Home of the Underdogs
April 4, 2004 4:32 PM Subscribe
"Home of the Underdogs is a non-profit site dedicated to the preservation and promotion of underrated PC games (and a few non-PC games) of all ages: good games that deserve a second chance after dismal sales or critical reviews that we feel are unwarranted."
I want to play any game that involves the bloody, disembodied head of Michael Landon.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:41 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:41 PM on April 4, 2004
Weird... I just downloaded the amusing (to me, anyway) Gorilla 2 from there yesterday. The best game on the site, in my opinion, is The Neverhood, which I downloaded ages ago and played for hours and hours.
Bandwidth does tend to be a bit of a problem at Underdogs, though...
posted by reklaw at 4:50 PM on April 4, 2004
Bandwidth does tend to be a bit of a problem at Underdogs, though...
posted by reklaw at 4:50 PM on April 4, 2004
ah, hotu. possibly the best "game" ever: cosmology of kyoto and also a damned good vampire rpg: legacy of kain
posted by dorian at 5:00 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by dorian at 5:00 PM on April 4, 2004
I got to it in a roundabout way, via following up information on this game, N, which I've been playing all day.
posted by Hildago at 5:45 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by Hildago at 5:45 PM on April 4, 2004
*ahem* Blatant plug time! *ahem*
There was a game released in 1997 called "Chron X." It was an online strategy trading card game released in 1997. It rocked; I was a beta tester. I liked the game so much that when the company had a job opening, I took it. I designed their third through fifth sets before the company closed in January 2003.
I purchased the game from its parent company in March 2003. We have released two more expansion sets in the past year and the game is alive, well and kicking!
The site is www.chronx.com. It needs a bit of updating. If you buy our game and email me as a MeFi member, I'll give you a bunch of cards or something.
OK, cheap plug complete. I feel dirty. I hope this doesn't lower my standing as a newbie member...? (Can you be lower than newbie?)
posted by andreaazure at 7:20 PM on April 4, 2004
There was a game released in 1997 called "Chron X." It was an online strategy trading card game released in 1997. It rocked; I was a beta tester. I liked the game so much that when the company had a job opening, I took it. I designed their third through fifth sets before the company closed in January 2003.
I purchased the game from its parent company in March 2003. We have released two more expansion sets in the past year and the game is alive, well and kicking!
The site is www.chronx.com. It needs a bit of updating. If you buy our game and email me as a MeFi member, I'll give you a bunch of cards or something.
OK, cheap plug complete. I feel dirty. I hope this doesn't lower my standing as a newbie member...? (Can you be lower than newbie?)
posted by andreaazure at 7:20 PM on April 4, 2004
What a fantastic site. Hours of nostalgic fun. Using ScummVM, I was able to play some of the great LucasArts adventure games. Likewise, with a Z-Code interpreter, I was able to play the best Infocom text adventure ever.
posted by Eldritch at 7:34 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by Eldritch at 7:34 PM on April 4, 2004
I still need to find a rip of Sam 'n Max w/ the actual sound. The game is so empty without that great voice acting...
posted by effugas at 9:11 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by effugas at 9:11 PM on April 4, 2004
Wow...this has never been a FPP post before!? This is defintely one of my favorite websites of all time. The classics friggin ROCK!
posted by jmd82 at 9:31 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by jmd82 at 9:31 PM on April 4, 2004
I have to agree that this is one of the best sites on the entire Internet.
Even if you are not into games, how about this hyper-audio-text rendition of Shakespeare's Macbeth?
good good stuff.
posted by vacapinta at 9:41 PM on April 4, 2004
Even if you are not into games, how about this hyper-audio-text rendition of Shakespeare's Macbeth?
good good stuff.
posted by vacapinta at 9:41 PM on April 4, 2004
This site knocks my socks off! Thanks for the link - I can't believe this hasn't hit the front page.
posted by ashbury at 10:41 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by ashbury at 10:41 PM on April 4, 2004
I have an iBook, and I can't get anything to work off the macintosh part of the site pointed out by Scoo. I've been wanting to play "King's Quest" and all the "Space Quest" games for ages, but they just don't work on my computer. Any advice? I have tons of memory; I don't get why this isn't working.
posted by interrobang at 10:55 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by interrobang at 10:55 PM on April 4, 2004
I should add that "Space Quest 2" kind of works: I get the text, but not the visuals. The other "Space Quest" games - and "King's Quest" don't open at all. They seem to launch, but then nothing happens.
