this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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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.

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[–] EarMaster@lemmy.world 23 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
  • Transport Tycoon
  • C&C Red Alert and Tiberian Sun
  • Anno 1602 (1602 A.D.)
  • Theme Park
  • Commander Keen
  • Doom 2 (and Wolfenstein 3D to some extend)
  • GTA2
  • Half-Life
  • Dungeon Keeper (mainly DK2)
  • Leisure Suit Larry 6
  • Worms 2 & Armageddon
  • Age of Empires 2
  • Sim City 2000 & 3000
  • SimTower
  • The Settlers 2
  • Lemmings
  • Incredible Machine
  • Commandos
  • Outcast
  • Quake 3 Arena
  • Descent
  • StarCraft (although I started playing it later)
[–] Jessica@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

My guy, we have the technology. You can edit that title to fix the horrible grammar lol.

"What are your favorite pre-2000 video games?"

[–] NewEnglandBlueberry@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 hours ago

Whoops! I didn't realize I could edit titles lol. Fixed :)

[–] acchariya@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago
[–] BillSchofield@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)
  • MULE
  • Might and Magic VI
  • Master of Orion
  • Civ 1 & 2
[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 5 points 20 hours ago

Quake, Doom, Half-Life, One Must Fall 2097, Microsoft Encarta's Mind Maze

[–] alsimoneau@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I was a fan of Midtown madness, both 1 and 2.

I had LAN parties with my friends by booting the game, then ejecting the CD and passing it along.

Sadly the third one wasn't on PC.

[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

My childhood

[–] Zomg@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Total Annihilation. It was released in 1997 and brought inspiration to games like Supreme Commander and Planetary Annihilation.

Also, mother fuckin' Cap'N Crunch's Crunchling Adventure. I don't have to explain that one.

[–] Smokeydope@lemmy.world 5 points 22 hours ago

Blood (1997) Pretty much the best OG build engine game IMO.

[–] Wimopy@feddit.uk 8 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] s38b35M5@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

*your

Doom (1 then 2) Dune 2
Command & conquer: Red alert
Quake 2 & 3 Unreal tournament
Rise of the triad
Heretic
Hexen
Space Quest 4
Quest for Glory series
Simcity 2000
Leisure Suit Larry 6
Grand Theft Auto (top down)

[–] Gointhefridge@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My mom got us this “Kids Cube” game collection in CompUSA when I was a kid and there were some gems in there. I’ve been looking for years to try and find the list of games but it’s one of those cheap dollar bin software collections. Anywho, some of the games I loved from that included:

Battle Bugs Jetpack Mice Movers Loader Larry

Non Kids Cube games: Doom (duh) Hero’s of might and Magic 3 Kings Quest VI Return to Zork Raptor: Call of the Shadows Battle Chess Jazz Jackrabbit Prince of Persia (the classic DOS 2D) Duke Nukem 2D

Did a quick search and thank you Archive! Found the Kids Cube! There’s a lot of weird stuff on there but I would spend hours just trying stuff out. https://archive.org/details/aztech_kids_cube

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 3 points 20 hours ago

Jetpack was tight, yo

[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 day ago

Rollercoaster Tycoon is an obvious must-play. And Zeus: Master of Olympus came out in 2000 but runs on Windows 95. It's a Sierra city builder, and I have thousands of hours in it.

[–] muse@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Pc games I really loved masters of orion 2

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 22 hours ago

Crash Bandicoot 2

[–] nexguy@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

Star Flight

Fairy Tale Adventure

Both from the 80s

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Most of my 80s/90s gaming was console games, but here's a bunch of computer games that I liked back then :

Lemmings 1 and 2 (the tribes). You can try 3 if you're curious, it's kind of its own thing, different scale and some think it's kind of not the same game anymore. 3D is interesting, but not easy on the eyes.

Lands of Lore. Very good real time maze dungeon-crawler with many obscure secrets, and full voice acting (that blew my mind back then. And there's Patrick Stewart in the cast).

Lands of Lore 2 is a very ambitious sequel in 3D, with FMV incorporated directly into the 3D world. It's quite hard and weird, very creepy at times, moreso if you're the kind who stray off the path.

