DOS Game Club

Evil dictator Dr. Funfrock is ruling the remote planet of Twinsun with an iron fist. And now that talk of the legend of Sendell has been forbidden, you have even been sent to prison for having strange dreams. What a mess! Luckily your ancestors have hidden various magical items for you, which give you a fighting chance to beat Funfrock and save the planet.

This is the premise of "Little Big Adventure", a top-down isometric action adventure game developed by French studio Adeline Software and published by EA in 1994. The team is largely made up of veterans from Infogrames who previously worked on Alone in the Dark. Are there any influences of that found in LBA? And how does it hold up 28 years later? That and more is discussed in this episode of DOS Game Club!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we have two new guests on the show. First of all there's James from the Retro Spectives Podcast, another retro gaming podcast in which they take deep dives into old games. Also joining is Michiel, aka "El Muerte", founder of The Magic Ball Network, one of the biggest fan sites for Little Big Adventure, which has been going for over 20 years now.

Enjoy the show!

[ download mp3 ] (179 mins, 205 MB)

* Retro Spectives Podcast

* The Magic Ball Network

* Martijn's LBA playthrough YouTube series

* LBA reviewed in some UK magazines scanned in by DGC member Pix

* Interview with Didier Chanfray who worked the original LBA and is now involved with the reboot

* Newly-formed studio 21.2 who are currently working on updating LBA Classic and developing new reboots of LBA

FMV cutscenes with very quirky humour? Check! Ridiculously over the top scenario? Check! Giant acid-squirting scorpions vs. six-wheeled flame thrower ATVs? Check!

In 1997, Beam Software released the first game in the KKnD series. Is it just an unimaginative Command & Conquer reskin clone? Or did it bring something unique to the then still young real-time strategy genre?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") is club member Björn ("TigerQuoll").

This month our shoutout is slightly different, pointing you to a brilliant interview series that Caroline Delbert did with game developers who entered their games into the 2022 Queer Games Bundle over on itch.io. Nothing retro gaming related this time, but definitely worth checking out.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (79 mins, 91 MB)

* KKnD 1997 original website

* Magazine review scanned by DGC member Pix

* Shout out: Caroline Delbert's Interviews with Queer Game Bundle developers

* Itch.io Queer Games Bundle 2022 (now closed)

You're seated in the cockpit, twelve meters above ground, your Mech's 75 tonnes stomping heavily on the desert ground. You're getting close to nav point beta, no sign of the enemy, yet. "Enemy Mech Detected!", your computer tells you in a sterile, cold voice.

You arm your missiles and lasers and fire your first salva as you turn your Timber Wolf to the left. More hostiles show up on your radar - this is going to be one hell of a mission. The first of the enemies' missiles miss you by half an inch as you fire all your lasers at their leader.

Seconds later, your Mech trembles under the impact of more missiles. A loud explosion and a heavy jolt tell you they must've hit one of your ammo stores. "Heat Level Critical" the same female computer voice tells you, "Core Meltdown Imminent"

In 1995, Activision released MechWarrior 2 and sent similar shockwaves through the gaming community. But does the milestone game hold up today?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are club member Hannes ("Mr Creosote") and new participant Emil ("elhammar"), who has studied MechWarrior 2 academically.

Also a big thanks to DGC member "TigerQuoll" for sending in a voice message! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to [email protected].

This month we have two shoutouts, one to Games Studies Study Buddies who make academic games studies accessible to the layperson, and one to HalfBlindGamer, who focuses on obscure games and dissects them earnestly where others resort to jokes and giggles.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (182 mins, 208 MB)

* Emil's "The Art of Battletech & Mechwarrior" on Twitter and Tumblr

* Promo Flyer

* Original magazine reviews scanned by DGC member Pix

* Digital Foundry - MechWarrior 2 Versions Comparison

* Games Studies Study Buddies

* HalfBlindGamer

There isn't much we need to say to introduce you to Quake. It's Quake, after all.

Quake may be one of the most important games crossing the bridge between the "old" and "new" gaming worlds. It still came out as a DOS game, originally, as shareware, rendered fully in software. But it was also there to give us online multiplayer, modding, machinima, speed running, 3d acceleration, e-sports and so many more things.

It didn't invent those things, but coming at the right time, when the Internet finally became widely available as well as consumer-grade 3D accelerators, it, like no other game, encapsulates the spirit of the late 90's.

But is it a good game, even today?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are club members Thanael ("Trumad") and Garrett ("f2bnp).

