The Computer Chronicles - Greatest Computer Games (1995)

Special thanks to archive.org for hosting these episodes. Downloads of all these episodes and more can be found at: archive.org/details/computerch...

[@excelsium]

Checkout how they talk about the first game Voyeur. This was how people used to talk about things like this before everyone lost their minds.

[@lacitysun]

1995 internet: digital books, news, recipes Today's internet: 10 second twerking videos

[@flutebasket4294]

Don't let anyone convince you we're not regressing in a lot of ways

[@scaryjam8]

@@flutebasket4294The past will always be repeated because we are too ignorant to believe it could ever happen again.

[@adamantine001]

Wing Commander in 1995 must be like a hyper-realistic game back then.

[@yaosio]

I'm from the future, hello everybody from 1995!

[@StaelTek]

Hello unborn me!

[@DkViking1]

Do you come with peace? 🤖👽

[@mokahless]

Finally an episode where I don't have to crank my volume all the way up.

[@0525ohhwell]

And often still struggle to hear anything on a laptop...

[@raven4k998]

@@0525ohhwell yeah most of these have shit volume levels on there shit recording levels

[@kidthorazine]

@@raven4k998 Yeah welcome to the world of analog audio recording.

[@raven4k998]

@@kidthorazine analog fuck you boy it's the digital age grow up and accept it analog is so yesterday

[@russb8151]

@@raven4k998 are your ears digital? Didn't think so

[@RetroJack]

This program's line-up is a perfect example of how the world perceived computers during the '80s and '90s. There were separate spheres of users for scientific, educational and corporate use. Computers could be used for each of those things separately, but it was only later that people accepted that a computer was truly a multipurpose device.

[@gunmetal2445]

This is really awesome. I've seen the name 'Fatman' before on PC games credits but its great to know who's behind the name.

[@CaptchaNeon]

I still have all of my PC games from the 90’s starting in 1995-early 2000’s and still in the Gateway computer disc case my parents were given free with their Gateway computer package. All in excellent condition and with their original manuals. Many of them came out of cereal boxes and or featured free AOL hours with the games.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

Ohh the days before early access games , what a dream.

[@Fastwinstondoom]

Yeah, where you might get a broken mess of a game and have no real way to fix it because you didn't have an internet connection and so couldn't get any patches!

[@JaredConnell]

​@@Fastwinstondoomor buy a game that wouldn't run on your computer for some unknown reason or it would randomly crash at totally random times. Then you had to tinker with it for days before either either giving up or making some change that messed up how another program runs. I sure miss those days!

[@andersdenkend]

Holy shit, that Loadstar actually looks kinda cool. Nice CGI for the time and overall a pleasant oldschool sc-fi look for some odd reason.

[@chubbycatfish4573]

Jagged Alliance was probably my favorite PC game as of 1995.

[@VashStarwind]

Its was cool how enthusiastic everyone was about technology, computers, and video games back then. They were new things that just kept getting better. Now a days no one could care less, weve stalled out. And are trying to make computer programs to just do everything for us...

[@H34D5H07]

Wow, most of these have been lost to time. Fascinating.

[@todayinhistory2804]

Master of Magic. I still play that game. Played it just 2 days ago :) One of my all time favorite games

[@AdamsOlympia]

Looks like they released a remaster last year.

[@natetheshocker7547]

1:21 Oh how the times have changed and not changed. When this was being recorded I was 13 and probably playing Mortal Kombat on the Genesis with with my friend. This guy is talking about Sid Meier's Civilization, and now here I am at 38, trying to get my kids who are 10 and 11 to play Civ VI with me, (which they also got for free from Epic Games), and they're like "I wanna play Fortnite". Now this makes me want me to show them Mortal Kombat. . . on the Genesis. . . Which I have in my closet. . . Which they'd probably LOVE. Cheers!

[@davebrogan7941]

Wow - that syndicate poster on the wall sure brings back great memories. What a great game! I played that one SO much on my new gateway 2000 486 back in 1994 ish. Good times!

[@Daehawk]

Johnny!!! My favorite writer / editor of my favorite magazine. Look how young! :) And Simtex...because of Master of Orion...one of my favorite companies.

