Shareware: a business model
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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Blades of Exile
Windows 3.xMac OSWindows XP/98/951997freeware4.1/5 Spiderweb Software
Blades of Exile is a classic role-playing video game developed by Spiderweb Software. It's the third installment in the "Exile" series. The game was released in 1997 for Mac OS, and later for Windows in 1998.In Blades of Exile, players control a party of adventurers who explore the underground world of Exile/Avernum, a vast network of caves and dun...
Blake Stone 1: Aliens of Gold
DOS1993protected4.1/5 JAM Productions
Blake Stone 2: Planet Strike
DOS1994protected4/5 JAM Productions
Blood
DOS1997protected4.2/5 Monolith Productions
Bolo Ball
DOS19923.5/5 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...
Bomb Run
DOS19912.7/5 PC Solutions
Boppin
DOS1994freeware4/5 Accursed Toys
Borderworld
DOS19963.3/5 Midlothian Software
Bubble Pop
DOS19973.8/5 Software of Sweden
Bubble Pop by Software of Sweden is a platform game that follows the classic bubble-popping mechanics similar to other popular games in the genre (Bubble Bobble...). Bubble Pop was published in 1997 by Webfoot Technologies for DOS only.
Cap Man
Windows XP/98/9519993.9/5
Captain Comic, The Adventures of
DOS1988freeware3.8/5
Capture the Flag
DOS19933/5
Castle Elsinore
DOS19923.5/5 Temple Software
Castle of the Winds
Windows 3.x1993freeware4.2/5 SaadaSoft
Castle of the Winds is a fantasy roguelike role-playing game developed by SaadaSoft in the early 1990s. It was designed for Windows 3.x and is notable for being one of the earliest graphical RPGs for that platform. The game features a top-down perspective and incorporates elements of dungeon crawling, exploration, and character development.The game...
Catacomb Abyss
DOS1992protected3.6/5 Softdisk Publishing
Caverns of Chaos
DOS19923/5
Caverns of Kroz
DOS1989freeware3.6/5 Apogee Software
Chain Reaction
DOS19964.1/5 Webfoot Technologies
CHAMP Centipede
DOS1993remake3.7/5 ChamProgramming corp.
CHAMP Kong
DOS1996remake4/5 ChamProgramming corp.
CHAMP Ms. Pac-man
DOS1994remake3.9/5 ChamProgramming corp.
Clyde's Adventure
DOS1992freeware3.5/5 Moonlite Software
Clyde's Revenge
DOS1995freeware3/5 Moonlite Software
Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars
DOS19904.2/5 id software
Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars is a platform video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software in 1990 as shareware for MS-DOS. The game follows the adventures of an eight-year-old genius named Billy Blaze, who uses his homemade spaceship to travel to various alien planets to save the Earth from alien invaders known as V...
Commander Keen 2: The Earth Explodes
DOS1990protected4/5 id software
Commander Keen 3: Keen Must Die!
DOS1990protected4.2/5 id software
Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle
DOS1991protected4/5 id software
Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine
DOS1991protected4/5 id software
Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine is a science fiction action oriented platform game designed by Tom Hall, developed by id Software and released by Apogee Software in 1991 for DOS only. Commander Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine is part of the Commander Keen game series, specifically it's the second episode of Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy.
Commander Keen 6: Aliens Ate my Baby Sitter!
DOS19914.1/5 id software
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventures
DOS1992protected4.1/5 Apogee Software