Retro PC/DOS games

[Jellybeans]

What do you guys feel about retro PC/DOS games from the 90's?

I like the adventure games from LucasArts. Some great titles like Day of the Tentacle, the Monkey Island series, Sam & Max and after that Grim Fandango.


Aswell with the SHUMPS Tyrian (I'd like to see that on the VC, but that wont happen) and the platformer Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (i never played the first)


Ah yea, and i dont want to forget my favorite game of all time: The Longest Journey. An incredible adventure game.

[Retro Bros.]

I love 'em!
TES, need I say more?

But yea a lot of great SW titles too!

[Tides of Chaos]

Well, aside from learning games, I never played too many old PC games but one that sticks out in my mind is Lemmings. I'll never forget that game with it's terrific music and great gameplay. It's a shame it's owned by Sony now, as they don't seem to be using the license in any good ways.

[Spore]

Doom, Descent, Duke Nuke 3D, Marathon, etc.

[Joxe]

Lately I've been playing trough some old classics from my childhood like Baldur's Gate and such, best memories are from the classic game Dungeon Keeper though, played that to death when I was a kid!

Playing it trough today I realize it's actually a really good game aswell. I regret not having played any of the LucasArts games like Sam & Max since everyone says that they are really great games, although I've played trough one of Telltales' newer Sam & Max games which I really loved so I plan to actually buy the two first seasons from them.

Note that episode 104 from Sam & Max is available free from Steam, go download!

[Jellybeans]

I regret not having played any of the LucasArts games like Sam & Max since everyone says that they are really great games
Yup, they are nice.

I miss the point and click adventure games and games with cyberpunk theme. But that genre seems quite dead nowadays. Lately alot of games seem to be about quantity over quality.

Some other good adventure games i liked were Blade Runner, Beneath a steel sky (nowadays freeware and compatable with ScummVM) and Nightlong.

[Manaman]

Torin's Passage was an excellent point-and-click adventure. Would love to play that game again or see a sequel or re-release.

[Iam Canadian]

Epic Games (then known as Epic MegaGames) and Apogee (the forerunners of 3D Realms) produced some excellent material back in the early-to-mid 1990s. I have many fond memories of playing through the shareware versions of many of their games and got the full versions of several.

From the Apogee library, my favourites were the first two Duke Nukem games, which were quite good side-scrolling Mega Man clones. Duke 3D is the one everyone loves, and I enjoyed it to an extent, but the first two are the real classics. I also enjoyed Hocus Pocus quite a bit, which was a platformer in a similar vein.

Personally, though, I think Epic had the stronger library. ZZT was a rather interesting ASCII game that allowed you to build your own little mini-games. The programming language actually allowed you to do some pretty cool things. While the engine was obviously built for overhead adventure games, you could do other genres, such as platformers and shmups, with a bit of creativity. I whiled away many hours in my youth making silly ZZT games.

Honestly, though, Epic had a long list of great games. The Jazz Jackrabbit series holds a special place in my heart. The first was a great fusion of Sonic and Mega Man gameplay and the second game, buggy and unfinished though it was, introduced me to one of the very first online communities I ever became a part of and I owe it some gratitude for that. Other great gems from Epic's classic library include Tyrian, one of the lengthiest and greatest shmups ever made, Xargon, a decent side-scroller, and the classic Epic Pinball, which is one of my favourite pinball games.

I only wish PC gaming today could be as enjoyable. :D

[Spore]

I miss the point and click adventure games and games with cyberpunk theme. But that genre seems quite dead nowadays. Lately alot of games seem to be about quantity over quality.


This may interest you.
http://www.machinarium.com/

[Jellybeans]

This may interest you.
http://www.machinarium.com/
Looks quite interesting.
Though my taste is darker games, played in a city ruined by pollution with hover cars, lots of neon lights, rain, dark alleys, smoke ect.
Alot like The Longest Journey Stark, or like the Blade Runner or Nightlong : Union City Conspiracy.

But as mentioned, the game looks interesting. :)

[Jiggy37]

I approve of all love for Tyrian (http://www.vc-forums.com/showpost.php?p=73778&postcount=16) in here, truly the greatest space shooter I've ever played. :)

[timp29]

This will probably sound lame, but I used to adore all the early sierra games, kings quest was fun, space quest was hilarious, but I really loved the hero quest/quest for glory series. Sam and Max and Monkey Island were mentioned in the first post, I loved these games too, and would really love to get the original monkey islands and sierra classics on VC or something to play with my girlfriend, who i know would enjoy it immensely. Also, who can forget games such as doom??

The PC was an amazing gaming platform in its own right, as it spawned point and click adventures and first person shooters (I could be wrong on these counts).

[Iam Canadian]

I approve of all love for Tyrian (http://www.vc-forums.com/showpost.php?p=73778&postcount=16) in here, truly the greatest space shooter I've ever played. :)

I second that, Jiggy. Tyrian has an amazing amount of content, especially considering that the game is a scrolling shooter, a genre known for bare bones arcade ports. The full version of the game is insanely long for a shooter, with over thirty levels plus a large number of secret stages. There are also over ten different ship types (each of which has their own special secret weapons that can be activated with button combos), dozens of main and sub-weapons, upgradeable shields and generators, and a secret Scorched Earth clone game hidden in the main menu.

