Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

1994 in retro gaming: The Elder Scrolls: Arena

The Elder Scrolls: Arena is the first chapter in the popular fantasy RPG series "The Elder Scrolls" developed by Bethesda Softworks. Like the other games in the series, Arena takes place in the continent of Tamriel and allows the player to roam freely in an open world scenario.The Elder ...

Play Qix online on Abandonware DOS

Qix is a classic arcade games that every vintage game conoisseur should know. The original version hit the arcades in 1981 and was an instant success. The gameplay is really simple: draw squares and rectangles to captures areas of the screen without dyiing. When you manage to claim the majority of ...

1986 in retro gaming: Archon, Karateka, Space Quest

30 years ago, computer gaming was growing slowly. Computers like the C64 and the Spectrum were the main source of digital amusement among Home Computer owners. Finally after a few disappointing years, in 1986 a handful of interesting games began to conquer the PC public:Archon was an hybrid between an ...

Balance of the Planet: environmental simulation

Balance of the Planet is an environmental simulation game designed by Chris Crawford and self published under the Incredible technologies label in 1990. Its almost unique (for the time) and serious theme contributed to the game to stand out. Balance of the Planet is part of the Balance of Power series.

Games set in South America

Video games set in South America usually involve Inca or Aztec cultures and mythology. Typical South American settings and cliches are: the jungle, the Amazon, ancient temples, guerrilla warfare, petty dictators, etc.Here's a few of them:Indiana Jones and his Desktop Adventures  Windows 3.x 1996 LucasArts Flight of the ...

Telarium: early interactive fiction

Telarium was known for interactive fiction adventure games with graphics. Their adventure games were almost all based on novels such as Farenheit 451 and Rendez Vous With Rama. Telarium often cooperated with the authors of those books.Based in: U.S.A. Established in: 1984 Closed in: 1987 gamegenrereleasedAmazonadventure1984Dragon Worldadventure1984Farenheit 451...

Plan 9 From Outer Space: inspired by a B movie

"There was so much potential for a decent game within Plan 9's dire plot and general naffness that the game seems a real cop-out. I'm a real fan of all those awful B-movies, and likes of The Creature From The Black Lagoon and King Kong are just gagging for ...

Wargaming: The Perfect General

The Perfect General is a turn-based strategy military game developed by White Wolf Productions and released in 1991 by Quantun Quality Production. The Perfect General gameplay is quite simple compared to other wargames, but it's based on a solid set of rules and let the players progress at their own pace ...

1998 in PC gaming: Dune 2000, Axis and Allies, Railroad Tycoon 2

20 years ago PC gaming was thriving. Half-Life re-defined the game design of FPSs. Baldur's Gate and Fallout 2 gave hope to gamers who were waiting for the next generation of RPGs. Adventure gamers enjoyed Grim Fandango immensely. Real-time strategy fans spent countless hours playing StarCraft. And let's not forget&...

RPG spotlight - Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar

Ultima IV is remembered as one of the best Ultima games ever released, designed as usual by Richard Garriott. Garriott took the Ultima series to a whole new level by introducing the eight virtues: honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, spirituality, humility. Ultima IV started the trilogy known as "Age ...

Relaxing with Alpha Waves

Alpha Waves was the ultimate relaxing experience for PC. As a platform game, Alpha Waves it's an ok game; not bad, not very good, but if you consider the whole relaxing experience, it's worth a try. Alpha Waves stands the test of time, after all these years it's still fairly ...

Delivering papers as a digital paperboy

Paperboy was an unusual 1985 arcade hit developed by Atari, later published by Mindscape for DOS in 1988 and for other platforms as well. Paperboy gameplay is peculiar: you control a paperboy on a bicycle and you have to deliver newspapers to a number of houses while avoiding dogs, cars and other ...

Supremacy: Your Will Be Done

Supremacy: You Will Be Done (also known simply as Overlord) is a rare example of mix between real-time strategy and science fiction themed 4X game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploid, eXterminate). Supremacy was developed by Probe Entertainment and published by Mastertronic in 1990.PC Review wrote about Supremacy in 1992: "Two huge civilisations battle ...

Zool: the ninja from the Nth dimension

Zool was to Amiga what Sonic was for Sega consoles: a cool protagonist (a ninja of the Nth dimension!) for a high adrenaline action platformer. Zool was designed by George Allen and published by Gremlin in 1992 and it was an instant success. It was ported for many platforms, DOS included, ...

