# Olde Schoole Computer Games **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 31, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505 "2000-08-31T15:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/81 "2000-09-04T23:16:52Z")
Scorched Earth and Stunts 3D. Some old school DOS games. And not DOS 6, but the real early versions. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2000, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/82 "2000-09-04T23:25:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > > > [@](#): > > > > some game where you played an Indiana Jones type character running through underground dungeons that I forget the name of. > > **Pit Fall**? Or maybe _Aztec_? I loved that game, but I hated those really big spiders. Wow… Balance of Power was one of the best. Tons of these other games bring back memories too: Choplifter, Sabotage, Silent Service, Strike Eagle (in that green monchrome… eww!), Karateka, Cranston Manor, Castle Wolfenstein (2D… before 3D), Dark Castle. Wow, I feel old. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/83 "2000-09-05T17:43:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Corrado \* > **Balance of Power (I had to mooch off of a friend with a Mac to play this geopolitic simulation; I’d crawl through a desert to have this one again.)** Oh, **Johhhhhhnnnnnn** … It just so happens that I still have this one for Mac OS 6. Worth anything to you? _evil grin_ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Corrado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a88e4f/32.png) [@John\_Corrado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Corrado)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/84 "2000-09-05T18:07:36Z")
Dammit, you dirty Commie with your blackmail! Hoover was right about you types! (Actually, found an abandonware site that had BoP90 on it, and have been playing it most of this weekend. I have blown up the world countless times in order to save it from the dastardly godless Soviets. Ususally over really, really stupid stuff when one considers the eventual outcome.) ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/85 "2000-09-05T19:20:30Z")
Hell, if you’re gonna blow up the world over trivial shit, then you couldn’t get my BoP90 from me, even out of my cold, dead hands. Sheesh, offer somebody the complete package, original box and instructions and all, and what do you get? _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/86 "2000-09-05T21:09:19Z")
I still have “The Lost Treasures of Infocom” which contained like 20 of those text adventures. I also played and beat “Leather Goddesses of Phobos” it was hilarious. One of the first games I ever played on my old Tandy 1400 laptop (with a monochrome CGA monitor, 2 720 K disk drives, and no hard drive) was called “Castle”. It was one of the first adventure games to use ascii characters for your character and other items you found around the castle. I still have most of those programs, including Paratroopers, Disk Crush, Yahtzee, etc. Oh the good old days. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/87 "2000-09-05T21:11:14Z")
I think I lost a year or two of my life to **Darklands**. But that was for my PC, not my Commodore, so I did not mention it. And I still have it, too. Annoyingly the emulator keeps crashing my computer. ☹ I will have to tinker with another one. MR ---
**Author:** ![generica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@generica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/generica)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/88 "2000-09-05T21:28:37Z")
Did anyone ever beat “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”? I don’t know HOW many sleepless nights I spent, only to to fail YET AGAIN at the game. I’d get the Improbability Drive going, then inevitably materialize inside my own head. Oooh, the frustration. I’m frustrated now, just thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2000, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/89 "2000-09-05T21:37:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by generica \* > \*\*Did anyone ever beat “Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”? I don’t know HOW many sleepless nights I spent, only to to fail YET AGAIN at the game. I’d get the Improbability Drive going, then inevitably materialize inside my own head. Oooh, the frustration. I’m frustrated now, just thinking about it. \*\* Yeah, I beat it. Did you remove your common sense? I remember that this was a vital part of the game. > [@](#): > > {by someone else}Phantasie and Phantasie III…part II was never released in the US–a shame! Yeah, they released Phantasie II in the US. I had a copy of it, and I don’t think it was an import. I never played Phantasie III, though, couldn’t find it, or was too broke to go looking for it. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/90 "2000-09-06T04:03:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DRY \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by MaxTheVool \* > > > > \*\* > > Please clarify this for me–what’s the difference between NETHACK and Hack? I wonder which it was that I actually played? \*\* Nethack is the same basic game (NOT networked, despite its name), just bumped up in depth and complexity by a factor of a zillion or so… in hack, you basically descend through 25 or so layers of dungeons, fight slightly more than 52 opponents (one each for lower case and capital letters), find the amulet of yendor under a rock on level 27, and hightail it out of there… in nethack, there are cities, side dungeons, quests, interactions with gods, mysterious artifacts, and a journey through 30 levels of hell, a totally unkillable wizard of yendor, self-polymoprh, and so so so so so so so much more ---
