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Loom (1990)

"Much time has passed from the era of the Second Shadow, when dragons ruled the sky and the stars were bright and numerous ... "

In a possible future, the company is organized in the city was built around guild trades: smiths, shepherds, glaziers and clerics are powerful clans that share the legislative power, administrative and military. Isolated on the tiny island of LOOM , lives the weavers' guild, which avoids the political issues to pursue with devotion to the study of his art. Over the centuries the art of weaving beyond the limits of the canvas, thanks to a magical frame that allows guild members to influence and alter the reality of the future. Lady Cygna Threadbare a young woman in the congregation, asking the elderly to use the magical powers of the frame to ease the suffering of his people who, because of isolation, is slowly disappearing. Faced with rejection, she decides to secretly use the loom to weave the fate of the newborn child and save dall'infausto future of its people. Discovered the crime, the council of elders transforms the woman into a swan, was condemned to exile, and entrusting the little lady to Hetchel .

Bobbin, this is the name chosen by Hetchel grows isolated from the rest of the community, marginalized out of fear of the dark omen launched by the mother with his act recklessly. Hetchel , despite the prohibition of the elderly, the young man secretly teaches the art of weaving and magic.

On his seventeenth birthday, Bobbin is summoned by the council of elders who want to decide his fate (which is far from rosy.) Arriving at the palace of the council, the young man hears the voices of older people intent on trial for having taught Hetchel despite their prohibition. Hidden in the shadows, Bobbin sees his nurse became, for punishment, in an egg. Who makes the issues here ... and break into the room a swan that turns the elderly, and all the people weavers, into swans who leave the earth plane through an interdimensional gateway. Bobbin is so alone ... in the company of an egg! After I got the magic stick (the distaff ) of the head of the council, cast his first spell on the egg from which emerges a black duckling ( Hetchel ) who, before leaving our size, it informs the boy that it's up to him to save the world by the arrival of the Third Shadow. His fate, magically woven by his mother years before, is to leave the island of Loom, get in touch with other guilds and retrieve the objects necessary to complete its task. Here begins your adventure that you do not provide further details so as not to spoil the taste of the good life step by step story of the title.

Bobbin convened by the council of elders - The city of the guild of blacksmiths

When, in 1990 the LucasFilm published Loom, had already to his credit three excellent adventure games ( Maniac Mansion "," Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders "and" Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ") who had deservedly projected Olympus producers of this genre. The major innovation in the software house, founded in 1982 by George Lucas multifaceted, was the abandonment of the text parser (which had characterized the era of text adventures) and replace it with a fully managed via the mouse (from which the definition of "point and click adventure"). Clicking on the scenario moves the character, the commands you impart selecting an action from the list of verbs and objects from the inventory or the elements of the background (well, a step forward not just !!!). Well ... if you had the opportunity to play one of the previous games in the Lucas, the approach to Loom may seem a bit 'unsettling: the list of verbs, as well as inventory disappeared, giving way to only distaff with which you can weave spells (called wefts) are necessary to interact with the elements of the scenario. The stick is engraved with the eight musical notes ranging from C to high C (indicated by the letters cac ', the corresponding notation in English), a spell is formed by the sequence of four notes played in a certain order. At this point you'll wonder how you learn spells: nothing more simple, just examine objects by double-clicking of mouse (click the single serving to select the object on which to launch a plot) and "interesting" as if by magic (it's appropriate to say it) is literally put to play, teach a new plot. With a double click the pot full of dye for fabrics, for example, the spell will be unveiled to color objects. The plots can also be played by reversing the sequence, thus giving rise to reverse the spell: For example, run through Colors on the contrary, you get the bleaching effect. That's it, your task is limited to exploring the scenarios, discovering new textures and use them to solve puzzles that gradually the game offers. It is therefore all the more simpler than the previous adventures of Lucas , but equally rewarding.
Initially you can only use three of the eight notes available, while the remaining will be released gradually with continued adventure, giving you access to more powerful spells.