Electronic Games Arcade Awards: Games of the Year 1979

Electronic Games was a magazine published in the 1980s and the 1990s entirely focused on video games (one of the first ones, if you think about it). Every year, Electronic Games magazine held a Game of the Year "Arcade Awards".These are the best games published in 1979 according to Electronic ...

Asteroids: the abandoned remakes

The original game Asteroids was one of the most popular arcade games of the 80s; a fixed-screen shooter first published for arcade machines in 1979.Original title: Asteroids  First released in: 1979 Developer: Atari Publisher: Atari, Taito Designer: Lyle Rains, Ed Logg, Dominic ...

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. II: The Two Towers is an abandoned fantasy top-down DOS RPG game set in the The Lord of the Rings universe. The Lord of the Rings II was developed and released by Interplay Productions in 1992. The Lord of the ...

The Infocom InfoComics

InfoComics was an engine developed by Infocom, used for a series of adventure games that today would be described as visual novels (something like non-interactive comics). InfoComics weren't much popular and, apparently, were one of the causes that lead to Infocom demise. Infocom published four games based on the Infocomics ...

Abandonware DOS in 2020: what's changed and what's new

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who donated a few bucks to help me keep working on Abandonware DOS. THANK YOU, THANK YOU and again THANK YOU! 2020 will go down in history as the COVID year. I live in northern Italy, in one of the first regions ...

Operation Wolf: first-person shooting gallery

Operation Wolf was a hit at the arcades, in part thanks to that wonderful cabinet. I have to admit that I've never played it outside my home. I used to play Operation Wolf first on a Commodore 64 (and yes, I enjoyed it) and later on a 386 PC. What I really ...

The best PC games according to Rock Paper Shotgun

In 2017 Rock Paper Shotgun compiled a list of the 75 greatest PC games of all time. While a majority of them were published in recent years, there are quite a few good old classics we know and love that deserve to be in any PC "top games" chart.1990Red Baron1992Dune ...

Icewind Dale: better than Baldur's Gate?

When I played Baldur's Gate, I knew that RPGs weren't dead. There was this feeling that a new wave of RPGs was coming. I loved Baldur's Gate, but I found some parts of the story and the NPC's a bit too naive. What I loved of Icewind Dale, was that ...

The Magic Candle series: almost like Ultima

The Magic Candle is a series of old school RPGs developed by Mindcraft much like Ultima. You control a party of adventurers in a top-down perspective environment. You can explore towns, fight monsters, talk to people, manage your inventory and even get someone of your party to work for a ...

What was your favourite classic arcade game?

Everyone knows what "classic arcade" means. And everyone should know what the most popular and loved classic arcade games are (or, should I say "were"?). Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Space Invaders are perhaps the most iconic classics in the early history of video gaming. If you're a true retro-gamer you ...

Lure of the Temptress: the first game made with the Virtual Theatre engine

Lure of the Temptress is an DOS fantasy adventure game, developed by Revolution Software, designed by Dave Cummins and published by Virgin Interactive in 1992. It's available for download. Lure of the Temptress was the first game to use the Virtual Theatre engine, also developed by Revolution Software.

Rampage: monsters VS buildings

As a kid, I remember spending hours at the bar down the road playing at Rampage as Lizzie. Destroying buildings and eating tasty humans was one of my favourite past-times. It's surprising that the coin-op conversion of Rampage for DOS ended up as a nice game. Granted it's not the ...

What was your favourite fighting game?

Fighting games (or VS fighting), is a genre that appeals quite a wide range of gamers.Fighting games involves hand-to-hand fighting against a single opponent for the whole duration of a match. A distinctive trait of fighting games are special attacks, i.e. combinations of graphically striking moves which enhance ...

CODiE Awards 2000: Half-Life, Links, Pharaoh

The year 2000 brought one classic to the PC video gaming world, still remembered today: Half-Life. That wasn't the only game deserving an award, but it's undeniable that Half-Life was a milestone not only in first-person shooters, but also in the whole history of PC gaming.In history, we all woke ...

Italian videogames in the 90s

Italy wasn't a prolific nation if you think about video games in the golden age of personal computers. There were a few valid software houses (Simulmondo, Milestone, Trecision, etc.) but they all disappeared leaving behind lots of mediocre games. Only a few of them are worth playing, but that doesn't ...

Retro company spotlight: Strategic Simulations Inc.

SSI (Strategic Simulations Inc.) was one of the most prolific game companies of the 80s and the 90s. SSI was founded in 1979 and developed and/or published more than one hundred games. SSI was popular among video games players for two things: wargames and RPG goldbox games.Strategy games developed ...