**Author:** ![nOmega](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nOmega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nOmega)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/91 "2000-09-06T07:22:55Z")
I’m too young to remember the 80s, but my favourite game ever was By Jove for the C64. That depressed guy in the pressure suit kept me in front of a TV screen for hours. Quest of Kron was good too, so were most of the games on the casettes on the front of Commodore Format… ---
**Author:** ![Roppy\_Bork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de053/32.png) [@Roppy\_Bork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roppy_Bork)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/92 "2000-09-06T12:38:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wevets \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > > > > > [@](#): > > > > > > some game where you played an Indiana Jones type character running through underground dungeons that I forget the name of. > > > > **Pit Fall**? > > Or maybe _Aztec_? I loved that game, but I hated those really big spiders.\*\* Or maybe Rick Dangerous? ---
**Author:** ![Tommy-Tutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@Tommy-Tutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tommy-Tutone)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/93 "2000-09-06T16:17:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Maeglin \* > \*\*Well, I found it. > > Also, I really enjoyed this adventure game whose title eludes me. The point of the game was to run around the Lower Planes evading undead and evil creatures by dropping crosses everywhere you went. Anyone remember what that one was called? > > Or how about that great gladiator game, where you could fight with a great variety of weapons against silly monsters? > > MR > \*\* Not sure if these are answered later in this post, but the first one is Realms of Impossibility (I forgot the name for awhile too). I remember the last world was made up of those ‘optical illusions’ of structures that shouldn’t be able to exist, but do. I THINK the second game you refer to is another favorite of mine, Mail Order Monsters. You start with a budget, pick a body type, and equip with breath/hand weapons as well as gills/wings/etc. to help improve your monster who you then submit into combat. I remember there was a fern body, and if run by the pc, its name was Boston. Some other favorites are of course M.U.L.E., the greatest game ever made by a trans-gender designer (Dan/Dani Bunten). The old RPG’s were the best, especially Questron, and the great ending it provided. Bard’s Tale, Wasteland, Phantasie, Legacy of the Ancients are also up there. I remember there were two games sold as a package that were created by Adventure Construction Set… the lesser of the two was Ali Baba, the GREAT one, though was… hmmm… it was a Roman tale where you chose one of dozens of great Roman heros, tasked with satisfying the labors of Hercules. Anything by Origin back then was a classic: Ultimas, OGRE, Moebius, Space Rogue to name a few. Cinemaware also pumped out classics like Three Stooges and the medievil one… ugh… In any case, thanks to the Arnold site, I have several of these on my pc, and am loving rediscovering them again. ---
**Author:** ![Grendel69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7bcc69/32.png) [@Grendel69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grendel69)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/94 "2000-09-06T16:46:25Z")
Poilice Quest and Pool of Radiance and Civ are up there, but…How come no one has mentioned the most uderrated game of all time??? Dune 2 ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/95 "2000-09-06T17:20:23Z")
I’ve tried to read through most of the thread. Jesus, I forgot about half of those games that I was addicted to at the time. **Zork** - you were actually _forced_ to use your imagination. **Hitchhiker** - I played the game before I read the books. **Jumpman** - Friggin’ maddening. **Bird v. Dr. J** - Cutting edge graphics at the time, what a hoot. **Red Storm Rising** - My first bone-fide black hole of life. The kind of game where my roommate would get up at 4 in the morning to take a pee, and stumble accross me in front of the C64, mumbling “Damn Ruskies, here’s a Mark-8 for your Siberian ass.” The original **Test Drive** on C64 - it was horrible, but fun. **Summer Games** - Whapping away on those joystick buttons till you required medical attention. **Skate or Die** - Before skateboarding was even cool again. etc. etc. Did anyone mention **Disney’s Stunt Island**? It isn’t C64 vintage, but it is pretty old. Runs only in DOS. It’s a great creative game, which I would play to this day if the 6 original diskettes that it came on hadn’t corrupted. Are there any other SI filmmakers out there? Is this game still available anywhere? