When we think of science fiction flight simulator games, it’s natural for gamers to talk about the LucasArts Star Wars titles from the 1990s. From X-Wing to TIE Fighter and beyond, the Star Wars canon dominated a lot of pew-pew sci-fi space dogfight action in the ‘90s, but three years before LucasArts dropped X-Wing, another, original space opera franchise was born, exclusively in the gaming arena. Today, even among the biggest sci-fi fans, Wing Commander is a distant memory, but thirty-five years ago, the first game in the series redefined not just science fiction, but two types of gaming subgenres, too. Here’s why, on September 26, 1990, Wing Commander changed sci-fi gaming for the better.
Created by Chris Roberts for the developer Origin, Wing Commander’s lore was loosely based on Larry Niven’s “Known Space” science fiction novels and stories, in which humankind is involved in an intergalactic war with a feline alien species called the Kzinti. Wing Commander takes place in the year 2654, and swaps out the Kzinti for the Kilrathi. The basic setup is Top Gun in space, in which the player takes on the role of a rookie pilot on a carrier called the Tiger’s Claw. It’s here where Wing Commander made history with two kinds of gameplay.
