I guess you never explored to see what happens if you moved the cursor all the way to the right, or over the characters, or the chalk board. This game must have been very boring for you.
I rented this from a grocery store when I was 5 years old. All I remember were the shadows of the people running down the hall. It's taken me until I was 34 to have a dream about it, hunt down what the hell game it was, and see it again. I didn't know how to play this game at all lmao.
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions was my introduction to the franchise. Came with a nice little poster, too. Absolutely blew my mind with the coherent storytelling (this was before I got into RPGs!) and the sense of scope was amazing. One time I destroyed the Tiger's Claw just to see what would happen, and I felt... hollow about it. A video game had never made me feel anything but thrills and joy beforehand - that should be testament to its ability to effect emotional impact on an imaginative 11 year old's mind! ;) I would spend time looking at the box art, drinking in the details of the Claw's interior, etc. because it had me so mesmerized. Only Star Wars and Star Trek have had that kind of pull on me. TL;DR: Great franchise, check it out.
For those struggling with Asteroid Fields, and Mines: A funny little bug causes the game to NOT track Asteroids/Mines that are off-screen. So simply fly towards your objective, and pitch up or down enough to clear your screen of asteroids then pitch back up/down to find the objective again and keep doing this. You'll never smack into another asteroid/mine again.
What this failed to mention is that the original PC Wing Commander 1 & 2 (plus The Secret Missions and a WHOLE lot more) is available in a bundle on GOG for $6. With this in mind, it doesn't seem worth it to go out of the way to get the SNES version unless you had nostalgia for it or if you found it at a yard sale or if you're 100% your collection etc...
Yeah, exactly. The SNES version is amazing because it arguably "shouldn't" exist at all, given the disparity between SNES hardware and PCs of the day, but that's really it. There's nothing to recommend the SNES version otherwise.
Oddly enough, this was my very first game when I bought my SNES. I didn't have enough to by the console with a pack-in game, so I bought Wing Commander used, because of how much fun I had playing it on a friend's PC. This PC game is the type of game I played before I had a SNES, and everything about it was great: the music, the story, characters, the hilarious dialogue, the cut scenes. So many good memories of this game. People talk about roots... this is what roots are.
That story structure sounds like the best thing about this game. I wonder how that could be implemented in other types of games. Other games have permadeath, but they don't have that mission structure based on your performance. It's like a self balancing difficulty.
Except for that the fail-side arcs send you on far more difficult missions with more dire situations. You find yourself surrounded in more Kilrathi minefields, you find yourself being forced to swoop in and save corvettes being assaulted by waves of Kilrathi, you find the Tigers Claw under attack from time to time -- you have to scramble and defend against waves of heavy Jalthi fighters who could toast a human ship in two volleys of fire... It sounds like "Wow what a cool concept" until you actually find yourself on the failing arc. And then the game becomes far, far more difficult and it leaves you feeling like you want to give up. I don't know, I guess losing in WC wasn't for me.
@@Flike01 maybe it would've been better if failing got you demoted to easier missions where you just have to focus on surviving and promotions put you in charge of harder missions where you have to worry about your whole crew?
@@clayton_games Agreed 100% That would be a pretty cool mechanic. The way the game is designed has a cause/effect relationship with you the player not pulling your weight... but for the sake of being more fun, that would add merit to the experience.
Your videos are awesome. This is just a simple comment encouraging you to keep doing what you're doing! Please know you have many fans that appreciate these nostalgic, informative, interesting videos. I always enjoy getting to watch a new one! Cheers.
Never liked 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 on the PS1 were awesome! Mark Hamill was amazing in it and it blew my mind playing a game that then had movie sections with Luke fucking Skywalker in them. If memory serves the 5th ship you got in WC4 was an OP MONSTER!
Renting this game as a kid lead me to playing every Wing Commander game on pc until EA buried it. Still my favorite game franchise of all time. Looking back the SNES game is pretty amazing for the time but incredibly hard to play now that I’m used to a flight stick and keyboard but this is the one SNES game I still own in box because of the amazing memories this was the catalyst for. : )
One of the few reasons I watch this channel (besides personality), is that you don't review things according to scale, and while you do use a good review structure, you don't hold yourself arbiter of whether games are worth it or not in the end. Keep up the hard work, its quality.
This is why I like your reviews. You don't have a ratings system or anything to try to pigeon hole games into, when some games are so odd or unique they just really can't be nailed down. It's like someone tasting a food, and then just showing the ingredients and giving your opinion, rather than getting bogged down in pretense. Thanks, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.
I love your channel bro. I love how you single out titles and ask the real ultimate question, is it worth my time. These games have aged, but you keep me from aging not having to go through them all. Only the worth whiles, thank you.
