What was the dominant DOS-based gaming PC in the 1980's?...

[ataridave]

This something that I've been wondering about, because in the late 1980's when I went to Software ETC, the PC gaming section was huge! Of course, some of these games also came out for Atari computers, but what was the dominate make and model for DOS gaming back then??

[Ransom]

Late 80s? Possibly IBM or Compaq brand.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

maybe WANG? OK, OK, I know not likely........but still, any chance to say WANG.........

 

WANG on WIKI

[monzamess]

By the mid- 80s the PC market was much like it is now. You could get PCs from many builders or build it yourself. The players were different and a having "real" IBM PC was still a big deal (this was just as they jumped off the cliff with the PS/2 microchannel fiasco) but I can't remember any one PC builder standing out.

 

In the late 80s, if you had a PC clone with a 386, VGA, and a sound card (AdLib, Game Blaster, later SoundBlaster) you were all set. Before that in the mid-80s, a fast 286 with EGA played most games, and actually the Tandy PC series stood out with enhanced sound and graphics, and availability and support from Radio Shacks all over the place.

[atarian63]

Packard Bell, Magnavox,Vendex, Compaq,Everex,Northgate, Gateway for mail order. Also really was the Hey day for "Build it yourself".

Edited May 6, 2009 by atarian63

[gdement]

Along with IBM, I remember C64 and Apple both being big in the late 80's, but I didn't spend much time in software stores back then. I never noticed Atari.

 

I was in Babbage's a lot in the early 90's, by then it was almost all IBM.

[+remowilliams]

In the late 80s, if you had a PC clone with a 386, VGA, and a sound card (AdLib, Game Blaster, later SoundBlaster) you were all set.

And thats the combo that really put the last nail in the coffin for the Amiga and ST.

[VectorGamer]

I believe it was IBM-compatible although the C64 wasn't far behind. I got all my crap from Electronics Boutique.

[monzamess]

In the late 80s, if you had a PC clone with a 386, VGA, and a sound card (AdLib, Game Blaster, later SoundBlaster) you were all set.

And thats the combo that really put the last nail in the coffin for the Amiga and ST.

 

Agreed, for games. But even when I had my 386 box, I still kept my Amiga and ST chugging along. I preferred the Amiga over the VGA 386 until the early 90s and it wasn't until I upgraded to a 486 with Windows 3.1 and added a Gravis Ultrasound that my interest in my Amiga (a mere 1MB A500) finally started to fade. (didn't have the means to jump on the A1200/A3000 bandwagon)

[Video]

Do you mean spacifically Microsoft DOS, or just any DOS (I suppose any harddriveless computer would count as DOS, though some ran other formats too)

 

Maybe TRS80, those were DOS, I think.

[mbd30]

In the mid/late 80's you could play a lot of games even with a 8088xt and a CGA card. I remember "Space Quest III" ran great on our XT and that came out in 1989. A few years later you needed at least a 486 system to do anything.

[Segataritensoftii]

Maybe TRS80, those were DOS, I think.

CP/M, if you want to be really technical about it. There was only one TRS/80 model that ran DOS, and that was a PC compatible system that was completely different from the rest of the TRS/80 line. The older Z80 and 6809 models could not run DOS, and only the Z80 models ran CP/M. Edited May 6, 2009 by Segataritensoftii

[cimerians]

Where I'm from the Commodore and Apple were the biggest things (in general) in the 80's. I had a Commodore 64.

I did have friends with TRS/80's and a few who had Atari's. One guy had an Atari 800 and the other an XL model. Most of the other guys I knew had C64's and we traded games all the time.

 

IBM exploded in the last few years of the 80's and the early 90's. You would later find many DOS based machines (different brands as mentioned above) and then Windows on top of DOS.

 

There was Babbages and Egghead software that had many (or only) DOS games.

Edited May 6, 2009 by cimerians

[Video]

Oh yeah, forgot about TaNdY. We had one of those, nice machine despite being a cheap clone of IBM.

[Keatah]

I heard the amiga 2000 and up could support add-in graphics cards, but the way the system had to be programmed prohibited games from making use of the improved hardware. That was, believe it or not, the nail in the coffin for amiga gaming.