and not that the combat was animated, right? Did it have other units than just the mechs? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/10 "2002-10-02T05:07:55Z")
its cyber empires by tsr This was one of the first pc games I played Also try home of the underdogs ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/11 "2002-10-02T05:17:24Z")
Actually heres a scren shot and the like and it made by ssi [http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=260](http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=260) The reason i thought it was tsr is becuase it was one of the few non ad&d games that ssi made let me know if this is it … ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/12 "2002-10-02T06:46:46Z")
wow, that’s it!!! Thanks so much. I knew when you said the title that you had it. Wow. Time to see if this one lives up to memory. Man, the people on the Straight Dope can find anything for ya. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/13 "2002-10-02T15:52:33Z")
Glad it was ID’ed, but… > [@](#): > > The reason i thought it was tsr is becuase it was one of the few non ad&d games that ssi made “Few”? SSI released more than twice as many wargames then they did TSR licensed games (fourty-some wargames to ninteen TSR based games). The TSR stuff wasn’t even a quarter of their output; in the eighties they were one of the powerhouses in the gaming industry. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/14 "2002-10-03T05:10:25Z")
Well now reading their game list i see i was mistaken in the circles i hung in they were known for the tsr rpgs Now they seemed to be owned by ubi soft as the old tsr web address goes there and The website is promoting panzer general 3 … It seems most of the old computer companies are owned by someone else these days … ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/15 "2002-10-03T05:20:27Z")
yeah, remember back in the good old days of, oh, 1990? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-old-90-94-pc-game/130491/16 "2002-10-03T16:42:48Z")
for future reference, **nightshadea** , the SDMB isn’t the place for abandonware links. Potential copyright infringement and all that.