Those Wing Commander games were my top favorites on the SNES back in the 90s, when I got this game I was stuck on a hospital bed during the holidays, the nurses and the doc were ok with me having my SNES console around but it still sucked to be in the hospital, my parents were ok with me getting me that game, even as an early Christmas present, I loved it and played it for a really long time... It felt pretty much like being stationed on a US Navy Aircraft-Carrier somewhere out there in the Pacific during WW2 against Japan ( Empire of Kilrah = Japan ) only that it was in space... Obviously, I was just a teenage kid back then...
I just played this game the other night. Your review is spot on. I remember it from my younger years as being great but now after playing it not so much but the story line is good and interactive. Good job!
This series is amazing on PC. I played the heck out of the first Wing Commander with my dad back in the day. If you have a chance, grab this series on PC and play through it if you're a fan of space flight games. I would not try this on SNES though. I remember when it came out and I kinda laughed. There is no way this could be anywhere close to the PC version. Years later I tried it. Yeah, I was right. There were also a few spinoff game in the series as well. One in particular, 'Privateer', is simply amazing. To this day, it's still one of my favorite games of all time.
I never had this one but my friend did. I watched him play it. I did have Super Wing Commander and Wing Commander 3 Heart of the Tiger, On 3DO. Great games. One of my other friends had Wing Commander 4.
@@BobFresno yes! I remember that. And the mission where the ship is going to leave the sector and Rollins and the captain are telling you to hurry up and dock, all the while Strahkath is yackin about killing you and you can't respond. I was left floating in space when the Victory jumped. My friend had it on PlayStation and never had that bug.
Happy to see a deeper dive on this one. I remember renting it and with no manual and being an impatient 11 year old, I don't think I made it past the first 5-8 minutes of the game. Thanks for the motivation to go back! There were 69 comments when I got here. There's now 70. I'm sorry.
This game was my childhood. Once I got into PC gaming I got more into space sims like Freespace, Descent and Freelancer but this one will always hold a special place in my gamer heart. I played both games a ton as a kid on SNES. This game was super cinematic and it sucked me right in. If you are interested, the entire series is on GOG. Later games had FMVs starring Mark Hamill.
I loved this game on the SNES as a kid. Secret fact: The L and R buttons on the second controller let you roll. I used to rubber-band the controllers together.
Speaking from personal experience when I was a kid. My brother got this game and I was blown away simply because I had a NES and graphics like these were just simply unheard of. Mind you, he had a very limited 386 at the time with no sound card. However, this game had atmosphere and a heavy performance based mission tree. Blew my child mind. You could play til the last mission and be on a losing path with its own cinematic. Took some real guts by the devs to decide to do that
Awesome video! I agree wholeheartedly with the assesemnt. The game is actually not bad for something that plays optimally with a mouse or joystick. Origin's ports werent too bad for the SNES, up until the Ultima 7 port, which just sucks. The Ultima 6 port is fairly solid though!
I agree with your assessment in just about every way. However, when this game came out on SNES, almost no one I knew had a computer, let alone one that would run the PC version of Wing Commander. So when a good friend of mine invited me over, popped this game into his SNES, put his Marvin the Martian helmet on my head, and told me to have a go at it, it was absolutely mind blowing. I had never seen anything like it before. After that visit to his house, I went out and found my own copy with absolute haste. I still love it on SNES today and I've been considering buying it for PC, since everyone seems to think that version is tons better. Excellent review, SNES drunk!
One of my favorites as a kid. Played it again last year and it held up, really enjoyed myself. However, I can see how what Drunk says - that a little nostalgia is needed - may be true.
I remember playing this version of Wing Commander and its sequel on the PSP EA Replay compilation back in 2010. My favorite game in the series is Wing Commander Prophecy (1997), which is the game in the series, in my opinion.
I remember this game well. I was excited to be able to finally be able to experience a game all the richer PC-owning kids at school would always talk about and I played the hell out of this to the point that I finished every training and campaign mission, and still went back for multiple play-throughs. I never did pick up the Secret Missions stand-alone, though. I think my attentions had moved on elsewhere by then, but it did leave me with a lasting love of space sims.
The minefields and asteroids are pretty easy to fly through. Throttle down to less than 200 kps and just pull back and then forward about 20 degrees or so. Basically once any new object has left the screen, change directions and rinse and repeat. Always make sure the fast moving mines are off screen before changing directions as they are the only real threats when doing this
I had a subscription to GamePro Magazine from 92 to 2000, and sometimes there were multiple adverts for this game in a single issue. Not just GamePro though (hay that rimes, lol). Those adverts were all over the place. The publisher marketed the hell outta' Wing Commander.
