Games that ran on an original 1981 factory configuration IBM PC

[theclaw]

What was there? Needless to say I have no first-hand experience not being around back then. I'd guess that would be mostly Zork level tech, except for very basic CGA which was available. Might be fun to toss some relics into dosbox to see what happens.

[Edmond Dantes]

(Is that Lum in your avatar?)

I think IBM could do slightly better than Zork--it could, I think, go up to at least Space Quest I level. At my most generous I'd say it could handle Ultima IV, but probably not any after that.

[theclaw]

Yes, I'm among the few. A boda fide natively english-speaking american Lum fan. We're no myth!

Space Quest? Ultima? No idea. Not genres I paid much attention to.

[Edmond Dantes]

Wait, first-generation IBMs had genres besides RPGs and adventure games?

(Gotta admit my Lum experience is limited to just the "Beautiful Dreamer" movie, but I am a fan of Ranma 1/2, by the same author)

[theclaw]

Well Mega Man PC looks pretty close, but I haven't played that. Supposedly awful

Nah, I don't "get" Ranma 1/2. Doesn't click somehow. Even though I liked the old TMNT cartoon. Weird.

[Edmond Dantes]

Yeah, Mega Man PC isn't very good at all. It's like Duke Nukem 1, but Not Good.

... I'm not seeing the connection between Ranma and TMNT. They're not even really in the same genre, except insofar as they both pretend to involve martial arts.

[theclaw]

Goes to show it takes more to enjoy a series than fight scenes.

[Edmond Dantes]

I would hope so. If fight scenes were all it took, then every anime ever made would be awesome.

I just thought of another game that might work on a 1981 IBM: Battle Chess, particularly in CGI mode.

[diskoboy]

Thexder will run on it if you have 256k of RAM.

And quite possibly, the first few Kings/Police/Space Quest games.

[Gapporin]

Yes, I'm among the few. A boda fide natively english-speaking american Lum fan. We're no myth!

You and Matthew Sweet, apparently.

[Kitsune Sniper]

If the game runs in text mode, it'll work. :P

[tom]

Avalon Hill had the first IBM games advertised in CGW issue 4 (May 82), Stocks and Bonds (64k) and Galaxy (48k).
SSIs The Warp Factor (IBM 64k) was reviewed in issue 5. Also an early contender would be Microsoft Decathlon.
Here's an interesting round-up about the different US platforms gaining popularity from the year 1983 onwards:

[NayusDante]

I can confirm that Mega Man 3 PC runs on a Compaq Portable, which was a compatible competitor to the IBM PC. It ran far too slow to be playable, but it did run.

If I'm not mistaken, Ken and Roberta were commissioned by IBM to write a game for the IBM PC Jr, and that resulted in King's Quest. I keep thinking that the PC Jr is more powerful than the original, and thus King's Quest I might be a bit much, but I could be wrong.

[Jorpho]

I keep thinking that the PC Jr is more powerful than the original

It did have substantially greater graphics and sound capabilities, of course, but processor-wise I think it was comparable.

[Flack]

Wait, first-generation IBMs had genres besides RPGs and adventure games?

I remember playing Frogger, Dig Dug, Lode Runner, Hard Hat Mack, and Bushido on our IBM XT. I can't remember if we had King's Quest for both machines or not (we had both an XT and a Jr. at the same time).

Here are several CGA games that should all run on an XT: http://amigan.1emu.net/ibm

I have been playing with DOSPad and most of them run on my iPad, too.

[megasdkirby]

I have been playing with DOSPad and most of them run on my iPad, too.

Wait...there is a DOS emulator for iPad?!

If so, can any game be used?

[NayusDante]

DOSPad? Gee, us Android users are stuck with the abandoned aDOSBox port which crashes almost instantly.

[blue lander]

I liked Alley Cat, Digger, Round 42, Red Baron and of course Space Quest 1 and 2. You could run Space Quest 3 but you needed to add an EGA card.

[Flack]

My review of DOSPad/iDos: http://www.robohara.com/?p=2621

[skaar]

If you're in XT land it really matters if you've got the full 640k or not. I had a 4.77mhz XT all the way into the era of the Pentium.... then I went to a TURBO XT with almost 10mhz!

Games that should run with CGA (better with EGA!)

King's Quest 1-3, 4 will run slow.
Space Quest 1-2, 3 is slow.
Thexder
Shamus (heh)
Surprisingly, Out of this world runs on a Turbo XT just fine.
Police Quest 1

Maniac Mansion

A lot of the older Apogee stuff (Commander Keen) runs OK, but needs EGA usually.

All the text stuff, obviously.

If requirements list a 386 on the box or mention VGA, you won't be able to run it.

Winter/Summer games, Gremlins, Karateka...

Ramble...

Oregon Trail, Carmen Sandiego... I can think of a bunch of games but few names.

Do you have a sound card... oh wait, you're using DOSbox. Well that's not as fun