c/retrogaming · by ICastFist@programming.dev · 41d

Found this relic cleaning my car's trunk

The CD case was all warped due to heat, the CD didn't survive either :/

How long was it there? Some years, i think

751 points · 167 comments · view on lemmy.world

167 Comments

partial_accumen@lemmy.world · 98 pts · 40d (11 replies)

This game had some of the most immersive hardware controls and interfaces. It supported a Thrustmaster Mark 2flight stick for your right hand control to aim your weapons:

...a Thrustmaster Mark 2 throttle control for walking speed:

... Thrustmaster pedals for torso twist:

...and even i-glasses VR headset (with head motion tracking that would turn the Mech pilots head inside the cockpit!)

TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 48 pts · 40d (4 replies)

Woah, whhaaa?! That game came out in like 1995. I played it and thought it was great but had no idea it had all the hardware compatibility you're pointing out!

zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 40d

Yeah, me either. I just played it with a keyboard.

Strider@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d (2 replies)

At that time I had 2 voodoo 3d cards in sli mode and could play anything voodoo compatible in 3d with glasses.

It was cool but it was, is and will always be very niche (stereoscopic viewing).

TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d (1 reply)

That's super cool! Did each eye get rendered from a slightly different position? Seems like the game itself would need to support that? Maybe I don't really understand 3d graphics apis very well though.

Strider@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 39d

Yes and no. That's why it wasn't perfect, it also produced some unusable results.

I think it was the wicked 3d voodoo2. Information on this is rather scarce on the internet.

Dzheyk@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 40d

Seriously?? How is THIS the first I'm hearing about all this??

ProfessorHoover@infosec.pub · 14 pts · 40d (1 reply)

How was this all possible in 1995 but we had to wait for modders to make the latest MW have those features?

Fluke@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 40d

Because PGI are an absolute cumstain of a company that broke their promises of what they were going to do with the franchise right at the get go.

They watered down the flagship product (MW:Online) of them taking over the franchise to "appeal to a wider audience", while cramming in greedy pay-to-win micro-transactions and alienated and pissed off all the long time fans that paid into the crowdfunding.

When revenue tanked, everything after that was progressively more "minimum viable product that has to work on an Xbox pad held by a five year old with one eye".

Edit: If they ever do anything else with the franchise, I fully expect it to be 100% AI slop development and artwork.

LordCrom@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 40d

This game was the shit when it came out. All the force feedback controls were just perfect.

ICastFist@programming.dev · 7 pts · 40d

Fuck me, I want to experience the game with all that hardware!

PapaStevesy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 40d

Yes dude, definitely played this game with that top joystick, so fun.

mercano@lemmy.world · 68 pts · 40d (12 replies)

This and Descent are the reasons I play with an inverted Y axis to this day.

Dontsellmydata@piefed.social · 28 pts · 40d (8 replies)

Oh my. I remember playing Descent on my Compaq Pentium 486dx. Good times.

assembly@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 40d (3 replies)

I had this on the 486dx2 66MHz. It ran smooth.

ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 40d (2 replies)

Stop bragging, not all of us can splash out the cash to upgrade from 386. :(

zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 40d

Not the same person you replied to, but I first played Descent on my 386 too, but it didn't run truly smooth unless two upgrades and years later on a dx266. Same with Doom too, really,

rumba@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 39d

Well, to be fair, you wouldn't need as much ram as you do now a days....

bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 40d

Pentium ≠ 486

anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 40d (1 reply)

We played it on a Mac Performa with like 24mb ram and maybe a 75 MHz PPC processor.

That and a starter’s Jedi game were the first FPV 3D games we’d ever played at home. (Someone had installed doom on the auto as compys at highschool).

maccentric@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d

I remember my first laptop, a b+w PowerBook 520 with 4MB RAM. I bought an 8MB upgrade for it that was $410. You think RAM is expensive today…

zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 40d

I think you're memory is fuzzy, it was either a Pentium or a 486, not both.

deacon@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

Hey, those were the first two games I got to emulate - but including Descent 2.

bitjunkie@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

When I was in 8th grade taking Computer Applications, on Fridays the teacher would let us have free time and we would have 8-player LAN matches of Descent. That game was the shit.

zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 40d

I always played with a keyboard and years later I saw someone playing it using a fancy joystick and inverted Y axis and I was shocked at how much more effective it was.

