Command & Conquer

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Command & Conquer
System(s): Sega Saturn
Publisher: Virgin Interactive Entertainment (US, Europe), Sega (Japan)
Developer: Westwood Studios
Sound driver: SCSP/CD-DA (11/15 tracks)
Genre: Realtime Strategy Simulation/Realtime Senryaku Simulation (リアルタイム 戦略シミュレーション), Simulation
Number of players: 1
Official in-game languages: English Deutsch Français 日本語
Release Date RRP Code JP 1997-04-25 ¥6,8006,800 GS-9131 JP (Satakore) 1998-03-12 ¥2,8002,800 GS-9193 US 1996-12-17 T-7028H EU 1996-12-06 T-7028H-50 DE 1996-12 T-7028H-18 FR 1996 T-7028H-09 PT 199x UK 1996-12-06 £44.9944.99 T-7028H-50 PL 1997 229zł229 AU 199x VFCOM12SSC BR 1997-03 191x32
Non-Sega versions IBM PC Macintosh Windows PC

Command & Conquer (コマンド＆コンカー) is a real time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for IBM compatible computers running DOS in August 1995. It is the first in the Command & Conquer franchise and is considered a milestone in the genre, influencing many RTS games in the years which followed.

The game's success saw it ported to the Sega Saturn, where Sega signed a deal to make it a Saturn exclusive until 1997 (though as a late 1996 release, this "exclusivity" amounted to just under three months). Command & Conquer is frequently referred to as Tiberian Dawn by fans and is subtitled in Germany with Teil 1 Der Tiberiumkonflikt.

Plot

Command & Conquer takes place in an alternative universe, shortly after a mysterious alien substance crashes on Earth near the river Tiber in Italy at some point in 1995. This substance, henceforth known as "Tiberium", becomes an extremely valuable commodity, which despite its toxic nature, is able to absorb and crystallize precious metals from the surrounding soil. A secret society known as the Brotherhood of Nod, spearheaded by a self-proclaimed messiah known only as "Kane", claims to have foreseen the arrival of Tiberium and has great plans for its future, soon controlling over half the supply and using the funds to amass an army of followers.

Following a succession of terrorist incidents blamed on the Brootherhood, the United Nations Security Council authorizes the creation and deployment of the United Nations' Global Defense Initiative (GDI) to intervene against Kane and Nod, quickly escalating into a conflict which spans the globe (and is later referred to as the "first tiberium war").

The player, who is nameless and does not speak, can choose to conduct missions on behalf of GDI or Nod (each as its own disc), building bases and ordering troops, usually to destroy enemy factions and spread influence over countries. GDI's campaign takes place mainly in Europe, while Nod is more concerned with Africa.

Gameplay

Command & Conquer is an evolution of the gameplay seen in Westwood's earlier work, Dune II, in which the goal usually involves building a base and destroying all enemy units or structures on a map (although missions are generally more varied than Dune II). Command & Conquer introduces support for selecting multiple units at once, has a single unified menu for construction of buildings and training of units, and has a more varied selection of said units, including engineers for capturing structures and airbourne helicopters.

Similarly to Dune II, the player must manage resources such as power (generated from power plants) and tiberium, replacing spice as a resource harvested from select points on the map. Later in the game superweapons are introduced, such as GDI's signature Ion Cannon, which can devestate large areas in one click. The cap on the number of units allowed in-game is much higher, to point where it isn't noticed, although hundreds of units on screen can invariably affect the frame rate.

Structures

Both sides

	Construction yard
	Typically the most important structure in the game, the construction yard allows a commander to build structures and therefore create a base.
	Sandbags
	Simple base defenses that can block infantry, but can be crushed by heavy vehicles and destroyed by explosive weapons.
	Chain link fence
	Slightly sturdier base defenses that behave similarly to sandbags, but take slightly longer to destroy.
	Concrete wall
	Defenses that can only be destroyed with explosives.
	Power plant
	Provides power to the commander's base. While able to output a maximum of 100 units of power, the amount is dictated by the health of the structure; the more damaged the power plant is, the less power it will produce.
	Advaned power plant
	A more efficient form of the power plant, this time being able to output a maximum of 200 units of power.
	Repair facility
	A means of repairing damaged vehicles. If a unit is ordered into a repair facility, it will be repaired as long as the commander has enough funds.
	Helipad
	A means of producing helicopters. While GDI and Nod create different aircraft with their respective helipads, the structure itself looks identical and has similar stats. Helipads also acts as a re-arming station for friendly helicopters (though when this is occuring, new helicopters cannot be produced). The more helipads that exist, the faster helicopters will be produced.
	Tiberium refinery
	The primary means of generating funds, a refinery always comes with one harvester, which will go out, harvest tiberium and return to the refinery for processing. Any friendly harvester can use a refinery, and will queue up if the structure is occupied. The refinery will also store up to 1,000 units of tiberium for later use. If the structure is captured, the value of this tiberium will be deducted from the commander's account, and if captured while a harvester is unloading, the harvester will be captured too.
	Tiberium silo
	Structures for storing 1,500 units of excess tiberium for later use. Similarly to the refinery, if captured the value of this tiberium be deducted from the commander's account.
	Communications center
	Provides a radar of the battlefield, giving the commander a clearer overview of the play area. In a low power situation, the radar goes off.

