GORILLA.BAS - Fantastic Game! Good Ole’ Memories.
by ShahAfter having read that effective November 1st, 2008, OEM’s will no longer be able to license Windows for Workgroups 3.11 in the embedded channel, I became very nostalgic.
Win 3.1 was my first Windows OS. Of course, back then, I was still 6 and my main interests were using Microsoft Paintbrush to draw the seaside, and toying with games. There were quite a few games I enjoyed - Lotus, Accolades Racing Games, Chips Challenge, Sokoban, a game about a rat escaping chasing cats in a labyrinth, Prince of Persia (I believe I played Prince of Persia on Win 95 though,) Tetris, Packman, and of course Gorilla.bas.
Check out the sites at the bottom of this entry to look for these games.
It has to be pronunced “Gorilla.bas” for the “.bas” has to be there. That was so cool. Heck, back then, playing that game had me to believe that QBasic was a text editor. (Gorilla.bas was written in QB and we needed the QB interpreter to launch the game.) Heck, Gorilla.bas played an important part in my life - so important that I had included QBasic in my Form V Computing Project which involved creating an inventory system for Wizard Traders (some company selling food,) on DBase3+. It may seem silly that QBasic was used as the text editor accompanying the system.
Yeah yeah, but what is Gorilla.bas?!!!
Well, it is a game!!! It was turn-based and involved strategy (in a subtle, simple and direct way.) There were 2 Gorillas (who could tap their chests wlol) throwing bananas bombs @ each over above a city. Players can change the angle and velocity of each throw.
You’ll find images below.
Anyway, Gorilla.bas rocks! There are new flavours - I’ve seen some flash revamped ones. The good ole’ qbasic one PWNS them.
How to run Gorilla.bas on Vista?
I’m sorry - the machine I’m typing on this journal entry, has Vista installed. I’m sure the following will work on XP and 2K though.
You need:
1. DOSBOX - it’s the x86 emulator for DOS.
2. QBASIC
3. Gorilla.bas
Download DOSBOX for Windows here.
Download QBASIC with Gorilla.bas here.
Once you’ve downloaded DOSBOX, run the installation file. If you’re on Vista, click Allow, and then click Next, Next,…wait..Close. (the typical installation 
)
So, once DOSBOX has been installed, extract the qbasic11.zip to some drive. Say Drive D: for e.g
So, you’ll have a folder named qbasic11 in Drive D. The location (e.g) is D:\qbasic11
Open up DOSBOX from your orb/start menu.
2 Windows will appear. Don’t mind the window behind.
Now, you mount up C:/ to D:/ by entering the command:
mount c: d:/
Notice what happens.
Now, enter c: and press enter
Enter
cd qbasic11
Enter “DIR” if you want to list the features. Or just type QBASIC.EXE and press Enter.
Voila!!!
Press Esc. Move your mouse inside the box. Click File->Open.
Double click on GORILLA.BAS. The following will appear.
Click RUN -> START.
*yay* Follow instructions (press key to continue, enter names of players, total points, select gravity) and enjoy!
I suggest you do press “V” to watch the Intro. It’s entertaining.
Press ALT+ENTER for Full Screen.
Have fun playing 
Some sites to check out for Ole’ DOS Games (abandonwares):
3:50 AM. I’m off to play some Gorilla.bas till four, and then get back to working on Carbide.
Be well. Good Friday.
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