Abandonware DOS retro gaming spotlight

In The Hunt: hunting in a submarine

In The Hunt is a side-scrolling shooter that looks like Metal Slug took a deep breath and dove underwater. Released in arcades first and later ported to PC, it’s all about piloting a heavily armed submarine through claustrophobic environments packed with enemies, explosions, and absurdly detailed pixel art. ...

Crazy Taxi: racing for passengers

In Crazy Taxi, subtlety is for losers. Your mission: drive a cab like a maniac, pick up passengers, and deliver them to their destination faster than they can scream. Set to a punk-rock soundtrack that refuses to let you relax, every second counts. You’ll jump ramps, weave through ...

Death Sword (AKA Barbarian): an art of fighting

Better known as Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior in some regions, Death Sword (1988) is remembered less for its deep gameplay and more for its infamous decapitation move. Swing your sword just right and—plop—your opponent’s head rolls across the arena while a little goblin drags it ...

Zool: the ninja from the Nth dimension

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 Zool never walks—he zips, spins, and somersaults through levels like he drank six espressos too many. Released ...

X-Wing soundtrack added

Star Wars: X-Wing is science fiction vehicle simulation game set in the Star Wars universe designed by Lawrence Holland, Edward Kilham, developed by LucasArts and released by LucasArts in 1993.

The history of action games: One Must Fall 2097

When One Must Fall: 2097 landed on DOS in 1994, the fighting game genre was already crowded with muscle-bound warriors and mystical martial artists. What it lacked, however, were giant robots, corporate dystopias, and the faint feeling that the future might be sponsored. Developed by Diversions Entertainment and published by Epic MegaGames, ...

Abandonware DOS favorite games from the 2000s

My journey with video games is filled with titles that could easily be considered the best, or at the very least, my personal favorites.Creating a perfect ranking is impossible, and this one certainly isn’t trying to be definitive. Some of these games are widely recognized as milestones ...

The Blues Brothers soundtrack added

The Blues Brothers is a platformer that follows the adventures of Jake and Elwood Blues as they try to put their band back together. The player controls one of the Blues Brothers through various levels, each filled with obstacles, enemies, and puzzles. The ultimate goal is to collect musical notes ...

Abandonware DOS favorite games from the 1990s

Throughout my history with video games, many titles could claim the spot of “the best,” or at least my personal favorite at one point or another.Creating a definitive ranking is nearly impossible—and this list certainly doesn’t pretend to be one. Some of these ...

Jet Set Willy: a remake worthy of the original

Jet Set Willy is a classic platform video game released for various home computers in the 1980s. It was developed by Matthew Smith and published by Software Projects for the ZX Spectrum in 1984. The game is the sequel to Manic Miner, another popular title created by Smith. The ...

Gauntlet: warrior, wizard, valkyrie, elf

In Gauntlet, four brave souls (or just you with an overworked space bar) hack, slash, and gobble food like medieval Pac-Men. This 1986 dungeon crawler is basically a family reunion gone wrong: everyone wants treasure, no one shares health potions, and someone inevitably shouts, “Wizard needs food, badly!” at ...

It Came From The Desert: giant ants from the 50s

It Came from the Desert is an abandonware action-adventure game developed by Cinemaware and released in 1990 for PC (DOS) and Amiga. It Came From the Desert is an action-adventure game with a peculiar flavor: it's set in the 50s, in the USA, and it's based on those old monster movies ...

1996 in retro gaming: from Diablo to Daggerfall

Thirty years ago — yes, 1996, the year we all discovered that 3D graphics could both amaze us and instantly melt our PCs — computer gaming had finally learned to walk, run, and occasionally trip over its own polygons. The DOS era was still hanging on, Windows 95 was flexing its new ...

From the arcades: Turbo OutRun

Zero Magazine: "On the ol' addictiveness and playability front, Turbo Outrun is absolutely brilliant. The little extras, like the turbo, make the game different from the usual racey ones and hitting turbo just as a police car reaches you, is fab. Okay, it's yet another drivey game. But it's ...

The Typing of the Dead: kill them with your keyboard

The Typing of the Dead is a distinctive video game, essentially a typing adaptation of the classic rail shooter arcade game, The House of the Dead. Initially debuting in 1999 as an arcade machine, it later became available on other platforms as well. In The Typing of the Dead, players wield ...