History VideoGame / Progressbar95

''Progressbar 95'' is a mobile video game by Spooky House Studios released in 2019 with a PC version released in 2020. In it, you use Progressbar OS (a parody of UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows) to control a progress bar and collect blue segments to fill it up. Filling the bar to 100% finishes the level. However, there are many obstacles like pop-ups or crash-inducing red bars that appear which range from distruptive to causing you to lose a life. Clearing levels earns you points, which are then used to upgrade hardware, eventually allowing you to install new operating systems (the old ones remain playable). After beating enough levels, you can unlock wallpapers and special titles for the systems, starting with Professional and advancing from there.

* Progressbar XL, a MazeGame where you have to reach the bottom part of a spreadsheet-like grid by moving through cells horizontally or vertically while not touching red segments (represented by 13) and collecting bonuses.

PB-DOS Shell has two exclusive modes instead of the three aformentioned ones. Progresstrix is a ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' clone in which blocks of four to seven segments fall and you must fill one line with progress to win. Progress Commander, meanwhile, has you tap the right arrow button to move the correct words falling through the left column representing colors ("BLUE" is good and "RED" is bad, for example) so they fill the right column.

* AnachronismStew: Some of the hardware configurations offered by the game often have up to a ten-year gap in technology, like Pentium II (from 1997) working with [=16GB=] of [=DDR3=] RAM (from 2007)[[note]]Nevermind that the Pentium II has a flat memory limit of [=4GB=] of RAM due to its 32-bit architecture, but the real amount of addressible RAM is often just a ''quarter'' of that or even less due to artificial limits imposed by the chipset. That, and that no chipsets were ever made that will mate a Pentium II with [=DDR3=] RAM.[[/note]]

* AprilFoolsDay: Despite there being a sincere large update on the same day in 2020, the devs decided to prank its players by turning the appearance of UsefulNotes/ClippyThePaperclip, the game's main nuisance, into the in-game dog's. Normally the dog isn't annoying and gives points when tapped on, so it led to people getting confused.

* CatchingSomeZs: When Bin is sleeping, lowercase zs show up after him. You'd better not tap him during this time or he'll get upset.

* ContinuingIsPainful: Run out of lives and the game punishes you by lowering your operating system's level by 1.

* EvolvingMusic: The game's main theme by Gemfire improves with each new OS and song version being used. PB 1 and 2 have an extremely simplistic rendition similar to a PC speaker, PB 3.14 adds more sound channels and instrumentation to simulate an average soundcard like Adlib, with a high quality version unlockable with nicer instrumentation to simulate an advanced sound card like Roland MT-32. Later versions drop the MIDI format and use [=MP3=] instead, with you starting with a somewhat low quality rendition which can be upgraded by clearing special levels to an HQ one or even a remix.

** The Dog appears suddenly during a round of the regular gamemode, and quickly moves off of the side of the screen. Tapping on him gives a good amount of bonus points.

* RedIsViolent: While most of the hazardous segments simply impede your progress or decrease your score, red segments in particular are "error" segments that will [[GameOver "crash"]] the game. Similarly, "Mine" pop-ups and dynamite-carrying Clippies have red stripes, with both entities also lethal if they attack you.

* SetBonus: To be able to use the Processes tab, you need to get Ctrl, Alt, and Del keys, in that order. By themselves they do nothing.
* ShownTheirWork: The game creators who have made this game clearly researched Windows systems. Each Progressbar equivalent of an OS looks and sounds just how you'd expect. There are also references to rather obscure versions, like Progressbar 95 Plus which is based on the enhanced version of Win 95, or Progressbar Largehorn which is based on Windows Longhorn, a prototype of Vista.

* VideoGameLives: You start with 1-5 lives, depending on the difficulty. Hitting a harmful object makes you lose a life, unless you wait for and win a scanning minigame. Getting only blue segments in a level grants an extra life.

** There's nothing stopping you from collecting orange segments and clearing a level with them despite them being called wrong by the game. Collecting a symmetrical amount of blues and oranges grants the 1000-point Yin-Yang bonus, collecting a pattern of blue>orange>blue>orange or vice versa grants the 5000-point Zebra bonus, and collecting only oranges grants you the 4000-point Nonconformist bonus. That said, in the later levels blue segments give more points than any of the orange-segment bonuses as well as an extra life, so it's better to get only blue segments anyway.