GDI

	Barracks
	GDI's structure for producing infantry. The more barracks that exist, the faster infantry will be produced.
	Guard tower
	Defensive towers armed with machineguns that can quickly take out infantry and weak vehicles at short range. Guard towers will continue to function without power.
	Weapons factory
	GDI's structure for producing ground vehicles. The more weapons factories that exist, the faster vehicles will be produced.
	Advanced communications center
	A variant of the communications center that provides access to GDI's super weapon, the Ion Cannon. If a standard communications center does not exist, this will also provide radar. In a low power situation both the radar and Ion Cannon charging will stop.
	Advanced guard tower
	More powerful defensive towers that can attack both ground and air units at a greater range. Advanced guard towers will not work without power, however.

Nod

	Hand of Nod
	Nod's structure for producing infantry. The more hands of Nod that exist, the faster infantry will be produced.
	Turret
	Base defenses that can do damage to heavy vehicles but require power to operate.
	Airstrip
	Nod's structure for producing ground vehicles. The more hands of Nod that exist, the faster vehicles will be produced. Unlike GDI's weapons factory, Nod units only arrive on the battlefield when an (automatically controlled) aircraft lands, meaning there can be a delay between construction of the unit finishing and it actually being controllable.
	Temple of Nod
	A structure that gives Nod commanders access to the faction's super weapon, the nuclear missile. In a low power situation, "charging" the nuclear missle stops.
	SAM site
	Base defenses for attacking aircraft. If an aircraft is in range, the SAM site will emerge from underground, however this makes it more vulnerable to ground attacks. SAM sites require power to function.
	Obelisk of light
	Nod's ultimate base defense, which after charging fires a high power laser at ground units within range. It is the most powerful base defense in the game, but also the most power hungry.

Units

Both

	Minigunner
	Rocket soldier
	Engineer
	Commando
	Mobile construction vehicle
	Harvester
	Armoured personnel carrier (APC)
	Chinook
	Hovercraft

GDI

	Grenadier
	Humvee
	Medium tank
	Rocket launcher
	Mammoth tank
	ORCA
	Gunboat

Nod

	Flamethrower
	Chemical warrior
	Buggy
	Recon bike
	Light tank
	Artillery
	Flame tank
	Stealth tank
	SSM launcher
	Apache

History

Legacy

Command & Conquer is thought to have been reasonably successful on the Sega Saturn, as it qualified for the Satakore range in Japan (where it was published by Sega themselves) and was at one point bundled with consoles in Europe. It has since been superseded by superior versions - a Macintosh port released around the same period in 1996 which offers higher resolution graphics and official support for online play. These features were eventually ported to a Windows 95 version released in 1997. The final port of Command & Conquer was released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. This version features 3D graphics, but has missing content.

Tomsoft attempted an unlicensed port to the Sega Mega Drive, but gave up early on and released his horribly incomplete beta. Because he failed to remove the copyright from the title screen, this has sometimes considered an official beta — but a look at the header (crediting his SDK) proves otherwise.

Command & Conquer was followed by Command & Conquer: Red Alert, set in the cold war era of the 1950s/60s, however the Tiberium storyline would receive a direct sequel in the form of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, which introduced isometric graphics (although cameos and nods to the future mean Red Alert is technically a prequel also). No future Command & Conquer games were released on Sega systems, though the series has largely avoided consoles entirely (save for PlayStation ports of Red Alert and some expansions, and the Xbox 360 port of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars).

Versions

The Sega Saturn version of Command & Conquer derives from the DOS original, being the most accurate console port of the game. There is no support for the Shuttle Mouse meaning the controls are considered to be more cumbersome than computer versions, and the resolution is fixed at 320x240. Some other changes were made for unknown reasons, such as the inclusion of wider bridges. Unit shadows are also missing, and the user interface features horizontally-scrolling menus as opposed to the vertical ones seen in the DOS version.

