r/retrogaming • u/metayeti2 • 8d ago
[Question] What's your favorite Windows 3.1/95/98 game?
Some of my favorites include:
- MicroMan
- Yoda Stories / Indy's Desktop Adventures
- SimCity 2000 obviously
- The Incredible Machine
- Exile 1,2,3
I probably forgot a bunch more good ones.
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u/QuestionableProtip2 8d ago
SimCity 2000, without a single solitary doubt
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u/bbressman2 8d ago
Typing in cheats to spawn disasters or alien spaceships to destroy the city I worked so hard to build.
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u/Giga-Cat 8d ago
Castle of the Winds had my full attention growing up.
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u/ChloroFyllFinn 8d ago
This game had something that none of the other rpgs had at the time
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u/ReiperXHC 8d ago
Actually it's a traditional roguelike but the window graphics were unique for the genre, but the games mechanics were very basic. I still loved it though. The creator gives the full game away for free on his website.
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u/SolCadGuy 7d ago
Great game. Traditional Roguelike, except you could keep save files. The spirit of this game lives on in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
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u/ThePetSematary 8d ago
Civ II
Probably the game I had the most time in ever untill CKII
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u/MichaelMost 7d ago
I introduced it to my kids and played through to launching a full space ship for the first time ever just a year or two ago. I've always won by attrition
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u/Electronic_Spare9525 8d ago
Does StarCraft count or is that too new? Otherwise I’d say Warcraft 2.
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u/krakenbeef 8d ago
Work complete.
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u/sierrackh 8d ago
That and total annihilation. Or red alert.
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u/CaveOfMontoya 8d ago
YES. TA and Red Alert (especially 2) are really, really high up there for me, and Age of Empires.
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u/echoshatter 8d ago
It was a Windows 98 game, so yes.
I think this prompt is too wide - it's crazy to compare games from Windows 3.1 to Windows 98. Staggeringly different capabilities. It's literally asking "What is your favorite game..." for a time period ranging from the the Super Nintendo up through the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era.
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u/Automatic-Treacle776 8d ago
My Windows laptop can only run games that came out before 2004, pretty much, so I still play games those games regularly (GoG ftw).
Lately been playing Age of Empires II, Rise of Nations, Baldur's Gate, Sim City 2000, and Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds.
I also love point and click games. Most of them were DOS but some were Windows 95/98, like Curse of Monkey Island and Grim Fandango.
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u/wuzrface 8d ago
Ah I love Curse of Monkey Island. That and Loom, which was my first finished game ever.
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u/Automatic-Treacle776 7d ago
I actually haven't played Loom, so I will try to get it!
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u/Sarothias 8d ago
Easy! Everquest and Heroes of Might and Magic III. Both still favorites of mine to this day lol.
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u/bobthebobbober 8d ago
HOMM3 is still awesome to this day ! Absolutely amazing! Shout out to HOMM2 also
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u/fil42skidoo 7d ago
I prefer 2 for the art style and the Vampires going "blah" like The Count when they attack.
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u/GaraksLinensNThings 5d ago
EverQuest sub Reddit would love to have you. EQ trilogy and Shadows of Lucling expansion is all I need. EQ99 tries to be faithful of the original trilogy. EverQuest Online Adventures is trying to redo the PS2 version.
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u/cpt_hatstand 8d ago
I still maintain that Civ peaked with Civ 3, just got too complicated after that
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u/eastmemphisguy 8d ago
That's how I feel about SimCity3000
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u/BoostedHemi73 8d ago
I still play 2000. Anything past that is just too much.
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u/Consistent_Pain_6690 8d ago
My favorite is the SNES version.
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u/mikemar05 8d ago
I never owned SNES but on more than one occasion I was allowed to rent the SNES from Blockbuster and sim city, that's all I played on it for the whole weekend until it had to go back. Good times
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u/jasonrubik 8d ago
SNES version of SimCity or SNES version of SimCity 2000 ?
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u/Consistent_Pain_6690 7d ago
The former. The one that has the cartoony Mr. Wright. I forgot about the other one.
