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Best IBM PC Games



Best IBM PC MS-DOS Games



For the purposes of my computer game commentary I refer to the IBM PC and its compatibles as computer game machines.

IBM PC games include PC Booters, MS-DOS games and Windows games.

The Microprocessor of the IBM PC


The IBM PC was powered by 16 and 32 bit Intel 808x and 80x86 microprocessors. The original 5150 IBM PC of 1981 was powered by the 16 bit Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz.

  • The i8086 of 1978 was clocked at 5-10 MHz
  • The i8088 of 1979 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. The IBM PS/2 of 1987 employed the 8086 and i80x86; its RAM ranging from 512 kbytes to 4 megs.

Post-808x, the IBM PC and compatible was powered by Intel 80x86 CPUs.

  • The 16 bit i80286 of 1982 was clocked at 4-25 MHz
  • The 32 bit 386 of 1985 was clocked at 12½ to 40 MHz
  • The 32 bit 486 of 1989 was clocked at 16-100 MHz
  • The 32 bit Pentium or "586" of 1993 was clocked at 60-300 MHz

The most famous IBM PC setups for gaming were:

  • i80386DX-33 MHz / 2 megs of RAM (for texture-mapped 3D gaming in 1991-92)
  • i80486DX2-66 MHz / 4 megs of RAM (for Doom of 1993)
  • Intel Pentium 100 MHz and 16 megs of RAM (for Quake of 1996)
 
In the sphere of computer gaming RAM ranged from 1-16 megs on the 286 up to 4-64 on the Pentium. [1]

Therefore, on a technical level it is hardly fair to compare 808x-based games with 80x86-based ones. In terms of computational power requirements we are dealing with Space Invaders versus Quake; that is, computational power that ranges from half a MIP up to 190 MIPS.

Microprocessor speed (MHz) and memory (RAM) are primary factors in computer-game performance.

RAM of the IBM PC


Of concern to IBM PC MS-DOS gaming is free conventional RAM as well as EMS RAM and XMS RAM via memory managers.

IBM PC MS-DOS games later employed DOS Extenders such as Rational Systems' DOS/4GW Protected Mode run-time.

IBM PC Graphics Modes


Secret of Monkey Island IBM PC MS-DOS LucasFilm Games 1990:


In assessing IBM PC games the graphics mode employed is also a major factor. Not just because the graphics mode dicates on-screen color-count, palette range, aspect ratio and resolution, but also because it dictates screen-draw complexity and speed. For example, VGA offers page-flipping, parallel pixel processing and per-pixel hardware scrolling whereas SVGA offers hardware cursors, increased chipset clockspeed and over ten times more display memory, which results in much faster line-draws and color-fills (up to 30 times faster).

The main IBM graphics adapters and modes of operation of concern to us are as follows:


Color & Memory [2]:

  • CGA features 4 on-screen colors drawn from a palette range of 16 colors. Display memory amounts to 16 kybtes. 2-color Hercules monochrome is also 16K.
  • EGA features 16 on-screen colors drawn from a palette range of 64 colors. Display memory ranges from 64-256 kbytes.
  • VGA features 256 on-screen colors drawn from a palette range of 262,144 colors. Display memory ranges from 256 kbytes to (typically) 1 mbyte. VGA also supports per-pixel hardware-scrolling, page-shifting and parallel pixel processing.
  • SVGA features 24-bit color. Display memory ranges from 1-4 mbytes. SVGA also features hardware cursors and line-draws and flood-fills that are 30x faster than VGA.

Therefore, in terms of graphics it is hardly fair to compare CGA games with SVGA games. Instead, we need to assess IBM PC games based on hardware technologies that were available during their dev-cycles or at the time of their release.

For example, a CGA game of 1983 is not penalized for its lack of color. Since CGA+ and EGA were not out yet, the only way you can criticize the graphics of a 4-color CGA game of 1983 is by comparing it with a 16-color Commodore 64 game of the same year; that is, you could say that the CGA game was not graphically advanced for 1983 (at least in terms of on-screen colors and palette range).

But anyway, since the C64 is not an IBM PC or compatible it does not concern us here. [3]

CGA versus EGA versus VGA


Example of IBM CGA graphics (Boulder Dash 1984):


Example of IBM EGA graphics:


(Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail Sierra On-Line 1990).

Example of IBM VGA graphics:



Example of IBM SVGA graphics:


(SimCity 2000 IBM PC MS-DOS 1993 Maxis).

Best IBM PC Games

 
According to my current commentary the best IBM PC game is the i80286 assembly-coded Frontier: Elite 2 by Braben & Sawyer. This conclusion was based on how Frontier harnessed machine-specs, how it played, and the impact it had on people that played it. In fact, I can think of no other computer game over a 30-year period that sparked my imagination and made my eyes light up like Frontier did in 1993; not even Doom was on par in that respect.

However, I have thus far given five IBM PC games scores of 9.9 out of 10. Here is my current top 10 IBM PC games list:


Most of the above are VGA games that run well on 16-bit 286es; only JA2, Civ2 and Alpha are 32-bit and SVGA-only. All of the above are either IBM PC-exclusives, IBM PC-firsts or are best played on IBM PCs via MS-DOS or Windows. And all of them are 1990s computer games except for M1 of 1989.

Note also how 7 out of 10 are turn-based games.

Best IBM PC Developer (not publisher)


Based on the impact of Doom and Quake alone, id Software were the most influentual IBM PC developer, but I would venture to state that MicroProse MPS Labs were numero uno in terms of quality + quantity of computer games that also educate (I'm big on games that educate, not just entertain).

