Abandonware DOS title

The most popular action puzzle games

Action puzzle games are a hybrid genre that combine elements of both action and puzzle games, requiring players to manipulate a character or solve problems within a real-time environment. Unlike traditional puzzle games that often allow for careful, turn-based thinking, action puzzle games demand quick reflexes and fast decision-making.
These games often involve navigating characters through obstacle-filled environments (thing about puzzle platformers). The core gameplay still revolves around problem-solving, but it’s layered with the intensity and pacing typically found in action titles.
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Arkanoid: Doh It Again

Windows XP/98/951997 Taito
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Lemmings 95

Windows XP/98/951994 DMA Design
lemmings-5

Lemmings

DOS1991 DMA Design
Lemmings is a classic puzzle-platformer video game developed by DMA Design (now known as Rockstar North) and published by Psygnosis. It was originally released in 1991 for the Amig...
rodent-revenge-01

Rodent's Revenge

Windows 3.x1991 Microsoft
Rodent's Revenge is a puzzle video game originally released in 1991 as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack for Windows. Developed by Christopher Lee Fraley, the game is simple...
arkanoid-1

Arkanoid

DOS1988 Taito
Arkanoid is a classic arcade video game that was first released in 1986 by Taito. It is a breakout-style game, which means that the primary objective is to break a wall of bricks o...
lostvikings-1

The Lost Vikings

DOS1993 Silicon & Synapse
In The Lost Vikings (1993, DOS), three Viking warriors with more brawn than brains find themselves kidnapped by aliens. Instead of raiding villages, they’re solving puzzles w...
pushover-1

Pushover

DOS1992 Red Rat software
Pushover is a puzzle platformer video game developed by Red Rat Software and released by Ocean Software in 1992. It was initially available for the Commodore Amiga and later ported...
supaplex-5

Supaplex

DOS1991freeware Think!Ware Development
Supaplex is a classic puzzle game released in 1991 by Think!Ware Development for MS-DOS and Amiga. It is heavily inspired by Boulder Dash but introduces more complex mechanics.&nbs...
traintown-deluxe-04

3D Ultra Lionel Traintown

Windows XP/98/952000 Dynamix
If your childhood involved model trains and elaborate setups that your cat kept destroying, 3D Ultra Lionel Traintown is digital therapy. Released in 2000 for Windows XP, it mixes ...
arkanoid2-splash

Arkanoid 2: The Revenge of Doh

DOS1989 Taito
Doh is back, and he’s mad - presumably because no one understood what he was in the first place. Arkanoid 2 takes the original formula and dials everything up: more levels, m...
bomb-jack-01

Bomb Jack remake

DOS2002remake
The classic bomb-defusing, platform-hopping, enemy-dodging chaos of Bomb Jack gets a fresh coat of pixels in this 2002 DOS remake. You’re still the tiny superhero hopping aro...
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Bust-A-Move

DOS1997freeware Taito
Also known as Puzzle Bobble, this bubble-popping classic stars those cute dragons from Bubble Bobble, now in competitive puzzle mode. Match three colors, clear the screen, panic as...
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Boulder Dash

DOS1984 First Star Software
Boulder Dash is a classic action-puzzle video game that was first released in 1984 by First Star Software. In Boulder Dash, players control a character named Rockford as he di...
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All Dogs Go to Heaven

DOS1989 Polarware
This 1989 game is based on the animated movie where dogs die, go to heaven, then come back for revenge (sort of). The DOS adaptation? Well, it’s more like All Pixels Go Nowhe...
lemmings2-2

Lemmings 2: The Tribes

DOS1993 DMA Design
Lemmings 2: The Tribes is an abandoned puzzle game part of the acclaimed Lemmings series. It was developed by DMA Design and released by Psygnosis in 1993. Lemmings 2: The Tribes r...
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Bombuzal

DOS1989 Image Works
Part puzzle, part platformer, part “what is even happening,” Bombuzal (1989, DOS) is a game where your job is to blow up every bomb on the screen—while not accide...
thehumans-2

The Humans

DOS1993protected Imagitec Design
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ZZT

DOS1991freeware Epic MegaGames
ZZT (1991, DOS) looks like it was drawn by an enthusiastic ASCII artist with too much time and not enough colors. And yet, it’s brilliant. Part action game, part puzzle adven...
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Diggers

DOS1994 Millennium Interactive
By 1994, digging had evolved from arcade twitch action to full-on economic warfare. Diggers on DOS turned mining into a cutthroat competition between quirky alien races, each with ...
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Beauty and the Beast

DOS1992 Infogrames
This isn’t Disney’s musical fairytale—it’s a DOS game, which means Beauty and the Beast is way more "puzzle platformer" than "tale as old as time." You play...
airball-03

Airball

DOS1987 MicroDeal
In Airball (1987), you don’t play a knight, a space marine, or a plumber - you play a literal ball of air. Trapped in an isometric nightmare of spikes, fans, and poison gas, ...
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Never mind

DOS1989 Psygnosis
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Rock 'n Roll

DOS1989 Rainbow Arts
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Beetlejuice: Skeletons in the Closet

DOS1992 Riedel Software Productions
Beetlejuice: Skeletons in the Closet is a video game based on the popular Beetlejuice franchise, which includes a 1988 film directed by Tim Burton and an animated television series...
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Rockford: The Arcade Game

DOS1987protected Arcadia Systems
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Holiday Lemmings

DOS1993 DMA Design
Lemmings was one of the most iconic puzzle games ever made. It was also one of the most inventive. The idea behind those tiny furred punk suicidal rodents is truly a stroke of geni...
dxball2-04

DX-Ball 2

Windows XP/98/951998protected Longbow Digital Arts
DX-Ball 2 is a popular brick-breaking game that was first released in 1998 by Longbow Digital Arts. It serves as a sequel to the original DX-Ball, which was inspired by the classic...
ohnomorelemmings-4

Oh no! More Lemmings

DOS1991 DMA Design
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Lemmings 3D

DOS1995 Psygnosis
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All New World of Lemmings

DOS1994 DMA Design
Released in 1994, All New World of Lemmings gives our suicidal little friends a new lease on life... and new outfits! The puzzles are tougher, the graphics are cleaner, and the fru...