I had this game as a kid and I loved it. When Wing Commander III came out for the PC, I was super psyched and even upgraded just to be able to play it. Then I promptly got Angel killed without realizing the story was supposed to be mainly about her (people apparently thought she was always hitting on the MC in the first two and the devs went with it?) and there was pretty much no story after that (aside from the "xenophobia is just self-preservation" sub-plot with whats-his-face). I remember being super annoyed when I figured out that I missed half the plot because a pilot died.
My cousin had all the Wing Commander games for PC. Even back in the 90s it was difficult to find a PC that could use those type of disks, so I was never able to play them myself.
I didn't know this port existed until I played it in my uncle's house in 2003. impressive game for its time, but has not aged as well. for a space combat simulator it was neat though
Solid review. Have you seen any of the coverage of the upcoming Rebel Galaxy Outlaw? Not only is it a Wing Commander/Privateer-style game, but it has a much more robust space station bar implementation, complete with being able to play pool and darts for cash and ship upgrades.
I totally get if somebody owned this game, or it was something from their childhood, and it carries fond memories. For me...all I remember is that it was one of the first SNES games I had rented from my local video store (after Smash TV), and after one night with it, I couldn't care less. It all just was over my 12-year-old head. When I played X-wing on PC over a year later, that was much more my style.
Wasn't there a wing Commander 3 on the Panasonic 3DO? I don't know if I'm thinking of the same game but the game I'm talking about I have downloaded to my PC through Origin
I got this game for my birthday when k was a kid and immediately lost the instructions. It took a couple years to figure out how to actually play. I couldn’t figure out how to land back at the ship at the end of a mission. Finally after a bunch of button mashing I figured it out and could play the whole game. I loved this game. I wonder what else is in the manual that I never learned….
I always enjoyed playing this game it was so much fun I never gave up on it I keep on playing thru it was so good I loved the music and ambiance in here as well
With that mention of the source code being released, there's a Windows source port called WCDX, which requires the Kilrathi Saga complication Also for anyone looking for a similar game but more modern, FreeSpace 2 and its own source port covers that
Bar simulation? Well, there's VA-11 Hall-A, but that's really more of a visual novel with a drink mixing mini-game. Bar-tending should really be a mechanic in more RPGs.
To be honest 3 Is when I stopped playing they kinda ruined it with the live action i would a liked a more anime approach but I get what origin was trying to do to bad they made that mess of of mpvie
@@orinanime never got to 4 every time origin made a game my computer needed a upgrade by the time the 4th came out was on high school kinda had different priorities plus the movie killed the series for me it was such a cluster
I remember Wing Commander.I played a rental of the snes version.Everything he said about the combat is true.But it was still a fun game none the less. :)
Bought this game in a bargain bin as a kid, and we all found it fascinating (the cutscene graphics blew our minds at the time), but the game just never really made a lot of sense to our young minds. It was a bit difficult, and since we had no instructions (bargain bin was cartridge only), we never knew or understood any of the button combinations to do many of the functions properly, so we kinda fizzled out on the experience. No internet to turn to for hints or info in those days. The mysterious dark days of early gaming ;)
WC on SNES was much easier than on the other systems. Why? Because it used the 3D chip to render enemy ships. And because the 3D chip can handle only one object at a time you never had to worry about being chased by multiple enemies. You could take them down one by one.
Great research! Nobody ever talks about Wing Commander anymore. Now, for good reason, those games were more about graphics than anything else. Elite, Star Control (II) and others were better games, but Wing Commander had people opening their wallets. "Game designer Chris Crawford said in an interview that Wing Commander "raised the bar for the whole industry", as the game was five times more expensive to create than most of its contemporaries. Because the game was highly successful, other publishers had to match its production value in order to compete. This forced a large portion of the video game industry to become more conservative, as big-budget games need to be an assured hit for it to be profitable in any way. Crawford opined that Wing Commander in particular affected the marketing and economics of computer games and reestablished the "action game" as the most lucrative type of computer game."
I have Wing Commander 4 for my flash drive on my PS Classic! That games a GEM!!! Mark Hammil and Malcom McDowell in the cutscenes! Even Biff is in it! Sooo sick! 🤘🎸🤘🎸🤘🍻🍻
If this looks a little too dated for you but you like the idea, after Wing Commander IV there was a spin off on PlayStation called G Police that functions a lot smoother. That said for a SNES port this looks like it run fantastic
Classic game i played a lot on snes... the controls were a little clunky but still fun to play every now and then. I still have the secret missions for dos on 5in floppy disk weirdly enough
Ah, yes, I remember this game. No matter how well you do in the story, at least one of your co-pilots will die. Now usually it Knight, due to how hard the boss mission is. But if you're able to save him, Spirit dies. Let me tell you, it's no fun going to their funeral or constantly seeing KIA by their name on the board. But it is awesome that each of the characters stuck with me, whether good or bad. Hopefully, this game gets a next gen remake
I loved the SNES version of Wing Commander. It's one of the best console ports of all time. It's one of the few ports I actual think was better than the original.