Bobbin magic in front of the frame. The lower part of the distaff with which to weave your plots

Scripted by Brian Moriarty, author of the excellent text adventure Infocom, the game was created with the goal of becoming the first interactive movie history sacrificing in part, the gameplay to enjoy ample narrative. Unfortunately time was not ripe and the limits of the medium on which the title was released (3 floppy disk), prevented the game to fully express its potential. To work around this obstacle in part (and to increase the quality of the narrative) is included in the package a cassette that, in the form of "audio drama" tells, in detail, the extensive preamble that serves as introduction to the Adventures of Bobbin. The same control system was designed specifically not to "distract" from over the player to experience the adventure. From these considerations follows a major defects Loom : Lack of longevity. Not having more resources available graphic-sound, compared to the previous adventures, and given the simplicity of the interface and the limited interaction, the game can be completed comfortably in a couple of days of intense play. Little are the three levels of difficulty which only increase the complexity of using the magic wand: the highest level there are no incisions with the notes and when you discover a new plot "to go by ear to see what shades used to play it. Far too little from this point of view to achieve sufficiency.

different for Speech As for the graphics and sound. The graphics, although only 16 colors, is very pleasant both for the sprites that the waters (some designed in a masterly way). The new version of the SCUMM allows you to manage large range shots, with characters that diminish with distance from the observer, and close ups that emphasize the intensity of the dialogues. Very good sound with support for cards AdLib and Sound Blaster . Excellent adaptation of George Alistair Sanger "Fat Man" piece by Tchaikovsky that form the soundtrack to our deeds, but unfortunately, once again, the limits of the support prevents you from having a constant accompaniment throughout the game, but when the music is, is valuable and always adapted to the situations experienced by the protagonist.

In Loom you can fly even if the location is not convenient! - The city of emeralds guild of glassmakers

Loom adventure is strange and somewhat unconventional, and some will love to hate the other madness, and my advice is to try to understand the most creative and innovative spirit that makes the title of LucasFilm the best adventures ever made.

Other versions

The game is released at once, plus, PC Amiga, Atari ST and Macintosh. All versions are essentially identical except that for the 'Amiga that, as usual, shows off a better sound. In 1992 he released the PC version CD-ROM with 256 color VGA graphics, digital audio and speech.

The lair of the dragon in the splendor of the 256 color VGA

SCUMM

The Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion is the application made by Aric Wilmunder and R on Gilbert, back in 1987, to simplify the development of Maniac Mansion. The use of a scripting language allowed developers to use images, sprites, music and dialogue sequences without putting hand to complex programming languages. Originally developed on the C64 and later ported to many platforms, from the 3DO Sega Mega CD, allowed us all to enjoy the wonderful adventure games produced over the years by the group of wizards of LucasFilm (later LucasArts ). Although no longer officially used the SCUMM is alive and well thanks to the open source project ScummVM (SCUMM Virtual Machine ) that allows us all to play fluently in securities of Lucas (and others) on modern operating systems ... a great job!

I leave you with a demo movie of non-interactive Loom I hope you can make you want to try this amazing adventure ...

PS The review you have just read is taken from the third issue of Re.BIT that I recommend reading the following this link ... Do not miss this hymn to retrogaming .

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Golden Axe (1990)

From its beginnings as a gaming machine, the PC view of his calling "professional", was invaded by titles such earnest adventure, complex turn-based strategy, RPG bricks with manual 200 pages and flight simulators. The games arcade with a strong as platform and shoot'em up , there were the tips of two fingers ever, for conversions from coin-op it was enough one! For a "kid" like me, who never lost an opportunity to go to the little bar downstairs to play the cruiser on duty, a real tragggedia (g took the three). Add to this the alternatives such conversions, see, eg, the horror of Ghosts' n Goblins , the mediocre and decent OutRun Double Dragon ... There is very little to be happy (well ... there ' Super Off Road of which I spoke a couple of posts ago, but it is the classic exception !!!). For tiraci up a bit 'morale today I decided to talk about Golden Axe , beat-'em-up-down weblog Sega, theatrical release in 1989 and converted in 1990 to a plethora of systems ( console and home computer ) not I will suggest a list (both are always the same).

The game obviously inspired by the atmosphere fantasy of Conan the Barbarian, tells the story of the reign of Yuria and his royal family kidnapped by the evil Death Adder . In completing the real abduction, the evil Prince of Darkness really wants to steal the legendary Golden Axe ( Golden Axe), a symbol of power and strength of the realm. Of course it will be up to you in the shoes of one of three possible characters, from the time of the dark castle of Death Adder to free the royal family and bring home the magic talisman.

