The Amazing World Of DOS/Early 90s PC Gaming

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

DosBOX and Abandonware are generally improving my life. I've always been a huge PC gamer but unfortunately when you're 8/9/10 quite a lot of the software completely goes over your head. I've used BeebEm to rediscover the joys of the BBC Micro but DosBox is now doing that for my early 90s games lust.

Anyone else have good memories of this era? Fiddling with config.sys and autoexec.bat because the stupid thing wouldn't let you run your new game 'cos of memory. Marvelling at the prospect of what 'SVGA' could do to the future of games. And as the diskettes became ever more bloaty, hoping on hope that you wouldn't encounter some sort of Disk or Memory error half way through installation.

Indeed, just buying PC Format and PC Gamer- back then they seemed like proper mags with an attitude and culture which seemed to be where it was at. Personal computing wasn't so passé- it still felt like a bit of a geeks pastime and playing games outside of a console environment made PC gaming for a while the domain of cubicle drones in America and rich middle class kids. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing- such things entire industries are made of.

I'm currently trying to obtain just under 3000 DOS games, about 8 of which I identified as 'really wanting to play', but I'll get around to the others, you mark my words. It still baffles me so many games were made, and so many of them will be almost utterly worthless. Indeed the ones of worth are only of worth on a tiny cultural level, not a commercial level.

So this week I've replayed Slipstream 5000, Virtual Pool, Allan Borders World Class Cricket, and tried Crime And Punishment for the very first time. Why don't you join me for some more? JOIN ME.

[mikeyg27]

Here's the current list of games in my DOS Games folder:

4D Sports Boxing
Worms
Abuse
Actua Soccer
Alien Trilogy
Blake Stone - Aliens of Gold
Blake Stone 2
Blood
Chasm The Rift
Dark Forces
Heroes of Might and Magic
Ignition
Lemmings
Powerslave
Rise of the Triad
Sim City 2000
SKYNET (with Terminator: Future Shock)
STRIFE
Super Noah's Ark 3D
Syndicate
System Shock
Theme Park
Transport Tycoon
Ultima VII
Ultima Underworld - The Stygian Abyss
Wolfenstein 3D

The main one I'm working my way through is System Shock, which is an absolute ballache to get to grips with but once you do it becomes incredibly engrossing. Also, I've fallen in love with Blood. Hmmm, this is a bit mid-90s rather than early 90s, isn't it?
If anyone has a Mac, Boxer makes it really easy to play DOS games. Too easy, even.

[SetToStun]

If you've not tried it (and can find it) get hold of Captain Comic - sideways scrolling platform shooter. The music will, admittedly, drive you insane after a while, but I remember having immense fun playing it on a PC at work back in 88/89. I think it was the first PC game I'd ever seen that was properly fun - I didn't have a PC at home back then and the ones in Ops at work generally only had golf games on them. It's probably shit now, but back then it was the shizzle fo sho, and then some.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I'm a cool as fuck guy so will let this mid-90s bullshit slide.

Spoiler alert

not bullshit

[close]

[Consignia]

I recently replayed Commander Keen. Some things are best left in the Nostalgia land. Although episode 4 is still excellent, why they gave the best episode free in shareware, I don't know.

[pk1yen]

I have very fond memories of Monster Bash by Apogee. Only played the first shareware episode - but one of these days, I'll get hold of the other two.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Bash

Also Crystal Caves!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Caves
The game that I immediately think of whenever mentions the band Crystal Castles.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

They usually make me think of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Castles_%28video_game%29

[Treguard of Dunshelm]

Star Control 2. Cool aliens, epic plot (for a game) and great villians in the evil Ur-Quan. Somewhat ironically, given its title, a bugger to control. But very very good.

[glitch]

The main one I'm working my way through is System Shock, which is an absolute ballache to get to grips with but once you do it becomes incredibly engrossing.

System Shock is an amazing game, good choice! Really recommend the sequal too, once you've got through it.

