this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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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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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

X-Com - UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep (I remember hacking my demo copy of UFO Defense and bypassing the shareware check. Still my all time favorite strategy game)

Doom

Duke Nukem 1, 2, and 3D

Wolfenstein 3D

Jetpack

Commander Keen

Raptor: Call of the Shadows

Rise of the Triad

Monster Bash (Just pretty much anything 3D Realms or Apogee related was gold)

Moraff's Dungeons of the Unforgiven(Only ever had the shareware version as a kid, but I played it over and over)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

Fate of Atlantis is pretty good

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

SSI gold box D&D titles and Dungeon master, though both are better on Amiga

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

Myth The Fallen Lords and Myth 2 on the Macintosh. This was my favorite multiplayer game I’ve ever played by far.

Other great Mac games from my youth: The Odyssey (1994) by David Larkin Sim City and Sim City 2000 Rogue Sim Ant Prince of Persia The Scarab of Ra Realmz Path Ways into Darkness and Marathon

And my favorites on BBS were Major Mud and Legend of the Red Dragon.

I didn't have a PC, but when I went to friend’s houses I would play the shit out of Doom.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
  • 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
[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Baldur's Gate
Lords of the Realm 2
Descent (1, 2, and 3)
Sim City 2000

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Reticulating splines.

I still play it now and then, while I like the newer editions this is the one that aged better in comparison.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
  • 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)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago

Half Life. While I am too young to have played it when it released, it still was an astounding game for its time.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago

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

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)
  • 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....

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Parasite Eve was a great game, but it never released for DOS/Windows 95. It was PlayStation exclusive (and still is).

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)
  • 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
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

OP said pre-2000, Starcraft wasn't released until....

checks Wikipedia

Damn.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Total Annihilation
Starcraft

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Hail to the King, baby!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Civilization II

Settlers

X-COM: UFO defence

Monkey Island

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)
  • MULE
  • Might and Magic VI
  • Master of Orion
  • Civ 1 & 2
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

The dig. The game is inspired by an idea originally created for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories series.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Tie-fighter was a good one.

And StarCraft like someone mentioned and Warcraft.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

I still remember the "match speed" control but haven't found any game with it since.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Anything by Blizzard

Anything by id

Most things by Maxis

Half Life

Deus Ex bends the rule a bit, being 2000, but I can't not mention it

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Definitely go and find Marathon and it's sequels, preferably in their original form on the Mac. But you don't need to go through all that trouble necessarily, Bungie released all the source some time ago and it is all freely available for new hardware now.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

*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)

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Maniac Mansion. I never got far, but it's a silly little point and click game.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Command and Conquer: Tiberium Sun

Tomb Raider

Mortal Kombat 3

Streets of Rage

Metal Gear Solid

Duke Nukem 3D

Metal Slug

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy. I still own this series on steam and play it when I get nostalgic.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The fact that nobody has said Warcraft II yet saddens me.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

I spent hours playing Transport Tycoon.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

What I spent ages on:

  • It came from the desert
  • Moria
  • Nethack
  • Sierra games, PQ and KQ and Manhunter in particular
  • Rainbow Islands
  • Hillsfar
  • Motor Massacre
  • Monkey Island, first 3
  • Populous
  • IK+
  • North and South (multiplayer)
  • Nuclear War (multiplayer)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

ZZT is number one for sure

Sierra's Quest for Glory series

Heroes of Might and Magic

Warcraft 2 slapped. Was WC3 also in the 90's?

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Pc games I really loved masters of orion 2

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (3 children)

When I was. Small child in the early 90s, my dad was a network engineer and he setup our family computer with DOS and lots of games. I don't remember all of them but I do remember the following:

  • Various arcade games that began running too fast to play after he upgraded the processor
  • Commander Keen
  • After Dark, which wasn't really a game so much as a cool and highly adjustable screen saver. But for some reason me and my siblings spent many hours playing this "game".

Anyway, I guess Commander Keen is my only real suggestion here and I do believe it's a great game. Just wish I could remember some other games he had installed on the DOS system for us that weren't baby games like Mickey's ABCs and 123s.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Kings Quest 5, 6, & 7

Jill of the Jungle trilogy (free on GOG!)

Woodruff and the Schnibble of Azimuth

Torin's Passage

... Can you tell my dad was a Sierra Online fan? ^^'

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Jazz Jackrabbit Epic Pinball Elder Scrolls Daggerfall Monkey Island 1, 2 and 3 Heretic and Hexen

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