This game was hard as shit. Was always my pop's game, and he would regularly say it "wasn't nearly as good as the original". Some of my best gaming memories is watching my dad play this, Landstalker, Shining in the Darkness and Obitus. Never understood the whole "life is short" thing, but I swear 1998 was last week.
I hung out with one of the cast members from the film adaptation the last time I was at a horror convention. He was pretty drunk and I feel like I missed an opportunity to starting a conversation with him about it.
I've never played Wing Commander, but I find it hard to imagine it was good on the SNES. I played X-Wing, and Tie-Fighter, and Mechwarrior games, but that was on PC. I wouldn't write it off entirely as Star Lancer on the Dreamcast managed to make the sim fighter work rather well via shortcut menus with the facebuttons/dpad .
![Is Aerobiz [SNES] Worth Playing Today? - SNESdrunk](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UcZ2PdXsr5E/mqdefault.jpg)
"You must be DRUNK. I'm Shotglass."
It's too perfect.
I dont get it.. what does this mean?
Wait.. Is this a dating app on the SNES? Am I your Wingman, or are you mine?
@@Joslyn_Josh Its a line from the game.
Tuncay G
And that was apropos
"You must be Drunk. I´m Shotglass"
I hear wedding bells already
When I was a child i rented this game often and never knew you could do missions. I only played the training arcade machine...
I guess you never explored to see what happens if you moved the cursor all the way to the right, or over the characters, or the chalk board. This game must have been very boring for you.
@@charlesball6519 so boring that they rented it "often"?
Haha what a dumb kid
That’s the mark of good design. Not being able to play it.
I rented this from a grocery store when I was 5 years old. All I remember were the shadows of the people running down the hall. It's taken me until I was 34 to have a dream about it, hunt down what the hell game it was, and see it again. I didn't know how to play this game at all lmao.
Wing Commander: The Secret Missions was my introduction to the franchise. Came with a nice little poster, too. Absolutely blew my mind with the coherent storytelling (this was before I got into RPGs!) and the sense of scope was amazing. One time I destroyed the Tiger's Claw just to see what would happen, and I felt... hollow about it. A video game had never made me feel anything but thrills and joy beforehand - that should be testament to its ability to effect emotional impact on an imaginative 11 year old's mind! ;) I would spend time looking at the box art, drinking in the details of the Claw's interior, etc. because it had me so mesmerized. Only Star Wars and Star Trek have had that kind of pull on me. TL;DR: Great franchise, check it out.
So.. what happened?
Same, brother. Same.
For those struggling with Asteroid Fields, and Mines: A funny little bug causes the game to NOT track Asteroids/Mines that are off-screen. So simply fly towards your objective, and pitch up or down enough to clear your screen of asteroids then pitch back up/down to find the objective again and keep doing this. You'll never smack into another asteroid/mine again.
What this failed to mention is that the original PC Wing Commander 1 & 2 (plus The Secret Missions and a WHOLE lot more) is available in a bundle on GOG for $6. With this in mind, it doesn't seem worth it to go out of the way to get the SNES version unless you had nostalgia for it or if you found it at a yard sale or if you're 100% your collection etc...
Yeah, exactly. The SNES version is amazing because it arguably "shouldn't" exist at all, given the disparity between SNES hardware and PCs of the day, but that's really it. There's nothing to recommend the SNES version otherwise.
Exactly. I only picked it up casue it was cheap and I loved it on PC. GOG.com is great for getting retro PC games
It's still a fantastic game! So much fun. Absolutely groundbreaking at the time.
We're here for SNES drunk. Of course most of us are collectors.
@@JustStayingGroovy just collect ROMs its easier :P
Oddly enough, this was my very first game when I bought my SNES. I didn't have enough to by the console with a pack-in game, so I bought Wing Commander used, because of how much fun I had playing it on a friend's PC. This PC game is the type of game I played before I had a SNES, and everything about it was great: the music, the story, characters, the hilarious dialogue, the cut scenes. So many good memories of this game.
People talk about roots... this is what roots are.
Is Star Citizen on the SNES worth playing, when it comes out in 10 years?
LOL
@JC Denton In ten years, Star Citizen will have aged like your avatar.
GARBAGE DAY!
I wish that happened
I love how you start in a bar and the first line of dialogue's all "You must be DRUNK, no?"
Honestly you are probably better off with the PC versions on GOG. The keyboard shortcuts are a lifesaver. As well as there being less slowdown.
