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Nice looking DOS games

stranno

Member
Another weird looking game, Thunder Offshore. Spanish racing game with a unique rendering approach. Idk what kind of rendering technique it uses, it looks like Novalogic's Voxelscape but more limited. Definitely not an FMV game (it could look like that in the gif).

5m1pSN7.gif
 
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There were some games that managed to look good while using the ugly default palette in CGA/EGA like these games:
Jeopardy!
jeopardy_7.gif
jeopardy_4.gif
Oh man I played that Jeopardy sooooo fucking much, holy shit are those contestant pics such a blast from the past. Reminds me of a Monopoly game I played a ton of as well.

I have so many fond memories of DOS games, I gotta do some searching and post some of my favorites later.
 
Another weird looking game, Thunder Offshore. Spanish racing game with a unique rendering approach. Idk what kind of rendering technique it uses, it looks like Novalogic's Voxelscape but more limited. Definitely not an FMV game (it could look like that in the gif).

5m1pSN7.gif

You are very interesting in your knowledgeable descriptions. How old are you? What do you do?

Keep posting mate I'm enjoying and learning.
 
There were some games that managed to look good while using the ugly default palette in CGA/EGA like these games:
Jeopardy!
jeopardy_7.gif
jeopardy_4.gif

Total Eclipse
total-eclipse_3.png

Avoid The Noid
noid_004.png

Adventure In Serenia

hi-res-adventure-2-the-wizard-and-the-princess_13.png
hi-res-adventure-2-the-wizard-and-the-princess_9.png


The crude drawings in Adventure In Serenia look unusually nice even for a old game with blocky graphics.

Oh that reminds me, Family Feud! We played Family Feud so much on our Tandy 1000 that we had all the boards memorised. Good stuff!

 
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ymoc

Member
Crusader: No Remorse
crusaderremorse-1.jpg

crusader_no_regret_screenshot2.jpg

732851.jpg


Some of the fire effects and explosions were so good at the time.
Don't forget the awesome live action cutscenes!!!

mygmxOI.jpg

Shit was awesome!!!
Even though you played missions completely solo, you felt connected to the other resistance members who updated you on your progress or some shit going down.
The bad guys really had a nice impact too, you could put a face to the 2d sprite.

And it was so awesome to come to your home base after a successful mission, go shill at the bar and talk to your buddies, buy some weapons from Weasle...
FlawedEarlyButterfly-size_restricted.gif

GdDjk17.jpg


I think the sequel made a huge mistake abandoning the base hub area.

I remembered I still got the original box in the basement.





THEME HOSPITAL
Theme-Hospital-1.png

Two Point Hospital didn't hit the vibe IMHO. Theme hospital still rules supreme.

Also found the box!
SETTLERS 2
s2g_01.jpg

settlers-2-06.png



FLIGHT UNLIMITED

10.jpg



HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC 2

Probably the most charming in the entire series. The design is so clean, I love it. No particles obscuring view. No overbearing elements that stick out. Just perfection.

ascreen.gif

5902fbba88a7e3f0618b4567-3.jpg

1474473311-2631720294.png


DUNE (1992)

It's a totally unique RTS/Adventure hybrid. I still play it every few years. Such great vibe.
61338.jpg


I found the original box!


Sim Tower 1994

One of the most underrated Sim games.
It's not technically a DOS game, it was Windows 3.1 or something, but whatever ;)
Screenshot-1.png

simtower-d481b84a-f91d-472f-8042-81e15f05fa2-resize-750.png
 
would be awesome if someone took all these dos games and put them into a 100 pack of "best dos games" like a rare replay of sorts

does that already exist?

That would be a licensing nightmare. Many of these developers still exist. For the ones that don't, it might not even be possible to republish them as the rights could be tied up in estates.

You can find bundles of some games pre-packaged in places like GOG or Steam. Sometimes there are sales where some of the separate games are bundled together as well.


A few I found just doing a couple quick searches, these prices are shit, they go on sale on humble from time to time:
 

stranno

Member
You are very interesting in your knowledgeable descriptions. How old are you? What do you do?

Keep posting mate I'm enjoying and learning.
Just a regular gaming enthusiast 😅. I like creative approaches in limited environments (for today standards, of course), like DOS. So this is definitely interesting for me. 36 yo btw.
 
The first few Mortal Kombat games had pretty faithful DOS ports because the original arcade games were coded in assembly language which made the conversion a breeze.

