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Pre-Windows PC gaming thread; Any fans?
Topic Started: Dec 16 2016, 09:07 PM (671 Views)
DamienC
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After NES and Genesis, my favorite game platform is probably DOS gaming. Anything from the mid 80s up until Windows took over. Don't really know if anyone here was into that sort of stuff. I know Sqwirl and I used to talk about it, and I think Port has some older stuff IIRC.

DOSBox works really well but I like playing on the original machines. In my basement I currently have an XT clone, my family's old 386SX (my first PC ever), a custom built Pentium 233 MMX, and a custom 386DX all for DOS gaming. The 386DX is connected to a really nice late-model LaCie 19" CRT I found at Goodwill cheap.

Big box PC games were one of the last platforms that speculators and resellers got into and up until the last couple years you could still find some stuff, although anything on floppy goes for absurd amounts like everything else now.

A lot of DOS stuff got ported to NES, Genesis and SNES but they were almost always superior in their original DOS versions. Elite, Maniac Mansion, Sim City, Populous, DOOM, Mechwarrior, Wolfenstein 3-D and Wing Commander come to mind.

And of course there's the stuff that consoles just couldn't do, at least until later in the 90s. The X-Wing series, the X-COM series, and anything using the DOOM engine (Hexen, Strife, etc.) are DOS classics. Lucasarts and Sierra adventure games just feel better with a mouse on a PC, re: Maniac Mansion and King's Quest V. Then again by the time CD media came along, there were some decent ports like the Sega CD versions of Monkey Island and Loom.

A lot of good games got released by their publishers as freeware. 3D Realms in particular released a bunch of good stuff from their Apogee days like Bio Menace and Alien Carnage. Epic Megagames released decent stuff like Xargon and Kiloblaster (but unfortunately not the rare platformer Jill of the Jungle). One of the best former commercial games made free is the excellent horizontal shmup Tyrian 2000, highly recommended.

Anyone else into this stuff?
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lannyc
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i have my share of nostalgic feels for dos gaming, but i don't feel like most of it holds up well, even in comparison to other 80s home PCs. everything pre-vga/fm synthesis just has such a gross aesthetic..

i do love me some scorched earth, however.

and C&C

and wolfenstein

and a good chuck of everything else apogee/id

ok yeah a lot of stuff really

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Reverend Crush
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I didn't have a PC growing up, but I played the shit out of Warcraft and One Must Fall at my cousin's house. Over the summer, I'd play them on one of those browsers with a spotty version of DOSBox installed. Couldn't get OMF to control properly, but Warcraft worked just fine.

For the most part, everything I found was either unplayable (or not working), or just tedious, boring, or unclear as to what you need to do. Maybe I need to actually install DOSBox on my laptop and try some of these games again.
I'M ON DRUGS!
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portnoyd
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DamienC,Dec 16 2016
11:07 PM
One of the best former commercial games made free is the excellent horizontal shmup Tyrian 2000, highly recommended.

Tyrian is awesome. Such a great shooter and it really embodied the look, sound and feel of DOS gaming too.

I have some floppy disc stuff, but it's actually stuff my wife kept from her PC days playing King's Quest and Quest for Glory. I actually got into PC gaming late - Win 3.11 days so I didn't have as much experience as most people who like this area of gaming.

Recently all I have played has been SCUMMVM stuff as I don't have and don't have a desire to have an old PC to play the games on. But I'm a big LucasArts nerd so I just replayed Monkey Island 1&2 though.
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Bratwurst
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Had an early to mid 80s IBM with Jumpman and Flightmare, those kind of games, and for a while that was it. Think CGA, cyan and magenta graphics.

Didn't get another computer until a lot of businesses were phasing out 486 machines at which point I had my pick of them and even a few early Pentiums in the mid 90s. So it was a blend of DOS and Win 3.11 at that point, but mostly DOS, and I certainly enjoyed it. Even without consistent internet access you could order from several catalogs of discount software outlets for 'obsolete' used games that weren't even a year old. I remember getting boxed copies of Duke3D and Mechwarriors 2 Mercs for 5 or 6 bucks. Grabbed a new copy of Ultimate Doom for $20 at Wal Mart and I think that was the most I ever spent (Well worth the $20, the CD was packed with levels and add-ons and the packaging was gorgeous.)