The three possible players, combining different features that significantly affect the style of game that you will be forced to adopt:

• Ax Battler: the classic barbarian powerful and vigorous, armed with his sword challenge (no double meaning, please ) wants to avenge the death of his mother. It 's the most balanced character of the trio.
• Tyris Flare : sensual rider armed with bastard sword (sword, long and thin) seeking revenge for the death of their parents. And 'the person most agile and fast but also less powerful.
• Gilius Thunderhead : As classic fantasy literature could not miss the dwarf armed with a double ax, slow but strong as a bull. Even Gilius is compelled to fight not only for the freedom of the kingdom, to avenge the death of his twin brother, who fell under the blows of minions of Death Adder .

The selection screen of your character

The three main characters, as well as their arms will be able to rely on the power of magic: Ax can count on the power of the earth, Tyris on that of fire (the spell is more powerful) and Gilius on that of lightning. In the absence of the magicians in the classical sense, the three characters invoke the magic power of the elements by throwing bulbs that can be collected during the mission (prendento kicks to the nice little people). The longer the bulbs available, the greater the effect and devastation of the spell ( Tyris able to accumulate more bulbs than the other characters, offsetting in part the lesser prowess in clashes with cold). I close the parenthesis on the magic, emphasizing the beauty of the animations that accompany the launch of a spell ... mythical dragon's head evoked by the beautiful Amazon, across the screen spewing flames at enemies.

The force of the elements in action

The gameplay of Golden Axe is the classic scrolling beat 'em like this: Forward facing the enemy, in this case taking with more slashes not I can, as we approach that, during the fighting stops scrolling and then resume the battle ended. At the end of each level will find the classic boss that does not make you sweat just to gain access to next stage. In addition to the traditional slash our heroes can make some additional moves such as the shoulder on the run, the "kick" and took it with crushed ground and the special attack (different for each of the three characters). In short, there is everything you need to inflict pain in a well-deserved bad guys who try to block the road.

What's more, during the fighting you can throw enemies from their horses and take control, so you can take advantage of the powerful codate coccatrice (creataura legendary half-rooster, half lizard!) And the dragon's fiery breath.

Gilius riding the dragon and coccatrice (in which case the valiant dwarf is preparing to face the two guards that guard access to Turtle Village)

Graphically the game is a feast for the eyes thanks to the good use of the VGA 256 colors (also supports EGA and CGA) and the large and well animated sprites. Good accompaniment sound a bit 'less sound effects very "weak" (but then, by AdLib you can not expect more). I always wondered why the black band on the right (looks good even in screenshot) and unfortunately I never managed to do with a reason (perhaps to match the original resolution?). If you have any ideas leave a comment in order to quench my thirst for knowledge: o)

Being a coin-op conversion comparison with the version arcade is a must. To do so calls into question two screenshots left the arcade version the right PC: as can be seen even with a slight loss of vertical resolution and a handful of colors in the least, the version for MS systems DOS- denotes the excellent work done by programmers on the market as one of the best conversions.

The only flaw is due to the excessive simplicity of the title that will take us to complete the game within a short period time (this is a feature common to many derivative securities directly from the coin-op ). If relatively easily add to this the four claims that the game provides to arrive at the end of the adventure, it is easy to realize that it will not take long to come face to face with Death Adder . To meet the desire of the more experienced players with clubs, was introduced in the conversion of a higher difficulty level (selectable from the menu of options) and how "The Duel" where, in a sort of fighting in meetings, we "invited" street to street to face the strongest enemies (or many). Close

signal the possibility of facing the game in pairs and the different control systems supported: keyboard, joystick and mouse (do not laugh because using the mouse, some maneuvers are much more comfortable).

Here the usual movie where I face some levels of the game. I apologize for my incompetanza (which in part contradicts my statement about the ease of the title) but after so many years is a bit 'rusty ... I assure you that I finished the game several times ... tasty the final sequence to invite you to discover slowly savoring this excellent title ... the next ...

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Silpheed - Super Dogfighter (1988)

Probably many of you are unaware that the father of one of the few games that deserved the purchase of Mega CD, Silpheed in fact, was born on giapponesissimo, and almost unknown in our country, NEC PC-88 hands of talented programmers Game Arts . Thanks to the initiative of Sierra On-Line very active in those years, the game comes on the monitor of our beloved PC, so far nothing unusual, if not for the fact that the title in question is a shoot'em up and, strange but true, this is a conversion with no regret that controfiocchi PC users the magnificence of the competing systems in those years much more popular. Then call to delay and buttiamici headlong into review ...

