I was an Atari ST and Mac kid, so my DOS experience is pretty limited. But I will watch this thread!
As a recommendation, how about Dongleware’s physics-based puzzlers, Oxyd, Oxyd Magnum, Per Oxyd etc…
They all have DOS versions and a modern engine remake called Enigma. However I’m unable to confirm if Enigma includes the original Oxyd levels right now (I think it doesnt?)
There’s also the weird Arkanoid-esque physics paddle game, Bolo (not to be confused with the multiplayer tank deathmatch game Bolo, which is also good but unavailable in DOS afaik)
I still have a couple of those shareware cds right here, I think “The Complete Encyclopedia of Games” was the one I put the most time into. It had 1000 games on it, at least a few had to be alright. I think that was how I played Scorched Earth.
Someone said Scorched Earth, right? That game was tremendous fun.
I only recall some likely lost to time games of questionable quality that for whatever reason I ended up with and played too much of. Bang! Bang! was one of those “you have a cannon, set the angle and force and try to blast the other cannon in a seemingly randomly generated environment with wind” games. I recall one where you had a maybe ten by ten grid and ten turns where you had to drill for oil on each one and hopefully not lose all your money.
There was also this unplayable adult game hidden on the comp that ran at like 4x speed hence it was useless.
Loved this game, it was like an interactive cartoon!!! I’m currently reading a book written by the creator, after he became a minister while battling cystic fibrosis. He quit game dev after Bart’s Nightmare was a… nightmare for him.
Oh dear, yes. Jetpack is super cool. Fantastically tight little platformer. I think this is also the first game that had an editor that I used extensively. Strongly recommended. I actually replayed a lot of it last winter and really had a blast with it.
LAST MONTH, the developer, Adam Pedersen, finally released the sequel, JETPACK 2. I should buy it at some point. I’m pretty sure he’s been working on this since the early 2000s. http://www.jetpackhq.com/
A cool thing about early DOS games is how many of them were really, truly the work of one individual.
Nope! But I found that in my search for this game.
This was a strictly 2D game. I’m straining to remember, and I keep getting it confused with helious for some reason.
I think it was a series of mazes, and I seem to remember that there was no level order ;I would end up in the same level through all sort of different routes. I don’t think there was a failure condition as such either. I think you just ended up in another level if you screwed up.
pick a pilot, then pick a giant robot to battle in!!! newscasts between battles!! opponent banter!! interactive levels!! generally looks bad ass! pay to upgrade your robot!!
there was actually a game before this which was more of a straight street fighter clone. there was also a 3d sequel that bombed, but i really loved it. their mistake was focusing on the online multiplayer (which i really liked) and not bringing over all the stuff people loved about the solo game from the first game.
Disc had some pretty impressive PC speaker title screen music.
Aldo’s Adventure was one that really got around. I wonder how many people actually paid to get the sequels, though. I remember that they seemed pretty expensive, but I don’t remember exactly how much they were asking.
4D Boxing was one that I liked even though I didn’t generally care much for polygon graphics or sports games.