Also a big thanks to DGC members "watchful" and Luke for sending in voice messages! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to [email protected]

The month's shoutout goes to A Question of Character, where you can learn about the innermost details of the most interesting characters in the universe. Visit them on https://www.youtube.com/c/AQuestionofCharacter.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (161 mins, 184 MB)

* Trent Reznor + David Lynch Photo

* Planet Quake, oldschool Quake resource

* Quake documentary by RetroAhoy

* A question of character (shoutout)

Real life isn't real enough for you? You need the daily treadmill also in your gaming? Well, we got something for you! In Sierra's 1991 game Jones in the Fast Lane, you get to live your spectacular life as an absolutely ordinary person whose biggest goal is to become assistant manager of the paper company factory.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are new Club members Amy ("SummerB") and Jon ("BogusMeatFactory").

Also a big thanks to DGC member "FireFyte" for sending in a voice message! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to [email protected]

The month's shoutout goes to Nalani and Roberta, aka NaBerta, who stream adventure games and have interviews with many of the great minds of gaming history. Visit them on https://www.twitch.tv/nabertacgg or check out their Twitter profile @NaBertaCGG.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (142 mins, 163 MB)

* An interview with Jones lead developer Warren Schwader

* Speedy Adventures: Twitter, Twitch and Discord

* Jon: Twitch

* Amy: Twitch

* BrutalMoose on Jones in the Fast Lane

* NaBerta (Twitch and Twitter)

Update: In case it wasn't clear already, this was an april fool's joke. We made an English language podcast about Jones too and will keep the show in English of course.

--- Original post: ---

It's 1 APRIL again and that means we look at the game we played in February, which in this case is Jones in the Fast Lane.

Now as is so often the case, we're once again joined by an international cast of guest for this episode. And this got us thinking: rarely is English the native language of the people on our show, yet we do it in English anyway. What a hassle! That's why we've decided to change things up by letting everyone speak in their own language instead. This allows for much easier and more interesting discussion, which surely will improve the quality of the show!

Gastheren Martijn ("Tijn") en Florian ("rnlf") worden in deze aflevering vergezeld door Jozef ("yozy"), Esko ("Firefyte"), Marwane ("wan") en Oddvar ("dollarone").

Zu den Moderatoren Martijn („Tijn“) und Florian („rnlf“) gesellen sich in dieser Folge Jozef („yozy“), Esko („Firefyte“), Marwane („wan“) und Oddvar („dollarone“).

Medzi moderátorov Martijna ("Tijn") a Floriana ("rnlf") v tejto epizóde patria Jozef ("yozy"), Esko ("Firefyte"), Marwane ("wan") a Oddvar ("dollarone").

Jozef ("yozy"), Esko ("Firefyte"), Marwane ("wan") ja Oddvar ("dollarone") ovat mukana juonten Martijn ("Tijn") ja Florian ("rnlf") tässä jaksossa.

Joindre les hôtes Martijn ("Tijn") et Florian ("rnlf") pour cet épisode sont Jozef ("yozy"), Esko ("Firefyte"), Marwane ("wan") et Oddvar ("dollarone").

Sammen med vertene Martijn ("Tijn") og Florian ("rnlf") for denne episoden er Jozef ("yozy"), Esko ("Firefyte"), Marwane ("wan") og Oddvar ("dollarone").

Veel plezier! Habe Spaß! Príjemnú zábavu! Pidä hauskaa! S'amuser! Ha det gøy!

[ download mp3 ] (20 mins, 21 MB)

The Mega-Corps pay well, for those good enough to survive. They call you into the shadows with dreams of wealth, and you answer, the only way you know how.

Apogee's 1994 vertical shooter Raptor - Call of the Shadows was a game that impressed many young players back in the day with its slick graphics, fluid gameplay and massive explosions. But does it hold up today? How does it compare to other games from that genre and era, nearly 30 years later?

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are returning Club members Esko ("Firefyte") and Jozef ("yozy"), as well as Hannes ("Mr Creosote"), who's on for the first time.

Also a big thanks to DGC member "Pixel Prophecy" for sending in a voice message! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to [email protected]

The month's shoutout goes to one of our own, DGC member "watchful", who is creating a podcast with descriptive, audio-only Let's Plays. In our opinion a great way to make our community more inclusive to a wider range of people. You can find the podcast on https://letsplaybyplay.org/.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (112 mins, 128 MB)

* A review of Raptor in an old UK magazine, scanned in by DGC member Richard ("Pix")

* Review of Raptor from 2021 written by podcast participant Hannes ("Mr Creosote") on goodolddays.net

* "Black Eagle 2", a DOS game made by podcast participant Jozef when he was younger, using assets from Raptor and other games on github.com

* Scott Host's Raptor Remixed Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/scotthost

* Scott Host's Website with Raptor for sale: http://www.mking.com/about.html

* Raptor soundtrack: Adlib/OPL and General MIDI.

