I got my first computer when I was 10 back in 1996; it was an AMD Am386-40 (the fastest 386 you could buy) with 8 MB of RAM, running DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1 on an amber monochrome (later a B&W) monitor.  Anyways, since the early 1990's, my brother and I have loved to play DOS games.  Back then, all 3 of our non-Linux computers were 486's and below (the Linux server was a 486 as well), and were just right to run most of the DOS games up to that point.

Nowadays, with modern multi-core systems running Windows NT-based OS's (which do not fully support 16-bit DOS applications), without special software, most of them don't work well, if at all.  For a while, in the mid-00's I had a second computer hooked up (a P3-700 P3-933, with a genuine Creative Labs SB16, running Windows 98), just to play older DOS games.  I do still have that machine, but it was merely serving as a placeholder until the DOSBox emulator being developed worked well enough.  (More on that in a moment.)

Between the mid-90's (when I got my first exposure to shareware DOS games, Microforum's Complete Encyclopedia of Games 2-CD set) and about 2004 I downloaded, and otherwise got off shareware CDs, whatever shareware games that were available and interested me.  I did eventually find full versions of some of them, like Descent (my all-time favorite DOS game) and Jazz Jackrabbit.  Since 2004, I've been hunting down full versions of DOS games online, including some that I hadn't played before (like Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Quake, most likely because of their graphic nature).  As a result of this, and the success of DOSBox, our DOS games collection has swelled to epic (pun!) proportions.

The special software I keep referring to, the open-source program called DOSBox, is an emulator (a program that reproduces the behavior and functions of old hardware and/or software on a modern system) of an x86-based PC running DOS.  Of course, due to its nature as a hardware emulator, it takes plenty of processing power to run well; this isn't the sort of thing you should attempt to run on an old P2-400, for example.  (For that matter, you shouldn't even bother running Windows XP on a machine that old IMO, even though it's supported.)  As of this writing, DOSBox is very stable, and runs over 90% of the DOS games in my personal collection flawlessly (only one game has any serious issues); a user-submitted compatibility list is available on the DOSBox website.  The current release is version 0.74, and is available as both a source package, and as pre-compiled binaries for Windows (XP and higher), Mac OS X, and other UNIX-like OS's.  (That is to say, POSIX-compatible, Linux-like, Un*x, or whatever terminology you're familiar with.)

Getting back to DOS games… My areas of interest for DOS games are, for the most part, action/adventure, arcade, and first-person-shooter games, but I have been known to branch out on occasion.  Below is a sampling of those categories, as well as a couple of others; not all of the games will have their own page.

Note added 3/09/11: I will be reworking this area of the site for the next few months, so things may be a bit wonky until then.  (The Descent and Jazz sections in particular need to be CSS'ed something awful.)

Any questions or comments you might have about the pages, a particular game, or DOS games in general may be directed to insectoid (at) budwin (dot) net; please put IWP: in the subject line.  I do appreciate the feedback, both good and bad.  However, any spam mail will be subject to immediate de-resolution!  Requests for copies of non-shareware (i.e., purchased) games are treated likewise.

Action/Adventure

• The Adventures of Captain Comic – A classic DOS sidescroller by a fellow named Michael Denio, with 8 different levels and 14 different enemies.  As Captain Comic, and with your Blastola Cola, it's your task to jump through the levels, shooting enemies and collecting helpful items on the way, eventually collecting the 3 treasures of Osmoc to win the game.  The shareware episode, Planet of Death, was released in 1988 (there have been several revisions since then; the last was Revision 5 in 1991).
  
  Sequels: Captain Comic II: Fractured Reality was released for registered users in 1990.  Comic must collect 6 power crystals from six different areas to prevent reality from tearing itself apart.  Among other things, CC2 has a save-game function, a ton of new enemies and hazards, 6 boss enemies, and a copy-protection scheme (you have to enter a code when you first play, or if you play on a different computer).
  
  Availability: Captain Comic can be found on any good DOS games site, though I highly recommend RGB Classic Games (where you can download any of the 5 revisions of the game).  As far as I know, CC2 is not available to buy or download anywhere, but for a while it was available on the Home of the Underdogs site.
  
  
• Jazz Jackrabbit – A classic action shooter from Epic MegaGames, released in 1994.  The story (according to the authors) is like The Tortoise and the Hare… except that they both have guns!  The hero, Jazz, is on a mission to rescue the rabbit princess of planet Carrotus, Eva Earlong, from head turtle Devan Shell's clutches.
  
