Retro City Rampage for DOS is out now, and Windows 3.1 is next

Continuing VBlank's efforts to make Retro City Rampage available on as many platforms as possible, it's now playable in MS-DOS.

Continuing VBlank's efforts to make Retro City Rampage available on as many platforms as possible, it's now playable in MS-DOS. We knew this was happening weeks ago, and you can check it out right now, but an MS-DOS version clearly wasn't enough: VBlank head Brian Provinciano is now developing a Windows 3.1 version.

The Windows 3.1 prototype is available now, as are boxed copies of Retro City Rampage for DOS on a 3.5 inch floppy disk. The retail version is being manufactured as we speak, but if you already own the game digitally on Steam, GOG or the Humble Store you can download the DOS, Windows 3.1 and a Linux version for free. To sweeten the deal for newcomers, it's currently the daily deal on Steam.

That's all fine, but the burning question on everyone's lips is why ? Provinciano explains on the RCR website that the reason is that, in a nutshell, he wanted to see if he could.

"Porting RCR to MS-DOS had been on my mind for years," he writes. "It was something I wanted to explore before RCR was even released. Could I crunch it down to run on old PCs? A Pentium? A 486? Even a 386? How little RAM and HDD space could I get away with? Could I build an installer that fits the entire game on a single floppy disk? The computer programmer in me had this burning fascination, and I should've realized sooner that it was only a matter of time before I finally had no choice, but to finally scratch that itch and find the answers to these questions!

"Leaving my job at another game studio to start my own and develop RCR put the heavy weight of responsibility on my shoulders," he continues. "Those realities meant that current, more sustainable platforms had to take priority. However, two years after the release of RCR, things had calmed down and I was able to take a vacation. While that "vacation" instantly turned into long days at the computer porting RCR to MS-DOS, it was the most fulfilling time I've had programming in years."

You can read the full story on the RCR website.