Early PC CD-ROM Games

The Compact Disc may have been first prototyped in the 1970s, and the first CD-ROM drives available in the late 1980s, but it was the 1990s when CD-ROM games came to PCs.  At first, however, they were little more than the same games on floppy disks with some kind of Redbook CD-Audio. Not long afterward, they were used to store digital audio in files and more detailed or higher resolution graphics and movies.

The first known CD-ROM game released for the IBM PC was The Manhole.  This was a port of the floppy disk version of the B&W Macintosh original by Robyn and Rand Miller.  The Millers would later go on to create Myst, but in the Manhole, you can see a definite beginning of the style of game for which they would become famous.  The Manhole was released sometime around July, 1990.  It supports VGA, MCGA, EGA and Tandy graphics.  However, while the game uses VGA and MCGA graphics modes and supports a much wider variety of colors than the 16-color EGA and Tandy graphics modes, it displays no more than 16 colors on the screen at any one time.  This was common back in 1989 when the floppy disk version was released, as using many more colors meant redrawing the graphics.

The CD format for The Manhole was a mixed-mode CD, consisting of one data track and one or more audio tracks.  The CD standard can support a maximum of 99 tracks, and the Manhole uses 95 audio tracks  (this does not count the data track) to store music, speech and sound effects.  There is no need for a sound card to hear full audio with the CD version.  Since there is no save feature, the game is run entirely off the CD-ROM.  The floppy disk version supported Adlib, Roland MT-32 and Tandy 3-Voice music and Sound Blaster and Tandy DAC for speech.  The audio is obviously much improved in quality and quantity over the floppy version.  The graphics, however are exactly the same as the disk version.  This version of The Manhole is very obscure today, and the game was re-released twice on CD-ROM format, once for DOS and Windows as The Manhole - New and Enhanced Edition (also on floppy) and once for Windows as The Manhole - CD-ROM Masterpiece Edition.  These editions are much more common, much more impressive graphically, and use far fewer CD Audio tracks.

Just about one year later (1991), Sierra began to release its first CD-ROM conversions.  While there probably were other games released beforehand, this was the first time a gaming company committed substantial resources and effort into promoting the new "multimedia" experience offered on disc. First came Mixed-Up Mother Goose, then Jones in the Fast Lane, followed by Stellar 7, King's Quest V and Space Quest IV.  Like the Manhole, all had previously been released on floppies.  They were also more expensive than the older floppy versions.  Don't forget that a CD-ROM was a very expensive proposition in 1991, Sierra was charging $795.00 for a CD-ROM kit.  At least the hardware, a SCSI CD-ROM and a Mediavision Pro Audio Spectrum (later 16), were high quality products.

Sierra's evolution of the CD-ROM format was simple. Jones in the Fast Lane included all its speech on one large audio track.  The game would instruct the CD-ROM driver to play samples at specific times on the track.   Music would require separate music hardware, as the only one CD-Audio track can play at a time.

Stellar 7 used its single CD-Audio track for speech during cutscenes for voice acting and the music.  Sound effects were unchanged from the floppy version, relegating users to Adlib and MT-32 sound effects.  One benefit to having all the music on one track was there would be less of a pause for the music to restart.  However, preserving the timing of the track was especially critical, especially when making copies.

Mixed Up Mother Goose signalled a different approach.  This time, the CD-ROM would be used strictly as a data CD, with the speech samples stored in one large audio file instead of on an audio track.  A DAC like the Sound Blaster, Pro Audio Spectrum, Thunderboard, Tandy DAC or PS/1 Game/Audio Card would be required to hear the speech, which would be stored in an 8-bit sample format.  Without this innovation, no more than 74 minutes of speech could be stored on a CD-ROM.  Additionally, it was very annoying when the CD had to spin up to play a voice sample.

The most limiting aspect of the CD-ROM was the total inflexibility of pre-recorded audio.  To adjust the parameters of a piece of music played on an MT-32, the programmer would only need to send a few kilobytes of data to the module.  To adjust the music on a CD-ROM meant changing to another track.  With 74 minutes maximum and 99 tracks, the musician could easily run out of space.  LucasArts' games using the iMUSE dynamic sound system would always use the CD-ROM versions for voice acting.

Most CD-ROMs use the ISO-9660 format, which is standard for CD-ROMs and is widely used.  Some of these early CD-ROMs, especially those from Sierra, use an earlier format called the High Sierra Format.  MS-DOS's MSCDEX supports either format, but DOSBox has trouble with HSF.  DOSBox will not IMGMOUNT a HSF image, but will MOUNT a drive using Daemon Tools and read the disc from that drive.  Also, you can convert HSF images to ISO images using a program like Nero Burning ROM.

King's Quest V and Space Quest IV would continue the large audio file approach.  A common approach to voices at this time was to use company members to voice various parts.  Roberta Williams and other employees of Sierra, would lend their voices to many of these CD-ROM releases.  Unfortunately, the resulting quality of the voice acting was somewhat lacking, since these individuals were not trained actors.  Many other companies would follow Sierra's lead.

One company that never went the "Starring the programmers" route was LucasArts, which always sought professional voice talent for its CD-ROM conversions beginning with LOOM and Indiana Jones and The Fate of Atlantis.  Professional voice actors had been relegated to roles voicing cartoon characters, announcers, bit parts and the like.  Now there was a whole new avenue of employment for them for companies who cared enough about their expensive product to spring for decent voice acting.  Eventually, "name" actors would be given roles.

Another type of CD-ROM release which began to appear in 1992 or so is the compilation release.  On these CDs, there was nothing you could not have obtained on a disc, but the size of a CD allowed the inclusion of several (older) games (Interplay 10th Anniversary) or a game and all its expansion packs (Wing Commander Deluxe).

Data compression and relatively low bitrate techniques helped keep the size of speech files in check, and companies began to put full motion video on their discs.  Interplay would re-release its Lord of the Rings : Fellowship of the Rings with animated scenes taken from the Ralph Bakshi movie of the 1970s.  Sierra King's Quest VI CD-ROM would include a longer, better animated version of the introduction contained in the previously released floppy version.

One final issue with CD-ROMs games of the time is that these versions always seemed just to have something goat-glanded onto the floppy version.  When the 7th Guest turned out to be a huge hit in 1993, all of a sudden the market for CD-ROM only games became attractive to developers.  The 7th Guest used high resolution graphics throughout, digitized video around every corner and plenty of voice acting.  It also came on two CD-ROMs.  Far too much would have had to be cut to put the game on floppies, so Trilobyte took a gamble and did not bother to release a floppy version.

Just after The Seventh Guest, LucasArts released Day of the Tentacle simultaneously on floppy and CD.  Up to this point in time, CD releases would lag several months behind floppy disk releases.  Additionally, by the time the CD was released, there would be interface changes and the like.  For DOTT, the game was more or less identical except that the CD version had a very large audio file.  Floppy users still had the benefit of speech during the opening scenes.  By the end of 1993, many, many games were being designed with CD-ROM first and then a cutdown floppy version would follow, usually compressed onto many disks.

SimCity for DOS - The Swiss Army Knife of Video Mode Support

The original version of SimCity for DOS, 1.02, supported a variety of video modes.  Here is a screenshot of the title screen and an in-game screenshot of the Detroit scenario with a maxed out main window for each mode:

CGA Graphics Mode 06H 640x200 Monochrome :

Hercules Graphics Mode 720x348 Monochrome :

Tandy Graphics Adapter Graphics Mode 09H 320x200x16 / EGA Graphics Mode 0DH 320x200x16 :
(note : screenshots are 200% of original)

EGA Graphics Mode 0FH 640x350 Monochrome :

EGA Graphics Mode 10H 640x350x16 :

Version 1.07 of SimCity added the following :

MCGA/VGA Graphics Mode 11H 640x480 Monochrome :

SimCity Classic for DOS dropped the CGA and Tandy/EGA 320x200 support, but added the following :

MCGA/VGA Graphics Mode 12H 640x480x16 :

MCGA/VGA Graphics Mode 13H 320x200x256 :
(note : screenshots are 200% of original)

The modes common to SimCity and SimCity Classic look virtually identical in-game, but the title screens are different.  Here they are :

Hercules Graphics Mode 720x348 Monochrome

EGA Mode 0FH 640x350 Monochrome

EGA Mode 10H 640x350x16

MCGA/VGA Mode 11H 640x480 Monochrome :

Finally SimCity Enhanced CD-ROM for DOS only supported the following :

SVGA/VESA Graphics Mode 101H 640x480x256 :

Note : Title Screen uses MCGA/VGA Graphics Mode 13H 320x200x256 (screenshot is 200% of original size)

Between the various incarnations of the same basic SimCity game for DOS, the game supported every major DOS video standard and an unusually wide variety of Graphics Modes.  Sound support was also very broad.  The original SimCity only supported sound effects, and supported the only available digitized sound hardware available in 1989 that would output digital samples without seriously compromising performance, the Tandy DAC and the Covox Sound Master.  Unfortunately, not until SimCity Classic did the game support Sound Blaster cards.

Sound Blaster Drivers - When DOS Games Need Them

The Sound Blaster cards, before the software configurable 16s and the AWE32s, are for the most part are fine if you just install them in a system and note the hardware settings.  While they came with installation and program disks, games usually don't care whether those programs are installed or not.  All the game wants to know is that the settings are correct.  Some require the user to input those values in an install program, others autodetect the values and some just assume that the card uses specific values and fails if those values are not set.  Most games are fine with a SET BLASTER variable in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, such one that looks like this for the Sound Blaster 16 :

SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6

With the Sound Blaster Pro and Sound Blaster 16 the installation disks provide very useful utilities for setting the mixer.  The power-on-default mixer values are somewhat quiet, so the preset mixer values provided by these utilities allow these cards to output at a higher volume.

