Sign in / up

back to article Top Ten Retro PC Games

Have you ever considered the qualities a game needs to feature on your own favourites list or any top ten gaming list for that matter? Opinions vary for sure, but for me it really must be like nothing you have ever seen before or at least innovate in such a way as to be stand-alone phenomenon in its genre. Many alcohol-fuelled …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Top 10 retro games???

    The last two don't look very "retro" to me!

    To me, "retro" would be Donkey Kong, Galaxians, Defender, Scamble, Millipede, Jet Suite thingie (what was his name now?), Monster Maze, ....get the idea?

    Blimey, kids of today, eh?

    17 2
    1. Monty Burns
      Reply Icon

      Jet SET ....

      Willy ;)

      6 0
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Willy!

        Willy! that was it. Thanks. Oh... and yes - manic Miner ....and Dig-Dug :-)

        And I have to agree with kevin3 though - Defender was my all-time fave.

        0 0
      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        Monty Mole

        Don't read this, look up

        0 0
    2. Admiral Grace Hopper
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Jet Suite thingie ...

      Do you mean Jet Set Willy? A fine game, but he started out as Manic Miner if you really want to get all retro.

      4 0
    3. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      right. give me Defender

      Sad though it sounds, Defender is still my all time greatest, anyone know how to get it or a up-resolution version onto android or PC? Kids were quite impressed by it - didn't know what hit them really, as a benchmark its still a really hard game.

      0 0
      1. CADmonkey
        Reply Icon
        Headmaster

        I've got this

        http://www.mobygames.com/game/williams-arcade-classics

        It's a total labour of love. Even sound-effect bugs were re-created. Haven't tried it on Win7 but XP32 managed it.

        Also comes with 'Joust'!

        0 0
        1. Thomas 4
          Reply Icon

          Should have stuck with earlier games

          So that Syndicate, Magic Carpet and Tie Fighter would have made it in.

          2 0
        2. CADmonkey
          Reply Icon
          Headmaster

          and what's more...

          ...thanks to Dosbox, I've just discovered that it now runs on Win7x64!

          So much for getting some work done today!

          0 0
    4. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      PC games only as the title says

      Unless you're telling me Donkey Kong hit PCs sometime...

      Well for me Retro PC games would be more in the Prince of Persia (2D one), T.I.M., Moon Patrol, Pango etc etc era...

      Oh well as long as the young 'un wants to call Sim City 2000 retro then I humbly submit that

      a. Completely wrong to leave out Duke Nukem 3D due to some feminist crap

      b. WHERE THE HELL IS DESCENT??????

      2 1
  2. Giles Jones Gold badge

    Yawn

    We're getting nostalgic about the 1990s already? I personally think more innovation in gaming occurred in the 8-bit days.

    The progression of PC gaming has largely been about improving realism, better graphics, physics and AI. The Wii showed everyone that actually you need to improve the control mechanism and the fun factor.

    4 2
    1. Anotheroneforthewaspfactory
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      Wii a progression of gaming??

      Have you ever actually played on one or do you enjoy looking like a ragdoll being given an electric shock? The Wii is stuck in the 90's and not a progression in gaming, just an interesting experiment, and besides the article was about PC games.

      0 5
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Linux

      wii wii wii all the way home

      I have the wii and the xbox.

      The wii tends to get used for novelty games when people are round, bowling and the likes, and the wii fit to pretend I'm doing my "regular exercise at the gym 3 times a week".

      It it nothing more in my opinion than a gamecube with an motion sensing controller. Innovative at the time, though MS and Sony are now catching up.

      The xbox is where the real gaming happens. Sitting with a controller. None of this moving about nonsense! :)

      0 0
  3. AliJ
    Grenade

    How can you have missed off Worms???

    Surely the best PC game of all time... It's still the only computer game I have installed at home!

    Hand grenade? The 2nd best weapon after the concret donkey!!

    8 0
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      FATALITY!

      It always made me chuckle that spamming the chat box to bring up the madly ringing red telephone on your opponent's screen is actually in the tactics section of the manual....

      2 0
      1. A. Lewis
        Reply Icon
        Grenade

        As well as...

        The section on 'dark side' play, tunneling and using girders to hide.

        0 0
    2. A. Coatsworth Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Grenade

      Nothing beats

      a banana bomb delivered by a careful jetpack flyby

      ...oh, the joys of overkill

      1 0
    3. Wade Burchette
      Reply Icon

      There is a new Worms game

      The new Worms is even better than the old ones.

