Author: admin
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Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Edward Lerner GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1989, Edward Lerner Follow-up to EA’s first flight trainer attempt from the mid-eighties, again endorsed by legendary pilot Chuck Yeager. Advanced Flight Trainer 2.0 is a nice flight simulator offering many different planes from various eras and…
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Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Brent Iverson GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1991, Brent Iverson Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat is a classic modern air combat simulation that set new standard for the genre at the time of its release. Designed by Brent Iverson (LHX Attack Chopper), the game boasts…
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John Madden Football
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Robin Antonick GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1989, Robin Antonick Old american football simulation co-designed by famous sportscaster John Madden. The first game in EA’s long-running Madden series. I guess different versions of this game have been available on almost every platform – with…
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John Madden Football II
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Robin Antonick GAME DEVELOPER:Electronic Arts GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1991, Robin Antonick Follow-up to John Madden Football, JMF II improves upon the classic with decent VGA graphics, ADLIB music, and overall much nicer presentation. Quite an in-depth sports sim for its time, although nowhere near as…
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Jack Nicklaus
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ned Martin GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1988, Accolade Accolade’s oldie golf simulation with one of the longest game titles in computer game history, Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf (whew!) was instantly hailed as a classic when it was first released in…
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Jack Nicklaus’ Unlimited Golf
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ned Martin GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1990, Accolade Follow-up to the first Jack Nicklaus by Accolade. Back in the time of its release in 1990, there were three golf games competing for the passionate computer golfer’s heart: Links by Access Software, PGA Tour Golf by…
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Jack Nicklaus Signature Edition
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ned Martin GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1992, Accolade Signature Edition is a vastly superior follow-up to Accolade’s classic golf sim Jack Nicklaus’ Unlimited Golf. The in-game graphics were improved overall, though the golfer graphics and animations look a bit grainy. There’s also a new tournament…
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Grand Prix Unlimited
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tom Loughry GAME DEVELOPER:Accolade GAME PUBLISHER:Accolade Copyright 1992, Accolade Fairly good formula one racing simulator that comes with a handy track designer. Unfortunately, it was released around the same time Geoff Grammond released his racer Formula One Grand Prix, which made everything else look like a…
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Forbidden Quest
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:William Pryor & Donnel Cox GAME DEVELOPER:Pryority Software GAME PUBLISHER:Pryority Software Copyright 1983, Pryority Software One of the most innovative– and obscure– interactive titles ever made, Pryority Software’s Forbidden Quest is an ambitious sci-fi game that features many innovations, but falls a little flat from a…
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Thunder Chopper
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Rosenow GAME DEVELOPER:SubLogic GAME PUBLISHER:SubLogic Copyright 1989, SubLogic One of the least known games from SubLogic, a company famous for releasing dozens of scenario disks for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Thunder Chopper is a modern helicopter simulation, offering nothing new or exciting to flight sim fans.…
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Unreal
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tim McCarthy GAME DEVELOPER:UBI Soft GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft Copyright 1991, UBI Soft No, this is not the 1999 FPS blockbuster (which is far too popular to be considered an underdog anyway :)). Unreal here is a poor conversion of the popular Amiga game by UBI Soft.…
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NightHunter
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Alexander Yarmitsky GAME DEVELOPER:UBI Soft GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft Copyright 1988, UBI Soft One of the best-loved underrated games on the C64, NightHunter is a neat vampire action-adventure featuring a vampire’s daily business like blood-sucking and smooth transformations into a bat or werewolf. In contrast to most…
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Pick ‘n Pile
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:UBI Soft GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft Copyright 1990, UBI Soft Pick ‘n Pile is a great puzzle game that is simple in concept, easy to learn, and very hard to finish. The goal: pick balls of the same color, and pile them on top of…
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Gene Wars
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Bullfrog GAME PUBLISHER:Bullfrog Copyright 1996, Bullfrog Undoubtedly the worst game Bullfrog ever released, Gene Wars is a prime example of a great concept botched by poor implementation. The concept, as with all Bullfrog’s games, is very intriguing: in this mission-based real-time game, your task…
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Troddlers
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:ATOD GAME PUBLISHER:Sales Curve Interactive Copyright 1993, Sales Curve Interactive Successful games with new game principles usually spawn a long list of clones. DMA Design’s Lemmings was one of these games. Troddlers by Swedish developer ATOD is one of the few Lemmings-inspired games that…
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Moptown Parade
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Leslie Grimm GAME DEVELOPER:Learning Company, The GAME PUBLISHER:Learning Company, The Copyright 1984, Learning Company, The One of the oldest releases by The Learning Company, Moptown Parade is a fun little edutainment game aimed at teaching basic pattern recognition and logic skills to kids aged 4-7. The…
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MechWar
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Klaus Breuer GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Klaus Breuer No relations to the similar-named Infocom game (Mechwarrior), MechWar is almost a direct port of the popular FASA board game featuring futuristic mechs. Despite being an unauthorized version, Mechwar includes almost all the mechs that fans…
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Titans of Steel
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Kai Sausmikat & Henrik Schmidt GAME DEVELOPER:Vicious Byte GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Vicious Byte One of the best freeware giant robot game ever made, Titans of Steel is a solid, well thought-out tactical wargame reminiscent of FASA’s Battletech board game. Basically an unofficial remake of classic…
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Visual Pinball
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Randy Davis GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Randy Davis 17 years ago, Electronic Arts’ Pinball Construction Set was all the rage on Apple computers (the lesser-known PC version is on this site). Users could design fun, albeit primitive, pinball tables. Since that time, pinball fans…
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Shufflepuck Caf?
