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Rob Clark's avatar
Rob Clark

Fields of Glory

The year was 1999. I had just taken delivery of my first desktop PC from Tiny Computers. Included in the box was a game that I will remember for the rest of my days. A game so challenging, I have yet to complete it.

That game was Fields of Glory.

Developed by Microprose and released in 1993, Fields of Glory centres around the Waterloo Campaign of 1815. Players take control of the Anglo-Prussian and French armies to replay the battles leading up to, and including, the famous Battle of Waterloo.

Each battalion of sprites represents the real battalions that were present with a rich encyclopaedia entry for each. A history nerds dream, this game had in-depth descriptions and details, chronicling every unit in the game. From Napoleon and Wellington, to the 95th Rifles and King's German Legion. It had entries for every nation, general, battalion, corps, and company on the battlefield, complete with matching music, played via the pizo-buzzer.

This game had an anti-piracy feature that I've never seen in another game, though I'm sure they exist. Before you could start a new battle you had to enter a password. To find this password the game would give you three numbers. These corresponded to the page, line, and word in the manual, with a random word selected each time. I still find this pretty amazing to this day.

Fields of Glory is now available of Steam, and I urge any who haven't played it to give it a go.

But be warned: it is very difficult. 20+ years and several hundred hours later, and I still cannot defeat Napoleon at Waterloo. That Arthur Wellesley with a military genius!

Ford James's avatar
Ford JamesMod
Rob Clark

Those anti-piracy measures from the '90s were wild. My favourite is the Monkey Island Dial-A-Pirate - I recently copped the collector's edition for the MI Anthology from Limited Run Games and it came with a brand new Dial-A-Pirate, which is just excellent. Get rid of Denuvo and bring back anti-piracy tools like these, I reckon.

Lanah Tyra's avatar
Lanah Tyra

Alley Cat (1984)

I was about 3 years old and when my mother couldn't leave me with anyone she took me to her workplace and I played this game all day. I was always a cat-person and loved cats so it was the perfect game for me.

You had to jump up the bins on the top of the fence, but be aware of the alley cats pushing you off right into path of the chasing dog. From the fence you had to jump in at one of the windows, and you could end up in different rooms.

Catch the mice in a giant cheese, fish from the aquarium, knock things off the table... you know all the things cats are supposed to do.... until a broom comes along and sweeps you out that is.

As I was searching for videos the music started to play and my partner looked over to check what I was watching. When I told him I played this from the keyboard as I didn't have a joystick he said the cool kids had joystick. Ah well...

Philip's avatar
Philip

Lode Runner on the Apple IIe

The first video game I remember playing was on an Apple IIe computer which had a floppy disc drive. It was our families first computer, I may have been 7 or 8 at the time. I remember that my siblings and I all vied to get a turn to play on it. We were utterly impressed with the technology!

Now on this computer we had 1 game on a Floppy Disc and it was called Lode Runner.

Lode Runner was a nifty little game, where you can run, jump, climb ladders and swing along monkey bars. Your character was something like a spy, and the enemy henchmen were out to get you. You needed to collect all the briefcases on the screen to beat the level. Meanwhile you had to avoid the enemies because if they touched you, you died. Your one weapon was to shoot a hole in the ground in front of you. The hole didn't last long, but if you could set it up so an enemy walked into it, they would be trapped and die when the hole regenerated and buried them alive.

It was a great little platformer, and it kept you on your toes as the enemies were constantly choosing paths to corner you and get you.

Plus you could create your own levels as well. My brother's and I would have fun making nearly impossible levels for each other to try and beat.

From that first taste of video games, I was hooked. It's amazing to think how far we've come!

Lanah Tyra's avatar
Lanah Tyra
Philip

Kids these days don't even know what a floppy disk was let alone knowing there was "big" and "small" floppy disk :D

Philip's avatar
Philip
Lanah Tyra

Kids these days don't understand that when you rewind a video, that was a literal action in our day. Or when you dialed a phone number you had to turn a dial on the phone.

