LucasArts' Steam debut includes previously unreleased version of The Last Crusade
by Christopher Grant 
{ Jul 6th 2009 at 4:30PM }
The purists amongst you might be curious to learn precisely which versions of LucasArts' classic adventure games are making their way to Steam this Wednesday ... after all, LOOM was released in both a 16-color EGA floppy disk version, as well as a 256-color CD-ROM version with full voiceover (so-called "talkie" support); Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was released on both floppy disk and then CD-ROM a year later; and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure was released on both floppy and CD as well ... ... but the Steam version of The Last Crusade isn't the CD-ROM version that was released in 1992! LucasArts tells us that the version of The Last Crusade that will be put on Steam is a "previously unreleased version" with "even more bugfixes" than the original CD-ROM re-release, along with a "Tandy 1000 sound engine." As for LOOM and Atlantis, you'll be seeing the CD-ROM "talkie" versions for both on Steam.
The Dig was CD-ROM only, and the other six titles being released on Wednesday only had one version. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition is a special case – the remastered version is obviously new, but you can switch back and forth between the "Special Edition" and the original. That "original" release is in fact the CD-ROM version of the game, not the floppy disk version, in case you were wondering.
Also of note: the copy protection system for both LOOM and The Last Crusade was to include an add-in – the "Book of Patterns" and "Grail Diary" respectively – that would have to be referenced while playing the game (take that, pirates!). LucasArts tells us they'll have PDF versions of both, so fret not, Adventure Gamer. It's your week!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shagittarius @ Jul 6th 2009 4:35PM
I have sealed versions of The Dig and The CD-ROM version of Loom. Yes I'm bragging about my classic gaming collection epeen.
Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 6th 2009 4:40PM
I could never buy a video game and then NOT open it.
I have to read the instruction manual and inspect all the packaging.
Captain Planet @ Jul 6th 2009 5:04PM
How to you know the game is even in there? That would totally suck if you opened it up on your death bed and found out a copy of Ninja Golf was in your copy of The Dig.
LaughingTarget @ Jul 6th 2009 5:18PM
Unless it was resealed by the counter jocky after playing it in a sandpaper coated drive.
Saria the Cat @ Jul 6th 2009 5:34PM
@Captain Planet: Hopefully he has better stuff to worry about/do while on his deathbed. :P
Shagittarius @ Jul 6th 2009 5:47PM
By the time I die hopefully these classic games will be seen as an invaluable history of the early years of gaming and I can donate them to some foundation that will preserve them for generations to come.
I will humbly request that they refer to it as 'The Shagittarius Collection'.
One day they will be dug up in the far future and they will be pondered much in the same way we wonder about Stonehenge or Easter Island. They will think that 'Shagittarius' was an inventor or author and these strange objects must be the result of my learnings. These games will be treated and studied like the dead sea scrolls for years to come, eventually people will come to believe I was the lone voice of reason in a time of insanity and history will be re-written to show that the Nintendo Wii started the 3rd World War.
Then I will have the last laugh at all the Wii fanboys on Joystiq.
The plan is already in motion.
Shmil @ Jul 6th 2009 5:57PM
Schrodinger's Loom?
Alex @ Jul 6th 2009 4:45PM
How do they expect us to have the pdf open at the same time as the game? Or wait, do these games even play in high resolutions?
Shagittarius @ Jul 6th 2009 4:46PM
Alt-Tab.
peEtr @ Jul 6th 2009 4:54PM
maybe they want you to print it
Einhanderkiller @ Jul 6th 2009 6:10PM
Windowed mode.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 6th 2009 7:28PM
Memorize the pdf word for word. This will be on the test.
Shagittarius @ Jul 6th 2009 4:45PM
Loom at least is way to valuable to open. I have a CD version of it with manuals already that I play.
Ab4dd0n @ Jul 6th 2009 4:46PM
Special Editions still don't make up for the lack of Grim Fandango in this post
Gibbeynater @ Jul 6th 2009 5:40PM
Maybe they're saving it for an HD Remix two-pack Grim Fandango/Escape from Monkey Island special
jumpshot @ Jul 6th 2009 4:49PM
I wish I could get Steam running on my Mac. I have a PC laptop but I barely use it anymore, and would love to have these games on the go. :(
Mike @ Jul 6th 2009 4:56PM
Well, you could acquire it some other way. eBay, or... some alternative.
ScummVM works great on OS X.