Feel free to slip this fact into conversation at your next dinner party to seem sexy and interesting!
Now you made me look like a fool!

Seriously, back in the days arcade and console ports of games were always the least interesting games on DOS/Windows. PC gaming was just such a different animal, I didn't even know anyone actually played those, I knew about SFII, Mortal Kombat, Mega Man X, etc. I just did not ever see anyone playing them much back in the days.


Dark Forces:
Star-Wars-Dark-Forces.jpg


Ultima Underworld
ultimaU2_-_dos_-_18.jpg


Little Big Adventure
45_lba.jpg


Magic Carpet (looks better in action)
mcarpet1.png


Dune
785599-dune-dos-screenshot-use-ornithopter-to-visit-fremen-sietches.gif


7th Guest (not a type of game, but it did look pretty good at the time)
4-2c3315t7gscreenshot.gif
 

petran79

Banned
DOS is quite a loose term, it covers anything from 1981 to 1994, that is quite a leap in tech. There were some real artist that achieved wonders with EGA and 16 colors

To me DOS means basically the successor to the Amiga computers and anything post-1992.
 

Ban Puncher

Member
Now you made me look like a fool!

Seriously, back in the days arcade and console ports of games were always the least interesting games on DOS/Windows. PC gaming was just such a different animal, I didn't even know anyone actually played those, I knew about SFII, Mortal Kombat, Mega Man X, etc. I just did not ever see anyone playing them much back in the days.
Mortal Kombat on DOS was the exception rather than the rule. Most arcade and console conversions to PC back then ranged from bad to absolutely disgusting. A lot of them would focus on having nice enough graphics for screenshots on the back of the box or in magazines but the illusion quickly disappeared when you actually saw it in motion (or lack thereof as it would be a stuttery 2fps mess) and heard the piss-poor MIDI renditions of classic tunes. Lots of kids got conned out of their hard earned pocket money for unplayable dogshit ports of big name games on DOS.
 

stranno

Member
Bullfrog's Syndicate graphics weren't anything special but the intro was amazing.

lscuZvo.gif


Action Forms' Chasm: The Rift had very detailed models for 1997, but for some reason it has a ton of jittering, looks like a Playstation game in that regard. Note: The random video i used has additional tearing.

h2bqYPp.gif
 
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Mortal Kombat on DOS was the exception rather than the rule. Most arcade and console conversions to PC back then ranged from bad to absolutely disgusting. A lot of them would focus on having nice enough graphics for screenshots on the back of the box or in magazines but the illusion quickly disappeared when you actually saw it in motion (or lack thereof as it would be a stuttery 2fps mess) and heard the piss-poor MIDI renditions of classic tunes. Lots of kids got conned out of their hard earned pocket money for unplayable dogshit ports of big name games on DOS.
So my memory was not playing tricks to me!
 

ymoc

Member
Boppin

A fun puzzle game with slightly over the top characters (they would commit suicide if you lost all health)
:)
1512571511-352145803.gif

Boppin_1994_screenshot.gif

maxresdefault.jpg




Solar Winds by Epic

A 2d semi-open world space shooter game with an interesting story. I remember only playing the shareware version and being hyped.
It was tons of fun. The power management mechanic is so satisfying when you get that sweet sweet white tier shield up and running aaaaah.
Years later I managed to get a hold of the second episode and boy was that an utter let down. It turned out that the free part of the game actually constituted about 3/4 of the entire game length.
Still can't believe it.
87920.jpg

solar-winds-the-escape_3.gif

solar-winds-2-05.jpg




Aethra Chronicles

The turn based combad is so satisfying.
the-aethra-chronicles-volume-one-celystras-bane_18.png

Played the shit out of it even when I couldn't understand any English at all. You can imagine how utterly hit&miss it was, for example, to cast spells (which the game has a bunch of, with no descriptions, just names. I think the explanations were written in a separate file or something).

Barely understood a single word, much less the actual story. Eventually I finished it. It just, well, ended.
Much later I found out the game was never even fully published and just the free episode was realeased as shareware. What a shame.