GOAT dev.

First IBM PC Game to have Smooth Scrolling


In so far as I can recall, the first IBM PC game to feature smooth screen-scrolling was John Friedman & Joe Hellesen's 1988 conversion of Andrew Braybrook's C64 Uridium of 1986, which is a super-scroller.


Best IBM PC Ports


Well, the Uridium port is certainly a contender for best IBM port. I mean, smooth and fast variable-rate bi-directional scrolling on a 808x and 286 in 1988 is notable, is it not?

Or how about the 1983 ports of Galaxian, Defender and Robotron 2084 on i808x? Let me guess: don't count because "CGA", "early 80s" and "I wasn't born yet".

Operation Wolf 1989 IBM PC MS-DOS Banana Development 1989:


Mortal Kombat IBM PC MS-DOS Probe Software 1993:



IBM PC Game Fidelity and Framerate Advantage


Some early IBM PC games had major framerate, fidelity and draw-speed advantages over the Atari ST and Amiga, which is important in non-action genre that feature lots of on-screen data as well as many modes of operation via screen-switching.
 


These advantages only became more and more pronounced as the years rolled on.

IBM PC Games Catalogue Strength


It is important to remember that the IBM PC had an extensive CGA games catalogue before the ST/Amiga even came out in 1985. And that CGA was in the vast majority of cases backwards-compatible with EGA and VGA. Thus does the CGA games catalogue count when comparing the IBM PC games catalogue against ST/Amiga games catalogues, which means that ST/Amiga is going up against CGA, EGA and VGA of the IBM PC.

In the 808x CGA era the IBM PC was getting official coinop conversions of classic arcade games most of which the ST/Amiga would actually never get. What they got in most cases were clones thereof, not official ports. And they got those clones years later. Which means that 1985-87 ST/Amiga owners did not have access to many of the classic coinop ports at a time when their games catalogues were actually quite weak, aka only emerging.

To summarize: the Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 catalogues beat the 808x CGA catalogue (across most genre, not all), the C64 and Amiga beat the 286 EGA catalogue (across most genre, not all), but the 386 and 486 VGA catalogue beat the Amiga catalogue across most genre by 1993 and forever-after.

IBM PC Game Distribution Media


IBM PC games were distributed on 5.25" floppy disks and 3.5" diskettes. Disk capacities ranged from 160kB-360kB 5.25" self-booting floppies aka "PC Booters" in the early 80s to 720kB 3.5" double-density diskettes in the late 80s to 1.44MB 3.5" high-density diskettes in the early 90s. IBM PC games started getting distributed on CD-ROM in the early 90s.


Before the advent of CD-ROM some IBM PC games were being distributed on 10 or more disks, but most IBM PC games were hard disk drive-installable by the late 80s, either by way of copy *.* c:\ or by way of custom installation programs some of which extract aka explode heavily compressed data-files.  

Note that standard ST/Amiga 3.5" diskette capacities were double-density (DD) 720kB / 880kB; that is, their diskette drives were not 1.22 MB or 1.44 MB high-density (HD).

For example, the IBM PC MS-DOS version of Beneath a Steel Sky of 1994 was distributed on 6x 3.5" HD 1.44MB HD diskettes whereas the Amiga version was distributed on 15x 3.5" 880kB DD diskettes.


The size increase of IBM PC games was mostly attributable to the cinematization of computer games, not gameplay complexity. For example, the dozen-disk Wing Commander games are laughably simplistic in comparison to some one-and-two-disk games, such as Frontier Elite 2.

IBM PC, ST and Amiga gamers learned very quickly not to judge games based on the number of disks they were distributed on. Just because a game comes on 10 disks doesn't mean it has better gameplay or more content than a game that comes on one disk. Indeed, by 1992 it was safer to say that the more disks a game comes on the worse it probably is.

Which is to say that it is probably going to be a cinematized adventure game with poor gameplay, limited mechanics and basic coding -- but with tons of images, animations and audio.

In addition, present-day commentators often forget to factor in the loathsome disk-swapping that was often required for "big" ST/Amiga games. And while it is true that some serious ST/Amiga gamers had hard disk drives and floppy disk drive stacks, the simple truth is that most owners of STs and Amigas did not. And most ST/Amiga games were NOT hard disk drive-installable, which brings us to load-times: I should not need to say that loading games from hard disk drives is much faster than loading them from floppy disks.

And so this is another advantage of IBM PCs, which usually had hard disk drives as standard.

[1]

My commentary is primarily concerned with computer games coded for i808x and i80x86.

[2]

Only resolutions commonly employed in IBM PC computer games are listed. This goes for color palette and display memory as well.

[3]

Now, as it pertains to computer games, an actual wave of computer-game releases, IBM PC graphics were at the forefront of all home computer game graphics by 1989 at the earliest. EGA games were at their height; VGA games had not yet reached the halfway mark of their potential. At any rate, one cannot with confidence say that IBM PC 2D graphics were on the level of the Amiga in 1988, nor that its 3D graphics were on the level of the Archimedes in 1987.

But even though the IBM PC did not topple the Amiga in 2D when it counted (88-91), it didn't matter all that much because the Amiga was Doomed, anyway. And I can confidently say that, based on the hundreds of VGA and Amiga games I have covered from the late 80s to early 90s, VGA could have toppled the Amiga in 2D by 1991 if more coders had striven towards that goal. Also, the Archimedes was toppled in 3D by VGA in 1991 via Falcon 3.0.

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