In 3032, space ship built by a strange breed is found in the orbit of Pluto. Analyze the complex devices, scientists and engineers are able to clone terrestrial technology. And 'the event which marks the birth of the "Union of the Milky Way" and the BEGINNING of colonization outside the Earth's solar system. But, of course it is, here comes the turn of intergalactic bad guy, the evil Xacalite that, under the command of his fleet of space cappeggiata GLOIRE battleship, launched his challenge to the galaxy. The first clashes by surprise the fledgling union space, causing serious land losses to the fleet. The supercomputer Yggdrassil ruled that the best chance for the land and to entrust to you the command of Super SA-08 Air Fighter Silpheed, a prototype space fighter last bastion of defense land. So begins your mission through twenty levels of the game, will take a final showdown with Gloire to restore peace and harmony.

What I'm told, is the plot that holds the frantic battles Silpheed , one of the best shooting games of the first generation of PC games. Immediately after a brief presentation, masterfully made wireframe graphics in which introduces the storyline, it was immediately thrown into battle with hordes of enemy ships that will sling at us with the sole intent of ending our mission prematurely. Although at first glance may seem Silpheed a classic vertical scrolling shoot'em up is much more, thanks to its three-dimensional engine, which gives the game a look extremely attractive and innovative for the period, and polygonal models, although a bit 'rough, they move with great fluidity in the game.

levels that we have to face, are divided into four types: space battles, in which forward by slaughter of enemies armed to the teeth, the planet's defense, which will be called to protect the planet's surface below (this level scrolling stops, assuming the features of an advanced version of Space Invaders ), crossing of asteroid fields and attack the fortress where you have to cross the narrow passageways of a space station between ships, trucks and other barriers lethal amenities (such stage remember the legendary attack on the Death Star from Star Wars ). After each level you will be waiting for the classic boss, as usual for the fight to the projectile

One of scrolling levels and a defense of the planet

The attack on the space fortress and the final confrontation with the glory

As usual, reducing the release of these enemies power ups each denoted by a letter, which will give you a hand in tackling the arduous task

• (W) Weapon Power Up: increases the destructive power of your weapons
• (S) Speed \u200b\u200bUp : increasing speed and maneuverability of your hunting
• (B) Set Barrier : places a barrier between you and the enemy bullets, but does not protect you from collisions
• (D) Destroy : destroys all enemies and objects on the screen
• (A) Asteroid Belt three asteroids protect the advance of Silpheed
• (I) Invincible : your ship is invincible for a certain period of time
• (N) Score Bonus: increases the score
• (F) Automatic Fire : increase the frequency shots
• (R) All Repair : mulfunzionanti repair parts of your ship (not be repaired any Speed \u200b\u200bUp , and Automatic Fire Barrier September to be acquired again)

Realistically, the game does not cover multiple lives and then, having suffered seven strokes that drain your shields, the Silpheed will be able to endure three more rounds before exploring. Fail the mission there will remain nothing more than assist all'impietosa game over screen , read credits and then start again hoping for better luck.

In order not to make the game too exasperating, at the end of each level (after sending to maker the gruff boss ) your shuttle will land on a basis of where it can repair its shields and eventually equip themselves with new weapons. The class basis WOLF (more than "small") allow you to recover up to three slots of crowns, while the base class VICE addition to completely repair the shields replenish any Automatic Fire and Speed \u200b\u200bUp previously acquired. Every 50,000 points, a new weapon will be added to those available with which to equip your pick.

also very different arsernale the weapons that you can gradually use:

• Forward Beam : it is the weapon with which initially equipped the Silpheed, a single shot high intensity
• Beam Phalanx : firing seven shots in a radial pattern
• V-Beam : fires two shots in 'V'
• Laser Cannon : laser cannon, inaccurate but devastating
• Auto Aiming : bullets to automatically search for the enemy

short, there is definitely fun and that if we count that all weapons can be selected independently for both fire stations of the shuttle, there 's also a small component stragetica prompting you to select the best configuration of fire to deal with each level.

Before the inevitable video of me juggling for some levels of the game you point out the wonderful soundtrack that will accompany you during missions.

