Novatron

Released in 1982, Novatron is one of those early DOS titles that tried to imagine the future using about twelve pixels and a prayer. It’s an arcade-style shooter that borrows heavily from Defender and Asteroids, throwing relentless waves of enemies at you until your reflexes give out. There’s no deep story — just you, a laser, and the desperate urge to survive long enough to beat your high score. Primitive? Absolutely. But there’s a certain purity to its chaos that modern games can’t quite replicate.