That story structure sounds like the best thing about this game. I wonder how that could be implemented in other types of games. Other games have permadeath, but they don't have that mission structure based on your performance. It's like a self balancing difficulty.
Except for that the fail-side arcs send you on far more difficult missions with more dire situations. You find yourself surrounded in more Kilrathi minefields, you find yourself being forced to swoop in and save corvettes being assaulted by waves of Kilrathi, you find the Tigers Claw under attack from time to time -- you have to scramble and defend against waves of heavy Jalthi fighters who could toast a human ship in two volleys of fire...
It sounds like "Wow what a cool concept" until you actually find yourself on the failing arc. And then the game becomes far, far more difficult and it leaves you feeling like you want to give up. I don't know, I guess losing in WC wasn't for me.
@@Flike01 maybe it would've been better if failing got you demoted to easier missions where you just have to focus on surviving and promotions put you in charge of harder missions where you have to worry about your whole crew?
@@clayton_games Agreed 100% That would be a pretty cool mechanic.
The way the game is designed has a cause/effect relationship with you the player not pulling your weight... but for the sake of being more fun, that would add merit to the experience.
Your videos are awesome. This is just a simple comment encouraging you to keep doing what you're doing! Please know you have many fans that appreciate these nostalgic, informative, interesting videos. I always enjoy getting to watch a new one! Cheers.
Thanks for watching Rob, lots more to come
Never liked 1 and 2 but 3 and 4 on the PS1 were awesome!
Mark Hamill was amazing in it and it blew my mind playing a game that then had movie sections with Luke fucking Skywalker in them.
If memory serves the 5th ship you got in WC4 was an OP MONSTER!
DEIVION212 not to mention Biff from Back to the future as Maniac, and Malcolm McDowell from Clockwork Orange as your C.O.
The stealth shiiiiiiip
@@kurtrein6019 Unfortunately most of then delivered only sub-par acting because they didn't care.
You have a great rest of YOUR day!
I love the have a great rest of your day in the end of the video. It is so satisfying.
Don't tell me what to do! I will do as i please. LOL
Renting this game as a kid lead me to playing every Wing Commander game on pc until EA buried it. Still my favorite game franchise of all time. Looking back the SNES game is pretty amazing for the time but incredibly hard to play now that I’m used to a flight stick and keyboard but this is the one SNES game I still own in box because of the amazing memories this was the catalyst for. : )
"Led" is the past tense of "lead". #themoreyouknow
Johnny Douche is the present tense of you. #TheLessWeCare
One of the few reasons I watch this channel (besides personality), is that you don't review things according to scale, and while you do use a good review structure, you don't hold yourself arbiter of whether games are worth it or not in the end. Keep up the hard work, its quality.
This is why I like your reviews. You don't have a ratings system or anything to try to pigeon hole games into, when some games are so odd or unique they just really can't be nailed down. It's like someone tasting a food, and then just showing the ingredients and giving your opinion, rather than getting bogged down in pretense. Thanks, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Your reviews are getting better by the day. I want to thank you for reviewing and I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Wing Commander is a series that needs to make a comeback. I mean, it is perfectly set up for VR.
I love your channel bro. I love how you single out titles and ask the real ultimate question, is it worth my time. These games have aged, but you keep me from aging not having to go through them all. Only the worth whiles, thank you.
Also worth mentioning, the music in this game is amazing
Those Wing Commander games were my top favorites on the SNES back in the 90s, when I got this game I was stuck on a hospital bed during the holidays, the nurses and the doc were ok with me having my SNES console around but it still sucked to be in the hospital, my parents were ok with me getting me that game, even as an early Christmas present, I loved it and played it for a really long time...
It felt pretty much like being stationed on a US Navy Aircraft-Carrier somewhere out there in the Pacific during WW2 against Japan ( Empire of Kilrah = Japan ) only that it was in space...
Obviously, I was just a teenage kid back then...
I just played this game the other night. Your review is spot on. I remember it from my younger years as being great but now after playing it not so much but the story line is good and interactive. Good job!
This series is amazing on PC. I played the heck out of the first Wing Commander with my dad back in the day. If you have a chance, grab this series on PC and play through it if you're a fan of space flight games. I would not try this on SNES though. I remember when it came out and I kinda laughed. There is no way this could be anywhere close to the PC version. Years later I tried it. Yeah, I was right.
There were also a few spinoff game in the series as well. One in particular, 'Privateer', is simply amazing. To this day, it's still one of my favorite games of all time.
I never had this one but my friend did. I watched him play it. I did have Super Wing Commander and Wing Commander 3 Heart of the Tiger, On 3DO. Great games. One of my other friends had Wing Commander 4.