However, there are games that require some files off the installation disks.  The two files that may be needed are SBFMDRV.COM and CT-VOICE.DRV.  SBFMDRV.COM is a Resident FM Driver, CT-VOICE.DRV is a Loadable Digitized Sound Driver.  Typically, a SET SOUND= variable with the installation path of the Sound Blaster installation or the directory where these files can be found is sufficient.  However, games requiring SBFMDRV.COM may require it to be loaded before starting the game.  The Adlib Sound Card Disks contain an equilavent file called SOUND.COM.

It is important that the CT-VOICE.DRV is matched with the card or a superior card with which it is intended to work.  Thus a CT-VOICE.DRV for a Sound Blaster Pro 1.0 will not likely work with a Sound Blaster 2.0.

Finally, there is at least one game that requires the Resident CMS Driver, CMSDRV.COM to be loaded prior to beginning the game.  The original file will work fine with a real Game Blaster but not a Sound Blaster with CMS chips.  In that instance, the CMSDRV.COM file from the Sound Blaster 1.0-2.0 Install Disks must be used.  Here are the list of games that require these files or come with these files :

SOUND.COM OR SBFMDRV.COM
Don't Go Alone
Hoosier City
Kingdom of Syree III: Black Magic, The

PGA Tour Golf

Romance of the Three Kingdoms II

Solar Winds
Yendorian Tales: Chapter 2
Words of Jesus

CMSDRV.COM
Miami Vice

CT-VOICE.DRV
Breakin (Shareware)

Elfland

Eye of the Storm
Innocent Until Caught
Pizza Connection (German original only)
Prehistorik
Stick Fighter 1 & 2
Titus the Fox?
The Clou
Traffic Department 2192

It is important to note that some games have one of these files statically linked or embedded in their files.  Jill of the Jungle is an example of this.  JotJ embeds Creative's SBFMDRV.COM in its EXE files, and the 1.0 version of the game will only produce music on a Sound Blaster, not an Adlib card, even if you don't want digitized sounds.  JotJ supports a basic Sound Blaster and none of the more advanced features of the SB Pros or 16s.  Versions 1.2(b), 1.2(c) and 1.2(d) support a pure Adlib  for music, but with the music you will hear only PC speaker sound effects in 1.2(b) and 1.2(c) and no sound effects in 1.2(d).

Here is a list of all versions of the drivers mentioned above, and for the Sound Blaster, I indicate which versions came with a particular card's install disks :

Adlib SOUND.COM versions :
1.00 or 1.10
1.20
1.30
1.51 (by far the most common)

Creative Music System CMSDRV.COM versions :
3.10  - CMS/Game Blaster Required
3.20A - Sound Blaster Required

Sound Blaster SBFMDRV.COM versions :
1.11  - Sound Blaster Card Version (SB 1.5)
1.22  - Sound Blaster Card Version (SB MCV)
1.30  - Sound Blaster Pro Stereo Version (SB Pro 1)
1.30B - Sound Blaster 1.5 and 2.0 Version (SB 2.0)
1.32* - SB Pro 2 / SB Pro MCV Version (SB Pro 2)#
1.32* - SB Pro 2 / SB16
1.33  - SB16 / SB Pro 2 / MCV Pro 2 (SB16)
1.34  - SB 1.5 / SB 2.0 / MCV 2.0 (SB 2.0 late)

# - will refuse to load on a Sound Blaster 1.0-2.0.

* - There are two versions of this driver, one dated February of 1992 and one dated October of 1992.  The February 1992 driver (7,276 bytes) supports stereo playback, the October 1992 (7,191 bytes) driver does not.

For the .COM files, running the file will reveal the version number.  The CT-VOICE.DRV is not self-executing and most versions do not have a version number, at least not in plain-text format, when viewed with a hex editor.  Thus file sizes are used to distinguish the versions.

Sound Blaster CT-VOICE.DRV versions :
SB1.0 - 2,377 bytes
SB1.5 - 2,493 bytes
SBPRO1 - 5,014 bytes
SB2.0 - 3,894 bytes
SB2.0 - 31,866 bytes 4.01 (late)
SBPRO2 - 5,108 bytes
SBMCV - 3,894 bytes (one byte difference from the SB 2.0 version)
SB16 - 18,560 bytes
SB16 - 31,842 bytes 4.05 (late)

Slaughter of the 'Bots - One Must Fall 2097 vs. Rise of the Robots

One Must Fall 2097 Title Screen

Rise of the Robots SVGA Title Screen

Rise of the Robots VGA Title Screen

In 1991, Street Fighter II was released in the arcades to great acclaim.  Ports of the game to home consoles and computers and clones like Mortal Kombat soon followed.  Virtually any property or idea could be used in a fighting game, including dinosaurs (Primal Rage), The Simpsons, or even Nintendo's characters (Super Smash Bros.).  In 1994, two different companies released a robot fighting game for the IBM PC Compatible platform.  The first was One Must Fall 2097 (OMF), developed by Diversions Entertainment and released around October, 1994 by Epic Megagames.  The second was Rise of the Robots (RotR), developed by Mirage Studios also released around the same time by Time-Warner Interactive.  In this article, we will compare these two DOS fighting games in every area.  As you will soon read, this comparison will turn out to be grossly unfair to one game.

Graphics

OMF Main Menu

OMF uses the standard 320x200x256 VGA color mode and originally came on five floppy disks.  Later releases were on CD.  RotR was released in separate 320x200x256 VGA and 640x400 SVGA boxes.  The SVGA retail version took up fourteen disks.  The VGA version, which was released only in Europe, still took up ten,  The VGA version has more animated cutscenes than the SVGA version. RotR was also released on CD with more animated scenes than either disk version, but no extra gameplay or music.  The screenshots for OMF and RotR VGA in this post have been pixel-doubled to 640x400 while the screenshots from RotR SVGA are in their native 640x400 resolution.  Neither game featured scrolling backgrounds.  Unlike RotR's static backgrounds, there is animation in OMF's backgrounds and hazards (spikes, fireballs, electrified walls, strafing aircraft) that can harm either opponent.

OMF takes its inspiration from Japanese anime.  Realism is not particularly prized.  This approach was uncommon during the mid-90s, when DOS games were generally striving for better realism.  RotR shows a more Western sci-fi influence, where realistic shapes and models are used.  Robot animation seems a bit choppier with RotR than with OMF.

Both games run very well on a mid-range 486, even RotR in its SVGA version.

RotR Main Menu SVGA

RotR Main Menu VGA

Sound and Music

OMF Combat Screen

Both games have entirely digitized sound tracks.  OMF officially supports the Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Sound Blaster 16, Pro Audio Spectrum cards and the Gravis Ultrasound with 512K or more of RAM. The Ultrasound is the best choice by far for the game, the audio output quality with this card is always at its best.  The Sound Blaster 16 and the Pro Audio Spectrum 16 require a Pentium sound quality approaching that of the Ultrasound.  Even at the maximum quality settings, the music and sound effects as output by a Sound Blaster 16 or Pro Audio Spectrum 16 still sound a bit muffled and noisy compared to the output of the Ultrasound.

RotR only officially supports Sound Blaster cards.  It does not allow the user to determine the type of card, original, Pro, 16, in the setup program.

RotR Combat Screen SVGA

RotR Combat Screen VGA

The music for OMF was done by C.C. Catch (real name Kenny Chou) of the demoscene group Renaissance.  It is well-known that the demoscene took to the Gravis Ultrasound and thrived with it, and this music is well-representative of the music found in demos.  Each of the five arenas has its own music.

The "music" for RotR was done by Brian May, the guitarist of the band Queen, however in the DOS versions it consists of 15 seconds of guitar riffs, even with the CD version.  May's music is only heard during the title sequence.  The rest is ambient audio, even in the fight scenes.  The 3DO version has his soundtrack in addition to the Mirage soundtrack.

Control

Both games support the use of the keyboard or joystick.  Gravis gamepads, which are digital, are highly recommended.  Only the first two buttons on a joystick are supported.  Gemini of Ancient DOS Games indicates a preference for the keyboard because it is easier to pull off special moves.

Both games use the Up, Up-Left and Up-Right joystick positions to jump.  OMF uses one button for "punching" and one button for "kicking".  RotR uses one button for attacking and one button for blocking.  In both games blocking can be done by holding the directional away from the attacker.  In RotR, blocking an attack will still result in damage being taken, OMF only allows special attacks to take away health if successfully blocked.

RotR requires you to hold down the button to determine the strength of the attack, then push a direction to initiate an attack.  This is very strange for a fighting game.  Ordinary fighting games give an instant response to a button push.  If you press the punch button, your fighter punches.  The strength of the attack is usually determined by the button pressed.  In RotR, if you want to make an attack any more powerful, you must hold down the button until the power meter is at the level sought, then release the button to make the attack.  Needless to say this scheme throws timing completely off and makes jump attacks much more difficult to pull off than they should be.

OMF has a much more fluid control scheme like Street Fighter II.  It uses the combination of direction with the punch and kick buttons to determine the type and strength of the attack.  The push of a button, even without a direction, will still result in an attack.

Another oddity for RotR is that you cannot jump over your opponent and will always face the same direction.

With a special move list, I was able to perform special moves for the Jaguar robot reasonably well with OMF, but could not execute the special moves for RotR's Cyborg at all.

Robots

OMF Pilot Select

OMF in its one or two player games requires you to select a pilot for each robot, and there are ten pilots, each with their own back story and motivations.  The pilot determine the strength, speed and endurance of the robot selected.  When pilots fight against each other they taunt each other before the fight, and each pilot has his or her own ending.  There are ten robots ordinarily available, each with their own handling characteristics and three to four special moves.  Thus 100 combinations are available.  There are also special finishing moves like the fatalities of Mortal Kombat.  In the Tournament Play, you get to customize your own pilot character and your robot.  You can earn money by victories to buy upgrades for both and can eventually purchase new robots.  This is as about as close to a Role Playing Game as a fighting game got at this time.

