Lamborghini American Challenge DOS PC Game Review

                                             

Lamborghini American Challenge is a game developed by Titus in 1993. It was ported to several systems (DOS, Atari ST, Amiga CD32, SNES, Gameboy, & Commodore 64), I'm mainly reviewing the DOS CD Version released in 1994, but I'll mention some differences in the ports. American Challenge is an enhanced version of Crazy Cars III, released in 1992. The enhancements are a jazz soundtrack and a 2 player split screen mode. In the original Crazy Cars (1987), the player could drive several high end automobiles. In Crazy Cars II, 1987 (Also called Pursuit Simulator F40) focused on the Ferrari F40, and featured branching paths and a more realistic driving model. American Challenge is an arcade racer featuring the Lamborghini Diablo.

I first played Lamborghini American Challenge at an after school program I went to in the early 90s. It was on that computer I got exposed to some great games, and this was one of them! The kids there thought if you hold up (gas) and click the mouse you could go faster. That always really bugged me, but I really enjoyed this game, it has colorful graphics and great gameplay.

You play as a racer taking part in illegal street races throughout the US. You can choose between three characters, a woman and two men. At the beginning of each race you can bet against your opponents. Sometimes they will try to see your bet and outbet you, the winner takes all!

The gold stars are races you can take part in, as you win races the other locations in red unlock.

The colorful VGA graphics were great for the time, (I think still today) and had good variety. I thought it was awesome how cops could chase you. When cops pull up to a CPU opponent they will stop, you can outrun them. There are also other motorists that you have to watch out for, if you hit them it will slow you down and damage your Lamborghini, and you'll have to spend more on repairs after the race.

Winning prize money from the tournament will allow you upgrade your Lambo. Improve your top speed and get nitros! 

 I have three complaints about this game. There is no music as you race in the DOS and Amiga versions. In the SNES version music plays, I haven't tried the other versions. As you progress you upgrade your car, but your opponents can't which makes the game kind of easy. In the DOS version you can only save once every tournament, which is every 4 races. In the SNES version there is a password system.

These are minor complaints however. Some other differences in the ports: in the Amiga version the Lamborghini is orange and the sound quality isn't as high. The SNES version has music during the races and a more colorful world map. If the SNES mouse or Superscope is attached it activates another mode where the player can shoot opponents! I think American Challenge is a fun arcade racer, there are better games but this one is worth checking out if you like DOS racing games.

Check out my video review~!

Doom turns 22!

Doom turns 22 today! This classic first person shooter was developed by ID Software and released for PCs running MS-DOS on December 10th, 1993. It was distributed by mail order and floppy disc, but the game was so popular it would get installed at Universities and students procrastinated several hours playing it. Ports followed for Mac and consoles. Doom was unique for it’s level of violence. It was once called a “murder simulator” by critics.

It had amazing multiplayer, 4 player deathmatch and co op modes.

Doom's 3D graphics engine was advanced for the time, it was the first to feature multiple floors. Earlier first person shooters like Wolfenstein 3D only had single floors. Even though the engine was rendered in 3D, this was actually just an illusion because the floors weren’t technically on top of each other, they had to be in parallel. It also featured outdoor environments.

I remember when I first played Doom, I think it was around 1994 so I would have been 9 years old. My Dad brought home a computer from work that was used to run a BBS. I remember thinking the graphics on the shotgun looked so realistic. I later got the Doom shareware from a store, I wish I got the mail order boxed version!

In 1995, it was estimated Doom was installed on more computers than Windows 95. When a Windows 95 version of Doom was released in 1996 called Doom95, Bill Gates put himself into the commercial. It was used to sell Windows 95 and push DirectX technology.

Doom had a sequel, Doom II: Hell on Earth, released in 1994. Doom 3 was released in 2004. Doom 4 will be a reboot, just called Doom expected to be released Spring 2016. With Doom 4 around the corner, now is a perfect time to play the original classic! It’s on sale on steam currently for $4.99. I recommend using a source port of Doom called Doomsday. Doomsday makes the graphics better, has mouse support, and cool features not present in the original like jumping. You can also play online using the Doomsday Shell.exe. Happy birthday Doom!

Happy Thanksgiving from Koopatech! May your Turkey day be filled with good food and good video games.

How to play old PC games on a modern computer and retro gaming PCs

 

The PC has a huge library of games dating back to the early 1980s. It can be difficult to get those games running on a modern PC. There are several platforms where you can find old games for sale to download. The website GOG.com (formerly Good Old Games) was launched in 2008. This website sells downloadable versions of old games designed to run on modern PCs. There are also other platforms that sell downloadable old games such as Steam, launched in 2003 (Steam also sells new games).

Newer platforms, like archive.org’s Software Library have made old PC games available free to play online. Their software library does not have every game but they still are adding to it. There is also abandonware. Abandonware is software that has been ignored for a long time by it’s creator. It might still be under copyright but the copyright isn’t enforced. There are several abandonware sites where you can download old games, like my abandonware. You will need other software to run these old games on a modern PC.

For MS-DOS games (usually games released before 1997), you can use an emulator such as Dosbox to run MS-DOS games on your modern PC. If you don’t know DOS command line interface, you can use a graphical user interface frontend for Dosbox called Dfend. Dfend has a wizard and they make it fairly easy to set up your game. You will need to have both programs installed. 

If you have a physical disk or CD you can use Dosbox or try running it in Windows. Probably the easiest thing to do is play it on an old computer if you have one.

PC games released before 2005 might only have the problem of no widescreen resolution. You can usually fix with a patch or sometimes by going into the folder and editing the .ini file. I’d recommend just Googling this for that specific game.

Enthusiasts might want to buy or build their own retro gaming PC. Personally I like Windows XP for my retro system. Microsoft Windows 98 and ME were the last operating systems to be built on DOS. Windows 98 is ideal for playing MS DOS games, but might have some problems running newer games for other versions of Windows. Windows XP isn’t built on DOS but still has some of the functionality to launch older games. I like a program called VDMS sound. This program emulates old sound hardware. With this software installed, usually most MS DOS games will play fine on Windows XP and all you need to do is right click on the game and select run with VDMS sound. Another problem is that some games were designed for a very slow CPU speed. There are utilities like CPUkiller to fix this. If your PC is below 2 GHZ you might not have a problem, but that is good to have.

Ebay sells a lot of old computers, these are usually way overpriced but sometimes you can find a good deal. There is also craigslist. People in your area might be trying to get rid of their old computer or parts. Another option is looking for a local reseller. In Sunnyvale, California Weird Stuff sells enough old components you can build an entire retro PC. So that’s what I did! I chose hardware from around 2004-2005 for my retro PC.

Koopa Retro PC Specs: 
Generic Case
Thermaltake Purepower 420 Watt Power Supply
52x Max CD Rom drive, IDE
Lite On DVD/RW, Sata 
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ @ "3800+" 2.42 ghz w/Thermaltake heatsink and CPU fan controller.
Asus K8N-E motherboard Socket 754
G.Skill 3 GB Ram DDR 400 PC 3200 
ATI Radeon x850 Pro 256 MB AGP video card
80 GB HDD Samsung Spinpoint 7200 RPM, IDE
Creative Sound Blaster Live! sound card PCI
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3
Max Payne Mouse Pad
Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0 usb (mouse I had in 2000)
Logisys blue keyboard PS/2 (Keyboard I had in 2000)
22" Dell LCD monitor