Justin Reed story line was was good in heart of the tiger the level you had to protect the ship and it kept getting blown up was frustrating lol
@@BobFresno yes! I remember that. And the mission where the ship is going to leave the sector and Rollins and the captain are telling you to hurry up and dock, all the while Strahkath is yackin about killing you and you can't respond. I was left floating in space when the Victory jumped. My friend had it on PlayStation and never had that bug.
I didn't know anyone actually owned a 3DO, lol. I never heard about it at the time and only became aware of it years later because of AVGN.
Happy to see a deeper dive on this one. I remember renting it and with no manual and being an impatient 11 year old, I don't think I made it past the first 5-8 minutes of the game. Thanks for the motivation to go back!
There were 69 comments when I got here. There's now 70. I'm sorry.
One of my most played snes games from when I was a kid loved it to bits
I still love this game to this day. It's flawed, yeah, but I still think it's worth for me.
This game was my childhood. Once I got into PC gaming I got more into space sims like Freespace, Descent and Freelancer but this one will always hold a special place in my gamer heart. I played both games a ton as a kid on SNES. This game was super cinematic and it sucked me right in. If you are interested, the entire series is on GOG. Later games had FMVs starring Mark Hamill.
Thank you! I hope your day is great too. :) Always love watching these videos.
Still buthurt we don't have a modern version
Just one more IP that EA purchased and then buried because it couldn't be turned into an online service.
I remember renting this because I had WC 1-3 on PC and loved them. WC 1 & 2 and the Kilrathi's Revenge expansion were my favs.
I loved this game on the SNES as a kid. Secret fact: The L and R buttons on the second controller let you roll. I used to rubber-band the controllers together.
Dang, now I gotta try that...
Wait serious
Speaking from personal experience when I was a kid. My brother got this game and I was blown away simply because I had a NES and graphics like these were just simply unheard of.
Mind you, he had a very limited 386 at the time with no sound card. However, this game had atmosphere and a heavy performance based mission tree. Blew my child mind. You could play til the last mission and be on a losing path with its own cinematic. Took some real guts by the devs to decide to do that
I played the SNES version with the SNES Advantage controller. Much more enjoyable than the joypad...
Awesome video! I agree wholeheartedly with the assesemnt. The game is actually not bad for something that plays optimally with a mouse or joystick. Origin's ports werent too bad for the SNES, up until the Ultima 7 port, which just sucks. The Ultima 6 port is fairly solid though!
I agree with your assessment in just about every way. However, when this game came out on SNES, almost no one I knew had a computer, let alone one that would run the PC version of Wing Commander. So when a good friend of mine invited me over, popped this game into his SNES, put his Marvin the Martian helmet on my head, and told me to have a go at it, it was absolutely mind blowing. I had never seen anything like it before. After that visit to his house, I went out and found my own copy with absolute haste. I still love it on SNES today and I've been considering buying it for PC, since everyone seems to think that version is tons better.
Excellent review, SNES drunk!
One of my favorites as a kid. Played it again last year and it held up, really enjoyed myself. However, I can see how what Drunk says - that a little nostalgia is needed - may be true.
I really did not think the SNES had games like this, some really cool details to it.
I remember playing this version of Wing Commander and its sequel on the PSP EA Replay compilation back in 2010. My favorite game in the series is Wing Commander Prophecy (1997), which is the game in the series, in my opinion.
Wow, I played this a good amount as a kid, and never knew or realized it was first made with a mouse in mind, makes so much sense
I remember this game well. I was excited to be able to finally be able to experience a game all the richer PC-owning kids at school would always talk about and I played the hell out of this to the point that I finished every training and campaign mission, and still went back for multiple play-throughs. I never did pick up the Secret Missions stand-alone, though. I think my attentions had moved on elsewhere by then, but it did leave me with a lasting love of space sims.
You should play the PS port Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom
It is actually incredibly good, and stars Mark Hamill. Win/Win
Feel like we are not talking enough about the music! It still sticks in my mind today!
this was an amazing game back then beat it couple times over, the story and music really drew you into the world.
The minefields and asteroids are pretty easy to fly through. Throttle down to less than 200 kps and just pull back and then forward about 20 degrees or so. Basically once any new object has left the screen, change directions and rinse and repeat. Always make sure the fast moving mines are off screen before changing directions as they are the only real threats when doing this
This is one of my favorite SNES games, it's fantastic. I say it's worth checking out it's lesser known sequel - the Secret Missions as well
I remember seeing the big adverts of wc in gamepro
I had a subscription to GamePro Magazine from 92 to 2000, and sometimes there were multiple adverts for this game in a single issue. Not just GamePro though (hay that rimes, lol). Those adverts were all over the place. The publisher marketed the hell outta' Wing Commander.
big fan of your vids! Also super happy you are active on instagram lately!
