The most popular text-based games
A few genres traditionally linked to the beautiful world of ascii characters still survives: roguelikes (nethack, angband, etc.) and interactive fiction, for example.
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Lawn Mower
DOS19873.8/5
DOS Navigator v 1.5
DOS1991freeware4/5
Borland DBase 5
DOS19944/5 Borland Software Corporation
Borland Reflex 2.0
DOS19863.7/5 Borland Software Corporation
Borland Reflex was a relational database management system (RDBMS) developed by Borland International, a software company that was prominent in the 1980s and 1990s. Reflex was released in the mid-1980s as a graphical database software primarily targeted at business and professional users.
Ace 2.02
DOS20012.7/5
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021
DOS1987freeware3.9/5 Thinking Machine Associates
Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021 is one of the first 4x turn-based strategy games, ASCII based. Anacreon is set in space, as most 4x sci-fi games are, and was published by Thinking Machines Associates and designed by George Moromisato who later re-released the game as freeware.
DND
DOS19844.1/5
Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) v1.1
Windows XP/98/95DOSLinux1996freeware3.9/5
Super ZZT
DOS19923.3/5 Epic MegaGames
Galaxy
DOS19814.1/5 Microcomputer Games Inc.
Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz
DOS19834.3/5 Infocom
Suspended
DOS19833.9/5 Infocom
Borland Turbo C v1
DOS19874.1/5 Borland Software Corporation
VisiCalc 1.0
DOS1979freeware4.3/5 Software Arts
VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet software for personal computers, and it played a pivotal role in the early history of personal computing. It was developed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston and first released in 1979 for the Apple II computer. VisiCalc is often considered the first electronic spreadsheet, and its success had a significant impact ...
Dungeon Master's Assistant Vol 2
DOS1989protected3.8/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Holy Grail
DOS19843.7/5
Dragonriders of Pern
DOS19873.1/5 Everlasting
Borland Paradox 4.5
DOSWindows XP/98/9519934/5 Borland Software Corporation
Norton Commander 1.0
DOS19863.8/5 Peter Norton Computing
Norton Commander was a file manager and editor application released by Peter Norton Computing for DOS. Norton Commander used a text-based user interface with side-by-side panels and featured copy, delete, editing and preview any kind of file easily: it was an improvement over the command-line only MS-DOS interface. Norton Commander 1.0 was fir...
Norton Desktop
DOS19924/5 Peter Norton Computing
Borland Turbo C v2
DOS19883.6/5 Borland Software Corporation
NetHack
DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OSLinux1987freeware3.7/5
NetHack is an open-source roguelike game that's been around since the early 1980s. It's a single-player dungeon exploration game where you navigate your character through a randomly generated dungeon filled with monsters, traps, treasures, and various items. The goal is to retrieve the Amulet of Yendor, located deep within the dungeon's lowest leve...
Borland Turbo Pascal 3.0
DOS19863.8/5 Borland Software Corporation
Planetfall
DOS19834.1/5 Infocom
Rambo First Blood Part 2
DOS19854.1/5 Angelsoft
Hack
DOS1984freeware3.8/5
1893: A World's Fair Mystery
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS20033.6/5
Turbo Pascal 7
DOSWindows 3.xMac OS19924/5 Borland Software Corporation
Turbo Pascal 7 (TP7) is a programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was developed by Borland as an evolution of their earlier Turbo Pascal versions. Turbo Pascal 7 was released around 1992.Turbo Pascal 7 gained popularity in educational settings and among hobbyist progra...
Microsoft Word
Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.x19833.5/5 Microsoft
A-Maze
DOS19894.2/5 New Era Software