Warcraft 1 was $10 new, the dollar stores even had floppies of games. Nearly all of the Apogee library. A subscription to PC Gamer included demo discs with every mag and introduced me to games like Blood, Terminal Velocity and Tomb Raider.
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DamienC
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Digging the compilation CD collection lanny, I have a few floating around somewhere.

Crush, OMF is one of the games that Epic released for free. I forget the URL for it but I made myself an ISO of formerly commercial free DOS stuff, I can post a link here if you're interested.

I still need to play through Monkey Island 2, and I kinda want to replay through Loom. I love the music in that one even though the game is a bit more tedious at parts.

Before internet gaming really kicked in my friends and I would play Warcraft II, Doom and Quake over a dial-up connection. I remember having to figure out proper modem strings for our respective hardware and getting shit from my parents for tying up the phone line.
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clawx
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I used to play HUGO'S HOUSE OF HORRORS and HUGO 2 on my uncle's computer and never get anywhere with either game but still had fun.

I like Doom.


Uh... thats about it for my experiences with any kind of PC gaming.
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FlowingMindspin
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My earliest experiences with PC gaming were on my cousin's Packard Bell (lol) that had Windows 3.1 on it. Mostly shareware/freeware games like Jetpack, Hugo's House of Horrors, Wacky Wheels... maybe a few others that I'm forgetting. I remember that getting them to run was a chore in and of itself.

I distinctly remember my older cousin talking my cousin who was my age into buying a collection of Eye of the Beholder games instead of Breath of Fire II during a trip to Electronics Boutique (which was a big deal since our closest EB was 30 miles away at the time so we didn't get there very often). He regretted the decision, but I spent a LOT of time playing those games when I was over at their house for holidays, etc.

I should fire one up and see how it is now. :P

Also I still remember the DUN DUNNNNNNNN startup sound on the PC and the woman's voice announcing "Welcome to Packard Bell's navigator!" and then you had like 6 icons to pick from to get you started. Hoo boy. :D
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FlowingMindspin
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Claw, Hugo's House of Horrors was ridiculous. Don't feel bad. I did manage to beat it after YEARS of playing it as a kid.

The fucking mutant dog always killed me because I couldn't DROP CHOP fast enough haha
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DamienC
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It took me until I was an adult to figure out how to get the bung out from the computer room in HHH.

Yes I said bung.
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FlowingMindspin
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lol, I didn't even know what the fuck a bung was. That shit was infuriating.

break pumpkin get key use key yay
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portnoyd
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DamienC,Dec 17 2016
06:15 PM
Crush, OMF is one of the games that Epic released for free. I forget the URL for it but I made myself an ISO of formerly commercial free DOS stuff, I can post a link here if you're interested.

I still need to play through Monkey Island 2, and I kinda want to replay through Loom. I love the music in that one even though the game is a bit more tedious at parts.

Before internet gaming really kicked in my friends and I would play Warcraft II, Doom and Quake over a dial-up connection. I remember having to figure out proper modem strings for our respective hardware and getting shit from my parents for tying up the phone line.

Oh man, free OMF2097, sign me up.

Loom is rough. I tried playing it but for whatever reason, it was like programming - I never could get the hang of it because my brain never wrap itself around it.

Dial up Doom, Warcraft II and DUKE NUKEM 3D was my jam. Even if it was just heads up match, it was the best.

I played Hugo at my aunt's house. I think I actually beat it, so I guess I too am mildly autistic.
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DamienC
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I set up a temporary FTP to get some folks the ISO but it's not really practical and it kinda screws up my bandwidth.

If anyone knows a good file sharing site that's not crawling with spyware that can handle a 650mb file let me know.
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strx10
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https://www.myairbridge.com/eng/ - 20GB free, but the download disappears after a few days. I don't think you need an account, but there is an option to get one
https://www.mega.nz/- No Ads, don't need an account and reliable. Only downside is the strange ass cache downloading system
http://www.Dropbox.com - Need account, but no ads, reliable and 2GB free I think?
http://www.mediafire.com - Some Ads, but I've used this for years and haven't had issues sending stuff directly

I'll make a detailed post in this thread when I get a chance. Love me some pre Windows games and you guys definitely have nailed down quite a few of the memorable ones so far. I'll just add that Skyroads hasn't been mentioned and immediately came to mind. The game play is pretty good, but the music is what really made the game something special in my eyes and I played it a lot for quite a few years.
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portnoyd
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Dropbox is fine even if it's run by morons. It's 5 gigs out of the box free.

I have used Mega but the interface is garbage.
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