Gork@sopuli.xyz · 58 pts · 40d (11 replies)

Reactor online...

Sensors online...

Weapons online...

...

All systems nominal.

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Autopilot: Engaged.

Autopilot: dIsAbLeD.

Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

The incoming LRM warning sound is forever stuck in my head.

Dzheyk@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 40d (6 replies)

I need this to play when my computer starts up..does Linux have a way to do this??..questions for later.

TerraRoot@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Yes, I've been messing with it lately, can't remember the details, but i'll go look I'm a while.

Edit: the dos version works fine in dosbox, the only thing I see is a note in my startup conf reminding me to stop my kvm, barrier. have not succeeded in running any of the better graphics build.

Dzheyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d

If you need just the straight up music/sfx files, I do believe I have a copy of this game on a cd still (and the original expansion disk!) that I can copy and put somewhere for people.

pressanykeynow@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Just add a service that plays a sound on system startup

Dzheyk@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d

Never done that before but I'm sure I can figure it out, thanks!

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 2 pts · 39d (1 reply)

In KDE, YES!

Crap, I can't remember 100% how I did it but they support sound themes now.

But my OpenSUSE Tumbleweed system running KDE6 starts up with this startup sound, I think I pulled the MechWarrior Online startup sound off YouTube or something. :)

...Now if only I could make my car do this... 😂

Dzheyk@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 39d

Oh...my gosh..I didn't even think about having this in a car! I don't need to go down this rabbit hole but this is risking it lol

chirospasm@lemmy.ml · 7 pts · 40d

Dang, that brings back memories!

aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

Klingon phaser SFX

Reygle@lemmy.world · 39 pts · 40d (2 replies)

When I was in my teens I played Mechwarrior, a LOT, with my friend Dan. I don't remember what version it was at the time, but it was early on. One of us would build a Flea and try to take down the other in an ultra-heavy mech.

Dan died about 2 years ago. I just went on an emotional roller coaster for a few minutes. Hug your friends.

ContriteErudite@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 40d

Sorry to hear about your friend, it sounds like you meant a lot to each other. I second that our friends all deserve to know how much we love them.

One of my favorite gaming memories is playing MW4: Mercenaries with roommates circa 2002, where I won the grand championship piloting a Cougar.

EDIT: Just remembered my "Daishi Pepperbox": assault-class Daishi fitted with nothing but machine guns and as much frontal armor as it could carry. My strat was to charge straight at opponents, let the armor soak up incoming fire, then drop an alpha strike as soon as I got into machine gun range. Watching their mech turn from green to red to black on my HUD in just a handful of seconds was glorious.

ICastFist@programming.dev · 3 pts · 39d

I hope those memories are great. Dan might no longer be with you or his family, but the memory lives on, cherish that. Be someone else's Dan, too, there is always time :)

henfredemars@infosec.pub · 31 pts · 40d (15 replies)

E R P P C

EvilBit@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 40d (12 replies)

Everybody must at least once try the loadout that racks your heat up to near-detonation but dumps enough PPC into an enemy to nuke them in one shot.

gibmiser@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 40d

I remember tweaking the config and I think blowing my arm off by firing

A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 40d (6 replies)

Is that an Awesome? I think they have a tabletop loadout with 3 PPCs

Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 12 pts · 40d (4 replies)

Mad Cat / Timber Wolf

WraithGear@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d (2 replies)

i think he was talking about the Dashi, which was stock—-(my memory is wrong, MY Dashi had 6 er ppcs)—-.

but the mech that LOVED to over commit to laser violence was the Nova, my beloved

Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 40d

I loved the Daishi / Dire Wolf for many years!

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d

Stock Dire Wolf had 4 ER Large lasers IIRC Along with sundry other lasers, an LRM10 and I think some AC10S? It's been a hot minute.