* Let's Play by Play (watchful's podcast): https://letsplaybyplay.org/

What have you gotten yourself into this time, Roger Wilco?

You wanted to have an easy, laid back job as a janitor on a space ship, but somehow it all went straight to crazy land the moment a bunch of space pirates came to take away a mysterious device you wouldn't understand anyway.

Will you be able to save the world many times over? Survive crash landing on a jungle planet and a big robot boxing match? Will you stop the invasion of the life insurance salesmen clone army? Do all those things - and many more - in Sierra's classic adventure series that ran in six episodes from 1986 to 1995 and represents a cross cut through almost the entirety of DOS gaming hardware.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are returning Club members Richard and Michael, as well as Jess, who has been running the very first Space Quest fansite on the web since the 90s.

Also a big thanks to DGC members "watchful" and "Shattered" for sending in a voice message! It's much appreciated. If you want to send in a voice message yourself, you can email them to [email protected]

And last but not least: we're doing shout outs now! This time we'd like to guide your attention to the Talking Simulator Podcast, which is a great little videogame podcast by Jordan Erica Webber, featuring many interesting guests.

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (172 mins, 197 MB)

* Jess' site: Roger Wilco's Virtual Broomcloset

* SpaceQuest.net

* Space Quest Historian

* Space Quest: the movie

* Wiki page on "Software Excess" from Space Quest 4, with links to all the funny box texts

* Space Quest FAQ

* Archived copy of Wilco's Domain on Geocities

* Space Venture Kickstarter, the upcoming spiritual successor to Space Quest by the Two Guys From Andromeda

* Shout out: Talking Simulator Podcast

Addendum: we talk a bit about "AGI", but never explain what it is. AGI is shorthand for "Adventure Game Interpreter" and was the original engine developed by Sierra for King's Quest and their later adventure games. It was later followed by an engine called SCI, the Sierra Creative Interpreter. More info on Wikipedia: AGI.

Did you really, really want a model train set as a kid, with a landscape modeled after your preferences, stations where you want them and amazing trains that you control? Was it absolutely out of reach for you as well?

Well, thanks to Chris Sawyer's Transport Tycoon, we got what we wanted in the end, even if it was just virtual in our computers - maybe even better in many aspects. We also look at how projects like TTDPatch and OpenTTD kept the game alive through the decades and how the game is still being actively improved to this day.

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are returning Club member David and new member Niels, who is actually an active developer of OpenTTD and thus very knowledgeable about the game and especially OpenTTD's history. Sadly, David had to leave a couple minutes early, so the last 20 minutes ro so it's just the three of us.

We're doing shout outs now! This time we'd like to guide your attention to Ms Mad Lemon (Website) who makes (among others) hardware tinkering videos about 8 and 16 bit computers. Even this "Amiga" we hear so much about. Go subscribe to her and say hi from us!

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (154 mins, 176 MB)

* David's videos about TTD (among others)

* Niels' TTD music collection

* Richard ("Pix") has once again scanned UK magazines reviews for us

* tt-forums.net is *the* place to talk about Transport Tycoon

* TTDPatch website

* OpenTTD website

* Ms Mad Lemon's Website (with further links to her Twitter and YouTube)

Oh no! First Penelope is kidnapped by the evil Dr. Hammerstein, then your uncle Horace is murdered and finally, you crash your airplane in the South American jungle where Penelope gets bitten by a venomous spider!

Join us as we explore the world of the Hugo series, made for the most part by one man in the late 80s and early 90s, consisting of 3+1 games that are both heart-warmingly charming and mind-boggingly (and involuntarily) psychedelic.

We played the First Person Shooter sequel "Nightmare-3D" in episode 10, back in our club's first year!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are Michael, host of the DOS Games Jam (which we covered earlier in episode 41) and Dr. DOS, who is the current world record speed runner of the first game in the series.

Björn ("TigeQuoll") and Bernd have sent in voice messages, for which we're very grateful. If you'd also like to share a voice message, please send them [email protected]

We're doing shout outs now! This time we'd like to guide your attention to Lady Decade (Twitter and YouTube) who makes brilliant videos mostly about 3rd to 5th generation consoles and games for those. Go subscribe to her and say hi from us!

That's all for now. Enjoy!

[ download mp3 ] (134 mins, 154 MB)

* DOS Game Club episode on Nightmare-3D

* Dr. DOS' world record Any% speedrun

* Explanation of exploitable glitches, also by Dr. DOS

* David P. Gray's Website, where you can still buy HHH and N3D

* Interviews with David P. Grey: adventureclassicgaming.com, classicdosgames.com & plusxp.com (via archive.org)

* Lady Decade on Twitter

* Lady Decade's YouTube Channel