Lots of classes to choose, lots of items to collect, lots of spells to learn and skills to master.
game_066.png


You have the world map traversing
aethra_game_006.jpg


Dungeon crawling
game_073.png


Cave crawling, traps disarming...
134384-the-aethra-chronicles-volume-one-celystra-s-bane-dos-screenshot.png
 
One Must Fall 2097 - this game was THE SHIT. Mech fighting game that had an RPG-lite career mode, the music was amazing, and these graphics were fucking great. I always liked the USA PC anime look that the characters have, so many old PC games have a similar style.

onemustfall2097-5.jpg
onemustfall2097-6.jpg
onemustfall2097-2.jpg


D/Generation - cool puzzle game, the simple isometric graphics of this game always looked slick to me.

dgeneration-3.jpg
dgeneration-4.jpg


It Came From the Desert - I don't even know what genre to call this game, but it had a real cool vibe. I remember the shooting parts where the ants were right up in your face freaked me the fuck out as a kid.

it-came-from-the-desert-03.jpg
it-came-from-the-desert-08.jpg
it-came-from-the-desert-07.jpg


Gobliiins - fun puzzle game where you have to juggle 3 different characters. Really enjoyed the shading of the art.

gobliiins-3.jpg
gobliiins-2.jpg


Rise of the Dragon - look at this shit, what a cool atmosphere

risedragon-1.jpg
risedragon-4.jpg


Harley-Davidson: The Road to Sturgis - the game isn't great, but the premise is cool and I loved the art of the gas stations for some reason. I thought it was cool how much stuff you could buy, and it would actually show your character wearing it.

harleydavidson-1.jpg
harleydavidson-3.jpg


NASCAR Racing - these graphics look pitiful now, but playing this on my 386 was a treat. It had a paint editor included so you could create your own custom livery, which was fun.

nascarracing-6.jpg
nascarracing-7.jpg


A-Train - I ADORE the aesthetic of the original A-Train... the colors are just so pleasing, and I love how boxy everything is. Too bad it was confusing as fuck as a kid, and I even tried playing the most recent one on the PS4 and couldn't figure out a damn thing.

atrain-1.jpg
atrain-4.jpg
atrain-3.jpg


Life & Death - my uncle had this on his computer and I would play when I visited. Didn't really know what I was doing, but I love how it looks.

lifedeath-5.jpg
lifedeath-6.jpg


Battle Chess - I'm not even a chess player, but its Battle Chess! The pieces FIGHT ON YOUR SCREEN! I don't even know why I had this (maybe it came with my computer?) but it was always fun to watch all the different battle combinations.

battlechess-1.jpg


Monopoly - the graphics aren't really that interesting, but this game, along with Jeopardy and Family Feud above, are SO nostalgic to me. Its crazy to think back to a time where playing something that looked like this was completely enrapturing.

monopoly-06.jpg
monopoly-03.jpg


Red Baron - soooo simplistic looking now, but has a great art style, especially the menus.

red-baron-06.jpg
red-baron-08.jpg
red-baron-05.jpg
 

pottuvoi

Banned
This game has came out on so many platforms over the years and I've played it so many times and it's only now I'm learning that in the US it's called "Out of This World? Damn.
Funnily the game actually runs within virtual machine, so ports were extremely easy. (Basically port the VM and you had working game.)

Another weird looking game, Thunder Offshore. Spanish racing game with a unique rendering approach. Idk what kind of rendering technique it uses, it looks like Novalogic's Voxelscape but more limited. Definitely not an FMV game (it could look like that in the gif).

5m1pSN7.gif
Looks like voxels, perhaps intersection to bilinear heightfield in the end. (reason why slopes look nice.)
Not sure about ships, could be similar to voxel tech in Blade Runner. (Or just a lot of sprites and rotation.)
 
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dase211

Neo Member
It Came From the Desert - I don't even know what genre to call this game, but it had a real cool vibe. I remember the shooting parts where the ants were right up in your face freaked me the fuck out as a kid.
it-came-from-the-desert-07.jpg



NASCAR Racing - these graphics look pitiful now, but playing this on my 386 was a treat. It had a paint editor included so you could create your own custom livery, which was fun.

nascarracing-6.jpg
nascarracing-7.jpg


A-Train - I ADORE the aesthetic of the original A-Train... the colors are just so pleasing, and I love how boxy everything is. Too bad it was confusing as fuck as a kid, and I even tried playing the most recent one on the PS4 and couldn't figure out a damn thing.

atrain-1.jpg
atrain-4.jpg
atrain-3.jpg


Life & Death - my uncle had this on his computer and I would play when I visited. Didn't really know what I was doing, but I love how it looks.

lifedeath-5.jpg
lifedeath-6.jpg


Red Baron - soooo simplistic looking now, but has a great art style, especially the menus.

red-baron-06.jpg
red-baron-08.jpg
red-baron-05.jpg
These look cool man.
 