Dan Thomas's avatar
Dan Thomas

Ah a chance for my fellow grey-heads to show their age... wait a minute, how am I expected to remember something from so long ago? I barely recall what I had for breakfast... wait, what is it I'm doing again? 👴

In all seriousness though, I DO remember that the first game I played was on a Spectrum 48k (the rubber keyed wonder) in the 80s.

Trashman

Released in 1984 literally, a bin man simulator where you walk up a road collecting bins from people's gardens and emptying them into the bin lorry (US: trash truck?) before it pulled too far up the road. Once you emptied the bin and returned it you could go into the house and have a humorous little conversation with the homeowner and earning the bonus of a bit more time.

I was at a friends house when I first played and my parents subsequently bought our own machine that next Christmas which well and truly set me on my path. This game was a staple for a long time. I was not any good at it, but I do remember enjoying it and trying to beat my best score over and over. It was actually quite a fast-paced game for the time, I remember being hugely infuriated because you could easily step too far and walk off the path which would mean the household dog would come and chase after you. Looking back now, whilst it was a fun game at the time, it's amazing to realise Paperboy was released the same year which was leagues ahead in terms of graphics and gameplay action. I'm not sure any of these games hold up today, expectations are way different from what was possible on the hardware then, but it's always fun to check out videos to get a feel for what early games were like...

We've come a long way, eh?

Ross's avatar
Ross
Dan Thomas

Love this. Never played it but if I have the opportunity i'm deffo giving it a go after reading this!

Ross's avatar
Ross

Christmas day 2000. A 5 year old boy rises from his slumber, unknowingly about to change the course of his life forever. Beneath all the sparkles and garish tinsel, a holy grail laid in wait. A grail so mighty that it would shape the man he became today...

WHO'S THAT POKEMON!?

IT'S POKEMON YELLOW!

I think you'd struggle to find any child born in the 80s and 90s who's not played some iteration of Pokémon at some point or another. But for me, my first foray into the magical world of Pokémon was Yellow version.

At this stage in my life, as sad as it is to admit (rapidly approaching 30) I've played almost every main-game franchise Pokémon game that Nintendo has to offer and a fair few of the spin-offs. But for me, nothing quite beats the first game I ever got my grubby little mitts on. Pokémon Yellow version. At the time I'd never owned a games console before and I was fortunate enough that my parents had managed to source me not only Pokémon Yellow, but also a particularly unsightly matching lemon-yellow Game Boy Color. - AND I LOVED IT.

5 Year old me was sadly not a gifted academic and rather unceremoniously hammered in my name when prompted by Prof. Oak... 'AAAAAAAA' and I was all set. I picked up my pal Pikachu, set foot into the world of Pokémon and never looked back.

To this day, over two decades later, I'm still in love with the franchise. As many rightfully are. There's been TV shows, Movies, Spin-Off games, a HUGELY successful trading card game (that I also collect and if you ask my partner, waste too much money on.) and much, much more. But to me, nothing quite beats the the memory of that first morning, ripping through the glitzy red paper to the prize within. The memory of Pokémon Yellow.

The game had story and intrigue a plenty and I don't mind admitting that even as a child I was addicted. The jolly chip-tune music as I ventured from town to town that I can still hear in my head so clearly to this day. The annoying rival (also named AAAAAAAA) that would crop up at the most inconvenient moments. The plethora of wild and whacky Pokémon to catch and call my own.

I'd wager that almost all of you reading this have played a 'Gen 1' Pokémon game at this point in your lives, but for any that haven't, if you ever get the opportunity I'd HIGHLY recommend it.

Ford James's avatar
Ford JamesMod
Ross

Iconic. Mine was Pokemon Blue - I remember hooking it up via a Transfer Pak to our N64 and playing it on the big telly in the living room with my dad. An extremely fond memory, and I'm still a huge Pokemon fan to this day! I do recall all my mates having Pokemon Red or Yellow though, and I was the only one with Blue - in hindsight, that should've made me highly sought after for the version exclusives, but in reality I got shunned for being the only one with a different version, ha!