      But the best game not on the list is Transport Tycoon. I still play that game even today.

      0 0
  4. Adrian Esdaile
    Flame

    CIVILIZATION!

    The game that brought you the 'oh, is that sunrise?' moment for the first time. Just one more turn, THEN I'll go to bed / work / uni / school.

    SW:KOTR is hardly retro; it was in the 2000's for Paris' sake.

    Where is Star Wars: X Wing? or TIE Fighter? or Dark Forces?

    Where is Wollfenstein? Where is NetHack?

    6 0
    1. Dapprman
      Reply Icon

      Dam Rights - Where's Civ

      All I can think of is that the Lucy never played it else it would be up there at #1.

      Also, as she has said that she'd be looking at original games - why Command & Conquer ? - this was just Dune 2 with some minor tweaks (increase in the number of units for a start) and a change in the back ground and name of the sides.

      1 0
    2. Alexander 3
      Reply Icon

      I concur with the flaming man

      Civ should be there, any one of them. And X-Wing. Retro to me is 10+ years ago and I'm sure that's a fairly relaxed criterion... Incidentally, that makes PS2 retro and xbox very nearly...

      1 0
    3. ArmanX
      Reply Icon

      Agreed! Civ should definitely be up there!

      Other favorites of mine include Caesar (I and II), Alpha Centaurii, Colonization, Lemmings, Worms, Wolfenstein (the first FPS I ever played)... some of these might not have been the best ever, but I think Civ definately places.

      At least StarCraft and HalfLife are up there.

      1 0
  5. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Too many shoot em ups.

    Where are :-

    Lemmings

    Worms

    Zork

    If you want longevity,,,

    You probably havent heard of Harpoon, but it came out in the early 90's and I still play it today!!

    6 0
    1. Marcus Aurelius
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Harpoon

      Was too buggy at the time to play, and most of the missions seemed to be launch missiles in the general direction of the enemy and pray they got a lock on a target before the incoming ones sank you.

      M1A1 Tank Platoon and Gunship were quite good though, even though experience with some of the weaknesses resulted in easy victories.

      I'd still kill for a really good WW2 sub game; every single one seemed to be too flawed to use....

      0 0
      1. ridley
        Reply Icon

        Elite

        Try Silent Hunter III with the GWX mod, best Submarine Sim out there IMHO.

        But where is "Elite" in all of this?

        Ridley

        1 0
  6. Monty Burns
    WTF?

    .... how did you miss the greatest of them all?

    Elite.

    How can you possibly have missed what the vast majority of 90's gamers all had at some point?

    17 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Headmaster

      Don't you mean...

      ...1980's gamers?

      Anyway, there's a distinct lack of pre PC era games on that list, not very retro is it?

      1 1
      1. stucs201
        Reply Icon
        Pirate

        which version

        I think the later VGA Elite+ may have been 90s, however the original CGA version would be 80s.

        (Pirate: I must have shot thousands of them to finish both versions)

        0 0
        1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Shame on you

          The BBC version has to be the definitive version. Especially if played with a 6502 2nd processor and a bitstick.

          1 0
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      the "Vast Majority"?

      If we're going to refer to the "Vast Majority" of gamers in the 90's, then clearly you're talking about the most GLARINGLY conspicuous absence of them all.

      The only game I know of that not only generated a worldwide community, but had generated large tournaments that still take place every year carrying it's name.

      QUAKE

      0 0
  7. John G Imrie

    Missed an alfull lot of Pre PC games

    Like

    Chucky egg.

    Elete

    Manic Miner

    The Hobbit

    3 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      title

      can't really have a pre-PC retro PC game can you?

      2 0
  8. Chris Byers
    Go

    A timely reminder?

    Is it any coinceidece that R3play, the retro gaming and arcade expo is taking place in Blackpool next weekend?

    0 0
  9. Ralph B
    FAIL

    More to PC gaming than just FPS

    While you were so busy shooting stuff, you missed Leisure Suite Larry and Myst.

    This ex-Netware user was also rather fond of nsnipes. (Ooh, I've just found http://www.winsnipes.com/. I'll have to try that later.)

    2 0
    1. Cameron Colley
      Reply Icon

      Snipes rules (look it up if you don't know what we mean).

