The best abandonware action games

Starquake is a weird DOS science fiction platform game developed by Bubble Bus Software in 1988 and designed by Stephen Crow and Dave Collins. The Commodore 64 version boasts a wonderful soundtrack. Unfortunately, the PC version comes with CGA graphics and no soundtrack.

Death Sword (also known as Barbarian in Europe), is a fighting game developed by Palace Software, set in a fantasy world full of huge sword-wielding barbarians. Compared to modern brawlers, Death Sword gameplay may seem slow, but at the time it was considered adequate. Instead of rushing into multiple chain combos, the slow pace allow the players t...

Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting action game developed by Midway Manufacturing Company and released by GT Interactive Software in 1995 for DOS and Windows as well as for many other platforms. Mortal Kombat 3 is the third chapter of the acclaimed Mortal Kombat series that spawned many sequels, a few TV series and even movies (with various degree of suc...

Super Mario Fusion: Revival is a freeware fan-made game project that aims to combine elements from various classic video games, primarily the Super Mario series and the Sonic the Hedgehog series, into a single game. It's essentially a crossover fan game where players can experience levels and gameplay mechanics inspired by both franchises. The...

Stormlord is an abandoned DOS platform game set in a fantasy world, developed and published by Hewson Consultants in 1989 and designed by Raffaele Cecco. There was some controversy about the scantily clothed fairies in the game.

Zool was to Amiga what Sonic was for Sega consoles: a cool protagonist (a ninja of the Nth dimension!) for a high adrenaline action platformer. Zool was designed by George Allen and published by Gremlin in 1992 and it was an instant success. It was ported for many platforms, DOS included, and followed by Zool 2 in 1993.