The original SimCity 2000 had a strict requirement for an SVGA video card that supported 640x480 resolution with 256 colors. I used to believe that this was an inflexible requirement, but it turns out that the hardware requirements were eased in the Windows version. Not only did it allow the game to run in 16-color modes, but it was also bundled with a special VGA driver developed by Microsoft. This driver enabled modifications to the color palette, just like in the 256-color modes. I was completely unaware of the existence of such a feature until recently.
I wrote an article about this fascinating discovery on retro.swarm.cz.
A wonderfully gory and action packed EGA platformer from 1993 created from Frank Maddin, who would later go on to work at Nintendo on the Metroid Prime games
I grew up playing the shareware chapter on Compaq EGA 286 machine which although meets the system requirements, the game is almost unplayable on a later cave level with the FPS dropping to 1 frame every few seconds at some points...
Anyway, I'm going to install this on my newer ICL 386 VGA machine with the added bonus of an Adlib card for music!
I do miss those old ASCII based installers and watching the decompression happen. Plus check out that beautiful ASCII Apogee logic, fantastic work there!
So what's the game actually like to play?
Your character must free all of the trapped animals before you can exit the level by firing your catapult at the cages to break the locks.
By default you've got unlimited ammo, but you can also upgrade to bigger & multi-shot along with homing sticks.
Thankfully it's not a one hit kill like Keen, so you can take a few knocks before you lose a life.
All the sound effects play through the PC Speaker, which I remember from playing it as a kid. Which leaves the Adlib for playing music at certain points, which I always find a bit strange as it means I've got sounds coming out of two separate speakers on my PC.
Each level is also littered with these funny little skulls. If you hit one you'll be treated to an animation of their eyeballs popping out their sockets as they fly off the screen! Wonderful!
I spent a lot of time with this one as a kid and I'm looking forward to enjoying another play through again now. Thanks Frank