Balance of Power

Credits

Chris Crawford in the Acknowledgements section:

I conceived, designed, programmed, developed, and tested this game. Yet, no such project is truly single-handed; every designer owes a debt of gratitude to a large number of people who lent him their advice, their assistance, and their sympathy.

He credits his wife, Kathy, for consulting him about all "big decisions" (he mentions helping with the images and posing for the pic of an anti-nuke protester).

Difficulty

This game was probably one of the first to include a "Nightmare" level.

Manual

The manual actually contained a bibliography... how many games today can claim that?

Subversive party

For each country in the game, there's a "subversive" party/organization listed for it. For the United States, it was "Democrats".

The lost Mac original

This game was originally written for the Apple Macintosh in 1985, in a blend of Apple Pascal and 68k assembly. This version is now presumed lost, though the extant Windows 1.0 port was deemed very similar by contemporary magazines, and the sequel "Balance of Power: 1990 Edition" for Mac also survives. Check your attic!

Windows

This was one of the earliest Windows-only games. You'll notice how similar the game is to the Mac interface (and you'll know why Apple sued Microsoft over the similarity!). It came with a Windows "Run Time" version for users without Windows/286 so they could just play the game.

Awards

• ACE
  • October 1988 (issue #13) - Included in the Top-100 list of 1987/1988 (editorial staff selection)
  • March 1991 (issue #42) - Included in the list Greatest Games of all Time in category Strategy Games (editorial staff choice)
• Computer Gaming World
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #78 in the "150 Best Games of All Time" list
  • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #11 Best Way To Die In Computer Gaming (blowing up Earth)

Information also contributed by Kasey Chang and PCGamer77