OMF Robot Select

RotR has one main robot, the Cyborg which you can use in the story mode.  Five more robots are available for practice and in the two player fighting mode, but one player must control the Cyborg.  Each robot has one or two special moves.

RotR Enemy Robot Introduction SVGA (Originally Animated)

RotR Enemy Robot Introduction VGA (Originally Animated)

Releases and Ports

OMF was strictly a DOS game.  RotR was released for a wide variety of platforms, including the IBM PC Compatibles, the 3DO, Commodore Amiga (separate 32-color and 256-color disk releases), Amiga CD32, Phillips CD-i, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo.  The Super Nintendo version has more animation and music than the PC floppy versions, although it weighs in at only 4MB compared to the 29.7MB install of the SVGA PC floppy version.

Difficulty Levels

OMF Combat Aftermath

OMF has many difficulty levels, some of which are hidden.  The readily available difficulty levels are punching bag, rookie, veteran, world class and champion.  There are also the hidden difficulty settings of deadly and ultimate.  The lowest difficulty is for practicing moves, and the rookie difficulty is manageable once you know the regular and basic special moves.  The higher difficulty levels above veteran require real commitment to the game.  I was able to win on the veteran difficulty level (the lowest level of difficulty where you can face the final pilot and win the game) after a few hours of playing the game with the basic Jaguar robot.

RotR Combat Aftermath SVGA (you will see this screen a lot if you play this game)

RotR Combat Aftermath VGA (you will see this screen a lot if you play this game)

RotR has beginner, easy, medium and hard difficulties.  Don't be fooled, the beginner level is very difficult. The true final robot is only accessible after beating the hard difficulty twice.  The robots you will face in the game have tremendously unfair advantages.  Almost all of them seem to move faster and have attacks with a much better reach than the Cyborg and more powerful to boot.  They do not seem to be hampered by the control scheme inflicted on the player.

Special Features

OMF supports remote multiplayer as of version 2.0 through a null-modem serial link, a modem or over an IPX network.  It also will let you record your gameplay and play it back later.  There are a number of secrets, codes, robots and settings.  There is a hyper mode that makes for faster gameplay and more intense special moves.

RotR has a few special codes, but generally what you see is what you get.

Assessment

One Must Fall 2097 was one of the best fighting games for DOS.  I would say this is as controversial an opinion as "Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest Presidents of the United States."  This is not saying too much, as most fighting games released for the PC before Street Fighter II have not aged well at all and most of the games released after Street Fighter II are ports of arcade machines of varying quality.  Still, given the limitations of the controllers available to OMF, it still manages to be a game of surprising depth and yet easy to pick up and play today.  The robots have varying abilities and while the balance is not necessarily perfect, all have their interesting points.  Moreover, it is surprising today to learn that this game was realized mainly by four people (according to the credits).  It is a testament to the talent and dedication of a few individuals who wanted to make a fun and enjoyable fighting game and succeeded tremendously.

As for Rise of the Robots, virtually every negative comment I have heard about the game prior to my own investigation of it is justified.  "Style over substance" and "graphics over gameplay" are two accusations that are entirely supported.  Interestingly, RotR had over a dozen people working on it and a budget large enough to port it to eight very different platforms.  It seems that whatever resources were left over after modeling the robots in 3D Studio Max was spent on ports.  However, all those resources resulted in a game that was about as complex as the original Street Fighter arcade game.  The moves are so simple, the too-few robots have very similar moves and there are only limited match ups available.  The music, sound effects, animation and moves are too limited to keep anyone playing for long.  Unless you are playing in the two player mode, your one robot will fight the same five robots in the same order over and over again until you get sick of the game.  The game quickly becomes boring and between the awful control scheme and the cheap computer opponents there is no reason why I would want to play this game ever again after this blog entry.  The PC version feels especially rushed, the console versions are more playable.

One Must Fall 2097 is freeware and deserves a spot on every DOS gamer's hard drive.  Virtually every version of it, 1.0, 1.1, 2.0 and 2.1 can be found at RGB Classic Games : http://www.classicdosgames.com/.  Ancient DOS Games' review of the game is an excellent point to start the new player with acquainting himself or herself with the game modes and play :  http://www.pixelships.com/adg/ep0019.html

Rise of the Robots deserves only to sit on a collector's shelf.

The Gravis Ultrasound and DOS Games

A commonly held belief that the Gravis Ultrasound's primary utility was for playing DOS demos.  Indeed, that was the software for which it was best known, but many, many DOS games supported it as well.  For some games, it is the ideal method to use for sound playback.  For others that advertise "support", getting them to run is a frustrating exercise.

The Gravis Ultrasound was released in 1992 and offered 16-bit digital audio output capabilities.  Unlike the Sound Blaster 16, which can only handle a stereo (2-channel) digital audio stream in hardware, the Gravis can handle up to 32 digital audio streams/voices and mix them to stereo audio output.  At 32 voices, it can output at 19 kHz, but at 14 voices it can manage 44.1kHz.  See here for the frequency/voice range : http://www.ninjacode.org/gf1/tech.html  It can also support up to 1MB of RAM on the card to store digital sound samples/patches, usually for MIDI or Tracker MOD-style music.  The original Ultrasound came with 256KB or 512KB of RAM, but the Ultrasound MAX, ACE and most of the clones come with 512KB on board. The more RAM, the better quality patches can be loaded onto the card.  

To upgrade your Ultrasound, you will need 4 (if your board has 512KB) or 6 (if your board has 256KB) 256K x 4, 80+ns FPM 20-pin DIP DRAMs.  If you have an Ultrasound with a single socket, you will need one 256K x 16 80+ns FPM 40-pin SOJ DRAM.  It is important to note that a 256Kx16 chip holds the same amount of data as a 512Kx8 chip, only the organization is different.  

The original Ultrasound came with a speed-adjustable gameport and support for emulated MPU-401 with Mega-Em.  It had a dual row of pin headers to attach a daughterboard that allowed for 16-bit recording capabilities.  The daughterboard includes a Crystal CS4321 codec, which is virtually identical to the Analog Devices AD1848 codec used in the Windows Sound System cards.  This chip also added an alternative method of 16-bit digital playback.  Revisions prior to 3.7 do not have an onboard mixer chip.  The Ultrasound MAX is like a nearly-fully upgraded GUS, with the daughterboard functionality and support for 3 proprietary CD-ROM interfaces (Sony, Mitsumi & Panasonic).  When a game states it supports the Ultrasound MAX, it really means that it is using the CS4321 codec for digital audio processing or Sound Blaster emulation instead of the native Ultrasound hardware.  It is really using a Windows Sound System driver, just directing the output to different ports.  

The card I have is the Gravis Ultrasound Audio Card Enhancer (ACE), v1.0.  This is a stripped down card designed to work with a Sound Blaster.  It has the no midi/gameport, no recording capabilities, and no CD-ROM/IDE interfaces.  It has a particular feature unique and valuable to the card, the ability to disable the Adlib ports.  This should help games which have difficulties with an Ultrasound and a Sound Blaster due to their Adlib autodetect routines.  The v1.0 version of the card has a drawback in that it outputs reverse stereo, requiring a cable fix.  Card version v1.1 fixes this bug, but the jumper layout is not as well-designed.    Whoever laid out the ACE had the foresight to allow you to change the I/O port jumper without having to remove the card from its slot!

The ACE is a great card, but it does have a gotcha that I did not know about until recently.  While it has no gameport, the card's two main chips are essentially the same as found on a full-featured pre 3.73 GUS, and the chips implement a gameport interface.  This creates a bus conflict if there is another gameport in the system and PC compatibles tend not to work properly when there are bus conflicts.  The version of ULTRINIT.EXE that comes with the standard driver installation packages, including and up to v4.11, does not disable the joystick properly using ULTRINIT -dj.  You will need to use ULTRINIT v2.26a, found here : http://www.gravisultrasound.com/utilities.htm to properly disable the gameport interface in the GUS ACE's chips and correct the problem.  

Regarding the RAM sampling, Creative would not come out with a competing card until the next year, when it released the AWE32.  The AWE32 came with 512KB of sample RAM, but had SIMM slots to upgrade the RAM to 28MB.  Gravis and AMD came out with a compatible successor to the Ultrasound, the Ultrasound PnP, in 1995.  The PnP supports up to 16MB of sample RAM and can handle 32 voices @ 44.1kHz.  It really was a Windows 9x card and its uniqueness was lost in the wake of DirectSound and DirectSound3D.  The PNP is probably 100% compatible with all GUS supporting games.  To make it work with games from Epic MegaGames supporting the GUS, run the prepgame.exe utility in each game's directory to patch it to work with the PNP.  Games like Battle Arena Toshinden and Angel Devoid: Face of the Enemy setup programs may not work with the PNP for MIDI.  

Enough about the hardware, onto the games!  The Ultrasound used the same basic method of audio reproduction as the Commodore Amiga's Paula chip, so the transition on ports from the Amiga was a very smooth one.  21st Century Entertainment's ported Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies, Pinball Dreams II, Pinball Illusions, Pinball World and Pinball Mania, all with GUS support.  Epic MegaGames also produced a fine native-DOS pinball series that took great advantage of the GUS, with Epic Pinball, Silverball and Extreme Pinball.   Epic also used the card to great effect in Zone 66, Jazz Jackrabbit and One Must Fall 2097.  Star Control II was a true-DOS game that demonstrated the card's great potential early in its market life.  

For vintage system builders, even if you do not like PC pinball games or demos, the GUS can still have a major influence in your 386 or 486 system.  The output sound quality of the card is better than many Creative cards at the time, especially the noisy early Sound Blaster 16s.  Perhaps just as important, it is much easier to reconfigure than the Sound Blasters.  All the Sound Blasters, until the arrival of the AWE32 and 2nd Gen 16s, were configured solely by jumpers.  I/O port ranges, DMA, IRQ, Joystick and MIDI enable were all set by jumpers.  All UltraSounds prior to the PnP only set its I/O port range via jumper, and the MAX has jumpers for the CD-ROM interfaces.  Since the I/O is perhaps the least frequently changed hardware setting (most GUS users use 240 if they are not emulating a Sound Blaster), this is not a big problem.  

