Search String

Home Computer Game History: cRPG Blog by Lilura1


Home Computer Game History

Updated on an almost daily basis as of 2025, this is a history of Western home computer games that Lilura1 is covering on cRPG Blog.

This chronological home computer game history is concerned with games that were coded for Western home computer game machines. However, since it would be foolish to ignore the influence of early Japanese arcade machines on the Western home computer game industry, some conversions of Japanese coinops are herein covered, but only if they were ported to Western home computers by Western software houses. For example, the origin of 1988 Amiga Arkanoid is the Arkanoid arcade machine of 1986 by Taito of Japan.

This home computer game history draws upon my coverage of over 1,100 home computer games. In addition, it is backed up by over 10,000 images as well as critical pieces, tabled data, guides, reviews, technical articles and genre- and platform-specific overviews that I have published over the past 10 years.

For example, if I mention THAC0 in an general article I can link readers to my technical article on THAC0, thereby helping readers understand the nuts and bolts of that famous game mechanic.

As of 2025, Lilura1 has covered 268 shoot 'em ups, 150 cRPGs, 93 racing games, 98 platform games, 51 flight sims, 45 adventure games, 35 sports games, 28 TBS games, 19 RTS games, 21 FPS games, 21 versus fighters, 18 beat 'em ups and 11 block-breakers. Lilura1 single-game coverage ranges from a few paragraphs up to half a million words. Most Lilura1 game coverage is accompanied by an image-assembly approximating the above in visual density.

As of 2025, Lilura1 has covered 400 PC DOS games, 305 Amiga games, 196 Commodore 64 games, 64 Atari ST games and 40 Windows PC games.

Many of Lilura1's most popular articles are long-form and high cognitive load; it is humbling to know that hardcore gamers and powergamers have referenced my writings for one decade and counting. That said, while the object of a game is to win a game can (or should) be fun or better yet fun, engrossing and educational.

Note that you may need to employ Ctrl+F in order to navigate my long-form articles, which can be up to 40,000 words in length.

Lilura1's home computer game history is holistic in approach and ranges from sweeping broad-scale down to a singular game mechanic.

I would like to thank Blogger and Google for keeping the Blogger platform going.

***

I define a home computer game as an entertainment-based and/or educational computer program that is coded to be played on a home computer via joystick, keyboard and/or mouse or other input device.

This history of home computer games is divided into several sections.

PC Games 1987 PC Games 1991 PC Games 1995
PC Games 1988 PC Games 1992PC Games 1996
PC Games 1989 PC Games 1993 Decade of 1990-99
PC Games 1990 PC Games 1994 PC Game Reviews

The 1970s


MICROCOMPUTERS & MICROPROCESSORS (MPUs)

  • 1970: Intel release 1K DRAMs.
  • 1971: Intel announce the 4004 (4-bit MPU).
  • 1972: Intel announce the 8008 (8-bit MPU). 
  • 1974: Intel announce the 8080 / Motorola announce the 6800 (8-bit MPUs).
  • Scelbi-8H kit-computer released by Nat Wadsworth (8088 MPU).
  • 1975: Micro-Soft code BASIC for the Altair 8800 (Bill Gates & Paul Allen).
  • Mark Wise's Sphere 1 & Ed Roberts' Altair 8800 are released (8-bit micros).

Intel 8008 MPUs of 1972 were clocked at 500-800 kHz, could address up to 16K of RAM and retailed for US$60 by 1975 whereas Intel 8080 MPUs of 1974 were clocked at 2-3 MHz, could address up to 64K of RAM and retailed for US$160 by 1975. On the other hand, the Motorola 6800 MPU of 1974 was clocked at 1-2 MHz, could address up to 64K of RAM and retailed for US$175 in 1975.

The 8008 MPU was easy and efficient to code in assembly whereas the 8080 -- due to its streamlined interfacing and more complex yet more efficient instruction set -- was at least 10x as fast as the 8008 in running BASIC interpreters and compiling FORTRAN code even though its clock-rate suggests "little more than twice as fast". MPU architecture and thus benchmarking criteria were nuanced by 1975; MPU efficacy was dependent on program type, complexity and myriad other factors.

By October of 1975 8K BASIC interpreters were available, retailing for what amounted to chump change. However, BASIC was slow in comparison to assembly language. In fact, BASIC was all-but-useless for coding action-based computer games. Note that early assemblers required at least 2K of RAM to run whereas macro-assemblers required at least 4K, and up to 8K. Assembly code was also known as machine code whereas assembly coding -- the act of coding directly to an MPU such as the 8008 -- was also known as hacking, banging the metal or hitting the hardware. In the name of optimization assembly coders would often seek the computer's base-line of operation, which is its MPU aka CPU. Some famous Pentium-powered PC games were coded in x86 assembly by as late as 1999, five years after the advent of industry-standard APIs.

***

Released in 1977, the 8-bit Apple II by Steve Wozniak, the Commodore PET 2001 by Chuck Peddle and the Tandy / Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 1 by Steven Leininger would become the first commercially successful microcomputers.

The Apple II and PET were powered by MOS Technology 6502s clocked at 1 MHz whereas the TRS-80 was powered by a Zilog Z80 clocked at 1.77 MHz. Note that Chuck Peddle headed up design of the 6502 itself; he was also involved in 6800 design and VIC design. Needless to say, this makes Chuck Peddle a towering figure in microcomputer history based on the fact alone that no fewer than five industry-building micros employed the 6502 -- an incredible legacy for MOS Tech.

Predating that trio were the Heavy Metal Microcomputers: Processor Technology's Sol-20 of 1976 by Lee Felsenstein, Micro Instrumentation & Telemetry Systems' Altair 8800 of 1975 by Ed Roberts, and Mike Wise's Sphere 1 of 1975. Both the MITS Sol-20 and the Altair 8800 were powered by 8-bit Intel 8080s clocked at a blistering 1000 kHz; the Sphere 1 by a Motorola 6800 clocked at the same.

And predating the Heavy Metal Micros we have other kit computers (Scelbi-8H, 1974) and even older computers that could be referred to as... contraptions. However, I am only concerned with commercial pre-assembled home computers and their commercial games.

As a product and home appliance, microcomputers had not fully separated themselves from general electronics in the 1970s. Kit-computer assemblage, for example, was a non-trivial undertaking in that being able to read a schematic was just the first step. Now, where's that soldering iron? Mmm... what do the colored bands on this resistor mean? And so on.

1970s computer users were an entirely different breed: Imagine playing a computer game that you yourself programmed on a micro that you yourself built. Well, that was par for the course for these hobbyists.

A kit-computerist could modify power- and board-circuitry to accomodate different MPUs (e.g., i8080, Z80, M6800); almost unthinkable by 1980 because the micro-industry had by that time divided itself and become professional. And that happened before IBM's entry to the home computer market. In fact, it happened even as the Apple II, PET and TRS-80 were emerging since the three manufacturers (or rather, some of the above-mentioned key engineers) were unable to agree with one another as regards micro-design specifics and/or business operations. If they did "team up" -- well, speculative alternate history does not lie within the scope of this article: it is enough to be grateful for what each visionary brought to the table.

These key engineers had broader visions than just "micros as game-machines". For example, after launching the 6502 Chuck Peddle's goal was to build more powerful micros in order to speed up the transition to micro-networks from time-sharing mainframes. In the early 70s the vision was that each person, in the not-too-distant-future, would have access to voice-controlled and video-conference-capable desktop and portable micros that could link to each other and access info-systems across the globe. In the 70s that was considered Asimovian by a mainstream that doubted the utility -- the use of -- home computers in general. Incidentally, it was Asimov that coined the term "microcomputer."

An engineer who was focused on micro-graphics and custom game-hardware was Jay Miner. Chief architect of the Atari 8-bits of 1979 and the Amiga of 1985, Jay Miner is a Hero to computer gamers; a legend of LSI and VLSI design. Jay Miner did not just design custom chips: he made them work together so that assembly-coders could control them as one block; a super-powerful custom chipset.

Amiga graphics in full palette mode versus Atari ST graphics in full palette mode:


The above images could be outputted to an RGB monitor by 1985/86 hardware (Amiga Hold-&-Modify / ST SHIFTER). Note how more colors translates to an increase in perceived resolution even though the original resolution was 320x200 in both cases.

The other Hero of computer graphics hardware engineering is Al Charpentier of Commodore 64 VIC-I and VIC-II fame. By as early as 1982-83 the graphics chipset designs of Miner and Charpentier would facilitate legendary coinop-quality computer games via hardware scrolling and hardware sprites as well as the copper and the blitter. On top of that, Bob Yannes' SID and Glenn Keller's Paula had the C64 and Amiga outputting computer game audio from the future. It was custom chipsets that immortalized the Atari 8-Bits, the C64 and the Amiga; it was custom chipsets that made the dream of having an arcade machine at home come true.

The first microcomputer game cannot be pinpointed with certainty; there were thousands of hobbyists coding games on kit computers in the 70s... maybe some of them coded masterpieces, invented genre, mechanics or coding routines? It is not certainly known because microcomputing was initially regarded as a hobby; most people didn't take it too seriously; they didn't record, back-up and promote their work for posterity; just an entirely different breed from the commercially-minded computer user of the 80s, let alone the present-day one that can self-promote online. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that much of microcomputer game history has simply been lost to time.

