PC Games 1992

History of 1990s Computer Games | Computer Game Reviews | Amiga Game Reviews

1992 PC Games

This is a curated list of PC games that came out in 1992. The PC games are listed in alphabetical order. Both MS-DOS and Amiga games are included. I will expand on this list in the future.

1992 was one of the most innovative and impressive years of 1990s computer game history. Consider:

• Alone in the Dark by I-MOTION predates Resident Evil by four years.
• Darklands by MPS Labs invented RTwP six years before Baldur's Gate came out.
• Dune 2 by Westwood Studios formalized the RTS genre, which became HUGE.
• Flashback by Delphine was the first massive and full-featured cinematic platformer.
• Joe and Mac by Elite was the first top-tier VGA-based port of a coinop platformer.
• Laser Squad by Target was the first proper 16-bit turn-based tactics game.
• LINKS 386 Pro by Access Software was the first 32-bit golf simulator.
• Parasol Stars by Factor 5 was the best platform game on Western home computers.
• Premier Manager by Realms of Fantasy was the best team-sports management game.
• Sensible Soccer by Sensible Software is arguably the best English football game ever made.
• Street Fighter 2 by Creative Materials was the first great versus Fighter on PC and one of the best coinop ports in history.
• Ultima Underworld by Origin was the first realtime t-mapped game to be developed and demonstrated.
• Wolfenstein 3D by id Software was the first major FPS to be released.

In 1992 the PC was not beating the Amiga in coinop genre because its VGA chipset was not yet being banged hard by 2D coders. Thus, the 64-color extra half-brite mode of Unreal and Agony or the 32-color PAL overscan mode of Alien Breed and Project X continued to contend, but the PC versions of Street Fighter 2 and Joe and Mac smashed the Amiga versions to pieces, which suggested what was to come in the next few years: the Amiga getting beaten at its own game.

Moreover, the PC was beating the Amiga black and blue across most other 1992 genre, from the casual adventure game to the grognard flight sim. In some genre Amiga ports of PC games were laughing stocks; needlessly so in many cases, since poor Amiga ports stemmed from PC-developer ignorance of Amiga hardware and/or a lack of care and consideration. However, it amused me that Monkey Island 2 on the Amiga had smoother scrolling and hardware mouse cursor movement than the celebrated -- indeed, revered -- PC original.

Sierra On-Line did not understand the Amiga or care much about the Amiga versions of their games, but LucasFilm did because they took pride in every release, whether it was for the lead platform or not. 

Across any and all genre of the early 80s to the late 90s LucasFilm were simply much better at coding, writing, drawing and composing than Sierra On-Line, period.

LucasFilm was high quality, Sierra On-Line was low quality. It really is that simple.

cf. Early 1990s IBM PC Games that made Amiga owners jealous.

Audio-wise, in October of 1992 Advanced Gravis Computer Technology released the Gravis UltraSound, a 16-bit, 32-voice stereo sound card with a 44.1 kHz sampling rate and 256K of on-board RAM, expandable to 1 meg. Star Wars: Rebel Assault of December of 1993 was the first big-name PC game to support Gravis UltraSound, which otherwise hit its height in 1995.

In 1992 Amiga Paula of 1985 was still able to at times contend with PC digital sound and MIDI music of the Sound Blaster and Roland MT-32 combo. Consider for example the sampled sound of Project X and the orchestrations of Agony.

 

By 1992 the Atari ST had been decimated by the Amiga and yet there the ST was, still moping around, as if to ensure that some future Amiga games would get hamstrung by the ST's feeble tech-specs, as many had been in the past. I've said it before and I'll say it again: if only the ST was killed off by the advent of Shadow of the Beast back in 1989, but alas, the ST was truly the turd that would not flush.

Successors to the ST and A500 respectively, Atari released the Falcon and Commodore released the Amiga 1200 in late 1992. The Falcon and the A1200 were much more powerful than the ST and A500, but they were not powerful enough to compete with the combo of Intel's x86DX and the audiovisual chipsets of big-box PCs (sound cards and S/VGA cards).