I've tried adjusting the colors on my computer - I'm running Jaguar, so I also run OS9 - but that doesn't seem to do anything. I thought I might have to switch to 16 colors, but the lowest I seem to be allowed is 256.
posted by interrobang at 11:05 PM on April 4, 2004
I've tried adjusting the colors on my computer - I'm running Jaguar, so I also run OS9 - but that doesn't seem to do anything. I thought I might have to switch to 16 colors, but the lowest I seem to be allowed is 256.
posted by interrobang at 11:05 PM on April 4, 2004
I dont know if your answer is there but the site does have forums including one for technical help
posted by vacapinta at 11:30 PM on April 4, 2004
posted by vacapinta at 11:30 PM on April 4, 2004
Oh wow.
Shufflepuck Cafe
The Fool's Errand
Apache Strike
All games I used to play on an ancient Macintosh. I don't know what's cooler, having the nostalgia rush or actually being able to comment about it here.
This is surreal. (I'm New)
posted by bdave at 11:30 PM on April 4, 2004
Shufflepuck Cafe
The Fool's Errand
Apache Strike
All games I used to play on an ancient Macintosh. I don't know what's cooler, having the nostalgia rush or actually being able to comment about it here.
This is surreal. (I'm New)
posted by bdave at 11:30 PM on April 4, 2004
Underdogs.org have been around for a while. A truly great resource. I need to disagree with Eldritch, however. The greatest Infocom game(s) were:
posted by Grod at 12:41 AM on April 5, 2004
- Leather Goddess of Phobos
- HHGTTG
- Zork
- bureaucracy
posted by Grod at 12:41 AM on April 5, 2004
I checked the site out using my standard criteria: do they like "Out Of This World" and "Planescape: Torment".
They do.
I must trust these folks.
One of the few MeFi FPPs I immediately bookmarked.
Thanks for the link!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:55 AM on April 5, 2004
They do.
I must trust these folks.
One of the few MeFi FPPs I immediately bookmarked.
Thanks for the link!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 12:55 AM on April 5, 2004
The site is great. You can also look at ping! games (formerly classic-trash.com) if you don't find your favorite.
Beneath a Steel Sky is a an atmospheric adventure with a great intro, if i remember correctly it also runs under ScummVM.
But my all-time-favorite is Supercars 2.
posted by tcp at 1:02 AM on April 5, 2004
Beneath a Steel Sky is a an atmospheric adventure with a great intro, if i remember correctly it also runs under ScummVM.
But my all-time-favorite is Supercars 2.
posted by tcp at 1:02 AM on April 5, 2004
Best game titles EVAR:
2005: A Game of Macroeconomics
"an excellent free game that achieves what many expensive releases have tried and failed: teach basic concepts of macroeconomics"
Catch The Sperm 2
"Released as part of the 'Stop Aids' campaign of Switzerland’s Federal Ministry of Health and Swiss Aids federation, Catch the Sperm 2 naturally carries a positive message: unprotected sex is risky."
Girlfriend Construction Set
"You start the game with 50 status points, which you can spend on the ten attributes of the girlfriend you are creating."
The Global Dilemma: Guns or Butter
"your task is to manage... the conflicting needs of the military and industry... by allocating the production of various commodities..."
International Bridge Contractors
"IBC is a lot of fun if you like business simulations -- especially one that depicts a services industry that not many other games focus on."
Liberal Crime Squad
"The Conservatives have taken the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government. Over time, the Liberal laws of this nation will erode... To prevent this from happening, the Liberal Crime Squad was established."
Periodic Table of The Elements
"In addition to presenting all the key information about each element in an easy-to-understand format, the program also... allows you to quickly calculate the mole of mass compounds."