1976: Seminal Shooters



  • Zilog Z80 & MOS Technology 6502 announced.
  • Processor Technology release the Sol-20 (Lee Felsenstein)

The Shoot 'em up is The Grandfather of Computer-game Genre and The God of Gameplay. On microcomputers the shoot 'em up was the first genre to consistently feature good gameplay and push the limits of hardware (1976-82). Early card games, Yea or Nay cRPGs and block-breakers did not push hardware as much as shoot 'em ups did because shoot 'em ups feature more simultaneous on-screen objects and the highest frequency of man-machine interaction. In addition, most shoot 'em ups were written in fast and robust machine code language, not slow and breakable BASIC.

A 48 year-old artillery shoot 'em up displayed in monochrome character-graphics, Steven Dompier's Target aka TARG on the Sol-20 was perhaps the first commercial microcomputer game. And the i8080-powered Sol-20 it was coded for was the first microcomputer in so far as they came to be defined by the industry a year or so later. And the Sol-20's video display module (VDM-1) was the first micro graphics card. As such, this could be called The Seminal Trifecta.

General context: This game came out before JVC launched VHS in the States.

cf. TRS-80 Shoot 'em ups: 1978-82.

1977




I would venture to state that Apple's decision to employ COLOR graphics in their Apple II was one of the main sources of Apple's initial success; note how the Apple logo employed a spectrum of colors.

The TRS-80 and PET did not feature "high-resolution" color graphics from the outset; they employed monochrome character-graphics, which was less appealing to the masses.

As time wore on computer games became more and more colorful or at least featured more on-screen colors (e.g., in a spartan color scheme). And while fidelity and framerate are far more important than color, it is color that appeals to the masses. As a rule, the masses only have an eye for color; they have no eye for form, fidelity or framerate.

That said, Apple's post-Apple II success largely hinged on its extensive productivity software catalogue and closed-system philosophy, not home computer games; that is, the Apple 2 was a prime mover of the home computer game revolution whereas post-Lisa Apple computers had very little impact on home computer games (cf. 1983 for Lisa impact).

1978: "Hello, World!"



  • The C Programming Language is published for the masses.
  • Intel release the 16-bit 8086 clocked at 5-10 MHz.
  • Apple / Tandy develop 5¼" disk drives (a pretty big deal for personal business computers).
  • Muse Software of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Taito release Space Invaders.
  • TRS-80 Air Raid is a clone of TARG: the first commercial micro-to-micro clone. [U.S.A.]

The Apple II, TRS-80 and Commodore PET were not dedicated home computer game machines; they were about productivity software in the case of the Apple and PET and hobbyist coding and hardware-hacking in the case of the TRS-80. For those with kit-computer pedigree the TRS-80 was numero uno.

It was the Atari 400/800 and the VIC-I/II (VIC-20/C64) that ushered in what would become the "cool" home computer gaming culture: games that would evoke coinop-quality via custom chips; games that were coded by gurus who knew how to hit that hardware hard.

1979



  • Intel release the 16-bit 8088 clocked at 5-16 MHz.
  • Motorola release the 16-/32-bit 68000 microprocessor clocked at 4-16 MHz.
  • The Atari 8 Bits (400/800) are released by Atari: 6502 clocked at 1.7x MHz (Jay Miner).
  • MOS Technology VIC-I is designed by Al Charpentier.
  • Texas Instruments release the TI-99/4A: TMS990 clocked at 3 MHz. This micro is notable for its graphics coprocessor (TMS9918).
  • Strategic Simulations Inc. of the U.S.A. founded (SSI).
  • Namco release Galaxian / Atari release Asteroids.
  • A2-FS1: Flight Simulator Apple 2. [U.S.A.]
  • Super Invader Apple 2. [Japan-U.S.A.]

1979 is where we start to see consumer-level custom chips emerge that are dedicated to computer games. This is where the dream of "coinops at home" becomes a distinct possibility rather than space-age science fiction. Name your coinop from 1975-79: that Atari can replicate its controls, collision detection and super-smooth scrolling and sprite-shifting. Moreover, Atari owners can now program their own coinop clones and expand upon their templates, thereby innovating and creating a competitive computer game industry that would invent entirely new genre, unrepresented by coinop and console manufacturers.

1980


  • The 8-bit ZX80 is released by Sinclair Research: Zilog Z80 clocked at 3¼ MHz.
  • Stern Electronics release Berzerk.
  • Intel's 80-bit 8087 math coprocessor granted floating-point operations to 16-bit 8088/86 microprocessors. And while tapping the 8087 increased number-crunching performance by an order of magnitude, the problem was that almost no IBM PC games were coded to do so, but the 8087 was later integrated into the i80x86 DX as standard. cf. Sphere Inc.'s Falcon 3.0.
  • Seagate release the first 5.25" hard disk drive (ST-506: 5-meg capacity).
  • Brøderbund Software of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Big Five Software of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Star Cruiser Apple 2 1980 Nasir Gebelli of Sirius Software [U.S.A.]
  • Mystery House Apple 2 1980 by On-Line Systems: The first graphics adventure game. [U.S.A.]

The 1980s was notable for its computer game genre seminality, but in the early 80s home computer tech was not able to fully represent complex mechanics, tactile UIs and high-quality audiovisuals. It took a long time for computer game coders and designers to harness the power of some home computers; it took a long time for much of the industry to realize that micros need not host in the main coinop clones; that micro games can separate themselves from and even supersede arcade machines; certainly, in terms of innovation. Micro-gamers were not lined up and coughing up coins at The Arcades: they were sitting at home comfortably, either alone or together with friends and family -- with all the time in the world. Thus, the games needed to change to reflect that.

Micros were manufactured for the masses, not the classes. They were about power without the price. These are both Jack Tramiel quotes. And this might be the only time in computer game history in which mainstream equated to great (the late 70s and early 80s).

The Zilog Z80 and MOS Tech 6502 were the dominant microprocessors for 8-bit computer-gaming in the late 70s to the mid 80s whereas the Motorola 68000 and Intel 80x86 dominated 16-/32-bit computer-gaming from the late 80s to the mid 90s. The 16 bit Intel 808x of the IBM PC competed with the 8 bit Z80 and 6502 in the early-to-mid 80s via self-booters and early MS-DOS.

  • The Sinclair ZX Spectrum's Z80A was clocked at 3½ MHz; the Commodore 64's modified 6502 (6510/8500) was clocked at 1 MHz.
  • The ZX Spectrum aka Speccy had 16-128 kbytes of RAM whereas the C64/128 had 64-640 kbytes of RAM.
  • The i808x was clocked at 5-16 MHz. The IBM PC, PC/XT and PCjr. (and others) of 1981-84 employed the 8088 at 4.77 MHz; their RAM ranging from 16-640 kbytes.

However, the C64 featured VIC-II hardware sprites, hardware screen-scrolling and SID audio, making it far superior for raw and gritty action games of which early IBM PC gamers could but dream. On the other hand, the Speccy was more about linework, angles and charming presentation also of which early IBM PC gamers could but dream.

IBM CGA/+ and early EGA went up against C64 VIC-II and got smashed to smithereens whereas IBM PC EGA and VGA went up against Agnus and Denise of the Commodore Amiga, with the Amiga smashing EGA and VGA subsequently smashing the Amiga. Reminder of context: computer games.

Let's break that down clearly:

  • 1984-89: C64 VIC-II games obliterated i808x CGA and early i80286 EGA games. Indeed, the VIC-II held the fort even after EGA had reached its height in 1989. No one was going to shelve their C64 just to play a few great EGA games; that would be madness.
  • 1985-92: As a rule, Amiga games pulverized 286 EGA games into fine dust. And while still tapping the stock 1985 chipset Amiga games were nevertheless commonly outstripping 386 VGA games until the early 90s.
  • After scores of cloners had cost-reduced 1987 VGA and consolidated its chipset (BIOS, RAM, RAMDAC, timers, cache etc.); after VGA coders had understood the ins and out of VGA (which was complex) -- then i80x86 VGA smashed the Amiga in turn. How long did that take? Starting from the point of VGA's inception, three years. So about five years all up before IBM PC games became consistently better than Amiga games.

The above is about hardware performance and coding prowess that enhance gameplay and interpretable interaction in computer games. The above encapsulates hardware cursors, screen-scrolling routines, sprite-shifting/scaling, on-screen colors, animation cycles, collision detection, screen-draws (line-draws and flood-fills), polygon-pushing, framerates, user-interface clarity (including text readability), in-game instructions, input controls and so on.

What do "808x CGA", "286 EGA" and "486 VGA" evince? For example, "808x CGA game" does not (or should not) call to mind smooth screen-scrolling, rapid screen-draws and per-pixel cursor movement.

The King of the mid 80s was the 8-bit Commodore 64, which was an amazing and affordable micro that sold in the tens of millions, but by the late 80s the 2D King was the "16-bit" Commodore Amiga and the 3D King was the "32-bit" Acorn Archimedes. At this point (1987), those who owned an Amiga or an Archimedes were living in the future by half a decade pretty much across the board. Examples include:

  • Preemptive multi-tasking GUI OS bolstered by a command-line Shell and ARexx
  • Multimedia & Genlocking
  • Audio-visuals
  • Hardware mouse cursor
  • Plug n play & ease-of-use

And that is the reason they held onto those micros long past their expiry dates; why the spirit of those micros lives on; why An Age-old Legacy War continues to rage deep beneath and invisible to the mainstream.