[NoSleep]

Anybody had a look at Timothy Leary's Mind Mirror? I've not delved to far into this myself but remember that that it isn't exactly a game, but is quite an original program.

[mikeyg27]

System Shock is an amazing game, good choice! Really recommend the sequal too, once you've got through it.

Got it ready to go. Here's a fun fact: it appears that the easiest way to play SS2 and Thief: The Dark Project (something else I have queued up) on modern computers is to download the unofficial, legally dubious Mac ports by the Porting Team rather than trying to install any legal copies on Windows 7. Having looked at the guides for installing SS2 and Thief on windows I just gave up whilst my PT versions of them work like a charm. The only real hope I see for those games on modern computers is if GoG gets them (they don't have EA signed up yet, but I've definitely read that SS2 is the game they get the most requests for).

Oops, strayed from Early 90s DOS again! Better get back on track... Looking back at that list again, the game I've played the most is SimCity 2000. The number of times I've started up for a quick tinker with it, then looked at the clock to see three hours have mysteriously disappeared is too large to bother counting.

EDIT: some other thoughts looking at that list again:

Powerslave (or Exhumed in Europe) is literally the only FPS I can think of where the console versions (PS1 & Saturn) were definitely better than the PC version. Play those instead.
Also, Super Noah's Ark 3D is worth a look at for the curiosity value - it's essentially a Christian reskin of Wolfenstein 3D, where instead of trying to kill Nazis, you're trying to feed hungry animals by shooting food into their face.

[falafel]

I have very fond memories of Monster Bash by Apogee.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK, MY CHILDHOOD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfA2TF2JUD0

Bugger. Never meet your heroes.

[madhair60]

Ahh, now we're talking.

The aforementioned Commander Keen and Monster Bash are both great, as are the vast majority of Apogee platformers.

But the king of early PC gaming (not DOS, sorry) is this motherfucker:



HI STU, I'M CHIPS CHALLENGE, NICE TO MEET YOU, NOW I'LL RUIN YOUR SECONDARY EDUCATION

To my eternal sorrow, doesn't work on Win7.

[Little Hoover]

Commander Keen was pretty much my introduction to gaming, 4, 5 and the aliens ate my babysitter one's were the superior series though.

Though despite having less interesting mechanics, Keen Dreams is obviously the best for putting you up against killer fruit and vegetables

I mean

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2cbBwodn8

Monster bash I enjoyed buy only played the first one, I should get the rest of the series,

I also had a fondness for

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7Q2ZqbfxfA

comes complete with taunting wizards that tell you "you'll never be able to get through the challenges in this castle" then you get through them quite easily

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6-G6Nc9S30

[Consignia]

Aw come on, Keen Dreams was the worst. It didn't even feel like a Commander Keen game without his stun gun or his pogo stick.

[Little Hoover]

Yeah I know it was certainly lacking in that sense, but it was such a fun idea.

[madhair60]

Jazz Jackrabbit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b16upFloYak

Can't believe they went from this to Gears of War!

Abuse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9pUaHdtlMA&feature=related

Brilliant, atmospheric shooter.

Bio Menace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78LKo3arvNM

My favourite Apogee platformer.

Skyroads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Rovi9QSDk

Another blast from the past, for me.

[mikeyg27]

FUCK YES for Abuse. Still one of my faves. Really, really scary considering it's a low-res platformer (one played it with headphones on, one of the most terrifying gaming experiences ever).

With all this Commander Keen talk, let me recommend Masters of Doom by David Kushner. It's the tale of id's formation and although it focuses on their FPS glory years, there's a fair section on Keen. It somehow turns the time John Carmack worked out how to do side-scrolling on a PC into the single most gripping thing ever.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

3000 DOS games have arrived. This could be an odyssey of sorts.

[Zetetic]

Oxyd


I first played it when I was 3, not under DOS though, but on an Apple PowerBook Duo 230. All the more lovely for being played with a trackball to guide the marble around the game; there's not other input required.

