Oh geez.
The music. The voice acting. The odd, physics defying movement. 
I distinctly remember as a kid playing games like this and wondering if, some day, the games themselves were going to look as good as the cutscenes…
3 Likes
Who didn’t—
I commented on one of the DCS SU-33 video’s a few days ago along those lines. Growing up on sims in the 80’s on a ZX Spectrum with the likes of Microprose’s Gunship and F19 Stealth Fighter and Activisions Bomber (yes they did make other stuff besides Call of Duty LOL) I often wondered if we’d see graphics like I saw in an article in EDGE magazine showing a military simulator that when looking back wasn’t much more detailed than Falcon 3.0 a few years after that article. The level of detail in the sims these days would have blown my young mind even if it was a cut scene back then 
to think we’re at that level now and with workable and affordable VR its an amazing time. Anyone from the UK remember the H2H BBS based in Bristol? I got a modem in 1991 and started looking for different BBS services across the country and found that one in Bristol as it ran challenge ladders for Falcon 3.0 and its add-ons, I used to love reading the AAR’s.
1 Like
When someone will ask me why did Microprose died, I’ll point them to this movie.
This is bad. So bad that’s unexcusable the money they spent on that crap.
Sorry, someone had to say it.
2 Likes
Do you mean the intro, the history or both? While the intro indeed was crappy the history part was interesting and at the time (1993) it was one of the first flight sims to do something like this. Anyway here’s the rest of the CD version “multimedia” content - the Tutorial segment:
and the fix for the crash when selecting “Iraq 93” mission set in the CD-ROM version
2 Likes
Hehe, nothing really- I was being unfunny.
WHile we can all agree the video was beyond the point of no return, Microprose proveided with some of the best sim of the past, no doubt about it, and in some cases still nowadays.
So, sorry for my poor attempt at humor. 
But that intro is really one of the worst ever.
1 Like
Can’t argue with that. On a brighter note, here’s something you don’t see everyday … 
4 Likes
Hehe, that’s just fantastic! IIRC there was also a Dragon and an UFO in F-14 Fleet Defender!
I loved this sort of easter eggs, and you really got me thinking another AMAZING flight sim that sadly didn’t get all the recognition it should have…
Disney’s
There should be more games trying to push the envelope of that stuff.
I played Stunt Island back in the DOS days, but didn’t used its full potential, you could make pretty cool clips with it and had really wide selections of flying things. The flight model was really bad though. It was the only thing that kept me from playing it more.
1 Like
Now with internet it would be easier to share the clips!
I’m saying it, someone should totally re-do it!
1 Like
Ah yes, there were 2 dragons even, and when they both spawned in North Cape campaign they would fight each other. The missions had a randomize mechanic built in so the object could have a certain probability of appearing in the mission. Scott Elson mentioned it in his interview back in SimHQ a while back.
The UFO could show in one of the Micellaneus Training missions, along with Cuban MiGs or the lost Avenger flight. Some time ago I recorded this one mission started several times, sorry for bad qualtiy I used DOSBox built-in capture feature.
UFO encounter
Avenger Flight 19 encounter
Cuban MiGs encounter
3 Likes
Stunt Island had the Shuttle orbiter, X-15, and the SR-71 didn’t it??
I remember the Blackbird 3d model had a bent wing outboard of the left engine, it was never fixed.
Or I’m conflating Stunt Island and some other sims, because I remember flying the X-15 beyond the atmosphere and losing control once the air was gone, as well as dead-stick landing the shuttle after spawning it around 100k ft.
2 Likes
I couldn’t remember, but had a look in this (it runs it in a browser, sort of):
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/stunt-island-1is/play-1is
The DRM consists of asking a question from the manual. Nice!
2 Likes
Was pretty common back in the day when games came with HUUGE manuals.
I remember the Dynamix manuals and I epsecially loved Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat and F-16 Combat Pilot.
Falcon 3.0 came after that and was an instant classic. I never stopped loving it.
3 Likes
I liked the ones where having sufficient knowledge got you past the check.
Some had code wheels, some had “first word on page 24”, blah blah blah. The worst were the disk checks where it needed the disk with a bad sector in a specific place which prevented copying but also sometimes just failed.
2 Likes
Elite on the ZX Spectrum had a unique one. A set of plastic lens which came with the tape cassette. You had to hold them up and squint pretty hard to decipher a number.
You had to calibrate with the size of your TV, and it had a success rate of about 1 in 4. It only got used for a couple of games…
Here’s a test example of ‘OK’.
1 Like
Ah yes, I remember the Aurabesh code wheel from the original X-Wing.
1 Like
I loved Monkey Island 1 & 2 pirate faces!
or LooM musical codes…
3 Likes
Nice writing and I’m always a sucker for CGA graphics!
But what are thoe green circles in pictures (for example) 5 & 6?
Is that an approximation of landmass?
Sure wish I could get Super EF2000 to work on my current system.
My first flightsim, and it was great!
3 Likes