* HaveANiceDeath: Touching a red segment, ''even with the filled part of your progress bar'' (unlike other segments, which have to touch the empty part to take effect) or an explosive like Clippy's dynamite or "Mine" pop-ups will immediately cut the level short with a snarky parody of the Windows BSOD screen (tailored to your current OS) as a GameOver.

[[caption-width-right:200:That's less than a half of operating systems offered.]]

''Progressbar 95'' is a mobile video game by Spooky House Studios released in 2019 with a PC version released in 2020. In it, you use Progressbar OS (a parody of UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows) control a progress bar and collect blue segments to fill it up. Filling the bar to 100% finishes the level. However, there are many obstacles like pop-ups or explosive red bars that appear and can be distruptive or even cause you to lose a life. Clearing levels earns you points, which are then used to upgrade hardware, eventually allowing you to install new operating systems (the old ones remain playable). After beating enough levels, you can unlock wallpapers for your phone and special titles for the systems, starting with Professional and advancing from there.

You can also play special modes if you get tired of just collecting dropped segments, which include the following:
* Progress Sweeper, a ''VideoGame/{{Minesweeper}}'' clone with you collecting segments by uncovering them and following clues.
* Progress Defender, a TowerDefense in which you use your progress percentage to buy three towers (Firewall, Generator, and Antivirus) on one of three lanes while fending off threats and trying to reach 100% with segments that drop or come from your generators.
* Progresstein 3D, a ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' clone in where the goal is to collect bottles that fill your bar while walking down the brick hallway as well as shooting UsefulNotes/ClippyThePaperclip and mines.
* Progressbar XL, a MazeGame where you have to reach the bottom part of the grid by walking through cells horizontally or vertically while not touching red segments (represented by 13) and collecting bonuses.

PB-DOS Shell has two exclusive modes instead of the three aformentioned ones, Progresstrix is a ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' clone in which blocks of four to seven segments fall and you must fill one line with progress to win, and Progress Commander in which you must tap the right arrow button to move the correct words falling through the left column representing colors ("BLUE" is good and "RED" is bad, for example) so they fill the right column.

Near the end of 2020, the [=BarOS=] software line for Progresh hardware, based on UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh, was introduced. Bar Systems feature different types of gameplay than just moving the progressbar around. They run on a different computer with its own hardware as well and have a character based on Happy Mac.

* OneHundredPercentCompletion: To beat the game fully, you have to unlock all systems. Each of them also has 10 wallpapers, getting all 10 for a system grants the Professional title for it and a 1000-point bonus for each level you clear on it from then on. You also have to max out all computer components, which can take tens of millions of points. Additionally, beating level 1000 on an OS gives you the Grand edition, with several titles beforehand. Therefore, completionists can expect to beat tens of thousands of levels.

* AnachronismStew: Some of the hardware configurations offered by the game are downright ''headache-inducing'' to retrocomputing hobbyists, often having up to a ten-year gap in technology, like Pentium II (from 1997) working with [=16GB=] of [=DDR3=] RAM (from 2007)[[note]]Nevermind that the Pentium II has a flat memory limit of [=4GB=] of RAM due to its 32-bit architecture, but the real amount of addressible RAM is often just a ''quarter'' of that or even less due to artificial limits imposed by the chipset. That, and that no chipsets were ever made that will mate a Pentium II with [=DDR3=] RAM.[[/note]]

* AprilFoolsDay: Despite there being a legit large update on the same day in 2020, the devs decided to prank its players by turning the appearance of UsefulNotes/ClippyThePaperclip, the game's main nuisance, into the in-game dog's. Normally the dog isn't annoying and gives points when tapped on, so it led to people getting confused.

* XMakesAnythingCool: Progressbar 1X. It's the most cutting-edge system available and the only one with a radial progressbar.

* UpToEleven: The earliest versions of the game had your hardware max out fairly early on with fairly low-end specs, with Seleron 1.2Ghz being the best processor or a 500GB SSD being the best hard drive for example (though you'd still get 48GB [=DDR4=] RAM, which was relatively high). The game would receive an update that'd raise the max hardware to what was available on very high-end computers at the time, like the MD Razor 9 5000 (based on AMD Ryzen 9) or a 100 TB SSD. Then in another update the max specs have been increased to stuff that wouldn't be available in real life for years. Those include (soundcards and videocards not mentioned) Corn 11i-15K 9Ghz, 128TB [=DDR7=] RAM ([=DDR5=] wasn't even out), 1.5PB M3 SSD hard drive, a VR PRO+ display, and AD-ROM (Archival Disc-ROM, based on a potential Blu-ray successor) 128X RW.