  Sequels: There was a sequel for Windows, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, in 1998, which was well-received overall.  Among the differences between JJ2 and the original are the addition of multiple graphics layers (backgrounds, foregrounds, and all that), tons of new enemies and hazards, and a level editor with the full version.  Plus, JJ2 has the capability of network and online play, as well as a large fan base (the largest site I know of is Jazz 2 Online).
  
  Availability: The shareware versions of both games can be found somewhere in the aforementioned site; RGB Classic Games also has both sharewares.  To the best of my knowledge, Epic Classics is still selling the CD version of JJ1 via mail order (as of 2009).  As for JJ2, you can look on Amazon.com, eBay, or any number of online retailers for a copy (I got my copy, by sheer luck, at an EB Games store many years ago).
  
  
• Jetpack – Jetpack was another game in the mid-90's that was very popular in the shareware community.  It's an action/arcade game, first released in 1993, where you fly this guy around, collecting gems, treasures and fuel while avoiding enemies.  It's basically like "Lode Runner", with more freedom of movement, and the ability to phase bricks in any direction.  The shareware version had 10 levels, and a level editor that allowed you to make and test (but not play for a high score) up to 10 custom levels.  The full version has 100 levels and an unlimited level editor.  It was re-released as freeware by the author, Adam Pedersen, in 1998.
  
  Sequels: There were hints of a Jetpack 2 sequel as early as 2000; development on it has begun only recently, and is still in beta phase as of this writing.
  
  Availability: The full version can be downloaded from RGB Classic Games, or from the author's website, Adept Software.  You can also check on the progress of the Jetpack sequel at JetpackHQ.

Arcade

• Epic Pinball and Extreme Pinball – Epic MegaGames' two pinball titles (from 1993 and 1995, respectively; the latter was also published by Electronic Arts), both with great graphics and music.  As with all Epic games at the time, they were available by mail order, either as packs of 4 tables each (in Epic Pinball's case) or as an entire set.  The shareware of Epic Pinball has one table, "Android" ("Super Android" in later versions), and the CD edition has the 12 original tables plus a CD-exclusive "African Safari" table.  Extreme Pinball, on the other hand, exchanged table quantity for higher quality graphics and music, and IMO is far superior.  The shareware has one table, "Rock Fantasy", while the full version on CD comes with 4 tables (my personal favorite is "Urban Chaos").
  
  Availability: As of 2004 (which was when I bought them), both games were available via mail order from Epic Classics, either seperately or as a package.  I assume this is still the case, as I bought another game (Radix) from them in late 2009.
  
  
• Invasion of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom – Despite its goofy title, it's actually quite addicting; I was playing this game as early as 1994! It's an arcade-style shooter, but a bit more complex than coin-op classics like Galaga.  There are power-ups for your ship, and bonus rounds to test your skill.  The shareware version, released in 1993 by Pop Software, has 20 levels, and the registered version has over 60.
  
  Sequels: Return of the Mutant Space Bats of Doom, available to registered users of "Invasion", was released in 1995.  "Return" has 80 levels, but allows you to continue beyond (without receiving any extra lives) for as long as you can stay alive.
  
  Availability: This one's a bit difficult to get now.  "Invasion" was originally available by mail order (like most games at the time) from Pop Software until that company went out of business.  Recently, Mike Pooler (the author of the games) re-launched the spacebats.net site, and offered Bats 1 + 2 through PayPal.  Then it vanished again until January 2006, when spacebats.net went back up again and the games were being sold (as a package) for $24 through PayPal.  Approximately one month after that, people began complaining that orders were not being fulfilled (including mine!).  Thanks to the efforts of sites like RGB Classic Games, whose maintainer has been in contact with Pooler, the future of these two great games is being mended.  (And yours truly finally got his copies.  Yay!) I'm sure that the RGB Classic Games site will let us know when/if spacebats.net is running and fulfilling orders again, or if the games are released as freeware), so stay tuned to that site if you're interested.

First-Person Shooter (FPS)

• Wolfenstein 3D – This game started it all.  Developed by id Software and released in 1993 by Apogee Software (famous for its "Commander Keen" series of games), Wolf3D set the bar for all FPS's that followed it.  The premise of the game is that you're an Allied spy in World War II-era Germany, captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in Castle Wolfenstein.  Your goal?  Why, to shoot up Nazis and escape, of course! It was one of the most graphically violent games of its time (which is pretty tame, by today's standards).
  
  Sequels: There were many spinoffs and ripoffs of Wolf3D; Epic's Ken's Labyrinth (now freeware, courtesy of its author, Ken Silverman) was one of the latter (though well-done, IMO), while Apogee's Blake Stone, Rise of the Triad,   and the immensly popular title below were a few of the former.
  
