Difference between revisions of "Wing Commander"

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Revision as of 15:33, 3 June 2019

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WingCommander title.png

Wing Commander
System(s): Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Electronic Arts (US), Sega (JP)
Developer:
Original system(s): PC
Developer(s) of original games: Origin Systems
Peripherals supported: CD BackUp RAM Cart
Genre: Simulation

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega-CD
JP 		¥7,8007,800 G-6011
Sega Mega-CD
US 		T-50045

This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.

Wing Commander is a notable space combat flight game by Origin Systems for IBM PC compatibles. It was ported to a number of systems including the Sega Mega-CD in 1993.

The game was also reportedly in development for the Sega Mega Drive, with the cartridge containing an extra graphics chip for scaling and rotation.[2] This was cancelled in favour of the Mega-CD version.

Versions

Wing Commander was originally released in 1990 for the IBM PC, with the Mega-CD version debuting three years later. It is a relatively accurate conversion, with most of the content being retained, though some cinematics are missing scenes while others are simplified. The move to CD-ROM also means the characters could be fully voiced - a feature missing in most ports of the game, though in return, all subtitles were removed from the game for unknown reasons.

While the game provides CD quality audio for its introduction, the vast majority of the music tracks rely on standard Mega Drive audio capabilities. Sound effects too are mostly driven by the Mega Drive, as are curiously in-game voices, resulting in much lower quality audio during play.

All of the art assets were altered to better suit the screen resolution (320x224 vs 320x200) and more restricted colour palette of the Mega-CD (256 (VGA) vs 64 colours, although the PC version also supports 16 colour EGA cards). Cinematics can also be briefly interrupted while data is loaded from the disc. While the game does not resort to dedicated loading screens, it can lead to unnatural pauses during conversations.

Wing Commander simulates its 3D world by heavy use of sprite rotation and scaling. On the Mega-CD, these sprites are often smaller, leading to blockier graphics when up close to an object than on the PC. The frame rate is also lower than some versions of the game, such as the Amiga CD32 conversion released some months later, however Wing Commander on the Mega-CD generally performs better than its standard Amiga and Super NES counterparts.

It should be noted, however, that a high level of performance running the original PC version requires a high-end Intel 80386 or an early 80486 processor (as if system is too modern, the game will run too fast). Most PC users at the game's launch were unlikely to have access to these then-expensive configurations, meaning performance of the Mega-CD version would have been typical of what many end users would have experienced in the early 1990s (and indeed of most "3D" games of the era).

Production credits

  • Design by: Chris Roberts
  • Software Engineers: Chris Roberts, Ken Demarest III, Paul C.Isaac, Steve Muchow, Herman Miller, Steve Beeman
  • Dogfight Intelligence: Ken Demarest III
  • Dogfight Choregraphy: Steve Beeman, Erin Roberts
  • Space System by: Chris Roberts
  • OriginFX Graphic System: Chris Roberts, John Miles
  • OriginFX Sound System by: Herman Miller
  • Artwork: Denis Loubet, Glen Johnson, Daniel Bourbonnais, Keith Berdak, John Watson
  • Screenplay by: Jeff George
  • Additional Writing: Steve Cantrell, Philip Brodgen
  • Soundtrack by: George A.Sanger, Dave Govett
  • Sound Effects by: Marc Shaefgen
  • Produced by: Chris Roberts, Warren Spector
  • Directed by: Chris Roberts
Source:
Introduce demo (JP)
WingCommander MCD JP SSCredits Intro.pdf
[3]


IBM Unit
  • Origin: Chris Roberts, Steve Muchow, Paul C.Isaac, Steve Beeman, Ken Demarest III, Herman Miller, Erin Roberts, John Miles, Denis Loubet, Glen Johnson, Daniel Bourbonnais, Keith Berdak, John Watson, Jeff George, Steve Cantrell, Philip Brodgen, George A.Sanger, Dave Govett, Marc Shaefgen, Warren Spector
Genesis Unit
  • Game Arts: Youichi Miyaji, Satoshi Uesaka, Horoaki Okabe, Takuya Osamura, Osamu Harada, Yuzo Sunaga, Masatoshi Azumi, Meiko Wada, Tadao Mizuno, Akiko Satou, Mitsuhiro Watariya, Hideki Kanai, Naoki Kudou, Ari Kamijou, Ken-ichi Kunishima, Takeshi Miyaji
  • Bits Laboratory: Satoru Miyazaki, Motoyuki Kanayama
  • CRI: Yasushi Hirasaki, Miwako Ohshima, Yukinori Kaneko, Akira Nagano, Takahiro Kanou, Masayoshi Hari, Tsunehisa Nakai
  • Two-Five: Isao Mizoguchi, Noriyuki Iwadare, Ken-ichi Ookuma, Masaki Tanimoto
  • All Talent Provided to Sega of America, inc., by: David Platshon, DMP Entertainment.
  • Executive Producer: Kent Russel.
Source:
In-game credits