Hudo

Member
Boppin

A fun puzzle game with slightly over the top characters (they would commit suicide if you lost all health)
:)
1512571511-352145803.gif

Boppin_1994_screenshot.gif

maxresdefault.jpg




Solar Winds by Epic

A 2d semi-open world space shooter game with an interesting story. I remember only playing the shareware version and being hyped.
It was tons of fun. The power management mechanic is so satisfying when you get that sweet sweet white tier shield up and running aaaaah.
Years later I managed to get a hold of the second episode and boy was that an utter let down. It turned out that the free part of the game actually constituted about 3/4 of the entire game length.
Still can't believe it.
87920.jpg

solar-winds-the-escape_3.gif

solar-winds-2-05.jpg




Aethra Chronicles

The turn based combad is so satisfying.
the-aethra-chronicles-volume-one-celystras-bane_18.png

Played the shit out of it even when I couldn't understand any English at all. You can imagine how utterly hit&miss it was, for example, to cast spells (which the game has a bunch of, with no descriptions, just names. I think the explanations were written in a separate file or something).

Barely understood a single word, much less the actual story. Eventually I finished it. It just, well, ended.
Much later I found out the game was never even fully published and just the free episode was realeased as shareware. What a shame.

Lots of classes to choose, lots of items to collect, lots of spells to learn and skills to master.
game_066.png


You have the world map traversing
aethra_game_006.jpg


Dungeon crawling
game_073.png


Cave crawling, traps disarming...
134384-the-aethra-chronicles-volume-one-celystra-s-bane-dos-screenshot.png
Oh wow! Never heard of Aethra Chronicles. How does it compare to the Ultima games? I'm kinda interested in trying it out.
 

ManaByte

Member
This thread just gives me PTSD over how much of a nightmare some of these games were to get to run correctly back in the day.
 

dirthead

Banned
What about the SF2 versions?

The first one looked ok but it was really slow.

NO6tA3U.png


Then a korean programmer, equiped with a cheap capture card and the SNES version, did a really weird job in terms of graphics but the gameplay was much better.

wasMc86.png


The canadian mod of the previous one.

inweQtl.png


The official port of Super Street Fighter 2 was way better but the characters were quite small.

PWUh0je.png


The opposite version, shrinked backgrounds and gigantic characters, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Probably the best Street Fighter ever seen on MSDOS.

YpwATVF.gif

The best SF ever seen in DOS was when MAME still had an official DOS version...
 

ymoc

Member
Oh wow! Never heard of Aethra Chronicles. How does it compare to the Ultima games? I'm kinda interested in trying it out.
actually....I never played any of the Ultima games.... :hides in shame:
I imagine it might have some similarities but probably it also has many shortcomings. There are definitely some bad design decisions (like inns, stores or training guilds having same graphic blocks as all other houses that you can't enter, and you end up guessing where things are) It's difficult to keep track of quests and such...
You create 2 or was it 3 character from the start, which are your main characters and then you can recruit others along the way.
It's pretty unforgiving if you don't know what you're doing and you can end up restarting the game altogether.
I still love the dungeon crawling. Some classes are totally OP which is awesome to me at least haha. Thief/figther with deadly strike +sword of speed basically makes you unstoppable and you can singlehandedly wipe out entire squads of enemies :D

You can get it for free here http://netsilik.nl/Aethra/ along with some pointers.
 

stranno

Member
The best SF ever seen in DOS was when MAME still had an official DOS version...
Well, we are talking about native DOS games.

I'm not sure if MAME was the first emulator ever to emulate Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Callus should be really close in time.
 

Hudo

Member
actually....I never played any of the Ultima games.... :hides in shame:
I imagine it might have some similarities but probably it also has many shortcomings. There are definitely some bad design decisions (like inns, stores or training guilds having same graphic blocks as all other houses that you can't enter, and you end up guessing where things are) It's difficult to keep track of quests and such...
You create 2 or was it 3 character from the start, which are your main characters and then you can recruit others along the way.
It's pretty unforgiving if you don't know what you're doing and you can end up restarting the game altogether.
I still love the dungeon crawling. Some classes are totally OP which is awesome to me at least haha. Thief/figther with deadly strike +sword of speed basically makes you unstoppable and you can singlehandedly wipe out entire squads of enemies :D

You can get it for free here http://netsilik.nl/Aethra/ along with some pointers.
Thank you so much for your reply! I think the bad things sound bearable, but let's see, haha. I totally recommend the Ultima games! You can skip the first three, IMHO. I would say that 4, 5, 6 and 7 are the Ultima games to play. Ultima 7 gets often praised as one of the best RPGs ever made.

