Happened to run across an old ssi game catalog online and brought back a lot of memories.....those were the days. I remember reading each caalog I got a thousand times......might have read them more than actually playing the games:)
Although I like the ease of downloadable games, I remember ordering these types of games and waiting a couple of weeks to receive them. The anticipation was well worth it.
Oh we'll, we'll never see this type of stuff again:(
Link to an old catalog.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/24431065/SSI-Summer-1987-Catalog
SSI developed/published some of the great games of all times. Not to mention they packaged kick ass manuals with them too.
Quote from: Bison on January 27, 2013, 04:22:03 PM
SSI developed/published some of the great games of all times. Not to mention they packaged kick ass manuals with them too.
No doubt...I remember the big boxes they came in and the manuals were like large magazines. Use to read those over and over....heaven forbid I had actually a chance to understand the game mechanics:)
On that sample catalog, the last page shows game prices. Interesting to see they were about the same as today.
That is what I used for pr0n when my kids were little. I'd lock myself in the sh*thouse with a copy
of the latest catalogue and beg.... not for sex but for 90 bux because the Canuckbuk was so low then.
AHHHhhh the disk drive would whir for 20 minutes and I would get:
Port Moresby..........1 P39 shotdown
Port Moresby..........1 P39 shotdown
Port Moresby..........1 P39 shotdown
etc. etc.
Two minutes to input the next turn and 20 minutes of whirring....
Ah, Questron and Cosmic Balance both bring back fond memories. I remember, the notion of being able to play the first ever computerized space combat simulation game in my life kind of blew my mind.
Of course, it wasn't for another year or so before SSI released their greatest series of works, the Silver Box games. I think Pools of Radiance debuted in 1988? THAT was a killer game, and took the genre as far ahead as previous ground breakers like the Ultima series had or Temple of Apshai and Hellfire Warrior before that. Man, that sure was fun firing up my Commodore 64 and playing those games all Summer long!!
Quote from: Longdan on January 27, 2013, 04:29:48 PM
That is what I used for pr0n when my kids were little. I'd lock myself in the sh*thouse with a copy
of the latest catalogue and beg.... not for sex but for 90 bux because the Canuckbuk was so low then.
AHHHhhh the disk drive would whir for 20 minutes and I would get:
Port Moresby..........1 P39 shotdown
Port Moresby..........1 P39 shotdown
Port Moresby..........1 P39 shotdown
etc. etc.
Two minutes to input the next turn and 20 minutes of whirring....
I remember playing Gettysburg and in the late game turns, the disk drive would run for what seemed like an hour for each ai turn....use to leave the room while it ran to do other things:). Nowadays we complain when game turns take more than a few seconds:)
Quote from: FarAway Sooner on January 27, 2013, 04:30:34 PM
Man, that sure was fun firing up my Commodore 64 and playing those games all Summer long!!
I started with a commodore vic20 and tape drive and then finally upgraded to the commodore 128 with a disk drive....those were simple times back then:)
...also kicking myself for not keeping those boxes and manuals....would love to read through them again.
I just remember getting out the paper hole punch and turning my single sided high density floppy discs into double sided disks and spending the next 2 days burning additional copies of Pool of Radiance among other games. That way when the disc went bad it was the copy and not the original.
Quote from: Bison on January 27, 2013, 04:42:19 PM
I just remember getting out the paper hole punch and turning my single sided high density floppy discs into double sided disks and spending the next 2 days burning additional copies of Pool of Radiance among other games. That way when the disc went bad it was the copy and not the original.
I remember that too...I had a disk notcher tool that did that. Still remember when loading games you had to do something like load"*" and then type run. So much for ui:)
Found a link to the old Gettysburg manual....I remember reading this countless times. I thought it was complex back then, but no way compares to today's monster games.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19460255/Gettysburg-the-Turning-Point
Computer ambush was one of my favorite and it was squad base. Still remember typing in those insanely long text commands to issue orders:)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19463593/Computer-Ambush
On my Atari 800 if, for any reason, the power was interrupted while the Disk Drive was running the disk died forever.
Quote from: Bison on January 27, 2013, 04:22:03 PM
SSI developed/published some of the great games of all times. Not to mention they packaged kick ass manuals with them too.
Yes and yes. I remember the SSI RPGs very fondly!
Thank you for sharing this, I love reading things like this. I'd never even heard of that TransWarp upgrade shown on page 12.
Six Gun Shootout ;D
Quote from: republic on January 27, 2013, 06:14:20 PM
Thank you for sharing this, I love reading things like this. I'd never even heard of that TransWarp upgrade shown on page 12.
Those were good times...looking back they seemed to have a game for everybody that included war, sports, fantasy, etc. until I saw this, I forgot they did more than war.
Quote from: republic on January 27, 2013, 06:14:20 PM
Thank you for sharing this, I love reading things like this. I'd never even heard of that TransWarp upgrade shown on page 12.
Blazing fast 256K of RAM!! :D
I specifically recall the feel of a few of those manuals. The smooth glossy-ish paper stock it was printed on. 8) Kampfgruppe was the one I recall most.
