Did You Ever Really Chair? (August 16, 2012)

[Bandit LOAF]

Super Wing Commander for the 3DO doesn't have side views. You can swap between your cockpit, a chase view and a cinematic 'battle view.' But unlike Wing Commander I, there's no looking left, right and behind... and there are no sides to your cockpit. The Macintosh version actually includes (undocumented) the ability to look left and right but includes no window dressing graphics.

Or are there? While digging into the 3DO version's guts, HCl discovered something interesting: an assortment original Wing Commander I graphics of the 'surround' views... and, in two cases (Hornet and Scimitar) rear views in the Super Wing Commander style! They're inaccessible in the game itself, but they're hidden in the data files. The Scimitar view seems to be unfinished (it lacks the seat) but it proves that there was a plan to include the other views at some point in development!

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Original update published on August 16, 2012

 

[Dondragmer]

If the scramble animation is to be believed the pilot is reclining on a lawn chair, so wouldn't have a seat back behind them...

A Hornet cockpit appears behind Paladin's head in the introduction. Is that introduction a single long video clip, or does it use in-game assets where possible? There's a slight screen blank and pause about 1:00 in the video below, which may mean it's switching from video and has to preload all the talking head frames.

Is there any similar moment where someone is shown speaking in a Scimitar? I know that cutscenes are sparse in SWC, so probably not. Does anything special happen at the end of the Hell's Kitchen losing path?

 

[-danr-]

This is an excellent find, and good to see that WC archaeologists are still discovering curiosities within original game data.

 

[LeHah]

You can swap between your cockpit, a chase view and a cinematic 'battle view.'

If I remember correctly, wasn't this the three options in X-Wing for the PC?