Wasteland (game)

Wasteland is a post-nuclear computer role-playing game created by Interplay and published by Electronic Arts on January 27, 1987. It was released for Apple II, Commodore 64 and Microsoft DOS.

Despite some references, Wasteland is not considered part of the Fallout universe, instead serving as part of Fallout's inspiration.

Wasteland background
From the game's manual:

Tensions grew with the coming of 1998. The United States' Citadel Starstation was slated to be fully operational by March. Soviet charges that the space station was merely a military launching platform alarmed a number of nonaligned nations. The right wing governments in the South and Central Americas, many of them set up by the U.S. during the Drug Wars (1987-1993), pledged their support to the U.S. The NATO nations, including the new African members also declared their alliance with the U.S. That move forced most of the remaining neutral powers to join the Soviet protest. In six short weeks, only Switzerland, Sweden, and Ireland continued to declare themselves neutral nations.

Two weeks before Citadel was due for full operation, the station transmitted a distress signal. Immediately after the message was sent, most of the satellites orbiting the planet were swept clean from the sky, leaving the great powers blind. In military panic, each sent 90 percent of their nuclear arsenals skyward. Although the destruction was tremendous, it was not complete. Pockets of civilization remained, some even oblivious to the military exchange.

On the same day that the U.S. and Soviet Union were attempting to extinguish each other, a company of U.S. Army Engineers were in the southwestern deserts building transportation bridges over dry riverbeds. They worked deep in the inhospitable desert valleys, surrounded by a number of survivalist communities. Located directly south of their position on that day was a newly-constructed federal prison. In addition to housing the nation's criminals condemned to death, the prison contained light industrial manufacturing facilities.

Shortly after the nuclear attack began, the Engineers, seeking shelter, took over the federal prison and expelled the prisoners into the desolate desert to complete their sentences. As the weeks passed, they invited the nearby survivalist communities to join them and to help them build a new society. Because of each community's suspicions towards one another, times were difficult at first. But as time nurtured trust, this settlement -- which came to be known as Ranger Center -- grew to be one of the strongest outposts. Ranger Center even proved powerful enough to repel the hands of rancorous criminals who repeatedly attacked in attempts to reclaim what was once "rightfully theirs".

The citizens of Ranger Center, after first believing that they were the only ones who survived the nuclear maelstrom, soon realized that communities beyond the desert's grip had also survived. Because they had such success in constructing a new community, they felt compelled to help other survivors rebuild and live in peace.

Toward this end, the Desert Rangers, in the great tradition of the Texas and Arizona Rangers a century before, were born.

Overview of Wasteland
You control a group of player-created characters ("PCs") known as Desert Rangers. After most of the world was obliterated by nuclear weapons in the Great War, your band of heroes survived because they luckily hailed from a former prison located near Las Vegas, Nevada, an area that somehow avoided a direct hit. Your initial mission is to investigate disturbances in surrounding communities: Highpool, the Agricultural Center, Quartz, the Rail Nomads Camp, Needles, and Las Vegas. The Desert Rangers uncover a sinister plot, hatched by a cyborg and a computer mainframe with artificial intelligence - to replace the world's population of living, breathing creatures, with cybernetic machines. To achieve this goal, a nuclear holocaust was orchestrated, and in the aftermath, machines are produced to destroy humans and then repopulate the earth. The Desert Rangers ultimately prevail by blowing up Base Cochise, the location of the A.I.-driven computer mainframe.

References in Fallout games
If one plays any of the Fallout games after playing Wasteland, they can't help but recognize the similarities. Some have said (Fallout designers, specifically) that Wasteland was the "inspiration" for the Fallout series.

