Carmen Sandiego

[fustercluck]

Been thinking I'd like to go back and play one or two of the Carmen Sandiego series. A nostalgic blast from the past. Which are the two best ones? Are they easily playable on modern computers? Dosbox or something? Thanks.

 

[janas19]

Been thinking I'd like to go back and play one or two of the Carmen Sandiego series. A nostalgic blast from the past. Which are the two best ones? Are they easily playable on modern computers? Dosbox or something? Thanks.

You'll get bored after 15 minutes.

 

[fustercluck]

Hah, could be. Oregon Trail is still fun after all these years though.

 

[Dankk]

Thing is, there's actually been over a dozen different Carmen Sandiego games for PC. Which one do you have in mind, OP?

The one I grew up with was "Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego (Deluxe Edition)", developed and published by Brøderbund Software in 1992. I decided to look it up on Youtube. Holy crap, just watching that gives me an overwhelming sense of nostalgia.

I thought it was actually a really interesting and engaging game. You'd interview witnesses, check police reports, and look for clues as to which major US city Carmen's henchmen ran off to (when you reach the highest detective rank in the game, you end up catching Carman Sandiego herself). With every new city you visited, the game would teach you facts and history, showed high-quality photographs of the area, and even played some sort of licensed music that had to do with the city's history or culture.

The animations were funny, the characters and voice acting were well-done, and you actually felt like you were doing some epic detective work. Whenever you got on a wrong trail, or you went to the wrong city, the people you interviewed would be like "Hmm... no, I haven't seen anyone like that lately..." But if you were in the right place, people would give you useful clues like "Oh yeah! I saw him carrying a big suitcase that said 'TNT' on it, but I think it was missing the last 'T'" (implying your suspect was now somewhere in Tenessee).

Well shit. Now I'm gonna try and see if I can get this game actually working in DOSbox or something. Thanks for the nostalgia.

Edit: I just realized it was actually the 1996 version of the game, with the enhanced music and whatnot, and not the other version (as linked in the video). Apparently they had three different versions of "Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego" alone.

Edit 2: It was 1994, not 1996. Fuck

Edit 3: Apparently they had THREE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE SECOND VERSION of Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego, ALL RELEASED FOR DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS WITH DIFFERENT FEATURES. DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF A VERSION. AAAAAAAAHHHHHrhghblb

 

[janas19]

True.

 

[crownjules]

I always liked Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego the best. But I only played that and the Where in the World so I don't have all the others to compare.

 

[jsedlak]

Treasure Mountain > Carmen Sandiego

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAxdTacsgQ

 

[frozentundra123456]

Hah, could be. Oregon Trail is still fun after all these years though.

Oregon Trail brings back great memories of playing it with my Grandson. All he wanted to do was the hunting part and shoot stuff.

 

[fustercluck]

Ha, I like Dan's replies. What version(s) did you end up playing, Dan?

Yowza I actually remember Treasure mountain too, I must have been really young.

Anywhooo, I'll have to see what I can find online about which versions of Carmen I can get running.

 

[janas19]

Treasure Mountain > Carmen Sandiego

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HAxdTacsgQ

Holy s***.

*disbelief*

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS!!!! I can't believe I found it here.

I used to play this game as a kid. But I could never find it because I (mistakenly) thought it was made by Broderbund. Now I know!

Thanks!!!!!!!