SVGA Games 640x480
This is a chronological list of the most technically notable computer games on IBM PC MS-DOS that were coded to display in and take advantage of SVGA, which is an IBM-originated graphics mode that supports square-pixel 4:3 aspect ratio 256-color 640x480 as opposed to 16-color 640x400 VGA and 640x350 EGA.
Warlords of 1989 for IBM PC is a notable early example of a computer game that features a 16-color 640x400 viewport, but this article is only concerned with square-pixel 640x480.
SVGA 640x480 was not just about 4:3 square-pixel resolution in 256 colors from a palette of 256K. It was also about hardware cursors, increased clockspeed and increased display memory (256 KB for VGA, 1-4 MB for SVGA). Line-draws, square-fills and poly-fills -- they were 30 times faster in SVGA.
Note that IBM's Professional Graphics Controller of 1984 supported 640x480 and could display 256 colors from a palette of 4096. However, it was not employed for computer games (PGC was a workstation graphics controller).
Some of the following IBM PC MS-DOS games support SVGA-standardized resolutions beyond 640x480, such as 800x600, 1024x768 and 1280x1024. These are marked with asterisks [*].
Reminder that these are MS-DOS games, not Windows games. DirectX Windows games are square-pixel.
Wonderland IBM PC MS-DOS 1990 Magnetic Scrolls
Populous 2 IBM PC MS-DOS 1993 Bullfrog
Populous 2 technically runs in 16-color 640x480 but its viewport is only 640x400. Still, I can tell you that it was like magic playing Populous in hi-res in 1993. And in Populous who needs more than 16 colors?
Empire Deluxe IBM PC MS-DOS 1993 White Wolf
SimCity 2000 IBM PC MS-DOS 1993 Maxis
Panzer General IBM PC MS-DOS 1994 SSI
NASCAR Racing IBM PC MS-DOS (1994, Papyrus Design Group)
IndyCar Racing 2 IBM PC MS-DOS (1995, Papyrus Design Group)
Need for Speed IBM PC MS-DOS EA 1995
MechWarrior 2 IBM PC MS-DOS Activision 1995
Steel Panthers IBM PC MS-DOS 1995-97 SSI
WarCraft 2 IBM PC MS-DOS 1995 Blizzard
Crusader: No Remorse / Regret (1995-96, Origin Systems)
Shattered Steel IBM PC MS-DOS BioWare 1996
Grand Prix 2 IBM PC MS-DOS Microprose 1996
NASCAR Racing 2 (1996, Papyrus Design Group)
Quake IBM PC MS-DOS id Software 1996
[*]
F-22 Lightning 2 IBM PC MS-DOS NovaLogic 1996
Settlers 2 IBM PC MS-DOS Blue Byte 1996
Z strategy game (1996, Bitmap Brothers)
Fallout 1 Interplay 1997
X-COM: Apocalypse IBM PC MS-DOS Mythos Games 1997
Grand Theft Auto IBM PC MS-DOS DMA Design 1997
Grand Prix Legends (1998, Papyrus Design Group) [*]
Grand Theft Auto 2 IBM PC MS-DOS DMA Design 1999
cf.
- Non-standard Square-pixel VGA Games on IBM PC MS-DOS
- EGA IBM PC Games
- EGA 640x350 IBM PC Games
- Screen-scrolling in Computer Games
- The First Texture-mapped Computer Games
- The First Flat-shaded Computer Games
- History of 1990 Computer Games
- Computer Games Listed in Chronological Order
- Computer Game Reviews
- cRPG Blog (Master Index)
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