I had this game as a kid and I loved it. When Wing Commander III came out for the PC, I was super psyched and even upgraded just to be able to play it. Then I promptly got Angel killed without realizing the story was supposed to be mainly about her (people apparently thought she was always hitting on the MC in the first two and the devs went with it?) and there was pretty much no story after that (aside from the "xenophobia is just self-preservation" sub-plot with whats-his-face). I remember being super annoyed when I figured out that I missed half the plot because a pilot died.
My cousin had all the Wing Commander games for PC. Even back in the 90s it was difficult to find a PC that could use those type of disks, so I was never able to play them myself.
I didn't know this port existed until I played it in my uncle's house in 2003. impressive game for its time, but has not aged as well. for a space combat simulator it was neat though
Solid review. Have you seen any of the coverage of the upcoming Rebel Galaxy Outlaw? Not only is it a Wing Commander/Privateer-style game, but it has a much more robust space station bar implementation, complete with being able to play pool and darts for cash and ship upgrades.
I played this a lot on DOS, back in the day. Played all the Wing Commander games, actually. Part 4 is my favorite. Although 3 and 5 had Ginger Lynn...
I totally get if somebody owned this game, or it was something from their childhood, and it carries fond memories. For me...all I remember is that it was one of the first SNES games I had rented from my local video store (after Smash TV), and after one night with it, I couldn't care less. It all just was over my 12-year-old head. When I played X-wing on PC over a year later, that was much more my style.
Wasn't there a wing Commander 3 on the Panasonic 3DO? I don't know if I'm thinking of the same game but the game I'm talking about I have downloaded to my PC through Origin
I got this game for my birthday when k was a kid and immediately lost the instructions. It took a couple years to figure out how to actually play. I couldn’t figure out how to land back at the ship at the end of a mission. Finally after a bunch of button mashing I figured it out and could play the whole game. I loved this game. I wonder what else is in the manual that I never learned….
I always enjoyed playing this game it was so much fun I never gave up on it I keep on playing thru it was so good I loved the music and ambiance in here as well
With that mention of the source code being released, there's a Windows source port called WCDX, which requires the Kilrathi Saga complication
Also for anyone looking for a similar game but more modern, FreeSpace 2 and its own source port covers that
The scramble animation is badass given the limitation of the technology that time, it manage to produce a believable atmosphere.
This will forever be "that game my uncle had that I couldn't figure out how to leave the space bar" game. I was very young.
You're good at this.
Great review.
Love your videos. Keep this amazing work going! I didn't know there was a Wing Commant for SNES.
Bar simulation? Well, there's VA-11 Hall-A, but that's really more of a visual novel with a drink mixing mini-game. Bar-tending should really be a mechanic in more RPGs.
Yeah, I was thinking that Drunk really should cover VA-11 Hall-A one day, even if it's outside his normal wheelhouse.
Used to play this with my dad taking turns on SNES. By dad loved this game.
"some of your copilots are like Slippy from Starfox"
*Maniac has left the chat.
I had no idea they even ported Wing Commander to SNES. I don't think I ever saw this in rental stores when I was a kid in the 90s.
Loved Wing Commander then, still love it now. Great game.
Joe from the Upper Memory Block podcast loves this game and still plays it. You should listen to UMBcast.
The fuel is used for the afterburners. You can still play without it. And the TCS Tiger's Claw is a _ship,_ not an outpost.
used to play this a lot as kid, when you were stuck with what your parents bought you or your friends lend you
3-4-5 are definitely worth a play.
Isn't 5 prophecy? When they kill off Blair?
To be honest 3 Is when I stopped playing they kinda ruined it with the live action i would a liked a more anime approach but I get what origin was trying to do to bad they made that mess of of mpvie
@@Mikey-zj8bn
Oh the actors in the live-action cutscenes were awesome. Especially 4. It's the best in the series. You should give it a second chance.
@@orinanime never got to 4 every time origin made a game my computer needed a upgrade by the time the 4th came out was on high school kinda had different priorities plus the movie killed the series for me it was such a cluster
@@Mikey-zj8bn oh the movie sucked. For sure.
You should at least watch a lets play on UA-cam. And check out the animated series.
I remember Wing Commander.I played a rental of the snes version.Everything he said about the combat is true.But it was still a fun game none the less. :)
Ah! Enjoying my coffee with a new SNES Drunk. Happiness.
Have you done Larry and the Long Look for a Luscious Lover?
That dismised scene at the end fits perfectly
Wing Commander's highest legacy was its film release intro'd the very first (The) Phantom Menace teaser.
I never could get into the early WC games.
But I loved the later ones with FMV acting with Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell.