Getting back on track, the 2D and 3D power of the IBM PC would eventually dominate thanks to hardware engineering advancements made by the likes of Intel, IBM and the cloners of VGA and IBM PCs. Of course, the IBM PC was strong throughout the 80s and became the dominant computer game machine by 1990 and forever-after.


The C64's SID and Amiga's Paula owned 1980s computer game audio. It was the SID that caused people to realize, en masse, that computer games could feature proper music, not just cinematic graphics. And Paula took that to the next level. In comparison the impact of 1980s PC audio has been retroactively romanticized by PC gamers who, before the advent of expensive soundcards, wished to high heaven that their PCs had access to SID-level capacities, but all they heard coming out of their Beepers were bleeps & blurps. No booming explosions, no crackling lightning, no energizing soundtracks -- just bleeps & blurps.

Question the computer gaming pedigree of anyone who rambles on about Roland & AdLib 3rd-party synthesizers while at the same time totally ignoring the built-in SID and Paula: PC-only gamers understood the capabilities of computer game audio several years after we did; they were always behind in gameplay and audio-visuals, always. The PC was behind the Atari 8 bits, the C64 and the Amiga -- but then PC-owners acted like the PC was the trail-blazer when it finally caught up via cloning and add-ons. Laughable!
 
SID and Paula were built in. Hardware line-draws, flood-fills, scrolling and sprites? Built in. Bit blitter? 3-input built-in bimmer. You didn't need to buy and configure sound and graphics boards. RAM-size and clockrate? Stock-standard. Joystick calibration? No need for it. No config.sys, autoexec.bat, port addresses, IRQ levels, DMA channels or EMS/XMS memory. Plug n play all the way, but with full hardware and OS control if you wanted it.

In the past two decades many jealous, ignorant and arrogant commentators have tried to rewrite history; they cannot give Commodore, Sinclair or Acorn any time in the sun; not even a few years. This is how they cope with the fact that the PC they grew up with was not always the most impressive computer game machine: by pretending that the contenders, whom IBM, Intel and Microsoft eventually defeated, never even existed; by telling only half of the story. It's called "a sore winner". And from Joe-blogger's babble to Wikipedia's history-spam, it just goes to show how insecure these commentators have been, are now and will probably continue to be in the future.

I will now express the underlying sentiment in full since it will be applicable to the vast majority of computer-gamers and commentators reading this article: You did NOT have an Amiga from 1985-90, but you wish you did because no home computer in history ever had that much soul. And while your generic-clone platform "won" in the end, you still wish you had had an Amiga 1000 in 1985 and/or an Amiga 500/2000 in 1987. But keep telling yourself otherwise if it helps you sleep at night. Afterall, you missed out big-time, and you need to cope with that. Just like the Amigan needs to cope with "losing" in the end. :)

But take heart. You can emulate the Amiga 39 years after the fact via WinUAE. Like thousands of other forum-going frauds in 2025, you too can pretend to have been an Amigan, but you will NEVER be an Amigan. Ever.

Moreover, in the sphere of computer games the C64 utterly destroyed the IBM PC in the mid 80s; utterly annihilated it. Take for example C64 shooters vs. PC shooters: the C64 hosted 23 shooter masterpieces from 84-87, the PC none. And that is just one genre but arguably the most important genre for two decades (1976-1996).

A juggernaut of destruction in the 80s computer game market, the C64 also delayed the Amiga's time in the sun by several years. The comparatively feeble Atari ST (merely "a 16 bit ZX Spectrum + MIDI") also got in the way of the Amiga, which deserved to be numero uno earlier, and for longer.

Once 1986-87 hit (no exaggeration whatsoever) Amigans wanted the ST and 8 bit micros out of the picture because they were getting in the road of greatness, but the ST and C64 were like turds that would not flush. :)

How were they getting in the road? Market penetration and mindset: inertia. But to give an easily measurable example, ports. Too many coders were porting ST, PC and 8-bit micro slop to the Amiga instead of coding native-Amiga games that tapped its superior hardware. Moreover, cases existed in which developers chose inferior color schemes for Amiga-originals based on the fact that the original was to be subsequently ported to IBM PC EGA. Want a citation? Well, I'm not going to give a citation for that which is self-evident to all who have eyes that can see.

In sum, the Amiga only had a few great years before it had to battle on two fronts against VGA-empowered IBM PCs and 16 bit videogame machines, both of which by the time of "1990" (the exact year depends on what exactly we are taking about) had (finally) not only caught up to but superseded 1985 Alienware. Needless to say, the Amiga was wrecked beyond recognition. It seemed there was no longer a place for middle-ground micros, only PCs at one end and consoles at the other.

Questions may then come to mind: How great an achievement was it to eclipse 1985 tech in 1990? Was it as great an achievement as eclipsing 1982 tech in 1985?

The Speccy and C64 user-bases remained loyal even after the advent of the 16 bit micros. Sometimes the 8 bit version of a computer game was superior to the 16 bit version. The reason for that is a combo of "8 bit micros were simpler and therefore easier to code" and "8 bit coders were grandmasters at pushing 8 bit micros to the limit". Speccy and C64 owners loved it when their 8 bit version competed with the 16 bit one in terms of gameplay. And it would positively sicken some 16 bit owners to see god-tier ports of R-Type and Chase HQ on the bloody Speccy in the late-80s. :)

Because REAL computer gamers know that gameplay is god, not graphics. And REAL computer gamers know that pushing 8-bit tech to the limit is more impressive than pushing 16-bit tech to the halfway mark.

The 80s computer gamer did more with computers than just play games: they were often coders and hardware-hackers as well. There was no half-serious early 80s computer gamer that did not at one point code something outside of the education system, in their free time, as hobbyists. And some of these hobbyists, some with and some without formal training, would go on to code the best computer games of the 90s and/or build the richest franchises in computer game history.

80s computer gamers were not just consumers, they were creators. To them micros were tools, not end-products that you plugged yourself into and mindlessly played games on just to kill time. The 80s micro, its OS and its software were controlled by the user, not the other way around.

At this point let us remind ourselves of the limitations of video-game machines, aka consoles. As a rule, you can't code on consoles; you can't draw graphics, write stories or compose music on consoles; you can't debug or mod console games; you can't make games on consoles; consoles do not have operating systems.

Consoles stifled creativity because console gamers could only play video games, but computer gamers could make their own games -- games that could compete with Sega and Nintendo games.

Console gamers had toys, computer gamers had tools.

80s computer users were empowered: the homebrew scenes were huge; the communities were real.

Out of all computer gamers the 80s variant possesses the broadest and deepest knowledge of computer software and hardware because they had access to many wildly different yet affordable micros. But of course, the 70s computer "gamer" knew more about micro-electronics and what made computers tick.

Both know their history, they lived the history, they formalized much of the computer game language. As it pertains to influence on computer and video gaming, no present-day YouTuber with millions of fake followings can come within an astronomical proximity to 70s and 80s critics and commentators.

As you browse through 1983-85, it may become apparent that Britain led the way in terms of computer game innovation. The British made better computer games than the North Americans from 1983-85, which was an exceedingly important timeframe for the industry. In addition, the sense of humor and dry wit that pervaded early British computer games immortalized them. As a rule, the North American market was just plain humorless and coinop- and console-centric; comparatively ignorant of what home computer games could be, but this held true for only a few years at the most: once they awoke from their slumber the North Americans became a powerhouse of computer game development.

The above criticism of North American coinop-porting and -cloning does not apply to late 70s and very early 80s computer games (you had to start somewhere), only to many (not all) of the post-1983 ones (which should have been innovating more by that time for home computer gamers).

Let us now talk a little about computer game command and control. Generally speaking, complex computer games such as cRPGs and strategy games were at first text-driven, then menu-driven, then icon-driven (with hotkey support). Eventually, their active-viewports aka interactable drawspaces became point-and-click in nature; that is, both user interfaces and action-screens were seamlessly driven by mouse-pointer, with no text input or top-of-screen menu bars with branching dropdowns. Right-clicking, pop-ups, modals, tab-switching, marquee selection, drag-and-drop and context-sensitivity came next, bolstered by the hardware cursor. But after hitting that height of tactility, efficiency and functionality in the late-90s computer game designers -- who were no longer gamers first and designers second -- dumbly eschewed dedicated UI-modes (full-screen grid-based inventories and the like) in favor of a litter of floating windows, cascading menus and trashy mod-cons for console-casuals, coupled with smartphone aesthetics that make every computer game play and look almost exactly alike.

You can read more about this enfeeblement in NWN1 versus NWN2.

