The History of SSI Games!

"More like Chess than Pong."

--from the Winter 1981 description of Computer Bismarck

Game Bibliography        External Links

Once upon a time, each major game publisher had, or at least seemed to possess, its own unique identity; its games just felt different from others. Back in the 1980s, SSI's games signified attention to detail, superlative documentation (especially the background material), boxes that were nothing short of art, and, most importantly, a high emphasis on playability.  The foundation of this was wargaming, and wargames' influence expanded to the other genres dabbled in by the company.
Those features combined to cause me, for one, to play just about every SSI game that came out (for the Atari ST, anyway). If the box said "Strategic Simulations, Inc.," I would be virtually guaranteed a very good-usually great, occasionally extraordinary-gaming experience. That's hardly surprising when one browses through the old catalogs and looks at the list of names: Dan Bunten, Roger Keating, Paul Murray, David Landrey, Chuck Kroegel, and, of course, Gary Grigsby.  In later (but still old) catalogs those names were joined by a couple of others: Norm Koger, Jr. and Westwood.
Sadly, those glory days are in the past. A changing market has destroyed those halcyon times of lore. Think about it: as late as 1985 SSI's first ever game, Computer Bismarck, published half a decade earlier, was still in print. In fact, nearly all of SSI's list was still in print. The Winter 1985 catalog, for example, listed 50 different titles available for (in varying amounts) four different platforms.  Today, the ethereal fruit-fly life-spanned computer game lifespan has made such a commitment impossible.  
However, in celebration of my favorite era of computing , I am pleased to put up this page detailing, as much as I can, the complete list of SSI works.  We need to remember history, and that includes computer gaming history.  There have been occasional works detailing the history of general computing or of video games, but histories of computer gaming are either a few paragraphs in those works or occasional magazine articles.  Let us remember where computer gaming has been and where it is going!
Currently, there is no more internal development at SSI.  (It halted in November 2000.)  SSI continues as a label under new owners, the French software giant Ubi Soft.  I think we can safely say that the SSI of fame pretty much died with the Mindscape purchase.  Yes, there were still great titles (Steel Panthers, for example), but the glory days were behind it.  (Even Panzer General pre-dated Mindscape!)  
In happier news, SSI founder Joel Billings has founded a new company with Gary Grigsby and Keith Brors. 2by3 Games (not overly catchy) will be publishing various Grigsby wargames under the auspices of Matrix Games. The first, Uncommon Valor has already been released to mixed reviews.  There have been some rumblings in the wargaming community about Billings commitment to wargames.  I think such arguments are invalid.  Yes, SSI did move away from wargames in the wake of Pool of Radiance, but if you were selling 250,000 units vs. 50,000 what decision would you make?  The fact is that SSI continued to support wargames long after other former publishers (EA, Broderbund, etc.) had halted.  I, for one, look forward to playing the first results of this new venture.
As for this page, it continues in slow but sure construction mode.  Who would think typing in all of those catalog descriptions would take so long?  :-)   Look at the Text Table for a quick overview of game availability, the Alphabetical pages provide more detailed information, and the Games By Platform pages give timelines of SSI support for all supported platforms.  There are also a few other miscellaneous pages; hopefully, the links are self-explanatory.
Let me know what you think as well as any suggestions for improvements.  I hope everyone who, like me, has enjoyed classic SSI games will enjoy this labor of love. 
 

SSI & TSR: The Original Collaboration

Latest news!                        Future SSI Games

Text Table (Original Page)


SSI Game Bibliography

Alphabetically By Platform
A through C Amiga   
 D through K Apple II 
L through R   Apple IIgs 
 S through Z  Apple Macintosh  
Other   Atari 8-bit
   Non-Software   Atari ST
  Commodore 64
  IBM PC
  TRS-80
  Consoles

               


A Retrospective of 'Games in the Works'

The First RTS?               The Best of SSI      My Thoughts on Computer Games of Today

FAQ               Links           Still Available: Old SSI Software Still Being Sold  

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Personal Pages

My SSI History    Resume   Transcripts Biography

Click on my picture to find out more about me:

Education Pages

Ancient Egypt        Westward Expansion     Computer History

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