Its PlayStation counterpart is reportedly built off the Saturn's code, with slightly higher resolution (and more complete) cutscenes in comparison. Unlike the Saturn, the PlayStation version is known to suffer from noticeable slowdown when many units are on-screen, but is at an advantage for including extra missions (sourced from The Covert Operations - an official expansion pack for Command & Conquer). The Saturn version retains more of the original soundtrack and sound effects, however.

Production credits

• Producer: Steve Wetherill
• Asst. Producer: Ed Del Castillo
• Original Concept: Joe Bostic, Brett W. Sperry
• Programmers: Greg Hjelstrom, Jonathan Lanier
• Technical Direction: Eric Wang
• Designer: Erik Yeo
• Artists: Joseph B. Hewitt Iv, Matthew Hansel, Damon Redmond
• Screenplay: Ron Smith
• Audio Direction: Paul S. Mudra
• Soundtrack: Frank Klepacki
• Sound Effects: Dwight K. Okahara
• Qa Direction: Glenn Sperry
• Quality Assurance: Kenny Dunne, Chris Rubyor, Randy Greenback, Phillip Castro, John Archer, D'Andre Campbell, Chris Blevins, James Hughes, Levi Luke, Errol Campbell, Abe Hernandez, James Adkins, Richard Rasmussen, Ben Lublin, Chris Holloway, Isaiah Myers, Lloyd Bell, Mike Smith, Albert Springfield, Steve Corcoran, Tyler Thackery, Marcus Cobb, Chad Shackelford, Troy Leonard
• Manual Design: Penina Finger

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Command & Conquer/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

FR print advert

Print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #89: "December 1996" (1996-xx-xx)
also published in:

• Ultra Game Players (US) #93: "January 1997" (199x-xx-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #91: "February 1997" (199x-xx-xx)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #92: "March 1997" (1997-0x-xx)
• GameFan (US) #0504: "Volume 5, Issue 4: April 1997" (1997-xx-xx)

Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #182: "January 1997" (1996-12-11)
also published in:

• Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) #15: "January 1997" (1996-12-17)

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) #16: "February 1997" (1997-01-16)
also published in:

• Computer & Video Games (UK) #183: "February 1997" (1997-01-10)
• Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) #17: "March 1997" (1997-02-19)

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1997-13: "1997-13 (1997-04-25)" (1997-04-11)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 91 №50, p42/43

	91
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 576 KByte (HU) 92 Ação Games (BR) 90 Ação Games (BR) 90 Consoles + (FR) PAL 94 Computer & Video Games (UK) 100 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 89 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 78 Fun Generation (DE) PAL 100 Gambler (PL) 82 Game Power (IT) 91 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 Joypad (FR) PAL 95 Kiber Zona (LT) 81 LeveL (CZ) 86 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 85 Mega Force (FR) PAL 94 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 90 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 90 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 75 Player One (FR) 95 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 69 Saturn+ (UK) PAL 84 Secret Service (PL) 85 Sega Power (UK) PAL 91 Sega Saturn Magazine (UK) PAL 94 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 73 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 86 Total Saturn (UK) PAL 94 Total Saturn (UK) PAL 94 Ultra Game Players (US) NTSC-U 84 Video Games (DE) PAL 80

	87
Based on 31 reviews

Command & Conquer

Saturn, JP
Cover
Spinecard Jewel Case GDI disc NOD disc

Saturn, JP (Satakore)
Cover
Spinecard GDI disc NOD disc

Saturn, US
Cover
Manual NOD disc

Saturn, UK/IT/ES
Cover
Manual GDI disc

Saturn, FR
Cover
GDI disc NOD disc

Saturn, DE
Cover
GDI disc

Saturn, PT

Saturn, AU
Cover
Manual GDI disc

Saturn, BR
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	658,870,464		CD-ROM (DE)	T-7028H-18 (Disc 1) V1.000
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	646,458,960		CD-ROM (DE)	T-7028H-18 (Disc 2) V1.000
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	665,086,800		CD-ROM (EU)	T-7028H-50 (Disc 1) V1.000
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	655,180,176		CD-ROM (EU)	T-7028H-50 (Disc 2) V1.000
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	665,002,128		CD-ROM (FR)	T-7028H-09 (Disc 1) V1.000
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	653,834,832		CD-ROM (FR)	T-7028H-09 (Disc 2) V1.000
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	665,841,792	1997-01-06	CD-ROM (JP)	GS-9131, GS-9193 (Disc 1) V1.005
✔	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	654,902,640	1997-01-06	CD-ROM (JP)	GS-9131, GS-9193 (Disc 2) V1.005
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	665,089,152		CD-ROM (US)	T-7028H (Disc 1) V1.000
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1	655,182,528		CD-ROM (US)	T-7028H (Disc 2) V1.000