1981: IBM & DOS



  • MOS Technology VIC-II is designed (C64, Al Charpentier).
  • MOS Tech SID 6581 is designed (C64, Bob Yannes).
  • IBM 5150 PC is released: i8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz.
  • IBM release CGA.
  • IBM release PC DOS 1.0 (MS-DOS, IBM PC-only).
  • Over time PC-DOS / MS-DOS added support for distributable media storage capacities that ranged from 160 kbyte 5.25" floppy disks in 1981 to 2.88 mbyte 3.5" diskettes in 1991. In addition to 650-meg capacity CD-ROM support by 1986 via MSCDEX, DOS added support for hard disk drive storage capacities that ranged from a few tens of megs in the late-80s up to several gigs by the mid-90s (FAT12 to FAT32).
  • MS-DOS also added disk caching in 1988, memory management in 1991 and disk compression in 1993.
  • The 8-bit BBC Micro is released by Acorn: 6502 clocked at 2 MHz.
  • The 8-bit ZX81 is released by Sinclair Research: Zilog Z80 clocked at 3¼ MHz.
  • The 8-bit VIC 20 is released by Commodore worldwide: MOS Tech 6502 clocked at 1.xx MHz.
  • IBM release ISA (8-bit PC / 16-bit AT Bus).
  • Seagate release the ST-412 hard disk drive (5-10 meg capacity).
  • Williams release Defender, Konami release Scramble, Namco release Galaga.
  • Castle Wolfenstein Apple 2 1981. [U.S.A.]

IBM Personal Computer Model 5150


The IBM Personal Computer Model 5150 debuted in the U.S. in August of 1981. The industry-standard IBM PC was powered by an Intel 8088 CPU clocked at 4.77 MHz and also supported the Intel 8087 math coprocessor from the get-go. The IBM PC featured an 8-bit data bus, 20-bit address bus, 4-channel DMA and 8 interrupt levels.

The IBM PC came with an 83-key keyboard, five system-board I/O expansion slots, 63.5W PSU, PC DOS 1.0, three levels of Microsoft BASIC 1.10, 16-64K 250-nanosecond 16Kb 4116 DRAM and 40K ROM, which included 8K of BIOS and the BASIC interpreter. The IBM PC supported up to 64K of system-board RAM and 256K of RAM via memory expansion boards.

The IBM PC also supported 2x internal 5.25" 160-320K floppy disk drives, 2-joystick Game Control Adapter, and IBM monochrome and/or color adapter.

The IBM mono and color display adapters are based on the Motorola 6845 raster-scan cathode ray tube controller module/device.

The IBM Monochrome Display Adapter features 4K of static RAM, 80x25 character screen, 7x9 characters and 7x14 character boxes. The IBM mono adapter outputs a digital TTL signal via 9-pin D-Shell connector.

The IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter features 16K of static RAM and displays in 16-color 160x100 low resolution, 4-color CGA 320x200 medium resolution and black-and-white 640x200 high resolution modes. The IBM color/graphics adapter features 80x25 character screen, 5x7 characters and 8x8 character boxes. The IBM color/graphics adapter outputs a digital RGB signal via 9-pin D-Shell connector and a color composite video signal via phono jack, which can be converted to TV antenna signal via RF-modulator.

Upon its release in the U.S. the 16K-RAM IBM PC Model 5150 retailed for US$1570 without a floppy disk drive. By June of 1984 it came with 256K RAM and retailed for US$2000 with one floppy disk drive.

The original IBM PC of 1981 did not come with a hard disk drive or enough expansion slots to realize its full potential straight out of the box, but the IBM 5161 Expansion Unit supported 2x 5.25" IBM 10 meg hard disk drives and more expansion slots. However, even in June of 1984 the 5161 retailed for US$2900 and the 10 meg hard disk drive retailed for US$1400. 64K of RAM for the IBM PC retailed for US$100 in June of 1984.

The IBM PC 5.25" single-sided diskette drive motors at 300 RPM, transfers data at 250K bits per second and read/writes 163,840 bytes to disk using MFM whereas the IBM PC 10 meg hard disk drive aka fixed disk drive motors at 3600 RPM and transfers data at 5M bits per second. Thus were the benefits of hard disk drives made clear to the personal computer mass market.

The IBM 5151 12" P39 green-phosphor monochrome monitor was available in 1981. The 5151 displayed in MDA 720x350 resolution with a vertical refresh rate of 50 Hz and a horizontal scan frequency of 18.432 kHz. The IBM 5151 has an electron-gun bandwidth of 16.257 MHz.

The IBM 5153 13" digital RGB color monitor was not released until early 1983. The 5153 displayed CGA in 320x200 resolution with a CRT-pitch of 0.28mm, a vertical refresh rate of 60 Hz and a horizontal scan frequency of 15 kHz.

The IBM PC set the industry standard for personal computers and lead to IBM PC clones and compatibles that were distributed world-wide. For the next few years, in order for a PC to be truly IBM compatible, it would need to employ the 8088 and be able to flawlessly run IBM software and faultlessly utilize IBM peripherals. A PC that cannot do that is not IBM PC compatible, period.

The term "IBM compatible" would seal itself in the minds of personal computer consumers for the next decade, particularly in the U.S. (in the U.K. and Europe it wasn't so cut and dry outside of dedicated business computing). Since their PCs were not IBM compatible, such a mindset at the point of sale -- "But is it IBM compatible?" -- would make it an uphill battle for the likes of Commodore and Atari Corp. of 1985 to compete in the U.S. business computer market, the home computer market and even in the market that bridged business and home computer (the Atari ST being strong in that respect by 1986), but both Commodore and Atari nevertheless enjoyed some time in the sun before their flagships were relegated to niche markets. For the ST, that was MIDI, games and low-cost DTP, CAD and word processing; for the Amiga, it was games, 2D/3D graphics and animation, genlocking and high-end workstation graphics as typified by NewTek's Video Toaster. On the other hand, pre-Tramiel Atari and Tramiel Commodore enjoyed great success in the U.S. via the Atari 8-bits and C64, respectively -- the Atari 8-bits from 1979-85; the C64/128 from 1982-89.

1982



  • Intel release the 16-bit 80286 clocked at 4-25 MHz (1982-86).
  • The 286 featured protected mode and MMU.
  • Am286 released by AMD: 4-25 MHz.
  • Microsoft release MS-DOS 1.25.
  • Hercules Computer Technology release the 64K VRAM Hercules Graphics Card GB100.
  • The 8-bit Commodore 64 is released by Commodore: 6510 clocked at 1 MHz, 64K of RAM.
  • The 8-bit ZX Spectrum is released by Sinclair Research: Z80A clocked at 3½ MHz, 16-128K of RAM.
  • The 8-bit Dragon 32 is released by Dragon Data of Wales: Motorola 6809E clocked at 0.89 MHz, 32K of RAM).
  • Sony releases the 3½" disk drive.
  • Argonaut Software of the U.K. founded.
  • Electronic Arts of the U.S.A. founded.
  • FTL Games (Faster than Light) of the U.S.A. founded.
  • MicroProse MPS Labs of the U.S.A. founded.
  • LucasFilm Games of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Imagine Software of the U.K. founded.
  • Namco release Xevious, Atari release Gravitar, Vid Kidz release Robotron 2084.
  • Cosmic Crusader Michael Abrash IBM PC 1982 [U.S.A.]

Hercules Graphics Adapter


Hercules Computer Technology released the Hercules Graphics Adapter for IBM PC in 1982. The Hercules featured 64K VRAM (4x 16Kb 4164s) and displayed monochrome bitmapped graphics in 720x350 resolution and monochrome text in 80x25 characters but in 9x14 character boxes, or what amounts to 720x348 resolution. The IBM-compatible Hercules retailed for US$499 in 1982. The Hercules was an exceedingly impressive graphics adapter in 1982. Yes, it was only monochrome, but that was all you needed for spreadsheets, databases and word processors -- in the sphere of business productivity software resolution was much more important than on-screen colors. 

However, many PC games were compatible with HGC as well, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator 3. Indeed, the Lotus-supported Hercules was industry-standard in the 80s and prompted Atari Corp. to manufacture high resolution monochrome monitors for their Atari ST of 1985. In addition, Commodore's Amiga 1000 of 1985 was criticized for not having a high resolution monochrome display mode, yet its graphics were otherwise celebrated. Thus, Hercules raised the bar and deserves praise.

IBM PC 640K RAM


An IBM PC with 640K of RAM actually has 655,360 bytes of RAM available, but DOS consumes about 55,000 bytes and config.sys and autoexec.bat may be set to auto-load Terminate and Stay Resident programs (TSRs) such as a mouse driver, disk cache and print spooler, which also consume RAM. Now, a DOS game may only run if 530K of the 640K base is available to it, which my commentary refers to as the free conventional memory requirement. Thus, players may have to free up some of that base RAM by disabling TSRs, even if they have much more physical RAM installed in their system.

Sony Micro Floppy Disk Drive


In 1982 Sony Corporation of America released the Sony 3.5" single-sided double-density micro floppy disk drive in the U.S.A. The drive retailed for US$650 and featured 438K capacity and 500K bits/second data transfer rate. The built-in 3.5" disk drive of the Macintosh of 1984 was Sony-based. 3.5" disk drives were elevated to industry-standard by 1987: Mac, IIGS, ST, Amiga and IBM PS/2 computers had built-in 3.5" disk drives by 1987.

