Draft:Progressbar95
Nostalgic game for mobile and PC
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Progressbar95 is a game, decided to evoke nostalgia for old Windows and Macintosh systems. As of 2026, the current non-beta/alpha update to the game is 1.0920, which is a hotfix that fixes a bug with the fourth collectible wallpaper on the Steam version,and the current alpha update is 1.0930,which adds Progressbar PE 1 and 2,inspired by Windows CE.
| Submission rejected on 25 April 2025 by Zxcvbnm (talk). The subject does not meet Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. Rejected by Zxcvbnm 10 months ago. Last edited by ~2026-16476-83 2 seconds ago. |  |
| Submission declined on 17 December 2024 by Samoht27 (talk). Declined by Samoht27 14 months ago. |  |
| Submission declined on 10 April 2024 by Vrxces (talk). This draft's references do not show that the subject meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that:
Declined by Vrxces 23 months ago.
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| Submission declined on 9 April 2024 by Zxcvbnm (talk). This draft's references do not show that the subject meets Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. The draft requires multiple published secondary sources that:
Declined by Zxcvbnm 23 months ago.
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| Submission declined on 10 September 2023 by Qcne (talk). This draft is not adequately supported by reliable sources. Wikipedia's verifiability policy requires that all content be supported by reliable sources.
Declined by Qcne 2 years ago.
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Comment: I am unconvinced ag.ru constitutes significant coverage. Furthermore the submitter's username very much implies they are trying to "force" notability where none exists. While notability may happen later (WP:TOOSOON) continually resubmitting won't solve anything, hopefully you are able to move on until such time that this game is actually notable, if ever. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 14:02, 25 April 2025 (UTC)
- Comment: It's advisable to avoid user generated content as sources. -Samoht27 (talk) 15:45, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- Comment: To clarify the other comments on notability, the usual rule of thumb to comfortably meet WP:GNG is containing WP:THREE reliable reviews containing WP:SIGCOV from reliable sources of the type listed in WP:VG/S. I can find one for Lifehacker, and Android Central has unknown reliability: you may want to raise it in the talk page of WP:VG/S. Can you find more reliable review sources? ＶＲＸＣＥＳ (talk) 22:10, 10 April 2024 (UTC)
- Comment: Uses many primary or unreliable sources. I am ultimately doubtful this game is standalone notable, unfortunately. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 12:13, 9 April 2024 (UTC)
Gameplay
Progressbar95 is played by collecting segments. Blue, green and yellow segments allow players to progress through levels, whilst pink, gray and red segments harm the player.[1]
When players lose a life, they can use a utility, such as ScanProgress, Progress Ambulance, or CHKPROGRESS to play a small minigame in order to continue the level. If a player doesn't want to use the utility, the level will either restart or end, depending on their lives.
The game has a variety of gamemodes, such as Relax, Normal, Hardcore, Progress Sweeper (inspired by Minesweeper), Progress Defender (inspired by Space Invaders), Progresstein3D (inspired by Wolfenstein), Progresssolitaire (inspired by Solitaire), PB XL and PB xs (inspired by Microsoft Excel), ProgressTrix (inspired by Tetris), Progressball (inspired by Space Cadet Pinball), Progress Commander (inspired by Norton Commander), Color (exclusively in Bar OS) and Jigsaw Puzzle (exclusively in Bar OS). The player starts on Normal.
There are also bonus gamemodes, such as 3D Screensaver(inspired by the Flying Windows screensaver), Matrix (inspired by the Matrix movie), and Disk Writing, which was added in the 1.08 update.
Players earn points after completing a level, with bonuses awarded for various tasks. Points go towards hardware upgrades. After getting enough upgrades, the system can be upgraded. System upgrades are required to install new systems. There are various types of systems based on real-world operating systems: Progressbar (based on Windows), Bar OS (based on Mac OS), 8-bit systems (based on early computers)[2], H@ckgresh (based on Hackintosh), B OS (based on BeOS)[3], Progressbar PE (based on Windows CE). Players start with Progressbar 95 (based on Windows 95) when first playing the game. Installing systems unlock more game modes and gives more points.[1]
The game has an in-game currency, Progress Data, that can be used to purchase alternative parts when unlocking part upgrades, or used to buy parts from an eBay parody called PBay.
There is an in-game browser based on Internet Explorer/Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Firefox, Netscape Navigator, Safari and NetPositive, which has a variety of sites: the aforementioned PBAY, PBook (based on Facebook), the Spooky House Studios and Icoeye websites, and those of Progressbar and Progresh.
Characters
There are characters in the game that are either good or bad. Some characters include:
Clippy: based on Office Assistant, is a paperclip that is the tutorial guide, and also appears as the main pop-up. It can sometimes hold a firecracker, triggering a BSOD.
Bin: A digital pet based on Recycle Bin. He can be fed with either text files from the desktop or spam mail. Bin can be happy or angry; feeding him trash and cleaning him makes him happy, razzing him makes it angry.
Dog, Teapot, and Cathorse: Both move along the screen and give a random amount of points. The Dog only appears in Progressbar systems, the Cathorse appears in Bar OS systems, and the Teapot appears in B OS. Parallels can be drawn with Apple's Dogcow and Microsoft Bob's Rover.
Other characters appear exclusively in the Mailbox, like the Boss, which asks you to do "work" from time to time, Gary Spammer, which sends spam emails, IT, which acts like a tech support character, Prince Clippy, which has a random chance of giving points, but most of the time it reveals itself as a spam email, a mini Progressbar game inside the mailbox, and a "????" character which can give you points after you answer to its mail 2 times in the correct pattern.
Reception
Progressbar95 has generally positive reviews, having overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam out of over 2,000 reviews[4] and 4.8 star ratings on both the Google Play Store[5] and the Apple App Store[6]. Favourable reviews have also been noted elsewhere, an example being the Russian review site Absolute Games[7].
Brendan Hesse of Lifehacker described it as "doing an excellent job of bringing that ‘90s PC style to your modern-day device".[4][8]
Marc Lagace of Android Central described it as being "steeped in nostalgia for anyone who grew up using PCs in the 90s."[4][9]
A reviewer known only as Tobi of Zed Games said "at whatever price point you choose, the memories that this game revives are worth the price of entry."[10]
Katsuhiro Mizushima of 4Gamer.net, a Japanese video game website, recommended the game and said "for those who used PCs in the 90s, this game is sure to bring back a flood of nostalgia."[1]
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