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Christopher Gross GAME DEVELOPER:Brderbund GAME PUBLISHER:Brderbund Copyright 1989, Brderbund A great classic air hockey game, probably better known on the Amiga and Macintosh. The game principle is simple: it’s futuristic air-hockey controlled with the mouse. What I like most about it is the obvious love that…
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Battleship Bismarck
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:General Quarters Software GAME PUBLISHER:General Quarters Software Copyright 1987, General Quarters Software Having Enjoyed GQS’s Midway: the Battle that Doomed Japan (that game is available here at Underdogs), I was much dissapointed with Battleship Bismarck, another naval wargame that deals with the famous battle…
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Stunt Driver
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Spectrum Holobyte GAME PUBLISHER:Spectrum Holobyte Copyright 1990, Spectrum Holobyte Stunt Driver is an oldie stunt car simulation by Spectrum Holobyte featuring a 1966 Shelby Mustang ready for you to drive to perfection. The game is very similar to Distinctive Software’s Stunts both in game…
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Stunts
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Stanley Chow GAME DEVELOPER:Distinctive Software GAME PUBLISHER:Brderbund Copyright 1990, Distinctive Software One of the best driving games ever made, period. Also known as 4D Sports Driving (European Mindscape release), Stunts is a fun 3D stunts racing simulator that comes with an outstanding track editor. For a…
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Quandaries
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bob Bates GAME DEVELOPER:Legend Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1998, US Department of Justice Probably Bob Bates’ most obscure “game,” Quandaries is an excellent and unique edutainment titles designed to teach professional ethics to federal agents. Designed under contract for Ethics Office of the US Department of…
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Thai Chess
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chussana Pun-ngoen GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1994, Chussana Pun-ngoen One of the better Thai chess games on the market, this is version 2.2 of Chussana Pun-ngoen’s Thai Chess program. For those who are unfamiliar with Thai chess (and that’s most of you ), here’s a…
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Amazon Trail, The
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:MECC GAME PUBLISHER:MECC Copyright 1992, MECC The Amazon Trail is a fun game in MECC’s Trail series, of which The Oregon Trail is the best and most well-known game. MECC once again succeeds in combining education (in this case, facts about the Amazon rainforest…
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NFL Video Pro Football
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Konami GAME PUBLISHER:Konami Copyright 1993, Konami Football games that convey the action on the gridiron with digitized footage from real matches typically fall short off the mark, and Konami’s NFL Video Pro Football (VPF) is no exception. Although a sequel of sort to 1992’s…
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Mario’s Time Machine
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Davies GAME DEVELOPER:Software Toolworks GAME PUBLISHER:Software Toolworks Copyright 1993, Software Toolworks An edutainment title starring Nintendo’s best known game character and friends, Mario’s Time Machine features colorful graphics, fun historical factoids from the various eras, but is ultimately bogged down with frustrating action sequences that…
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Mario’s Early Years! Preschool Fun
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Davies GAME DEVELOPER:Software Toolworks GAME PUBLISHER:Software Toolworks Copyright 1993, Software Toolworks The third and last title in Software Toolworks’ relatively unknown Mario Early Years! educational series, Preschool Fun is a fun game that teaches toddlers about basic concepts, such as numbers, colors, shapes, and sizes.…
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Mega Math
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jeff Tunnell GAME DEVELOPER:Jeff Tunnell Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Sierra On-Line Copyright 1992, Sierra On-Line One of the least known Sierra game ever, Mega Math is the last title in short-lived Turbo Learning series. This decent math game stars Quarky and Quaysoo, two spunky aliens from Jeff Tunnell’s…
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Nick Faldo’s Championship Golf
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Grand Slam GAME PUBLISHER:Grand Slam Copyright 1993, Grand Slam Nick Faldo’s Championship Golf is a very ambitious golf game that suffers from a very clunky user interface, lack of variety, and too much focus on realism at the expense of playability. Any golf fan…
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Katie’s Farm