1983



  • The IBM PC/XT is released by IBM: Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz (10 meg HDD).
  • The Apple Lisa is released by Apple (Motorola 68000 clocked at 5 MHz)
  • Western Digital make HDDs for IBM PC/AT (WD1003: Parallel ATA IDE hard disk drives).
  • Borland release Turbo Pascal 1.0 for IBM PC (*.COM).
  • Konami release Gyruss.
  • Atarisoft of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Graftgold of the U.K. founded.
  • Infogrames of France founded.
  • Interplay of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Ocean Software of the U.K. founded.
  • Origin Systems of the U.S.A. founded.

IBM Personal Computer XT Model 5160


The IBM Personal Computer XT Model 5160 aka PC/XT debuted in the U.S. in March of 1983. PC/XT specifications were as per the IBM PC of 1981 except for that fact that the PC/XT came with PC DOS 2.0, 200-nanosecond 128K of DRAM minimum, eight expansion slots and 10 meg hard disk drive as standard. By June of 1984 the IBM PC/XT came with 256K of RAM and retailed for US$4400, fully-bundled.

The proliferation of hard disk drives on IBM PC and their standardization in the PC/XT, PC/AT and PS/2 (1983-87) would have a profound impact on the size and complexity of IBM PC-compatible games, the vast majority of which were installable to hard disk drive.

IBM shifted over half a million IBM PCs and PC/XTs in 1983 whereas Commodore shifted two million C64s in 1983. Commodore dominated the home computer market in 1983. In one three-month stretch of 1983 Commodore shifted one million C64s yet at that time only 10% of C64 hardware potential was being tapped by C64 game coders; that is, real C64 gaming had barely even begun. Meanwhile, Atari Inc. lost upwards of US$500 million in 1983 due to the crash of the U.S. video game industry.

Apple Lisa


In January of 1983 Apple (by then a Fortune 500 company) released the Apple Lisa personal computer in the U.S.A. Upon its release the Apple Lisa retailed for a whopping US$9,995 yet Lisa is nonetheless historically significant (mostly) by reason of its revolutionary icon-based mouse-driven GUI, which is of Xerox PARC Alto origin. Lisa hardware was housed in a cabinet with an integrated screen but detached keyboard. The 45lb Lisa was powered by a 5 MHz Motorola 68000 microprocessor and 1 meg of RAM, upgradeable to 2 megs. Lisa also featured a flicker-free built-in 12" monochrome CRT monitor that displayed in 720x364 rectangular-pixel resolution with a horizontal scan frequency of 22.4 kHz and a vertical refresh rate of 60 Hz. In addition, Lisa featured a 5 meg ProFile hard disk drive and dual 5.25" 860K floppy disk drives. Needless to say, Lisa was a highly impressive -- but expensive -- PC.

Still, in 1983 one would surely be better off with an IBM PC/XT with 10 meg hard disk drive, Hercules Graphics Adapter and 5151 monitor; more software, more peripherals, more expandability and much cheaper, too! In the 80s many power-users looked down their noses at mouse-driven GUIs, anyway: command-lines were much more powerful and more efficient to use than GUIs (assuming quick thinking, good memory recall and fast typing speed, which is what power-users possess if they are power-users at all).

While not a computer game machine by any means (Lisa was designed to run productivity software and bridge the gap between business and home computer), a few hardware and software technologies employed by Lisa would later be employed by PCs that were often used as dedicated computer game machines, such as the Apple Macintosh 128/512K of 1984, the Apple IIGS and Macintosh Plus of 1986 and the Atari 520 ST and Commodore Amiga 1000 of 1985.

For example, the application of W.I.M.P. (Window. Icon. Menu. Pointer.) interaction by LisaOS introduced the concept of mouse-driven GUIs to the mainstream. Subsequent Macs and ST/Amiga were bundled with mouse as standard because their operating sytems featured WIMP-style desktops (GEM and Intuition/Workbench). In turn, this led to many mouse-driven, icon-based and windowed games on ST/Amiga even in the early days, such as Atari ST SunDog of 1985, Amiga Defender of the Crown of 1986 and Atari ST Dungeon Master of 1987. Ergo, even though the Mac packaged WIMP for mainstream productivity users it was actually ST/Amiga that hosted the most famous and impressive GUI-based computer games of the 80s.

On the other hand, MS-DOS and PC DOS were not WIMP-based operating systems, but rather command-line interfaced. Thus, DOS games lagged behind in WIMP for a few years but eventually took over and dominated, regardless.

A Few Notable Home Computer Games of 1983


  • Sandy White's Ant Attack was the first isometric computer game. And its viewport scrolled. In terms of perspective and controls Ant Attack was the most advanced computer game of 1983. [U.K.: Scotland]
  • John Howard Palevich's Dandy on the Atari 8 Bits is practically perfect -- and of coinop quality. [U.S.A.]
  • Atarisoft released Nintendo's Donkey Kong for the Commodore 64. [U.S.A.-Japan]
  • CBM released Star Ranger for the Commodore 64. [U.S.A.]

1984: Micro Market War in Full-swing



  • IBM release EGA.
  • VLSI Amiga Lorraine designed by Jay Miner of Hi-Toro.
  • Amiga Paula designed by Glenn Keller.
  • Motorola release the 68020 microprocessor.
  • The PC/AT is released by IBM: Intel 80286 clocked at 6-8 MHz.
  • IBM release the PCjr: Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz (a failure).
  • Apple release the Macintosh 128K: M68K clocked at 6 MHz. (Apple Macintosh)
  • The 8 bit CPC 464 is released by Amstrad: Zilog Z80A clocked at 3 MHz.
  • The CPC would become big in France.
  • Tandy release the Tandy 1000: Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz. The Tandy 1000 was the first good IBM PC-compatible for gaming.
  • Mindset Corporation release the Mindset Computer: i80186 clocked at 6 MHz.
  • Sony develop the CD-ROM (650 meg capacity). Also, LaserDisc-ROM (3 gigs).
  • Borland release Turbo Pascal 2.0 for IBM PC (*.COM).
  • Dynamix of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Elite Systems of the U.K. founded.
  • Gremlin Graphics of the U.K. founded.
  • Magnetic Scrolls of the U.K. founded.
  • Psygnosis of the U.K. founded.
  • Rainbow Arts of Germany founded.
  • Reflections of the U.K. founded.
  • U.S. Gold of the U.K. founded.

IBM Personal Computer AT Model 5170


The 42lb IBM Personal Computer AT Model 5170 debuted in the U.S. in August of 1984. The industry-standard IBM PC/AT was powered by an Intel 80286 CPU clocked at 6-8 MHz and also supported the Intel 80287 math coprocessor from the get-go. The PC/AT featured 16-bit data bus, 24-bit address bus, 7-channel DMA and 16 interrupt levels. The PC/AT came with an 84-key keyboard, eight system-board expansion slots, PC DOS 3.0, monochrome monitor, 256K or 512K 150-nanosecond RAM, 64-128K ROM and supported 2x internal 5.25" 1.2 meg floppy disk drives and 20, 30 or 60 meg internal hard disk drive, aka fixed disk drive.

Upon its release in the U.S. the PC/AT retailed for US$6000. In the U.K. in December of 1984 the 256K PC/AT with one disk drive retailed for £3000 whereas the 512K PC/AT with dual disk drives and 20 meg hard disk drive retailed for £4300.

The PC/AT 5.25" high-capacity diskette drive motors at 360 RPM, transfers data at 500K bits per second and read/writes 160/180K, 320/360K or 1.2 meg to disk using MFM whereas the PC/AT 20 meg hard disk drive aka fixed disk drive motors at 3600 RPM and transfers data at 5M bits per second.

By 1987 third-party PC/AT memory expansion boards supported 2-32 megs of 80-150 nanosecond RAM (256K bit dual-pin/ZIP or 1M bit SIMMs). 32 megs of RAM was made possible by EMS 4.0.

The PC/AT would spawn several successful clones that were distributed trans-Atlantically, such as the Hewlett-Packard Vectra, COMPAQ Deskpro 286, Tandy 3000 and Commodore PC-30/40.

For example, in 1985 COMPAQ Computer Corporation released the COMPAQ Deskpro 286 in the U.S. A PC/AT clone, the Deskpro 286 was clocked at 8 MHz and featured a 20 meg hard disk drive and amber-phosphor monitor. In 1985 the 256K Deskpro 286 with 20 meg HDD retailed for US$4500 whereas the 512K Deskpro 286 with 30 meg HDD retailed for US$6300.

The PC/AT laid down the groundwork for the 286 market and triggered mass-production of the AT clone, which would compete with the Macintosh, Atari ST and Amiga in productivity software -- and computer games, which is our focus -- from the mid-to-late 80s.

Apple Macintosh of 1984


Apple released the Macintosh aka Macintosh 128K in the U.S.A. in January of 1984. The Macintosh 512K was released in September of 1984. The Macintosh 128/512K were compact all-in-one personal computers powered by Motorola 68000 microprocessors clocked at 7.83 MHz, but averaging 6 MHz.

The Mac 128K featured 128K of RAM whereas the Mac 512K featured 512K of RAM. The Mac 128/512K featured an integrated 9" monochrome 60 Hz 512x342 square-pixel bitmapped display, 4-voice 8-bit DAC at 22 KHz audio, internal Sony-based 3.5" 400K single-sided disk drive, System Software 1.0 operating system in 64K of ROM, detached 58-key keyboard, and one-button mouse.

