Whatever happend to Wing Commander?

[Inkidu]

I remember fondly playing the game (the original) on my SNES when I was only itty-bitty Inkidu. It was kind of the first thing that ever hooked me on science fiction. The idea of perusing around the galaxy in a aircraft carrier killing a hostile alien race was original at the time. It was also one of the first games that had different endings depending on what missions you won and lost. It seems primitive now, but I think there's a lot of room for remake potential in the game.

I almost salivate over the idea of what kind of 3D space combat (simulator-ish) monster it could be. Lots of RPG elements, inter-crew romances, fights in a planet's atmosphere and in the cold, black vacuum of space. Even ejecting when you took too much of a beating could be its own harrowing challenge.

I really miss Wing Commander, though I think I'm the only one. (Of course, there would have to be a lot of VO because lets face it hearing a handle you picked out would be awesome, even if it was from a predetermined list.)

[Endorphin]

You’re definitely not the only person who has fond memories of Wing Commander, Inkidu!  I spent countless hours playing WC1, WC2 and the expansions back on my PC in the early 90s (when I was about 11) and I even have copies of them which can still be played through a DOS emulator such as DOSBOX.

Wing Commander had a whole bunch of original and interesting elements that made it a truly great game, if not a great series. I expect the fact that I also really had a thing for ‘Angel’, who turned out to be a the protagonist’s main love interest in the plot, would’ve also fueled my addition.

Actually, I often toy with the idea of starting a roleplay based on the Wing Commander universe even now. Maybe with a bit of Starship Troopers thrown in for good measure... some inter-crew romance, flight missions, ground missions, fighting a mutual enemy, breaking the admiral’s rules to save your wingman and suffering the consequences.

Great. Now you’ve started me thinking about it all over again! :P

[Callie Del Noire]

If I recall right, EA bought out Origins and milked all the franchises they had clean and left them to lie fallow for the better part of a decade or more. The last thing I saw on Wing Commander was the movie and I think that horrible movie killed EA's interest in pursuing the franchise.

I always hope that some exec decides it's time to rebuild/reboot the series with modern computer tech. I was having some serious fun with the 'star fighter' segment of Halo: Reach and it made me nostalgic for the old WC series. I mentioned it to a few friends and they all mentioned the same feeling of nostalgia.

Of course the flight sim purists always hated WC but hey..they are purists for a reason. :D

There is, of course a bad Xbox arcade game, out there but that is it since the mid to late 90s as far as I can tell.

[Inkidu]

All I know is that rebooting Wing Commander the right way could be the next Mass Effect. I'm not kidding. It has so much raw reboot potential that in the hands of a good company (I [actually don't think Bioware could do it. I'd hedge my bets with Rocksteady.) it would be epic.

[Inkidu]

I actually only got really good at Wing Commander when I played it on an the ZSNES emulator or whatever it is. That's because I can't figure out how to do three button presses at once in that thing. So ejection was impossible, so I got good... or else. Still save states made the stupid passwords pointless thank God.

[Silverfyre]

I honestly think Wing Commander and Mass Effect are in a class all by themselves and completely separate in elements that make them both incredible games.  But regardless, Wing Commander was the series that got me big into flight simulation games, especially those of a sci-fi nature.  The PC versions were superior to the SNES console version in many ways, if not just for the controls.  At least, in my opinion.

I loved the fact that Mark Hamill was the main character's voice actor in some of the games.  And let's not forget Malcolm McDowell!  Great talent really brought the characters to life for me, at least back when I played them well over fifteen years ago.

[Inkidu]

Thinking on it WC has a lot of things executed (I'm talking the original and primitively mind you).

Medals.
Promotions.
Oodles of cutscenes.
A whole cast of distinct pilots.
Complex missions structures.

Stuff we kind of take for granted in today's games.

[Nova]

Well, wing commander was a good game. I still have Prophecy on disks...3-4 of them? I liked the choices you can have. "Shoot the helpless cat people to be with the cool pilots, or let them join your fight and get tossed in with the uncool pilots."

Fun times...

[Sinful Intention]

Of course the flight sim purists always hated WC but hey..they are purists for a reason. :D

Well that's cuz it wasn't a flight sim, it was a space combat sim and those crazy Flight sim purists were never all that into those.

To be honest Flight Sims and Space Flight Sims in general seem to be in short supply these days.  Which is a shame, I have this great joystick for my comp that's great for flight sims and I never get to use it.  I think the Ace Combat Series and H.A.W.X are the only two left really.

I never played Wing commander much,  my friend had it, he was huge to it.  I was into it's cousin, the only other Space combat sim at the time which was Tie Fighter, the second game of the X-Wing series.   I miss that game too.  The X-wing series lasted a little longer, dieing off in the late 90s where as WC died in the early to mid 90s if memory serves.

I'm not sure there has been space combat games since then.   Though to be honest from what little I recall Wing commander seemed very cool.  If they wanted to, they could make a pretty fun, mature game out of it and I think the OP is dead on about some RP elements.  Get different characters, interactions with the crew.  Earn your way up the rank until you start making your own missions, choosing your own objectives.  Upgrading certain flight skills, upgrading to better ships, bigger guns etc.

And even the focus on relationships, depending on how you interact with your crew between missions you can get extra intel or affect how they feel about you, and thus how well they work with you in missions.  If you piss off your romantic interest maybe she helps you less, if you help out your buddy he goes out of his way to watch your back in the mission etc.

Could be a really fun game 

[Inkidu]

Wing Commander was the first game where I really cared about what happened to the people. It was literally in my hands to keep them alive. Sure I loved Final Fantasy's IV's characters (it was another game wee little Ink had for his SNES and played avidly) but they had set-in-stone roles to play.

In WC Spirit or Paladin could bite it out on the first mission they flew wing man. Then you'd have to go to their funeral. It was emotional.

[Sinful Intention]

Those aren't flight sims. Those are shallow arcade games.

Falcon 3.0. Now THAT is a Flight sim.

Also, I have just dated myself so badly. Ow

Granted both Ace Combat and H.A.W.X. are arcade flight games. But given that even those are very rare these days, having an actual flight sim?  There seems to be little to no demand for it and game companies seem to know that.  It's a shame too, they could be really fun if they did them right.  Not to mention that having easy access to things like high speed internet, XBL, PSN, etc would make for some fun multiplayer, which really wasn't much of an option in the early X-wing series or in WC. 


But man I'd love some good PvP dog fights in simulator or space combat type.