:Guadalcanal Campaign" by Gary Grigsby

[Ron Saueracker]

Does anyone know if this old SSI sim is still available in some form? I used to spend hours playing head to head with a buddy instead of doing my homework when a kid.

[RayM]

Yes, I have played GG's Guadalcanal Campaign from time to time.
As a fan of anything having to do with Guadalancal, I've spent alot of time and energy looking for Guadalcanal related games and sites.

I discovered GG's Guadalcanal Campaign after a friend of mind introduced me to the world of Apple IIe emulators and playable games. That led me to discover a number of Guadalcanal games that ran fine in the emulator.

I started playing the game in an Apple IIe emulator for my PC. Then, several months ago, I found an original boxed Apple IIe copy for sale on eBay. After successfully bidding on it, I ended up buying an Apple IIe on ebay and started playing...much fun was had, although the game is noticably slower given that it is running in a very slow processor (1 MHz IIRC). In contrast to the slow original speed, the AppleWin emulator allows you to adjust the emulator processor speed.

The AppleWin emulator works fine on my PC as does the game but I was unable to figure out how to save the game. I searched out the Web for help but was unable to find a solution to the problem. Nor could anyone tell me how to do it. From my communications on several Apple II sites, the most likely cause is that it has something to do with formatting and saving to a separate specially SSI formatted disk. Using the virtual Apple IIe is part of the problem I'm sure because there are no (physical)formatted disks to insert when asked during the save routine.

After spending some time researching this problem, I just learned to live with the limitation....naturally, it cuts into the fun factor. My only workaround is having to play the entire game in one setting if using the emulator. Not the best of solutions. Of course, everything works fine with the actual game running on my Apple IIe. In using the original disks, you do have to be carefully due to their age. Hope this helps.

Overall, my experience with what I call "retro gaming" has been worth the effort. Good luck!

[panda124c]

Originally posted by Ron Saueracker
Does anyone know if this old SSI sim is still available in some form? I used to spend hours playing head to head with a buddy instead of doing my homework when a kid.

Personally I have always preferred War In The South Pacific. Run on an Apple IIe both of which I still have but I haven't even turned the Apple on in years.

[FAdmiral]

"War in the South Pacific" was also made for the PC as well....
I still have that game and used to play it many times.

Jim Berg, Sr.

[RayM]

Like GC, GG's War in the South Pacific is alot of fun. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an original Apple IIe version. However, I did find a version for another platform (once again from eBay in Germany) as well as one suitable with the emulator. On the plus side, I was just as interested in the maps and game guide that came with the boxed game.

[siRkid]

A blast from the past...a page from an old SSI catalog.

I'm not sure if the graphic will show, we'll see.

[Ron Saueracker]

Haven't seen that in awile.

[Scouters]

My very first computer game was North Atlantic '86 which I played on an Apple IIc. I think it was 1982 and I was 12 years old. I paid $59 for it (ouch!) but I definately got my money's worth for all the hours I spent playing.

There used to be a site called "The Underdogs" where you could download an emulator as well as many old SSI games. They even had .pdf files of the manuals, maps and reference cards. I recently tried the website but it looks like its down.

-Scouters

[Spooky]

The Underdogs site is still up but they have to change their URL - the new one is : http://www.the-underdogs.org

Spooky