The King of Chicago
Description official descriptions
With Al Capone out of the picture, Chicago's prohibition-era profit is up for grabs. Are you merciless and cunning enough to gain it by whatever means are required? Every action you take has complex long-term consequences which are not always obvious at the time.
You must keep your people on your side, watching what you say and do, knowing that an overthrow could be hatched at any moment. Look after your woman as well - who's going to respect a single mobster? The money has to be juggled in these ways, not forgetting to reach an 'understanding' with the Mayor to avoid any negative attentions.
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Amiga version)
11 People
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Screenplay | |
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Original Music Composed by | |
Original Score | |
Sound Effects | |
Animation Effects | |
Dialogue Coach | |
Edited by | |
Manual and Quick Reference Card by |
Reviews
Trivia
Amiga copy protection
Unusually, disk 1 of the Amiga version was copy-protected, but disc two was not. Disc two's contents could be copied to and ran from Hard Drive (if you had at least 1Mb memory) or from memory (if you had at least 1.5Mb, as virtually no Amigas did in 1987). Machines with the full 1Mb memory but no hard drive still experienced faster gameplay than on 512K machines however, as graphics were stored in memory once loaded, meaning the game could put them back up near-instantly.
Curiosities
One of the manual pages lists the following as a FAQ:
If the sun's on fire, how come there isn't any smoke?
What?
Development
The King of Chicago was in development for over two years.
Endings
The different endings are triggered depending on how you overrun Chicago.
The obvious ending can be seen of course by taking over Chicago one by one, until you kill Santucci in the South Side.
Another way however is through Lola, your girl-friend! You can either treat her really bad or use her as a bait; in both cases, you'll end up finding her in Santucci's residence, where you get to kill him - regardless of what other parts of Chicago you already run. However, if you did treat Lola badly, you're in for a very bad surprise!
The third ending is still unknown.
Graphics
The facial expressions in King of Chicago were manipulated by a system originally meant for animating computer actors called Dramaton, created by Doug Sharp.
Awards
- ST Format
- January 1990 (Issue #06) - Included in the list 50 Games of the Year. Category "Real Dogs"
Information also contributed by EboMike
Related Sites +
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AtariMania (Cinemaware, USA, Atari ST)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOS
Compatibility information page about the original game and its DOSBox versions. -
Hall of Light
For Amiga: game database entry; digitalised manuals; game packaging; screenshots; additional material. -
Macintosh Garden, an abandonware games archive
For Macintosh: reviews; game packaging; downloadable releases; manual; screenshots; additional material. -
Story vs. Game: The Battle of Interactive Fiction
a lecture Sharp gave at the 1989 Computer Game Developers Conference describing how King of Chicago's interactive story engine was implemented. -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Encyclopaedic entry for the combined platforms of the game.
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 26
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Trixter.
Amiga added by EboMike. Sharp X68000 added by Rola. Apple IIgs added by hoeksmas. iPhone, Android, iPad added by Kabushi. Atari ST added by Martin Smith. Macintosh added by Eli Tomlinson.
Additional contributors: Martin Smith, Zeppin, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST, ZeTomes.
Game added March 1st, 1999. Last modified April 18th, 2023.