Entire Fallout Series
 * Brotherhood of Steel - appeared in Wasteland as a purely hostile NPC faction called the Guardians
 * Deathclaws - a reference to the Shadowclaws, mutated iguanas found wandering the desert in Wasteland
 * Energy Weapons - an obtainable skill introduced in Wasteland
 * Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K.) - A garden/museum of rebirth was created and displayed by Irwin John Finster (who, incidentally, may be a reference to Howard Finster, creator of the garden-park museum Plant Farm Museum, which he created to "show all the wonderful things o' God's Creation, kinda like the Garden of Eden."
 * Ghoul - a reference to Wastelands mutated Desert Dweller, Drool, Pit Ghoul, Shambler Ghoul, Spineless Ghoul, Night Screamer, and Night Terror'
 * Laser pistol (Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactic's "Wattz 1000 Laser Pistol", and Fallout 3's "AEP7 Laser Pistol" - a reference to Wastelands plain Laser Pistol'
 * Laser rifle (Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Fallout Tactic's "Wattz 2000 Laser Rifle", and Fallout 3's "AER9 Laser Rifle" - a reference to Wastelands plain Laser Rifle'
 * Power Armor - a reference to the Wasteland armor with the same name, obtained in the Guardian's Citadel
 * Red Ryder BB Gun - a reference to the gun with the same name found in Wasteland, available in Highpool or via an exploit
 * Robots - appeared in Wasteland as adversaries
 * Water Chip - in Wasteland, the first quest given to the Desert Rangers is to fix a water pump in Highpool

Fallout 1

 * Children of the Cathedral - a reference to the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud, a cult of bomb-worshiping zealots located in Las Vegas, Nevada
 * Dugan, the Nuka-Cola addict - a reference to Wastelands Hobo Oracle, a bum addicted to Snake Squeezins, found at the Rail Nomads Camp'
 * Gizmo, the crime lord - a reference to Fat Freddy, an obese gangster from Las Vegas, Nevada
 * Junktown - a reference to the Savage Village, the home of the Junk Master
 * Tycho, the Desert Ranger - the band of heroes in Wasteland were Desert Rangers. This character also makes references to Wasteland.
 * ZAX - a reference to VAX, a recruitable humanform robot NPC, found (after being built) in Base Cochise

Fallout 2

 * Chrissy - a reference to Christina, an Uzi-packing, recruitable NPC found in Needles

Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel

 * Calculator - a reference to the evil computer found in Wastelands Base Cochise'
 * Followers of the Apocalypse - a reference to the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud, a cult of bomb-worshiping zealots located in Las Vegas, Nevada

Van Buren

 * Helen Wheels &mdash; truckers, smugglers (together with Eddie "Crazy Horse" Galensky)
 * Job - Mr. Handy administrative police robot in Denver
 * Christina Royce - cut-off NPC, mature Chrissy from Fallout 2
 * ZAX - two units appear once again: Twin Mothers, Boulder
 * The Nursery - a reference to the Agricultural Center
 * Circle Junction - a reference to Rail Nomads Camp
 * US Engineers mentioned together with military prison at Tibbets design document

Fallout 3

 * Children of Atom - a reference to the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud, a cult of bomb-worshiping zealots located in Las Vegas, Nevada 
 * Citadel - a reference to the location with same name in Wasteland, which is the home of the Guardians
 * Firelance - a reference to this weapon is found in Wasteland's meta fictitious, "decoy" storyline, in Wasteland's paragraphs book
 * Keller Family Transcript - individual digits of a combination held by different individuals is similar to Huey, Dewey, and Louie, of Quartz.
 * Tesla Cannon - similar to Wastelands Meson Cannon'
 * Toaster - with Three Dog mentioning his toaster needs repair, this is a likely reference to the surprisingly useful skill of Toaster Repair in Wasteland
 * Wasteland Survival Guide - The book you can help making is the name of Wasteland's game guide book

Fallout: New Vegas

 * Las Vegas was an area in Wasteland. The similar choice of setting may be a nod from Obsidian to Wasteland. Las Vegas and New Vegas both appear to have avoided being directly hit by nukes and are in relatively good condition. Both cities have electricity, as well.