Home of Retro PC Gaming
Currently hosting 3 high-resolution CGA games!
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Home of Retro PC Gaming
Currently hosting 3 high-resolution CGA games! |
| Mah Jongg LapTop 1989 | ||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware-turned-freeware | Traditional |
| Developed by Ron Balewski | Compatibility guide | |
| Published by Ron Balewski | ||
| Graphics: CGA 640×200 mono | ||
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A monochrome version of Mah Jongg -V-G-A-, this game does an admirable job of bringing Mahjong solitaire to monochrome and LCD screens. The tiles for the winds, flowers, seasons and all three dragons are easily identifiable, and the game has most of the features of the VGA version. The game doesn't automatically tell you when you're out of moves, which is a complaint I have about many Mahjong solitaire games. There is also no timer, but the game is well worth playing if you can only display one color. DownloadsMah Jongg LapTop v1.1 Freeware (64k) Play online AvailabilityAuthor Ron Balewski has generously released this game as freeware. Mah Jongg '97, a Win32 version, is still sold for $20 on CD-ROM or registered download.
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| Psion Chess 1985 | ||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Freeware (former commercial) | Traditional |
| Developed by Psion Software | Compatibility guide | |
| Published by Psion Software | ||
| Graphics: Hercules 720×348 mono CGA 640×200 mono | ||
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Using an engine written by legendary chess engine programmer Richard Lang, Psion Chess was ahead of its time. Despite monochrome graphics, Psion Chess could be viewed in either 2D or 3D. Designed for high resolution monochrome Hercules Graphics Cards, the Hercules option sets the resolution to 720×384 and uses dithering to simulate shades of gray. The "IBM color card" option reduces the resolution to 640×400 for color graphics cards, still in monochrome, but without dithering. The playing strength doesn't go quite as low as modern chess software, but the easiest level can be beaten by a novice player, and it makes a great opponent for even very skilled players. To illustrate Psion Chess at its weakest level, I played this game as white on Level Novice E0. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. Nc3 b5 6. Bb3 b4 7. Nd5 Nxe4 8. d4 d6 9. Nd2 Ng5 10. Nf3 Nxf3+ 11. Qxf3 Be6 12. O-O exd4 13. Nf4 Kd7 14. Nxe6 fxe6 15. Qf7+ Kc8 16. Qxe6+ Kb7 17. Bd5 Qe8 18. Qg4 Qe5 19. c4 Rd8 20. Bf4 Qe8 21. Bg3 Kb6 22. a4 h5 23. Qf4 Qe2 24. a5+ Nxa5 25. Qxd4+ c5 26. Qh4 Re8 27. Qh3 Nxc4 28. Qd7 Na5 29. Rxa5 Kxa5 30. Ra1+ Kb6 31. Qb7# White checkmates Psion Chess v2.13 (96k) Play online AvailabilityAuthor Richard Lang and copyright holder Psion Software have generously released this game as freeware.
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| SimCity 1989 | ||
| User rating: No rating | DOS Shareware (partial game) | Simulation |
| Developed by Maxis | Compatibility guide | |
| Published by Broderbund, Interplay | ||
| Graphics: Hercules 720×348 mono CGA 640×200 mono Tandy 320×200×16c EGA 320×200×16c EGA 640×350 mono EGA 640×350×16c | ||
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The original city-building simulator from this legendary series, later sold as SimCity Classic. In SimCity, you create residential, commercial and industrial zones and watch them develop. To be successful, they need roads and power. Industry does better when there is a sea port, and commerce improves when there's an airport. Create police departments to reduce crime and fire departments to put out fires when disasters occur. A map screen allows you to see where there is crime, pollution, traffic, police coverage, fire coverage, and see the land value, population density and population growth throughout the city. You determine the rate of taxation, and how well funded your police, fire and transportation departments are. All of these things determine how successful each neighborhood is, and creating a thriving city can be quite addictive. As in life, there are no goals. You may want to get the largest possible population, or perhaps a smaller community that has no pollution or crime. There are also eight scenarios that can be played with specific goals to achieve. You can't run power lines over roads in the demo for some reason. The game can only be played for 3 minutes in the shareware demo. SimCity Shareware Demo (568k) Play online AvailabilityCopyright holder Electronic Arts no longer sells this game. It can be ordered from Amazon: SimCity or SimCity for Windows 3.0 or SimCity Classic or SimCity Enhanced for CD-ROM or SimCity Enhanced Multimedia Edition, or as part of Sim Classics 3-in-1 Pack or Maxis Collections 1 or Maxis Collections 2 or Maxis Collections 3 or SimMania Pack or Interplay All-Nighter Collection.
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