Upon its release in 1984 the Mac 128K retailed for US$2500 and the Mac 512K retailed for US$3200.

The Macintosh was a mass-market personal computer: in comparison to its predecessor, Lisa, Apple halved the weight, halved floppy disk drive capacity, "eighthed" the RAM (or halved it in the case of the Mac 512K), removed the internal hard disk drive and reduced the screen size and resolution.

RAM reduction concerns were addressed by coding Mac system software in optimized M68K assembly language, instead of in Pascal (Lisa system software was coded in Pascal).

Lisa brought WIMP-style desktop workspaces to mainstream consciousness, but the Macintosh had the masses using them at work and at home day-in, day-out. Thus, the Macintosh is historically significant.

The market penetration achieved by the Macintosh helped to standardize the 3.5" disk drive that Sony had pioneered by 1982. For example, the Atari ST of 1985 employed 360-720K, the Amiga of 1985 employed 880K, the IIGS of 1986 employed 800K and the IBM PS/2 of 1987 employed 720K-1.44 meg.

From 1985-95 most 16-bit games were distributed on 3.5" disks. In addition, 3.5" drive data transfer rates were fast enough such that most 16-bit games of 1985-93 could be run from the disk itself, without needing a hard disk drive. In fact, most 16-bit games -- almost all assembly-coded ST/Amiga games -- auto-loaded straight from disk and from cold boot, bypassing the OS entirely.

Some Notable Home Computer Games of 1984



In the very early 80s action games of coinop origin or influence dominated the personal computer game market. And this is why the advent of Braben & Bell's Elite is a bigger deal than most people realize.

1984 also saw the popularization of the graphics adventure game via the British Knight Lore and the American King's Quest.

The original Elite on the BBC Micro was the most advanced computer game of the early-to-mid 80s. Elite is not only the best BBC Micro game, it is also arguably the best computer or video game of all-time. Elite is why everyone laughs when Knight Lore and King's Quest are called "3D" games. [U.K.]

Knight Lore's presentation and mechanics strongly influenced isometric cRPGs, adventure games and other genre. The ability to move objects around in an image-masked environment was novel. In addition, movement and positioning is precise. Ultimate Play the Game's Knight Lore is the most influential ZX Spectrum game. [U.K.]

Sierra On-Line's King Quest employed a hotch-potch of viewpoints instead of a consistent isometric perspective with accurate and responsive controls. A massively overrated "classic" that no one plays but just praises, King's Quest popularized soulless Sierra scribble-slop. Computer games would be a lot better off if Sierra never made one. [U.S.A.]

Some other notable computer games of 1984:

  • Rebelstar Games: Julian Gollop's seminal tactics game for the ZX Spectrum. [U.K.]
  • Boulder Dash Computer Games: Wow, smooth scrolling! Unbeatable gameplay. [Canada-U.S.A.]
  • Brøderbund's Karateka on the Apple 2 would lay down groundwork for both the cinematic platformer and the rotoscoped Versus Fighter. [U.S.A.]
  • Datasoft's Bruce Lee on the Commodore 64 is an early masterpiece of puzzle-platforming and hack n slash gameplay. [U.K.]
  • Atari Inc. released Nintendo's Mario Bros. for the Commodore 64. [U.S.A.-Japan]

1985



  • Intel release the 32-bit 80386 clocked at 12½-40 MHz (1985-89).
  • The 386 could address up to 4 gigs of RAM.
  • The 16-/32-bit Amiga 1000 is released by Commodore: M68K clocked at 7.xx MHz.
  • The 16-bit Atari 520 ST is released by Atari Corp.: M68K clocked at 8 MHz + MIDI.
  • The 8-bit CPC 6128 is released by Amstrad: Zilog Z80A clocked at 4 MHz.
  • The 8-bit C128 is released by CBM: MOS Tech 8502 clocked at 1-2 MHz + Z80A/B clocked at 4 MHz.
  • Microsoft release Windows 1.0.
  • Commodore release Workbench 1.0 (Amiga OS). God-tier OS.
  • Borland release Turbo Pascal 3.0 for IBM PC (*.COM).
  • Westwood Studios of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Konami release Gradius, Capcom release Commando.

NEC MultiSync Monitor of 1985


NEC Corporation pioneered multiscan monitors and released the 13" NEC MultiSync CRT monitor model JC-4301P3 in 1985. The IBM-compatible NEC MultiSync monitor had an electron-gun bandwidth of 30 MHz, a vertical scan frequency or refresh rate of 56-62 Hz, and a horizontal scan frequency or line-scan frequency of 15.5-35 kHz. The NEC MultiSync monitor could display in up to 800x560 resolution and was compatible with IBM's CGA, EGA and PGA graphics adapters. Note the scan frequency ranges of the NEC monitor; thus, the term MultiSync or multiscan.

Multiscan monitors automatically sync to or scan a range of horizontal and vertical scan frequencies that are outputted by the display hardware of various home computers, personal computers and workstations. Multiscan monitors are contrasted with monitors that only have fixed scan rates or dual-scan rates. For example, IBM's 5153 monitor of 1983 had a fixed vertical refresh rate of 60 Hz and a fixed horizontal scan frequency of 15 kHz.

In 1985 the vast majority of gamers were hooking their computers up to fixed scan-rate RGB monitors, composite monitors or conventional television sets. CRTs with 50 Hz vertical refresh rates and 15 kHz line frequencies were par for the course in 1985 and as common as dirt even in 1992, at which point high-resolution multiscan monitors had become mainstream.

The vast majority of 1985 computer games were coded to display in what was commonly referred to as low resolution, which included the 160x200, 256x192 and 140x192 of the C64, Speccy and Apple II, respectively.

In 1985 medium resolution commonly referred to 320x200 (IBM CGA/EGA and ST/Amiga) whereas high resolution commonly referred to 640x350 (EGA hires), 720x350 (Hercules), 640x400 (ST mono) and 512x342 (Mac mono).

320x200 was considered to be low resolution once square-pixel SVGA 640x480 gained traction, in 1994. However, 320x200 (ST/Amiga, IBM VGA), 320x240 (square-pixel VGA) and 320x256 (Amiga) still held the fort even in 1996; to pretend otherwise is retroactive romanticism.

Some Notable Home Computer Games of 1985



1985 saw the emergence of more complex C64 arcade-action games via Braybrook's Paradroid and Gribbly's Day Out; both of which are essentially "modern" in terms of design, mechanics and gameplay.


The most famous in-game computer game tune of 1985 was Rob Hubbard's SID composition for C64 Commando.

1985 was a strong year for martial arts games, with the C64 alone hosting Karate Champ, Karateka, Kung-Fu Master, and Way of the Exploding Fist.

In 1985 Commodore shifted two million Commodore 64s globally, which included half a million in the U.K. In 1985 the U.K. C64 market could support the release of 300 games that would garner 10,000 sales each while retailing for £9.95/£14.95 per cassette/disk unit. In 1985 the C64 retailed for £229 in the U.K., and in September of 1991 the price of the C64 dropped to £99 in the U.K.

In 1985 big C64 publishers could license up to ten games per month from developers on both sides of the Atlantic. Prime publisher choices were big names and blockbuster games that would not just top a monthly chart, but dominate a top-10 and bring in the big bucks month after month and perhaps even extend to one entire year. C64 game marketing in the U.K. was big business in 1985 -- not in the same league as U.S. game marketing, but big nonetheless and growing rapidly. For example, U.S. Gold and Ocean's alliance of 1985 resulted in The Hit Squad label which would most notably lead to They Sold a Million I-III compilation packs for C64, CPC and Speccy (the 8-bit trio).

In November of 1985 The Hit Squad released the original They Sold A Million, a five-game compilation that retailed for £9.95/14.95 (tape/disk). The Hit Squad then released They Sold A Million II in 1986 (a five-game compilation) and They Sold A Million III in 1987 (a four-game compilation).

In late-1987 Ocean released The Magnificent Seven, a seven-game compilation for £9.95/17.95 (tape/disk). In addition, Elite Systems released The Best of Elite Hit Pak I-II in 1987 (two four-game compilations).

In 1988 Ocean released We Are The Champions, which included five chart-topping 8-bit games for £9.95/14.95 (tape/disk). In 1988 Ocean also released The Crucial Compilation: The In Crowd (an eight-game Rambo/Conan-themed compilation), U.S. Gold released GIANTS: World Beaters (a five-game compilation) and Imagine Software released The Arcade Game Compilation of the Year: Taito Coinop Hits (an eight-game Taito game-pack).

Famous ST/Amiga aka "16-bit" game compilations followed suit in 1989.

Ocean Software and its external divisions produced and/or published some of the biggest film-to-game licenses of the late 80s, such as Rambo, RoboCop and The Untouchables. Whether it be film license or coinop conversion (e.g., Operation Wolf) Ocean Software and high-quality big-name product were all but synonymous from the late 80s to the early 90s, especially in regard to the C64, CPC and Speccy.


