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EA releasing DOSBoxed Wing Commander

All thanks to BioWare Mythic's Barnett.

Dark blue icons of video game controllers on a light blue background
Image credit: Eurogamer

An EA-sanctioned DOSBoxed (PC emulated) version of Wing Commander is near to release.

BioWare Mythic's abundantly enthusiastic creative director Paul Barnett's on the case. He wanted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the game with a re-release and so bullied EA legal into helping him realise his goal.

"Now having the Wing Commander game data compared to our original source code, we need a clean bill of health at this stage," read Barnett's most recent Tweet.

And before that: "Tech guys removed the copy protection question from the Wing Commander build."

Before that: "Now have a DOSBox'ed version of Wing Commander plus secret missions."

But it all started with: "Wing Commander Turns 20. I am hard at work seeing if we can DOSBox and release it! Come on EA legal... Now is the time to shine!"

There's no mention of a date nor a place to download the game. Both, however, should be forthcoming.

Wing Commander was released on PC (MS-DOS) in 1990. The game received hefty applause for its hands-on space combat and cats-in-spaceships baddies. Plenty of follow-ups have been released over the years, including the terrible Wing Commander Arena on Xbox Live Arcade.

What do you remember most fondly about Wing Commander? Let's hold hands and reminisce.

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