Wing Commander turns 20

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28 Sep 2010, 03:05 AM
bVork

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Wing Commander turns 20

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I raved about this game in the "Big Impact" thread earlier this month. Turns out the timing was remarkably appropriate, as September 26, 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Wing Commander.

Paul Barnett of EA Mythic is pushing for a DOSBox-powered re-release of Wing Commander (and a lot of other Origin classics) due to this auspicious date. Go retweet it and help him give EA Legal a push.

I already discussed how this was the first game I played using my brand new Roland MT32 sound card, and how it was everything I could have hoped for in a cinematic game. Wing Commander really had it all. Awesome sound, fantastic graphics (both cutscenes and in-game), incredible dogfighting gameplay, and a surprisingly engaging non-linear storyline. There's a reason this series became the flagship "interactive movie" of the industry, and it was not simply due to the FMV that the third game used.

So how many other TNLers experienced this classic? What are your memories of the original Wing Commander?

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28 Sep 2010, 03:21 AM
NeoZeedeater

This isn't a genre I play often but I was blown away when I first saw Wing Commander. I didn't have a PC that could run it (saving up for a Genesis in 1990 was expensive enough and we didn't get a PC for the whole family until later) but at least I did get to play it a bit when it first came out.
28 Sep 2010, 09:55 AM
GohanX

Wing Commander is my favorite gaming series ever, I love it more than even Street Fighter. I replayed part 1 a few months ago and it is still awesome, and I actually managed to beat the Secret Missions 2 for the first time ever.

I borrowed the SNES version from a friend, but I didn't like it a whole lot. I knew the PC version was better, but I didn't have one. I got a Sega CD a little later, and Wing Commander with it. I played the hell out of that thing, I knew it still wasn't as good as the PC version but it was still great. I finally got a PC in about 96 or so and the first game I bought was Wing Commander 2, followed shortly by the Kilrathi Saga, which I nabbed on Ebay shortly before the prices soared.

I never get tired of Wing Commander 1. I can't put my finger on it, but the gameplay is near perfection.
28 Sep 2010, 10:42 AM
Frogacuda

Quote:

Originally Posted by bVork

I already discussed how this was the first game I played using my brand new Roland MT32 sound card

So you were the lucky boy who had one of those monsters, eh? I'm thinking of getting one even now since it's impossible to really emulate it well in the games that supported it natively.

Wing Commander really took the whole space dogfighting thing to new heights. It stripped the scary open world stuff out of the space sim genre and delivered action that was just better than anything else in the genre at the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanX

I borrowed the SNES version from a friend, but I didn't like it a whole lot. I knew the PC version was better, but I didn't have one. I got a Sega CD a little later, and Wing Commander with it. I played the hell out of that thing, I knew it still wasn't as good as the PC version but it was still great. I finally got a PC in about 96 or so and the first game I bought was Wing Commander 2, followed shortly by the Kilrathi Saga, which I nabbed on Ebay shortly before the prices soared.

These days when I want to play the first game, I usually go for the 3DO remake. The art style is a little different, but it's quality all around.
28 Sep 2010, 10:50 AM
kingoffighters

I had to tweak the crap out of my init files to get WC1/2 to work on my 386sx16. But it was worth it (although 2 was too slow). Played part 3 on 3DO.
28 Sep 2010, 10:51 AM
Advocate

The very first game where I realized I get motion sickness. Other than Decent. This game caused me much distress.
28 Sep 2010, 10:58 AM
GohanX

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

These days when I want to play the first game, I usually go for the 3DO remake. The art style is a little different, but it's quality all around.

I've seriously thought about buying a 3DO just for the two Wing Commander games.
28 Sep 2010, 11:05 AM
Nash

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

These days when I want to play the first game, I usually go for the 3DO remake. The art style is a little different, but it's quality all around.

I don't have any experience with Wing Commander outside of the 3DO game, but isn't that the third game in the series? Or is the third game a remake of the first game? Or are there other Wing Commander games on the 3DO that I'm unaware of?
28 Sep 2010, 11:07 AM
kingoffighters

2 Attachment(s)

Part 3 was on 3DO, 1/2 were remade on the system as a separate release.
28 Sep 2010, 11:09 AM
Nash

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingoffighters

... 1/2 were remade on the system as a separate release.

Dammit. Now I have to go track those down.
28 Sep 2010, 11:17 AM
kingoffighters

Now I wish I still have my 3DO... nah.
28 Sep 2010, 11:47 AM
epmode

My first game on my very first PC (not counting a Commodore 64) was Wing Commander 2 + the speech pack. Best. Game. Ever.

I'm hoping to see these games on GOG if they ever manage to get EA onboard.

In other news, Starcraft 2 feels a lot like Wing Commander to me, what with all of the neat between-mission dramaz.
28 Sep 2010, 12:57 PM
Some Stupid Japanese Name

I have a 3DO still and won't ever part with it. Though many of the games that made it special have since been done elsewhere, that piece of kit still holds a place in my heart along side other consoles that weren't appreciated like they should have been (Master System, Turbografx, Saturn). I hate how when it gets slagged on, it's usually for stupid things like "LOL $700" or "LOL Trip Hawkins" but very few people acknowledge the vast assortment of decent or (at the time) unique games it had.

