# The old computer game appreciation thread... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255 "2001-07-20T22:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rossarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@Rossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rossarian)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/21 "2001-07-21T17:49:45Z")
I’ve been on an old game kick lately. XCOM, Dragon Wars, Command HQ, stuff like that. Try [http://www.theunderdogs.com](http://www.theunderdogs.com). It’s a very good site, that only offers old games which the publishers don’t mind being available. So you don’t have to have any moral qualms about it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LoverBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LoverBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoverBoy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/22 "2001-07-21T18:36:25Z")
Not \*really \*old-school, but at least dated games:[ul][li]Duke Nukem 1-5 (not the 3D ones but the pixelicious side-scrollers)[/li][li]X-Wing (aww man this game was sweet, so was TIE Fighter)[/li][li]Sim City 2000 (Nyah nyah nyah, I got 50 arcologies and _you don’t_!)[/li][/ul]- Rob ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/23 "2001-07-21T21:13:32Z")
I remember playing “Wumpus” on my employer’s ‘mid-size’ computer (smaller than an IBM 360 mainframe, no PCs then). This was a search-for-the-monster-or-be-eaten-in-a-maze text game. I wish I remembered some of my Tandy ColorComputer cartridge or tape games. One was, I think, “Pharohs Tomb” or some such, a text adventure “Look rock” “Take sword” etc. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/24 "2001-07-21T21:34:15Z")
A friend of mine has a copy of Lunar Lander on his computer. I think it said it was from 1978. It’s about as primitive as you can get for graphics, so I shudder to think what games in the early seventies must have been like. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/25 "2001-07-21T21:58:15Z")
Anyone remember _The Black Cauldron_ game? That was one of the weirdest games I’ve ever come across (“BXMF”, anyone?). ---
**Author:** ![PublicBlast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/779978/32.png) [@PublicBlast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PublicBlast)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2001, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/26 "2001-07-21T22:16:46Z")
I still spend too much time playing X-Com. I wish they’d release an X-Com game that was based on the engine/design of the original, but with spiffy music/sound/graphics. I don’t need an X-Com flight simulator or Quake clone, thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/27 "2001-07-22T00:57:40Z")
TRS-80. A staggering 64K of RAM. Dungeons of Daggorath. I’ll never forget finally finding the Blob, and typing A \ L \ (“attack left”) just as fast as my fourth-grade fingers could muster. Dr. J ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/28 "2001-07-22T01:00:18Z")
I was one of those people with a VIC-20 (which I still have in working order) but I also played on a Binatone wood-panel effect games console. I still remember Blue Meanies and Amok (VIC-20). ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/29 "2001-07-22T01:01:41Z")
More recently, I adore http:/www.theunderdogs.org for abandonware like Rock Star, Panzer General and so on. ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/30 "2001-07-22T02:40:13Z")
The Underdogs is a very good abandonware site, and they are very prompt to pull games if a publisher complains, and they provide links to purchase online if a game is found to still be sold somewhere. However, even if a publisher does not complain, abandonware is still illegal. Allow me to quote from Stephen Granade’s [about.com](http://about.com) [article](http://interactfiction.about.com/library/weekly/aa092099.htm?once=true&) on the legality of abandonware. > [@](#): > > Licensing exists because software falls under intellectual property laws. Physical property laws are fairly straightforward: I own property, and if you steal it, you can be punished. But what do you do with ideas? With books and software which can easily be copied? If you copy a program I wrote, you haven’t stolen a physical item from me. In that sense I haven’t been harmed – I still have my program. But you have taken a copy of something which does not belong to you, and according to current laws, you are a thief. > > (You’ll notice that I’m avoiding any discussion of whether copyright laws are right or wrong. Intellectual property laws are hotly debated. People like me who write and program for a living want our work to be protected, while game players just want a chance to play Space Quest I. While the moral and ethical ramifications of these laws can be debated, they are laws. If you use abandonware, you have broken these laws.) > > This may all seem academic, but if you are a citizen of a country which signed the [Berne Convention](http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/overview.html) – and chances are you are – then you can be prosecuted for using abandonware. The Berne Convention and later clarifications like the [WIPO Copyright Treaty](http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/wipo1.htm) make no provisions for abandonware. Copyrighted software is copyrighted software, and a company is under no obligation to make that software available to you, no matter how much you’d love to play it. I doubt that the moderators will crack down as stringently on this as they have on previous incidents of illegality, but still. Maybe they’re all fans of abandonware, but there’s no reason to toe the line. ---