A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

Feh, Clan bs ;)

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 40d

There wasn't an Awesome in the game, it's set during the Wolf/Falcon refusal war so it's all Clan mechs. Nothing's stopping you from from loading like five of them on a Dire Wolf though.

SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 40d

Mass jump jets and machine guns was my go to... fly into close range really fast and gun then brrrrrrr. You could win most battles using the smallest mech this way.

Cenzorrll@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

I played Mercenaries a bunch and had a blast loading up as many machine guns as I could on a relatively agile mech and just fully unloading on some big ass Atlas' cockpit in order to salvage it.

It wasn't exactly a fantastic strategy, but a great way to get a beast of a mech.

SuperApples@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 39d

My exact strat. It's fine if your mech shuts down after each shot, so long as you don't miss... Just gotta pick em off one by one

dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d

I thought this was standard practice, especially once you have the C-bills and/or chassis to pull it off. Glass cannon builds are tons of fun.

Then you read the mission specs and see that you're landing on an ice planet this time...

gibmiser@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 40d

CRITICAL HIT

OVERHEATING

SHUTTING DOWN

lemmyng@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 40d

DFA

Illegalmexicant@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 40d (6 replies)

Mine came with a sidewinder joystick. Thank you Tiger Express. Had to spend $200+ for 4mb more of ram(8 total) just to run it.

curbstickle@anarchist.nexus · 11 pts · 40d

I bought the sidewinder joystick because of it!

I should play games that use a joystick again. Or, you know, games in general.

Damage@feddit.it · 5 pts · 40d (3 replies)

I bought a "Force Feedback Pro" joystick that came with Interstate '76 and MDK

ButtermilkBiscuit@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 40d (2 replies)

i76 was great. I remember playing MW2, MW Mercenaries, and i76 all around the same era.

Damage@feddit.it · 2 pts · 40d

Yeah it was awesome, it was a great gift tbh

TerraRoot@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 40d

Same game engine!

hemmes@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

Oh man, Tiger Express. That was my goto…

SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zone · 23 pts · 40d (5 replies)

That game came out in 94 or 95. I use to play it on a 486 DX2 50

...

How long has it been since you've cleaned your car, kimosabe? 🤣

Reygle@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 40d (4 replies)

With TURBO MODE ON babyyyy

#BringBackTurboButtons, but now so we can underclock our PCs to save power and heat

anarchy79@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 39d

When you press that button, everyone knows you mean business.

SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 39d (1 reply)

And keys. Physical keys.

Reygle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 39d

Yeah! And power supplies that could power our monitors too!

Colonel_Panic_@eviltoast.org · 1 pts · 39d

I never turned Turbo off on mine.

Jhex@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 40d

loved the music in this game!!! still listen to it from time to time

Bitflip@lemmy.ml · 18 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Love it! Still play through single player for both clans at least once a year.

Grabthar@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

That goddamned dome mission once a year? You masochist.

rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 13 pts · 40d

How long was it there? Some years, i think

release date: 1995

TallonMetroid@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 40d

That is some true lostech there, quiaff?

Thebeardedsinglemalt@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 40d (6 replies)

Pop that disc into a CD player and listen to all the level background music!

modus@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 40d (3 replies)

I think you could do that with Quake too.

CADmonkey@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

Monkey Island too!

PlasticExistence@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

A lot of original PlayStation games as well

Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 39d

An awful lot of early CD games would let you do that. Track 1 was the data and tracks 2-whatever were individual songs from the ST, because that's how the game played the soundtrack audio, by treating it like an audio CD. That really only changed once audio compression got better and other assets got larger so there was a better way to use the space.

But when CDs first landed your storage media moved from 1.44MB disks (PC) or <= 6MB cartridges (SNES) to 640-700 MB it took a while before code and graphical assets started using a lot of that and well, you are paying for the whole CD either way, may as well use all the space.

ICastFist@programming.dev · 1 pts · 39d

the CD didn’t survive either :/

LammyToGo32@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 40d

4x4 Evolution too

TIEPilot@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 40d (11 replies)

Oh I so loved that game, is it on Steam?

Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 26 pts · 40d (10 replies)

Gog I think has it.