Stocks & Shares
"Success hinges on careful reading of the daily news and correct prediction of their impact on stock prices."
Softporn Adventure
"the game suffers from a very limiting VERB-NOUN parser that doesn't understand many obvious synonyms."
Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die
"The premise is simple: there is a phone booth in front of you. If you pick it up, you will die. What should you do?"
posted by eddydamascene at 1:50 AM on April 5, 2004
2005: A Game of Macroeconomics
"an excellent free game that achieves what many expensive releases have tried and failed: teach basic concepts of macroeconomics"
Catch The Sperm 2
"Released as part of the 'Stop Aids' campaign of Switzerland’s Federal Ministry of Health and Swiss Aids federation, Catch the Sperm 2 naturally carries a positive message: unprotected sex is risky."
Girlfriend Construction Set
"You start the game with 50 status points, which you can spend on the ten attributes of the girlfriend you are creating."
The Global Dilemma: Guns or Butter
"your task is to manage... the conflicting needs of the military and industry... by allocating the production of various commodities..."
International Bridge Contractors
"IBC is a lot of fun if you like business simulations -- especially one that depicts a services industry that not many other games focus on."
Liberal Crime Squad
"The Conservatives have taken the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government. Over time, the Liberal laws of this nation will erode... To prevent this from happening, the Liberal Crime Squad was established."
Periodic Table of The Elements
"In addition to presenting all the key information about each element in an easy-to-understand format, the program also... allows you to quickly calculate the mole of mass compounds."
Stocks & Shares
"Success hinges on careful reading of the daily news and correct prediction of their impact on stock prices."
Softporn Adventure
"the game suffers from a very limiting VERB-NOUN parser that doesn't understand many obvious synonyms."
Pick Up the Phone Booth and Die
"The premise is simple: there is a phone booth in front of you. If you pick it up, you will die. What should you do?"
posted by eddydamascene at 1:50 AM on April 5, 2004
Interrobang, you can download a replicated version of the original space quest here if you are interested.
posted by arha at 4:33 AM on April 5, 2004
posted by arha at 4:33 AM on April 5, 2004
Never thought of mentioning the Underdogs site here. I have 1830 and Advanced Civilization from there. A board game of 1830 takes about 5 hours. I can play it in less than an hour on the PC.
posted by salmacis at 8:36 AM on April 5, 2004
posted by salmacis at 8:36 AM on April 5, 2004
interrobang: I've been having good luck with using dosbox to run old dos games on my iBook. It is an x86 emulator with dos builtin, and runs at about the speed of a 386 on my 700mhz iBook. You need osx, and dosbox takes a bit of work to install (you need sdl, can get it from fink), but once installed it works fairly well.
With that, all you need is to find a place to get pc versions of the old sierra games. Such sites do exist (underdogs doesn't have them though). Try doing a google search for "sierra classics".
I've had much better luck running really old games using dosbox than either running them in classic mode or on my windows PC.
posted by advil at 12:45 PM on April 5, 2004
With that, all you need is to find a place to get pc versions of the old sierra games. Such sites do exist (underdogs doesn't have them though). Try doing a google search for "sierra classics".
I've had much better luck running really old games using dosbox than either running them in classic mode or on my windows PC.
posted by advil at 12:45 PM on April 5, 2004
This is truly a great site! I found it a few years ago when searching for the excellent game Hidden Agenda. Keep in mind that even if the site has a lot of ads, they don't pay for the enormous bandwidth it consumes. If you download games from there, please help Sarinee keep the site alive by donating a few bucks through Paypal.
posted by Triplanetary at 1:04 PM on April 5, 2004
posted by Triplanetary at 1:04 PM on April 5, 2004
Been visiting that site for years myself. Actually, I was just there a month ago to snag a copy of 4DPRINCE, as I had just completed Prince of Persia, The Sands of Time, and felt I needed a hit of the original engine.
posted by linux at 3:03 PM on April 6, 2004
posted by linux at 3:03 PM on April 6, 2004
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posted by Hildago at 4:32 PM on April 4, 2004