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.
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- MECHWARRIOR 2
- QUAKE 2
- Broken Sword 1
- Half-Life 1
- Jedi knight dark Forces 2
- Police Quest 1
- Aliens vs predator
- System shock 2
- Unreal tournament
- Star Trek Starfleet Academy
- Zork 1 and 2
- Heavy Gear 2
- Jazz Jackrabbit 2
- Pandemonium
- Total annihilation
Baldur’s Gate
Lords of the Realm 2
Descent (1, 2, and 3)
Sim City 2000Reticulating splines.
I still play it now and then, while I like the newer editions this is the one that aged better in comparison.
God I love Lords of the Realm 2. I bought it on GoG and go back and play that every few years for a spell. Rarely see others mention in and it was one of my favorite games of that era.
Yeah, it’s one of the games I consistently return to regularly. Was very disappointed in the sequel.
- 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)
Half Life. While I am too young to have played it when it released, it still was an astounding game for its time.
Obligatory shout-out for any Bullfrog games of that era, especially Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2. Lionhead’s Black & White is 1 year out of your window, but such a good game.
Also:
Syndicate Wars
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Grim Fandango
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Descent
Grand Theft Auto- FFVII (and VIII)
- Homeworld
- Shadowrun (Sega Genesis version)
- Parasite Eve
- Wing Commander Series
- Colony Wars: Vengeance
- Gran Turismo 2
- Freespace (can’t believe I forgot about that one)
…I’m in my late forties, so pre-2000 was my peak gaming time. As a result the list could go on and on and on…
Parasite Eve was a great game, but it never released for DOS/Windows 95. It was PlayStation exclusive (and still is).
Whoops. My mistake. I completely skipped reading the “computer” part of the sentence and started listing off games in general.
Parasite Eve, now here is a man who knows his SquareSoft games
Underrated. I’d be all over a remake.
- Quake II
- The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
- Power Dolls
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- StarCraft with the Brood War expansion
- Fallout
- Star Wars: Dark Forces
- The Oregon Trail (obviously)
- Syndicate
- Star Wars: TIE Fighter (X Wing was good too, but TIE Fighter was better)
- Dune II: Battle for Arrakis
- Ultima Underworld: Stygian Abyss
- SimCity (1989)
- X-COM: UFO Defense
OP said pre-2000, Starcraft wasn’t released until…
checks Wikipedia
Damn.
Yeah, I know. I felt it too.
Syndicate was for me the precursor of GTA, I think I spent more time messing around than actually finishing missions. (In part because it was pretty hard)
Total Annihilation
StarcraftDuke Nukem 3d
Hail to the King, baby!
Holy shit
Hehehe what a mess
You’re an inspiration for birth control!
Those pixelated stripper titties filled a whole bunch of gym socks in my youth.
Some of my favorites in a variety of genre:
- TIE Fighter and/or Freespace
- Planescape: Torment
- Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
- Pharaoh
Also one of Sierra’s adventure games. A popular one is King’s Quest VI.
I remember the difference between xwing and tie fighter. How tight where the missions and the campaign… If there’s a remake to make that’s the one for me.
For sure. Kinda surprised one never got made, really.
Civilization II
Settlers
X-COM: UFO defence
Monkey Island
My highlight in Civ II was losing against a mega empire and then half of it seceded and started a war, so I eventually got the upperhand.
For X-COM, I remember the sheer terror of boarding a ship with my puny squad.
One time, in Civ I, I was living my best life as Rome on a big island until the Chinese sent a battleship to my shores and started destroying my triremes. Somehow, I used a diplomat to take over one of their cities and production was stuck on mobile infantry (must have been a bug), which gave me the ability to make units that could defend against their tech. Then I sent more diplomats to steal tech. The list of tech ran off the screen, but it allowed me to still select tech I couldn’t see. So I started scrolling beyond the visible point and blindly stealing tech. When I accidentally stole nuclear weapons, I built one, loaded it on a trireme, and sent it to Beijing. Their empire instantly split, and I was able to survive. It’s still my best memory from any Civilization game.
Pharaoh !
Age of empires II
Tie-fighter was a good one.
And StarCraft like someone mentioned and Warcraft.
Tie fighter is one of the best games ever, my dad pirated a ton of games from a guy he didn’t like just to get those games for me and my siblings… I bought a flight control stick, I still love the game nothing has come close to the fun
I still remember the “match speed” control but haven’t found any game with it since.
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
My top of the pops are:
- Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers (With Tim Curry)
- Dungeon Keeper
Honorable mentions:
- Starflight
- Pirates! Gold Plus.
- Loom (Which is sadly ignored despite it’s fantastic gameplay mechanic).
- Ultima VII
- Sam & Max Hit the Road
- Lands of Lore
- Cannon Fodder
- Caesar II (Plebs are needed!)
- Broken Sword
- Theme Hospital
- Turok
- System Shock 2 (I think it is playable in Win98? Probably in Win95 but it is a stretch.)
I unforgivingly forgot:
- Master of Orion 2
- Thief Gold (I think it does work with Win9x)
- Outlaws (Despite showing its age, it has some fantastic level design and very tense shootouts.)
- Legacy of Kain
- Anno 1602
- Sid Meier’s Covert Action
- The Colonel’s Bequest
And by law any PC running DOS is mandated to have a copy of Tyrian 2000 installed in it.
As a personal favorite, if you don’t mind reading, Timequest was a blast.