Note that Falcons and A1200s were housed in ST and A500-like semi-portable enclosures; they were not big-box machines, but rather microcomputers. Very, very cool micros that you could take into your living room and plug into your big-screen TV and stereo system.

Falcons were powered by Motorola 68030s clocked at 16 MHz and A1200s by Motorola 68EC020s clocked at 14 MHz. However, out of the box the base-model Falcon only had 1 meg of RAM and the A1200 only had 2 megs of ChipRAM. Adding 4 megs of 32-bit trapdoor FastRAM (as opposed to 16-bit PCMCIA-based FastRAM) significantly increased A1200 speed and unlocked its power, but the A1200 also needed an 030 accelerator to approach the 386DX's number-crunching speed: the 020 with 2 megs of ChipRAM being akin to the 386SX in power, which was not a Doom-level CPU. [1]

Adversely affecting the portability of 3D PC games to Amiga, the A1200 did not auto-convert byte-per-pixel aka chunky graphics of VGA to bitplane aka planar graphics of the Amiga (as performed by VLSI Akiko of the CD32 of September of 1993).

As for their 3.5" disk drives, the A1200 only supported 880 KB DD diskettes (like the A1000 of 1985) whereas the Falcon supported 1.44 MB HD diskettes (like the IBM PC). Thus, for example, 256-color PC DOS Beneath a Steel Sky of 1994 was distributed on six diskettes whereas 32-color Amiga BaSS of 1994 was distributed on 15.

Both the Falcon and A1200 featured SVGA-like displays and good audio capabilities though A1200 audio was not improved over 1987 A500 audio yet the Falcon featured 8-channel 16-bit digital audio DMA.

Sadly, both machines lacked hard disk drives and CD-ROM as standard. Sure, some Falcon and A1200 owners upgraded these micros into what amounted to multimedia workstations, but was the average game-dev going to tap that potential when most A1200 owners did not upgrade to workstation-level and big-box PCs already had unassailable market penetration?

The A1200 needed at least 4 megs of FastRAM, 030 speed and hard disk drive as standard in order to get noticed by big PC devs in the U.S., many of whom had long since regarded A500s as toys and big-box Amigas as NewTek Video Toasters; across the Atlantic they did not think of Amigas as PCs, per se -- and yet they were -- except they were not IBM-compatible, which was key in the IBM-dominated U.S. market.

 

Suffice it to say that the Falcon and the A1200 never took off as computer game machines; they had no Killer App upon launch and nothing much to make them stand out later on like their predecessors did: Oids and Dungeon Master on 520 STs or Beast and Lemmings on A500s (and many others besides). Relative to release date and tech-specs no A1200 or Falcon game was as impressive as those. In fact, up until the Amiga's demise games that ran on A500s were more impressive than AGA-exclusives.

On the other hand, the IBM PC compatible was already hosting Falcon 3.0 in 1991. Base-model A1200s and Falcons could not have handled Falcon 3.0 even if they were out, which they were not (late-92).

 

That said, some good games were released for the Falcon and A1200, most ST/A500 games ran on them, some A500 games were enhanced for the A1200, and some games ran faster on the A1200 (such as The Settlers of 1993), but Amiga game-devs did not get the chance to push the A1200 and its AGA chipset hard before the Amiga lost the two-front war against PCs at one end and the new consoles from Sega, Nintendo and Sony at the other.

Thus did microcomputer gaming fade out by the mid-90s: the Falcon and the A1200 were the last microcomputers. [2]

With all that said, I am thankful for the Falcon and A1200: they were cool and highly expandable machines.

Other Hardware and Software that Emerged in 1992

• Microsoft released Windows 3.1.
• Intel released PCI bus (32/64 bit). Mainstream by 1995.
• VESA released VESA VLB bus / VLB (made S/VGA games easier to code). Strong for 3 years.
• Silicon Graphics released OpenGL (3D & 2D vector API).
• Commodore released Workbench 3.0 (Amiga OS).
• Creative Technology released Sound Blaster 16.