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/96 "2000-09-06T17:41:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AHunter3 \* > Then when I bought my first computer, a used SE, I inherited: > > b) Leather Goddesses of Photos, a text-based adventure. Never got anywhere with it; > > PS to Motorgirl: you can still run old 24-bit (System 7 incompatible) programs using vMac on a modern Mac (or a PC for that matter). It emulates a Mac Plus (9 inch black & white screen, 4 MB RAM) but for the most part if it is a color game it should run on a modern Mac natively without problems (there having been very few 24-bit Mac programs that won’t run without color). That’s somewhat comforting, as is rackensack’s news that Scarab can be played on Mac OS8.5x. I will look for vMac (I assume it is software I can get my hands on somewhere), so I can try it out with some of the ancient shareware games that crash my IIsi (running 7.5). If it works, I’ll consider stepping into the 00s with a new Mac. The new G4 Cube is sooo attractive. Kinda pricey, tho. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* > I beat the game…do you have any questions about it? I might be able to remember the answers. And it’s Leather Goddesses of Phobos. This game had three naughtiness levels (tame, suggestive, and lewd) and you could play as a male or female. I never got anywhere at all with Leather Goddesses of Phobos, though not for lack of trying. I once sat with my sister and a friend and tried for 2 days trying to get somewhere, but still just went around in circles. Any hints you’d like to pass along would be hugely appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Cynical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Mr.Cynical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Cynical)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2000, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/97 "2000-09-06T18:29:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolfman \* > \*\*Anybody remember M.U.L.E. for the C-64? That was the first game I fell in love with. Now that I think about it may have been the first graphical resource gathering and management game. I can barely remeber a thing about it, but I played the thing for hours on end. \*\* Absofrigginlutely. LOVED it, and I would play it again if I could find it for PC. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/98 "2000-09-07T03:10:49Z")
Anyone besides me ever play “Rockstar ate my Hamster”? It has to qualify as one of the queerest C=64 games I ever played. Horrible graphics, horrible sound, slow ass pace and yet I’ve loaded it up and started playing it again after years away and am still playing it for way more time at a shot than it deserves. You manage a rock group and decide when to send them on tour, when to make the practice, when to try a publicity stunt… etc. The boss guy’s name is Cecil though, so that’s kind of cool. A minute of hommage to the intro screens of cracked Commodore games. You know the ones: you type in your LOAD “\*”,8,1 and a few seconds later, you’re greeted by some pulsing electronic bass tone with some music playing over it that sounds like “Wuuuaaaaahhh… Ween ween ween ween WEEN WAAAHHH…” while the message floats by in 3" tall multi colored bouncing letters: THIS GAME CRACKED BY SHADOE FIGHTER ON 05/03/85 TRAINED BY NYC CRACKING TEAM GREETS TO EAGLESOFT, LEMUR, HELLS TOUCH, FIC, GOP, AND THE NIGHT NINJA!!! DEEP HACKERS INC SUCKS!!! WE CRACKED PLUTO FIGHTERS FIRST!! VISIT FIGHTERS LAIR AT +011 233 556 2884… Nine times out of ten, the intro was more amusing and better coded than the game itself. Of course, if you actually _bought_ your games, you missed out on all of that. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Armageddon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/858c86/32.png) [@Mister\_Armageddon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Armageddon)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/99 "2000-09-07T06:32:57Z")
Chris Crawford has some of his old Mac games available for download on his site, including Balance of Power II. I also got the PC version of BoP from the site a few months ago, but I’m not sure if it’s still there or not. Anyway, you can check it out here: [http://www.erasmatazz.com](http://www.erasmatazz.com) You can thank me later. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2000, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505/100 "2000-09-07T19:29:43Z")
> [@](#): > > I never got anywhere at all with Leather Goddesses of Phobos, though not for lack of trying. I once sat with my sister and a friend and tried for 2 days trying to get somewhere, but still just went around in circles. Any hints you’d like to pass along would be hugely appreciated. ::scratching head:: Let’s see. You can’t remove your clothes voluntarily. Trade the flashlight, I think it’s the only thing that the salesman will accept. Do you still have the original packaging? There were some clues in it. If you don’t have it, then I’ll give you the clues. Maps are very helpful. If you have specific questions, go ahead and email me at Lynnbodoni.aol@com. Make the appropriate symbol switches, I hate feeding addressbots. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olde-schoole-computer-games/31505.md?page=6)