FSHistory: Play the Original Microsoft Flight Simulator from 1982 Online

The new Flight Simulator 2020 is finally here, and fans have embraced it with open arms… but there's one small detail: It's basically the new 'Crysis' of the decade, bringing even an RTX 2080 Ti to its knees at 4K Ultra. That doesn't mean it's impossible to get a good experience with more humble hardware, but if FS2020 is out of reach for your system, why not explore the origins of the franchise by playing Flight Simulator 1.0 in your browser?

Deep down we knew Flight Simulator 2020 would be brutal on hardware, but once benchmarks revealed an average of 35 FPS on a GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 4K Ultra, I think many of us were left speechless. Some blame DirectX 11, others the game's massive size (which even caused problems with Steam's refund system), but its demands don't make it unplayable. With several tweaks to the graphics quality, reaching an average of 30 FPS (more than enough for a flight simulator) is a reasonable goal.

So why is there so much noise around Flight Simulator? The answer is simple: It's one of the oldest franchises in the PC universe, although its origins go back to the Apple II and the TRS-80, under the name FS1 Flight Simulator from SubLogic. What Microsoft did was acquire the license to develop a port compatible with the IBM PC, and so Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 was born. With 3D color graphics (CGA), Flight Simulator 1.0 not only made a huge impact but also became a sort of 'benchmark of compatibility' alongside Lotus 1-2-3. Would you like to play it?

The origins of Microsoft Flight Simulator, now in your browser

The good news is that you can now do it without downloading any software. Physicist and software engineer Sebastian Macke shared his FSHistory project on GitHub, which adapts not only FS 1.0 but also versions 2, 3, and 4 for online play. All you need is a click on the game's image, specify a few secondary parameters (color, demo mode, keyboard, etc.), and start flying. The site presents a list of basic commands on the right side of the screen, the bare minimum to gain some altitude.

That said, we can't deny FSHistory has a few sharp edges. Personally, I've noticed the games run very fast (the internal clocks of the aircraft are proof), there's no sound (I suppose that depends on a PC speaker given the age of the titles), and there's always the occasional graphics glitch that ruins a session. If you want to experience Flight Simulator from a historical standpoint, visit the link below, and if you're more interested in the code, it's all on GitHub.

Play Flight Simulator: Click here