An overlooked factor in the GUS's favor is that it can improve performance in games.  Games like Star Control 2 can play up to eight sound effects at a time.  If you had a Sound Blaster, the game would have to process and mix those effects to stereo output in software, but a GUS does it in hardware.  All the games mentioned in the previous three paragraphs will also play digital music and sound effects on a Sound Blaster.  However, because the GUS is far more efficient than the SB at mixing digital sound channels, the GUS will often playback in higher quality (16-bit vs. 8-bit) or a higher sample rate (44,100 vs. 22,050 or 11,025kHz) or both compared with a Sound Blaster.  In fact, while Epic Pinball will play 16-bit music with a GUS on a 386, you need a Pentium to get the close to the same quality on a Sound Blaster 16.  Games like Epic Pinball and Star Control II will always sound objectively better when their music is played back on an Ultrasound compared to a Sound Blaster.

Unlike the Sound Blaster, which will generally work fine with only a SET BLASTER statement in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, the GUS does require installation of its basic software package to work properly with most games.  You can find the software here : http://www.gravisultrasound.com/index.htm.  On a real card, it may be preferable to set different IRQs for GUS and MIDI and moreso for recording and playback DMA.  16-bit DMA channels are preferable to 8-bit DMAs, but if your motherboard has faulty high DMAs, then you will have to use a low DMA.  High DMAs are seldom used.  The installation program will add the appropriate lines to AUTOEXEC.BAT.  Note that games using early versions of the DOS4/GW extender have difficulties with 16-bit DMA channels.  In this case you should replace the version that came with the game with a later version or DOS/32.

According to the g-list, at least 156 games support the GUS natively.  A few games use AIL drivers, which require loading the UltraMID TSR program from the Ultrasound software.  UltraMID takes quite a bit of conventional RAM, but can be loaded in upper memory.  Other games will require loading Mega-Em or S-BOS.  However, Gravis was criticized for putting out false and misleading information about game support, so that list may not be 100% accurate.  

Mega-Em is a software program found in the Ultrasound software package that emulates a Roland MT-32/LAPC-I or SC-55/SCC-1 and or the digital audio output processing capabilities of a basic Sound Blaster 1.5 or 2.0 (Type 1 or Type 3).  It is designed to load in EMS and requires a memory manager like EMM386.EXE to be loaded.  It does not work with many titles using a protected-mode DOS extender (Wing Commander : Privateer) or games that refuse to run with an EMS manager installed (Ultima 7).  If expanded memory is enabled, then it will not take up conventional memory.  It does not emulate the FM capabilities of a Sound Blaster or Adlib card.  Roland SC-55 is the default Roland emulation, Roland MT-32 is the alternate.  Roland or Sound Blaster can be turned off.  
Mega-Em is not a perfect substitute for either the MT-32/LAPC-I or the SC-55/SCC-1.  Even assuming the emulated MT-32's built-in patches sound true, the software will not process system specific parameters, reverb or custom patches.  Games utilizing the reverb and chorus features of the SC-55 (Ultima 8) won't sound too great.  It is unknown if Mega Em supports all the drum sets or the extended patches of an SC-55.  Finally, the SC-55 devotes 3MB to its patches (+1MB for the MT-32's patches) compared to the 1MB of the Ultrasound, so the MIDI music may not sound as good.  Mega-Em will not emulate Roland devices in games using protected mode using a Gravis Ultrasound card lower than a version 3.xx.  It its latest version it should emulate enough of an intelligent MPU-401 interface to allow most games requiring said interface to work properly (except for Legend Entertainment's notorious adventures)

Only the truly desperate should have to and contend with SBOS.  SBOS is a Sound Blaster/Adlib emulator.  I have heard that its FM Synthesis emulation is not up to par with the real thing.  SBOS can be loaded high, but does not need an EMS manager to run.  This means you will have to use SBOS with Ultima 7 or Comanche : Maximum Overkill.  Unfortunately, SBOS requires your motherboard to have a working Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI).  NMI is used in an AT compatible machine to inform the CPU of memory parity errors, but is used by SBOS to communicate with the Ultrasound without interfering with games.  (The Sound Blaster AWE32 also uses NMI in its AWEUTIL program to emulate a Roland MT-32 or a generic General MIDI synthesizer using the EMU800 hardware and on-board RAM).  Some motherboards in the 486 category and later do not have a working NMI.  Although the software only supports mono FM cards like the Adlib and pre-Sound Blaster Pros, it will by default output the voices in stereo.  

For my own personal experience with a GUS ACE on my 486 DOS Gaming PC, it did not matter that I had set the recording and playback DMAs to the same value, since the card cannot record anything anyway.  All that using separate DMAs will do is to allow full duplex recording and playback.  With a single DMA, you can only do one or the other.  However, Epic Pinball refused to play back music and sound effects properly unless I set different GUS and MIDI IRQs.  DOOM would not play sound with the GUS ACE unless I set the bus speed to 7.159MHz in the BIOS, but the bus speed must be set to 6.6MHz to eliminate all stuttering.

The last release of the driver software, 4.11, included version 3.11 of Mega-Em, which effectively combined the functions of UltraMID, Mega-Em and S-BOS into one program.  

Unique PC Hardware & Game Support

In this post, I will identify certain unique hardware that games used and can be difficult to replicate without it.    Except in one instance, no game will refuse to run because you do not have a particular system or card or device, but features may be lost.  I will identify the hardware in bold, then identify the particular feature or limitation unique to that card and list the games that support or require that particular feature.  Finally, I will explain what the issue is and possible work-arounds.  Fan patches and hacks are not included.

IBM Personal Computer Line

Feature - BASIC in ROM

Bumble Games
Bumble Plot
Juggles' Butterfly

Explanation : IBM's computers contained Cassette BASIC in ROM.  However, this version of BASIC was limited to communicating with cassettes, so IBM put BASIC.COM and BASICA.COM on its DOS disks so BASIC could interface with floppy drives.  These programs were relatively small because they utilized the underlying BASIC in ROM code.  As clone manufacturers entered the picture, Microsoft combined the Cassette BASIC and BASICA.COM into GW-BASIC.EXE for the clone systems, which did not have BASIC in ROM.  

Games requiring BASIC always came in a DOS-readable format and required BASIC, BASICA or GW-BASIC to function.  The above games were released by IBM, and would contain BASIC or BASICA on the game disk.  Other companies may have required you to copy over the appropriate interpreter to avoid having to pay license fees to IBM or Microsoft.  

With the above games, released by IBM, their disk labels clearly state or should state "Copy Protected".  When IBM released software licensed from 3rd party developers, the developers always put copy protection on the disks.  With its internally developed software, it usually was not picky.  The above games were created by The Learning Co.  The disks could boot without user intervention since they contained the basic DOS files and AUTOEXEC.BAT to start the programs.  Normally, if you were trying to run the program on a non-IBM PC, you would replace BASIC and BASICA with GW-BASIC.  On these programs, due to the copy protection, it may not work.

Alternative : MESS, IBM PCemulator

Gravis Ultrasound

Feature - Native GUS Hardware Mixing Support

Archon Ultra
Crusader: No Remorse
Crusader: No Regret
Death Rally
DOOM v1.2 or below
Epic Pinball
Extreme Pinball
Jazz Jackrabbit
The Lemmings Chronicles
One Must Fall 2097
Pinball Arcade CD-ROM (Pinball Dreams & Pinball Dreams II)
Pinball Fantasies
Pinball Illusions
Silverball
Star Control II
Turrican 2
Zone 66

Explanation : These games have support for the GUS's hardware mixing capabilities.  Essentially they boast the best support for the GUS.  By using the GUS's hardware, instead of software mixing, typically these games will have better audio performance and higher audio quality.  Unfortunately, hardware mixing was removed after DOOM v1.2 because there was no room left on the card after the RAM samples for the music had been uploaded and DMA transfers without using the RAM were buggy and inflexible.

NEC V20/V30 Incompatibility

Feature - Game works with an 8088 or 8086 CPU but not with an NEC V20 or V30

Lode Runner
Championship Lode Runner
Jumpman (possibly)

Explanation : The IBM PC, (many) PCjr., XT, Tandy 1000, 1000EX, SX and HX all have a socketed 8088 CPU. A popular, reasonably priced upgrade for these systems was to replace the 8088 CPU for the NEC V20, which is an optimized version of the CPU.  For systems like the IBM PS/2 Model 25 and 30 and the Tandy 1000SL and SL/2, the socketed 8086 could be replaced with an NEC V30.  Due to optimizations in the instruction execution, the addition of a hardware multiplier, the resulting speed improvement could be 15% on average over the equivalent Intel CPU.  However, the occasional game will not work with a V20 or V30.  The only confirmed game is Lode Runner, but the disk image and DOS conversion available on the Internet work fine with a V20.

Alternative : Run game with 8088 or 8086 CPU, use Retrograde Station booter or DOS conversion.

Creative CMS/Game Blaster

Feature - CT-1302 Detection Chip

AD&D Death Knights of Krynn
Altered Destiny
Arkanoid II: Revenge of Doh
Bubble Bobble
Death Knights of Krynn
Puzznic
QIX
Rambo III
Rastan

Explanation : Quite a few games support Creative C/MS or Game Blaster sound.  The sound chips are two Phillips SAA-1099s and they can be found on the Creative Music System Card or the relabeled card, the Creative Game Blaster Card.  They can also be found on the Creative Sound Blaster 1.0 and can be inserted into sockets on the Sound Blaster 1.5 or 2.0 and a few licensed clones.  However, the CMS and Game Blaster cards have a 40-pin DIP chip labeled CT-1302A.  This chip allows the card to be autodetected by programs, since the chips themselves cannot be detected.  It also acts as a transceiver for the CMS chips.  The above games have been proven to fail on Sound Blaster cards, since those cards have a Creative Digital Signal Processor where the CT-1302 is mapped on the C/MS and Game Blaster cards.  The Sound Blaster DSP works very differently than the CT-1302.  Operation Wolf will also complain that it cannot find the Game Blaster like the other Taito games, but will still play the music.  Ditto for Wolfpack from Broderbund.