Ross's avatar
Ross
Ford James

Haha, I remember HOUNDING my mates at school who had Red/Blue in an attempt to get Electabuzz/Magmar respectively. I have a copy of Blue in my cupboard and I'm not entirely sure where it came from. Sadly the battery seems long dead but I might try and get a replacement someday...

Boomer's avatar
BoomerMod
Ross

The dead battery happened to me as well...really had my hopes up when it booted up that first time!

It was so frustrating getting a few hours into a new playthrough only to realise the internal battery died and it wipes the memory when you turn it off! 😭

Ross's avatar
Ross
Boomer

YUP. Also happened to me on my copy of silver a couple of years ago. Thought it might be fun to play it on the plane en-route to a holiday. Only to find that once I rebooted the game the next day, the 4 hours of save data from the plane journey had been wiped and I was greeted only with a 'new game' option... 😭😭😭

Boomer's avatar
BoomerMod
Ross

Oh that's brutal! I bet you got really good at the opening few hours over that holiday! 😅

Ross's avatar
Ross
Boomer

Honestly, it was a blessing in disguise. It encouraged me to actually go outside and enjoy the sunshine rather than being the stubborn little introvert that I am. 😂

Boomer's avatar
BoomerMod
Ford James

Respect Blue Team 🤜

Damien Mason's avatar
Damien Mason

My long-forgotten PC game

When you've played games pretty much all your life, it can be difficult to tell precisely what the first one was. The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Metroid; there are many classics that I have memories of, and I couldn't say which I played first. I can, however, say with certainty what my first PC game was.

At home, the PC we owned was plonked in the hallway for everyone to use, making it somewhat of an event and strictly not for gaming. Visiting my grandad's bungalow, however, I'd get to play games all I wanted - or should I say game? The selection was admittedly thin with just one that I can remember, but I'd still get a rush of excitement every weekend. I could continue with my story, just like the scheduled viewing of your favourite TV show.

Years later, I remember the point-and-click gameplay. I recall the puzzles as I investigated the mysteries of the pirate ship, making me feel like a hardboiled detective. And, as clear as day, the ship's undead captain sticks in my mind because he was rather intimidating through youthful eyes - the stuff of nightmares, considering the setting took place in a dream world. The only thing I couldn't bloody remember was the name of it.

I know what you're thinking... THAT'S MONKEY ISLAND! But no, both you and Google are wrong. The one I played had a darker, more brooding tone. For decades, I'd searched in hopes of remembering the game that laid the foundation for my love of Deponia, Broken Sword, and the Telltale games, only to wrongfully be told it must be the Lucasfilm classic. Searching the deepest reaches of my mind to pull another detail, I'd chuck it at Reddit only to receive the same suggestions over and over.

It wasn't until 2021 when the game I played received an unexpected re-release on Steam, and I'd somehow caught wind. Voodoo Kid! I immediately added it to my wishlist, but I dare not buy it in case I once again forget the name and can't find it after it gets lost in the depths of the dreaded backlog.

Lanah Tyra's avatar
Lanah Tyra

So many nice bounties this week! I need a day off from my full-time job to write bounty entries help :D

Ross's avatar
Ross
Lanah Tyra

Just thinking the same haha. It's a good excuse to get my writing skills up to par though!

Seán 's avatar
Seán

So (might be a stupid question) video submissions the 'Created for the Just About Video Games community at justabout.com', included #JustAbout, and tagged us too: TikTok, YouTube, Instagram. part put that in the description, video or both. Happy either way.

Ford James's avatar
Ford JamesMod
Seán

In the video description, please! :)

Seán 's avatar
Seán
Ford James

Sweet thank you. <3

Bayou_Hashira_504 's avatar
Bayou_Hashira_504

it was super mario bros I'm that old and the only game I never

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