I remember back when I was considerably younger, there was a Software Etc. that had an IBM PC set up (along with a Genesis and NES to pimp the latest games they'd gotten in). One of the weeks I went in, Wing Commander was set up and running on the PC. I watched it for a bit, then asked the guy if I could try it. I only got five minutes on the machine before I was shooed away because I wasn't going to buy it, but that five minutes left an impression on me.
Years later, I finally got to really play the game on the Sega CD. It was a pretty good conversion, with added voices during the briefings and such, but it always felt like something was missing... like the graphics weren't as good as I remembered seeing on that IBM, or missions were missing. Fast forward to about a year or so ago, and I found a copy of the twin pack Origin put out that has Wing Commander and the deluxe edition of Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi packed together on a CD (with the secret ops missions too). It even still had the manuals, and various paperwork that came with the games when they were first released. Needless to say, I bought it. A chance to play the original game, its sequel, and their add-ons? Oh yeah, gimme gimme.
Since then, I've played the hell out of WCI on DOSBox, but I've yet to completely play through WCII (got close to the end once, but my PC decided booting properly was too much hassle, and I lost my game saves). It's a great old series, and it's fun to try out different things as you go through (like blowing up all your wingmen to get up the kills board faster). Add in a good story and some good music, and it's hard not to enjoy. But I really do need to finish WCII so I can finally get started on WCIII.
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