Abandonware DOS title

Underdog games: underrated worth playing sorted by release date

In order to be an underdog, a game has to be "not well known" to the public (not now, nor at the time of its release) or underrated, but worth mentioning and playing for some reason. There are plenty of games that won the love of gamers against all odds; some of them even had a cult following. By the way, this keyword pays tribute to Sarinee Achavanuntakul, the owner of the first version of Home of the Underdogs, the site that started and popularized the abandonware concept.

Most popular underrated underdog games

Albion
rpgDOS, Windows XP/98/95
alteregof-1

Alter Ego: Female Version

DOS19864.1/5 Activision
alteregom-5

Alter Ego: Male Version

DOS19864/5 Activision
grandslambridge-1

Grand Slam Bridge

DOS19863.4/5 Cybron corporation
starflight-3

Starflight

DOS19864.1/5 Binary Systems
Starflight is a classic space exploration and role-playing video game released in 1986 by Binary Systems and published by Electronic Arts. It is known for its innovative gameplay, as well as its open-ended approach to space exploration and storytelling.The game is set in a massive, procedurally generated universe with thousands of star systems to e...
airball-03

Airball

DOS19873.8/5 MicroDeal
driller-2

Driller

DOS19874.2/5 Incentive Software
Driller (also known as Space Station Oblivion) is an abandoned action-adventure game developed by Incentive and released by Epyx in 1987 based on the Freescape Engine. In Driller, you control an excavation probe in a real 3d environment, through a first person view. The goal of the game is to place a drilling rig in each of the 8 regions of the moo...
roadwareuropa-1

Roadwar Europa

DOS1987protected3.9/5 SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.
4thinches-1

4th & Inches

DOS1988protected3.2/5 Accolade
battlechess-1

Battle Chess

DOS1988protected4.2/5 Interplay Productions
Chess was a niche genre in video gaming. There were lots of chess simulations: black and white very old games, licensed games from chess champions, etc. No one ever attempted to broaden the audience until Interplay published Battle Chess. Battle Chess appeal was almost entirely focused on the animations when two pieces ended on the same square.
feud-03

Feud

DOS19884/5 Binary Design
knight-games-05

Knight Games

DOS19883.9/5 Mastertronic
Olympic games were something back in the 80s and the 90s: Winter Games, Summer Games, California Games, anything-you-can-think-of games. Some imaginative developer thought that the world needed a different kind of "multisport" action game and came up with he idea behind Knight Games.
shadowgate-splash

Shadowgate

DOSWindows 3.xMac OS19884/5 ICOM Simulations
Shadowgate is an abandoned fantasy-themed adventure game developed by ICOM Simulations and released by Mindscape in 1988 for Macintosh, DOS, and also for Amiga, Apple IIgs, Atari ST, NES. Shadowgate uses the ICOM MacVenture engine (Deja Vu, Uninvited). Shadowgate was later remade in an enhanced version for Windows 3.1.
virus-3

Virus

DOS19883.9/5
bombuzal-4

Bombuzal

DOS19893.5/5 Image Works
fastfooddizzy-2

Fast Food Dizzy

DOS19894/5 Codemasters
grail-quest-01

GrailQuest

DOS19893.3/5 Artworx Software
rock-and-roll-03

Rock 'n Roll

DOS19893.3/5 Rainbow Arts
stormlord-02

Stormlord

DOS19894/5 Hewson Consultants
Stormlord is an abandoned DOS platform game set in a fantasy world, developed and published by Hewson Consultants in 1989 and designed by Raffaele Cecco. There was some controversy about the scantily clothed fairies in the game.
time-bandit-08

Time Bandit

DOS19894.4/5 MichTron
Time Bandit is a classic top-down arcade-style video game that was released in 1982 for various home computer systems, such as the Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, and others. It was developed by MichTron. In Time Bandit, players control a character who must navigate through a series of maze-like levels, battling various enemies and collecting treasure a...
altereddestiny-4

Altered Destiny

DOS1990protected3.8/5 Accolade
Altered Destiny is a sci-fi themed point and click adventure game designed by Michael Berlyn, developed and released by Accolade in 1990. Altered Destiny runs on DOS but was also published for Amiga.
cadaver-1

Cadaver

DOS19903.9/5 Bitmap Brothers
hugoh1-1

Hugo's House of Horrors

DOS19903.9/5 Gray Design Associates
Hugo's House of Horrors is an adventure game developed by David P. Gray and released in the early 1990s. The game is a text-based adventure with simple graphics, and it gained popularity for its witty and often tongue-in-cheek approach to the horror genre.The story of the game revolves around the main character, Hugo, who receives a letter from his...
powerdrift-02

Power Drift

DOS19903.9/5 Sega
red-baron-05

Red Baron

DOS1990protected4.2/5 Dynamix
dgeneration-3

D/Generation

DOS19914/5 The Software Toolworks
hillstreetblues-2

Hill Street Blues

DOS19914/5 Krisalis
Hill Street Blues is an old DOS "driving" game developed by Krisalis in 1991. The gameplay it's similar to a Grand Theft Auto clone (we're talking about GTA 1 or 2) in which you are the police and you have to apprehend criminals. Hill Street Blues is a rare example of game based on a TV series.
monuments-of-mars-02

Monuments of Mars

DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1991freeware3.3/5 Scenerio Software
paganitzu-03

Paganitzu

DOS1991protected3.7/5 Apogee Software
Paganitzu is a classic puzzle-adventure game released in 1991 by Apogee Software. Set in an ancient pyramid, the game follows the exploits of its protagonist, Alabama Smith, who must navigate through a series of increasingly complex rooms filled with traps, puzzles, and enemies. The game is divided into three episodes, each one unraveling more of t...
gorilla-bas-01

QBasic Gorillas

DOS1991freeware4/5 Microsoft
Gorillas, also known as "Gorillas.bas," is a turn-based artillery game that was included as a sample program with Microsoft QBasic, an IDE and interpreter for a variant of the BASIC programming language. QBasic was commonly bundled with MS-DOS and early versions of Windows during the early 1990s. The goal of "Gorillas" is to hit the ...
scorched-earth-05

Scorched Earth

DOS1991protected4/5