Hosted by Polygon, an absolutely extraordinary video manages to portray a (very US-centric) history of PC gaming, in a really stupendous way. Meticulously edited together, Reverse Enginears (you may know them from their exquisite Alice remix) have created an elaborate mashup, crafting its music entirely out of the clips of games it features. It’s pretty special. You can see it below.
It’s one of a series of videos Reverse Enginears are making for Polygon. You can see another one here.
For a full list of all the games shown, head over to Polygon. And here, let’s be ungrateful idiots and mention the games we can’t believe weren’t in there. Like, where was Darwinia?! And No One Lives Forever?! And, er, World Of Warcraft. (Or Ultima Online or Everquest for that matter.) (Or TF2.)
19/07/2012 at 17:06 Xocrates says:
“(Or TF2.)”
TF2 was actually there for a fraction of a second.
19/07/2012 at 17:37 S Jay says:
Indeed, Demoman! Good catch.
19/07/2012 at 17:19 JackShandy says:
What was that star wars game at 1:20? Looks like an adventure game?
19/07/2012 at 17:23 Thirith says:
Pretty sure it was TIE Fighter.
19/07/2012 at 17:23 Grygus says:
Thirith has faster fingers. Here is a full listing of all the games.
19/07/2012 at 17:24 Stochastic says:
It’s interesting just how iconic some of these sounds are, to the extent that you can identify a lot of these games solely based on a 2 second sound bite.
19/07/2012 at 17:30 Morlock says:
Okay. Thief is missing.
19/07/2012 at 17:40 Yar says:
Garrett’s light gem was black so you couldn’t see him.
19/07/2012 at 18:11 Geen says:
If you actually see Theif, it’s not Theif.
19/07/2012 at 18:34 greenbananas says:
If, and only if. But if by Theif you mean Thief and not The If, then… er.. go back to school? ;)
19/07/2012 at 19:20 SuperNashwanPower says:
You are seated at a desk. To your north is a computer. To the south is a door. On the computer, you notice someone has made a spelling error. What would you like to do?
>point it out_
You point it out. Everyone on the internet thinks you are slightly more of a penis than they did 10 seconds ago. A grue eats your face. GAME OVER.
PRESS ENTER TO BEGIN
You are seated at a desk. To your north is a computer. To the south is a door. On the computer, you notice someone has made a spelling error. What would you like to do?
>_
19/07/2012 at 20:53 Rhin says:
>point it out_
There can be no other choice.
19/07/2012 at 21:12 Zeewolf says:
Hm, I think you put the cursor in two different locations at the same time.
20/07/2012 at 05:52 greenbananas says:
TALI: Shepard! Shepard!! Someone on the internet is making fun of your girlfriend’s spelling again!!
(Blue) Console girlfriend.
(White) Ignore. Maybe she’ll take the hint.
(Red) Invade Krypton!
SHEPARD: Prep the ship! We’re taking Krypton! That’ll show ’em!
TALI: But Shepard, that’s obviously not the dialogue choice that leads to awkward sex! Also, Krypton’s been-
SHEPARD: Oh, right. I’ll ‘ave the blue one, then.
20/07/2012 at 07:31 jrodman says:
I would just like to say that I read “Console girlfriend” as a girlfriend that you have on a console game system.
20/07/2012 at 09:59 SuperNashwanPower says:
The cursor is a glitch, which we will patch. Internet Pedant: The Adventure Game is due for release in Summer, 2025. (Augmented Grammar Nazi Pack DLC available for pre-order customers only)
19/07/2012 at 18:19 Paul says:
This video should have been 10 minutes long at least. Fantastic, over too quickly.
19/07/2012 at 18:20 Avish says:
Was I the only one who expected the last frame to be “Error 37” ?
19/07/2012 at 18:36 greenbananas says:
Captain Power! I used to love that show when I was a kid. I’d have killed for that game in all its CGA glory.
The show’s pretty awful, though, even if somewhat unintentionally funny.
EDIT- But boy, does that video end on a fucking downer. (Any complaints about the swearing are to be forwarded to mr. Meer)
19/07/2012 at 18:51 MadMinstrel says:
Hey! I’ve played almost all of those games! ….. I suddenly feel very old.
20/07/2012 at 13:08 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
Same here. It’s a slightly scary realisation.
19/07/2012 at 19:11 Net_Bastard says:
Where’s Crysis 1? What about Trackmania? How could you make a video about PC gaming and forget those?
19/07/2012 at 19:22 pilouuuu says:
Where’s Origin? Where’s Social Club? Where’s Game for Windows Live? This video is not complete without them.
19/07/2012 at 20:00 danimalkingdom says:
WHERE’S SYNDICATE gyahhhh British PC fan frothing at the mouth here.
But seriously no Bullfrog games? I know you warned us in the post but good heavens!
19/07/2012 at 21:52 jonfitt says:
No Elite!?
19/07/2012 at 21:51 jonfitt says:
The early part of the video is interesting because up until ’91-’92 the crowning achievements of what would now be called PC gaming appeared on the Amiga/AtariST.
20/07/2012 at 05:48 mashakos says:
this.
Also, the whole thing did not sound coherent to me. If I sent this link to someone who wasn’t an uber-hardcore gamer it would be just noise. Hmmm…
1. Store audio in small chip
2. Place inside small plastic casing with tiny but very loud speakers
3. Sell as Mom Annoyance/Torture Device
4. PROFIT!
20/07/2012 at 13:11 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
Both of which were personal computers. “PC gaming” does not mean “IBM PC compatible gaming”, but refers to gaming on general-purpose computers.
20/07/2012 at 02:31 spectone says:
Artic Fox. Aliens have come to change the atmosphere of the earth so you need to get into this futuristic tank to defeat them. Great game.
20/07/2012 at 02:48 MrEvilGuy says:
That was so much fun trying to name the games rapidly out loud as they were shown. I knew most of them!
Also, the Diablo 3 abrupt ending was fitting.
20/07/2012 at 04:55 MadTinkerer says:
I for one am grateful that Alley Cat and several Text Mode games were included near the beginning.
I would almost argue that Zork doesn’t belong as it’s a port of a mainframe game, but is that too picky?
20/07/2012 at 06:36 Uberman says:
MULE !
I haven’t thought about MULE in ages. or M.U.L.E. I guess. I have to find a copy and play it now. Because … you know. MULE.
MUUUUUUUULE !
20/07/2012 at 16:07 TheComputerGamer says:
You should look up MULE Returns and Planet MULE, look for it on the iPad!
23/07/2012 at 20:26 Dozer says:
No Solitaire? No WinMine? No Mah Jong? No YouTube Snake? No potatoes? No no no no no?
I liked the video!
24/07/2012 at 14:44 RegisteredUser says:
Its almost as if the focus wasn’t on including every game ever made, but instead using some standout examples that lent themselves well for the musical composition they were going after.
So weird, when clearly they set out to please every nostalgic moment ever with a 3 minute video.