Commodore 128


Commodore released the Commodore 128 in the U.K. in June of 1985 and in the U.S.A in August of 1985. Follow up to the Commodore 64 of 1982, the C128 was a compact 3-in-1 personal computer housed in sleek plastic wedge-shaped form-factor. The C128 was powered by a MOS 6502/10-compatible MOS 8502 clocked at 1.02/2.04 MHz and a Zilog Z80B clocked at 2.04 MHz. The C128 featured 128K of RAM (expandable to 512K), 16K-RAM VDC-8563 video, 8K-RAM VIC-8564 video, SID 6581/8581 audio, 92-key keyboard, two game ports, 48K ROM with 32K BASIC 7.0, 16K ROM with 8K BASIC 2.0, and Digital Research's CP/M Version 3.0. Upon its release the C128 retailed for £250 in the U.K. and $300 in the U.S.A. The Commodore 1571 5.25" disk drive retailed for US$280 in 1985.

The C128 has three separate operation modes (a 3-in-1 computer): C64 aka 6510/02 mode, C128 aka 8502 mode and Z80B CP/M mode. In CP/M mode the C128 was compatible with the extensive preexistent CP/M software catalogue whereas in C64 mode the C128 was 100%-compatible with 6,000 preexisting C64 programs stemming back to 1982. The C128 was also compatible with most preexisting C64 hardware.

The 8K-RAM VIC-8564 supports 40x25 character screens and 8-sprite 16-color 320/160x200 graphics whereas the 16K-RAM VDC-8563 supports up to 80x25 character screens and 16 colors in 640x200 resolution. The C128 supported composite and RGB monitors. The 13" Commodore 1902 RGB Monitor of 1985 supported 80x25 digital RGBI and 40x25 composite video and Separated LVA video. The 1902 retailed for US$300 in 1985.

The Commodore 128D of 1986 integrated the 1571 disk drive into a desktop form-factor with a detached keyboard, à la Amiga 1000 of 1985. In July of 1986 in the U.K. the C128D retailed for £430, the 1571 disk drive retailed for £220 and the Commodore 1901 Monitor retailed for £250.

The C128 combined the 80-column display and CP/M operating system of the business computer with arcade-like audiovisuals (SID/VIC-II) of the computer game machine.

In July of 1985 one could purchase a 7.1 MHz Amiga 1000 with 256K RAM, RGB color monitor and 880K disk drive for US$1750 or a 2 MHz Commodore 128 with 128K RAM, RGB color monitor and 340K disk drive for US$880. Thus, the C128 was half the price of an Amiga 1000 in 1985. The Amiga was more much powerful and had much more potential, but its 1985 software catalogue was one page in length whereas the C64 and CP/M software catalogues of 1985 were of textbook length.

A strong argument can be made to the effect that from 1985-88 the Commodore 128 was the best bang-for-buck general-use home computer that money could buy. In addition, in terms of game catalogue the C64/128 were the best home computer game machines on the planet from 1985-89.

It may baffle the mind that Commodore would release such a good-value, full-featured and extensively back-catalogued personal computer in the same year as the Amiga 1000, but Commodore were strong in MOS semiconductor manufacturing in 1985.

***

In 1985 the best joysticks in the world were the microswitch Euromax Arcade, Euromax Competition Pro, and Euromax Professional Plus by Euromax Electronics of the U.K., which retailed for £15.95, £16.95 and £19.95 respectively. The Euromax Arcade and Competition Pro were available by October of 1984 in the U.K. The Quickshot I/II joysticks of 1984/85 by Spectravideo of the U.K. were cheaper and ubiquitously distributed, but they did not feature microswitched stick or buttons (£7.95/£11.95).

cf. Starcursor Joystick of 1989: The King of digital microswitch joysticks.

1986



  • Texas Instruments release the first graphics microprocessor for hardware-acceleration of graphics: TMS34010.
  • Apple release the Macintosh Plus in January: M68K clocked at 7.8 MHz & 1 meg of RAM.
  • Apple release the Apple IIGS in September: WDC 65C816 clocked at 2.8 MHz. (Apple 2GS).
  • Atari Corp. release the Atari 1040 ST: M68K clocked at 8 MHz and 1 meg of RAM.
  • ATI release the ATI Wonder Series of graphics cards (2D acceleration).
  • Borland release Turbo Pascal 4.0 for IBM PC MS-DOS (*.EXE).
  • Konami release Salamander.
  • John Twiddy's CyberLoad fast-loader is released for C64/128.
  • Bethesda of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Cinemaware of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Maxis Software of the U.S.A. founded.
  • Sensible Software of the U.K. founded.
  • Thalamus of the U.K. founded.

1986 marks the year in which C64-native shooters began to take off: four C64-native super-scrollers were released that updated their screens 50 FPS, which is silky smooth. Naturally, all four are Defender-likes -- king-tier clones of the God-king of all games. Before 1986 most C64 shooters were ports of coinop shooters.

In addition, the C64 of 1986 hosted the precursor to LucasFilm/Art adventure games via LucasFilm's Labyrinth. Moreover, in 1986 the C64 proved its capacity to render flat-shaded real-time 3D via MicroProse's combat helicopter simulator, Gunship.

C64 Ghosts 'n Goblins of 1986 smoothly scrolled its screens while simultaneously shifting up to one dozen sprites whereas PC EGA Ghosts 'n Goblins of 1987 was flip-screen only. ST/Amiga would receive scrolling ports of Ghosts 'n Goblins four years after C64 Ghosts 'n Goblins.

1986 was another strong year for martial arts games, with the C64 alone hosting Uchi Mata, International Karate, Shao-Lin's Road, (Way of the Exploding) Fist II, and Yie Ar Kung-Fu I and II.

Thus, the C64 dominated arcade-action of 1986 and even contended with the 16-bit scene of 1986 in respect to flight sims and adventure games.


On the 16-bit front, in 1986 Cinemaware made history on the Amiga 1000 via their release of Kellyn Beeck's Defender of the Crown. The pixel-perfect artwork of James Sachs coupled with the Amiga's superior color palette awed gamers on both sides of the Atlantic. Defender of the Crown was the Amiga's biggest graphics flex until the advent of Shadow of the Beast in 1989.

In viewing the above image-assembly note how the increased color-count also impacts the perceived display resolution. No other home computer game machine could output such graphics in 1986. 

Indeed, the graphics depicted above would contend with VGA graphics well into the early 90s. Make no mistake, it was the Amiga 1000 of 1985 that lifted all color restrictions that had limited 8-bit computer graphics. In comparison to 8 bit micros and the Atari ST the Amiga's palette range was regarded by mid-80s graphicians as being effectively infinite.

From 1987 to 1996 the audiovisuals of the Amiga 500 of 1987 astounded, but it all started on the Amiga 1000 of 1985 with Defender of the Crown of 1986.

Custom chips, son. Custom chips. Jay Miner, son. Jay Miner.

Some Notable Home Computer Games of 1986



The most famous in-game computer game tunes of 1986 were Martin Galway's SID composition for C64 Rambo and Mark Cooksey's for C64 1942 (Rob Hubbard's splendid Sanxion composition is loader-only).

Konix of Wales released the Konix Speedking microswitch joystick in 1986. A contender to the Euromax-line of 1984/85, the Speedking retailed for £12.99 in the U.K. in February of 1986.

In mid-1986 IBM slashed the prices of its IBM PC, PC/XT and PC/AT by an average of 17%. IBM PC cloners followed suit. When IBM or Intel adjusted their prices or released new hardware, the trans-Atlantic PC market scrambled to adjust.

Commodore 64 GEOS


Berkeley Softworks released GEOS for the C64 in June of 1986 and GEOS128 for the C128 in October of 1987. GEOS stands for Graphics Environment Operating System. GEOS was a WIMP-style desktop operating system (icons, drop-down menus etc.) that supported an 80-column display in up to 640x200 resolution on the C128. GEOS supported Commodore's 1351 mouse and included DiskTurbo software that dramatically increased 1541 disk drive read-write speeds. GEOS retailed for $59.95 in June of 1986 and was officially bundled with the Commodore 64C of 1986. GEOS was the C64/128's answer to ST GEM, Mac System and Amiga Workbench.

GEOS furnishes a prime example of how 8-bit platforms kept apace with the system-software innovations of 16-bit platforms (in this case, GUIs).

Apple Macintosh Plus of January 1986


Apple released the Macintosh Plus in the U.S.A. in January of 1986. The Macintosh Plus was powered by a Motorola 68000 microprocessor clocked at 7.8336 MHz. The Mac Plus featured 1 meg of 150-nanosecond RAM (4x 256K SIMMs), 128K ROM, 32-bit internal registers, 24-bit address bus, integrated 9" monochrome 60 Hz 512x342 bitmapped display, internal 3.5" 800K double-sided disk drive, 4-voice 8-bit DAC at 22 KHz audio, SCSI interface, System 3.0 operating system, detached 74-key keyboard, and Apple II mouse.

The Mac Plus supported 20-60 meg hard disk drives and could be upgraded to 4 megs of RAM (4x 1 meg SIMMs). Upon its release in 1986 the Mac Plus retailed for US$2600. The 20 meg Apple Hard Disk 20SC hard disk drive retailed for $US1300 in 1986.

Apple IIGS of September of 1986


Apple released the Apple IIGS in the U.S.A. in September of 1986. GS stands for "Graphics & Sound". The IIGS was powered by a 16-bit WDC 65C816 microprocessor clocked at 1.024-2.8 MHz. The IIGS could operate in two modes: 16-bit 65C816 native mode and 8-bit 6502 emulation mode.

