Wing Commander Series

[bargora]

Greetings, pilots. Back in the 90s I was a recruit in the LucasArts X-Wing piloting corps and completely overlooked the Wing Commander series of games. So to rectify this situation, over the past couple of years I have procured Wing Commander (SNES), Wing Commander III (PC), Wing Commander IV (PS), and Wing Commander: Prophecy (PC and GBA).

Now I'm curious about Wing Commander II. As far as I can tell, it was only released for PC and for FM Towns. Is that indeed the case? Also, can anybody straighten me out about all of the expansion packs and mission packs that came out for the various games? Finally, any comments about how the computer versions of the games compare with the console ports would be welcome.

(Note: At this point I'm just collecting, but sometime in the near future I intend to start playing 'em. So I could still run out and get the best versions.)

And are they really better in RGB?

[Graham Mitchell]

I don't know a lot of details because I stopped playing the series after II, but the PC versions ran a bit better than the console ones. I had Wing Commander 1 for the Sega CD, which was actually very good (one of the best for that system), but the graphics engine was a little sluggish compared to the PC version. Wing Commander II on the PC is awesome, but I don't know the details on all the speech and expansion packs. When I played it, there was no speech, and the only sound effects were during combat, so I probably missed out on something. Anyway, get it if you can.

One nice thing about the PC versions was that those games have A LOT of commands, and they had to generate some pretty out there (although clever, especially with the Genesis 6-button pad) schemes for navigating the in-flight menus and controlling weapon targeting on console joypads. With the PC, you've got yr' keyboard with 80 billion keys on it, so you could just push a button--much simpler.

[calthaer]

The Wing Commander series includes the following:

Wing Commander I
-Secret Missions 1
-Secret Missions 2

Wing Commander II
-Special Operations 1
-Special Operations 2

Wing Commander III

Wing Commander IV

Wing Commander: Prophecy

Wing Commander: Secret Ops (not sure if this is connected to another game)

Wing Commander: Privateer
-Righteous Fire

Wing Commander: Privateer II


I believe there are some speech packs for some of the games; not sure which. Some of these games (and the expansions) are fairly rare and could run you a pretty penny if you try to buy them on eBay.

[Vigilante]

Funny, I re-installed Wing Commander II on my DOS box last month.

The game has an add-on package that gives speech to alot of the characters during the movie sequences. I played thru the entire game years ago and I was hoping to get some game time in recently.

I also have WC3 for the playstation. Came on 4 cd's I think.

[mezrabad]

I think Privateer had a speech pack. I'd have to check my big pile of Origin 3.5 floppies . . . I'd have to find my big pile of Origin 3.5" floppies. (Just found some Martian Dreams disks today . . . I wonder if they still work ?)


OH and if you do want to play the games, you really should keep an eye out for the Kilrathi Saga. It has WC 1,2 &3 fixed to play on faster computers. Don't know if it works on XP or not.

Good luck and don't let Maniac piss you off.

[SoulBlazer]

On a side note, Wing Commander Phophecy for the GBA just BLEW ME AWAY with those graphics!

[SegaAges]

I know that wing commander 1 and 2 both have speech packs.

i must recommend wing commander: privateer. it is very excellent. it is my fav wing commander game and I have played many of them.

calthaer: you missed a few dude. of the top of my head:

wing commander academy
wing commander: armada

there are probably 1 or 2 more, but i can't think of them right now

[v1rich]

I have Wing Commander: The Secret Missions for SNES and I thought that it was Wing Commander II. Not sure.

[Jorpho]

Prophecy is on the GBA? How odd!

Wasn't it Academy that was on the SNES?

[calthaer]

I did forget Academy and Armada...wasn't Academy more of a "Bard's Tale Construction Set" type of thing, though? I have it at home but can't remember.

[SoulBlazer]

It's a very good port of Prophecy to the GBA also.

In the original PC Wing Commander, they released two add-on's. Only the firtst one, the Secret Missions, came out for the SNES, along with the game itself. WC 2 is a totally different game.

Tyr playing WC 1 on a modern computer for a good laugh.

On a related note, one of the Holy Grails for PC gaming is Wing Commander Kirathi Saga. It was WC 1-3 updated to run on Windows modern systems. Did'nt sell long, goes for HUGE bucks on EBay when it pops up.

[Jorpho]

On a related note, one of the Holy Grails for PC gaming is Wing Commander Kirathi Saga. It was WC 1-3 updated to run on Windows modern systems. Did'nt sell long, goes for HUGE bucks on EBay when it pops up.

Had redbook audio for WCI and II as well, that one did. I think part of it is up on Underdogs.

I did forget Academy and Armada...wasn't Academy more of a "Bard's Tale Construction Set" type of thing, though? I have it at home but can't remember.

It did have some sort of construction set thing in it, but there were a lot of preset missions (without any connecting storyline, of course).

[ghostangelofcky]

Just my 2 cents about what I know
I have Wing Commander 3 for the PS1 and the 3DO, personally I liked the cockpit lay out for the 3DO version alot better, I didn't see to big of a diiference in sound either.
But you said earlier you had the PC version, I would imagine that one would be the best of the three.

[bargora]

Whew. You weren't kidding about the Kilrathi Saga being spendy. About $100-200 on the 'bay. Although I saw one copy go for a mere $51, likely because it was missing the "flight guide". I am intrigued by the prospect of having the games in a form that would run native to Win 95 and come with the voice packs integrated, but darned if I feel like spending $100+ for the set.

What's a "reasonable" price for Kilrathi Saga, and what parts could be missing without "ruining" the set (from the gamer's perspective, not the obsessed collector's perspective)? I suppose I ought to just start looking for misspelled auctions. Kilrati, etc., heh heh.

BTW, you guys have been knowledgeable and helpful. Thanks.

[soniko_karuto]

i have the wing commander 2, plus speech pack, and it only adds speech to some cinemas and completily all the in game taunts and everything.

I also have the pack that contains the 3 games, thanks for the heads up!!

[Jorpho]

Is WC3 itself very rare? I know it comes on a lot of CDs.

[SoulBlazer]

WC 3 itself is quite common. The 3DO version of the game is just as good as the PC version.

Yeah, the Kirathi Saga is'nt going to go for less then $100. If you can get it around that price, it's a fair deal.

[calthaer]

Too bad those games are in the hands of EA - they'll probably never release a compendium of them.

[Jorpho]

Oh? I thought EA was pretty good for bundle packs, and always has been. Granted, it's been quite a while since I've seen anything Wing Commander in said bundle packs, but if they really did release Prophecy for the GBA, they certainly haven't forgotten it.

[bargora]

Oh? I thought EA was pretty good for bundle packs, and always has been. Granted, it's been quite a while since I've seen anything Wing Commander in said bundle packs, but if they really did release Prophecy for the GBA, they certainly haven't forgotten it.

The thing is that Prophecy was developed by Raylight Studios under license from EA and distributed by EA partner Destination Software (as far as I can tell). So I'm not sure how much that reflects an active decision by EA to keep going with WC, or if it was more like a "sure, knock yourself out" permission.

Perhaps they will replace Maniac with Madden and put out a new WC, eh?