Star Trek Computer Games History - The 80’s

• August
• 17

5:58 am Games

Although there were computer games written by fans in the 70’s for use on college mainframe networks, it was not until after the introduction of the Apple ][ (or Apple II) and then the Commodore 64 that ‘anyone’ could own a computer. Along with the useful applications being produced for these new computer systems, games were also being produced.

While many would be inclined to dismiss these early games, for lack of modern graphics and (by today’s standards) somewhat clunky interfaces, it would be wrong to completely ignore them. Just as we would not have four other series and nine (almost ten) movies if not for the Original Star Trek, these early commercial games paved the way for more recent ones.

The first commercially produced game of the 80’s did not even carry the Star Trek name. Titled ‘Begin: A Tactical Starship Simulation’, it could be considered an ancestor to Starfleet Command. With ASCII graphics, the player is able to control from one to fifteen ships in combat against another fleet. Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Orion Pirates are playable. With very few random factors in the game, Begin was a test of player skill more than anything else.

Released in 1982, ‘The Warp Factor‘ was the next Star Trek based game to be produced. Without a license to use the Star Trek brand, names were changed slightly to protect the (not so) innocent developers. Instead of the Federation, you have the ‘United Alliance of Planets’. Klingons are replaced with Klargons. Romulans have been named ‘Reman Marauders’. Imperial pirates seem to replace Orions. The weapons have familiar names, however (photon torpedo, disruptor, phaser) and several of the ASCII ship graphics are more than simple coincidences. It seems rather close to the concept of ‘Begin’ and could possibly also be considered an ancestor of Starfleet Command.

1982 also saw the release of ‘Star Trek - Strategic Operations Simulator’ as a an arcade game, followed in 1983 and 1984 as releases for personal computers. At least for the arcade version, there were no ASCII graphics here. Vector graphics and synthesized speech helped improve the playing experience.

Star Trek: The Promethean Prophecy was released in 1984 or 1985. There are no real graphics to speak of in this text-based interactive fiction adventure. It is somewhat absurdly difficult at times, though certainly worth a try. The game was followed the next year, sometime between 85 and 87 by The Kobayashi Alternative. It’s harder to play than the first, with worse writing and even more fiendish puzzles. I still feel it’s worth taking a look at, however.

We now take a break in 1986 and 1987 with Star Trek: The Trivia Game and Star Trek TNG: The Trivia Game. No time limits. No enemies coming after you. Just pure knowledge-based fun. Since TNG started in 1987 and ran until 1994, I’m guessing that the TNG trivia game lacks… a lot of trivia. But TNG fans may still enjoy it.

Released in 1987 for the Apple II is a game titled simply ‘Star Trek‘. With Diane Duane listed in the credits for the game, the plot seems to center around having to go rescue the USS Heinlein. Seems to, since the Apple emulator ended up freezing my already slow computer. I’d love to find a PC port (if one exists) and to find out more about the game.

Star Fleet One: The War Begins was published several times between 1983 and 1988. Back are ASCII graphics (color for the PC, apparently none for the Apple II) and a complex, realistic interface. It’s quite similar to the Trek games that were first fan-created, but updated for then-modern computers.

The sequel to this game, published in 1989, is Star Fleet Two: Krellan Commander. It boasts an even more complex, and possibly confusing, interface. Certainly worth a look, at the very least.

Not based off the movie of the same name, we have Star Trek: First Contact released in 1989. Being an interactive fiction game based off of TOS, there are of course no real graphics to speak of. It seems to be the sequel, or perhaps continuation of both the Promethean Prophecy and Kobayashi Alternative. At least, it is by the same publisher.
To end the 80’s, we have three final games published in 1989. The first on the list here, Star Trek TNG: The Transinium Challenge, boasts actual digitized animations. Gone are the clunky ASCII graphics here. You can use either mouse or keyboard based input with this game. Although the game defaults to a somewhat scary pink, cyan and white color scheme, there is an option to turn everything into 16 bit color, which is nice.

Returning now to TOS, we have Star Trek: The Rebel Universe. This may be the first TOS game to have mouse input, or you can use a joystick. From what I recall, however, the whole premise is somewhat confusing. So make sure to read the manual first.

Finally, we have Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which is of course based off of the movie of the same name. It has very nice VGA graphics, but perhaps little else in the way of recommendations. If you’ve gotten this far down the list, you might as well give it a shot, however.

For the games listed above, you’re probably going to have to use DOSBox to play them. Especially if you have Vista and even XP. So go ahead, give the games a shot while I write the next installment in this series.

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