And whole not strictly DOS games, I can also recommend the Ambermoon and Amberstar games. They are kind of the spiritual predecessors to Albion (German RPG games and basically all made by the same team).
 

ymoc

Member
You're welcome!!!
Oh that sounds a bit less daunghting. Maybe the sheer volume of the series made me reluctant to dive in.
So it's ok to start with 4? No prior knowledge or stories needed to know to enjoy the game?
Thank you for the recommendations :)
 

stranno

Member
New batch of games, this time from Dynamix, the original developers of Mechwarrior, The Incredible Machine and Tribes. But they also delivered some cool plain-shaded polygonal games in late-80s and early-90s.

Mechwarrior (1989). The original game, tho I dont know if its connected with the second one (developed internally by Activision) or even the SNES game.

2YAjtoa.gif


Ghostbusters II (1989). WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Well, He-Man of course. GB2 featured cool EGA graphics, great MT32 sound and some cleverly designed stages.

EMXQUcU.gif


Deathtrack (1989). I dont know if this game use polygons in the track or it is just a raster effect (like Outrun), but it looks pretty cool, the rear view, the weapons and especially the cars! It is supposed to be based on Death Race 2000 but ... in circuits?

YPw22Ab.gif


Die Hard (1989). Talking about cleverly designed levels ... this game is like a realistic clone of Xybots with many great details, like the broken glass or the fan. Unfortunately the gameplay is not as good and it is crazy short, you can beat it in about 15 minutes.

oJXRfnZ.gif


David Wolf: Secret Agent (1989). Things got hot here in the 3D effects department. This game is more a technical demo than a proper game, with striking stage intros and cool effects.

9QUn23S.gif


Nova 9: The Return of Gir Draxon (1991). Not especially attractive for 1991 but shading was ok.

7GFwrX1.gif


Front Page Sports: Baseball '94 (1994). Their last DOS game. Replays are really cool.

ZCzHwQa.gif


Thanks Major Thriftwood channel for all this footage, he must be a great Dynamix fan :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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1988: Strip Poker II: A Sizzling Game of Chance
strippoker2-3.jpg


strippoker2-2.jpg

Wow. The Commodore Amiga was so far ahead of the pack graphically when it came to terrible pr0n games in the 1980s.

Behold! Hollywood Strip Poker Pro on the Amiga:
937589-hollywood-poker-pro-amiga-screenshot-birgit-says-do-it.png


(40 year old) Bridget (with hilariously big hair) says: "Do it!"


My 14-year old self says: for Hollywood Strip Poker on the Amiga, always bet maximum and call the girls bluff. 1980's-tier, 16-bit hairy nudity awaits :messenger_tears_of_joy: .... :messenger_ok:? 🤔


But even Bridget and her failed LA acting career couldn't hold me back from the PC platform once this released:

X-Wing_-_Space_Combat_Simulator_%28box_cover%29.jpg


1883_small.jpg


c6e1617a34ae535c320e4efd5e5e55a7.jpg
 
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1988: Strip Poker II: A Sizzling Game of Chance
strippoker2-3.jpg


strippoker2-2.jpg
I remember playing this while sleeping over my best friends house, we would stand in the doorway like 10-15 feet away from the screen because the images looked better from that distance lol


Here is another PHENOMENAL game - Coaster, by Disney of all companies. The whole game is designing a roller coaster in a 3D CAD looking environment, and then riding it in real time. Your tracks were then judged by a cast of characters afterwards. I don't even want to know how many hours I spent playing this... I really loved how CAD like the interface was, since it made me feel like I was actually designing something professionally and not dicking around on the computer for hours on end.

92893-Coaster_(1993)(Disney_Software)-1528263818.png
92893-Coaster_(1993)(Disney_Software)-1528263901.png
92893-Coaster_(1993)(Disney_Software)-1528263801.png
92893-Coaster_(1993)(Disney_Software)-1528263922.png
92893-Coaster_(1993)(Disney_Software)-1528263849.png





And the graphics aren't notable, but anyone remember these gems?

Arcade Volleyball

arcade-volleyball_2.gif


Chopper Commando

chopper-commando_5.png
chopper-commando_9.png
 
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