I leave you with a video introduction of the game, accompanied by music played masterfully by Roland MT-32 ... thrill: o)

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Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road (1990) The third number

In 1989, Leland Corporation (formerly Cinematronics Inc.), to whom we owe first (and timeless!) Drangon 's Lair and other historians coin-op as Space War and Solar Quest , invades the game rooms all over the world with this title set in the world of Off Road Racing . The game is inspired by the exploits of the now seasoned Ivan Stewart, aka Ironman , since 1973, for nearly thirty years, the law in this particular type of competition that take place on uneven, natural or artificial, on board various types of race cars (cars, motorcycles, trucks and buggies ).
The peculiarity of coin-op , which found a picture on the side, was to allow three players to compete against waging battles last dime (if mancaza opponents of "human" the game allowed in any case confronted with adverse guided by the AI).
I must admit that I particularly loved this car and have dilapitato good part of my weekly allowance in breathtaking matches, fascinated by its speed and immediacy!
In 1990, Virgin Games and Graftgold , riding the wave of success of the arcade version , convert the title for almost every platform ( computer and console , including the legendary Game Boy and Atari Lynx ) at that time . Strangely, this is a coversion from coin-op , the PC version is made with extreme care by allowing us all to bring home this little masterpiece of gameplay (at least this is my opinion!).
Well, after this extensive preamble to throw ourselves headlong into the review hoping, as always, to stimulate your desire to retrogaming .

As you can see in the introductory paragraph, Super Off Road is a title that aims to the gameplay (as it should be for a good coin-op, which must attract the player and push to put more coins as possible hating slot) ... no plot, nientre frills but plenty of action and lots of fun.
In the game, four off-road (red, blue and yellow piloted by the players while the gray one will always be led by Ivan Stewart in person) will compete on circuits fraught with pitfalls such as pits, ditches, puddles, jumping, crossings and with the sole purpose of crossing the line first. During your raids along the circuits of the game, you raccatare nitro , that when you use your vehicle to give a helping hand to fill any gaps, and bags of money that, along with those who receive as a reward for winning, which can be spent in the shop under the house to enhance your racing car.

I power up that we buy are:

• n Nitro
• additional engine power to increase the recovery
• engine power to increase the maximum speed
• stronger shocks which decrease the 'instability of the medium in addressing barriers
• tires to improve held

circuits on which they are running about nine to be addressed several times, back and forth, dealing with opponents who become as the most difficult to defeat. With regard to artificial intelligence of our adversaries, I like to remember that the game was one of the first to implement the Dynamic Play Adjustment (DPA) technology that allows drivers controlled by the CPU to dynamically adapt to the player's skill in order not to be never too frustrating and always leave the player a chance to win, at least at lower levels.

Two excited playtime

Graphically the title is very pleasant thanks to the good use of the VGA 256 colors that give good adhesion to the PC version coin-op. Good sound AdLib, with nice piece of music accompanying our performance. As you can see, the gameplay is stellar is playing against the computer is facing human opponents ... play three on keyboards is not easy but you can take, perhaps by acquiring a good joystick .

If you win, pretty girls in skimpy bikini, will join Celebrations

Longevity is ensured by the 99 combats that we will be invited to address, in case of defeat, you can continue using one of three credit available, while losing all the loot accumulated.

I leave you with the usual video where the sound thrashing to the good old Ironman before being soundly mazzulato after ten races ... in fact I had to lose not to stay within the time limit for videos on YouTube : o)

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of Re.BIT is on sale!

Ladies and gentlemen, the wait is finally over! The third number is available Re.BIT aedicule virtual Retrogaming History ! There is nothing left to do but follow this link and jump headlong into the reading of this hymn retroludica culture. The number is really full of relevant articles, which I hope will meet your favor: they range from the special dedicated to ' Intellevision the retrospective conversion on all of the immortal Burger Time , passing in the scioletezza dedicated to reportage Video Game History 2010 and the inevitable reviews (chief among them the Loom , written by me, supplementing with other articles on this blog , analysis of the first generation of adventure Lucas Film).
As you can see from the cover, from this number, Re.BIT becomes bi ... it was a difficult choice, but the monthly is difficult to reconcile the demands of work and family components of writing (after all we do for hobby and passion) ... better to have some 'more patience and be in my hands a publication better prepared, both graphically and from that content. Confident in your appreciation for this choice of quality, I invite you, as always, leave your feedback to help us improve your magazine reviews, compliments, suggestions and discussion ideas are essential to encourage the establishment to give their best and to make sure that each of you to feel part of this adventure!