      I think I am right in saying that nlsnipes (the one you want, by the way, Ralph) was the first multiplayer network game -- many a fun hour was spent in the school computer lab competing with up to a dozen other people, before a great many people even knew what a network was.

      0 0
      1. Marcus Aurelius
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        MUD

        Essex University MUD (Multi User Dungeon) would like a word with you....

        ...I bought other peoples computer time to play this and performed my coursework on a BBC Micro. Probably explains why I got a 3rd....

        Incidentally I went for interview to Manchester University and they were playing a 3d maze tank game on a network there in 1981 on a University Open Day in their Computing Science department

        0 0
    2. Adam Williamson 1
      Reply Icon

      But...

      she included Monkey Island 2 at #1, presumably as a kind of avatar for all the Lucasarts adventures (my favourite's Grim Fandango), which are immeasurably superior in all respects to the Sierra crap. The gameplay works better (having points and 'game over' in adventures is stupid), the artwork is better, and the plotting is vastly better.

      0 0
  10. Chris 2

    KOTOR

    "the twist has to be experienced for its pure ability to blindside you"

    Seriously? I find it very hard to believe anyone didn't see it coming a mile off - it was blatantly obvious from about the second dream sequence onwards (leaving Taris, I think). I distinctly remember waiting for the payoff for something like 10 hours of gameplay.

    Still, great game. It has to be said I wouldn't _honestly_ count it as "retro" though. Is there really that much difference between it and, say, Dragon Age apart from graphics?

    0 0
  11. lIsRT
    Go

    opinion

    No Deus Ex? - "Every time you mention it, *someone* will re-install it."

    That was the only glaring omission that I'd have included; there'd be a few more personal choices though - things like EF2000, Carmageddon, UFO, Red Alert, Civilisation, Elite II.

    This brings back memories 50/50 split between the first few hours of Xmas morning, and long hot Summer days (which were of course spent in front of the screen, curtains closed).

    1 0
    1. Cameron Colley
      Reply Icon

      I was in the war!

      Moooaarrghhh!

      M-m-m-m-m-m-Onster-kil-kill-ill!!!

      Gotta love those cunning stunts.

      0 0
    2. Autonomous Cowherd
      Reply Icon
      Pint

      I am that someone.

      Yup, you can feel satisfied that you have helped someone you dont know relive memories that we share.

      Funny old world innit? :)

      0 0
  12. Bastard Operator From Hull
    WTF?

    Commanding Conkers

    Nit-picking I know, but the screengrab is from the 1999 game Tiberian Sun, not the 1995 classic, as well as Diablo bearing an uncanny resemblence to a post-GDI/NOD-war era?

    It is criminal that Black & White was included at the expense of (any) 80s platformer, or Civilisation et al.

    0 0
  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bond. James Bond.

    Surprised you picked UT over Quake (which was surely the post-Doom gateway to FPSers) but most of the other games are spot on.

    If you don't restrict it to PCs, however, my vote for the best game ever is GoldenEye 64 which nearly cost me my degree.

    3 1
    1. Sigmund Fraud
      Reply Icon

      M-M-M-Monster Kill

      Quake 3 was just vanilla, whereas UT really kicked ass with it's innovative weapons and all new gamemodes. I am playing UT even now after 10 years. It never gets old.

      0 0
  14. Bynar
    FAIL

    No Xwing / Tie Fighter?!?!?

    List fail.

    0 0
  15. A. Lewis
    Heart

    Good stuff.

    Excellent choices there! :)

    0 0
  16. Torben Mogensen

    MoO2

    Surely Masters of Orion 2 must rank up there? It must be the one game (apart from Elite on the BBC) that I have spent most time on. I also miss Age of Empires -- I find that there are too many shoot-them-up games on the list.

    1 0
    1. Alexander 3
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      MoO2....hell yeah

      I approve wholeheartedly of both those games! MOO2 in particular stole too many of my hours and too much of my heart...

      0 0
  17. annodomini2
    WTF?

    What no Civilisation?

    WTF?

    3 1
  18. Paul Hates Handles

    People missing the point

    Retro_ PC_ games. Lemmings was more of an Amiga / ST (spit) game.

    Jet Set Willy was a Speccy game (and 8-bit home computers).

    Donkey Kong et al were console games. Myself I'd have added Wolfenstein 3D / Spear of Destiny as ground-breaking to this list. C'est la vie.

    Also, the article has the wrong screenshot for Diablo.

    1 3

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.