Space Quest 1 EGA (SQ1EGA) can refer to either the EGA compatible version of AGI Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter (included in most of the Space Quest Collections), or it can refer to Space Quest SCI remake EGA version. As VGA version is more common, as is the AGI version many people refer to AGI version as the "EGA version" and the "SCI version" as the VGA version. As described in the 15th Anniversary Collection's Please Read First, SQ1AGI is described as "Space Quest I (complete with the circa 1986 low-res EGA graphics)".
However as there is a need to categorize things and acknowledge the SCIEGA version with its own article this means there is some overlap in terminology.
- Space Quest: The Sarien Encounter (Tandy/EGA AGI version)
- Space Quest I: Roger Wilco in the Sarien Encounter EGA (EGA SCI Version)
- The Sarien Encounter: Where No Janitor Has Gone Before (original version) (Novel of the AGI version of the game)
- Space Quest I - The Sarien Encounter (time zone in SQ4 based on SQ1 AGI)
- Space Quest I: The Sarien Encounter (original version) (time sector in the Space Quest Companion based on AGI version)
Technological Implications[]
This was included in the Space Question Collections related to the AGI version of the game:
(Or, See Roger. See EGA. See Technology Run.)
Back when Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe thought it might be neat to create a funny science fiction game. Sierra On-Line's technology was state-of-the-art. No other computer game company had a programming language with the capabilities of Sierra's AGI. When Space Quest 1: The Sarien Encounter hit the marketplace. customers and competitors alike were speechless. If they had spoken, however, they would hove said something like "Wow! This parser interface is the best I've ever seen. Are there 16 colors in this game? And look at Roger! He's got to be at least four pixels big!"
Times- and technological capabilities- change. The result of Sierra blazing the technology trail is that the old stuff doesn't look as good as the new stuff. Now the EGA version of Space Quest /seems sort of primitive, in a 20th Century kind of woy. Likewise. SO ///looks better than SQ //. And would vou believe that in one of the later games, SO IV or SQ V I think. the characters even talk? Incredible. Yes, Sierra has the technology. We could even hove imposed that new-fangled technology on these classics. just as a certain Atlanta mogul "colorizes" old black and white pictures. (We hear he's acquired rights to Schindler's List, by the way.) But we think we know our fans. You wouldn't have wonted us to update the classics, would you? We didn't think so. This collection contains the games in all their glory. We haven't altered a single pixel, because we knew vou woudn't wont us to.
Sierra's software technology was a product of the times. On the next page we've listed the limitations of the hardware when each game was released. When you ploy the EGA version of Space Quest I, you might think to vourself: "No sound. Bummer." The Fact is that sound cards weren't even invented when the Two Guvs From Andromeda were designing Space Quest I. And since the Two Guys didn't dabble in time travel until Space Quest IV. bock in 1986 they were unable to design any sounds beyond the beeps and boops mode by a sleek, new, shiny, state-of-the-art ... IBM personal computer with 256K on board? Woo-woo!
As the hardware changed, so did the software. As the software evolved, so did Roger Wilco. Roger become stronger, and yet tender. He grew taller, and more Nordic somehow. He turned into a '90s kind of guy, able to express his true Feelings. He's a good Friend to men, and he is sensitive to the needs of women. No, really. So sit bock and enjoy this wonderful retrospective of the most amazing space janitor anyone's ever seen.
YESTERDAY'S STATE-OF-THE-ART SYSTEMS SPACE QUEST I - The Sarien Encounter Originally Released - 1986 Stote-OF-The-Art-System - IBM PC XT (4Mhz); 256K memory: EGA: Dual 5.25" Floppies
SPACE QUEST II - Vohau/'s Revenge Originally Released - 1987 Stote-OF-The-Art-System - IBM PC AT (8Mhz); 512K memory: EGA: Dual 5.25" F loppies SPACE QUEST III - Pirates of Pestulon Originollv Released - 1989 State-OF-The-Art-System286 PC-Compatible; 1 meg memory: VGA; 20Meg Hard Drive; Adlib Card
SPACE QUEST IV- Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers Original IV Released -1991 State-OF-The-Art-System386 PC-Compatible; 1 Mg. memory: VGA: CD-ROM Drive; DAC compatible soundcard
SPACE QUEST V- The Next Mutation Original IV Released - 1993 State-OF-The-Art-System 486 PC-Compatible; 16 meg memory: SVGA; Dual speed CD-ROM Drive; 16-bit soundcard
Notes[]
*The folder in the SQ 20th Anniversary collection and Unclogged versions list SQ1AGI as "SQ1EGA".