Prince of Persia, v1.0, may be an honorary member in this list.  While it supports the Game Blaster, it also supports Adlib and will use that chip if it detects it in the system, regardless of what else may be inside it.  So if you have a Sound Blaster 1.0-2.0, you will need to physically remove the YM3812 chip or hack the game to disable the Adlib detection to get Game Blaster music.  Star Control acts like Prince of Persia in that it will force Adlib sound if it detects an Adlib or Sound Blaster in the system, even if you have Game Blaster chips and force it by a command line argument.

Alternatives : DOSBox SVN supports C/MS Game Blaster autodetection

Tandy 1000 DAC

Feature - Near Exclusive Digital Sound Support

Gauntlet II (also PC Speaker Tweaked)
Outrun
SimCity & Expansions (also Covox Sound Master)
Wings of Fury

Explanation : The Tandy 1000 series, specifically the SL/TL/RL models, have DAC functionality in addition to the TI SN 76496 PSG hardware.  In other words, they can play back digitized sound samples and voice.  The above games are the only known games to support digitized sound playback on a Tandy but not with a Sound Blaster card.  Some games have other options as listed.  Unfortunately, when the DAC is playing on real hardware, the built in joystick ports cannot be used.

Space Quest III originally shipped with digital sound support only for the Tandy DAC, but you can use the Sound Blaster driver from KQ1SCI and hear the digital sound effects.

Note that there were three revisions of the DAC.  The "Jacksboro" revision came first, and is found in the TL and SL. Then came the "Bonanza" revision, found in the TL/2, SL/2, RL, and 2500XL.  Finally there is the "Hensdale" revision, found in the TL/3, RLX, RSX, other computers in the 2500XL series and in the Sensation! (noticeably over-filtered in the latter).  The Hensdale chips are somewhat incompatible with the above games, producing lockups on Outrun, incorrect sound on Wings of Fury and pops in other games designed for the older chips.

MobyGames indicates that Railroad Tycoon and Metal Mutant support the Tandy DAC, but they do not.  Railroad Tycoon, which also supports Adlib and Roland MT-32 uses the Tandy 3-voice sound chip for all its sound effects.  Metal Mutant does not even support Tandy graphics, but it does support digitized sound effects on the PC Speaker and the Adlib Music Feature Card.

Alternatives : DOSBox SVN has full support for Tandy DAC.  Unlike the real hardware, some games may allow joystick control when digital sounds are played.

Sound Blaster AWE32/64 Soundfont Support

Feature - Custom Soundfont Patches

Battle Arena Toshinden
Dungeon Keeper
Eradicator
Hi-Octane
Magic Carpet 2
Nerves of Steel
Perfect General II
Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri

Explanation : Most games that supported the Sound Blaster AWE32 or 64 in DOS merely used the 1MB of samples contained in ROM on the card.  These games upload a custom sample bank for more customized sound than what would be contained in the ROM samples.  There are also several Windows games that include Soundfont patches.  They can also use any PCI Creative sound card, but the DOS games will only recognize an AWE32 or AWE64.

Tandy 1000 Video II

Feature - 640x200x16 Mode

Mario Teaches Typing
Math Rabbit Deluxe
Sargon V
Star Trek 25th Anniversary
Time Riders in American History
Treasure Cove
Treasure MathStorm

The TL, TL/2, TL/3, SL, SL/2, RL & RL-HD support all the usual CGA and Tandy video modes but add MDA/Hercules support and an extra 640x200x16 Mode.  This mode was not supported in the BIOS and the programmer had to write to the registers to set it correctly.  The above games are the only ones known to support the 640x200x16 resolution, and both support EGA and VGA too.  Deskmate 3 also uses the mode.  Sargon V uses some different colors in Tandy compared with EGA.

Alternatives : DOSBox

Roland MPU-401

Feature - Intelligent MPU-401

A-10 Tank Killer v1.0
A-Train
Budokan
Codename : Iceman*
Colonel's Bequest*
Companions Of Xanth
Conquests of Camelot*
Cruise for a Corpse
Curse of Enchantia
David Wolf
Elvira II
Ecargxus
Eric the Unready
Flashback
Future Wars
Gateway
Gateway II
Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory I*
Hired Guns
Hoyle's Official Book of Games Volume I*
Hoyle's Official Book of Games Volume II*
Innocent until Caught
It Came from the Desert
King's Quest I : Quest for the Crown*
Kings Quest IV*
Lakers v. Celtics in the NBA Playoffs
Laser Squad
Leisure Suit Larry 2*
Leisure Suit Larry 3*
Linewars II
Might and Magic III
Mixed Up Mother Goose*
Operation Stealth
Police Quest II*
Populous
Princess Maker
Princess Maker 2
Sabre Team
Sensible Soccer
Shadoworlds
Silpheed*
Simon the Sorcerer
Sorcerian*
Space Quest III*
Spellcasting 101
Spellcasting 201
Spellcasting 301
Super Space Invaders
Superhero League of Hoboken
TimeQuest
Ultima VI
Waxworks
Wing Commander
Wing Commander II
Wonderland
Zeliard v1.0-1.208

Explanation : The Roland MPU-401 MIDI Interface supports two modes, normal (unofficially known as "intelligent") and UART (unofficially known as "dumb").  In normal mode, the interface supports a wide range of commands.  In UART mode, it only sends and receives data, not commands.  Early games that supported the MT-32 assumed that the user had a Roland MPU-401 interface and wrote their drivers to utilize the normal mode commands.  Later games dispensed with the commands and the need for normal mode.

Alternatives : DOSBox has full MPU-401 emulation.  Ensoniq Soundscape boards can trick many games into working because they can send an ACK (acknolwedge) to the game after every normal mode command.  Since games only output MIDI, they don't care how the interface handles the command.  The Soundscape does not actually carry out the command.  This does not work for every game, as Legend Enterainment games that support the MT-32 will require true hardware or DOSBox.  The MediaTrix Audiotrix Pro also supports an ACK for MPU-401 commands.  There are fan-made patches for most of the Sierra games that will allow them to use the Sound Blaster MIDI interface at 2x0h, search for mt32sb.zip  I have marked with an asterisk the games which the patch supports.   Finally, if you have a 386 or better processor, there is a program called SoftMPU which emulates an MPU-401 in DOS.  It requires EMM386.EXE or another Expanded Memory Manager to be loaded, so it will not work on a 286 or lower machine.  

Mediavision  Pro Audio Spectrum

Feature - Stereo FM/Dual OPL2

1990 Christmas Card - The Seasoned Professional
B-17 Flying Fortress
Castle of Dr. Brain
Conquests of the Longbow
David Leadbetter's Greens
DragonsSphere
EcoQuest: The Search for Cetus (patch)
F-15 Strike Eagle III
F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0
Fleet Defender
Gunship 2000
Harrier Jump Jet
Hoyle's Official Book of Games Volume 3
Jones in the Fast Lane
King's Quest V (patch)
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Leisure Suit Larry 1 VGA
Lord of the Rings Volume 1
Lord of the Rings Volume 2
Mixed-up Fairy Tales
Mixed-Up Mother Goose (patch)
Pirates! Gold
Police Quest III
Quest for Glory II (patch)
Return of the Phantom
Sid Meier's Civilization
Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon Deluxe
Space Quest I VGA
Space Quest IV (patch)
Special Forces
Strike Commander

Explanation : The Pro Audio Spectrum was the first card to offer stereo FM music.  It has two OPL2 chips on board, one for the left channel, one for the right channel.  Creative later used the dual OPL2 setup in its first Sound Blaster Pro.  The early Sierra 256-color titles listed above will support stereo FM music using the Pro Audio Spectrum Driver only.  The non-Sierra games support both cards in stereo.  Later Pro Audio Spectrums, including the Plus and 16s, will not work either as they use one OPL3 chip.  The Pro Audio Spectrum is compatible with Adlib, but in mono only.  Some of these games may appear to offer OPL3 support, but the Dual OPL2 output has been shown to be objectively superior.

Alternative : Use SB Pro 1.0 in games supporting it.  None of the Sierra games listed above support stereo on the SB Pro 1.0.  There are fan-made patches floating about the Internet for the Sierra titles, but require an OPL3 card like the SB Pro 2.0 or later.

Sound Blaster Pro 1.0

Feature - Stereo FM/Dual OPL2

Formula One Grand Prix
F-15 Strike Eagle III
Hi-Octane (also Pro Audio Spectrum 16)
Inherit The Earth: Quest For The Orb
Ultima Underworld

Explanation : See above, these games support dual OPL2 only on a Sound Blaster Pro 1.0.

Alternative : Use DOSBox SBPro1 emulation.

Innovation Sound Standard SSI-2001

Feature - 6581 SID Sound

Airball
Asterix: Operation Getafix
Bad Blood
Battle Chess II
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge
F-19 Stealth Fighter
Falcon A.T.
Joe Montana Football
Lord of the Rings Volume  1
Red Storm Rising
Ultima VI
Windwalker

Explanation : Uses the famous SID chip found in the Commodore 64 for music.  The SID chip is directly addressable on the ISA bus on this card, and requires a large number of I/O addresses (31) for its registers.  The chip is a 6581, not a 6582 or 8580.  The card is extremely rare.  Airball uses this card or C/MS Game Blaster for sound effects, but the sound effects sound better on this card.

Alternative : Use DOSBox SVN

Hercules InColor Card 

Feature - 720x350x16 Graphics Mode

Microsoft Flight Simulator (v3.0)
Microsoft Flight Simulator (v4.0)
Sierra's 3-D Helicopter Simulator

Description : These games support a special graphics mode found on the InColor card when connected to an EGA monitor.