* PowerUpLetdown: One of the temporary upgrades you can get to your Decompiler Gun is D-Torpedo, which causes your Gun's shots to home in on pop-ups. Unfortunately, it also resets your damage and firing rate back to base stats and if you were using one of the multi-directional guns, it will now fire in only one direction.

* AnachronismStew: Some of the hardware configurations offered by the game are downright ''headache-inducing'' to retrocomputing hobbyists, often having up to a ten-year gap in technology, like Pentium II (from 1997) working with [=16GB=] of [=DDR3=] RAM (from 2007)[[note]]Nevermind that the Pentium II has a flat memory limit of [=4GB=] of RAM due to its 32-bit architecture, but the real amount of address le RAM is often just a ''quarter'' of that or even less due to imposed by the chipset. That, and that no chipset were ever made that will mate a Pentium II with [=DDR3=] RAM.[[/note]]

* AnachronismStew: Some of the hardware configurations offered by the game are downright ''headache-inducing'' to retrocomputing hobbyists, often having up to a ten-year gap in technology, like Pentium II (from 1997) working with [=DDR3=] 16GB RAM (from 2007).

** Progressbar 1X replaces the normal progressbar with a radial one and makes segments come from all directions, with you spinning the bar around by tapping it.

** At first, certain functions like starting up an OS and your score being tallied seem to have considerable load times. However as you upgrade your Progresscomputer and these load times decrease, it becomes apparent that these load times are intentiionally there to simulate older [=PCs=]' hardware.

* StylisticSuck: At first, certain functions like starting up an OS and your score being tallied seem to have considerable load times. However as you upgrade your Progresscomputer and these load times decrease, it becomes apparent that these load times are intentiionally there to simulate older [=PCs=]' hardware.

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* {{Retraux}}: This game uses references to old Windows operating systems at first, complete with graphics and whirring computer sounds. UsefulNotes/ClippyThePaperclip also shows up.

** Normally, if you interact with Bin (by clicking on it or trying to drag a junk file to it, for example) while they're asleep, they'll be woken up prematurely, angering them and reducing their mood. However you can still feed it emails and play ball catch with it without any negative consequence.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: To make point/level grinding easier in the PC version, any regular Progressbar system starting from 3.14 you reach Pro on will let you play the Matrix and Screensaver 3D modes that can be beaten quickly and give 2x points at any time you like, rather than every few levels.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: 13 acts as a red segment in Progressbar XL. Stepping on a cell with it (or having it reach your position) gives a [=BSoD=].

* RedIsViolent: While most of the hazardous segments simply impede your progress or decrease your score, red segments in particular are "error" segments that will [[GameOver "crash"]] the game.

* ViolationOfCommonSense: There's nothing stopping you from collecting orange segments and clearing a level with them despite them being called wrong by the game. Collecting a symmetrical amount of blues and oranges grants the 1000-point Yin-Yang bonus, collecting a pattern of blue>orange>blue>orange or vice versa grants the 5000-point Zebra bonus, and collecting only oranges grants you the 4000-point Nonconformist bonus. That said, in the later levels blue segments give more points than any of the orange-segment bonuses as well as an extra life, so it's better to get only blue segments anyway.

* {{Microtransactions}}: The game itself is free, though you can disable ads or unlock operating systems without having to grind for them by paying real money. In addition, "Product Keys" can be bought to provide easier access to alternative visual styles (which usually require a lot of grinding).

* HaveANiceDeath: Touching a red segment, ''even with the filled part of your progress bar'' (unlike other segments, which have to touch the empty part to take effect) or an explosive like Clippy's dynamite or "Mine" pop-ups will immediately cut the level short with a snarky parody of the Windows BSOD screen as a GameOver.

* HaveANiceDeath: Touching a red segment, ''even with the filled part of your progress bar'' (unlike other segments, which have to touch the empty part to take effect), will immediately end the level with a snarky parody of the Windows BSOD screen as a GameOver.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: The game occasionally has you play a special level with a black background in which no pop-ups appear and you get a lot more points for completing it. You can either get a 3D Screensaver level which makes segments come in a way that resembles 3D (but your bar is still 2D) or a Matrix level which makes blue segments dark green and orange segments light green, with all segments falling straight down and leaving trails of letters and numbers above.