Hidden Gems of the DOS/Windows PCs

[skate323k137]

Was Virtual Stupidity the one with that Hock-a-Loogie mini-game where you had to spit onto people from the school rooftop?

yeah, there were some other mini games too. I tried to play it on a newer PC but the windows 95 code wasn't too happy.

[nickalley211]

Tyrian 2000. This is a great shump, I don't know if it qualifies as hidden as far as PC/Dos games go, but as far as gaming in general go, I do not know of many people who played it.
Its pretty much a basic top view shump, except that you collect money as opposed to points. You can use the money to upgrade your ship in a few different ways, you can upgrade your main gun, rear gun, left sidekick and right sidekick, and the main and rear gun weapons all have different levels you can use to make them better. There is also a rather engaging story-line, but you have to find "Data Cubes" in the levels to get a lot of the information. It also has a cool cheat mode where you have a carrot ship and shoot fruit and stuff like that.
Another interesting thing about this game is that it was planned to be ported to GBC as well as GBA, you can find both of the roms of the uncompleted games around the net. The GBA version isn't nearly as close to being complete as the GBC version. They are both basically the same thing only scaled down quite a bit and slower, but its an interesting fact.
And probably the best thing about this game is it is free at Abandonia.

Jazz Jackrabbit Series. This seemed to be DOS's answer to Mario, Sonic and Metroid all at once. You play as a green jackrabbit in the first game, and much like Sonic you have the ability to run really fast, and must reach the end of the level. There are gems you can find in levels that take you to a 3D bonus world, just like Sonic as well. The major difference between Jazz and Sonic is Jazz has a gun. Instead of jumping on enemies, you have to shoot them and there are a lot of crazy weapons. Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is very much like the first one with way better graphics, more characters and weapons. Both are great platformers and will make any Mario or Sonic fan happy.
Jazz Jackrabbit 2 is also available for free at Abandonia.

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure-A green alien covered in red spots with suction cup hands is on his way to Disney World with his parents when they crash. This game is on par with Super Mario 3 as far as graphics go, and is pretty much just as fun to play. The green alien can jump on enemies to kill them, and uses his suction cups to stick to walls. This makes it pretty hard to fall down into a pit. Probably a bit on the easy side, but a great game to play. You also get to save "Duke Nukum" as hes called. Not sure why, since this game was made by 3d Realms.


Rise of The Triad-Very underrated, fantastic FPS that was doomed from the start. This is because it was released at the same time as Doom II. It was also intended to be Wolfenstein 3D's sequel, but due to ID software not letting them use the name, they just left Wolfenstein out of the title. This game features 5 playable characters, a whole mess of violence, and a lot of fun for fans of FPS. Theres even a mode where you can be a dog!

One Must Fall:2097. This is an awesome robot fighter that lets you customize your robots, sort of. You pick a person, who is somehow connected to the robot so that they can control it with their brain, and then you pick a robot. You can also pick the colors of the robots. There is a tournament mode and a story mode. In the story mode, you fight in different tournaments and you can upgrade the stats of your robot. This is a pretty solid fighter that anyone who a fan of the genre is sure to enjoy.

[Pulsar_t]

Blade Runner is an overlooked classic. It might not be as good as the Lucasarts games, but it's got its atmosphere and branching story paths. Definitely try it if you can find it! (might not be friendly with Vista though)

[Paul_B-C]

Jill of the Jungle was a wonderful game, with those awesome not-so-subtle digs at various other gaming characters like Duke Nukem and such great gameplay!

Solar Winds I recall only the shareware version, but it was great fun. How can you not love a game that includes this: http://www.classicgames.org/shots/ugly.gif

The Commander Keen series has already been mentioned I believe.

Dare to Dream 1,2 and 3 are all excellent point-and-click games, though alternately childishly simple and brain-numbingly hard.

[bacteria]

Psycho Pinball - Best simulation of a pinball ball and flippers react well and realistically. Tables are fun too. The best version was on DOS, although it was released also on the MegaDrive (Genesis).

[SpaceBooger]

The #1 Hidden Gem: Scorched Earth!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorched_E ... uter_game)

[executioner]

This is a tough one, here's a couple I can think of probably missing probably will edit and include 20 more later. The good old floppy disk gaming era.

Ultima underworld: to me it was unknown
Welltris: tetris in a well, blocks coming from 4 sides
Jazz the jackrabit
Myth
Desperados: great strategy commandos-like game set in the west
Arcanum
LHX: helicopter sim don't remember if it was popular

[Pulsar_t]

The Reap is one fun game. I had the demo back in autumn 1997 which came on a PC Format disc and enjoyed it. But it was only recently that I got the full game. It's a nightmare to run on WinXP and the patch Housemarque (formerly known as Bloodhouse, makers of Stardust) offers fullscreen but gets the timing all wrong (forcing VSync doesn't help either). It's an obscure game but it's a fun isometric shmup. Seek it if you liked Viewpoint.. however you'll probably be forced to run it in windowed mode.

[marurun]

I second the Myth series nomination. That game deserved far more attention than it got. GREAT real time tactical combat game.

[khyrox]

Not sure if this would be considered a "hidden" gem, but considering its age and relevance, Wasteland would get my vote. It was an RPG that wasn't a fantasy game, which was refreshing at the time. The atmosphere and back story via the vivid descriptions (which made up for the rudimentary graphics) and the fact that your actions had permanent consequences in a persistent game world (novel at the time) made wandering the wasteland truly compelling stuff. To survive the desolation, radiation, limited supplies, NPC rebellion, and the wide variety of dangerous encounters (mutated creatures, bizarre religious fanatics, military robots gone beserk, etc.) only to eventually stumble upon a wider conspiracy to overcome was really satisfying.

While old-schoolers may know and recognize Wasteland, I guess it could be considered a hidden gem for more recent gamers who have been exposed to the Fallout series of games, especially with the recent release of Fallout 3, but aren't aware of the history. And it's pretty impressive how Fallout as a whole has kept the kind of atmosphere, themes, and little details that Wasteland had.

Also, it's just damn cool to go from reading descriptions of enemies "exploding like a blood sausage" to actually seeing it happen on screen.