MS-DOS Games, Programs, Trivia, Pixels, Grog

Monkey Island in its full glory

HiRes:
gamehistory.org/wp-content/u...
Source:
gamehistory.org/monkeyisland/

Star Wars: X-Wing
LucasArts 1993

it can run itself

Windows 3.1 with CGA display driver
🫣

The Land of Llewdor map (King's Quest 3)

From the King's Quest Companion, an official hint book first released in 1989.

SkyView (1993)
by Stephen Michael Schimpf

A simple planetarium for Windows 3.1.
Displays the nightsky with a specific date and coordinates.

Pc Globe 4.0 (1990)

An atlas for MS-DOS, first released in 1987.
It features comprehensive databases and plays national anthems with the PC speaker.

Maniac Mansion by LucasArts

Enhanced (December 1989) vs first release (March 1988).
Both are EGA, but the enhanced version has a higher resolution.

The easter egg included in Day of the Tentacle was the original version.

#msdos #retrogaming

Kings Quest 4
1988

Sierra used different development tools over the course of time, one being AGI ('84 - '89) and its successor SCI ('88 onwards).
KQ4 was produced in both, to support older and newer systems.
The AGI version sold badly and was discontinued soon.
It is considered very rare.

I agree, it runs on my old PC and my phone! It came a long way

Windows Commander for Win 3.1
by Christian Ghisler, 1993

An orthodox dual pane file manager, now known on many platforms as Total Commander.
The name had to be changed in 2002, because of certain similarities to a well known brand.

T.C. 6.58 for Win 3.1 came out in 2008.
www.ghisler.com/index.htm

The name's Blatz

#msdos

Jordan Mechner, creator of Prince of Persia, in 1989.

Behind him you can see the pictures he produced to create the animations in the game, a technique called rotoscoping.
The prince is actually his younger brother David.

Inspired by the Disney movie Snow White, which used rotoscoping in 1937.

I once was desperately searching for a very specific topic concerning emulation. Found an elaborate post about it somewhere in the depths of a forum after a while. Faith in humanity restored.
Later I realized, that I wrote that post myself ten years earlier....

MS-DOS in Poetry

It's safe to say that disk operating systems are not of much concern for poets.
Here is an exception by Bukowski, on his 105th birthday.
First published in 1985.

SkyGlobe 3.6 : KlassM Software/ Mark A. Haney : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Beautiful and fast planetarium. Version 3.6 for MS-DOS.(for your local circunstancies: view CONFIG.txt and edit SKYGLOBE.REG)

Newer version with slightly different graphics (thinner lines) and added features:
archive.org/details/sg_2...

Here is Chris Hadfield working with the device ~2013ish.
According to NASA, it was still in use as of 2019.

MS-DOS in Space

This system, running MS-DOS, was used for microgravity space experiments in the field of Material Science, on board of the Space Shuttle in 1997 and later on the ISS.

More info:
www.kermitproject.org/nasa.html

#msdos

Sierra catalog 1988

Pixel Art by Octavi Navarro

O.N. was inspired by the graphics of games like Loom and Monkey Island as a kid and started pixeling with Deluxe Paint 2 on his 486 in the 90s.
Years later, he joined the team of Thimbleweed Park.
His pictures tell some really great stories...

octavinavarro.com

Mortal Kombat 2
Arcade 1993 / MS-DOS 1995

A very faithful port, apart from the frame rate being less consistent compared to arcade machines.
The series sparked many controversies, lawsuits, a congressional hearing in the US and MK2 was even confiscated in Germany.

#msdos

Two main developers for what eventually became MS-DOS:

Tim Paterson (who wrote 86-DOS, which later became MS-DOS) and Gary Kildall (who wrote CP/M, that served as blueprint for 86-DOS; controversies included) - in their natural habitats: driving rally cars and flying airplanes.

#msdos

Challenge accepted 💪

Microsoft Entertainment Pack 1 - 4
Released 1990 - 1992 for Win 3.x

The first release of Minesweeper, that was later bundled with Win 3.1.

I loved this game, standing around here in the arcades in the late 80s. I must have watched the attract mode a hundred times.
But coins were rare and the game was super hard, so I didn't play it too often.

Box art:

Microsoft Space Simulator
BAO Ltd. 1994

Based on the MS Flight Simulator.
It features 14 different spacecraft, e.g. the Space Shuttle or a Bussard ramjet for interstellar travel.
The learning curve is VERY steep - the manual has 230 pages and you won't get anywhere without it.

#msdos

Box art: