Populous

[Discoalucard]

www.hardcoregaming101.net/populous/populous.htm

Bullfrog's legendary sim that effectively coined the "god game" subgenre. This article is a work-in-progress and covers the first two games in the series (as well as their expansions and ports).

[ReyVGM]

Just in case, there are several misplaced questions marks across the article.

[starscream]

A PC-Engine port is erroneously listed for the second game, there is only one for the first. PC-98 can be added as a platform to both games (1990/93).
I only now realize how long it took for Populous II to appear on DOS. I know it had SVGA support (640x400) when it came out on CD - this is the version that is shown in the article. There is also low-res (320x200) VGA support though, was this possibly the floppy disk variant?

[condroid]

Aug 28, 2017 8:29:40 GMT -5 starscream said:

A PC-Engine port is erroneously listed for the second game, there is only one for the first. PC-98 can be added as a platform to both games (1990/93).
I only now realize how long it took for Populous II to appear on DOS. I know it had SVGA support (640x400) when it came out on CD - this is the version that is shown in the article. There is also low-res (320x200) VGA support though, was this possibly the floppy disk variant?

I had the original DOS version on floppy disks which came with two graphics modes: VGA with 256 colors and SVGA with 16. I think there are only 12-13 months between the two releases though: the Amiga version came out late '91 and the DOS port really early in '93. That being said, from what I remember the DOS version of the first game wasn't released in 1989 either.

Great article btw, here are two things I noticed that sound a bit awkward:

It is difficult to understate the impact Populous had on the rising game culture of the 1990s; by 1991, The One could joke that only 3 people in Britain did not own Populous, according to available sales figures at the time which placed the game at a whopping 56,000,000 units shipped.

I'm not sure if that is a joke I don't understand, but Populous did certainly not sell anywhere near that number.

In the late-1980s, the Amiga was still known more for its paint programs and video software than its gaming prowess; with prohibitively expensive, 'professional' versions such as the A1000, and the continuing slump brought on by the 1983 industry crash in the U.S., things did not look good for Commodore - or anyone else for that matter.

Is this supposed to say that the failure of the Amiga in the US was partially caused by the video game crash? The sales of home computers were actually booming during the crash (especially Commodore) and by the late 80s things looked pretty good for the makers of IBM compatibles. The Amiga didn't sell in the US for a number of reasons, but I don't think the video game crash is one of them.

[ruysan]

I always got the impression that the Amiga got pegged pretty early as a games machine in the us, and thus not serious enough for grown ups.

And people who liked games in the USA preferred consoles anyway. But I may be wrong.

Hi, btw I'm new to the forum:)

[elektrolurch]

Uhhhhhhhhm. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's just me. But as much as I love that the series is finally covered here,somehow, I have difficulties reading the article. The whole structure, layoutwise as well as contextually, seems somehow off and makes it hard for me to get into it, like there is just too much different stuff going on...

[condroid]

Aug 29, 2017 3:04:27 GMT -5 ruysan said:

I always got the impression that the Amiga got pegged pretty early as a games machine in the us, and thus not serious enough for grown ups.

And people who liked games in the USA preferred consoles anyway. But I may be wrong.

Hi, btw I'm new to the forum:)

Commodore did initially position the Amiga as a business machine (with a matching price tag) which hampered its adoption as a home computer in the US and Europe. This was rectified in 1987 when a consumer model (Amiga 500) was introduced, a move that eventually made the Amiga the top computer in Europe. It never really caught on in North America though as that market had already adopted DOS PCs as the 16-bit platform of choice. It were the IBM Compatibles that eventually ate the Amiga's lunch in the US, not the NES.

Welcome to the forum!

[ruysan]

Europe had a whole different gaming culture though. People did their gaming on Sinclair's and not ataris, and so for many people it made sense to keep gaming on computers.

Also, while my parents bought me both a zx spectrum and an Amiga, I wouldn't imagine them wasting their hard earned cash on a gaming machine only. I think that could have been an important factor in secundary markets with less purchasing power such as Spain, Italy or Portugal

[fandabidozi]

I stuck with it through the first paragraph but lost the will to live on the second.

My first post also. 😁

[nerdybat]

A pretty well-written article, but too much emphasis on Molyneux's persona and his fall from grace - which is a good topic for separate article in itself, but kinda distracts from Populous as important game in history of the medium. Also, some needlessly convoluted words and sentences that don't really add anything to the text being more sophisticated or enjoyable to read.

[JoeQ]

Hopefully this'll mean more articles on Bullfrog games. The Magic Carpets (incidentall, BF used the MC engine for most if not all their 3D games) are personal favorites, but there's plenty of other fun ones too.

[ruysan]

Populous was one of the first games I've seen on the Amiga and that intro made my jaw drop. Can you get more epic than that?

[Pazto]

Peter Molyneux get too much hate this days, and even if he kinda "deserve" some we all should respect him a little more for all the good stuff he did.

[GamerL]

Sept 4, 2017 5:34:40 GMT -5 Pazto said:

Peter Molyneux get too much hate this days, and even if he kinda "deserve" some we all should respect him a little more for all the good stuff he did.

I replayed Fable 2 back in July and to be quite honest, I loved it, Peter Molyneux has a bad habit of course of promising the moon and not being able to deliver on those sky high promises, but that doesn't mean the game he's made are bad if you set that aside.

[kaoru]

Has anyone even really bothered talking about Molyneux in the past 5 years, tho?