Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000) • Hacker News Board

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#21

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 8:10 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#22

Post by ChrisArchitect » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 8:22 PM UTC

More info on the SDL Sopwith port project https://fragglet.github.io/sdl-sopwith/

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#23

Post by Sharlin » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 8:58 PM UTC

The classic Sopwith clone from the golden days of the Finnish shareware game scene, Triplane Turmoil, turns thirty this year. It was open sourced in 2009 and community-ported to more modern platforms via SDL. Was a lot of fun back in the days of shared-keyboard multiplayer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triplane_Turmoil

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#24

Post by nikolay » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

I've spent endless hours playing Sopwith! What a legend!

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#25

Post by fwip » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:17 PM UTC

As a small kid, I learned how to use the DOS command line to launch this game on my parents' PC. I also remember really enjoying Sopwith 2, which added cows, among other things.

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#26

Post by nikolay » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:20 PM UTC

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #22

More info on the SDL Sopwith port project https://fragglet.github.io/sdl-sopwith/

That's an outstanding port! Kudos!

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#27

Post by pavel_lishin » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 9:45 PM UTC

I remember playing this game on my dad's computer, and being largely baffled at what I was supposed to do. Shoot, drop bombs, of course - but how do I land, refuel, how do the points work?

Still a core memory, though.

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#28

Post by jauntywundrkind » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 10:04 PM UTC

teamonkey wrote: post #15

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lufteauser is a bigger space & higher motion, but has hit some good vibes for me, in this zone. Single player. We were always begging the daycare to let us play this. Very solid.

Do you mean Luftrausers?

Yes sorry thank you!

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#29

Post by hencq » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC

jedberg wrote: post #12

hencq wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think ours had a turbo button that would double/half the clock speed. Good times indeed :)

I seem to recall that the turbo button didn't come along until the 80286, but some of the PC clones had them before that. My 486 definitely had a turbo button (that was the one I built after using the original PC for so many years).

Hmm, maybe my memory is betraying me. I remember our first family computer was an XT and then later we had a 386. Maybe I'm misremembering and it was the 386 that had the turbo button or maybe the earlier one was a clone. My first own PC was a 486 as well that I built together with my dad. Good memories.

Re: Sopwith – 1984 Game (2000)

#30

Post by bananaboy » Sat, Apr 04, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

Like many others here I played this a lot when young on my dad’s PC. I remember finding it really hard to play at the time!