[ Retro Scan of the Week ] MicroProse Gunship

April 6th, 2015 by Benj Edwards

MicroProse Gunship Commodore 64 advertisement  - Compute's Gazette - 1988The Ultimate Helicopter Eclipse Simulator

[ From Compute’s Gazette for Commodore, December 1988, p.7 ]

Discussion Topic of the Week: Other than Civilization, what is the best MicroProse title of the 1980s and 1990s?



15 Responses to “[ Retro Scan of the Week ] MicroProse Gunship”

  1. cozfer Says:

    Wow, so many were great. I had and loved Silent Service, F-15 Strike Eagle II/III, F-117 stealth. Falcon 4.0 was pretty cool. One of the founders (Bill Stealey) came and spoke at one of my computer science classes in college. Good stuff!

  2. Stan Says:

    Falcon 3.0 was one of the first games we got for our new 386/33. It was quite a step up from the old Apple II.

  3. V Says:

    I played the hell out of Silent Service 2, F15 Strike Eagle II, and M1 Tank Platoon. Kind of wish someone would take a crack at the war simulation genre with modern computers and game design sensibilities.

  4. Dar Says:

    They made a ton of great games.

    The “X-COM” series was fantastic, so was the “F-15 Strike Eagle” one.

    “BloodNet” and “SubWar 2050” were another two classics.

    They definitely excelled at the sims and, to slightly lesser extent, strategy games.

  5. John Says:

    I used to like The Hunt for Red October back in the late 80’s.

  6. Zoyous Says:

    Sid Meier’s Pirates! I played it so much on the Apple ][e.

  7. Bill S Says:

    Gunship. It’s Gunship. Man, so many hours played. So many MoH missions that ended with a tail-rotor-damaged, one-engine shot out, out of all ammo, leaking fuel, out of chaff and flares with IR jammer and ECM destroyed, limping back home across the daytime skies of war-torn central Europe…

    What a game that was. What an amazing game.

  8. ace ventura Says:

    Nah. Pirates! It’s the best. The manual was the best. Too much fun, games didn’t take themselves as seriously.

  9. space harrier Says:

    My favourite Microprose game was, and still is Microprose soccer. It is still to this day my favourite football game and/or sports title. The top down graphics and the excellent control and playability which I find lacking in modern football games totally sells this for me.

  10. space harrier Says:

    Further to my previous answer. When I owned a lowly ZX Spectrum, I used to drool over adverts like this Gunship one, and for F-15 Strike Eagle and F-19 and M1 Tank Platoon, for the Amiga and the ST and be extremely jealous of the graphics. In retrospect I think graphics were more advanced in other genres of games than simulations, maybe they were trying to accomplish too much with them. Only with the processing power of modern PCs have simulations caught up.

  11. technotreegrass Says:

    I have to go with Pirates! as well.

  12. Moondog Says:

    Gunship 2000, F19 and F15 were my favorites.

  13. Tatu Says:

    Airborne Ranger… as a kid, who had only played straight shoot ’em ups like Commando and Rambo before, this was truly a revelation which showed what gaming can be at its best.

  14. Intergalactic Says:

    There was another chopper game called LHX by EA, it was also very good.

  15. Mat Says:

    I played a ton of F-15 Strike Eagle III when I was a kid. 3 or 4 years ago I had nostalgia pangs and checked it out. I have no idea how I managed to get so far in the game as a kid, the manual was so technical! I guess I shouldn’t underestimate how bright kids can be, nor how much time they have on their hands haha.

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