  Availability: The shareware, of course, contains only one episode, and can be found at any good DOS games site.  The full version (6 episodes) is available for $10 from both 3D Realms Entertainment (Apogee's spinoff company) and from id Software.  (Confirmed as of October 2008.)
  
  
• Doom – This immensely popular game was released by id Software in 1993, shortly after Apogee released the Wolf3D spinoff Blake Stone (which was quickly overshadowed).  It's the next step up from Wolf3D; a textured 3D environment, with wicked weapons (like the "BFG") and hellish monsters.  And yes, like Wolf3D, it's graphically violent—but it's a lot of fun.
  
  Sequels: Not only did Doom have many sequels (Ultimate Doom, Doom II and Doom 3, to name a few) and ports to other systems (like the Nintendo 64 and GameBoy), but also a spinoff series called Quake (which also has many sequels).  Another spinoff—Heretic, and its sequel Hexen—had several sequels as well.
  
  Availability: The shareware version of Doom is available from just about every DOS games site; again, your best bet would be RGB Classic Games.  The full version of Doom (as Ultimate Doom, for Windows 9x) is available for $20 from id Software.  Quake, Heretic, and Hexen are also available from the same place; Quake has both DOS and Win9x EXEs.  Note: though I say "Win9x EXE" here, both Ultimate Doom and Quake work just fine on Windows XP as far as I can tell.  (I have yet to try them on Windows 7.)
  
  
• Descent – This FPS/flight sim/action game came right on the heels of Doom, and is quite possibly my favorite DOS game of all time; I latched onto it immediately after first playing it around 1997.  Similar in concept to Doom, but with a fully-textured 3-D environment with complete freedom of movement, and robots instead of monsters.  Descent was developed by Parallax Software, and was released by Interplay Software in 1994.
  
  The Descent section of the site has been completely redesigned from the original pages from 2006.  They focus on the original Descent game, but also contain release information about the two sequels, Descent II and Descent³.

Educational / Puzzle

• Dr. Brain – When my brother and I were younger, before I had my first computer, the first two of this series from Sierra On-Line (now Sierra Entertainment), The Castle of Dr. Brain and The Island of Dr. Brain, were our absolute favorite games.  The two games have puzzles easy, intermediate, and difficult in subjects including (but not limited to) math, science, language, music, and logic.  The Castle differs from the Island in several ways; the most obvious is that unlike the Island, the Castle's puzzles are one-shot, meaning you can only solve them once, regardless of difficulty (on the Island, you can solve puzzles at all three difficulties multiple times for extra points).  Both games have a Hint function, which provides hints or solutions for a puzzle at the cost of a hint coin/charge (and in the Island, hints count against your score).  The Castle was released in 1991, the Island in 1992.
  
  Sequels: Whereas the first two games of the series were more adventure-educational games, the two sequels, The Lost Mind of Dr. Brain (1995, for Windows 3.1) and The Time Warp of Dr. Brain (1996, for Win9x) are more straight puzzle games, where you have a selection of puzzles and must solve each one a certain number of times, depending on difficulty.
  
  Availability: This is a tough one.  Sierra's better-known old titles include Leisure Suit Larry and the King's Quest series; the Dr.  Brain series does not appear to be on their site.  Sierra Entertainment was recently bought up by Activision, so your best bet, if you're really interested in finding the games, is to search on eBay or Amazon.com.
  
  
• The (Even More) Incredible Machine – A puzzle game from Dynamix (an offshoot of Sierra On-Line), actually the sequel to the original TIM.  There are over 100 puzzles, each gradually increasing in difficulty, as well as an editor (the "Freeform mode") that you can use to make your own puzzles.  Speaking of difficulty… Unless you have an old 386 sitting around, it's doubtful that you'll be able to get TIM to even run on any modern system without using DOSBox (which runs it flawlessly).  There is also a Macintosh PPC version, which works fine on Mac OS 8, and probably 9 also.
  
  Sequels: There was one sequel, The Incredible Toon Machine (aka Sid and Al's Incredible Toons), for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh PPC, which is even more toon-ish than TIM.  ITM actually does still run on modern hardware, although there are some quirks that can make some puzzles solve slightly different (timing issues, for example); for this reason I recommend, if you find a copy, to run it under Win 3.1 on DOSBox.  Interestingly, the copy-protection keys for both games (the codes from the game manual that it prompts you for when you start the program) are exactly the same for DOS/Win as for the Mac, so a manual that came with the Windows version will work with the Mac version, and vice-versa.
  
  Availability: Again, check eBay or Amazon.com.
  
  

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