Tag Archives: simulation

TIE Fighter, PC

TIE Fighter was first released in 1994 and is the sequel to the smash hit space combat game, X-Wing, which are both of course based on spacecraft from the Star Wars universe. This time, though, you get to fight on the side of The Empire, who are widely seen as the ‘bad guys’ in the Star Wars series, so in this game you are blasting Rebels and their collaborators out of space, and not the other way around.

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Fortune Builder, ColecoVision

Fortune Builder is a business simulation game that was developed by Circuits and Systems, Inc. and published by Coleco Industries in 1984. Alongside Utopia on the Intellivision, from 1981, it is one of the earliest examples of a resource management video game. Fortune Builder pre-dates SimCity by five years, and is more complex – at least in some respects.

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Championship Pool, Game Boy

Championship Pool on the Game Boy is a conversion of the classic Bitmasters NES/SNES pool simulation, which some think is arguably the best video game pool sim ever made (myself included). It was first released by Mindscape in 1993.

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Revs, BBC Micro

Geoff Crammond‘s racing simulator, Revs, is an absolute classic on the BBC Micro. It was the first ever racing game made for home computers that focused on realism, and it still plays amazingly well to this day. Revs was first published by Acornsoft in 1985.

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Championship Pool, Megadrive/Genesis

Created by Bitmasters and first published by Mindscape in 1993, Championship Pool is arguably one of the best pool games of all-time. It’s possible to make subtle or hard-hitting strokes, and the aiming system allows for quick, accurate enhancements that encourage ever more confident play.

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Strike Fleet, Commodore 64

Strike Fleet is a naval combat simulation developed by Lucasfilm Games and first published by Electronic Arts in 1988. It is the unofficial sequel to the game P.H.M. Pegasus* and it received rave reviews at the time of its original release. * = You can even take control of a Pegasus class craft if you want, which is a classy nod to the game’s predecessor.

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P.H.M. Pegasus, Commodore 64

P.H.M. Pegasus was developed by Lucasfilm Games and first published by Electronic Arts in 1987. It is a naval combat simulation where the player uses helicopters, convoy ships and hydrofoils to patrol and survey the sea, to clear areas of enemy forces, and escort friendly ships through risky waters.

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Hard Drivin’, Arcade

Hard Drivin’ is a 1989 arcade game developed and manufactured by Atari Games. It allows the player to drive a sports car on a track that emphasises speed and stunts, and was one of the first driving games with a fully 3D polygonal environment.

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Sim Ant, PC

Initially released for PC MS-DOS in 1991, Sim Ant (aka SimAnt) is a video game that simulates the life of an ant colony. It’s a game that has fascinated me since I first played it, in the same way that watching a real ant nest – or documentaries about ants – fascinates me.

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Falcon 3.0, PC

Developed by Sphere Inc. and published by Spectrum HoloByte (MicroProse in Europe), Falcon 3.0 is a DOS-only combat flight sim from 1991. It is the third entry in the F-16 Fighting Falcon series of games.

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