Mr. Eight-Three-One | The Humongous Classics... With a PC Speaker! @MrEightThreeOne | Uploaded 11 years ago | Updated 58 seconds ago
I don't know how many of you know about this, but allow me to explain...
Back in the olden days when sound cards weren't commonplace, many DOS games would advertise as a selling point that they don't require a sound card, and instead can use the internal speaker inside the computer (the one that beeps when you start your computer). From the 80s to very early 90s, the games were usually designed with this option in mind, and had a native PC speaker driver. DOSBox can emulate one, so I chose to make this video. The Humongous games were made when sound cards started becoming commonplace though, and as a result, the PC speaker option sounds mediocre, to put it bluntly. Thanks to the lack of a native driver, it's very likely to make your ears bleed. I didn't show Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon because the music is literally nothing more than occasional tones there, the only interesting thing being the gate code which synthesizes the button presses with the option (and, in turn, interrupts the music with every button!). I did show Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Fatty Bear though, with both the option of music only and sound only. The sound only option sounds surprisingly good for something only made to beep, but that's also a problem. If you want to use this option on an actual machine, you better have a powerhouse or you're going to bog down your computer to new lows!
One interesting thing, although the games sure weren't designed with this option in mind, they still had the decency to alter a few things depending on the option you picked. Apparently the jack-in-the-box in Parade's toy store making simple noises is older than the Windows port after all. With music, it actually plays "Pop Goes the Weasel" but with sound it just makes generic noises. The Windows port carried over the latter. Also, the French flag just makes flapping noises, and I personally have no idea what they were going for with the dancing fruits. Fatty Bear only changes the piano noises, to my knowledge. Interestingly, they get rid of the other noises you can use with any of the Music + Sound options (like making the keys do barking or spring noises), regardless of the mode you're in!
Anyway, yeah, this is probably as ancient as sound technology can sound on computers. And it's also what happens when you play a game without ancient sound technology in mind!
Dang, why can't I ever write a description without turning it into an essay?