**Author:** ![Crispy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Crispy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crispy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/31 "2001-07-22T06:17:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JadedNaive \* > \*\* > The only other games I recall playing were the Keen games, old school kiddie-fare. I was in fact a kid, after all 🙂 \*\* Commander Keen! I wish I could get it to work on my computer now. That was my absolute favorite when I was a kid. Oddly enough, I enjoyed the first few, more primitive games more than the later versions. There were seven Keen games, I believe. Did anyone else ever play Night Fire? The idea was similar to that of **Chas.E’s** MOONWAR. Two to six players had a little tank icon on some random hills. You had to destroy each other player’s tank by factoring in velocity, trajectory, wind, and angle. Pretty tough for the little kid that I was. ---
**Author:** ![OddGodd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ba8739/32.png) [@OddGodd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OddGodd)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/32 "2001-07-22T06:32:36Z")
I’ve got a bunch of the hold infocom-zork games stashed up in my folks attic, but I’m afraid to go up there and get them cuz I would probably get eaten by a grue. ---
**Author:** ![Lockfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/33 "2001-07-22T09:14:21Z")
Favorite games, all on an Apple IIe or IIgs: Hard Hat Mack Loadrunner Conan Super Mario Bros. Summer Olympics Kings Quest I, II, and III and another one, the name of which I cannot recall but it consisted of a karate guy running left to right acros the screen who used the exact same moves and fought the exact same people over and over until finally when you get to the princess and run toward her she gives you a high-chop in the kisser and you have to start all over again. Anyone ? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/34 "2001-07-22T17:00:35Z")
You’re probably thinking of Karateka. ---
**Author:** ![urban1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d07c76/32.png) [@urban1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/35 "2001-07-22T17:14:32Z")
‘Radar Rat Race’, Commodore 64. Sadly it was never ported to the Amiga (or anything else I am aware of). ---
**Author:** ![Lockfist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@Lockfist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lockfist)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/36 "2001-07-22T18:27:00Z")
> [@](#): > > You’re probably thinking of Karateka. Indeed I was, **LNO** - thanks for the tip, I thought I’d remember the name by this morning but no such luck ! ---
**Author:** ![Caesar0211](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caesar0211](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar0211)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/37 "2001-07-22T19:54:13Z")
Oh sure, Wolf 3D was great and all, but come on guys! You have to go back to the days of the glorious Com64! I only scaned through, but I do believe its only Urban who said anything. Remeber some of the classics like Buck Rodgers, Congo Bongo? ZAXXON FOR HEAVENS SAKE! Up N Down, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, Skool Daze, Oh dear, what was that game? LAZY JONES! thats it! Ohhh the memories. I remeber some Dragon game where you were on a raft and had to go down this river and avoid rocks…THE MEMORIES I TELL YOU…that was my psychotic moment of the day, but really, I loved that comp… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/38 "2001-07-22T22:47:03Z")
I loved **Stunt Island**!!! My computer needed to be a little more powerful to take advantage of the whole thing but I would love to play it now. Back when I was in college a roomate of mine had a Commodore 64 and I used to play a WWII submarine game on it that was really fun. I have no idea what the title was though. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/39 "2001-07-22T23:27:37Z")
Played **Wumpus** and **Trek** on a **print only time share** in high school (God I feel old…) My first computer was a **TRS-80** with **4K** of memory! Paid **$600** for it in 1980! Played the text adverture **Haunted House** on it a lot (“Plugh!”). **Dancing Demon** was cool, though not really a game. Played (and still have, somewhere) subLogic’s original **Flight Simulator** on it. Sold it, bought a car, and forgot about computers in the 80s, though I did play the **original King’s Quest** on a friend’s **PCjr.** Very cool early combination third person/text adventure game. Bought a Gateway 2000 386 in 1991 (paid, gulp, **$2000** for it!!) Played Commander Keen a lot, as well as Cosmo and Duke Nukem (2D!) Then, I got a copy of Wolfenstein 3D with no description or instructions. Loaded it, game started, I moved the mouse, and was absolutely floored to see **the whole scene move in real time with the mouse!!** No kidding, it was religious. Spent a lot more time playing Doom and the Quakes, but you never forget your first FPS… ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255/40 "2001-07-23T15:23:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by N³A³M³ \* > > **I recently went a-hunting for old games that I played with gusto in my youth. I found both parts of Castle of the Winds (Viking-saga-type RPG)…** > > Ah, what a great game. If it weren’t for that, I don’t know how I’d make it through the workday. > > And if anyone knows where to find Jazz Jackrabbit, I’d be much obliged. \*\* Re: Jazz Jackrabbit. Not too hard to find. I’d link, but the Angry Gods of Moderation would strike me down. Good luck getting it to run on a modern pc though–IIRC, the speed throttling code has real problems dealing with anything above 500 mhz or so. I still occasionally go back and play Bard’s Tale I. Beautiful game. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-old-computer-game-appreciation-thread/73255.md?page=3)