Category:Wing Commander: Difference between revisions

Wing Commander
Wing Commander
Release Date	Fall 1990

Revision as of 20:44, 10 August 2012

Introduction

Box Back Cover

Wing Commander I virtually created the space combat simulation genre when it arrived in the fall of 1990. It wasn't the first game where players flew a ship around in space, but it was the first to combine cutting edge graphics, a branching mission tree, complex characters and an exciting storyline. As a rookie pilot aboard the TCS Tiger's Claw, the player was introduced to the viscious feline Kilrathi. Over the course of dozens of missions, the Terran Confederation managed to force the Empire of Kilrah out of the Vega Sector. PC gamers used the original Wing Commander game to show off their powerful new 386 machines to their friends. The game exuded style and polish from the cockpit hand that followed players' joystick movements to the dripping bucket in the barracks.

You're a starfighter pilot, the best of the best, but nothing in your training prepared you for action this hot. Deepspace dogfights against Kilrathi aces are deadly, and the future of humanity is on the line each time you fly!

Wing Commander puts you in the middle of the most intense starship action you've ever experienced outside of a movie theater. But in Wing Commander, you're the star!

Description

System Requirements

Box Contents

Cover art for the Super Famicom port.

Cover art for the Super Nintendo port.

Cover art for the FM Towns port.

Credits

Advertising

SNES

Review

SNES

Versions

Deluxe Edition: Included WC1, SM1, & SM2
Deluxe Edition CD: Included WC1, SM1, & SM2
Kilrathi Saga Edition: Windows 95 version, SM1 & SM2 freely downloadable

Ports

3DO

This is 'Super Wing Commander'. All of the graphics are redone in Privateer-level VGA. It has some new 'bridge' plot points (characters occasionally mention stealth fighters) and a 'middle' set of addon (SM1.5!) missions about blowing up the Sivar's base. Full speech, ships look different, people look different, etc. Amazingly, of all the ports this one *plays* most similar to the original game.

Amiga

Low (32?) color graphics version. The only real difference is that the fighters menu in the trainsim has 'rotating' images of the fighters instead of simple VDU line drawings. No one in the universe knows why this is. (People often say that the music sounds better in the Amiga version... but my experience is that it sounds fairly similar to the original game's music played on an MT-32 or LAPC-I.)

CD32

Identical to the original A500 Amiga version, except with 256 color graphics.

FM Towns

Visually identical to the PC version - the only significant change is that it has a Redbook audio soundtrack instead of MIDIs and Japanese speech inflight. The FM Towns is a Japanese computer. They were the first computers to ship with CD-ROM drives standard -- so the FM Towns ports of many early Origin games have full speech (Ultima 6 is the famous one).

Macintosh

(See 3DO.)

SegaCD / MegaCD

The SegaCD version is visually similar to the original PC release, but it also includes full speech (and the requisite awkward console control scheme). The Sega CD was called the Mega CD in Europe and Japan.

SNES

Another low (16?) color version. The SNES version has a host of weird Nintendo-requested minor changes (the Blue Devils are the 'Blue Angels' - things like that). There's some obvious tricks to get around the low amount of memory on an SNES cart, too - for instance, SNES WC1 doesn't have unique graphics for the Jalthi... it's just a Salthi that's been turned green. There is also a seperate, stand-alone SNES version of the Secret Missions addon... it's fairly cool, as it includes a unique intro sequence (Kilrathi talking about the Sivar weapon) and an 'extended' Tiger's Claw takeoff scene that makes use of some Mode-7 landscaping stuff.

Strategy Guides

Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide

Re-Releases

Screenshots

Development

Mock-up of the original Wing Commander box cover art shown at COMDEX, the Computer Dealers' Exhibition.

Computer Gaming World article about professional artists working on video games -- which, it's hard to believe, was a fairly new concept at the time. The exciting aspect for Wing Commander fans, however, is the picture seen below (left): a landscape which was designed for but not used in the original Wing Commander. The caption reads: "'Water World' (Glen Johnson) Landscape removed from Wing Commander." Where could it have appeared? It's anyone's guess -- but a water planet, Hurricane, does appear in one of Wing Commander's winning/losing cutscenes -- it's pictured below (right)

Patches / Addons

Origin

Editing Tools

Miscellaneous Files

Music

Tracks from Origin Audio CD Volume 1

Wing Commander - Briefing and Scramble by The Fatman
Wing Commander - Briefing and Launch by The Fatman
Wing Commander - Fanfare, The Main Theme by David Govett
Wing Commander - Flying to Dogfight by The Fatman
Wing Commander - Regular Combat by David Govett
Wing Commander - Heroes Funeral by David Govett
Wing Commander - Swing Commander by The Fatman
Compilation of the above (9:06) - 7,960k

Thanks to Sébastien Caty and Joe Garrity. (Details, more)

High Quality tracks

Live recordings

Wing Commander Theme (surf music) by The Fatman and Team Fat (2:49) - 2,600K, Details

SegaCD audio tracks

Track 2 - General Music
Track 3 - Winning Endgame
Track 4 - Losing Endgame
Track 5 - Carrier Destroyed
Track 6 - General Music
(Details)

FM Towns audio tracks

Wing Commander Theme

Various tracks

Manuals and Game Documentation

Controls

PC & Amiga

Afterburner	Tab
Fire guns	Space
Fire missile	Enter
Accelerate	+
Decelerate	-
Full stop	Backspace
Look left	F2
Look right	F3
Look forward	F1
Look behind	F4
Chase view	F5
Battle view	F6
Tactical view	F7
Missile view	F8
Tail view	F9
Cycle weapons	W
Cycle guns	G
Cycle targets	T
Lock target	L
Damage HUD	D
Autopilot	A
Comms select	C
Nav Map 	N
Eject	   	Ctrl-E