Alternative : All games also support high resolution EGA graphics, 640x350x16/64.  It is not impossible that a non-Hercules card may emulate the functionality.  Also, the graphics may look the same, only with borders on the left and right sides of the frame.  Karateka only supports the Hercules Color Graphics Card, a CGA clone designed to co-exist with a Hercules (Monochrome) Graphics Card.

Covox Sound Master

Feature - AY8910 or 8930 Sound

Conan - The Cimmerian
Galleons of Glory
Megatraveller 2
Prince of Persia (v1.0 only)
Punisher, The
Sim Earth
Spirit of Excalibur
Twilight 2000
Ultima VI
Vengeance of Excalibur
Where in Time if Carmen Sandiego (AY8930 music)
Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego (320x200 VGA Version)

Description : These games support music and/or sound effects using the AY8930 PSG found on the original Covox Sound Master.  Mostly games only supported the basic AY8910 features, which were also found in the Atari ST computers, many arcade games, the Intellivision and the Mockingboard line of sound cards for the Apple II.  The card is incredibly rare.  Covox marketed a line of sound adapters, including the Speech Thing, the Voice Master, the Sound Master, the Sound Master + and the Sound Master II.  The + and II are NOT compatible with the original Sound Master, as they are essentially Sound Blaster clones.

Alternative : None

Feature - Near Exclusive Digital Sound Support

MegaTraveller 1
Space 1899
SimCity
The Punisher
Transylvania III

Description : These games support one of the digitial sound reproduction methods of the original Covox Sound Master or the Adlib-compatible Covox Sound Master II and do not support Sound Blaster digitized sound playback.

Note that Covox Lemmings only supports Adlib, Countdown and A-Train does not actually function with a Sound Master (despite what it says on the A-Train box) and Wolfenstein 3D specifically requires a Disney Sound Source and will not work with a Covox Speech Thing/Voice Master/Sound Master of any kind.

Alternative : Use other cards/devices, if supported

IBM Music Feature Card

Feature - Custom Midi Interface & YM2164 OPP 4-op FM Sound

1988 Christmas Card (Sierra SCI0 demo)
Jones in the Fast Lane (patch)
King's Quest IV (early version only)
King's Quest V (patch only)
Leisure Suit Larry 2 (early version only)
Music Construction Set (special version)
Quest for Glory 2 (patch only)
Thexder 2 (patch only)

Explanation : The above games and demo will support the 4-op FM synthesis, but only using the rare IBM Music Feature Card, IMFC.  No official patches are known to exist to let these games work with an Yamaha FB-01 + Roland MPU-401 combination.  In many cases, later versions of these games will support a Yamaha FB-01.

Alternative : None

Yamaha FB-01

Feature - YM2164 OPP 4-op FM Sound

Codename: Iceman

Colonel's Bequest, The

Conquests of Camelot (patch only)

Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory

Hoyle's Official Book of Games Volume I

Jones in the Fast Lane

King's Quest I SCI

King's Quest IV (later versions)

King's Quest V

Leisure Suit Larry 2 (later versions)

Leisure Suit Larry 3

Mixed Up Mother Goose (16-color SCI version, patch only)

Police Quest II

Quest for Glory 2

Silpheed

Sorcerian

Space Quest III

Explanation : The above games will support the 4-op FM music with the above midi module or the IBM Music Feature Card.  A Roland MPU-401 Midi Interface is required.

Alternative : There is a special version of DOSBox that will support output to the FB-01, the ordinary versions do not due to the MIDI buffer being too small for the custom sysex sounds sent to the FB-01 by the driver.  Also, you should download the patch here to avoid errors caused by Sierra's driver with DOSBox's MPU-401 emulation : http://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=14968  SoftMPU as of version 1.9 will also support the Yamaha FB-01.

If you have an IBM Music Feature and Roland MPU-401 interface but the game that is buggy with the IMF driver, try the FB01 driver, connecting the midi out of the MPU-401 to the midi in of the Music Feature's breakout box.  

Casio MT-540/CT-460/CSM-1

Feature - MIDI module support

Altered Destiny

Codename: Iceman

Colonel's Bequest, The 

Conquests of Camelot (patch driver officially supports CSM-1)

Elvira

Game of Harmony, The

Hero's Quest/Quest for Glory

Hoyle's Official Book of Games

Jack Nicklaus' Unlimited Golf & Course Design (officially supports CT-460)

King's Quest I SCI (driver officially supports MT-540/CT-460)

Leisure Suit Larry 3

Les Manley in: Search for the King

Sorcerian (driver officially supports MT-540/CT-460)

Space Quest III

Explanation : Certain games has specific support for these midi keyboards and module.  The MT-540 and the CT-460 function almost identically from a programmer perspective, even though the latter offers access to more sounds through the keyboard controls.  The one difference is that the CT-460 and CSM-1 assign different tones to program change numbers compared to the MT-540, and the Apogee games identify the CT-460 in their setup programs.  This would mean that the wrong sounds may be played with a MT-540.  The CSM-1 is far less common than either keyboard.  A Roland MPU-401 interface must be used.  DOSBox should work well with these devices attached to a hardware midi interface.

Alternative : None

Adlib Gold 

Feature - Optional Surroundsound Daughtercard Support

Dune

Explanation : Dune supports the Surroundsound module for the Adlib Gold for reverb, enhancing one of the best FM soundtracks ever made for a PC game.

Alternative : None

Feature - YMF-262 OPL3

Dune

Explanation : Dune supports OPL3 features on the Adlib Gold, but only OPL2 features on a Sound Blaster or Sound Blaster Pro.

Alternative : Use MediaTrix Audiotrix Pro sound card or Tandy Sensation! system, which are compatible with the Adlib Gold.

Paradise & Video 7 SVGA

Feature : 800x600x16 Graphics Mode

Wonderland

Explanation : The above early SVGA chipsets support a non-standard 800x600x16 mode.  Wonderland supports it, but only on graphics cards with the PVGA1A or Video 7 VEGA chipsets.  You probably would need a card with 512K RAM on it, even though the mode only requires a 240KB frame buffer.

Alternative : Use DOSBox with the SVGA_Paradise option.

IBM 8514/A Graphics Card

Feature - 1024x768x256 @ 43.5Hz

Mah Jongg -8514- (beta)

Explanation : The IBM 8514/A was an Microchannel (MCA) card that acted as a supplement to the built-in VGA graphics of the early PS/2 systems.  It was a graphics accelerator which added 1024x768x256 and 640x480x256 modes.  The former mode was interlaced at 43.5Hz, the latter ran at 60Hz. Some other cards like the ATi Mach 8 & 32 and the TSENG ET4000 can emulate it.  It originally required a special monitor, the IBM 8514.  The above game is the only game known to utilize the adapter, and it was only a beta.

Alternative : Use DOSBox with the SVGA_ET4000 machine type and the 8514AI emulator. 

IBM PS1 Audio/Game Card

Feature - Digital Sound Support

Silpheed (version 2.3 only)

Explanation : The IBM PS/1 2011 did not come with any ISA slots, so to give some sort of audio support, IBM released the above plug in card to provide support.  Early models of the PS/1 2121 also have the header for the card, but they also have ISA slots.  It used a TI SN76496 clone core, provided gamport joystick and midi support and a specialized DAC.  Sierra released a special and very rare version of Silpheed to support it, and it provides digital samples and voices whereas all the old versions used the PC Speaker.

Alternative : Use DOSBox SVN

Feature - SN Music

Bush Buck: Global Treasure Hunter

Explanation : Bush Buck supports TI SN 76496 based music on the IBM PS/1 Audio Card but not on a Tandy 1000.  Mickey's Colors & Shapes supports 3-voice music on a Tandy 1000 but not on an IBM PS/1 Audio/Game Card.  For the PS/1 card, it uses digitized music, just like with a Sound Blaster or Disney Sound Source.  Users with a Tandy DAC can also hear the digitized music.

Disney Sound Source

Feature - Digital Sound Support

Arachnophobia
Dick Tracy: The Crime-Solving Adventure

Explanation : The Disney Sound Source is an LPT DAC that plugs into a DB-25 female printer port (except apparently on Tandy 1000 RL & TL/3 and 2500XL).  It is similar to the Covox Speech Thing in that it outputs 8-bit digital sound, but the programming is slightly more involved.  The above games are the only games known to exclusively support it for digitized sound playback and have no Sound Blaster support.

Alternative : Use DOSBox

MCGA

Feature - 320x200x"16"

Thexder

Explanation : The MultiColor Graphics Adapter, found in the 8086-based IBM PS/2 Models 25 & 30 only, supports a 320x200x256 color mode.  Some games will use it even though they do not support more than 16 colors on the screen at a time.  Instead, they will use the 256 color mode to allow access to the 18-bit RGB palette of the MCGA and VGA.  Thexder is the only game known to do this by autodetecting the MCGA machines.  If you use a VGA card, the game will give you a 640x200x16 mode with only the default CGA/EGA palette available.

Alternative : You can trick Thexder to run in the MCGA mode if you have a VGA card by renaming MAINPS to MAINEG and MAINEG to something else.

IBM Cassette Port

Feature - PC Speaker sound output through the Cassette Port

Music Construction Set

Explanation : The IBM PC Model 5150 and the IBM PCjr. support a cassette for saving and loading BASIC programs.  It can also output sound from the PC Speaker.  Music Construction Set supported it to output tweaked PC speaker music to a real speaker.  Unfortunately the internal speaker may not be shut off.  The PCjr. has an official cable, but the PC must use a Tandy TRS-80 cassette cable.  The music does not sound any different than what is produced internally, but it does allow for volume control and easier recording.

Alternative : DOSBox or an audio card (Sound Blaster Pro, 16, AWE32-64 except Gold) with a PC Speaker output pin.

