1980s hardware requirements pc games

Well, bless your heart, talkin’ ’bout them old computer games from the 1980s. Back then, things weren’t so fancy like they are now. You didn’t just go buy a game and expect it to work right off the bat. No sir, you had to have the right stuff, the right “hardware” they called it.

It was all a big to-do, I tell ya. First off, you needed a computer, somethin’ like an IBM PC or maybe one of them Apple IIs. Them Apples, they were real popular in schools, kids usin’ ’em for learnin’ and playin’. My grandbaby, little Timmy, he’s got one of them fancy new computers, but it ain’t the same, no sir. These old ones, they were somethin’ special.

Now, these computers, they didn’t have all that fancy stuff inside like they do now. You needed somethin’ called a processor. Think of it like the engine of a car. The faster it was, the better your games would run. And you needed memory too, that’s where the computer kept all the stuff it was workin’ on. Not enough memory, and your game would just stop dead in its tracks. Imagine that, your game just quits on ya!

Processor: Back then, a fast processor was somethin’ like an Intel 8088 or maybe a 286. These numbers, they didn’t mean much to me then, and they don’t mean much now, but the higher the number, the better, that’s what they said.
Memory: You needed somethin’ like 640 kilobytes of RAM. That ain’t much compared to what them new computers have, but it was enough to get them games runnin’. Sometimes you needed more, and you had to buy these little cards to stick in the computer.
Graphics: Now, the pictures on the screen, they weren’t like these fancy high-definition things you see today. You had cards like the CGA or the EGA. They made the colors and the shapes, but they were real blocky, not smooth like they are now.
Storage: Where did you keep the games? Well, mostly on floppy disks. Them were little plastic squares that you stuck into the computer. They didn’t hold much, so some games came on a whole bunch of ’em. And you had to be careful not to bend ’em, or your game was toast.

And get this, some games, they needed a joystick. You know, one of them sticks you wiggle around to move things on the screen. Not all games needed one, but the action ones, the flyin’ ones, they were a lot better with a joystick. Timmy, he’s got a fancy joystick with buttons all over it. Mine just had one or two, but it did the job.

So, you see, it wasn’t just about buyin’ the game. You had to make sure your computer had all the right parts, all the right “hardware.” And sometimes, even if you had all the right stuff, the game still wouldn’t work right! That’s when you had to start fiddlin’ with things, changin’ settings, hopin’ you could get it to work. It was a lot of work, but when you finally got that game runnin’, it was somethin’ special. It was like you’d accomplished somethin’ big. Not like these days, where everything just works right outta the box.

Now, they say you can play them old games on these new computers with somethin’ called an “emulator.” It’s like pretendin’ your new computer is an old one. I don’t know nothin’ about that, sounds like hocus pocus to me. But if it lets folks play them old games, then I guess it’s alright.

People are always talkin’ about how simple them old games were, but don’t you believe it. They needed a lot of power, especially them fancy 3D games. You needed a real powerhouse of a computer to run those smoothly. And even then, they didn’t always run perfect. But that was part of the fun, I guess. You were always pushin’ the limits, seein’ what you could get away with.

So, there you have it. A little bit about what you needed to play them old computer games back in the 1980s. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. Those games, they were somethin’ special. They took you to different worlds, let you do things you couldn’t do in real life. And that’s somethin’ that ain’t changed, no matter how fancy the computers get.

Tags：PC Games, Hardware, 1980s, Retro Gaming, System Requirements, Apple II, IBM PC, CGA, EGA, Joystick