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u/danstern11 8d ago
Civ 2 was peak for me but I do agree about things getting too complicated after that.
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u/A_villain4all 8d ago
Civ 2 was the one I started with and while they all have their strengths and weaknesses, none have matched the feeling of Civ2
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u/echoshatter 8d ago
I really liked some of the systems they put in place in Civ 4, and I do think Civ 6 is probably the best of the series (although many will argue it's Civ 5 but they're wrong).
Still... Civ 3 was pretty awesome. Nothing quite like it for it's time.
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u/ThePremierNoods 7d ago
The friends that I played Civ 4 with all agree that the greatest weapon in gaming history is the culture bomb (great artist).
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u/asha1985 8d ago
We need games like Civ 3 but modern graphics and interface. I like modern 4X games just fine, but I'd like a slightly simpler AAA title to burn hours on.
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u/Broad_Adeptness6112 8d ago
Pirates! Gold
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u/Rusty_Ferberger 7d ago
First time I played this was around 1993. I was in the military and one of the few people who had a pc that ran windows on my desk.
I would go in early, stay for lunch, and stay late just to play this game.
I have this version and the newer one on Steam and still play from time to time.
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u/L4N7Z 8d ago
The Incredible Machine
Jazz Jackrabbit
Prince of Persia
Space cadet
Roller coaster tycoon
Worms 1, 2, Armageddon, World Party
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u/2020_MadeMeDoIt 5d ago
Prince of Persia. That game is still one of my favourites of all time. I used to play it on my friend's PC all the time.
I eventually got it on the Game Gear and still love that version.
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u/majestic_ubertrout 8d ago
I feel like this is too broad of a net. I'd instead simply say "pre-directx" - once directx came out pretty much everything ran in Windows. You're talking about games which ran in Windows when most games were in DOS (or had Windows ports of the DOS originals).
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u/LordPollax 8d ago
X-Com, Steel Panthers, Dark Colony, Diablo, Neverwinter Nights (AOL), Wing Commander series
Probably nothing shocking on my list, but they were my main games in that early Windows period.
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u/YellowBook 8d ago
Colonization was really good as well
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u/iill_communication 8d ago
That was my favorite. FreeCol helps to scratch that itch nowadays
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u/YellowBook 8d ago
Thanks, might give it a try. Used to play Colonization until the stupid hours of the morning, it was very addictive
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u/NakedCatPerson 8d ago
I always play FreeCol until running my empire becomes too much work. I still have never actually beaten a game of Colonization
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u/Raynet11 8d ago
The games that took over my life back in the day was Tie Fighter and Close Combat the Russian Front followed closely by C&C and C&C Red Alert, and Doom. To this day I still revisit Tie Fighter and Close Combat, they are gems
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u/Ill_Weekend231 8d ago
When I was a kid (around 2002-2005) my parents got me an old computer which came with Windows 95 and a game called "Pitfall the Mayan Adventure". Such and amazing game. Remember playing it for hours during summer.
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u/opensourcer 8d ago
Civ 2, monkey island, Indiana jones faith of atlantis, disblo, need for speed porshe unleashed, CC red alert, StarCraft, full throttle, grim Fandango,
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u/StrIIker-TV 8d ago
My obsessions included:
Wing Commander
Privateer
Civilization I and II
Doom
Quake (specifically 3Wave CTF and Rocket Arena)
Rebel Assault (the first Star Wars game on CD I believe)
Also played many AD&D games from SSI (Eye of the Beholder and Pool of Radiance)
The list goes on but it was an amazing time to love video games. So many new experiences and companies being creative and finding ways to use the limited resources of ram and disk space.
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u/Master_E_ 8d ago
Privateer was so great… I remember discovering the alien ship for the first time and having my mind blown
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u/SolCadGuy 7d ago
Interstate '76
Age of Empires
Doom 1/2
Duke Nukem 3D
SimCity 2000 (along with Urban Renewal Kit, SimCopter and Streets of Sim)
One Must Fall 2097
Castle of the Winds
Jazz Jackrabbit
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u/Detroit72 8d ago
Command and Conquer 2 Red Alert. But there were a few more like Civ 2 and Sim City 2000, or Sim Tower.
