Gary Grigsby's Pacific War

Lore & Background

The game places the player in a high-level command role, roughly equivalent to a theater commander or a member of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, the UK Imperial War Cabinet, or the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. Players decide what to attack or defend, appoint commanders, and allocate resources such as aircraft, ships, and land combat units. The game restricts non-historical strategies: the Japanese player cannot abandon China, the Allied player must keep some land units in the US and Australia, and Royal Navy ships are temporarily removed to simulate global responsibilities. USN ships arrive on historic dates, and the ability to overrun China is limited.

Reader's Guide

Gary Grigsby's Pacific War is significant as a milestone in computer wargaming, described by Computer Gaming World in 1993 as 'the first true computer monstergame.' It sold between 15,000 and 20,000 units at full price, with many more sold in multi-product bundles. The game's complexity—requiring ten to twenty hours just to learn—limited its appeal to dedicated wargamers. It won Computer Gaming World's 1993 Wargame of the Year and was ranked the 109th-best computer game ever by the magazine in 1996. A smaller-scale follow-up, Uncommon Valor: Campaign for the South Pacific, was released in 2002, and a full successor, War in the Pacific, in 2004. In 2000, Matrix Games released an updated freeware version, Pacific War: The Matrix Project.

Did You Know?

• The game runs on Preparation Points; the Japanese player receives them based on Japan's oil reserve, while the Allied player receives them based on the game date.
• SSI did not ship the game with a printed map for cost reasons; Computer Gaming World published a map in March 1994 as part of about 30 pages of supplementary material.
• The game includes a non-historical scenario starting after a hypothetical Japanese victory at Midway.
• The Matrix edition was credited to Richard Dionne and Jeremy Pritchard for making the changes.

Vast Strategic Canvas and Command-Level Play

Gary Grigsby's Pacific War, released in 1992 by Strategic Simulations for MS-DOS, cast an enormous net across the entire Pacific theater of World War II. Its single map spans from the Aleutian Islands down to southern New Zealand and Australia, and stretches eastward from India's coastline to North America's western shore. The simulation encompasses carrier task-force operations, amphibious landings, surface fleet engagements, strategic bombing campaigns, kamikaze attacks, and the submarine hunt against warships and merchant convoys. Players assume the role of a high-level strategist—roughly a theater commander at the lowest tier—making decisions that ripple through the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, the British Imperial War Cabinet, or the American Joint Chiefs of Staff. The game enforces historical plausibility: the Japanese side cannot abandon China, Allied ground forces must remain garrisoned in the United States and Australia, Royal Navy vessels are periodically withdrawn to reflect global commitments, and U.S. Navy ships arrive in the Pacific only on their actual historical dates. A Preparation Points system paces the action: Japan's points derive from its oil reserves, while the Allies' points grow steadily with in-game time, each turn representing one week of conflict.

Critical Acclaim and the Monstergame Label

When Computer Gaming World reviewed Pacific War in April 1993, the magazine called it the first true computer monstergame and named it the 1993 Wargame of the Year. The review awarded four stars out of five, praising the simulation's sheer scope while cautioning that its steep difficulty, unfriendly user interface, and absence of a tutorial or printed map would demand ten to twenty hours just learning to play. The reviewer found the experience overwhelming yet acknowledged the quality, quipping that it was highly recommended for retirees or for those for whom the expression Get a life means something. By 1994, the same publication expressed a wish that its naval title Great Naval Battles Vol. 2 could match Pacific War's solid game design. SSI founder Joel Billings later confirmed the commercial success, noting the game sold between 15,000 and 20,000 copies at full price, with additional units moving through multi-product wargame bundles. The title's reputation as a demanding but rewarding grand-strategy experience cemented its place in the wargaming community's canon.

Behind the Scenes: Design, Production, and Scenarios

Gary Grigsby served as both designer and programmer for Pacific War, with George MacDonald handling production and a team including Joel Billings, David Landrey, and James Young contributing to game development. One notable production decision was SSI's choice to omit a printed map from the retail package for cost savings. In March 1994, Computer Gaming World partially filled that gap by publishing a map sourced from SSI alongside roughly thirty pages of supplementary material, including an index, an improved table of contents, checklists, and playing suggestions. The game offered flexible play options: solo matches against the computer, two-player sessions on a shared machine, or email-based play. Balance could be tilted toward either side with help or maximum help settings that boosted replacements, production, and reinforcement speed. Scenario variety ranged from focused campaigns covering the Japanese offensive, the Coral Sea and Midway period, Guadalcanal, the Marianas landings, or Leyte Gulf, to a full war starting at Pearl Harbor in December 1941 or a slightly shortened run from 1942 to surrender. Matrix also included a non-historical scenario premised on a hypothetical Japanese victory at Midway.

Enduring Legacy and the Road to Successors

Pacific War's influence extended well beyond its initial 1992 release. In 1996, Computer Gaming World ranked it the 109th-best computer game ever released, and the magazine's wargame columnist Terry Coleman selected it as the 13th-best computer wargame of that era. The title also inspired direct successors: in 2002, Grigsby partnered with 2 by 3 Games to release Uncommon Valor: Campaign for the South Pacific, a smaller-scale follow-up, and in 2004 they launched War in the Pacific as a full successor to the original. Another significant chapter came in September 2000, when publisher Matrix Games released Pacific War: The Matrix Project as freeware. Grigsby had joined Matrix earlier that year, and the updated edition credited Richard Dionne and Jeremy Pritchard with implementing the changes. This freeware release followed Matrix's similar updates of two other Grigsby titles, Steel Panthers and Gary Grigsby's War in Russia, cementing the designer's reputation for iterative refinement and long-term stewardship of his own work.