[@Dorelaxen]

Oh, seeing George Sanger is awesome. He came to a local convention I helped organize about 15 years ago. What a cool guy. Pulled out a guitar and a chair and just played for the whole place.

[@daehawk9585]

Pluto was still a planet back then.

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

Pluto is still a planet now! IAU be damned. 😝

[@Mau1wurf1977]

Excellent footage, Love the part about Fat man and Roland Sound Canvas.

[@daehawk9585]

I remember learning of George in the mid 90s. He did some of the best work in games.

[@Alianger]

A quick way of telegraphing ultimate concern. Well that's one way to explain it.

[@Leuel48Fan]

19:00 Aye, Papyrus NASCAR Racing, that group/sim would evolve all the way till NR2003 and eventually become iRacing (2008) which is alive and thriving today giving players and pros a way to race virtually as a hobby and use as a training tool!

[@metafis2490]

4:12 Wow George Sanger looks just like Todd Howard!

[@mvl71]

@Jew Jitsu Au contraire, my friend. I find this highly entertaining! Can't get enough of this kind of videos.

[@jareknowak8712]

20:24 - i still cant believe its not a video playback!! :)

[@alexpetrovich85]

9:28 Wing Commander 3 turned out to be one of those timeless games/productions.

[@wallacelang1374]

I have played various versions of Football video games and I have always wanted to have more control over my individual team players on the screen. Unfortunately I have never been fully satisfied with any single game program.

[@johnbrown92]

Anyone remember Mission Critical with Michael Dorn (worf)? I actually had that running in Win 7 under Dosbox lol.

[@flutebasket4294]

The people who seek out old episodes of Computer Chronicles know who Michael Dorn is, sir

[@andrewb4999]

Holy hell, the illusive Shaq-Fu makes a sneaky cameo to the left 0:26

[@nica7311]

In forment of the futuristic of video games 1995 was the commenrce of video games in digital form and was integrated into the formation of the idealislty of the Windows 95 of platform and video games were becoming in the 90s a new sensation to video game users on the computer platform.

[@JL0ndon]

I want to play that astronimca game lol

[@FJ-Channel]

NASCAR 95 .. I remember playing that game when I was kid. But somehow it looks better and smoother on my old PC.

[@YouTubeCensorshipStinks]

I like how this interviewer and in general aren't afraid to call out inconsistencies. Nowadays 99% of the stuff I see is a combo of marketing and political beliefs.

[@talon1706]

Sent my order in. Now I wait,,,

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

7:27 *Nine* planets ... those were the days ...

[@wildone106]

14:40 Little did they know...the future of Hollywwwooooooddd...

[@HuggieBear39]

Cool I had forgot all about Front Page Sports Football. I had that game. My brother and I made our players the best I was the Cowboys, he was the Steelers. We made the PC play the whole season to see who would win. The Cowboys won the SuperBowl. LOL

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

Little did Cowboys fans back then know, but it would be the team’s final Super Bowl win ever. 😝

[@HuggieBear39]

@@cauldronofstardust4113 I can dream though. One of these days they will be great again. 😁

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

😁Sorry about the cheap shot. Couldn’t help myself, being an Eagles 🦅 fan. But I’m sure you’d be proud to know that, in Philadelphia, no single sports team during any era has been hated in this city more than those Cowboys teams of the early-mid 1990s. You can take some pride in the fact that your squad, during those days, made us bash our skulls against brick 🧱 walls, punch our fists 🤜 through the nearest window, & throw our remote controllers at the TV 📺 set, more than any other sports team ever has before or since. But with that said, we are, & still remain, sorry that we cheered 👏 the sight of Michael Irvin lying motionless on the astroturf of Veteran’s Stadium 🏟 with a severe concussion 🤕. Yeah, that wasn’t exactly the finest hour for us Philadelphia fans 😔

[@HuggieBear39]

@@cauldronofstardust4113 No worries, I know what it is like to hate a team(NE Pats) It is all talk I never take offense at football talk. 🍻 🏈

[@gamesbloke]

WTF on Voyeur? I can't imagine that would fly these days. Awesome they showcased it though. Great to see the Fat Man doing what he does best. It's just so far from our reality now. It's like an alien representation of our technologies. I miss this kinda show. I genuinely think a show like this could work nowadays. You just need a mix of old and new. Plus a dude in a suit lol.

