Boring Beige Box podcast and blog about computers in the 80s and 90s

Ultima Underworld

Tonight I fired ye old DOSbox and loaded up Ultima Underworld.  For those of you who don't know, this game was groundbreaking during it's time and lead the way to many games such as Half-life and basically any 3rd person game where you have to solve puzzles, explore, talk to NPCs, etc.  It was one of the first PC games I bought back in the early 90s.  I was literally blown away by it.  I pored over reviews and the lush screen shots.  It was very open ended and just a place for you to explore even though it was seven levels of dungeon.  This game and Ultima 7 were the pinnacle of the Ultima franchise back in the early 90s.  It was a great time and I enjoyed it immensely.  It was exactly what I was looking for after getting bored with console games.

That being said, I tried to play it tonight, almost 20 years later.  Wow!  We have come a long way!  First off, it is played in 800x600 which was nice back then.  Second, moving through the world sucks!  You move by using the keyboard or mouse.  Controlling this movement is clunky and not as smooth as today's lightening fast strafing and moving within a 3D world such as the latest 3rd person shooters.  Heck, Doom moved more fluidly than this.  I think it is just a matter of getting used to the controls.  I still feel like I keep sliding or missing the mark in UW.  I could play for only about 20 minutes.  I spent hours, days, and weeks playing it as a kid.  I have no problem playing the top down RPGs of the day such as Ultima 7 but this is just downright hard!  It was fun while it lasted.

Overall, it was an incredible game.  You had to go through 7 levels of the dungeon and it was not easy.  It was very time consuming too.  It's fun to go back and take a look at it.  On to something else!

Retro Gaming

Back in the college days, I was big into emulation.  That is the emulation of old video game consoles on the computer such as the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and the Sega Genesis.  The most popular emulation software at the time was Nesticle for the NES, SNES9x for the Super Nintendo, and Genecyst for the Genesis.  They all worked amazingly well and all the games you could want could be found online.  The other cool thing you could do is hook up a Gravis pad that looked like a SNES controller to your computer and play the games just like you had the console.  It's not the same as sitting in front of your TV in the living room though.  I worked at this tech support place that employed lots of college kids my age and we were big into these emulators.  We played a lot after hours and were always hanging out in emulation related chat rooms on IRC.  It was fun collecting all the game files (ROMs).  After a while, I leaned towards having the physical catridge instead.

I was also into collecting the catridges during this time.  I would go to flea markets on the weekend looking for games.  I would fly up and down the aisles quickly assessing all the tables.  One day I hit the jackpot.  A guy was selling 75 Atari and Coleco cartridges!  I offered him $25 and he accepted!  I ended up getting every game I ever needed for those systems and a few rare carts.  This was also the beginning of Ebay for me.  It was 1997 so Ebay was still kind of small and personal.  I would list games for sale and people would send me money orders and I would send them their game.  No Paypal needed!  I eventually got rid of most of the Atari and Coleco carts.  I ended up collecting NES and SNES carts instead.  The NES is my long time favorite since it was the system I was into the most as a kid although I have enjoyed the SNES and Genesis over the years.  I have about 30 NES games.  They are primarily some of the lesser known RPG/Adventure games which I had as a kid.  There have been times when I was going to sell them but I never did.  Those games hold lots of memories for me and I want to be able to always pop them into the old NES every now and then even though I'll never beat them.  I mean, come on, Final Fantasy?!? Hours and hours of never ending monster killing.  I can do it in WoW but not FF!  Here's to good times with old games.

The First Computer

In December of 1991, I officially began my obsession with computers.  I used computers long before then such as the Apple IIe, IIc, IIgs, Macintosh SE, Macintosh Classic, Classic II, LE, Commodore 64, Tandy 1000, and many IBM compatible clones.  The reason it began in December of 1991 is because I got my first glimpse of Monkey Island 2 and Ultima 7.  Up until this time, I was a console gamer.  Starting with the ColecoVision/Atari in 1984, then the NES in 1987, Sega Genesis in 1990, and the Super Nintendo in 1991.  I loved RPGs on the NES, Genesis, and SNES but I finally discovered that there was so much more on the PC.  The graphics in Monkey Island 2 blew away anything on the consoles and Ultima 7 had the depth of no other .  I was sold!

The first thing I did was buy the December copy of Computer Game Review magazine.

Little did I know that it was the beginning of a life long obsession.  I ended up buy Monkey Island 2, which was reviewed in the magazine, nine months before I bought my first computer.  I even tried loading it on a Mac Classic in the Writing Lab at school knowing that it wouldn't run on it since it was the PC version.  I wanted to play it so badly that I would try anything!  I actually had an older friend that had a computer at his house.  I would take Monkey Island 2 over there and load it up to play.  It was definitely glorious but I wanted it on my own system.

So the summer of '92 rolls around and I begin working to save up for a computer.  At the time I was working at my uncle's art gallery in the mall and only making about $6/hour.  It took all summer to save up $800 for a computer.  I spent weeks poring over enormous Computer Shopper magazines to decide what I wanted and what I could afford.  Now $800 back then didn't buy you much compared to today.  You can get a screamer for $800 at your local Best Buy today.  Back then it got you the low end machine.  I still have the invoice from that first computer.  Take a look.

As you can see it was a humble beginning.  I wasn't even able to get a sound card or a modem with it.  CD-ROM drives were not big yet but they would be soon.  I did get a 2400 baud modem a week or two later and blew up the I/O card when I tried to install it.  A puff of smoke literally came from the motherboard.  My online adventures began with that modem but that is for another post!  I really loved that first computer.  I learned so much with it including DOS 5.0, Windows 3.1, hacking the autoexec.bat and config.sys files to run every game imaginable.  It was the beginning of my experience in troubleshooting computer issues that gave me the career I have today.

I ended up selling the computer a year later for the same amount I paid for it.  I used the money to buy a Packard Bell 486.  I followed this same method of selling a computer after I had it for a while so I could get a better way.  I was always bringing home a new computer.  I worked for most of the money and borrowed the rest from my grandmother.

There are many more stories of those early days and I hope to chronicle them here and eventually in a book.  I have always wanted to do this but just put it off.  My new year's resolution is to not be so narrow focused on one hobby or interest.  I want to dabble in every interest at all times if possible.  We'll see how it goes!  Stay tuned for more.