An accompaniment to History of 1990s Computer Games. 1996 PC Games This is a list of PC games that came out in 1996. The PC games are listed in alphabetical order. Both MS-DOS and Windows PC games are included. I will expand on this list in the future. But for now, this tracks my progress of 1996. Hardware and software technologies that gained ground in 1996: Pentium CPUs XMS RAM Rational Systems DOS/4GW Protected mode run-times Windows 95 and DirectX v2.0-3.0 Direct3D and OpenGL VESA Local Bus / PCI Local Bus SVGA 640x480 Very smooth hardware mouse cursors (SVGA) 3D ..read more

The Origin of Texture-mapped 3D Games This article is concerned with the first 3D texture-mapped computer games to appear on Western computer-game machines. In the sphere of 3D graphics a texture map is an image that is applied to polygonal surfaces of 3D objects in virtual space. Texture maps are subject to a material layer which defines the nature of a surface (e.g., its reflectivity or real-world material composition, such as wood or metal).  Thus, the applied texture map takes on the properties of its underlying material as well as the shape of the polygonal surface ..read more

The Origin of Flat-shaded 3D Games This article is concerned with the first 3D flat-shaded computer games to appear on Western computer-game machines. Flat-shaded computer games are those whose 3D objects are solid-filled with colors or patterns. Flat-shaded games are contrasted with wireframe games, which only outline the polygons. Flat-shaded objects can be light-sourced and reflective as well as cast shadows. Often, dithering or pattern-filling is employed to give the 3D objects a "texture". cf. The First Texture-mapped Computer Games. Gouraud-shaded 3D games are technically ..read more

History of Computer Games: 1976-2024 Updated on an almost daily basis as of 2024, this is a history of computer games that I am covering on cRPG Blog. The computer games are listed in chronological order, from oldest to newest. This chronological computer-game history is only concerned with computer games that were coded for Western computer-game machines. I define a computer game as an entertainment-based and/or educational computer program that is coded to be played on a home computer via joystick, keyboard and/or mouse or other input device. For me, the term home computer encompasses b ..read more

TRS-80 Shoot 'em ups Posted for quick reference purposes, this is a chronological list of Tandy TRS-80 shoot 'em ups that are being covered in my History of Shoot 'em ups. I am far from done with this list, so check back every now and again. This document was last updated on the 15th of May, 2024. Let's start off with some green-screen goodness on Tandy's TRS-80 of 1977. Note that the following TRS-80 shoot 'em ups are made up of only 10-15 kbytes of code and displayed in 1 kbyte of vRAM, yet featured responsive controls, tidy presentation and even decent screen-scrolli ..read more

IBM PC Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order Posted for quick reference purposes, this is a chronological list of IBM PC shoot 'em ups that are being covered in my History of Shoot 'em ups. Commentary on these shoot 'em ups is found in the above-linked History article. This list thus far contains 36 original infographics that can be mouse-wheeled through in order to get an idea of the IBM PC shoot 'em up catalogue with no non-IBM PC admixture. You can also right-click the images and open them in a new tab at full resolution (2k-5k px). Some may exclaim, "Wow, you're missing a ..read more

Best IBM PC Game For the purposes of my computer-game commentary I refer to the IBM PC and its compatibles as Western computer-game machines. The Microprocessor of the IBM PC From the late-1970s to the 90s the IBM PC compatible was powered by 16 and 32 bit Intel 808x and 80x86 microprocessors. The 5150 IBM PC of 1981 was initially powered by the 16 bit Intel 8088 clocked at 4.77 MHz. The i8086 of 1978 was clocked at 5-10 MHz The i8088 of 1979 was clocked at 5-16 MHz The IBM PC, PC/XT and PCjr. (and others) of 1981-84 employed the 8088 at 4.77 MHz; their RAM ranging from 16 ..read more

Best Apple II Game For the purposes of my computer-game commentary, the Apple 2 of 1977 is a Western computer-game machine powered by an 8-bit MOS Tech 6502 clocked at 1 MHz. RAM on the Apple 2 ranged from 4 to 64 kbytes. One of the best Apple 2 games is Silas Warner's Castle Wolfenstein of 1981. Castle Wolfenstein is one of the most conceptually-advanced computer games of the very early 80s. FS1 Flight Simulator Apple 2 1979 One of the most influentual and extraordinary Apple 2 games was Sublogic's 16 kbyte A2-FS1: Flight Simulator of 1979. Designed and coded by ..read more

Chronological List of C64 Shoot 'em ups Posted for quick reference purposes, this is a chronological list of Commodore 64 shoot 'em ups that have so far been covered in my History of Shoot 'em ups. Commentary on these shoot 'em ups is found in the history article. This list contains 48 original infographics that can be mouse-wheeled through in order to get an idea of the C64 shoot 'em up catalogue. You can also right-click the images and open them in a new tab at full resolution (2k-5k px). 1982 Gridrunner 1983 Choplifter! Scramble 64 1984 Dropzone Ancipital ..read more

Chronological List of Amiga Shoot 'em ups Posted for quick reference purposes, this is a chronological list of Amiga shoot 'em ups that have so far been covered in my History of Shoot 'em ups. Commentary on these shoot 'em ups is found in the history article. This list contains 83 original infographics that can be mouse-wheeled through in order to get an idea of the Amiga shoot 'em up catalogue. You can also right-click the images and open them in a new tab at full resolution (2k-5k px). cf. Commodore 64 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order. 1986 Starglider & Stra ..read more