***

The King computer game of 1992 was Dune 2 by Westwood Studios.

Each entry below links to either technical overviews, reviews or deep delves on the game. You can click an image and mouse-wheel up and down through the images.

Note the two Commodore 64 shoot 'em ups one of which was coded by The Master, Manfred Trenz.

List of 1992 PC Games

Aces of the Pacific IBM PC MS-DOS Dynamix 1992:

Agony Amiga Art and Magic 1992:

Alien Breed Special Edition 92 Amiga Team 17 1992:

Alone in the Dark IBM PC MS-DOS I-MOTION Infogrames 1992:

Amberstar Atari ST Thalion Software 1992:

Armor-Geddon IBM PC MS-DOS Psygnosis 1992:

B-17 Flying Fortress IBM PC MS-DOS Vektor Grafix 1992:

Batman Returns IBM PC MS-DOS Spirit of Discovery 1992:

B.C. Kid Amiga Factor 5 1992:

Birds of Prey IBM PC MS-DOS Argonaut Software Chris Sawyer 1992:

Black Crypt Amiga Raven Software 1992:

Buck Rogers Matrix Cubed IBM PC MS-DOS SSI 1992:

Caesar IBM PC MS-DOS Impressions Games 1992:

Captive IBM PC MS-DOS Mindscape 1992:

Catalypse Commodore 64 Genias 1992:

Celica GT Rally IBM PC MS-DOS Astros Productions 1992:

Comanche: Maximum Overkill IBM PC MS-DOS NovaLogic 1992:

Darklands IBM PC MS-DOS MPS Labs 1992:

Dark Queen of Krynn IBM PC MS-DOS SSI 1992:

Deliverance Amiga Devinart 1992:

Dune 2 IBM PC MS-DOS Westwood Studios 1992:

Enforcer: Fullmetal Megablaster Commodore 64 Manfred Trenz 1992:

Epic IBM PC MS-DOS Digital Image Design 1992:

Falcon 3.0 Operation Flying Tiger Spectrum Holobyte 1992:

F-15 Strike Eagle 3 IBM PC MS-DOS MPS Labs 1992:

Fire and Ice Amiga Graftgold 1992:

Flashback Amiga Delphine Software 1992:

Formula One Grand Prix IBM PC MS-DOS Microprose 1992:

Gary Grigsby's Pacific War IBM PC MS-DOS SSI 1992:

Gobliins 2 Coktel Vision IBM PC MS-DOS 1992:

Inca PC DOS Coktel Vision 1992:

Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis IBM PC MS-DOS LucasArts 1992:

Ishar: Legend of the Fortress IBM PC MS-DOS Silmarils 1992:

Jaguar XJ220 Amiga Core Design 1992:

Joe and Mac: Caveman Ninja IBM PC MS-DOS Elite 1992:

King's Quest 6 IBM PC MS-DOS Sierra On-Line 1992:

Lamborghini American Challenge IBM PC Titus 1992:

Laser Squad IBM PC MS-DOS Target Games 1992:

Legend of Kyrandia IBM PC MS-DOS Westwood Studios 1992:

Legends of Valor IBM PC MS-DOS Synthetic Dimensions 1992:

LINKS Amiga Access Software 1992:

LINKS 386 Pro IBM PC MS-DOS Access Software 1992:

Llamatron 2112 IBM PC MS-DOS Jeff Minter 1992:

Lotus 3: The Ultimate Challenge Amiga Magnetic Fields 1992:

Lure of the Temptress IBM PC MS-DOS Revolution Software 1992:

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge Amiga LucasArts 1992:

Moonstone IBM PC MS-DOS Images Software 1992:

Myth Amiga System 3 1992:

Nigel Mansell's World Championship Amiga Gremlin Graphics 1992:

