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The EGA Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:24 am
by Ice Cream Jonsey
https://www.pcgamesn.com/pc-retro-tech/ega-graphics

I enjoy these retrospectives. We had a weird relationship with graphics at my house.

- We spent a lot of time at my friend Chris's house where we played Commodore 64 games, but his parents gave him a black and white TV for it.
- We had an Atari 2600 at home which, even then I could tell did not look great. Later, an Intellivision, which did look genuinely nice.
- 1985 (I think) hits, we get the PCjr, and have King's Quest for it, which had the best graphics for any home computer game at the time it was released.
- Then GIANT STEP BACKWARDS as most of the games we played were 4 colors.
- My father got sick of it and brought home an EGA card and monitor, randomly, one night after work.
- I remember a kid in high school had an Amiga and yes, it genuinely looked nice, but he was the kind of kid that wanted to show you the games and trying to get him to hand over the joystick was a nightmare.
- I buy a 386 with a VGA card and take it to college. By the time I get home my first year, Doom has been released and the PC never looks back.

I think EGA graphics are really nice, but really demand a real monitor to look good. I think that a lot of CGA graphics were limited by the artists more than the color options.

Re: The EGA Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 4:37 pm
by Da King
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:24 am - I remember a kid in high school had an Amiga and yes, it genuinely looked nice, but he was the kind of kid that wanted to show you the games and trying to get him to hand over the joystick was a nightmare.
Was it Wally?

Re: The EGA Thread

Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 8:10 pm
by Ice Cream Jonsey
Da King wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 4:37 pm
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:24 am - I remember a kid in high school had an Amiga and yes, it genuinely looked nice, but he was the kind of kid that wanted to show you the games and trying to get him to hand over the joystick was a nightmare.
Was it Wally?
Wally was a good guy! I had forgotten about him! Damn, what was his last name?

It was another kid, I don't think you ever met him or were around him or encountered him or anything. I will post his name in a non public place just because people Google themselves.

Re: The EGA Thread

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2024 9:15 am
by Flack
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 7:24 am https://www.pcgamesn.com/pc-retro-tech/ega-graphics

I enjoy these retrospectives. We had a weird relationship with graphics at my house.

- We spent a lot of time at my friend Chris's house where we played Commodore 64 games, but his parents gave him a black and white TV for it.
- We had an Atari 2600 at home which, even then I could tell did not look great. Later, an Intellivision, which did look genuinely nice.
- 1985 (I think) hits, we get the PCjr, and have King's Quest for it, which had the best graphics for any home computer game at the time it was released.
- Then GIANT STEP BACKWARDS as most of the games we played were 4 colors.
- My father got sick of it and brought home an EGA card and monitor, randomly, one night after work.
- I remember a kid in high school had an Amiga and yes, it genuinely looked nice, but he was the kind of kid that wanted to show you the games and trying to get him to hand over the joystick was a nightmare.
- I buy a 386 with a VGA card and take it to college. By the time I get home my first year, Doom has been released and the PC never looks back.

I think EGA graphics are really nice, but really demand a real monitor to look good. I think that a lot of CGA graphics were limited by the artists more than the color options.
It's so weird. You could literally swap your name for mine and I could repost this.

Re: The EGA Thread

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2024 12:52 pm
by Ice Cream Jonsey
If I could go back in time and avoid time travel tourists, I would have gone as a customer to your father's computer store by the way, which - I think, if I have the timeline right - was something he was doing during the PCjr - VGA days?? Goddamn that must have been magical.

Re: The EGA Thread

Posted: Tue Jul 23, 2024 1:05 pm
by Da King
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Mon Jul 22, 2024 8:10 pm Wally was a good guy! I had forgotten about him! Damn, what was his last name?
I have no idea. I just think he is the only Wally I have encountered in my 53 years and 3 months on this planet.

Re: The EGA Thread

Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 11:59 am
by Flack
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2024 12:52 pm If I could go back in time and avoid time travel tourists, I would have gone as a customer to your father's computer store by the way, which - I think, if I have the timeline right - was something he was doing during the PCjr - VGA days?? Goddamn that must have been magical.
Yeah, 85/86. In the one picture I have of the shelves, you can see a copy of King's Quest.

Playing CGA games on the PC always felt like playing Snake on an old Nokia phone -- like, technically it could do it, but there's no way the people who invented the hardware had this in mind. Going from the TRS-80 to the Apple II to the PC Jr. felt like such a progression that moving from there to an XT felt like such a step back.