[@beekarinsaan]

I feel like I enjoy the 80s version of this show more. The audio hiss and the low quality video I seem to enjoy is missing from the 90s episodes. Not to mention they stopped wearing suits. 😂🤣

[@chromatic91]

And one year later came Quake! >:D

[@Kaynos]

Back when games could be made by a single guy in it's basement.

[@gbodybala9295]

battle bit sir 2 guys

[@levipayne801]

19:25 right in the childhood

[@Finallybianca]

copy of Shaq-fu behind him in the opening

[@robertvanderbush737]

It's '95 and you are not mentioning anything about Doom 2 or the upcoming Quake. So many hours of my childhood were spent on those two games.

[@seanhudsonforester]

The hat....the red jacket....the bolo....oh yeah!!!

[@MichaelShulski]

not in mono, yes

[@goransvraka3171]

that frame rate....

[@VectorLog]

11:26 is that mark hamill??

[@aes9217]

Imagine these people seeing crysis the first time

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

They’d see it. And they’ll be absolutely amazed at how just how incredibly great games will get to look 25 years in the future. Then they’d play it. And they’ll be absolutely amazed at how incredibly crappy games will get to be 25 years in the future.

[@EpicureMammon]

Joanie uses the term "3d" very loosely.

[@raven4k998]

Lazer Disc? why not a super computer from the 1970's in your living room?

[@cdhill17]

A Wizard!

[@BSGSV]

They could actually buy video cards back then.

[@TheHmm43]

14:22

[@tomasnokechtesledger1786]

Electronic Arts "Need for Speed"

[@sluggotg]

Hmm, Ya... Edutainment Software. Astronomically Buggy. Who is going to blame their 4 year old kid if it crashes...

[@kcinplatinumgaming2598]

and along came GTA & DOOM ...and it certainly wont run CRYSIS without crashing lol

[@ryanbrady8142]

The Fat Man was a visionary.

[@TechTonic_]

road rash

[@trzy]

Johnny Wilson is a testosterone-driven guy.

[@oksyar]

i wish i could walk in that room and show them Red Dead Redemption 2 😆

[@gamesbloke]

"Looks too complicated. And why the fascination with horse genitalia?" Stewart would get so concerned...

[@oksyar]

@@gamesbloke Stewart is smart enough to focus on the whole game rather than horse genitalia. Stewart and specially Gary Kindall were amazing people.

[@ytscksdabig1]

Nascar 95 was as good as I remember it being!

[@Deunan_Knute]

0:24 a copy of Shaq-fu on the background

[@dylanwetzel1388]

This was on PBS? You can say sex on PBS?

[@in4moon]

could have mentioned PS1

[@estusflask982]

the whole show is about computers

[@m9078jk3]

He did mention that it was more cost effective getting a gaming console in another episode around this time frame but it might have been a 1996 episode (maybe). The PC was just too exorbitantly expensive as a gaming platform and didn't have good 3D acceleration until the Rendition Verite,3dfx Voodoo or PowerVR cards came out until late 1996 and early 1997. Even then it was again a costly platform for high end video gamers.

[@ZXRulezzz]

10:20 Christopher Lloyd? o__O

[@AlainHubert]

ZXRulezzz No. Malcolm McDowell.

[@TechGamesAU]

That nascar game is like 5fps

[@PsychoSnowMan]

Now speaking of sex.

[@xToxicNinjax]

I like how they have 3 computers set up to demonstrate 3 different games, I wish I could show these backwards savages the power of alt-tab.

[@JaredConnell]

Back then having 3 games open at once would degrade performance significantly if the machine didn't run out of RAM. It was just easier and quicker to have 3 computers set up with a different game on each and a person at each machine to present the game.

[@BAZFANSHOTHITSClassicTunes]

I bet mark hamill wouldnt do Wing commander today. This must have been a low point in his career.