Oh, and let's not forget the fantastic musical score. My only real problem with the game is that it's rather easy until you start using the secret difficulty settings (of which there are three; Impossible, Suicide, and Lord of the Game) and there are a few broken weapons that dominate everything the game can throw at you; I'm looking at you, Laser and Zica Laser.

But in all honesty, Tyrian is one of the best shooters ever made (and my personal favourite) and is well worth your time. It's freeware now, so there's no risk. Just go and play it. A game this amazing deserves more fans.

[Flamin Skull]

I grew up doing thiscd:sierra
c:/Sierra: (kings,police,space)quest>KQ6

I grew up playing pc games, even in class. Since I am deaf and loved to play video games, my speech teacher had a brilliant idea! she would pop in a game that had text (such as RPGS!) and I could play to my heart's content, on one condition, I had to speak out the words that was being displayed on the screen. That easily became my favorite class but it only lasted like 30 or 45 minutes, 2 or 3 times a week.

also played so much Maniac Mansion that I know how to beat the game with basically any combo by heart (I think theres only one or two combos that wont work) never played tentacle tho...

[Jellybeans]

She would pop in a game that had text (such as RPGS!) and I could play to my heart's content, on one condition, I had to speak out the words that was being displayed on the screen. That easily became my favorite class but it only lasted like 30 or 45 minutes, 2 or 3 times a week.

That sounds like a very fun class indeed. :)
What a great idea.

[Trapster]

From the Apogee library, my favourites were the first two Duke Nukem games, which were quite good side-scrolling Mega Man clones. Duke 3D is the one everyone loves, and I enjoyed it to an extent, but the first two are the real classics. I also enjoyed Hocus Pocus quite a bit, which was a platformer in a similar vein.


I just HAVE to mention the game Raptor here. Great vertical shooter with really good music.

One of my first computer games was Terminal Velocity. Don't remember who made it.

Monster Truck Madness and Motocross Madness are also great and fun games.

[Iam Canadian]

One of my first computer games was Terminal Velocity. Don't remember who made it.

Now that you bring it up, I remember playing through the demo of Terminal Velocity as well. It was an Apogee game as well, if I recall correctly. I haven't played the game in years though, so I don't remember anything about it aside from the fact that it was a 3D space shooter in a first-person perspective and the fact that one of the levels resembled the Death Star trench run.

[Trapster]

Now that you bring it up, I remember playing through the demo of Terminal Velocity as well. It was an Apogee game as well, if I recall correctly. I haven't played the game in years though, so I don't remember anything about it aside from the fact that it was a 3D space shooter in a first-person perspective and the fact that one of the levels resembled the Death Star trench run.

Well, I have never beaten it. I got to a part where two huge cannons started shooting at me (I think) but don't remember if I got past them. It can't have been very far into the game. I bet this computer can't run it because of being too new.

[Jellybeans]

I bet this computer can't run it because of being too new.
I bet there is some way :)
Probably works in DOSBox.

[Joxe]

DOSbox (http://www.dosbox.com/) or Microsoft Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/virtualpc/default.mspx) should be the one for you, there's also SCUMMvm (http://www.scummvm.org/) to run the old LucasArts games.
I must say that SCUMMVM is really nice, just point it to the directory of the game and it works perfectly, better than any other emulator in the world.

Might be noted that a operative systems is needed for Virtual PC so if you have any old Windows 95 CD collecting dust anywhere you can use that one.

[Jellybeans]

[quote=Joxe;80072 SCUMMvm (http://www.scummvm.org/) to run the old LucasArts games.
I must say that SCUMMVM is really nice, just point it to the directory of the game and it works perfectly, better than any other emulator in the world.[/quote]
It works nice indeed, and it can run quite a bit of diffrent games than LucasArts ones.
You can check their site for a list of the compability.

[Tull]

Hi DOS games. You might remember it from such classics as:
Master of Orion
Transport Tycoon
Wing Commander

Microsoft Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/virtualpc/default.mspx)
DOS 622_games.vmc :P

[Joxe]

Transport Tycoon is a great one, there's a updated and open source version nowadays though!

OpenTTD (http://www.openttd.org)

But you need Transport Tycoon Deluxe if I'm not way wrong, but the essential is that you can download new graphics and use the new patches that people publish, some of them are also really great. Along with Dungeon Keeper, Transport Tycoon was one of my most played games when I was a kid :)

[Trapster]

I came to think about Blast Doors today and wanted to mention it. Nice little war game. It's turn-based and has quite nice music too.

[Jellybeans]

Oh i thought of another game i loved when i was younger.
A 2D platformer on the PC called Gex. About a Gecko lizard.
I loved the gameplay cause you could climb on walls and slash enemies with your tail.

Anyone else who played this game?

[Joxe]

Think I've tried the demo of the PSX version. Don't really remember if it was good or not though, but I know what character you speak of.

[Trapster]

Oh i thought of another game i loved when i was younger.
A 2D platformer on the PC called Gex. About a Gecko lizard.
I loved the gameplay cause you could climb on walls and slash enemies with your tail.

Anyone else who played this game?

Yep, I've played it. Nice little platformer.