Links 386 Pro - ADG Episode 294
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- Back when "Links" meant something other than browsing the internet... ;)
To kick off a new year of Ancient DOS Games videos, Gemini's taking a look at Links 386 Pro, a digital golf simulation developed and released by Access Software exactly 30 years ago! (Appears to have had a January 1st release date in 1992, but not 100% confirmed.)
While it's technically the sequel to the original Links, the two games are almost identical in a lot of ways, with Links 386 Pro simply improving on every single feature originally present, while adding some other minor improvements, so it made sense to cover this one instead of the original.
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Additional Information and Corrections:
* Here's the link to Links 386 Pro over on GOG if you want to get a copy for yourself, again with all 18 of the original courses included made during the time of Links and Links 386 Pro: www.gog.com/ga...
* If you're interested in the trying the free download for Links E6, simply follow the following Steam link. Bear in mind that while it IS free to play, it only comes with a few courses and the other courses are sold in packs: store.steampow...
* So... it turns out "TruGolf" actually has its roots in Access Software! After Microsoft bought up Access, it was rebranded as a separate studio called "Indie" (which is a terrible name for a corporate-owned studio but whatever) eventually renamed "Indie Built" when it was sold to Take Two Interactive, and then a couple years after that they shut down the Indie Built studio with most of the staff splitting off and forming two separate studios: "Big Finish Games"... and "TruGolf"! This kinda explains how TruGolf has the Links branding now! :B
* Yeah, I hadn't actually played in quite awhile, thus why I did rather poorly during most of the game footage shown. I remember being way better at this game when I was younger. :P
* One feature I didn't elaborate on is the "Caddie" feature, which basically just amounts to having a club selected for you automatically based on how far you want to hit the ball.
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My dad had a golf club controller for this game. It had an infrared or laser or whatever sensor at the end and you swung it over a pad. It was really futuristic back in the early 90s!
Oh yeah, Links 386 Pro was licensed out for all kinds of accessories to "enhance" the experience... and send chunks of plastic flying through CRT displays well before the Wii! ;D
I played this one a lot back in the day! And you know what? The graphics still holds up nicely. I really like a well done digitized graphics.
Links386 is awesome. I played the earlier game, World Class LeaderBoard on the C64, which was already very good for a 8-bit 64kb machine. When I got my first PC, Links386 was one of the first games I got. Lots of good memories
Addressing the ball? Hello, ball! XD
...you get no response. :P
I loved the windows 3.11 version of this back in the day. I feel so nostalgic for those times, best of windows entertainment pack, trying everything out on shareware and demo disc CDs, canyon.mid.
I remember something like this I played for Windows back when I was a kid, my brother and I loved to mess with the WAV sounds to make everyone sound like zombies.
Links moved to Windows once Links LS 1998 hit the scene. Earlier versions of Links LS supported DOS but they're a LOT harder to source and as far as I can tell don't have digital downloads available yet and may never. :P
Probably Microsoft Golf 2.0, which uses the same sounds.
Along with the same engine and file formats. The championship course packs are even cross-compatible! ;)
@@garry12gg I loved Microsoft Golf 2.0!
CD versions of Links Pro have a pair of additional sound banks that replace the normal in-game commentary ("That'll play!") with the dulcet tones of comedian Bobcat Goldthwait as your caddie ("Let's wait around for a while and see if it falls in!"). Which, by my own (totally slanted and biased) metrics, makes Links Pro CD the finest golf in the land, by default.
Plus, it had flybys of each hole which looked fantastic.
