From Brian Moriarty's tribute to Dani Bunten: "M.U.L.E. was multiplayer from the ground up.
It used the joystick array of the Atari 800 to connect four people in an unprecedented example of computer-moderated parlor gaming. By combining the resource management of Cartels and Cutthroats, the auctioneering of Wheeler Dealers and the futuristic setting of* Cytron Masters*, M.U.L.E. sustained an exquisite play balance of teamwork and rivalry, bitter cooperation and delicious treachery.
Although the original version sold only 30,000 copies, M.U.L.E. developed a base of passionate fans that remains active even today. It is required study for anyone interested in the design of multiplayer computer games."
Highly recommended.
Review By HOTUD
Comments and reviews
For those who want to play the REAL IBM PCjr version of this game, visit this website:
http://www.worldofmule.net/tiki-index.php?page=IBM+PC
The disk image (including a cracked image) are linked, as are instructions for DOSBox patch (a fix to properly emulate the "Composite CGA" hardware) and proper DOSBox launch options.
I just tried this version of the game and it's quite fun!! Especially the tournament mode where you can select development time, start money, and duration of game.
VERY cool to find this version of M.U.L.E.!!!
OK, that below link is garbled so here is a tiny URL version (but you can always just Google "mule pcjr" to find this page):
http://tinyurl.com/ctvv288
MULE PC JR LINK
This should be removed! This is NOT even a DOS game, it's the C64 dump of MULE with PC64 all configured to run from a batch file in the DOS enviroment. If you run this in DOSBox, it works but your actually using a emulator within a emulator, which is painfully unplayable and slow, no matter how fast your PC is!
This is the commodore 64 version with an emulator package included in the zip. Not even a good quality emulator either.
I've never seen an actual copy of the IBM version, and anyone who knows the game well has play on the Atari or Commodore. The program was written for the Atari, and the Commodore 64 version was simple to port because the CPU is code compatible and they featured similar video and sound chipsets. (MOS made many of the chips for Atari's computers, Commodore had at the point of Commodore 64s production purchased MOS.) Stands to reason that most programs written for Atari were easy ported to the very popular 64.
Remember this on the original Atari platform. I was playing this when the Grucci fireworks plant exploded a few miles away.
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.