Reply 20 of 29, by clueless1
- Rank
- l33t
With these types of questions, I think of massive game series that push the technology envelope and expand across long stretches of time and see which was the first one that had a certain requirement. Both the Ultima series and Wizardry series started as floppy games. The first ones that seemed to require a HDD for installation were:
Ultima VI: The False Prophet (1990)
Wizardry VI: Bane of the Cosmic Forge (1990)
On closer inspection, I found pictures of original boxes for these games with the wording "hdd recommended" or a requirement of "dual floppies OR HDD". But we're getting close. So chances are, this first game that required a hard drive to play was published around 1990 or 1991 (surely there were others before 1992's Ultima VII: The Black Gate). It probably was from a company that was known for pushing the tech envelope (like Origin Systems) and was probably a role playing game or graphic adventure (these typically require more data than other genres).
With all that, Origin's 1991 Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi appears to be that publisher's first game that lists HDD as a requirement on their game box:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/wing-comma … CoverId,166416/
(the first Wing Commander had the "dual floppies or HDD" requirement)
Can't say for sure, but this would be my best guess. 😀
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