RetroGaming

There are tons. The game that I considered my first "proper" game was World of Xeen. It's phenomenal. And it's actually two games. Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen and Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen. When you combined them you could travel between the two sides of the flat world and had more quests to solve and an ultimate end.

It was always hard to make space for them even though we had a gigantic 250 MB hard drive. Each game took up 20-30 MB.

Edit: Other must haves: Jazz Jackrabbit, Commander Keen, Doom, Quake, Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Homeworld

StarCraft Diablo1 MechWarrior 2 Need for speed 2

Gex

Mario Teaches Typing

All of the ‘Blaster Learning System’ games like Math Blasters: In Search of Spot

I was pretty young still so those educational ones were hella fun and my parents would let me play as much as I wanted

Terranigma. Still my favorite RPG to this day and one of my favorite games to this day, but it's hard to gush about this game without any spoilers and its written in a way that requires a bit of attention from the player. You do need to either have an EU / PAL SNES or emulate it though, because it never released in the Americas due to publisher drama.

Secret of Mana is great too, or if you already played that, Seiken Densetsu 3, which is the sequel title that never got released in the West, but got fan translated roms out there. Seiken Densetsu 2 being SoM, and the original Seiken Densetsu 1 was released as Final Fantasy Adventures and sort of a side story to the Final Fantasy franchise, which got dropped and became its own franchise with the second game. SD3 (or "Secret of Mana 2") is a significant step up to the first game in many aspects and even has multiple characters & branching endings based on your character selections.

On the PC definitely the Command & Conquer's Tiberian series, starting with the first game and a GDI campaign run, followed by a NOD campaign run. It got those cheesy but amazingly entertaining little clips between the missions that actually get you immersed into the story and it has a killer soundtrack too. It's one of the many great franchises ruined by EA, but I heard the remastered version is actually decent (I still won't buy because I still boycott them). The already suggested Red Alert is a spin-off series with some references to the Tiberian series, so I would not start with that one until you played the Tiberian one.

Die Hard Trilogy

Starcraft!

The descent games someone else already mentioned were fantastic. Starcraft was outstanding. Also, it just barely made the cut but I even still play it, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is phenomenal.

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.

Blue Byte's "Albion" https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albion_(video_game)

Jagged Alliance 1 and 2

Little Fighter 2

I don't know how popular it was since none of my friends remember it but I loved Phantasmagoria. Its a point and click horror mystery game with video captured graphics.

Heavy Gear? Monster truck madness? Age of Empires?

I always go back to the original Age of Empires as a classic.

• Turrican 1-3 [Amiga]
• Command and Conquer
• Monkey Island 1 [Amiga]
• Sim City 2000 (Network edition)
• Unreal Tournament
• Super Metroid [Super Nintendo]
• Metal Slug [Neo Geo/Arcade]
• Pinball Dreams/Illusions (made by DICE before they renamed themselves)

Myst is an all-time classic. I'd just wander around exploring the world.

I tried so hard to get anywhere in Magic Carpet but our home computer ran the game too fast. I needed the "turbo button" to slow the game down but we didn't have one.

Also had the PC version of Garfield Caught in the Act (just called Garfield on PC). Played through it over and over again. The Genesis game with improved graphics, an exclusive level and one of the most underrated soundtracks in gaming. Seriously, look up the soundtrack to the PC version, the entire thing jams.

EDIT: Also, Age of Wonders. I actually spent more time in the level editor than in the game itself, building Middle Earth as a map and placing cities, factions and leaders on it as something of an "old school" (for the time) Battle for Middle Earth.

I'm old so a lot but I always mention SSI DnD games like Pool of Radiance. I think the games would be a bit of slog for most people today. All the Ultimas besides 9.

Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe and Cannon Fodder are must try (there are both Amiga and dos versions for both).

Lemmings is really good. Original Worms. Lost Vikings. Syndicate.

Star Control 2

All challengers can GTFO 🧐

Wolfenstein and Hover.

Might and might 3 F19 stealth jet Doom Wolfenstein Red alert Warcraft 3

I loved the Harpoon series of naval warfare simulation games. I haven’t played since the late 90s but they were a lot of fun.

Killer Instinct

Age of empires Star wars galactic battlegrounds Deus ex (I think that was pre 2000) Cossacks European wars

The Last Express - really great story

Pizza Tycoon - this was such a fantastic management sim, I spent ages playing it back in the day

Ore Truck Simulator '96

Boy that is tough. There are a few just after 2000 but I was not doing much in the late nineties. I can't think of anything after xwing series that was not after 2k. Doom2. I honestly cannot remember what I was doing computer game wise in the late 90's.

Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator

Infantry. My first online multiplayer game. Somehow I made it into a squad that got 2nd place in the seasonal tournament and also had arguably the best player in the whole game. I didn't play in the matches but I was in the squad!