Edit: it’s abandonware and is on internet archive.

TIEPilot@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 40d (3 replies)

Awesome, I'm all over this. Such a great game!

Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 40d (2 replies)

Edit: it’s abandonware and is on internet archive.

TIEPilot@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 40d (1 reply)

https://archive.org/details/mech-warrior-2-mr-abandonware

BOOYA! Thanks!

curbstickle@anarchist.nexus · 4 pts · 40d

Well.... Thats saved for later.

Deebster@infosec.pub · 8 pts · 40d (3 replies)

is on internet archive

Are you looking at the one called MechWarriorQuadrology?

I'd also found https://www.myabandonware.com/game/mechwarrior-2-31st-century-combat-34i and also a portable MW2 that some redditor put together.

Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d (2 replies)

It’s been a while since I downloaded it, not sure. I just know it’s out there for $0 in various corners of the web.

Deebster@infosec.pub · 1 pts · 40d (1 reply)

No worries, I'm sure one of these will work. The myabandonware.com link includes the manual and I believe the DOS version was the best so I'll give that a go once I've dug out my joystick.

Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

Yeah dos joy + keyboard worked best for me but that was like a decade ago. I really liked the ghost bear dlc.

Deebster@infosec.pub · 2 pts · 40d (1 reply)

No, it's just on their "dreamlist": https://www.gog.com/dreamlist/game/mech-warrior-2-1999

Brkdncr@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

Edit: it’s abandonware and is on internet archive.

wiLD0@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 40d (2 replies)

Intro video upscaled: https://youtu.be/o1a18jETT-g

Yep, I still remember it like yesterday.

mechoman444@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d

Thank you for this.

usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 40d

Watched this so many times back in the day, it was sooo cool

Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 40d

You should just retire that ford pinto.

Dr_Fetus_Jackson@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 40d

1ea Nova + 8ea synch fire medium lasers + all the heatsinks you can shoehorn in there = Can Opener.

mctoasterson@reddthat.com · 8 pts · 40d

The ambient soundtrack on this game fucking rips.

GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip · 6 pts · 40d (4 replies)

Best game. Amazing soundtrack

treesquid@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 40d (1 reply)

I still listen to that soundtrack

anarchy79@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 39d

Game music and crack intros were instrumental in shaping my music taste.

lunarwire@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 39d (1 reply)

The Timothy Seals covers are amazing.

GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 39d

Ooh thanks! I'll check that out.

tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 40d (3 replies)

I remember watching the Mechcommander opening scene a bunch, which apparently got a remaster.

Looks like the Mechwarrior intros all got remasters--here's MW2

Shumina@lemmus.org · 6 pts · 40d (1 reply)

That was a very well produced intro movie. I was even impressed by the acting and back then VG acting was…not great.

Except for the Red Alert C&C movies. “SPACE!!”

chiliedogg@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 40d

Anyone remember the Wing Commander 3 and 4 cutscenes?

Mark Hammil, John Ryhs-Davies, Malcolm McDowell, Tom Wilson, Casper Van-Dien, and even Walton Goggins!

umbraroze@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 40d

Yeah, Mechcommander and MechWarrior 4 had suprisingly good live action stuff.

My favourite little thing about Mechcommander was that once you started the mission you got screen with "Connecting to the battlefield..." and static and noise. That's one way of making loading screens more diegetic, I guess.

osanna@lemmy.vg · 5 pts · 40d

holy hell, i tried to play this game as a wee kiddo, but I could never figure it out.

loaf@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 40d

Absolute classic. Great find! (Or re-find)

deacon@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 40d

Whoomf - one look at that and I’m transported to my Sony Vaio PC with Juno Mail and Geocities

Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 40d

I think I have the game disk within the CD stacks

MonkeMischief@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 39d (1 reply)

I remember begging my mom for this game when it was in a large box at Costco when I was a kid. That giant stompy robot was just too cool.

I remember it being right next to Wheel of Time. Didn't get to play that one though. :)

This game along with StarSiege was a huge part of my childhood.

Gotta say though, once you've felt the sheer ridiculous power of an OmniMech, playing Succession Wars era games took a bit of getting used to.