If the search worked I would dig up an old 3DO thread (I'm sure Neozeedeater had to have made one) and bump it so that I could talk about it more.
28 Sep 2010, 01:07 PM
YellerDog

Wing Commander looked amazing when it first hit. Hell, it still looks pretty rad in stills. Nice design. ("It looks like Wing Commander", which is more than a lot of the more generic space games can say.)

I remember following the series through those big PC GAMES phonebook magazines and being impressed. Always wanted to play Privateer!

Privateer 2 had a super-young Clive Owen in it?

(Does that 3DO version of WC have super-awesome gameplay or something? Those cinemas are dogshit.)
28 Sep 2010, 01:42 PM
NeoZeedeater

Quote:

Originally Posted by Some Stupid Japanese Name

If the search worked I would dig up an old 3DO thread (I'm sure Neozeedeater had to have made one) and bump it so that I could talk about it more.

I don't think I made a 3DO (or a Jaguar) thread. Someone else likely did or else I probably would have made them back when I was doing those things.
28 Sep 2010, 01:52 PM
Some Stupid Japanese Name

hmmm. Well, if you've no intention, I'll try my hand at one.
28 Sep 2010, 01:58 PM
NeoZeedeater

Go for it. The "LOL $700" was a legitimate complaint at the time but there was also cool shit for the system.
28 Sep 2010, 02:21 PM
GohanX

You guys are going to make me buy a 3DO, aren't you? Fuckers.
28 Sep 2010, 02:35 PM
kingoffighters

Is there a viable 3DO emulator?

I like the 3DO but the stock pad (from the original Panasonic FZ1 model) sucks.
28 Sep 2010, 03:18 PM
James

Yeah, FreeDO works great for 3DO emulation. I got it working a while back for Super Starfighter, which is one of those games I'd kill for a real remake of on a modern system. Haven't tested Super Wing Commander yet, but that will be taken care of soon.

James
28 Sep 2010, 03:37 PM
Frogacuda

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nash

I don't have any experience with Wing Commander outside of the 3DO game, but isn't that the third game in the series? Or is the third game a remake of the first game? Or are there other Wing Commander games on the 3DO that I'm unaware of?

Yeah, I was talking about Super Wing Commander, which was a remake of WC1+Expansions+Some extra, using Privateer-quality 2D graphics. It also came out later on Mac, but never on PC for some reason.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GohanX

You guys are going to make me buy a 3DO, aren't you? Fuckers.

You can get one for like $30 now and they play burnt games. You'll deal.

FreeDO is has gotten a lot better with the last revision or two, but it still has a long way to go, and I don't think it plays Super Wing Commander. Totally viable way to play about half the 3DO games out though.
28 Sep 2010, 04:31 PM
Some Stupid Japanese Name

Point me towards these $30 3DO you speak of. On the rare occasions that they come in, I get $60 or more out of them.
28 Sep 2010, 04:39 PM
Frogacuda

I got one with a bunch of games for like $50 a few years ago at a classic game convention. But whatever, even at $60 it's not a luxury item especially since you can pirate the games.
28 Sep 2010, 05:00 PM
Some Stupid Japanese Name

TNL is cheap yo.
28 Sep 2010, 05:50 PM
GohanX

I just realized my review for Wing Commander Prophecy was one of the only contributions I ever made to the TNL main site when I was "staff." It's not there anymore, I'm sure the review was terrible, and I gave the game a 12 out of 10 or something. God damn was that game great.
29 Sep 2010, 12:41 PM
bVork

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frogacuda

These days when I want to play the first game, I usually go for the 3DO remake. The art style is a little different, but it's quality all around.

Why do you prefer the remake? I didn't like it one bit. In my opinion the 3D rendered graphics didn't look nearly as good as the hand drawn art of the original, the character voices were just terrible, and the graphics engine really wasn't all that improved (it still used sprites for ships). Did I miss something, or can we just chalk this up to different tastes?
29 Sep 2010, 08:39 PM
007bond

Great thread. Wing Commander (1) blew my mind - I remember bringing it home from Software Etc and firing up the 386sx16 Gateway 2000 PC we had. Definitely the best/most impressive game I'd played at that point (granted I was like 9 years old). In fact, I still have the game/box etc sitting on my bookshelf. For some reason I never really played Wing Commander 2 but I did play through 3 and loved it. WC3 was another hugely impressive technical achievement for the time - maybe it was the "big" budget FMV.
Edit: I actually just played through WC3 again a few months ago and found it held up quite well.

I'd love for WC1 through 4 to be available from GOG.com.
29 Sep 2010, 08:58 PM
Frogacuda

Quote:

Originally Posted by bVork

Why do you prefer the remake? I didn't like it one bit. In my opinion the 3D rendered graphics didn't look nearly as good as the hand drawn art of the original, the character voices were just terrible, and the graphics engine really wasn't all that improved (it still used sprites for ships). Did I miss something, or can we just chalk this up to different tastes?

Yeah, just different tastes. I liked the remade graphics, but they're definitely different in style so I get the preference. I thought the new style did a great job of setting a TV space drama kind of tone. The characters were still all hand-drawn, and I thought the rendered stuff worked well for the 3D objects. The cockpit view felt a bit less cluttered/claustrophobic, too.

Like I said Super Wing Commander is Wing Commander in Privateer 1 digs. If that sounds good to you, you'll like it. If you don't like how Privateer looked, then fuck it.