I didn't elaborate on the flyby feature of Links 386 CD because it wasn't exactly clear which holes had it and which didn't and I wouldn't know for certain without actually buying the game, so decided to just not mention it. :P
@@Pixelmusement It blew my mind how difficult it was (still is) to get the full multimedia experience of this game. The Championship Course add-on individual CD versions only (not compilations because those lacked the extras) were the only means to get all the flybys and other videos and there are over a dozen of them including the handful of LS courses that were fully backwards-compatible with 386 CD. They also seemed to have not been archived for *ahem* "unofficial" acquisition online leaving the only means for most of us to get a good look at them being to watch the playthroughs on this channel: ua-cam.com/play/PLFoORIQe4zIJH0_GAysgwHXnH37KReDuy.html
Microsoft Golf, which for its first 3 iterations were Windows ports of original Links & 386, simplified things somewhat when they went the multimedia route in 1992 (before Access did the same with 386 CD in fact) with their own CD upgrade of the 1.0 game. The 2.0 version was simultaneously published in 1995 on floppy and CD formats with unique Microsoft-made videos for both its included courses, and while there were 4 MS-unique course add-ons for these first 2 iterations only Pinehurst was produced in its own multimedia CD format. All of the above are much easier to collect than the original Access CDs (which have the added problem of being pressed for both DOS and Macintosh with content NOT cross-compatible), while Microsoft Golf 3.0 and beyond are as simple as it gets because those and their add-ons are CD-only.
All these infos about how and where to get digital and analogue copies of the game and how best to play it these days are really appreciated.
Links 386 Pro and Links 2003 are tied for me. They're very different from each other, but they're both simply the greatest golf games ever made. Golf games as a whole are sort of a guilty pleasure of mine and the genre is full of games I love dearly but 386 Pro/2003 are especially fantastic.
OMG I played the SHIT out of this game.
Yesterday I was watching one of your older videos about a golf game... and remembered Links. Boom, there's the video. Get out of my head!
Well, if you'd remember to lock the door maybe it wouldn't be so easy to get in there! ;D
Hey, my favorite links game - from 30 years back.
This game had very advanced graphics, sounds - solid UI - solid everything for a nice game of golf.
BUG FREE.
I could play it in 2022, no sweat.
I never played any of the Links games before, but I have played Microsoft Golf 2.0 (or maybe 1.0). It's very similar, and I loved playing it as a kid. From what I heard they were made by the same company that made these Links games, so it makes sense that they're so similar. I'd probably recommend it to newcomers.
Wow, first episode of 2022 comes as fast as possible...
I may have to grab this one, because back in the DOS days, we had the original Links game. I had... some(?) understanding of how to play, but it was more or less just a casual timewaster to us.
That next episode hint, though... if it's what I'm thinking of, that is a lot of coincidences lining up right now. We'll see next week if I'm right. If it is, then it would be one of the only two games I "suggested" alongside a guess. Not sure how I immediately remembered that detail, either.
IIRC Microsoft Golf 2.0 (or maybe 3?) is literally just a WIndows-compatible version of this game. I know PRS course files for the Links games will also work in the earlier Access-developed versions of MS Golf.
The golf game of my youth! I actually got quite good at this as a wee lad, often posting 8 under-ish on the Pro mode. Never had any more courses than the two that game with the game, but Harbour Town has been stuck in my head for 30 years. The PGA holds an event every year there and I recognize most of the holes instantly, which is a testament to the 1992 graphics!
Great video. I only really played the original Links game back in the day, so discovering and playing this game on my vintage hardware today replicates what it would have been like to start playing it back in the 90's. And it *is* still a great game.
My DOS golf game I had was PGA Tour, the first one. That was lot of fun, though I was never that good at it.
I definiely remember playing one of the Links games back when I was way too young to really appreciate it, or be any good at it... it might have been this one, the year's about right. The main things I remember are the remarkably good graphics, and that my family's computer couldn't run it all that well (it... took a while to draw the course in at every new shot)
The main hold-up with the game's rendering was RAM. In order to draw everything out at maximum SVGA detail requires a LOT of RAM for the time, thus the 8 MB recommendation and a minimum requirement of 2 MB. The average system of the time would typically have only 2 MB, maybe 4 MB if it was a little higher end without being top of the line, so in order to draw the view at maximum detail would require massive amounts of disk swapping as graphics are constantly loaded and unloaded during the drawing process. Turning textures off or reducing detail distance settings is very necessary when there's not enough RAM to handle it all.