[@smbu]

Are you sure about that? He did do 3 Wing Commander games: Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4 and Wing Commander Prophecy. He also did a voice cameo in the Wing Commander movie that came out later.

[@earthwolf82]

@@smbu he has no idea

[@E_y_a_l]

Mark Hamill is one of the most down to earth actors as it can get and sort of a sci-fi "geek", I think that exactly the opposite, if he'll have a chance to do another Wing Commander now then he'll love to do it, but that's just my assumption.

[@cauldronofstardust4113]

That would require Chris Roberts actually making a game & not just empty promises of a game that, in reality, is an eternal carrot on a string which he shamelessly uses to eternally milk money out of his loving yet gullible fanbase without intent of ever giving them a game. And as Star Citizen has so obviously shown, Chris Roberts today would much rather ride a vaporware money train into the horizon than make video games like he once did a quarter century ago.

[@BAZFANSHOTHITSClassicTunes]

@@cauldronofstardust4113 If he's the Carrot. Who's the stick!!.

[@Fastwinstondoom]

Cool to see games on Computer Chronicles but these were definitely NOT the best games 1995 had to offer!

[@AdamsOlympia]

I disagree. Master of Magic was the best strategy game for years -- the premier 4x game of that era. Nascar was one of the best racing games, and Wing Commander 3 was one of the most popular games of the 90s.

[@Fastwinstondoom]

@@AdamsOlympia Mechwarrior 2, Full Throttle, Command and Conquer, Descent, X-com: Terror from the Deep...those are just off the top of my head. Granted, I would guess that this was filmed early in '95, since most of the games featured were '94 releases.

[@245ben]

I guess nobody finds this entertaining anymore :'(

[@daveb970]

@ 1:42, testosterone driven guy...... he ain't.

[@izools]

Greatest games? and no mention of Wolfinstien 3D or Doom? Pfft.

[@psychoticgiraffe]

this is 1995 not 1993 or 1991

[@elcarmi]

Imagine showing them The Last of Us 2.

[@TechGamesAU]

Yeah in an 80” flat panel display 😂

[@elcarmi]

@@TechGamesAU and then you show them an iPhone LOL

[@dominic.h.3363]

I don't know what disturbs me more, game presenters dressed as businessmen, or game designers dressing like a Texas rodeo clown. The game selection was sub-par too. Maximum innovation, zero fun. I didn't play with any of these, ever.

[@unnamedchannel1237]

If you never played them maybe you don’t know how good they were/are

[@unnamedchannel1237]

@BrackynMor lmfao

[@dominic.h.3363]

@@unnamedchannel1237 I am well familiar with the games of the era, my earliest games were on a Commodore 64 well before any of these, and they looked orders of magnitudes more fun too.

[@AdamsOlympia]

Brilliant way to block children from adult-themed software. What kid would be smart enough to type 111 on a computer?

[@igorzkoppt]

PC games were mostly crap until the late 90's - only some funny point and click adventure games were decent. I can't believe the effort made by everybody in the industry to never, ever mention the Amiga or even the Atari, where pretty much all the good games were.

[@oldtwinsna8347]

Early 90s for the Amiga perhaps, as by 1995 the platform was dead and playing games at 320x200 was just uncool.

[@Alianger]

Most of those ended up on PC as well. And you're forgetting a little game called Doom which pretty much buried the Amiga.

[@yellowblanka6058]

Yeah, I'm guessing you weren't born until the late 90's because you clearly have no idea what you're talking about: i.imgur.com/lxLsxNZ.jpg

[@johntucker23]

see none of the people who made or presented these games are gamers...

[@Thebossstage1]

what

[@Sergeant_Camacho]

@@Thebossstage1 Tucker thinks that a "gamer" should be like Ninja or some dude eating doritos and G-Fuel but in the 90's fashion.

[@Popclone]

I want the imagination network !!!! Give me!

[@ytscksdabig1]

It's hilarious how little actual "games" there were to these things, these were just bad D rating movies.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Because Cams Control mode like 23:58 is just like “bad D rating movies”, isn’t it.

[@vintagecapgunsatyourmomshouse]

Thanks for trying to ruin our music and games Tipper Gore