I too was an SSI-Head. The Gold Box series, Kampgruppe, and Battles of Napoleon. Along with other games for my Amiga, some good, some...not so good. I remember winning the boss battle at the end of Curse of the Azure Bonds and wanting to tell everyone I knew but most people wouldn't understand. Those were some great good times. I still have many of my old Amiga games, along with the Amiga, somewhere.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 27, 2013, 04:49:46 PM
Computer ambush was one of my favorite and it was squad base. Still remember typing in those insanely long text commands to issue orders:)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19463593/Computer-Ambush
I used to play the hell out of that game. My friends and I would set the time to 20 units (2 seconds) instead of the default 250 just because the turn processing time on my Apple II+ would be about 20 minutes on default. I always gave Pvt. Cheng the satchel charge and would suicide run him into buildings full of Germans and blow him up.
Someone posted a link to a website that let you play these old games in a Java window but I can't seem to find it now. Weird. 20+ years on and I still remember the movement and fire syntax from that game.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 27, 2013, 11:15:43 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 27, 2013, 04:49:46 PM
Computer ambush was one of my favorite and it was squad base. Still remember typing in those insanely long text commands to issue orders:)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/19463593/Computer-Ambush
I used to play the hell out of that game. My friends and I would set the time to 20 units (2 seconds) instead of the default 250 just because the turn processing time on my Apple II+ would be about 20 minutes on default. I always gave Pvt. Cheng the satchel charge and would suicide run him into buildings full of Germans and blow him up.
Someone posted a link to a website that let you play these old games in a Java window but I can't seem to find it now. Weird. 20+ years on and I still remember the movement and fire syntax from that game.
I liked how it appeared each soldier had a background and story. Made it a little more personal. It has always escaped me why someone did not take this concept and really try and do something with it in a more modern version.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 28, 2013, 06:05:29 AM
I liked how it appeared each soldier had a background and story. Made it a little more personal. It has always escaped me why someone did not take this concept and really try and do something with it in a more modern version.
Modern Version = Jagged Alliance.
That brings back memories. I think Broadsides was the first game I bought for the Apple II. I'm suprised they went out of business with the amount of $$$ I gave them over the years. :)
Quote from: Bison on January 27, 2013, 04:42:19 PM
I just remember getting out the paper hole punch and turning my single sided high density floppy discs into double sided disks and spending the next 2 days burning additional copies of Pool of Radiance among other games. That way when the disc went bad it was the copy and not the original.
I had so forgotten that hole punch utility! And then, a friend introduced me to Disc Doctor, and I was off to making copies of games I never purchased on 5 1/4" floppy discs that were
supposed to be only single-sided. It felt like a time of high-tech crimes to me...
8)
Nice, very nostalgic, thx for sharing. :'(
Ahh the good old days when you waited months for a new computer wargame to come out.
I think I had 75% of that catalog at one point.
Quote from: Marty Ward on January 28, 2013, 11:10:09 AM
Ahh the good old days when you waited months for a new computer wargame to come out.
I think I had 75% of that catalog at one point.
Sadly, I did not have enough money back then to really purchase a lot of the games...think I had a few of the Civil War titles and a few of the US vs Russia titles plus computer ambush and the geopolitical game they had. Regardless of whether I had a lot of them, I still always reviewed the catalog a million times:)
This is probably kind of stupid, but assuming most of you have seen the movie Wargames with the computer taking over the nuclear missile system. Not sure if you remember in the early part of the movie, the main character talks about waiting to receive a game catalog from his favorite wargame company. Every time I see that, I think of it like the SSI catalogs....
Anyone who wants to complain about the price of games today should look at the price list. I paid $45 for Kampfgruppe in 1986. According to the catalog...I got a great deal, retail was $59.
The thing that really strikes me, is how prolific SSI was. Certainly rivals Matrix games.
I really hope someday GOG will try to resurrect these.
Fortunately, I have quite a few of them...I managed to buy some shovel ware packs back in the mid-90s
Quote from: ArizonaTank on January 28, 2013, 12:07:50 PM
Anyone who wants to complain about the price of games today should look at the price list. I paid $45 for Kampfgruppe in 1986. According to the catalog...I got a great deal, retail was $59.
This is very true and I was very surprised when I saw this. I guess we should have no reason to complain about most prices since they are nearly the same from 20 years ago.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 28, 2013, 12:19:19 PM
Quote from: ArizonaTank on January 28, 2013, 12:07:50 PM
Anyone who wants to complain about the price of games today should look at the price list. I paid $45 for Kampfgruppe in 1986. According to the catalog...I got a great deal, retail was $59.
This is very true and I was very surprised when I saw this. I guess we should have no reason to complain about most prices since they are nearly the same from 20 years ago.
Closer to 30 years....:) Now I feel old.
Quote from: ArizonaTank on January 28, 2013, 12:28:41 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 28, 2013, 12:19:19 PM
Quote from: ArizonaTank on January 28, 2013, 12:07:50 PM
Anyone who wants to complain about the price of games today should look at the price list. I paid $45 for Kampfgruppe in 1986. According to the catalog...I got a great deal, retail was $59.
This is very true and I was very surprised when I saw this. I guess we should have no reason to complain about most prices since they are nearly the same from 20 years ago.
Closer to 30 years....:) Now I feel old.
Oops....math was never my strength:)
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 28, 2013, 12:05:18 PM
This is probably kind of stupid, but assuming most of you have seen the movie Wargames with the computer taking over the nuclear missile system. Not sure if you remember in the early part of the movie, the main character talks about waiting to receive a game catalog from his favorite wargame company. Every time I see that, I think of it like the SSI catalogs....
I actually just watched this like 2 weeks ago. Great flick.
When the Canuckbuk was low those games could cost upwards of $90 in the store.
Now that there is NAFTA the price is whatever it is in the US. When our buk is low we gets a bargain.