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Unreleased version of Last Crusade part of the Steam line-up? 07 Jul, 2009 / Comments: 9

By Jason


Joystiq learned an interesting detail from LucasArts about Last Crusade's inclusion in the batch of first ten oldies that will be appearing on Steam this Wednesday: it is a version never seen before.
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."
The implication I get is that this is not some spruced up version LEC just threw together, but is rather an unreleased port from back in the day. (There were a couple of those, though I'm hazy on exactly what they all were.) Could this be a "vaporware" American equivalent of the in-all-ways-superior FM-Towns version? ATMachine, I'm looking at you.

The article also confirms that the version of Loom will be the Talkie version (yay for the voicework and better graphics, nay for the truncated dialog and the scrapped character close-ups from the EGA original), and that the Book of Patterns and Grail Diary (physical documents that were packaged with Loom and Last Crusade respectively) will be included in PDF form. Although it's easy enough to find online, I wonder if they'll include Loom's wonderful audio prologue as well?
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9 Comments

  • Sven_Q45 on 07 Jul, 2009, 22:04…
    Hey wasn´t there a rumor about a unreleased FM-Towns version of Maniac Mansion?
    ...
  • bgbennyboy on 07 Jul, 2009, 15:53…
    Its possible that this is to do with SCUMM versions. This is pure speculation but:
    The Dig already has an updated interpreter (found in the entertainment pack).
    FOA, Loom Talkie and MI1CD all use SCUMM V5. They'll have had to produce a new updated SCUMM interpreter for MI1:SE - we know they've updated it for FOA on the Wii (as found in Staff of Kings).

    Once they've got a SCUMM V5 interpreter updated and working it makes sense that they'd release a batch of V5 games. It may be that this 'unreleased' version of Last Crusade also runs on SCUMM V5 - making it a simple matter to release it, rather than upgrade a SCUMM V3 interpreter for it.

    Beat that for geekery.
  • clone2727 on 07 Jul, 2009, 17:10…
    That makes sense, and also lines up with the year 1992 (which was a SCUMM v5 year) mentioned in the article.
  • The Tingler on 07 Jul, 2009, 08:38…
    Excellent. I don't have a proper copy of Last Crusade for myself, will be getting that.
  • clone2727 on 07 Jul, 2009, 03:58…
    What cd-rom re-release are they talking about? The only DOS re-release was the white label release which was identical to the floppy release. I highly doubt it's the fm-towns version, which was glitchier than the DOS version.
  • Zaarin on 07 Jul, 2009, 05:49…
    The FM Towns version used CD audio for music as well. "Tandy 1000 engine"... do they mean the PC speaker-like sounds the Tandy sound chip made? I thought the music of the PC version of Last Crusade was made for Adlib.
  • clone2727 on 07 Jul, 2009, 11:15…
    The full article says "...version of The Last Crusade isn't the CD-ROM version that was released in 1992." The FM-Towns version was released in 1990, so it can't be that one. And, it *was* made for Adlib, which confused me as well.
  • Giygas on 07 Jul, 2009, 13:04…
    I noticed that too. Maybe it's talking about the unreleased (?) version mention here:

    http://forums.vintagegaming.org/showthread.php?t=2260
  • clone2727 on 07 Jul, 2009, 13:25…
    That would make sense. I've never seen that version around though.