Flight simulations
The most common kind of vehicle simulation is without doubt flight simulation involving planes or helicopters of any kind. There are two distinct types of flight simulation games: the ones focused on aerial combat (often involving historical scenarios, missions, etc.) and the ones based on civilian flight.
Most popular flight simulation games
Sort by:
1942: The Pacific Air War
DOS1994protected MicroProse Software
This one’s a flight sim for people who think Top Gun didn’t have enough fuel gauges. 1942: The Pacific Air War puts you in the cockpit of World War II fighter planes, complete with dials, switches, and enough acronyms ...
3-D Helicopter Simulator
DOS1987 Sierra On-Line
Released in 1987, this is less of a simulator and more of a fever dream where you pilot a flying box over a grid pretending to be terrain. 3-D Helicopter Simulator was ambitious for its time, with wireframe graphics that suggest a...
A-10 Tank Killer
DOS1989 Dynamix
Explosions? Check. Missiles? Check. Graphics that look like someone spilled gray soup on your monitor? Double check. A-10 Tank Killer lets you pilot a flying war machine and rain chaos upon tiny pixel tanks that may or may not be ...
A320 Airbus
DOS1993 Thalion
Released in 1993 for DOS, A320 Airbus is less “Top Gun” and more “Intro to Aeronautical Bureaucracy.” It’s a flight simulator so realistic, even real pilots needed a manual. You’ll experience th...
ACE 2
DOS1987 Artronic Limited
In ACE 2 (1987, DOS), you and a buddy can engage in split-screen dogfights so slow they make real air combat look like fast-forwarded ballet. The graphics are simple, but the charm is in the rivalry — few things bond friends...
Ace of Aces
DOS1987 Artech Studios
Ace of Aces (1987, DOS) is a game where you pilot a WWII plane via a series of still-image panels that suggest action more than deliver it. It’s like a flipbook with ambitions. You’ll toggle views, dodge bullets (sort ...
ACE: Air Combat Emulator
DOS1986
This 1986 DOS classic sounds way cooler than it is — ACE: Air Combat Emulator promises combat, but delivers what feels like flying a lawnmower through molasses. Still, for its time, it gave players the thrill of joystick jos...
Aces of the Pacific
DOS1992 Dynamix
Aces of the Pacific (1992, DOS) takes to the skies over WWII’s Pacific Theater, where you can dogfight in legendary aircraft and prove your piloting prowess — or spin into the sea with style. The graphics are dated, bu...
Aces Over Europe
DOS1993 Dynamix
Strap into your Spitfire, because Aces Over Europe (1993, DOS) is here to show you that flying over 1940s Europe was as dangerous as it was polygonal. As a follow-up to Aces of the Pacific, this one tightens the mechanics, adds gr...
Advanced Tactical Fighter 2
DOS1990 Digital Integration
Strap in and squint at the horizon—Advanced Tactical Fighter 2 wants you to dogfight like it’s the Cold War and your joystick is a weapon of mass confusion. Released in the golden era of chunky graphics and keyboard gy...
After Burner
DOS1989 Sega
If you’ve ever wanted to fly a jet fighter at Mach “Oh no, I crashed again,” After Burner is the game for you. This 1989 DOS classic straps you into an F-14 and launches you straight into the danger zone - no tra...
Air Strike USA
DOS1990 Digital Integration
Released in 1990, Air Strike USA is what you'd get if Top Gun had a baby with a Saturday morning cartoon. You pilot a heavily armed jet through side-scrolling skies, shooting down everything that moves and quite a few things that ...
Air Traffic Controller
DOS1985 Cascoly Software
Welcome to the most stressful job in the world - rendered in glorious 1985 DOS graphics! Air Traffic Controller lets you experience the thrill of herding aircraft without the luxury of coffee breaks or radar resolution. It’s...
Air Trax
DOS1983
Ah yes, Air Trax from 1983 - a game where “flight” is more of a philosophical concept. It’s clunky, it's slow, and it looks like it was coded in someone’s garage (because it probably was). But there’s...
Apache Longbow
DOSWindows XP/98/951995protected Digital Integration
Step into the cockpit of the Apache Longbow, a 1995 combat flight simulator where you’ll experience the thrilling sensation of trying to figure out keyboard controls before getting shot down by invisible enemies. It's a seri...
Apache strike
DOS1989 Activision
Ah, Apache Strike (1989), the game where you're the lone helicopter pilot flying through blocky cities that look like they were made of leftover Lego bricks. Your mission? Blow up bad guys in a first-person view that resembles a s...
Armour-Geddon
DOS1992 Psygnosis
Armour-Geddon is what you get when someone combines Wargames with a midlife crisis. Set in a post-nuke world where you pilot tanks, helicopters, and laser cannons to stop a doomsday device, it’s a strange cocktail of strateg...
ATAC: The Secret War Against Drugs
DOS1992 Argonaut Games
ATAC (1992) is what you get when someone says, “What if we made SimCity, but for waging the War on Drugs?” You play as the head of an anti-narcotics task force, deploying units, tracking smugglers, and launching airstr...
B-1 Nuclear Bomber
DOS1981 Avalon Hill
Ever wanted to be responsible for ending the world in fewer than ten keypresses? B-1 Nuclear Bomber (1981) gives you that chance, wrapping global annihilation in glorious monochrome and a user interface that feels like it was desi...
B-17 Flying Fortress
DOS1992 MicroProse Software
B-17 Flying Fortress (1992) is the kind of game where you don't just fly the plane—you are the plane. One moment you're the pilot, the next you're the nose gunner swatting Luftwaffe pests like you're at the world’s ang...
B-24 Combat Simulator
DOS1987protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
Step aside, arcade action—B-24 Combat Simulator (1987) is here to test your patience, eyesight, and possibly your sanity. It’s all about realism, baby. You’ll take off, navigate, bomb targets, and hopefully land,...
Battlehawks 1942
DOS1988 LucasArts
Welcome to the skies of World War II, where dogfights are fast, fuel is low, and you probably forgot to raise your landing gear. Battlehawks 1942 (1988) is a flight sim with just enough realism to make you sweat and just enough ar...
Blue Angels: Formation Flight Simulation
DOS1989 Artech Studios
Ever wondered what it’s like to fly inches from another jet’s tail while defying both gravity and common sense? Blue Angels: Formation Flight Simulation (1989, DOS) tries to capture the precision of elite aerobatics wi...
Blue Max: Aces of the Great War
DOS1990protected Artech Studios
Forget missiles—Blue Max: Aces of the Great War takes you back to when air combat meant leather helmets, canvas wings, and a healthy fear of gravity. Released in 1990 for DOS, it’s a flight sim that drops you into WWI&...
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat
DOS1991 Electronic Arts
Chuck Yeager's Air Combat is a combat flight simulation video game released in 1991 by Electronic Arts. The game is named after and endorsed by the real-life aviation legend, Chuck Yeager, who was the first pilot to break the soun...
Comanche: Maximum overkill
DOS1992 NovaLogic
Cougar Force
DOS1990 Coktel Vision
David Wolf: Secret Agent
DOS1989 Dynamix
Dawn Patrol
DOS1994 Rowan Software
Dive Bomber
DOS1989