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Post by nickz on Jan 3, 2012 20:55:12 GMT -5
Am I the only one who always preferred the sexier DOS/Macintosh 2nd Edition of the game? They had it back on the old Macs at elementary school, and it was either that or Gizmos and Gadgets with that dickwipe Morty Mischief. DUN. DUN DUN. ...Wait, they made a version on the DSi? Really? I'm morbidly curious now. That's the version I played too! The "someone has died" screen is unmistakable. I think I played it on DOS, but I'm not sure because I didn't own the computer. It was really old too. The only other game on it was that Mahjong disk that plays fireworks when you win.
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Post by Ryusui on Jan 3, 2012 21:33:38 GMT -5
I played it on Windows. It was the Win3.1 version, if I recall, but my first machine was Win95.
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Post by Weasel on Jan 4, 2012 2:05:12 GMT -5
That'd be The Oregon Trail Deluxe - the 2nd Edition came on CD-ROM and included voice acting, which you can make characters repeat themselves endlessly by clicking the "Pardon?" response to any question. It's actually quite a bit more detailed and has a crapton more medicines, different weapons for hunting, and such...
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Post by Wildcat on Jan 4, 2012 12:40:06 GMT -5
Apparently The Oregon Trail got around in elementary school in America, as I too played it on old Apple II's in 4th through 6th grade. It was definitely fun, as I was quite into games then as I am now and being able to play Oregon Trail and Winter Games for SCIENCE CLASS was awesome as hell.
In fact, maybe I'll write an article on that experience. That sounds oddly novel.
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Post by jorpho on Jan 4, 2012 12:54:48 GMT -5
I'm kind of surprised that after all this time there's still no comprehensive website detailing the entire Apple II catalog from companies like MECC, Sunburst, and The Learning Company. Virtual Apple II seems to be the closest thing there is.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 13:18:11 GMT -5
Apparently The Oregon Trail got around in elementary school in America, as I too played it on old Apple II's in 4th through 6th grade. It was definitely fun, as I was quite into games then as I am now and being able to play Oregon Trail and Winter Games for SCIENCE CLASS was awesome as hell. In fact, maybe I'll write an article on that experience. That sounds oddly novel. Yeah, kids were always fighting over who got to play it on the classroom computer when I was in like, 2nd-3rd grade. Wasn't as much of an issue during computer lab though. I liked the Mac II version mentioned earlier a lot better - the first person hunting scenes were a lot of fun.
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Post by Lash on Jan 5, 2012 15:41:36 GMT -5
The game was rather popular around my grade school years.
Kind of traumatic though: naming everyone after friends and family, then subsequently witnessing them die horribly.
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Post by jorpho on Jan 5, 2012 16:21:11 GMT -5
I recall some folks who sought to kill off their party as fast as possible so they could create grave markers festooned with grade-school wit. (I guess each floppy only had enough free space for a limited number of grave markers?)
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Post by Ike on Jan 5, 2012 19:23:03 GMT -5
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Post by Wildcat on Jan 5, 2012 23:37:50 GMT -5
I sat down and recollected on the science class experience here - if you would rather read it without pictures, going to a new site or personal blog explanations, I've copied the meat of it below. Thanks for the inspiration! I’m surprised to discover that my school wasn’t the only one providing ample time to die by dysentery or shoot down half the animal population of the midwest. Apparently many elementary teachers believed in the early promise of educational software to deliver an enlightening yet interactive touch to expand (or provide, depending on the teacher’s ability to teach) lessons on history. The Oregon Trail was able to plop kids into a pixelated time machine, whisk them back to 1848, and wonder why everything was so blocky and why green pants were all the rage back then. Enough sarcasm – the game did do its simulated trek across the plains and mountains decently, and it actually was entertaining. Hell if I can remember any history about the game, but I do have fond memories of actually surviving the journey with the majority of my family intact. I have more recollections of not managing to get to Oregon at all, though. Flooded rivers swallowing my wagon, carrying off family members, oxen and important supplies in varying quantities. Of hunting, oftentimes killing far more than was necessary and doing my part in eliminating the buffalo from the plains (tragic, isn’t it?). Of outfitting the wagon in different ways, never sure if I should cart more wagon supplies or bullets this time out. It was an amusing way to spent a hour…especially considering it was not gaming time at home, but class time at school. My other science class pastime was Epyx’s Winter Games. When I was a wee lad, I had no idea that the NES California Games I rented and the Apple Winter Games I dabbled with for science were in the same series. I don’t know if I ever truly unraveled the controls in my youth, but I do remember quite distinctly finding the NES Winter Games, botched by Acclaim quite horribly, and was really wondering how in the hell I liked the game in the first place. Luckily, I got a Commodore 64 shortly afterward that had Summer Games I and II included, and I finally pieced together the puzzle and realized that all of these games (plus World Games) were made by the same people and that they were all pretty amazing on their original hardware (I’ve yet to play the C64 California Games, but Rare did a competent job in porting it).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2012 10:16:23 GMT -5
Wildcat: I always got pissed at how little you could take back to the wagon after one of your killing sprees---they really should have given one of the classes a wheelbarrow as a perk ;p.
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Post by X-pert74 on Jan 6, 2012 12:06:25 GMT -5
Carrying only a hundred pounds back sucked. Eventually I started focusing only on killing buffaloes, because as soon as I killed one, that would already be like 300 pounds right there.
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Post by Snarboo on Jan 6, 2012 13:11:42 GMT -5
I'm thinking the limit on the amount of meat you could carry back was commentary on how settlers would slaughter buffalo en masse and just leave the carcasses lying around. I have a lot of fond memories of this from grade school, as well as memories of numerous other edutainment titles my school let us play in the Mac lab. It always surprised me that a game designed as an educational tool could be so popular and resonate with an entire generation. Then again, the prospect of being able to play video games at school is probably enough of an explanation for its popularity. Never did get very far in the Oregon Trail 2, however, mostly because the death music was scary as shit.
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Post by 9inchsamurai on Jan 6, 2012 14:55:57 GMT -5
I remember playing this, some racing game that was kinda lame, and Lemmings. I remember being really annoyed whenever my character couldn't read or write, so maybe that was some supremely brilliant subtly on behalf of the game designers for kids to care about reading and writing.
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Post by Ryusui on Jan 6, 2012 15:31:57 GMT -5
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