Updates & Acquisitions
January 10, 2025
This one comes from far enough ago that the offer was extended to me back when Cohost still existed. Golfshrine reader Vikxin contacted me a long while ago about still having a copy of Links LS 1998 still hanging around, that they were eager put into my care. Well, time goes on, Cohost closes down, I kind of get busy with other things and forget about the offer... until Vikxin gets caught in GMail's spam filter by accident, which I catch only by serendipity. Contact is re-established, the thing is sent, and it's arrived just today in immaculate shape. 1998 was the last Links LS entry that I did not have, until today. I am happy to present to you all: the last piece.
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| We meet again, Mister Palmer. |
The Links series has once again been under my microscope in recent days, as it happens; I decided one day to test out Access Software's various course converters to see just how far I could carry a converted course from original Links all the way to the 2003 edition. Check out the whole thread for the process and the hurdles I had to jump to make it all happen, but if you just want to skip to the end, here's the comparison chart:
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| Banff Springs, Links: The Challenge of Golf |
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| Banff Springs, Links 386 Pro |
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| Banff Springs, Links LS 2000 |
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| Banff Springs, Links 2001 |
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| Banff Springs, Links 2003 |
Oh, and speaking of Links and things originally sent to me via Cohost - Golfshrine reader Scroungin' 4 Catsup says they've been trying to get a hold of me since then about an entry on the No-Golf List. This is not in the Golfshrine Proper yet, because I don't own it yet, but Scroungin' has helped me locate the Coleco ADAM program, LinkBuilder. LinkBuilder is a very early course designer program that creates course data tapes for use with ADAM Links Golf, itself seemingly the only golf game playable on a Coleco-developed machine. It turns out I only couldn't find it because I was looking for LinksBuilder - the extraneous S prevented me from finding anything. Heh.
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| I don't know how to load it for play, but I did design a "course" in LinkBuilder. |
In other news, I've been slowly building up a database of golf games with real courses in them; at present, 88 unique golf games are in the database, and as a random figure, Pebble Beach Golf Links appears in 21 of them. I don't yet know how many total appearances that counts for, between all of the different ports of each game, but suffice to say, something will be done with this information eventually.