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Before there was Worms there was Scorched Earth
Tragic Hero | 1:39 PM on 03.10.2008 28 comments


The year was 1991, I was a 9 year old Tragic Hero looking for a new computer game to play. I had already beaten Kings Quest 3 and 4 and I had just completed Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. So now I was without any games to play on my Packard Bell computer. X-Com: UFO Defense and Doom weren't to come out for another couple of years and being as young as I was I had nowhere to go to find a new game. I almost had to turn to going outside until my friend introduced me to the "Mother of all Games"


Scorched Earth




Before there was Worms there was Scorched earth, a turn based 2D tank battle game. Released in 1991 as a shareware title (as most PC games were back in the day) this title might not have been the mother of all games but it certainly was the king of its genre.

The game play is simple, you pick your tank and color, buy yourself specific weapons/powerups/shields/etc before each battle and then try to be the last tank to survive. What makes this game so much better than the rest are the many options you have to go into the battle field with.

Weapon choices range from napalm to megaton nukes, to homing rounds and even rounds that will create dirt hills and rounds that will eat away the dirt, causing an enemy tank to plummet to its demise. Unless of course your enemy decided to buy parachutes so that it can survive such falls.


Graphics didn't get better than this...

Another great thing about the game was how the enemy tanks could taunt you before they shoot. Tanks spurting one liners out before they drop napalm on you never got old. Beauty of it though was how all the quotes were stored in a text file that you could alter to your own liking.

Unfortunately though like many great shareware games of its time, it never took off. No one ever felt the need to buy the full version for the little extra features it provided and eventually the creator of the game never got around to making a more complete version.

Of course games like Worms came along to fulfill this hunger for Turn based 2D tank games but it just isn't the same.



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28 comments | showing # 1 to 28

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shipero's Destructoid Blog
Me and my friends used to play the online flash version all the time in college.
-D-'s Destructoid Blog
This game was pretty popular in my elementary school computer lab; tons of fun. There was a version that came before this, I think, but I can't remember the name. It was "BOMB!" or "Tank" or something. Crap, I'm stupid.
Conrad Zimmerman's Destructoid Blog
My father and I played this constantly and I actually did pay for the full version because I enjoyed it so much. Took the dude about a year to send it to me though.
-D-'s Destructoid Blog
Yes! I wasn't completely retarded!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Wars

"Tank Wars (also known as BOMB because of the filename)"
Tragic Hero's Destructoid Blog
@Conrad Zimmer

Thats pretty awesome, not that it took you a year to get it but awesome that you actually bought it.

I remembered when buying PC games long ago (or my mom buying them actually) there was just a huge catalog you had to go through and just pick out the games from a small description.

Thank god for the internet.
GrayFox's Destructoid Blog
Dude, this was my favorite computer game back in the day. So bad ass. Then there was this game called "pocket tanks" which we used to play in computers class a lot, kind of an updated Scorched Earth. For some reason I was never able to get into worms.
JoshDunford's Destructoid Blog
About goddamn time some recognizes this game.

Thanks!!

-JD
WastelandTraveler's Destructoid Blog
god damn I miss this game.. I must find it, the internets must have it playable via website!
Tragic Hero's Destructoid Blog
@Grayfox

I know what you mean about worms. I could never really get obsessed with it but I did have fun dragon punching other worms.

@Josh
Im sure plenty of people here knew how awesome this game was but didn't think it was worthy of a cblog. But me having free time at work thought "Hey, maybe people can relate to how awesome this game is"
shipero's Destructoid Blog
Found the online version I used to play.

Scorched Earth 2000
Morrius's Destructoid Blog
GOTY
Sadie G's Destructoid Blog
josh wtf have you been?!
ShadowXOR's Destructoid Blog
This game fucking rules. There are rumors of a new one and I would buy it in a heartbeat. I liked Worms, but it just isn't the same.
ScottyG's Destructoid Blog
It's a shame that anybody who decides to remake the game feels the need to make it all 3D. Same with Worms 3D, the 3rd dimension complicates it to the point of no longer being good casual fun.

One thing I especially loved about Scorched Earth was that you could change the properties of the stage's border to wrap around, deflect shots, or whatever. Made lunch hours at junior high a lot more fun, because the few computers that could run Star Control always had too long of a line. :)
Butmac's Destructoid Blog
Epic - Scorched Earth brings back a ton of memories of playing my cousin on his olllld computer
JoshDunford's Destructoid Blog
@Tragic
I can definately relate to how awesome that game is.

@Ship
Scorch2000.com is too much amazement that the site used to crash on us all the time. We would always play in Multimedia class when we should have been learning flash and shit.

@Sadie
HEY FOOL!

I've been gaming pretty hard lately. I'm planning a blog in the near future. But I'm back, now. No worries!!!

FicJam <---- Xbox Gamertag, just in case I get lost again :)

-JD
AngelsDontBurn's Destructoid Blog
Game was too good!
Tragic Hero's Destructoid Blog
@D and company

If I knew that this many people knew and loved Scorched Earth I would have mentioned how Tank Wars,I think, was the first of this genre on the PC. Although I loved Tank wars as well, it was just so bland in comparison to Scorched Earth.
king3vbo's Destructoid Blog
I play Scorched Earth waaaay back when I was a little kid. It was made of win then, and still is made of win now
MaxVest's Destructoid Blog
This was awesome; I altered the taunts via text editor too. I played this against my dad on out first real PC, which they bought when I was recovering from a broken leg. So getting hit by a car while riding my bike wasn't an entirely bad thing.
Mxyzptlk's Destructoid Blog
I played this practically every single lunch out with my friends in high school.
Tragic Hero's Destructoid Blog
And this is why destructoid is the best community ever. I posted this thinking only a few would have the slightest idea what Scorched earth is and to my surprise (how naive of me) pretty much everyone knows and loves this game.

God bless Destructoid.
ZargonX's Destructoid Blog
Ah, sweet sweet Scorched. My friends I used to play this for hours, all huddled around a desk in a dark room. Early competitive gaming at its finest!
Citizen Brain's Destructoid Blog
The computers in my jr. high algebra class had Scorched Earth on them. I always loved that game but never could remember the name. Thanks for jogging my memory!
Spykron's Destructoid Blog
long live the funky bomb.
J4RMZ's Destructoid Blog
I almost failed 6th grade because of this game and Oregon trail!
retrostar's Destructoid Blog
Wow. I have a version of this game on my work computer and on my home PC. LONG LIVE POCKET TANKS. It's funny that so many people still remember the game, haha.


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 about me



Now with epic beard...


Who am I?

A gamer from the South Side of Chicago. Currently going to college for a Computer Science degree and looking into a course for C# certification so I can become a business applications programmer (gaming programming just isn't worth it).

What do I do?

Play games, play sports (european and american football), read a lot, go to the pub (need a new one, got banned from my old one), program crappy little applications, and so on.

Games I am currently playing...

Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients (DOTA)
Team Fortress 2
Super Mario Galaxy
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
Audiosurf
Dynasty Warriors 6
No More Heroes
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

Looking Forward to
Demigod
Next Pro Evolution Soccer
Smash Bros Brawl
Fallout 3 (sort of)
Spore
Left 4 Dead


Contact Me?

AIM: nothinclever21
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