R. Kasahara @ Jul 6th 2009 5:02PM
This is why I have Boot Camp ;)
Hunter @ Jul 6th 2009 6:21PM
Steam is NOT so portable, don't you have to be connected to STEAM before you can start playing them? Hope you connection doesn't crash
Andrew Timson @ Jul 6th 2009 8:49PM
Steam's gotten a lot more graceful about not having a connection over the last few years; Offline Mode has been pretty reliable for me.
kojo87 @ Jul 6th 2009 11:26PM
i've said it a million times but it will say it again. if they make Steam run native and flawless in Linux i will ditch Windows completely.
EGOvoruhk @ Jul 6th 2009 4:55PM
Do they really need copy protection for this?..
MystileArmor @ Jul 6th 2009 5:02PM
No, but the original games did, you dumbass.
EGOvoruhk @ Jul 6th 2009 9:49PM
I meant what's the point of having copy protection when they can just skip it a la ScummVM, dumbass
time @ Jul 7th 2009 10:26AM
*facepalm* do some reading
the original games had copy protection via actual objects that came with the game... you had to use those objects to solve some puzzles.
acefondu @ Jul 6th 2009 4:58PM
An Indiana Jones game? How could this be not awesome? Probably as not awesome as all the other ones....yea....
Tyler @ Jul 6th 2009 5:08PM
I had a tandy in the early 90's. What a piece. The only game I had was some Star Trek game and Bones said "damn it Jim" in it. I thought my mom would ground me for the bad word so I hid the game under my mattress and only played while she was at work.
Just thought I would share :)
Shagittarius @ Jul 6th 2009 5:36PM
Norman?
dariste1 @ Jul 6th 2009 6:53PM
MOM?
Saria the Cat @ Jul 6th 2009 5:35PM
Re-releases of old goodies are always awesome. Full Throttle pls?
AwesomeTown @ Jul 6th 2009 7:09PM
I agree with this statement.
Brackynews @ Jul 7th 2009 1:28AM
I concur with this agreement.
Blank-Mage @ Jul 6th 2009 5:38PM
Last Crusade, the graphic novel? Anything like a visual novel? Cause a Type-Moon styled Indiana Jones would be ri- Oh. You meant "Comic". And here I wanted Tsundere Indy.
Warlock @ Jul 6th 2009 5:53PM
Uh, I believe it's "Graphic Adventure", not "Graphic Novel"... Nowhere does it say "novel"
Blank-Mage @ Jul 6th 2009 6:16PM
I faceplam myself, so you don't have to.
neverpuffins @ Jul 6th 2009 5:50PM
my dreams are coming true! classic adventure ftw!
Leroy_Octopus @ Jul 6th 2009 6:04PM
I want DS ports. How awesome would that be?
Blank-Mage @ Jul 6th 2009 6:16PM
SO awesome!
sethlombardi @ Jul 7th 2009 9:53PM
http://scummvm.drunkencoders.com/
ebguy @ Jul 6th 2009 6:28PM
I think that Fate of Atlantis had some copy-protection, as well. Each page of the handbook that came with the game had a series of patterns for the stone tablets you found, and you needed to reference it at some point to open a door.
That or my memories of my incredibly dull and wasted youth have rotted away.
Pat @ Jul 6th 2009 6:36PM
Actually, in my version of the game at least, the journal was part of the game, and not in the manual.
Andrew Timson @ Jul 6th 2009 8:51PM
If it had that, it was only in the floppy version, and not in the CD version (with voice) that we're getting.
Pat @ Jul 6th 2009 10:06PM
yeah, I actually had an old piece of crap mac, it was the lucas arts something or other pack cd-rom. It didnt have voices and whatnot.
Friar Canuck @ Jul 7th 2009 4:01PM
Classic Lucasarts games are coming back? HOT DANG!
Does that mean X-Wing/TIE Fighter could be on the horizon? Now that's a series that needs to come back.
EGOvoruhk @ Jul 6th 2009 9:48PM
I meant what's the point of having copy protection when they can just skip it a la ScummVM, dumbass
The Dale @ Jul 7th 2009 4:49AM
I owned the Amiga version of this wonderful game... but I sold it one day together with Commodore's last masterpiece. I can't quite forgive myself for that but I was young and needed the money to enter the PC era!
As much as I appreciate Indy's comeback on Steam, it cannot quite bring back the original experience with the awesome packing games used to have these days and the lovely accessories included like Indy's diary.
I guess I'll buy it anyway, the game is simply awesome and I haven't played it for 18 years...