It's a wonderful puzzle game, essentially to do with matching blocks of the same type across a landscape, where you've not only got to cope with flipping switches, moving blocks and redirecting lasers in the right manner but also crumbling floors, active (and indefatigable and thus only avoidable) enemies and areas where movement is limited.

These days Enigma carries on the spirit of the game. It's free, Free and contains all the levels of the Oxyd games, plus many more including meditation levels where you must simultaneously gently guide four marbles to different places in the landscape. There's now 1045 landscapes included by default.

[Consignia]

Bio Menace
My favourite Apogee platformer.

That does it, people have stood in my way long enough, I'm going to replay Bio Menace.

[mcbpete]

Skyroads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Rovi9QSDk
Another blast from the past, for me.

That's been remade recently in the indie scene - http://www.tastystatic.com/ (Completely free and available for Windows, OSX and Linux)

[Cold Meat Platter]

The Incredible Machine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredible_Machine_%28game%29

This is an amazing puzzle game in which you build "Mouse Trap" style contraptions to achieve your goal.
Immensely satisfying payoff when it all works and the ball goes through all sorts of Heath-Robinson engineering to get to its objective.

[Depressed Beyond Tables]

Sensible Soccer didn't hang about.

[Lt Plonker]

Boot disks were the bane of my life for so many years. I never quite understood what they did or how to make one. I think I did manage it once though. Just.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I just played 1988 election simulator 'President Elect' after a pissed night out.

Playing as the Democrat challenger 'Roper' against the incumbent President Plodgatz (you can make up names), I won the presidency in 30 minutes by 343 seats to 193, and won the popular vote very narrowly. Despite showing well in the South they proved hard to shift, but I retained focus on my base support and won a lot of swing seats, taking the bellweather Ohio (which was when I knew it was all over for the evil Plodgatz).

I also only committed one debate 'gaffe' whereas my opponent was positively error-stricken.

Top game.

[Marty McFly]

Dark Forces

STAR WARS GOES DOOM.

Christ, I used to love that.. I seem to remember the graphics being amazing, looking back on it now they were probably awful. Just like when I found a clip of Alien Breed 3D on the Amiga on YouTube the other day.

[waste of chops]

I loved playing the demo of Traffic Department 2192 back in the day. It was released as freeware a few years ago; I must fire up DOSbox sometime and have another crack at it.

One Must Fall: 2097 was great, too; like Rise of the Robots but not shit. Again, the author released it as freeware a few years ago, so no excuses for not trying it.

Castle of the Winds is a nice Rogue-ish RPG and worth trying out.

[mikeyg27]

Christ, I used to love that.. I seem to remember the graphics being amazing, looking back on it now they were probably awful.

Adjusting to graphics is a tricky business - for the most part I find that in 2D games it tends to not matter, and with 3D games it's not so much the quality of the graphics as the resolution that bugs me. On my laptop screen I find playing 320x200 games to be a real pain - I think 640x400 is the acceptable minimum. Unfortunately, Dark Forces has no resolution configuration. The mac version did have 640x480 resolution so I'm almost tempted to try and run that through SheepShaver. This is one of the things I really love about emulation - the upscaling on Project64 and ePSXe makes playing games far less eyestrain-inducing.

What's actually the bigger problem for playing Dark Forces in DOSBox is  the controls. Again, you can't configure them, so you have to either get used to controlling an FPS with the arrow keys (eurgh) or use DOSBox to change the key binding (which isn't that hard, but can be a hassle). I've toyed with buying the Steam version of Dark Forces because it comes with a pre-changed keyboard mapper set to more conventional control settings.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Ok- update:

Links 386- still a decent golf game, just as I remembered it.

Skyroads!! - infuriating, great fun, huge synthy soundtrack I don't remember at the time.

Champ Manager 97/98 - I discovered I am not a very good loser. Lost my first 5 matches as Notts County manager and...well, not sure whether I'll be back. They'll sack me at this rate anyway!