Monday, May 12, 2014

Game Patches Allowing Games to Run on an IBM PCjr.

Many, many PC games were released during the 1980s that supported the IBM PC, XT, Portable, AT, XT/286, Amstrad PC-1512 & 1640, Tandy 1000, 1200, 3000/4000, Compaq computers etc.  However, many of these games specifically lack PCjr. support.  Some games may work OK with a Tandy mod, but many do not work at all or only support 4-color CGA and PC speaker sound on the PCjr.  Many games were hacked back in the day to work on a PCjr., and these hacks were distributed in PCjr. Newsletters, on BBSes, and through disks.  Recently, I have been sent a CD-ROM with a great deal of PCjr. material on it.  The most interesting portion of the disk contains patches to run certain games on the PCjr. which otherwise do not run.  I have prepared a list of the patches included on the disk for major games with a description of what each does with the game :

Game Title What it Does Notes
688 Attack Sub 16 color video, 3 voice sound, PCjr. Menu Option, PCjr. ID Check
Artifox Copy protection removal
Bard's Tale II : Thief of Fate 16 color video
Battle Chess 16 color video, 3 voice sound Two Patches, one for graphics, one for sound
Battle Tech : The Crescent Hawk's Inception 16 color video, 3 voice sound, PCjr. Menu Option
California Games 16 color video, 3 voice sound
Championship Lode Runner V20 Compatibility
Chuck Yeager's Advanced Flight Simulator Copy protection removal
Designasaurus Compatibility Fixes
F-19 Stealth Fighter 16 color video, 3 voice sound Two Patches, one for 3 voice sound with 4 color video, one for 16 color and 3 voice sound, Tandy 1000 Mod Required for 16 color
Grand Prix Circuit 16 color video, PCjr. Menu Option
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure 16 color video
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf 16 color video Multiple Versions
Kings Quest IV : The Perils of Rosella 16 color video, PCjr. ID Check For Versions without PCJR320.DRV
Knight Games 16 color video
Leisure Suit Larry II : Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places 16 color video, PCjr. ID Check For Versions without PCJR320.DRV
Maniac Mansion 16 color video, 3 voice sound
Microsoft Flight Simulator 3.0 16 color video
One on One : Jordan vs. Bird 16 color video, 3 voice sound, PCjr. Menu Option, PCjr. ID Check
Paperboy 16 color video, 3 voice sound
Police Quest II : The Vengeance 16 color video, PCjr. ID Check For Versions without PCJR320.DRV
Shanghai 16 color video
Silpheed 16 color video Manual Install, no Patch Required
SimCity 16 color video, PCjr. Menu Option
Space Rogue 16 color video
Star Rank Boxing II 16 color video, PCjr. ID Check
Starflight 16 color video Different Patches for Old and New Versions
Steel Thunder 16 color video, PCjr. Menu Option, PCjr. ID Check
Strip Poker II 16 color video, PCjr. ID Check
Tales of the Unknown Volume 1 : The Bard's Tale 16 color video
Test Drive II – The Duel 16 color video
Tetris 16 color video
The Games : Summer Edition 16 color video
Ultima IV : Quest of the Avatar 16 color video
Ultima V : Warriors of Destiny 16 color video
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego MS-DOS 2.1 Patches
Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders 16 color video, 3 voice sound
Zany Golf 3 voice sound

This is probably only a fraction of the games that were ever hacked to run on the PCjr.  If anyone has more patches, I'd love to hear from them.  The patches are available here : http://etc.pixesthesia.com/jrstuff/

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