CD32

Afterburner	Blue
Fire guns	Green
Fire missile	Yellow
Roll left	Red + Left
Roll right	Red + Right
Accelerate	Red + Up
Decelerate	Red + Down
"Super Brake"	Red + Green
Look left	Left top + Left
Look right	Left top + Right
Look forward	Left top + Up
Look behind	Left top + Down
Chase view	Left top + Red
Battle view	Left top + Blue
Tactical view	Left top + Green
Cycle weapons	Right top + Left
Cycle guns	Right top + Up
Cycle targets	Right top + Right
Lock target	Right top + Down
Damage cycle	Right top + Red
Autopilot	Right top + Blue
Comms select	Right top + Green
Comms cycle	Right top + Yellow
Music on/off	Right top + Left top + Left
Sound effects	Right top + Left top + Up
Video suppress	Right top + Left top + Right
Message speed	Right top + Left top + Down
Missile camera	Right top + Left top + Red
Version number	Right top + Left top + Blue
Nav Map		Right top + Left top + Green
Eject		Right top + Left top + Pause
Pause		Pause

SNES

Controls supplied by Liz Calkins.

Afterburner	Y
Fire guns	B
Fire missile	A
Accelerate	R
Decelerate	L
Cycle weapons	Select+B
Cycle guns	Select+A
Cycle targets	Press X to view the Navigation Map; 
		press A to select an available Nav point; 
		press Start to confirm the new objective and resume play.
Autopilot	Select+Y
Comms select	If there is one recipient, press Select+X to select a message from the list;
		press X to send it. If multiple recipients are available, 
		press Select+X to select a person; 
		press X to confirm the choice. Then send the message as shown above.
Nav Map		X: go to nav map
		A: Select next Nav point (in nav map)
		Start: Confirm Nav point change (in nav map)
Eject		Select+Start+R
Pause		Start
Switch VDU 	Select+L: Choose between Weapons Display or Damage Display in left VDU

Sega CD

Controls supplied by Alonzo Wilkins. Pre-flight Functions:

D		Move the cursor to select option
A 		Begin selected action
B 		Skip entire conversation/animation
A or C 		Skip one line of conversation
S 		Start game/Pause

In-Flight Functions:

D 		Move the ship left, right, up and down
A 		Fire gun
AB 		Launch missile
B and up  	Speed up
B and down	Slow down
B and left	Roll left
B and right	Roll right
Bx2	 	Apply afterburner burst (keep pressed the second 
		time for continous afterburners)
S^ or S\/ 	Cycle views (External views and Cockpit)
S and up	Cycle views up (Starboard/Rear/Port/Cockpit)
D and down	Cycle views down
SAB	 	Toggle Missile Camera (on/off)
BC	 	Autopilot
SBC 		Eject from ship

VDU Functions, 3 button controller:

SA 	 	Cycle through Left VDU modes (Weapon/Gun/Damage)
SC 	 	Cycle through Right VDU modes (Communications/Nav/Target)
C 	 	Cycle through avaialble options
SB 	 	Lock/Unlock target (If in Autotargeting mode)
SB 	 	Select Reciever/Send Message (If in Communications mode)
SB 	 	Display Nav map/pause game (If in Navigational mode)
A 	 	Accept Nav point and return to cockpit (if in Nav map)

VDU Functions, 6 button controller:

X 	 	Cycle through Left VDU modes (Weapon/Gun/Damage)
Z 	 	Cycle through Right VDU modes (Communications/Nav/Target)
C  		Cycle through available option
Y  		Lock/Unlock target (If in Autotargeting mode)
Y  		Select Receiver/Send Message (If in Communications mode)
Y  		Display Nav map/pause game (If in Navigational mode)
Y  		Accept Nav point and return to cockpit (if in Nav map)

3DO (SWC)

Afterburner		Left top + Right top
Fire guns		C
Fire missile		A
Accelerate		B + Up
Decelerate		B + Down
Chase view		Stop + C
Battle view		Stop + A
Cycle weapons		Left top + A
Cycle guns		Left top + C
Cycle targets		Right top + A
Autopilot		Right top + C
Break and attack	Stop + Up
Attack my target	Stop + Up
Taunt			Stop + Right
Request assistance	Stop + Left
Request landing		Stop + Down (with Tiger's Claw targeted)
On board computer	Stop + B

Macintosh (SWC)

Establish Joystick Control	Clover key + J
Establish Keyboard Control	Clover key + K
Establish Mouse Control		Clover key + M
Toggle hotspots 		Tab (onboard Tiger's Claw)		
Switch to battle view		Clover key + D
Switch to chase view		Clover key + F
Switch to cockpit view		Clover key + Y
Increase speed			+
Decrease speed			-
Complete stop			S
Afterburner			Tab
Autopilot			A
Cycle targets			T
Toggle guns			G
Toggle weapons			W
Onboard computer		C
Order Break and Attack		B
Send taunt			E
Order Help Me Out		H
Request landing 		R (with Tiger's Claw targeted)
Order form on my wing		R
Eject				Available through onboard computer
Display small graphics		Clover key + 1
Display medium graphics		Clover key + 2
Display large graphics		Clover key + 3
Toggle music on/off		Clover key + U
Toggle sound on/off		Clover key + N

Cheats

DOS Edition

Start the game with "wc Origin" at the command line to enter debug mode.
Alt-Del destroys target. Alt-Ins destroys targetted enemy wing.
Start the game with wc.exe Origin -k.
Same as above, plus invincibility.

Kilrathi Saga Edition

With invincibility off, open wingcmdr.cfg. Make sure it contains -k -b. Turning invincibility back on may cause your name to change back to CHEATER.
Player name is no longer replaced with "CHEATER" when invincibility is enabled.