See you on the newsstands for the Christmas number and I highly recommend ... Spread the word: o)

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The Cycles: International Grand Prix Racing (1989)

After SpecialOne dedicated to DosBox is time to go back to talking about games ... I fished out of the drawer of memory " The Cycles: International Grand Prix Racing " title race "dedicated to the wonderful world of two wheels.

In 1989, Accolade and ISD , strong excellent graphics engine Test Drive II, decided to strike while the iron is hot and market their personal interpretation of campionanto motorcycling world, now best known as the World Championship. Consistent with the year of issue, where you can compete in the categories are 125, 250 and 500 Queen. It is not the possibility to select the brand of bike we're going to fly: accontentaci the only model we present for each category. The game modes are provided for in the classical genre: practice, single race and championship. From the main menu we also decide: the level Difficulty (selectable from the five available), name of your virtual pilot and the number of turns that make each Grand Prix.

The main menu of The Cycles

circuits on which you can compete, are provided for the 1989 edition of the championship: Suzuka in Japan, Jerez in Spain, Misano in Italy and so on, until Goiania in Brazil (for a total of 15 circuits).
After selecting the game mode, the displacement of your missile on two wheels to race on the circuit and you will be immediately projected on the grid Departure ready to open the throttle. And here on the screen the real innovation of this title: Unlike previous motorcycle titles, the game view is placed at the back of the bike (at Super Hang On, so to speak), but to increase the feeling of realism , is in first person, then we will see the game from the eyes of our virtual rider, complete with a fairing and instrumentation of the bike at the bottom of the screen.

Two pictures in game

As you can see from the pictures, the graphic rendering is very good despite only 16 EGA colors used by the game. We only notice that I would move the game engine is that when you turn in your view, does not change but is always parallel to the road. Perhaps the time was not yet ripe for such graphic goodies, but for the record, I point out.
As for the sound than the duo's previous titles Accolade / DSI get the support AdLib tunes with nice presentation and the main menu. During the game we put up instead to the "roar of the engine, superbly played by the PC Speaker (mistero! !!!!).

We come now to my view, essential to any game: the gameplay. We start from the driving model decidedly arcade ... if you are fans of the simulation you'd better look elsewhere because, in this way everything runs off without too much respect for physics! As for the gameplay true there is not much to say .. Take Test Drive II , remove the chase with the police, the traffic inside and a pair of wheels and what there is there is The Cycles . Having taken the title in hand after having reviewed the second chapter in the saga of Test Drive, I can not help but show a more monotonous gaming sessions ... it is true that the desire to win the world championship will be a stimulus, but given the many similarities between the two titles and the same driving model, I have to favor the rich gameplay variant of the four wheels.
Let me be clear, The Cycles is a good title and motorcycle enthusiasts will surely appreciate the undoubted quality and breath of innovation brought to the genre.

That said, I leave you with the inevitable footage of your favorite bloggers on the legendary race circuit in Misano ... pole position, fastest lap and victory ... grand slam!!

same year Accolade and DSI , following the golden rule, "that horse wins, you do not change," Grand Prix Circuit issue, driving game set in the roaring circus of Formula 1. As you can see the pictures, the similarities between the two games are varied (from main menu). Eight tracks, three different teams (Ferrari, Williams and McLaren) and pit stop to change tires complete the pedigree of this good as a guide.

;

Three images of Grand Prix Circuit

A two or four wheels, the result does not change ... there is no history at Monza ...

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DosBox

After many delays we are finally arrived at the special dedicated to DosBox, then no more talk and let's get started ...