And the animated series.
@DejaVoodooDoll
Oh yeah. I remember the crossover episodes with the Defenders of the Realm and Street Fighter cartoon. LOL. So bad.
@DejaVoodooDoll
The rest of the series is great
Bought this game in a bargain bin as a kid, and we all found it fascinating (the cutscene graphics blew our minds at the time), but the game just never really made a lot of sense to our young minds. It was a bit difficult, and since we had no instructions (bargain bin was cartridge only), we never knew or understood any of the button combinations to do many of the functions properly, so we kinda fizzled out on the experience.
No internet to turn to for hints or info in those days. The mysterious dark days of early gaming ;)
WC on SNES was much easier than on the other systems. Why? Because it used the 3D chip to render enemy ships. And because the 3D chip can handle only one object at a time you never had to worry about being chased by multiple enemies. You could take them down one by one.
Man, I remembered playing this on the PC...it was awesome!
Another game that Sega needed an entire add-on just to play on their 16-bit machine.
Great research! Nobody ever talks about Wing Commander anymore. Now, for good reason, those games were more about graphics than anything else. Elite, Star Control (II) and others were better games, but Wing Commander had people opening their wallets.
"Game designer Chris Crawford said in an interview that Wing Commander "raised the bar for the whole industry", as the game was five times more expensive to create than most of its contemporaries. Because the game was highly successful, other publishers had to match its production value in order to compete. This forced a large portion of the video game industry to become more conservative, as big-budget games need to be an assured hit for it to be profitable in any way. Crawford opined that Wing Commander in particular affected the marketing and economics of computer games and reestablished the "action game" as the most lucrative type of computer game."
I have Wing Commander 4 for my flash drive on my PS Classic!
That games a GEM!!!
Mark Hammil and Malcom McDowell in the cutscenes!
Even Biff is in it! Sooo sick! 🤘🎸🤘🎸🤘🍻🍻
"Is Wing Commander [SNES] Worth Playing Today?" Yes. Yes it is.
You're better off downloading the PC version on GoG though.
@@SonofSethoitae Or popping it in my SNES kiosk and just enjoying it in cartridge form.
The final mission was legendary. My family gathered around just to see me complete it.
Wing Commander was also the nickname I was given at the bar I frequented from ordering so many chicken wings on my many visits.
Always loved this franchise. I can play it for hours.
I wish there was a DOS/PC style "snesdrunk" like channel
Try Pixelmusement's "Ancient DOS Games." (ua-cam.com/users/Pixelmusement)
If this looks a little too dated for you but you like the idea, after Wing Commander IV there was a spin off on PlayStation called G Police that functions a lot smoother.
That said for a SNES port this looks like it run fantastic
Classic game i played a lot on snes... the controls were a little clunky but still fun to play every now and then. I still have the secret missions for dos on 5in floppy disk weirdly enough
It'd be neat to see what you think of Starfleet Academy on the SNES.
Ah, yes, I remember this game. No matter how well you do in the story, at least one of your co-pilots will die. Now usually it Knight, due to how hard the boss mission is. But if you're able to save him, Spirit dies. Let me tell you, it's no fun going to their funeral or constantly seeing KIA by their name on the board. But it is awesome that each of the characters stuck with me, whether good or bad. Hopefully, this game gets a next gen remake
wing commander 3 for the 3do must be my favorite game of all time
I loved the SNES version of Wing Commander. It's one of the best console ports of all time. It's one of the few ports I actual think was better than the original.
Damn that looked dope! Cant believe we never played or heard of this game though.
This game was hard as shit. Was always my pop's game, and he would regularly say it "wasn't nearly as good as the original".
Some of my best gaming memories is watching my dad play this, Landstalker, Shining in the Darkness and Obitus. Never understood the whole "life is short" thing, but I swear 1998 was last week.
I remember not knowing how to dock my ship at the end of the first mission. Never had the manual. The game definitely had a dark feel about it.
All you had to do was press:
Select + R
Select + X
Select + X
X
and then head towards the carrier.
So simple...
Fyi I could be wrong but the fuel is only for after burners. You can still fly when fuel is empty.
Never played the PC version so I really loved Wing Commander as a kid. But looking at this now, don't think I'd still enjoy it as much lol.
I hung out with one of the cast members from the film adaptation the last time I was at a horror convention. He was pretty drunk and I feel like I missed an opportunity to starting a conversation with him about it.
I've never played Wing Commander, but I find it hard to imagine it was good on the SNES. I played X-Wing, and Tie-Fighter, and Mechwarrior games, but that was on PC. I wouldn't write it off entirely as Star Lancer on the Dreamcast managed to make the sim fighter work rather well via shortcut menus with the facebuttons/dpad .