I can see where Front Page Sports: Golf got a lot of things from; the thing I recall that was supposed to be impressive about it was that you could use just the motion of your mouse to swing.
Yes!!! I played the hell out of that game. I think it was one of the first games I played online as well. That combined with the mouse swing was pretty impressive.
This was one of the first games I got for my *actual* 386 computer back then, and the first CD game I believe. Completely worth it, the game looked amazing then, and is no slouch now. Although it's a lot faster to draw landscape each shot, you could *see* it rendering each terrain piece on a slow computer...
This is probably my favorite DOS PC golf game. I really like the 640x400 visuals. Too bad the PC-98 port for whatever reason is incompatible with the PC version's course files.
Odd... Probably an international licensing thing if I had to guess, since the PC-98 was a Japanese platform. :P
I had this on my 3.11 Win computer back in the day. It ran a bit sluggish but this is like the standard I came to hold Golfgames to and I am not a golfer.
But just the very, very open world nature of it.
That Chicago font is so delightfully 90s.
Links 2003 is still being sold and it runs like a dream on a modern computer and the number of courses available for it is about as ridiculous as you could imagine. Would recommend.
I had MS Golf 2.0 but no expansion content for it, so I don't know how much old expansion content is compatible with it (I assume most is). It's hard to get running today since it's a 16-bit Windows exe
Welcome back, Kris! I'm somewhat familiar with this game, although it's definitely not as easy to pick up as... say, Neo Turf Masters. But I'm biased towards that one, so bad example!
Same here: We never owned the game ourselves, but we did get to play the Microsoft branded version. No idea which version it was that we experienced (MS Golf, Multimedia Edition, or 2.0; it had digitized audio); it was on a 486 DX 40 MHz. It's nice to see _Links_ on ADG, and I hope we get to see a direct comparison in a brief filler video in the future, when the need for such a filler video arises. :)
I was considering a direct comparison for this video, but it would've involved spending more money and I had already run down what I had left in my PayPal account on unexpected Christmas purchases and I literally would've only played it for a few minutes, so it didn't seem worth the money or effort. :P
My Gramma had this game on CD! The Bobcat Goldthwait voice track was the best
I miss a good golf game like this. Arnold palmer on the c64 was my jam. We need good Vr titles of old school caliber.
I have a mini-putt VR game called "Walkabout Mini Golf" which is really good, but to do ACTUAL golf is tricky in VR due to the nature of how club swings require both hands. You would need a specially made two-handed VR controller to pull it off with any level of accuracy. :B
@@Pixelmusement good times, I have the same problem for sure, once the controller goes in the back of the head it looses tracking. its a nice concept, for putting, but a full good game, i hear you. I would love to see more retro games done in 3d, i saw a missle command once on sidequest that was legit awesome. Hands onlly and 360 cube walkaround and basic finger point xyz to fire. Also Zaxxon is coming around, old games done in 360 but not in an environment would work, unless we are getting Pixels. Rock on man. 2022.
BTW: Autonomous headsets which don't require base stations but do connect to a computer are often STILL COMPATIBLE with base stations, so if you have a particular game you really enjoy but it requires frequent controller movements behind your person and thus easily loses tracking, you should be able to add base stations to your setup and get around that, though I'm pretty sure the specifics are different for each headset. Also, I have a couple VR ideas I want to pursue through my own gamedev efforts in the future, but for now, Project LJ is way more important for me to do first for a million reasons. :B
I bought two of them on GOG, but didn't know this was an improved version of the original. Now I've got to get this one too!
Back in the day, I went from Mean 18 to this. Got too intimidated. And when back to Mean 18 again :)
I remember when a college classmate was playing this game in class on his laptop/notebook. Haha.
the 360 is so cool!
When I glanced at the title, I thought it was a new ADG Pro episode for a split second. Having watched the video, it seems the game might actually be a good contender for an ADG Pro.