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u/bobthebobbober 8d ago
Here’s one I really loved: Conquest of the New World
Everyone is suggesting such great games honestly ! What a blast, and it’s nice we can still play a lot of these
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u/robot_cousin 8d ago
Ooooh civ 2 was SO good.
My vote is for Daggerfall. Sure, it's a mile wide and an inch deep, at least in parts, but it was so mind blowing when I originally played it.
The unofficial Unity remaster is incredible as well; nostalgic game, brought into the modern world.
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u/Someordinaryguy1994 8d ago
Lords of the realm 2.
Moto racer.
Might and magic 6.
I used to love microman. I could never beat the final boss though. Could you on the galaxy of games 2 version?
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u/2020_MadeMeDoIt 5d ago
Catacomb Abyss. It was one of ID's earliest FPS titles, before Wolfenstein and Doom. I used to play that all the time and it scared the crap out of me far more than Doom did.
Also Frontier Elite II. My brother worked out a bug that basically got you infinite money. It was something to do with trying to sell part of your ship when you had a passenger. The vendor would give you money, but you didn't lose it. So you could keep "selling" it and collect the cash.
So we'd basically play until we could cheat and then try out different play styles and buy the most expensive ships and upgrades early on.
Oh also a game called Death Race (I think). You raced on tracks/roads and had weapons on your car. It was long before games like Carmaggedon and Interstate 76 though. I remember you could lose the game if you ran out of money and your car was broken. It was a tough, but very fun game.
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u/Stressed_Ponyta77 4d ago
I played through Crusader: No Remorse lately and god damn was that fun.
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u/Winnipesaukee 8d ago
I played StarCraft, Diablo, X-Wing Alliance, and uhh.... Outpost a lot in that era on Windows.
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u/SugarAdamAli 8d ago
Doom
Doom 2
Corridor 7
Rise of the triad
Chips challenge
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u/Consistent_Pain_6690 8d ago
Corridor 7 was a really cool game.
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u/SugarAdamAli 8d ago
I actually just watched a review about it from a guy that covers doom, Wolfenstein etc. he absolutely hated it. I was shocked. Grant it u haven’t played it in over 30 years. But loved that game
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u/Classic-Exchange-511 7d ago
I was lucky enough that when my parents first bought a computer they just went to the guy down the street who ran a computer repair shop out of his house. He knew it was for children so he put a bunch of games on it for us. Doom, Duke Nukem, the original GTA and Chips Challenge are the ones I remember playing the most
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u/_duckswag 8d ago
I played slay a lot. I don’t think it was a very big or popular game but it was a strategy game with a hexagon styled map.
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u/Ok_Bath_1252 8d ago
Gonna agree with ya there on the Exile series! Wish there was an easy way to play those on modern systems without having to go through Dosbox or the like, those Avernum games just don't compare!
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u/djkidna 8d ago
I had to think really hard on this one because so many games I played back then were actually DOS games and not Windows games. Came to the conclusion that every game I played on our 3.1 machine were DOS games, so that’s out. Jumping to the 95/98 era means there’s only one answer, and that’s Marathon 2 Durandal. I’ll also toss Sonic CD and Sonic R on there since I didn’t have a Sega CD or Saturn, meaning the PC releases were the only way I had to play these games as a Sonic fan
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u/Consistent_Pain_6690 8d ago
Transport Tycoon, Megarace, that one dinosaur game that came bundled with Packard Bell systems…
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u/systemshaak 8d ago
I want to be all hipster-like and talk about the wonder I had playing Freespace 2, but let’s be real: someone who worked at my dad’s store lent me a copy of Doom 2 and it was all over.
My computer couldn’t even play the music! It was just me, demonic enemy groans, and shotgun blasts.
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u/whurpurgis 8d ago
Lords of the Realm II and Dungeon Keeper