Sega CD Game Credits
  • Sega CD version developed by: Game Arts
  • Producer: Alan Gardner
  • Package Design: Al Carnley, Jeniffer Davis, Craig Miller
  • Documentation Design: Jeniffer Davis
  • Documentation and Editing: Tuesday Frase, David Ladyman
  • Q.A. Project Leader: Alvaro Moreno
  • Quality Assurance: Mark Franz
Original IBM PC Game Credits
  • Producers: Chris Roberts, Warren Spector
  • Lead Programmer: Chris Roberts
  • Programmers: Steve Beeman, Ken Demarest III, Paul Isaac, Herman Miller, Steve Muchow
  • Dogfight Coreography: Steve Beeman, Erin Roberts
  • 3-D Space System: Chris Roberts
  • ORIGIN Graphic System: John Miles, Chris Roberts
  • ORIGIN Sound System: Herman Miller
  • Art: Keith Berdak, Daniel Bourbonnais, Glen Johnson, Denis Loubet, John Watson
  • Writers: Philip Brogden, Steve Cantrell, Jeff George
  • Music: Dave Govett, George A. Sanger
  • Sound Effects: Marc Shaefgen
  • Quality Assurance: Philip Brogden, Steve Cantrell, Greg Paul Malone II, Erin Roberts, Mike Romero, Marc Shaefgen, Jeff Shelton, Scott Shelton, Brian Tompkins, John Watson
Source:
Manual credits
Wingcommander mcd us manual.pdf
[4]

Magazine articles

Main article: Wing Commander/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
65 [5]
80 №, p83[6]
55 №276, [1]
40 №1994-04, p60
70 №24, p54/55
67 [7]
79 №33, p56/57
72 [8]
Sega Mega-CD
 66
Based on
8 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
65
[9]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
55
[10]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
82
[11]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
80
[12]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
40
[13]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
70
[14]
Mega (UK) NTSC-U
70
[15]
Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U
67
[16]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-U
78
[17]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
79
[18]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
80
[19]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-U
72
[20]
Sega Mega-CD
 70
Based on
12 reviews

Wing Commander

Mega-CD, US
WingCommander MCD US Box Back.JPGWingCommander MCD US Box Front.JPG
Cover
WingCommander MCD US Disc.jpg
Disc
Wingcommander mcd us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega-CD, JP
WingCommander MCD JP Box Back.jpgWingCommander MCD JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
WingCommander MCD JP Spinecard.JPG
Spinecard
WingCommander MCD JP Disc.jpg
Disc

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega-CD
✔
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
497,539,728 CD (JP) G-6011
Sega Mega-CD
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
454,342,896 CD (US) T-50045

References

  1. ↑ File:GamePro US 042.pdf, page 84
  2. ↑ Computer & Video Games, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-05-15), page 14
  3. ↑ File:WingCommander_MCD_JP_SSCredits_Intro.pdf
  4. ↑ File:Wingcommander mcd us manual.pdf, page 66
  5. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-08), page 20 (22)
  6. ↑ File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 85
  7. ↑ Mega Fun, "06/94" (DE; 1994-05-18), page 104 (96)
  8. ↑ Video Games, "6/94" (DE; 1994-05-25), page 87 (83)
  9. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-08), page 22
  10. ↑ Famitsu, "" (JP; 1994-03-18), page 1
  11. ↑ Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 7 July 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 88
  12. ↑ GamePro, "July 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 66
  13. ↑ Hippon Super, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-03), page 60
  14. ↑ MAN!AC, "05/94" (DE; 1994-04-13), page 52
  15. ↑ Mega, "September 1994" (UK; 1994-08-18), page 54
  16. ↑ Mega Fun, "06/94" (DE; 1994-05-18), page 104
  17. ↑ MegaTech, "September 1994" (UK; 1994-08-18), page 28
  18. ↑ Sega Pro, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-05-24), page 56
  19. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  20. ↑ Video Games, "6/94" (DE; 1994-05-25), page 87
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