Re: Did EGA Save PC Gaming?

Spalls Hurgenson  <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

So I'm not so sure EGA was really the life-saver the article claims.
The only reason composite CGA didn't take off more than it did, I
think, is because EGA replaced it relatively quickly.

I wouldn't say EGA graphics saved PC gaming for two reasons.  First
because PC gaming barely existed at that point, so there was nothing to
save.  Pretty much all the EGA games you and the article mentioned were
ports from 8-bit computers.  Second no one actually had an EGA card at
home, like you said it was just way too expensive.  Even the EGA clones
that came later weren't cheap and rarely saw use outside of offices.

You could make a better case for the Tandy 1000 in this role, as it was
an actual home computer people owned and bought games for.  Most games
that supported EGA graphics also supported 16-colour Tandy graphics.
Some of them even supported using Tandy audio.

But it was cheap VGA clone cards that gave birth to PC gaming.  Instead of
just ports of various qualities, PC games were doing things that weren't
possible on 8-bit computers or even 16-bit computers like the Amiga or
Atari ST.  Add in Adlib and later Soundblaster audio and there was no
looking back.

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