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Lawrence Productions GAME PUBLISHER:Lawrence Productions Copyright 1991, Lawrence Productions Katie’s Farm is the last title (except for a remake in 1994 called The New Katie’s Farm) in Lawrence Productions’ highly awarded McGee series of games for preschoolers. Like other McGee titles, Katie’s Farm is…
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MiG-29M Super Fulcrum
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Simis GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1991, Domark A great update of Simis/Domark’s underrated flight sim MiG-29 Fulcrum, which was released one year earlier in 1990. While essentially the same game (with the same campaigns and planes), Super Fulcrum improves on the outstanding predecessor in every…
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day: Chess Wars
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Capstone GAME PUBLISHER:Capstone Copyright 1993, Capstone Another poor game from Capstone, whose record of releasing terrible games is probably unmatched in PC gaming history. The concept is interesting enough, as MobyGames description puts it: “[Terminator 2: Judgment Day – Chess Wars] is a chess…
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Mixed-Up Mother Goose
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roberta Williams GAME DEVELOPER:Sierra On-Line GAME PUBLISHER:Sierra On-Line Copyright 1987, Sierra On-Line Mixed-Up Mother Goose is a great adventure game for toddlers that marks a departure for designer Roberta Williams, of Kings Quest fame. First released in 1987, the games strong premise, great gameplay, and charming…
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Mixed-Up Mother Goose Enhanced
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Roberta Williams GAME DEVELOPER:Sierra On-Line GAME PUBLISHER:Sierra On-Line Copyright 1992, Sierra On-Line This is the enhanced 1992 CD-ROM version of Sierra’s classic children’s game Mixed-Up Mother Goose. Read my review of the game for description of gameplay, for it remains the same in this version, except…
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Campo’s International Rugby
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Domark GAME PUBLISHER:Domark Copyright 1993, Domark Campo’s International Rugby is a great, and largely unknown, rugby game that is endorsed by David “Campo” Campese, Australian rugby legend, who has set up his own management company after retiring from the game in 1999. Campo’s fans…
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GateWorld
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Homebrew Software GAME PUBLISHER:Homebrew Software Copyright 1993, Homebrew Software GateWorld is a decent platformer that bears more than a passing resemblance to Apogees better-known Commander Keen games. You play Captain Buzz Klondike, intrepid space adventurer. Your task is to make your way through ruined…
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E.S.S. Mega
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Coktel Vision GAME PUBLISHER:Tomahawk Copyright 1991, Coktel Vision Probably the most obscure game ever made by quirky French developer Coktel Vision (Gobliiins, Lost in Time). E.S.S. Mega (a.k.a. European Space Simulator Mega) is a lackluster space shuttle simulation that tries hard to strike a…
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Garfield: Caught in The Act
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:SEGA GAME PUBLISHER:SEGA Copyright 1996, SEGA Garfield: Caught in the Act is a fun platform game starring everyone?s favorite hungry cat. As the game begins, Garfield has somehow been sucked into, and is now trapped inside, a TV. Your task is to help him…
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Think Cross
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Max Design GAME PUBLISHER:Ascaron Copyright 1991, Max Design Th!nk Cross is a decent Tetris clone with a twist. Instead of moving falling blocks in an empty play area, your goal is to match blocks of various colors and shapes by moving them horizontally and…
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Kengi
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Software 2000 GAME PUBLISHER:Software 2000 Copyright 1991, Software 2000 A decent puzzle game that is best described as Othello in 3D. In this board game variant, you and the computer player take turn placing Kengi (small aliens) on the game board. Each player scores…
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Tubis
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Alexander Kochetov GAME DEVELOPER:DOKA GAME PUBLISHER:DOKA Copyright 1993, DOKA Tubis is a complex Tetris variant that is best described as the “expert” level of Welltris. It is best described as Welltris stretched out in every direction so the well becomes cylindrical (a tube, hence the name…
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Star Wars Chess
From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Software Toolworks GAME PUBLISHER:LucasArts Copyright 1993, Software Toolworks Star Wars Chess is a lackluster animated chess game similar to Interplay’s Battle Chess. The SEGA CD version of the game, released a year later, is better known and better-sold than this rare PC version. Each…