Zone Warrior: Excellent 3D Space Shooter for Vintage Mac!

[@wallyhackenslacker]

In retrospect this game gives me a "we have Freespace at home" vibe with touches from Wing Commander 4 or Privateer, but all around it was a pretty solid game. I used to play it quite a lot back in the day, and having a 3D space shooter that ran well on the 6200CD aside from Descent was very welcome indeed.

[@softdorothy]

There was, briefly, a woman working the phones at Casady & Greene who was from the U.K. and she had an amazing accent. She was happy to say a few phrases for me over the phone while I recorded her with my MacRecorder ("Cleared for docking."). That it was over the phone meant there was little to do in terms of processing to get that Houston/Apollo sound. The author of the game is from the U.K. as well, so it was a happy accident.

[@worldofretrogameplay6963]

This reminds me of Elite.

[@michaelhill6453]

It looks a lot better than the original Elite. Fantastic game. More videos please Gruz, loving this channel.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

Ah the good old days. ‘95 or so. I used to have a job writing software on that machine.

[@thisoldmacintosh5795]

S’up Gruz! Thank you for another fantastic Macintosh video!

[@TomResnick]

Been looking for ANY evidence of this game for years! Thank you for posting!

[@raenfox]

Interesting. I used to know that game as "Zone of Avoidance". I remember I always had to use yoke mode instead of the "go wherever you point" mode, because the ship would randomly explode. Also, dunno if you ever saw it, but if you don't destroy the big command ship, it just uses a tractor beam similar to your landing aid and sucks in the station before warping out, leaving you stranded.

[@softdorothy]

That little blue docking target is right in front of the docking bay. When you collide with it, I think it kills your engines so you are at the exact right point in front of the station to dock. After, don't touch the throttle until you are pointing into the docking bay.

[@yopachi]

Dang-it youtube algorithm just let me know I missed this one! I played this as a teen and couldn't find it on the internet for a long time. I played the earlier version Zone of Avoidance

[@SuperYoonHo]

glad you are back gruz! you'r videos are really great in fact the greatest this is the best channel there is! :D

[@dave4shmups]

That definitely looks like a fun game! Great video!

[@kirishima638]

Hey. I had that exact same Gravis joystick bought new in the mid 90s. I remember being very disappointed with it because it was so expensive and yet felt cheap next to inexpensive PC ones.

[@insanelygruz]

I like mine, the stick is still sturdy and it has microswitches. Wish it had suction cups on the bottom like some of my other sticks...

[@roberthunter479]

I remember watching my cousins play a few games on the 2E. Wavey Navey, Spare Change, and some adventure game where you had to buy fruit or get scurvy. Not Ultima. I can't remember the name of it.

[@insanelygruz]

Wavy Navy was so much fun!

[@3rdalbum]

Looks like a pretty fun game, I might have to nab it and try it out.

[@IsaacKuo]

I had the Amiga version of the Gravis mousestick, but I think it was bad, because it tended to kill the I/O chip of any Amiga I hooked it up to. That was extremely upsetting! So I haven't tried to hook it up to anything after that.

[@insanelygruz]

Wow! That is unacceptable in my opinion! I would be upset too!

[@sinjinhawke]

I use to play the crap out of this game. I think it had a predecessor game that was very similar.

[@Cameront9]

I have one of those joysticks and for the life of me I cannot get it to work with any adb Mac I have. Any tips?

[@Yusuke_Denton]

You sure do know your Macs. :D

[@drzeissler]

6200 with upgrades?

[@insanelygruz]

I did what I could sans a CPU or Logic board upgrade. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnmyaaCNirqgnJI

[@SmeddyTooBestChannel]

did they sell a lot of gamepads/joysticks for mac back in the day??? it's a common stereotype that macs aren't for gaming, but two gravis gamepads is more than i went in expecting there to be at all

[@insanelygruz]

Absolutely, this IMG article shows some of the more popular ones, but it's not even all of them: imgur.com/WWhIRWL

[@drzeissler]

seems a bit like SF3000...

[@insanelygruz]

I haven't played Starfighter 3000 but just looked up some gameplay and it looks fun!