Saturday, 30th August 2025

The Best DOS Platformers: Beyond Jazz Jackrabbit and Commander Keen

When people talk about DOS platformers, the same two names almost always pop up: Jazz Jackrabbit, the green rabbit with more charisma than most human protagonists, and Commander Keen, the boy genius with a stun gun and a space helmet. But the DOS platformer world of the ’90s was much bigger, more colorful, and sometimes completely unhinged. It’s worth digging a little deeper to uncover other titles that made players jump, run, and curse for generations.

Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion

If Commander Keen is the clean-cut, polite cousin, Dangerous Dave is the one who lives in a basement full of boxes and listens to loud music. In Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion, you find yourself in a monster-infested castle, blasting away enemies with surprisingly gory results for an early ’90s DOS game. Dave doesn’t jump to pick flowers: here, you shoot to survive.

Bio Menace

Built with the same engine as Keen but with a darker vibe (well, as dark as a DOS game with cartoon colors can get), Bio Menace puts you in the shoes of Snake Logan, a secret agent battling mutants, aliens, and ridiculous traps. It’s a mix of frantic shooting and platforming, with the luxury of saving your game at any time: a rare treat back in the day.

Hocus Pocus

Hocus isn’t just any wizard, he’s the kind who has to collect shiny objects while zapping surreal creatures with magical orbs. This is a vibrant, colorful platformer with level design that’s as imaginative as it is occasionally frustrating. The soundtrack is so cheerful you’ll find yourself humming it even as you die for the tenth time in the same trap.

Gods

Here the tone shifts. Gods is an action-platformer with a dark, mythological aesthetic, where you control a Greek warrior armed with patience and you’ll need a lot of it. The gameplay is slower and more strategic compared to Keen’s frantic jumps, but it rewards those who explore and solve environmental puzzles. If you’re looking for a thoughtful (and slightly punishing) platformer, this is your game.

Vinyl Goddess from Mars

If the title sounds… strange, that’s because it is. Vinyl Goddess from Mars is an over-the-top platformer starring a heroine in improbable outfits, fighting bizarre enemies in equally absurd environments. It’s the kind of game that would be remembered today for memes and GIFs, but behind the kitsch exterior lies surprisingly solid level design.

Secret Agent

Running on the same engine as Crystal Caves, this one swaps sparkly gems for 007-style missions: infiltrating, planting explosives, and sabotaging enemy facilities. It’s a single-screen platformer with a puzzle twist, forcing you to think before you leap blindly into danger.

DOS hosted dozens of unforgettable platformers that, thanks to supersonic rabbits and boy astronauts, have been left a little in the shadows. Revisiting them today means discovering an era where pixels ruled supreme, pixel-perfect jumps were a test of skill (and patience), and "Game Over" wasn’t a defeat: it was an invitation to say, "Just one more try… I promise."