Possibly... The brief snippet where I'm taking mulligans was actually from when I spent a half hour straight trying to decipher the pips on the power circle. To decipher it more accurately and determine results based on ball lie would be incredibly monotonous but COULD be done. :P
@@Pixelmusement The mention of "hidden" did it for me, seeing that one of the core themes of ADG Pro is finding out stuff the game doesn't explicitly tell you.
Of course. I just have to always consider with every Pro video idea: "Is this feasible to accomplish in a reasonable amount of time, or will it drive me crazy?" :P
The way those driver clubs were described made me realize, these are just the jumping differences between Mario and Luigi.
Time to stretch those ligaments and get your Loft Wedges out folks! ADG is back for 2022! FORE!
TIL my favorite Golf PC game series is on GOG
New ADG, great way to start the year 😎
When I was a kid I knew nothing about Golf when I played what I think was a demo of this game. I thought a higher score was better. I loved to hit the ball into a tree so I could hear "Looks like he hit the tree Jim" from the game
Golf video games are exactly as exciting as real golf.
For better or worse. :B
@@Pixelmusement Yeah, if very...VERY tedious sports are your thing...well, this'll do it for you!
@@SomeOrangeCat I mean... all you have to do is read all the comments so far and realize there's PLENTY of people who at least enjoy it digitally. To each their own! :B
@@Pixelmusement I mean, I get mini golf. Its a faster paced obstacle course based affair.
Try and play this on an actual 386 and watch it take 30 seconds to draw the screen!
REALLY depends on the RAM. The 8 MB recommended was no joke as that was the minimum required to avoid disk-swapping during rendering, which alone could account for 80% of the rendering time. That said, a 386 with 8 MB of RAM was RARE, so... yeah, most 386s probably would take awhile to render a scene with the detail levels cranked up. :P
I played it on a 486 SX running @ 25Mhz with 4 MB RAM and it still to a while. Probably a good 10-15 seconds.
Yeah, that sounds about right. If I'm remembering correctly, back on our 486DX2/66 with 8 MB of RAM and max details it typically took about 1 to 4 seconds to render a scene in this game, depending on complexity. Large objects like buildings slow things down the most. :B
...which may sound contradictory since I didn't own the game, but that didn't stop friends from bringing over the disks and loading it onto our computer, it just typically didn't stay on there very long since HDD space was very limited. :P
It wasn't SO bad. I played it on a 386 with 4mb ram, boot-disked and all. It worked, but you could see it drawing the landscape in pieces, and could see how it would draw swaths of even unshaded pieces, then layer on any things like hill, and shading piece by piece, trees at the end. Depending on how much stuff was around a view would be anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds. The real limit wasn't the CPU, but the RAM.
Great video, I really enjoyed this one. What would be a good Golf Sim for someone who wants to dip their toes into the genre without any prior knowledge of the sport or games?
I'm not actually sure, thus why I didn't make any specific recommendations. If anyone else reading the comments has any ideas, feel free to chime in! :B
8 MB of Ram? Owning a 386 was already extreme enough XD
Not really. 386s were pretty normal in 1992. The tech moved REALLY fast between the late 80s and mid 2000s considering that 486s first appeared in 1989 and Pentiums just a year after this game in early 1993. Mom's first compy was a 486DX2/66 with 8 MB of RAM and I believe she acquired that in early-to-mid 1993. That said, because the tech was moving so fast, people who bought a computer in that time period would often find it surprisingly outdated in terms of performance within just a couple years. :P
@@Pixelmusement Yeah, it's really nuts just how fast computer and gaming tech evolved from 1990 to 2000. At least upgrading, rather than buying a new PC outright, was often an option. Upgrading my 486/33 to a /66 was almost as good as getting a new computer!
I think I played this back in the late 90s on a friend's PC. Didn't Access Software have some involvement with the early versions of Microsoft Golf for Windows? My father had MS Golf and I think it was released in 1992, I spent a lot of time playing it.