The IIGS featured 256K of DRAM (4x 64K ICs), 128K ROM, 24-bit address bus, three display modes (lowres, hires and double hires), 40x24 or 80x24 column/line text display (80 column requires a 7 MHz electron-gun bandwidth), 16-from-4096 color palette, 32-channel 64K-RAM Ensoniq DOC 5503 audio, ProDOS 8/16 operating systems, seven internal expansion slots, one dedicated internal memory expansion slot, detached 80-key keyboard, and mouse.

The IIGS supported 5.25" 140K and 3.5" 800K double-sided disk drives, 20-60 meg hard disk drives (e.g., Apple Hard Disk 20SC), and up to 8 megs of RAM. Upon its release in 1986 the IIGS retailed for US$1000. The Sony-based Apple 3.5 Drive retailed for US$400 in 1986. The Apple 3.5 Drive had a data transfer rate of 489.6K bits/second.

Apple monitors:

  • The 12" AppleColor RGB Monitor has a dot-pitch of 0.37mm, an electron-gun bandwidth of 8 MHz, a horizontal scanning frequency of 15.734/15.659 kHz (NTSC/PAL) and a vertical scanning frequency of 50/60 Hz. The AppleColor RGB Monitor retailed for US$500 in 1986.
  • The 12" white-phosphor Apple Monochrome Monitor has an electron-gun bandwidth of 12 MHz, a horizontal scanning frequency of 15.734/15.659 kHz (NTSC/PAL) and a vertical scanning frequency of 50/60 Hz. The Apple Monochrome Monitor retailed for US$150 in 1986.
  • The 13" AppleColor Composite Monitor has a dot-pitch of 0.52mm and 50/60 Hz refresh rate. The AppleColor Composite Monitor retailed for US$380 in 1986.

Like the Apple II of 1977 the Apple IIGS was often employed as a dedicated home computer game machine. For example, the IIGS hosted a top-notch port of Arkanoid in 1988 as well as The Immortal of 1990, which is of IIGS origin. In static and moving computer game graphics the IIGS was comparable to the ST, but the IIGS did not come within an astronomical proximity to moving Amiga graphics (scrolling and sprites).

The IIGS had a legendary custom sound chip -- the Ensoniq 5503 -- designed by Bob Yannes of C64 SID fame, but Amiga Paula was put to much better use in the sphere of computer games from 1986-93. In 1988 base-line Amiga-game audiovisual capacities (which had existed since 1985) were (finally) tapped to a point that unequivocally proved the Amiga's supremacy as a home computer game machine.

Comparison of M68K-based Home Computers


What follows is an entry-level comparison of the three main M68K-based home computers under the aspect of 1986: the Atari 1040 ST of 1986, the 512K Amiga 1000 of 1986 and the Macintosh Plus of 1986.

By mid-1986 in the U.S.A:

  • The 8 MHz Atari 1040 ST with 1 meg of RAM, 720K disk drive and 12" RGB color monitor retailed for US$1800.
  • The 7.1 MHz NTSC Commodore Amiga 1000 with 512K RAM, 880K disk drive and 13" RGB color monitor retailed for US$2000.
  • The 7.8 MHz Apple Macintosh Plus with 1 meg of RAM, 800K disk drive and 9" monochrome monitor retailed for US$2600.

All three included keyboard, mouse and WIMP-style operating systems. As regards the above base-line specifications only the Mac Plus exhibits flaws: the 9" and monochrome display was too conservative in 1986.

For deeper historical pricing and hardware specification commentary readers are referred to Atari ST and Amiga 1000. Mac Plus specs are outlined in the section above this one.

  • In 1986 the ST had more games and better games than the Mac or Amiga.
  • In 1986 the ST productivity software catalogue contended with the Mac equivalent and was ahead of the Amiga equivalent.
  • For the price of one Mac Plus one could purchase four 520 STs or two 1040 STs in 1986 -- yet one 1040 ST is as capable as one Mac Plus; indeed, in several respects more capable. I'd take one 1040 ST over one Mac Plus any day of the week, let alone two.
  • The Mac Plus and 1040 ST had 1 meg of RAM and were upgradeable to 4 megs of RAM whereas the A1000 only had 512K RAM (1986 A1K) but was upgradeable to 8½ megs of RAM.
  • The A1000 had 880K disk drives whereas the Mac Plus had 800K disk drives and the ST only had 360K and 720K disk drives. Hard disk drives were available for all three in 1986.
  • ST TOS/GEM and Mac Plus System 3.0 were not preemptive multi-tasking operating systems whereas the Amiga operating environment was.
  • Mac Plus System OS and productivity software was easier to use than ST/Amiga equivalents (irrelevant and even detrimental to power-users, but not to average users).
  • The A1000 could be accelerated to 32-bit 14.32 MHz Motorola 68020 CPU with 14-20 MHz 68881 FPU and 32-bit RAM in 1986 (CSA's Turbo Amiga). The Mac/Plus variant of 1986 was 32-bit 16.67 MHz Motorola 68020 CPU with 16 MHz 68881 FPU and 32-bit RAM (Levco's Prodigy 4). These accelerators granted massive performance gains in 1986 that most home computer users would not experience until 1992.
  • The A1000 had a copper coprocessor and a bit blitter to which the ST and Mac had no answer. A1000 graphics were hardware accelerated (hardware scrolling and sprites). The ST and Mac Plus had nothing of the sort; everything needed to be done in CPU-burdening software.
  • In 1986 the A1000 could be fitted with a Sidecar that granted IBM PC/XT compatibility. The Macintosh equivalent was the MacCharlie of 1985.
  • The ST's SM124 monochrome monitor of 1986 had a line-scan frequency of 35.7 kHz and a vertical refresh rate of 71.2 Hz. Neither Mac nor Amiga had comparable monitors as standard in 1986. SM124 and 1040 ST affordability allowed the ST to outprice and undermine the Amiga in 1986 as well as surprise Mac/PC in the sphere of home productivity software.
  • The A1000 could display 16 colors in 640x400 whereas the ST could only display four colors in 640x400. The Mac Plus displayed in monochrome 512x384.
  • In 320x200 the A1000 commonly displayed 32 colors from a palette of 4096 whereas the ST commonly displayed only 16 from 512. The Amiga could display 4096 colors at once via Hold-and-Modify (HAM mode). The Mac Plus display was hires monochrome only.
  • The A1000's 4-voice Paula and Mac Plus' 4-voice Sound Generator were far superior to the ST's 3-channel Yamaha YM2149.
  • The ST was MIDI-capable straight out of the box. The A1000 and Mac Plus were not.
  • No, I didn't forget genlocks. Amiga genlocking was demonstrated in early 1986 but the A1000 Genlock was not available for purchase until early 1987.

In 1986 the Apple brand had been world-famous for almost one decade (since the Apple II of 1977). In addition, in 1986 the Macintosh Plus and Apple IIGS could draw upon a vast Apple software catalogue consisting of 10,000 programs (how much of that older software was actually useful to 1986 Apple users I leave for the reader to ponder). On the other hand, ST/Amiga were completely new home computers with no back-catalogue from which to draw, meaning they had to build up their software catalogues from scratch -- which took time. And it usually takes a long time to match established, industry-standard state of the art software, which is what some big-name PC/Mac software actually was.

The Amiga 1000 of 1985 was state of the art in hardware, in system software and in vision, but in 1986 the Amiga needed more in the way of state of the art productivity software in order to drive its sales and increase its user-base.

It took time.

Could ST/Amiga survive against PC/Mac -- could they perhaps even thrive? If so, for how long? Well, there are dedicated articles for 1987-1996 that will answer that question, and many others besides.
 

cRPG Blog by Lilura1



Lilura1 is the author of the cRPG Blog and computer game history. For its treatment range the cRPG Blog contains four main forms of computer game commentary: reviews, guides, rankings and design theory.

It is recommended that readers acquaint themselves with the commentator's perspective on computer games via History of 1990s Computer Games.


In addition, readers should probably learn about the language employed on the cRPG Blog via Computer Game Language of the cRPG Blog by Lilura1.


And lastly, the reader can learn about the presentation of the cRPG Blog via Computer Game Infographics of the cRPG Blog by Lilura1.


cRPG formal commentary is an index that leads to many articles on computer role-playing games. In an attempt to make navigation easier for the readership I have built a few indexes each with a differing commentary approach. Thus, readers can start with definitions, history, rankings or design, for example.


The more that player reflexes determine outcomes in a game, the harder it becomes to classify the game as a cRPG.
cRPGs consist largely in stats. And the more that stats dictate actions and outcomes, the more is it cRPG. -- Lilura1, The cRPG Blog Commentator.

Lilura1 genre-specific coverage:


If my unparalleled computer game commentary does not lift your spirit, consider reading some of my computer game criticism.

Then, as often happens in human endeavors, the wild-eyed hack comes along to snatch a piece of the pie. In the name of the quick buck and click the hack cares not for the endeavor, the creative process or genre legacy, but only of shortcuts, leeching and leveling down to the lowest common denominator. -- Lilura1, The cRPG Blog Commentator.


***

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)