IBM PCjr.

Feature - Cartridge Slots

Crossfire (also floppy)
Demon Attack (also floppy)
Microsurgeon
Mine Shaft
Mouser
Pitfall II
River Raid
ScubaVenture

Explanation : The IBM PCjr. came with two cartridge slots on the front of the unit for games and smaller programs.  There was a version of Lotus 1-2-3 that came on two cartridges, presumably for instant loading. The two cartridge slots accept up to 64K cartridges each and are mapped to the D000 and E000 segments, respectively.  The especially rare IBM PC JX also has compatible cartridge slots, but nothing else has compatible slots.

Alternative : DOSBox with cartridge images

Feature - Reliance on PCjr. limitations

King's Quest
Touchdown Football

Explanation : The PCjr. version of King's Quest will not work on a PC or PCjr. compatible like the Tandy 1000s, except for a Tandy 1000/A/HD with 128KB of RAM.  King's Quest for the Jr. uses a graphics window from 96-128K, and the Jr. cannot change the location of the window.  The Tandy 1000 can and does if more than 128KB of RAM is inside the system.  Later Tandy 1000s come with at least 256KB RAM, so the graphics will not display.  Sierra released a version for IBM PCs and a version specifically for Tandy 1000s.  Touchdown Football is reported to have too fast digitized sound playback with a Tandy 1000.  Even though the PCjr. and the 1000 share video RAM with main RAM, the 1000 does not suffer from the performance deficiencies.

I originally included M.U.L.E is in this list because the release for the PC was extremely rare and it was assumed that it was a port IBM commissioned specifically for the PCJr.  Now it has been revealed to the world to be a strictly PC port that supports only standard CGA and PC speaker sound that happens to run on the PCjr.  See here for further details : http://www.worldofmule.net/tiki-index.php?page=IBM+PC

Alternative : Tandy 1000 w/128KB RAM or DOSBox

Feature - Speech Adapter Support

Bouncy Bee Learns Letters

Explanation : Among the few sidecars IBM released was a speech adapter, and Bouncy Bee, also released by IBM supports it.  IBM later released similar speech adapters for the PC Convertible and the PS/2.  Bouncy Bee is not PCjr. specific, so it is quite probable that the game may work with the other IBM adapters.  All adapters are rare.

Alternative : The IBM Digispeech DS201A and 301, which connect via serial and parallel port, respectively, is adverised as being compatible with the IBM Speech Adapters will work with Bouncy Bee Learns Letters, but its driver must be loaded first.

Tandy 1000

Feature - Reliance on Tandy 1000 Features

King's Quest
Touchdown Football
Demon Attack

Explanation : The Tandy 1000 version of King's Quest will not work on a PC, but it should work just fine on a PCjr.  Tandy marketed a version of Touchdown Football that is fixed for its system, but this version is very rare.  Ditto for Demon Attack, now on floppy and with a title screen.  These games will only work in Tandy 1000 machines, and may have difficulties with the TL/SL/RL machines.

Note that I have not included every game that takes advantage of PCjr./Tandy 1000 graphics and/or sound.  The list would be enormous and the machines themselves are not so rare.  I have been putting together a list of games that support Tandy graphics but not EGA or better and Tandy sound but not Adlib, Game Blaster, Roland MT-32 or other sound device beyond the PC Speaker.  Maybe I will finish it and post it on this blog.

Alternative : DOSBox

Secondary Monochrome Monitor Support

Feature - Display Secondary Information

Mah Jongg VGA
Mechwarrior 2 : Mercenaries
Rise of the Triad

Something that had been forgotten by most people is that a MDA or Hercules card can comfortably exist alongside a CGA card or Tandy Graphics Adapter found in the *X machines.  It may or may not work on the *L machines as they have built-in MDA/Tandy emulation.  It should also work with most EGA cards and many VGA cards.  The idea is that you have your color monitor attach to a color graphics adapter and that will be your "primary" display.  The monochrome adapter will of course be connected to a monochrome display and act as the "secondary" display.  With a CGA card or Tandy, the MDA card can be set to display text modes and the DOS prompt and the color adapter to display games and graphics.  With more advanced cards, typically the monochrome monitor would take on the secondary role.  CAD, programming tools, spreadsheets would often take advantage of the multiple monitor setup, but games could use it too.

Mah Jongg VGA will display information about remaining tiles, but Mechwarrior 2 and ROTT show debugging information, which was unintentional.  There is a special build of DOSBox which uses the status window to display what the monochrome monitor would have displayed.

Alternative : Special DOSBox build

Amstrad PC

Feature - 640x200x16 Graphics

Dragonfly (Title Screen Only)
Flags
Feud
Maupiti Island

The Amstrad PC1512 (aka Sinclair PC500) is an 8086 XT clone with a unique video adapter.  It is a UK machine and all games that support it come from European developers.  The PC1640 (aka PC6400) has EGA built-in and also has the 1512 graphics adapter but it is disabled.  The built-in video is based on CGA but supports an additional 640x200x16 mode.  The built in video is not quite 100% compatible with CGA, and like the original Tandy 1000/A/HD it cannot be disabled.

I have never seen a screenshot of a game supporting this adapter.  The adapter has no official support for the much more common 320x200x16 EGA/PCjr./Tandy resolution.  However, the equivalent graphics could be shown on the Amstrad by using double-wide pixels in the 640x200x16 mode.  There would be a performance hit since the memory buffer is twice as large, but the alternative is stock CGA.   All the games above have been actually confirmed to use the 640x200x16 graphics mode, the rest may advertise support for the Amstrad PC, but that only means that the game will work with the system.  These games will only support standard CGA, EGA or VGA graphic adapters.

Alternative : DOSBox SVN has an Amstrad machine type.

Feature - Digital Joystick Support

Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Feud
Iznogoud
Metal Mutant
Wizball

The Amstrad PC1512 and 1640 can support the traditional PC analog joysticks using an external ISA gameport or sound card, but also had a digital joystick port on the keyboard.  The port is a DE-9 and supports standard one and two button Atari style sticks.  The resulting joystick positions and fire button presses are sent as unused keyboard scancodes.  Since the scancodes selected are not usually used on IBM keyboards, the game had to have specific support for the Amstrad joystick interface.  Amstrad also supported a custom mouse where the two mouse buttons also corresponded to unused keyboard scancodes and non-standard I/O ports for the X and Y movement.

There are probably other games that support the Amstrad digital joystick interface, but these games are almost certain to do so since they advertise specific support for the Amstrad PCs.

Taito also supported a one-button Atari joystick using a parallel port adapter for Rastan, Renegade, Sky Shark, Bubble Bobble, Puzznic, QIX.  Other companies may have as well.

Alternative : Gravis Gamepad or digital controller with DOSBox.

Feature - Gun-Stick Light Gun

Solo

The Amstrad PC-1512 and 1640's joystick port was also used for a special kind of light gun called the Gun-Stick and supported in at least one game.  The Gun-Stick was used more in Amstrad CPC games.

Nvidia NV1

Feature - Proprietary 3D Acceleration

Nascar Racing (Diamond Edge 3D Bundle)
Panzer Dragoon
Virtua Fighter Remix (Diamond Edge 3D Bundle)
Virtua Cop

These games support the unique hardware acceleration of the NV1 GPU.  The best known cards using the NV1 were the Diamond Edge 3D boards, and they were bundled with some games designed to work only for those cards.  These cards also had built in sound, midi and joystick ports, the latter of which supporting Sega Saturn controllers.  All except Nascar are Windows games, but they may not support standard Direct 3D.  NV1 boards were no great success in the marketplace.  The software mode in Virtua Cop looks better than the NV1 3D acceleration and was presumably designed for weaker systems.

Alternative : Play these games on a Sega Saturn (except NASCAR Racing)

Rendition Verite

Feature - Proprietary 3D Acceleration

Descent II
EF2000
Grand Prix Legends
Hexen II (vHexen2)
Indycar Racing II
MDK
Mechwarrior 2 Mercs
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Nascar Racing II
Quake (vQuake)
Quake II (vQuake2)
Rebel Moon (3D Blaster PCI Bundle Only)
Scorched Planet
Sub Culture
Tomb Raider
VR Soccer
Whiplash (Fatal Racing)

The Rendition Verite 1000 was an early competitor of the 3dfx Voodoo Graphics 3D Accelerator Board.  It may not have been quite as speedy, but it could offer better graphics effects or higher resolution.  While it was Direct 3D compliant, it ran games much better that used its proprietary Speedy3D and RRedline APIs.  GLQuake supports 3dfx Voodoo and (with some cajoling) other OpenGL compliant 3D accelerators, but strictly in Windows.  If you want 3D accelerated Quake in DOS, you must use a Rendition Verite card and vQuake.  vHexen II and vQuake II are Windows only games and the games themselves obviosuly support 3dfx.

Rebel Moon and Indycar Racing II were both bundled with Rendition cards, (Creative's 3D Blaster PCI and Sierra's Screamin' 3D, respectively), so the bundled versions only work with Rendition cards.  Other than as indicated, the rest of these games will work with a 3dfx Voodoo card.

Alternative : 3dfx Voodoo cards work with most of the above

3Dfx Voodoo 1

Feature - Voodoo 1 Accelerator Only

Dreams into Reality

The above games are the only games that will not work with  a Voodoo Rush or Voodoo 2 or later 3Dfx card.  Several other DOS games will require either a patch or a batch file setting the Voodoo 2 to Voodoo 1 settings for the game to work.

Feature - Statically Linked Glide

Battle Arena Toshinden
EF2000: Tactcom
Fatal Racing/Whiplash
Starfighter 3000
UEFA CHampions League 96/97
VR Soccer '96

The above games can only work with one version of the Glide2x.dll or Glide2x.ovl file, and the driver was only designed to work with a Voodoo 1.  You can use a batch file to get the game working on a Voodoo 2, but it will not work for a a Rush, Banshee, 3/4/5 card.

