I’m setting up my MiSTer FPGA and want to prioritize a bit. I currently have DOS and Win 95 running, but plan to setup Macintosh and any other worthwhile computer platforms. Any computer platform welcome (I already have the consoles figured out). What are your “must try” game suggestions?
Edit: I just got back to this post and am pleasantly surprised by the response. I’ll probably be adding most if not all of these to test since I have the space. Thank you to everyone who commented.
- Transport Tycoon
- C&C Red Alert and Tiberian Sun
- Anno 1602 (1602 A.D.)
- Theme Park
- Commander Keen
- Doom 2 (and Wolfenstein 3D to some extend)
- GTA2
- Half-Life
- Dungeon Keeper (mainly DK2)
- Leisure Suit Larry 6
- Worms 2 & Armageddon
- Age of Empires 2
- Sim City 2000 & 3000
- SimTower
- The Settlers 2
- Lemmings
- Incredible Machine
- Commandos
- Outcast
- Quake 3 Arena
- Descent
- StarCraft (although I started playing it later)
My guy, we have the technology. You can edit that title to fix the horrible grammar lol.
“What are your favorite pre-2000 video games?”
Whoops! I didn’t realize I could edit titles lol. Fixed :)
Quarantine
- MULE
- Might and Magic VI
- Master of Orion
- Civ 1 & 2
Quake, Doom, Half-Life, One Must Fall 2097, Microsoft Encarta’s Mind Maze
I was a fan of Midtown madness, both 1 and 2.
I had LAN parties with my friends by booting the game, then ejecting the CD and passing it along.
Sadly the third one wasn’t on PC.
My childhood
Total Annihilation. It was released in 1997 and brought inspiration to games like Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation.
Also, mother fuckin’ Cap’N Crunch’s Crunchling Adventure. I don’t have to explain that one.
Blood (1997) Pretty much the best OG build engine game IMO.
Late and I cannot possibly read everything here, but I’ll come back to it as well.
And just to do some due diligence:
- Saw it multiple times already, but Homeworld.
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron or many of the other Star Wars flight games before it.
- Imperium Galactica 2. Amazing space RTS with space and ground combat.
- I think one of the Formula 1 games from the era is considered among the best, but I’m not sure which. If you like F1 and racing that’s worth checking out.
- Star Trek Armada is from 2000, but very good too.
- Sid Meier games.
- Nintendo games, including Mario Kart 64. Unfortunately the first Mario Party isn’t as good as modern ones I hear, but may also be up your alley.
- Scorched Earth or Tank Wars for DOS. Worms for a more modern take on the genre.
Very space- and RTS-themed, but that’s what got my attention at the time. And they were having their golden age. Also I was very young in the 90s, so that’s all I have.
*your
Doom (1 then 2) Dune 2
Command & conquer: Red alert
Quake 2 & 3 Unreal tournament
Rise of the triad
Heretic
Hexen
Space Quest 4
Quest for Glory series
Simcity 2000
Leisure Suit Larry 6
Grand Theft Auto (top down)My mom got us this “Kids Cube” game collection in CompUSA when I was a kid and there were some gems in there. I’ve been looking for years to try and find the list of games but it’s one of those cheap dollar bin software collections. Anywho, some of the games I loved from that included:
Battle Bugs Jetpack Mice Movers Loader Larry
Non Kids Cube games: Doom (duh) Hero’s of might and Magic 3 Kings Quest VI Return to Zork Raptor: Call of the Shadows Battle Chess Jazz Jackrabbit Prince of Persia (the classic DOS 2D) Duke Nukem 2D
Did a quick search and thank you Archive! Found the Kids Cube! There’s a lot of weird stuff on there but I would spend hours just trying stuff out. https://archive.org/details/aztech_kids_cube
Jetpack was tight, yo
Rollercoaster Tycoon is an obvious must-play. And Zeus: Master of Olympus came out in 2000 but runs on Windows 95. It’s a Sierra city builder, and I have thousands of hours in it.
Crash Bandicoot 2
Most of my 80s/90s gaming was console games, but here’s a bunch of computer games that I liked back then :
Lemmings 1 and 2 (the tribes). You can try 3 if you’re curious, it’s kind of its own thing, different scale and some think it’s kind of not the same game anymore. 3D is interesting, but not easy on the eyes.
Lands of Lore. Very good real time maze dungeon-crawler with many obscure secrets, and full voice acting (that blew my mind back then. And there’s Patrick Stewart in the cast).
Lands of Lore 2 is a very ambitious sequel in 3D, with FMV incorporated directly into the 3D world. It’s quite hard and weird, very creepy at times, moreso if you’re the kind who stray off the path.
Creatures. Life simulation with a bunch of furry things you can make hatch and take care of. You teach them to speak, make them breed, watch them interact with the world, reinforce their behaviour with friendly scratches or slaps, and hopefully make them smarter (or miserable, it’s your choice). The game simulates their neural system, internal chemistry, immune system, DNA, it’s kind of crazy. Requires typing to speak. 3 is the most complete version but requires a bit of tinkering for it to work.