Where in the U.S.A. Deluxe: floppy, CD-ROM, Mac and Windows

The remake

Wikipedia calls Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe a remake of the 1986 game, and every build's title-screen copyright starts at 1992. Beyond the premise it shares little with the old file: a new gang of fifteen, a reworked city list and a videophone interface built around travel, Crime Net, the Warrant Department and a Voice Mail box. Both DOS builds refuse to start without VGA: “Requires VGA Graphics. Try 'CARMEN VGA' if you are SURE you have a VGA card.”

Floppy disks

The Osher Map Library holds a boxed Deluxe edition, catalogued circa 1993, with six disks, a user's manual and a copy of Fodor's USA. Eli's Software Encyclopedia lists a 5.25-inch edition (product 47956-47902) asking for MS-DOS 3.1, an AT 286, 640K, VGA and 8MB of disk. The floppy copy on archive.org calls itself “Version 2.0, Copyright 1992-1994”, and the Good Old Days collection has the same v2.0 on five 1.44MB disks. Its sound folder adds Sound Blaster 16 and Disney Sound Source drivers to the CD's list. The whole install comes to about 7MB, with no Source Information program.

DOS CD-ROM, version 1.0

The DOS CD's setup file names it “Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? Deluxe CD-ROM v1.0”, the title screen reads “Copyright 1992, 1993”, and the files on the disc are dated February to October 1993. Its LOCATION.DAT alone is 64MB. Setup offers Sound Blaster, Sound Blaster Pro, Pro AudioSpectrum, IBM PS/1 Audio and Tandy for sound, and adds Roland MT-32, AdLib, General MIDI, MPU-401 and CMS interfaces for music. The disc carries SOURCE.EXE, the Source Information program for the state music and photographs. Its data also holds a set of joke answering-machine messages from the staff. Glenn's says: “You know, this game would be even better under MOHAWK.”

Macintosh

A Mac CD exists, but its date won't settle. Wikipedia puts the DOS and Mac CD-ROMs in 1992, which the 1993 dates on the DOS disc don't support. House of Sandiego catalogues a 1995 CD-ROM for Windows 3.1 and Mac OS 7, and Macintosh Repository keeps a hybrid PC/Mac disc it labels v1.01 (1995). This file leaves the first Mac date open; see Carmen Sandiego on the Macintosh.

Windows MPC

Wikipedia dates the Windows version to 1994, and the title screen of the copy this archive plays reads © 1992, 1994. Glenn got his wish: the data moved into Mohawk .MHK files. The executable calls itself “MPC 1.0, written using The Application Framework”, and wants 640×480 in 256 colours and a mouse. Its data holds a spoken script for the Chief and for Wanda in Warrants, and the README talks of balancing “MIDI music and digital speech”. A few error messages still name the World game (“to run Carmen World Deluxe”).

The 1995 disc's README is signed “MPC v1.1.1 Read-Me Information 8/25/95”. It covers Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, insists Windows 3.1 run in 386 Enhanced mode, and installs icons for the game, Source Information, MIDI Setup and a demo of Brøderbund's Alien Tales. Archive.org also mirrors a Redump entry for a v1.1 disc.