Roland MT-32 rev. 0

Feature - Early Revision Firmware Bugs

Adventures of Willy Beamish, The (Floppy version)
Castle of Dr. Brain
Colonel's Bequest, The
Dune 2
Heart of China
King's Quest V
Leisure Suit Larry 3
Police Quest II
Ski or Die
Space Quest I VGA (1991 256-color remake)
Space Quest III
Wing Commander

The above games take advantage of bugs in the firmware of the MT-32 to create sounds that do not sound the same on the later Roland LA synthesis modules.  Any Roland MT-32 rev. 0, which have firmware ROM versions up to 1.07, will make these games sound perfect.  However, in most instances the difference in sound is confined to the occasional sound effect or musical note.

Alternative : MUNT or Yhkwong's DOSBox SVN MT-32 emulation should support bugs that rely on characteristics of the version 1.xx firmware ROMs, if you use it, but may not support bugs which rely on the hardware of the rev. 0 MT-32.

Roland  -I/CM-32L/CM-64/MT-100/CM-500/MT-32 rev. 1

Feature - Avoidance of Buffer Overflows, Broken Sounds and Firmware Lockups

American Gladiators
Beneath a Steel Sky
Gods
Hero Quest
Inferno
Humans, The
Immortal, The
Jurassic Park
Lemmings 2: The Tribes
Lethal Weapon
Lord of the Rings Volume 2
Lure of the Temptress
Mortal Kombat
One Step Beyond
Populous
Prophecy 1: The Viking Child
Race Drivin'
Spacewrecked 14 Billion Light Years From Earth
Team Suzuki
TFX (Tactical Fighter Experiment)
Utopia

The above games fail to work properly or at all on rev. 0 MT-32s because they were programmed on a later Roland device, usually a LAPC-I.  While the rev. 0 is sensitive to MIDI transmission speed, several games will give a buffer overflow regardless of system speed because the rev. 0 requires a 40ms delay between sending sysex and the later models do not.  

Alternative : MUNT or Yhkwong's DOSBox SVN's MT-32 will work without buffer overflows, or there in the latest vanilla SVNs there is an option to insert delays into sysex messages irrespective of the game.  This will work to produce sound in many, if not all games when the midi is being output to a real MT-32 rev. 0.  

Roland LAPC-I/CM-32L/CM-64/CM-500
.
Feature - Extra Sound Effects

Another World (aka Out of this World, certain versions only, only uses the sound effects, so no MT-32 support)
Beneath a Steel Sky
Cisco Heat
Curse of Enchantia
Day of the Tentacle
Elite Plus
Fire and Ice
Inferno
Humans, The
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Laser Squad
Leisure Suit Larry 5
Lure of the Temptress
Magic Pockets
Microprose Formula One Grand Prix (aka World Circuit)
Might and Magic III
Nigel Mansell's World Championship
Pinball Dreams (early version)
Pitfighter
Predator 2
Prophecy 1: The Viking Child
Pushover
Simon the Sorcerer
Speedball 2
Supaplex
Supremacy
Team Suzuki
TFX (Tactical Fighter Experiment)
Toyota Celica GT Rally
UFO: Enemy Unknown (aka X-Com: UFO Defense)
Ultima Underworld
Ultima Underworld II

These modules contain an additional 33 sound effects in the drumset compared to the MT-32 or MT-100.  The above games utilize them and may sound lacking on the MTs.

Alternative : MUNT or Yhkwong's DOSBox SVN's will emulate a CM-32L if the proper ROMs are used.  

Roland GS First Generation

Feature - Capital Tone Fallback

Blackthorne
Blood
Duke Nukem 3D
Lands of Lore
Hocus Pocus
Magic Carpet
Might and Magic : Clouds of Xeen
Might and Magic : Darkside of Xeen
Prince of Persia 2
Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science
Quest for Glory III
Space Quest V

Roland GS modules, which are also functionally General MIDI compatibile, support 128 capital tones (or instruments) and 128 variation tones for each capital tone.  In theory, a GS module could support 16,256 variation tones but early modules only define a very small portion of the maximum (61 in a SC-55 not including the 128 MT-32 tones).  Thus in the early Roland GS modules, if a midi file requested a variation tone where none was present, the module would playback the capital tone.  This feature is present on all Roland MIDI modules and devices based on the Roland SC-55, including the CM-300, CM-500, JV-30 (Keyboard), SCC-1, and SC-155.

All these devices, except for the SC-155 and JV-30, were originally released without GM support, although in practice all GM support did was to disable certain GS features.  The Might and Magic games need to specifically Init GS to avoid an issue with modules bearing a General MIDI logo.  

Roland removed this feature in modules based on the Roland SC-55mkII synthesizer, including the SCB-55, SCP-55, SC-55ST, SC-33, SC-50, JV-35 & 50 (Keyboards), and did not restore it in their SC-88 or later devices.  For these devices, an attempt by a game above to access an undefined variation tone will result in no instrument playing, leading to a loss of sound and a NO INSTRUMENT error message on those devices with a LCD.  The SCC-1A, which was an SCC-1 update with the 354 sounds of an SC-55mkII, does not support the capital tone fallback feature.  

Alternative : Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7's default MIDI patches uses the Roland GS sound set and supports capital tone fallback.  

Roland GS (includes game expansions unless otherwise noted)

Feature - Variation Tones

Blood
Duke Nukem 3D
Dune II
Might and Magic : Clouds of Xeen
Might and Magic : Darkside of Xeen

Explanation : See Above.  If you have a GS module that disables this feature with a GM Reset (all GS devices except SC-55, CM-300, CM-500 and SCC-1s without a General MIDI logo on them), then you must send a GS reset or initialize your module in the GS mode to support this feature.  

Feature - Reverb or Chorus Controller

Betrayal at Krondor*
Hi-Octane$
The Incredible Machine 2*
Prince of Persia 2
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Shadow Warrior (Shareware Only)
Ultima VIII: Pagan

Explanation : Uses the reverb or chorus controllers in Roland GS devices.

Feature - NRPN

Duke Nukem 3D

Explanation : NRPN stands for Non-Registered Parameter Number, which allows access to special, non-standard settings on a GS device.  General MIDI devices only have to support Registered Parameter Numbers (RPN).  NRPN is disabled with a GM Reset.  If you have a GS module that disables this feature with a GM Reset (all GS devices except SC-55, CM-300, CM-500 and SCC-1s without a General MIDI logo on them), then you must send a GS reset or initialize your module in the GS mode to support this feature.  

Feature - Additional Percussion Notes

Betrayal at Krondor
Duke Nukem 3D
EcoQuest 2
The Even More! Incredible Machine
Freddy Pharkas : Frontier Pharmacist
Gabriel Knight : Sins of the Fathers
The Incredible Machine$
King's Quest VI
King's Quest VII
Leisure Suit Larry 6
Magic Carpet
Pepper's Adventures in Time
Police Quest : Open Season
Prince of Persia 2
Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science$
Quest for Glory III
Quest for Glory IV
Rise of the Triad: Dark War
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Shadow Warrior (Shareware Only)
Space Quest V
Ultima VIII
Warcraft II

Explanation : Uses sound effects found in the GS modues like Slap, Metronome Bell or Gun Shot.  Non-GS devices may also support these sound effects.

Feature - Special Drum Kits

Age of Empires (Windows only)
Blackthorne
Blood
Descent
Descent II
Duke Nukem 3D
Hocus Pocus
Magic Carpet
Prince of Persia 2
Pepper's Adventures in Time*
Quarky & Quaysoo's Turbo Science*$
Quest for Glory III*
Shadow Warrior (Shareware Only, Retail uses CD audio)
Space Quest V*
Warcraft II

Explanation : Uses the additional drum kits found in the GS modules.  Non-GS devices may also support these extra drum kits.

* - Needs Patch to Enable Feature
$ - Needs Patch for GM to even work!

Feature - Early pre-General MIDI capital tone arrangement

DOOM
DOOM II
Descent
Descent II
Duke Nukem 3D

Explanation : The first Roland SC-55 units had an early arrangement of what would become the canonical General MIDI and GS patch maps.  These units, which can be definitively distinguished by a "GS STANDARD" label under the LCD, have Fl. Key Click at Program Change #122.  Some early SC-55s with the "GS" label under the LCD also adhere to this patch map.  Later SC-55s with the "GS" label, all SCC-1s, CM-300s, CM-500s and any module with official General MIDI support changed the patch map in two respects.  First, Fl. Key Click was replaced with Breath Noise as the capital tone and relegated to a variation tone.  Second, on Program Change #81, Sine Wave was added as a variation tone.  While the second change would be generally difficult to notice for any piece of music, people have confirmed that some music just does not sound right with Breath Noise where it does with Fl. Key Click.  The hypothesis is that the composer used an early SC-55 to compose his MIDI tracks.

Alternative : Manually change the instrument from the capital to the variation tone on any module that has a front control panel.

Update : The composer of the music for DOOM, DOOM II and Duke Nukem 3D (and probably more), Robert "Bobby" Prince, confirmed that he used a GM-compatible SC-55 when composing, so the Breath Noise assignment for those modules is correct.  A patch exists for the Descent games to change the assignment to Fl. Key Click for later modules.

ReelMagic MPEG-1 Decoder Board

Feature - Improved Full-Motion Video and Audio

Conspiracy
Dragon's Lair
The Horde
The Psychotron
Return to Zork
Space Ace

Explanation : The ReelMagic MPEG-1 Decoder boards were a series of ISA expansion card which added hardware MPEG compression decoder.  The decoder comes in full-length ISA cards which requires a connection with a VGA card's feature card and shorter cards  that uses a custom 8-pin or 9-pin VGA passthrough cable.  The boards have an audio output for decoded MPEG-1 audio.  The boards are used with special ReelMagic CD-ROM versions of popular games.  These games would have higher quality and more colorful video and standardized audio, but they only work with one of the ISA cards and require each card's specific driver to be installed.