WC Academy (Game)... format?

NuAngel

NuAngel

Rear Admiral
Hey there, just ordered this game from a random "guy on the internet" (through Goozex.com). I remember owning one of those "ORIGIN GOLD COLLECTION" versions of this game, or something similar - so I know it came on CDROM. But with the age of the product, I'm wondering if perhaps this one I ordered might come on 3.5" floppies, or *gulp* 5.25"!

I don't have a drive that would suffice for either of those, but my desire to play this nearly forgotten chapter in the saga made me go looking for it. I'm just hoping it comes on a CDROM. If it's 3.5" I can get a USB floppy drive from work for a day.

So I guess my question is: did the game come on anything besides a CDROM, like I had it all those years ago? Is it 3.5" floppies? Is there ANY chance it could be 5.25"?

NuAngel
 
I might be wrong but I think WC1 is the only one that ever came on 5.25" floppies
 
Academy was 1993, right? I'm betting if the copy has survived this long, it'll be on CD - simply because such a lot of 3.5" floppies from that time will have given up and died by now.

If it is on 3.5", just take it to a friend's house and get it transferred onto a CD or USB flash drive - quickly! Those floppies won't last forever.
 
Wing Commander Academy was originally released on 3.5" and 5.25" disks. Any version that comes in the original full sized box is on diskettes--the only CD-ROM releases are part of compilations and classics from some years back (there was a period where Academy was the only WC game not readily available on CD).

Every game through Armada was available on both 3.5" and 5.25" disks... although the number of 5.25" copies distributed dropped significantly with each game.

(Note that there were even still 'low density' versions of the games available at least through WC2 and probably Academy, too... but stores didn't stock them, you had to send for a disk exchange from Origin. Wing Commander I was the only game readily available in 5.25" LD, 5.25" HD, 3.5" LD and 3.5" HD versions at retail.)
 
That's what I was afraid of, and there's no way for me to contact the seller before he ships, but anything is worth a shot.

Thanks for the info, folks! I knew you'd have the details for me, LOAF. ;)

Nu
 
The most common version of Academy today is probably the 'EA Classics' CD-ROM. They printed a bajillion of them and you'll still occasionally find it in a jewel case at a grocery store...

If it's a disk version there's a 90% chance it's the 3.5"--the 5.25" is a rare bird (and if it's the disk version, you get a full sized box! and a printed manual!).
 
Yeah, if you got a 5.25" one, someone here would probably trade you for a CD edition.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
The most common version of Academy today is probably the 'EA Classics' CD-ROM. They printed a bajillion of them and you'll still occasionally find it in a jewel case at a grocery store...

If it's a disk version there's a 90% chance it's the 3.5"--the 5.25" is a rare bird (and if it's the disk version, you get a full sized box! and a printed manual!).
Click to expand...

Mile high club edition is still available at conventions(WC1 and WCA are bundled here), they sell it for 20~40 euro's, and I don't even know if it ever was a legal port. Seperatly Boxed and bundled (even with the gravis joystick) was 3.5 disks, Armada was also in that bundle but came in the CD-rom version.
 
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