No Second Prize Amiga Thalion Software 1992:

Overkill IBM PC MS-DOS Tech-Noir 1992:

Parasol Stars Amiga Ocean Software 1992:

PowerMonger IBM PC MS-DOS Bullfrog Productions 1992:

Premier Manager Amiga Realms of Fantasy 1992:

Project X Amiga Team 17 1992:

Quest for Glory IBM PC MS-DOS VGA Sierra On-Line 1992:

Red Baron Mission Builder IBM PC MS-DOS Dynamix 1992:

Revenge of the Mutant Camels Amiga Llamasoft 1992:

Sensible Soccer Amiga Sensible Software 1992:

Shadow of the Beast 3 Amiga Reflections 1992:

Star Control 2 IBM PC MS-DOS Toys for Bob Accolade 1992:

Spelljammer IBM PC MS-DOS Cybertech Systems 1992:

Star Trek: 25th Anniversary IBM PC MS-DOS Interplay 1992:

Street Fighter 2 IBM PC MS-DOS Capcom 1992:

TecnoballZ Amiga TLK Games 1992:

Titus the Fox Titus France Amiga 1992:

Treasures of the Savage Frontier IBM PC MS-DOS Beyond Software 1992:

Ultima 7 IBM PC MS-DOS Origin Systems 1992:

Ultima Underworld IBM PC MS-DOS Origin Systems 1992:

Wolfenstein 3D IBM PC MS-DOS id Software 1992:

Zool Amiga Gremlin Graphics 1992:

Best 1992 Computer Games: Awards

• Best RTS game of 1992: Dune 2 (PC)
• Best Turn-based tactics game of 1992: Laser Squad (PC)
• Best Wargame of 1992: Gary Grigsby's Pacific War (PC)
• Best cRPG of 1992: Darklands (PC)
• Best Adventure Game of 1992: Star Trek: 25th Anniversary (PC)
• Best FPS of 1992: Wolfenstein 3D (PC)
• Best Flight Sim of 1992: Aces of the Pacific (PC)
• Best versus Fighter of 1992: Street Fighter 2 (PC)
• Best Platform game of 1992: Parasol Stars (Amiga)
• Best Racing sim of 1992: Formula One Grand Prix (PC)
• Best Coinop port of 1992: Street Fighter 2 (PC)
• Best Shoot 'em up of 1992: Project X (Amiga)
• Best Sports game of 1992: LINKS 386 Pro (PC)
• Best Physics of 1992: Formula One Grand Prix (PC)
• Best Presentation in a 1992 game: Dune 2 (PC)
• Best Sound Effects of 1992: Street Fighter 2 (PC)
• Best Music of 1992: Shadow of the Beast 3 or Agony (Amiga)
• Best 3D game of 1992: Alone in the Dark (PC)
• Best 2D game of 1992: Dune 2 (PC)
• Best 8-bit game of 1992: Enforcer (C64)
• Best Game of 1992: Dune 2 (PC)

[1]

Third-party Amiga accelerators of the early 1990s:

In 1991 RCS Management released the Fusion 40 accelerator for the A2000: 25 MHz 68040 (25 MIPS / 8 MFLOPS) and 32 megs of 32-bit RAM.

In 1992 Progressive released Progressive 040/500 accelerator for the A500: 25 MHz 68040 and 4 megs of 32-bit RAM.

In 1992 GVP released the GVP A530 Turbo accelerator for the A500: 40 MHz 68EC030 CPU, 40 MHz 68882 floating point math coprocessor (FPU), 8 megs of 32-bit 60 nanosecond RAM (2x 4 meg SIMMs), DMA SCSI controller and 240 meg hard disk drive (can add 6x hard disk drives or CD-ROM drives).

[2]

As well, both Atari and Commodore would release their own consoles in late 1993: the Atari Jaguar and Amiga CD32 -- two utter laughing stocks. Note that Liberation: Captive 2 of 1993 was released for the CD32 before the A1200.

cf.

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