DOS abandonware games sorted by popularity

The original Grand Theft Auto drops you into a city where rules are more of a suggestion than an obligation. In Grand Theft Auto, you play from a top-down perspective that somehow ...

With Grand Prix 2, things suddenly get serious, like the genre collectively decided it was time to grow up and learn aerodynamics. This is not just a racing game, it is a full-blow...

NeoPaint 3.2 is a raster-based graphics editing software designed for DOS. It is a lightweight yet powerful alternative to more complex image editing programs like Photoshop. NeoPa...

If you grew up in the ‘90s, you probably remember Disney’s Aladdin as the game that made you want to bounce off rooftops while throwing apples at everything in sight. T...

Wing Commander is one of the games that helped establish the space-combat simulator as a proper cinematic experience rather than merely a collection of dots shooting at other dots....

Sid Meier’s Civilization is the game that tricked an entire generation into loving history, city planning, and the occasional world domination. Starting with a tribe of stick...

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is an enormous fantasy RPG whose sheer ambition still borders on the ridiculous. The world is vast, cities are numerous, dungeons seem to continue ...

Norton Commander was one of the most popular and influential file management applications ever released for MS-DOS. Introduced in 1986, it featured an innovative, dual-pane interfa...

Ignition is a fast arcade racing game that embraces speed, exaggerated tracks, and the simple pleasure of making a car behave in ways that would probably concern an insurance compa...

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 expands the historical strategy formula of its predecessor, offering a deeper simulation of warfare, politics, economics, and diplomacy during China...

PC-Man is a 1982 DOS adaptation inspired by the famous maze-chasing arcade formula, bringing the familiar concept of collecting items while avoiding enemies to early personal compu...

The Lion King brings Disney's animated classic to the computer in the form of a platform adventure starring Simba. The game follows the broad story of the film while turning its me...

Radical! Gnarly! And other 80s slang words! California Games is what happens when sports simulations meet neon-colored vibes and a love of spandex. You’ll hacky sack, BMX rac...

The Need for Speed marked the beginning of a racing series that would eventually become one of gaming's most recognizable names. The original game focuses on fast cars, realistic-f...

The Secret of Monkey Island is one of the great adventure games, combining clever puzzles, absurd comedy, memorable characters, and a pirate story that happily refuses to take itse...

Golden Axe is a classic arcade game developed by Sega and released in 1989. It's a side-scrolling beat 'em up game set in a fantasy world where players choose one of three characte...

SimCity 2000 takes the original city-building formula and expands it into a much richer simulation. Players can construct roads, highways, subways, power networks, water systems, r...

Ultima 7 is often hailed as the crown jewel of the series, and with good reason. It throws you into an open world that feels startlingly alive, even decades later. Townsfolk go abo...

Released in 1996 for DOS, this beast is not a new game so much as an ultra-hard remix of Doom II, crafted by level designers who apparently thought “too much ammo” was ...

Before he was shooting Mecha-Hitler in Wolfenstein 3D, B.J. Blazkowicz was chasing the actual biblical spear that pierced Jesus. Spear of Destiny is the lesser-known prequel, but n...

Albion is a science fiction role-playing game (RPG) developed and published by German studio Blue Byte Software. It was released in 1995 for MS-DOS and later for Amiga. Albion...

Super Mariio Bros is a DOS-era platform game whose title immediately makes its intentions rather obvious. It borrows heavily from the famous plumber formula, offering side-scrollin...

Heroes of Might and Magic offers a strategic playground where armies march, heroes grow stronger, and time seems to disappear without warning. It has that classic “just one more ...

Forget Sonic. Forget Mario. Zool is a ninja from the Nth Dimension, which is apparently a place where hyperactive insects fight sentient sweets. Speed is the name of the game, and ...

Typing lessons become far less intimidating when Mario is cheering you on, and Mario Teaches Typing cleverly transforms keyboard practice into an entertaining challenge. Players im...

Super Street Fighter 2 brings the famous fighting formula to the PC, offering a roster of colorful combatants, special moves, distinctive fighting styles, and enough international ...

Building upon an already outstanding foundation, Master of Orion 2: Battle at Antares adds richer empire management, customizable races, improved diplomacy, and deeper tactical com...

When Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards debuted in 1987, it introduced one of gaming's most famously awkward protagonists. Larry spends the adventure searching...

Street Fighter II is a classic arcade fighting game developed and published by Capcom. It was first released in 1991 as a sequel to the original Street Fighter. Street Fighter II i...

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive in 1996. It is part of the Command &...