The most popular shareware games
Shareware is a type of software distribution model that allows users to try a program before purchasing it. It's a marketing strategy and distribution method that was particularly popular in the early days of personal computing, primarily during the 1980s and 1990s.
Shareware games were released for free with limited functionality (for example: no saving, missing levels, time limit), often via a BBS (Bulletin Board System), a floppy disc or a CD included in a printed magazine or by direct download (when internet was in its infancy). If the user liked the shareware product, they could pay to obtain an upgrade and unlock the full game. When digital distribution started to become popular, shareware games slowly faded into oblivion.
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Ancients 1: Deathwatch
DOS1991 Farr-Ware Software
Battlestar
Windows 3.x1996freeware
The Adventures of Maddog Williams in the Dungeons of Duridian
DOS1992freeware Game Crafters
Bolo Ball
DOS1992 Soleau Software
Bolo Ball is a DOS game from the mid-1990s. It features a physics-based gameplay where the objective is to knock opponent balls out of an arena. When you start the game, you find yourself in a 2D arena set against a starry, space-like background. You control a colorful ball, which, despite being a 2D sprite, appears somewhat three-dimensional due t...
Amazing Maze
DOS1983
Temple of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
Super ZZT
DOS1992 Epic MegaGames
Flying Tigers
DOS1994 Ticsoft
Flying Tigers is an abandoned vertical-scrolling sci-fi themed shoot 'em up game developed and released by Ticsoft in 1994 for MS-DOS only. Flying Tigers is the first chapter of the two parts Flying Tigers video game series.
Ant Attack!
DOS1994freeware Dataware
The Final Crusade of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
In the Dead of Night
DOS1995 Trecision
Beyond the Titanic
DOS1986 Apogee Software
Dungeons of Kairn
DOS1989
Space Miner
DOS1983
Night Raid
DOS1992remake Argo Games
Clyde's Adventure
DOS1992freeware Moonlite Software
Exile II: Crystal Souls
Windows XP/98/95Mac OSWindows 3.x1996freeware Spiderweb Software
Skyroads: Xmas Special
DOS1994freeware Bluemoon Interactive
Lost Adventures of Kroz
DOS1990freeware Apogee Software
CHAMP Ms. Pac-man
DOS1994remake ChamProgramming corp.
Joust VGA
DOS1990remake
Monopoly
DOS1985
Monuments of Mars
DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1991freeware Scenerio Software
Borderworld
DOS1996 Midlothian Software
Paganitzu
DOS1991protected Apogee Software
Paganitzu is a classic puzzle-adventure game released in 1991 by Apogee Software. Set in an ancient pyramid, the game follows the exploits of its protagonist, Alabama Smith, who must navigate through a series of increasingly complex rooms filled with traps, puzzles, and enemies. The game is divided into three episodes, each one unraveling more of t...
Escape from delirium
DOS1995 Virtual X-Perience
Blackstar: Agent of Justice
DOS1995
Moraff's Revenge
DOS1988 Moraffware
Stargunner
DOS1996 GT Interactive Software