MechWarrior 2 and 3 allowed for some ridiculous cheese builds that were so fun(ny). :)

facelessbs@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 39d

The thing I Rembert most about this game is picking a light mech jumping and immediately destroying both of my legs when landing on the ground. 10/10 would love to play again.

gigastasio@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 40d

I can still hear that asshole instructor taunting me.

bold_atlas@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 40d

Too bad bad about the disc. I get replacement jewel cases by pulling junk music CDs out of the local thrift store's trash cans and then toss the inserts.

mechoman444@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d (3 replies)

Funny thing about this game. The back story for it is basically the same back story for StarCraft.

Played the everloving fuckjuice out of this game as a kid. On a voodoo 6! Man those were the days.

ICastFist@programming.dev · 3 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Zero aliens in battletech universe tho

mechoman444@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

True. I should have been more specific. The back story for the terran race.

dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 40d

On a voodoo 6!

It also ran admirably on a Pentium with zero acceleration. A testament to the strength of its software renderer. It wasn't pretty, or high resolution, but it was playable.

SirHamlin@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d (2 replies)

Because of the way PC games were made back in the day you should be able to load that bad boy into a CD player and listen to the soundtrack. Works for me at least with my OG copy of that game.

ICastFist@programming.dev · 2 pts · 40d

CD's busted beyond repair, i'm afraid

treesapx@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 40d

I loved playing this soundtrack on big speakers. The drums were great.

atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 40d (4 replies)

First, how old is your car? Second, do you still have the video card?

ICastFist@programming.dev · 4 pts · 40d

The car is 21, bought it used 9 years ago. No, sadly i never had that video card

TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d (2 replies)

Oh I didn't notice that! The diamond monster 3d was a voodoo card wasn't it?

atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Diamond was its own company with a similar fate as 3DFX. Their cards would have been right next to the Voodoo cards on the shelf though!

TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d

Well it did have the voodoo chipset and now iirc you could even use the exact same drivers on that card as the voodoo.

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/3d-accelerator-card-reviews,42-7.html

kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

One of my first computer games. Always wished I had a joystick for it though.

chargen@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 40d

How old is your car?

LadyMeow@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 40d

I had the demo or something, it was good times

ITGuyLevi@programming.dev · 3 pts · 40d

Such a good game!

Shumina@lemmus.org · 3 pts · 40d (1 reply)

“Make the turn!”

Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

"Wetnose"

vala@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 40d (6 replies)

Are there any good modern mech warrior style games?

pressanykeynow@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Have you tried latest Mechwarrior games?

banause@feddit.org · 1 pts · 40d

That sounds like a perfect fit ngl.

MJKee9@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 40d

Play Armored core 6 if you haven't.

ICastFist@programming.dev · 1 pts · 40d (1 reply)

If you want to feel like a big, stompy, slow robot, there aren't many choices besides Mechwarrior 5. Armored Core also features big robots, but they're considerably more agile - they're gundams, if you will.

Vox Machinae seems to be very close in spirit to Mechwarrior style. Also supports VR.

Front Mission games are turn based tactical RPGs and you can customize your mechs a lot.

EDF (Earth Defense Force) 4, 5 and 6 has some mechs you can bring and pilot in some missions, though it's not the focus of the game.

dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 40d

Front Mission games are turn based tactical RPGs and you can customize your mechs a lot.

It's worth mentioning that as a Square/Enix property, the mech customization is much more Final Fantasy than Mechwarrior though. It doesn't matter to me, but it doesn't have that "paper doll" UI that is core to Mechwarrior style games. That said, the actual mech body is far more customizable with swappable legs and arms.

kalpol@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 40d

Titanfall 2 comes to mind

axus@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 40d (1 reply)

Infocom Presents... The Crescent Hawks, Revenge

sqw@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 40d

i spent so much time playing that and never getting past a few missions.

Jarix@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 40d (1 reply)

The mercenaries expansion of this game was my jam

Also for anyone who doesn't know about it, I highly recommend this youtube channel

The Black Pants Legion

Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 40d

Look on the bright side kid... You get to keep all the money.