I’m setting up my MiSTer FPGA and want to prioritize a bit. I currently have DOS and Win 95 running, but plan to setup Macintosh and any other worthwhile computer platforms. Any computer platform welcome (I already have the consoles figured out). What are your “must try” game suggestions?
Edit: I just got back to this post and am pleasantly surprised by the response. I’ll probably be adding most if not all of these to test since I have the space. Thank you to everyone who commented.
Starquest v
Oregon trail II
Widget workshop
That drawing program with the programmable turtle
I don’t know any game called starquest 5, do you mean Space Quest 5?
If so, yes, OP play this and also Space Quest 6 after it. They’re quite funny and accessible as far as Sierra point and click go.
Older Space Quests are… rough. The kind that punishes you in late game for missing the smallest item at the beginning and forces you to save all the time because everything kills you (sometimes in funny ways).
5 and 6 still kill you a lot, but not nearly as much and they let you rewind before the stupid move. Much more enjoyable IMO. Narration in those games is hilarious.
That’s definitely what I was talking about, it’s been 30ish years since I played it on a mac
That drawing program with the programmable turtle
Logo
Late and I cannot possibly read everything here, but I’ll come back to it as well.
And just to do some due diligence:
- Saw it multiple times already, but Homeworld.
- Star Wars Rogue Squadron or many of the other Star Wars flight games before it.
- Imperium Galactica 2. Amazing space RTS with space and ground combat.
- I think one of the Formula 1 games from the era is considered among the best, but I’m not sure which. If you like F1 and racing that’s worth checking out.
- Star Trek Armada is from 2000, but very good too.
- Sid Meier games.
- Nintendo games, including Mario Kart 64. Unfortunately the first Mario Party isn’t as good as modern ones I hear, but may also be up your alley.
- Scorched Earth or Tank Wars for DOS. Worms for a more modern take on the genre.
Very space- and RTS-themed, but that’s what got my attention at the time. And they were having their golden age. Also I was very young in the 90s, so that’s all I have.
Heavy Gear? Monster truck madness? Age of Empires?
Definitely go and find Marathon and it’s sequels, preferably in their original form on the Mac. But you don’t need to go through all that trouble necessarily, Bungie released all the source some time ago and it is all freely available for new hardware now.
Marathon had though some nightmarish level design. But the lore is amazingly detailed for a FPS.
Baldur’s Gate
Lords of the Realm 2
Descent (1, 2, and 3)
Sim City 2000Reticulating splines.
I still play it now and then, while I like the newer editions this is the one that aged better in comparison.
God I love Lords of the Realm 2. I bought it on GoG and go back and play that every few years for a spell. Rarely see others mention in and it was one of my favorite games of that era.
Yeah, it’s one of the games I consistently return to regularly. Was very disappointed in the sequel.
I spent hours playing Transport Tycoon.
Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain (1997 on Windows, 1998 on Mac), a real time 4X game set in space.
This game is one of my all-time favourite.
I was just trying to remember that game. That would be a fun one to revisit.
Civilization II
Settlers
X-COM: UFO defence
Monkey Island
My highlight in Civ II was losing against a mega empire and then half of it seceded and started a war, so I eventually got the upperhand.
For X-COM, I remember the sheer terror of boarding a ship with my puny squad.
One time, in Civ I, I was living my best life as Rome on a big island until the Chinese sent a battleship to my shores and started destroying my triremes. Somehow, I used a diplomat to take over one of their cities and production was stuck on mobile infantry (must have been a bug), which gave me the ability to make units that could defend against their tech. Then I sent more diplomats to steal tech. The list of tech ran off the screen, but it allowed me to still select tech I couldn’t see. So I started scrolling beyond the visible point and blindly stealing tech. When I accidentally stole nuclear weapons, I built one, loaded it on a trireme, and sent it to Beijing. Their empire instantly split, and I was able to survive. It’s still my best memory from any Civilization game.
Pharaoh !
Age of empires II
Jagged Alliance 1 and 2
Total Annihilation
StarcraftOoo I used to love Total Annihilation. Forgot all about that game! I used to spam build hundreds of tiny fighter planes and swarm the enemy.
Half Life. While I am too young to have played it when it released, it still was an astounding game for its time.
Some of my favorites in a variety of genre:
- TIE Fighter and/or Freespace
- Planescape: Torment
- Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
- Pharaoh
Also one of Sierra’s adventure games. A popular one is King’s Quest VI.
I remember the difference between xwing and tie fighter. How tight where the missions and the campaign… If there’s a remake to make that’s the one for me.
For sure. Kinda surprised one never got made, really.
X-Com - UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep (I remember hacking my demo copy of UFO Defense and bypassing the shareware check. Still my all time favorite strategy game)
Doom
Duke Nukem 1, 2, and 3D
Wolfenstein 3D
Jetpack
Commander Keen
Raptor: Call of the Shadows
Rise of the Triad
Monster Bash (Just pretty much anything 3D Realms or Apogee related was gold)
Moraff’s Dungeons of the Unforgiven(Only ever had the shareware version as a kid, but I played it over and over)
Die Hard Trilogy
StarCraft Diablo1 MechWarrior 2 Need for speed 2