Wrapping up Subtember with one last trawl through The Game Master shareware CD!
(0:43) - A rotating clown head, why not
(6:35) - Magic Cobra, where we play a puzzle variant of Snake with some nice visual design. A glitch causes some text to appear on the playfield and causes the snake to crash into it though, ruining my ability to beat a level.
(10:50) - MacBlaster, a simple Space Invaders game where your IBM PC with good old DOS shoots apple cores at frowny face Mac machines. Try not to get hit by a copyright lawsuit!
(14:00) - Herman and the Falling Rocks, a Boulder Dash game about picking flowers and avoiding fracturing your clowny skull. Terrifying!
(20:00) - FuzzGen tries to let us make a graph, but does so in the most confusing manner possible.
(21:48) - WChem tries to let us model atoms do some chemistry work, but does so in the most confusing manner possible.
(23:11) - clySmic's Lunar Alamanack (Luna) is a program to display information about the moon's phases and constellations on a given date. Some great clipart makes this one really cute. Its about screen is top quality.
(27:12) - Dr. Mystik is an oracle that knows all and can solve all your problems, and even speak the answer (not really). Just don't ask the same question twice. Dr. Mystik hates that.
(31:55) - Show Talk starts with some really cool trippy visuals, until it starts getting creepy about it printing ominous phrases like "CAN YOU HEAR ME?" and "PICK UP THE PHONE" on the screen while speaking over the PC speaker in a way that simply does not work with DOSBox at least.
(37:06) - Dungeons of China is a somewhat crude platformer with fixed jump angles and strange sprites. Also it's in German. Not particularly dungeony or Chinese IMO.
(43:30) - Tank Wars, is a beloved Scorched Earth style artillery game that I played before Scorched Earth (which is also on the CD). I get into it, as I always do because I love this game.
(1:03:10) - PCBOWL is a bowling game that I no longer have the patience for that I once did as a child.
(1:05:10) - Poko Memorial Miniature Golf is an incredibly simplistic take on golfing that closer resembles Atari 2600 Golf than anything else. I did get a hole in one on the first hole though so maybe it's actually great?
(1:08:00) - Touchdown Trivia sounds like it's going to be a simple text only American football trivia game, but it's surprisingly robust, with two players picking from running/passing as they answer questions. First one to score a touchdown wins.
(1:11:33) - Greyhound is a cool dog-racing simulator where you breed, buy, train, and race greyhounds, winning cash and the championship. In this game, you either a dog or a bitch. The two genders.
(1:22:05) - This CD just has a bunch of cracks and cheats for retail games! So if you want to pirate Robocop or Street Fighter, they've got you covered as we check out a few of the warez.
(1:24:20) - Quality Game is a quality game that seems to be made for IBM employees? It's a text adventure and I got crushed to death in the starting room, so consider that before you take a job with them.
(1:29:00) - TVTrivia is some TV Trivia. Hope you know your stars on The Waltons.
(1:32:24) - Also and Aldo 2 (Again!) are two Donkey Kong style platformers that feel rough! Grab treasures and watch out for cannonballs.
(1:36:52) - Superfly is a great little action game about swatting flies and other insects while trying to keep yourself from being trapped. Swat the green Super Fly to advance to the next level.
(1:41:37) - Tommy's Tarot is a Tommy Toys program to give a tarot reading. We were really hoping for some cool card designs, but everything is just text, and nothing is ever drawn.
(1:45:15) - Balloon Challenge is our first Soleau Software game. Two players take turns launching balloons as high up the screen as they can, deflecting off clouds, hitting tornados, and avoiding planes that will pop your balloon. A lot of fun with another player!
(1:52:30) - Words Alive is an edutatinment title for young children to teach them how to spell. Unlike the other edutainment we played in earlier streams, this one is bright, colorful, and has some cute animations that might actually hold a child's attention for a moment.
(1:57:20) - SUPERSCAPE VIRTUAL REALITY is just that. A true 3D world for you to explore with more than two dozen polygons visible on screen at any given moment! Also a radiation meter?
(1:58:37) - Lastly, Aquarium, another screensaver style program that lets you design your own aquarium from a variety of fish and decorative objects. It's cute, though a lot of my selections didn't actually show up in the finished aquarium.
And that's The Game Master! For now at least.
♦ Originally streamed on September 27th, 2023 ♦