Microsoft Golf uses the same engine and thus same courses, but is a Windows program instead of a DOS program. Microsoft's interest in what Access Software was doing with Links is likely what led to Microsoft acquiring them at the turn of the century. :P
@@Pixelmusement I see. From memory, the commentary in Microsoft Golf was different to the commentary of Links 386 Pro, I think we had version 1.0 of Microsoft Golf, I understand there were several different versions of it.
@@Lachlant1984 That wouldn't surprise me. The courses are cross-compatible but there's likely plenty of other differences; they're not identical games, just using the same engines. :B
"Get there!"
"Aww, it's in the deep stuff." :P
@@Pixelmusement Mannnn, the memories of a much simpler, and happier, time! 😢
"Got a hold of that one!"
I saw the release back when they first rereleased but am having trouble finding if the GOG releases include the extra courses or if you need to source them yourself? Seems they do from what you are saying or perhaps I misheard.
I don't know about the classic Links, but Links 386 comes with all 18 courses made before Links LS, while Links LS 1998 only comes with the four courses it debuted with. I believe there's at least two more, maybe as many as four, before you cross into 2000 and the backward compatibility disappears. :P
@@Pixelmusement Thank you. I have nostalgia for 386. I used to play grandfather and uncle at Pebble Beach. Nice to know, I can relive the memory.
Looks like he hits the tree, Jim
Since the commentary comes from your golfer in this game, not an announcer, that line's not in here... Might be in Links 386 CD where there IS an announcer but I don't know. :P
Wow, for 1992 the graphics are great
Watching this on 2021.... oh no, I broke time 😱😱🤣🤣
It's 2022 SOMEWHERE in the world; that's all that matters. ;)
@@Pixelmusement Obviously, that's the joke. Awesome as always all that you do. Keep up the good work and have a happy 2022 😁
Happy New Year.
Oh look, Lee Carbello's Putting Challenge!
The precursor to Microsoft Golf. One of the finest golf games ever made.
Fun Fact: The courses released for the Links games throughout the 90s are cross-compatible with the 90s versions of Microsoft Golf, as Microsoft Golf used the same engine and file formats! (In fact, I believe the Links series is a big reason why Microsoft bought up Access Software in the long run.)
@@Pixelmusement probably the only reason. Did they make other games for Microsoft? Golf and Flight Simulator were their only games up until the disappointing Terminal Velocity as far as I can be bothered to research.
Not certain, though keep in mind Terminal Velocity (the DOS game) and Fury3 (the Windows game) were made by Terminal Reality, which made it all the way to 2013 before shutting their doors. Once Links became a hit for Access that's pretty much all they focussed on, save for the occasional Tex Murphy game or other sports title. Doing some ancillary research just now it turns out the studio Microsoft turned Access into after acquiring it was eventually sold off, in the early 2000s, then split into two separate studios a couple years following, one of which JUST HAPPENS TO BE that "TruGolf" company that's still around! :O
@@Pixelmusement a testament to the quality of this game is it’s legacy is still supporting a business thirty years later. Very interesting research yield there!
Was slightly amusing hearing you say that TruGolf have no PC gaming experience, as they were essentially spun off from the Links team at Access. Chris Jones (of Tex Murphy infamy) is their Finance Executive, and in the same building there's a team working on remastering 1996's The Pandora Directive.
I hadn't actually realized that at the time of making the video... but that just makes it even stranger that the PC version has such weird quirks as to make it nearly unplayable. I'm still hopeful that they'll address those quirks though, given that the PC game is still relatively new. :B
Happy new year!
Links 1998 GoG crashes randomly mate. Do you know if it works through Dosbox? Nice vid!
No idea. If it's a Windows executable you probably need to get DXWnd on its case as there's probably something modern Windows is doing which it doesn't like. Even then though, I've found there's plenty of old games which randomly crash if the Windows version gets too high and there's just not much that can be done about it other than saving your game more often. :/
Golf
Golf... never changes... ;)
But whyyy? do you, like, souuund? like a Valley girl?
practice moooooooooode