Creatures. Life simulation with a bunch of furry things you can make hatch and take care of. You teach them to speak, make them breed, watch them interact with the world, reinforce their behaviour with friendly scratches or slaps, and hopefully make them smarter (or miserable, it's your choice). The game simulates their neural system, internal chemistry, immune system, DNA, it's kind of crazy. Requires typing to speak. 3 is the most complete version but requires a bit of tinkering for it to work.

[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Starquest v

Oregon trail II

Widget workshop

That drawing program with the programmable turtle

[–] brsrklf@jlai.lu 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] GrumpyDuckling@sh.itjust.works 3 points 23 hours ago

That's definitely what I was talking about, it's been 30ish years since I played it on a mac

[–] lordnikon@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
  • MECHWARRIOR 2
  • QUAKE 2
  • Broken Sword 1
  • Half-Life 1
  • Jedi knight dark Forces 2
  • Police Quest 1
  • Aliens vs predator
  • System shock 2
  • Unreal tournament
  • Star Trek Starfleet Academy
  • Zork 1 and 2
  • Heavy Gear 2
  • Jazz Jackrabbit 2
  • Pandemonium
  • Total annihilation
[–] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Tie-fighter was a good one.

And StarCraft like someone mentioned and Warcraft.

[–] Parrtytime@lemmynsfw.com 5 points 1 day ago

Tie fighter is one of the best games ever, my dad pirated a ton of games from a guy he didn’t like just to get those games for me and my siblings.. I bought a flight control stick, I still love the game nothing has come close to the fun

[–] Minnels@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago (3 children)
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[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Where do I even start ?

  • Raw vs Smackdown
  • IGI 2
  • Freedom Fighter
  • KKND
[–] serj@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago

The dig. The game is inspired by an idea originally created for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories series.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

My family’s first PC was hand-me-down Amiga 2000; so these games helped shape me growing up:

Dune 2: Battle for Arrakis T-Rex Warrior* Cannon Fodder Sensible Soccer** The Settlers After the War

  • Funny anecdote, if memory serves - it took my child brain over a year to figure out that holding down both mouse buttons made you move forward..

** Namely, the demo disk version which was set in 1945 and replaced the ball with a bomb that would periodically explode, killing nearby players and removing them from the match.

[–] tiny_parking@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)
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[–] TheEighthDoctor@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Command and Conquer: Tiberium Sun

Tomb Raider

Mortal Kombat 3

Streets of Rage

Metal Gear Solid

Duke Nukem 3D

Metal Slug

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Baldur's Gate
Lords of the Realm 2
Descent (1, 2, and 3)
Sim City 2000

[–] Webster@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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.

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.world 2 points 22 hours ago

Yeah, it's one of the games I consistently return to regularly. Was very disappointed in the sequel.

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Obligatory shout-out for any Bullfrog games of that era, especially Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2. Lionhead's Black & White is 1 year out of your window, but such a good game.

Also:
Syndicate Wars
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Grim Fandango
Rollercoaster Tycoon
Descent
Grand Theft Auto

[–] atrielienz@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy. I still own this series on steam and play it when I get nostalgic.

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[–] Sir_Premiumhengst@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] blackris@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's an awesome game, but from 2001.

[–] Sir_Premiumhengst@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Edit: oh shit. Wikipedia claims 2001 indeed... Now makes me want to check what exactly we played or whether I manufactured that memory....

~~Nope. G1 is from 98, G2 is from 01.

I played them in Germany in German back in the day maybe the English release was later?~~

[–] blackris@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Where did you get that info? Checked Mobygames after Wikipedia. They also date G1 to 2001. G2 is from 2002. I was sure about the date, because I heard the Gothic episode from the amazing german podcast Stay Forever a few days ago and am now playing the first game. 😁

Edit: worldofgothic also lists the 15.03.01 as the release date for the german version.

Edit 2: my Lemmy app doesn't show the strikethrough and I am a bit too hungover to understand your edit without reading it four times.

[–] RobotZap10000@feddit.nl 21 points 1 day ago

Half Life. While I am too young to have played it when it released, it still was an astounding game for its time.

[–] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)
  • FFVII (and VIII)
  • Homeworld
  • Shadowrun (Sega Genesis version)
  • Parasite Eve
  • Wing Commander Series
  • Colony Wars: Vengeance
  • Gran Turismo 2
  • Freespace (can't believe I forgot about that one)

...I'm in my late forties, so pre-2000 was my peak gaming time. As a result the list could go on and on and on....

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