Introduction

As I said in previous post (if you have not read, I invite you to do before you start this article!) With the evolution of Microsoft operating systems mother , Compatibility with good old MS-DOS swarming has gradually making it impossible to play the old glories of the past. In order to enjoy the end of gameplay Alley Cat , fans retrogaming PC had to jealously preserve an old computer (equipped with a maximum Windows 95/98) or in the complex world barcamerasi of multi-boot to start multiple operating systems (functional solution but requires restarting the computer whenever you want to enjoy a bit 'of the past as well as gaming, to take the risk of seeing the games splash at speeds unheard of).
short, no end of trouble until July 22, 2002 when, as a brilliant insight Peter Veenstra, began to circulate on the Internet DosBox the first (and probably only) PC emulator MS-DOS x86 architecture-based . Unlike other software similar at first sight, such as dosemu the DosBox does not just provide a compatibility layer based on the virtualization capabilities of the processor and operating system 'host "But it is a true CPU emulation feature that makes the program independent of the system that is running (in fact DosBox is available, as well as Windows, Mac OS X for , Linux, OS / 2 on x86 architecture and on different architectures as PowerPC, SPARC , MIPS and ARM ).
addition to almost perfectly emulate the CPU 80286, 80386 and 80387 coprecessore mathematician, the DosBox emulates with good quality

• graphics adapters: Hercules (monochrome graphics adapter), CGA (including composite mode 160x200x16 colors), EGA, VGA (including its tweked mode) VESA ( of these standards will speak to you soon )
• sound cards: AdLib , Creative Music System (CMS), Sound Blaster (from 1.x to 16), Gravis Ultrasound, MPU-401 and even the legendary PC Speaker
• old protocols (IPX) and device ( modem and network cards) to networking to allow Internet gambling

For more details on the level of compatibility hardware of DosBox I invite you to see the summary table on the official website .

Using DoxBox

Well, after this large but unavoidable technical preamble, we turn to flab ... After downloading and installing the software , launch the program in the manner prescribed by the acquired version (for Windows , double clicking the icon, which appeared as if by magic, on desktop ). We will at this point in front of a black box desolately, which features the character sequence:

Z: \\>

followed by the flashing cursor. Ladies and gentlemen here comes the prompt , or the infamous command line will use to interact with the operating system (a customized and simplified version of the good old MS-DOS ).

The "scary" screen of DosBox

The prompt well as allow the insertion of commands us some information: The first letter identifies the drive on which we position, while the sequence of characters after ':' and before '>' display the path of the current (at the beginning We are located on the root folder, identified by the character'/'). As I mentioned earlier the DoxBox incorporates a simplified version of 'MS-DOS which "inherits" a score of command (type HELP / ALL and press enter for complete list). If twenty commands may sound a lot to master, know that in most cases there will be enough to make two satisfaction with this superb piece of software :

• DIR (directory ): displays the contents of the folder current. Particularly useful are the two modifiers / P and / W by postpone the command separated by a space, to obtain, respectively, the list page and multiple columns. The output of the DIR command, brought in the figure, in the order shown: the file name, extension, size in bytes and the date and time of creation. The file extension is very important, because executable files (those that start a game, just to understand) are identified by extensions: EXE, COM, and BAT (do this as a valuable information!). If the name is followed by \u0026lt;DIR> , it is actually a folder in which we can get through to the next command ...

Sample output of the command DIR

• CD (change directory ): changes the current folder. If the disk, for example, folder is DOOM, DOOM command CD, followed by prompt delivery move the specified directory.

addition to commands derived by MS-DOS, DosBox offers some ad-hoc commands , of \u200b\u200bwhich the most important is MOUNT that allows you to "attack" as virtual drive, folder the local filesystem. The command syntax is as follows:

MOUNT lettera_drive percorso_cartella_locale

So if our computer Games create the folder (eg the C: drive), the command

MOUNT CC: \\ GAMES

will appear as by magic, a new disk (C), in which we could access all file and directory contained in the local folder. To access the new disc simply type C: followed by enter, to land on the new disk and start hacking away (in general, to access a drive , simply type the drive letter, followed by ':' and then sending). Being able to use as a virtual disk to a local folder, allows you to manage content through visual tools provided by modern operating systems (the only advice to you and not to create files and folders, with names longer 8-character ... gamer favors the prepared). You will then need to copy the file , in the "shared" and then, using the shell , go to launch the game.

