Zone 66

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Zone 66

Developer(s)	Renaissance
Publisher(s)	Epic MegaGames
Designer(s)	Thomas Pytel
Platform(s)	PC
Release date	1993
Genre(s)	Topdown Shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Media	Floppy disk
System requirements	386

Zone 66 is a top down shooting video game released in 1993 for the PC, that initially was released using the Shareware model. The game involved controlling a number of aircraft over various landscapes destroying various targets.

The game was created by a North American Demo Scene group called Renaissance, and was published by Epic Megagames (now Epic). Because Demo Scene programmers involve maximizing hardware performance the group developed a 386 protected-mode (PMODE) extender to enable the game to play on a 386 processor clocked at 16 MHz with full screen updates.

Two different soundtracks were available for the game. The first, being the included Sound Blaster music. The music was a mix of FM synth and tracked samples; a method of music creation and playback unique to Renaissance.

A second separate download was available for owners of the Gravis Ultrasound sound card featuring high quality (and completely different) music. The reason for the separate "GUS" music download was due to the size of the Gravis music (being nearly as large as the original game), so Sound Blaster only owners didn't have to waste time downloading music they would never hear.