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.

Sort by:

Galactix

DOS19923.3/5 Cygnus Studios

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...

Alien Rampage

DOS19964.1/5

Jazz Jackrabbit

DOS1994protected3.8/5 Epic MegaGames

Raptor: Call of the Shadows

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1994protecteddemo4.1/5 Cygnus Studios

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up video game developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software. The game was first released in 1994 for MS-DOS and later ported to other platforms. In Raptor, players control a fighter jet through various levels filled with enemy aircraft, ground targets, power-ups and boss...

Super ZZT

DOS19923.3/5 Epic MegaGames

Realms of Chaos

DOSMac OSLinux1995protected4/5 Apogee Software

Dungeons of Kairn

DOS19893.6/5

Castle Elsinore

DOS19923.5/5 Temple Software

Monopoly

DOS19853.8/5

Crystal Caves

DOS1991protected3.9/5 Apogee Software

Escape from delirium

DOS19953.9/5 Virtual X-Perience

Robotron 2084

DOS19833.9/5 Williams Entertainment

Ack-Ack Attack!

DOS1995remake4.2/5 PLBM Games

Secret Agent: The Escape

DOS19963.8/5 PhreAk Software

LineWars

DOS19904/5 Safari Software

Moraff's World

DOS19913.5/5 Moraffware

Xixit

DOS19954/5 Optik Software

In Search of Dr. Riptide

DOS19943.7/5 MindStorm Software

Hugo 3: Jungle of Doom

DOS1992protected3.8/5 Gray Design Associates

Flying Tigers

DOS19944.1/5 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.