Since I feel good, do a complete example:

• Abandonia Go to the site (nice site to download games released as abandonware ) and Alley Cat download
• In C: \\ GAMES ALLEY create the folder and unzip the contents of inside
• Start the DosBox
• use the command mount cc: \\ Games for create the virtual drive
• type C: to access the new disk, use the command
• CD ALLEY
• to access the folder via the command DIR , view the contents of the folder and finally
• , type CAT.EXE

to start the game as easy as drinking a glass of water: o)

Before moving to the next paragraph, I remind you that the DosBox running caching the contents of the disk, so if you run similar operations as described above, use the command ReScan to synchronize the contents of the cache .

dosbox.conf

The default settings of DosBox ensure good compatibility with most games. In some cases you may need to change the configuration file to get the most out of the way we are going to play. Access to the configuration file is through the icon inside the folder DosBox in the start menu (on Windows systems do not , you may need to manually log file ... but little change). The file is presented as a series of key / value pairs, each of which governs one of the characteristics of the emulator. The keys are so many but each one is present, in the same configuration file, including a brief description of the values \u200b\u200bit can take. Here I will mention those that I consider most interesting.

• output: Allows you to configure how rendering. The value of default ( surface) is what provides the better compatibility but does not support filtering, and rescaling . On Windows, work with most modern graphics cards is that opengl ddraw (DirectX, Direct Draw).
• windowresolution : Sets the resolution of the DosBox window running in windowed mode . The default value ( original ) uses the original resolution of the game that you are using, or you can specify a different resolution in format width x height (eg 1024x768). The value setting is ignored if output = surface.
• fullresolution : like the previous key, but used in full-screen mode .
• scaler : Allows you to select the algorithm used to "scale" the image from the original resolution that specified in the two previous keys. Possible values \u200b\u200bare nearly twenty of them and each provides a different image rendering ... fiddle and you choose the one that best suits your taste (watch that the filter is more complex and more resources will be drained from the DosBox your computer )
• machine: it allows to define the ' graphics hardware emulated. In most cases the default value works fine, but to enjoy the splendor of CGA Composite Video Mode you set this key value cga .
• cycles : Sets the number of instructions that the CPU emulated run every millisecond. Changing this value can slow down the processor to adapt to the needs of some older games that are not able to adapt to the excessive power of current processors. The default value ( cars), makes the DosBox wheels automatically adapt to the needs software running. If the program is too fast, you can specify a fixed value with the notation fixed number #, where # number indicates the number of instructions executed every millisecond. This value is displayed in the title bar of the window.
• frameskip : Sets the number of frames the program skips before drawing the next. The default value (0) does not skip any frame a different value can be set to increase performance.

I close the configuration file to highlight the section [autoexec] (found in bottom of the same), where you can specify commands that run at startup DosBox useful, for example, to mount the disks that store your games.

For further guidance on file dosbox.conf , the controls and the secrets of DosBox please read the official documentation (unfortunately only in English) which can be found at the following address .



Tips & Tricks

Before moving on to the rightful conclusion, we report some key combinations that you can use to take advantage of this fantastic emulator:

• ALT + ENTER : switching from windowed than full-screen and vice versa
• CTRL + F5 : Capture a snapshot in PNG (as captured is stored in a folder accessible from the folder DosBox the Start menu)
• CTRL + ALT + F5 : the first press starts to acquire the video, the second stops. The stored file requires a codec apposot to be displayed (this is also the usual folders in the Start menu). The format is supported by YouTube and then you can have fun to "shoot" your sessions game and share them online (I myself use this feature to capture video and fit it in the back review).
• CTRL + F6 : the first press starts to acquire digital audio, the second stops.
• CTRL + ALT + F7 : as above but to capture sound synthesized (OPL)
• CTRL + ALT + F8 : as above but to capture the audio MIDI
• CTRL + F7 / Ctrl + F8: Decrease / increase the frameskip
• CTRL + F11 / Ctrl + F12 : Decrease / increase the number of instructions per millisecond, so you can adjust on the fly performance of the emulated system

Conclusions

Well, we have reached the end of this SpecialOne which I hope will serve as encouragement for start enjoying the joys and pleasures of DosBox. I know, purists might turn up a little 'nose because it was judged "unworthy" to use an emulated machine than a real but DosBox allows anyone to start enjoying this world for many unknown and mysterious. Also touring on eBay 'll see it's much easier to buy a Commodore 64 than an old 386.
For the record, I inform you that there are different front-end that simplify the use of DosBox but I invite you to use it in the way it "native", at least in part to enjoy the good old days.

Good retrogaming ...


PS Everything I've told you is for the latest version of DosBox , namely 0.74.