Electro Man (1992): A Free DOS Platformer Built Around Teleporters
The early-90s shareware scene was flooded with side-scrolling platformers trying to out-Keen Commander Keen, and most of them leaned on […]
Retro Gaming
Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (1991) Review: The Bitmap Brothers’ Violent Sports Classic
Take away the ball for a second and Speedball 2 is basically hockey played inside a steel cage where body-checking
IndyCar Racing (1993): Papyrus’s First Step Toward Sim Racing Greatness
If you’ve ever spent hours tuning suspension and gearing in a racing simulator, you owe part of that habit to
Test Drive III: The Passion (1990): Early Exotic-Car Racing on DOS
Before racing games could reliably render a closed track convincingly, Test Drive III: The Passion was already trying something more
Rise of the Robots (1994): All Style, Mixed Substance
Few games in the mid-90s were hyped as hard as Rise of the Robots. Acclaim’s marketing push around its pre-rendered
Primal Rage (1995): When Claymation Dinosaurs Ruled Fighting Games
1995 was crowded with fighting games chasing the Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat formula with yet another cast of
Street Fighter II (1992): How Capcom’s Arcade Hit Struggled Onto DOS
Every home port of Street Fighter II tells you something about the hardware it landed on, and the 1992 MS-DOS
History
The Games That Killed DOS: Windows 95, DirectX, and the End of an Era
DOS gaming didn’t end with a single dramatic event. It ended over roughly two years, as a new operating system
Realms of the Haunting (1997): Gremlin’s FMV/3D Horror Hybrid
Picture a mid-90s FMV adventure and a mid-90s 3D shooter as two separate aisles in a software store. Gremlin Interactive’s
Chasm: The Rift (1997): The Ukrainian FPS That Beat Everyone to Dismemberment
In 1997, most first-person shooters were still drawing their enemies as flat, billboard sprites — even Duke Nukem 3D and
Powerslave (1996): Lobotomy Software’s Vertical Egyptian Shooter
Most 90s shooters wanted you to think about sci-fi corridors or hell dimensions. Powerslave asked a different question: what if
Witchaven (1995) Review: Build Engine Swords Instead of Guns
By 1995 the Build engine had a reputation, and it wasn’t for swordplay. Duke Nukem 3D and Blood were still