Do you know some obscure 1990's PC games?

[Panzermann11]

On 11/26/2021 at 8:26 PM, Stupid Bunny said:

Oh yes and the Thinkin' Things series was amusing

 

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Thinkin' Things... that takes me back. I remember playing a Vietnamese version of the series when I was a kid, complete with dubbing aswell.

[taufan99]

Panza Kick Boxing, developed by French studio Futura and published by Loriciel in 1991. Officially endorsed by former kickboxing champion André Panza. Also known as Best of the Best: Championship Karate in USA. Originally a game for Amiga, it was ported to many other platforms, including but not limited to Atari ST, MS-DOS, Turbografx-16, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, and others. Can't remember when I first found it (probs 2014-2015), and last time I played this was back in 2019, and I had fun spending time playing it. Be wary that it plays nothing like a generic 1990's fighting game, and personally it's the reason I like it very much.

 

[Wadmodder Shalton]

The Extreme Sports series of games by Head Games and later Activision.

 

Extreme Paintbrawl - a paintball first-person shooter released in 1998 running on the Build engine and with little to no multiplayer, awful AI, laughable soundtrack and many pathetic bugs and glitches, making it the worst Build engine game ever made, even worse than TekWar. It's also the only Build engine game that can't be played on any modern PC or operating system due to the unusual way of using both a Windows 95-based launcher and real-mode DOS, meaning you can't play it with BuildGDX or Raze either unless one could try to do so and make it work by modding the game by adding extra graphics for the menus. It eventually got three sequels, Extreme Paintbrawl 2 in 1999, Ultimate Paintbrawl 3 in 2000 and Extreme Paintbrawl 4 in 2002 all of which got negative reviews.

 

Extreme Wintersports - a 1999 winter sports game that's actually a reskinned version of Snow Wave: Avalanche released a year earlier, the only difference being the addition of skis and snowmobiles.

 

Extreme Watersports - a watersport simulation game released in 1999.

 

Extreme Tennis - a tennis simulation game released in 1999, which is actually a reskinned version of Tie Break Tenis 98'.

 

Extreme Rock Climbing - a rock climbing game released in 1999, that's made famous with the cheesy menu voice acting, particularly with the "Practice Mode" phrase which LGR commonly uses during a review of any game that has a training mode.

 

Extreme Bullrider - a bullriding simulation game released in 1999 with really awful gameplay.

 

Extreme Boards and Blades - a 3D skateboarding and rollerblading game released in 1999 with Mountain Dew branding.

 

Extreme Angler - a fishing simulation game released in 1998.

 

Extreme Mountain Biking - a competitive mountain biking game released in 1999.

 

Got those Extreme games out of the way.

Edited November 6, 2022 by Wadmodder Shalton

[Wadmodder Shalton]

GeoSafari: Animals - a 1996 edutainment game released in 1996 for Windows and Macintosh with sixteen mini-games complete with pictures, illustrations and videos. This GeoSafari product came out a year after the one game included with the ill-fated Microsoft Bob program, though compared to the one included with the latter program, this game isn't widely discussed by many people.

[Sonikkumania]

This Sonic 1 hack for DOS is plain weird. That ending though.

 

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Torcher: Arsonist of Evil - a genuinely baffling and bizarre point and click adventure game developed by Digital Design Development and published by Padmini Multimedia Limited and released in 1997.

 

[indigotyrian]

On 10/26/2022 at 3:35 PM, Sonikkumania said:

This Sonic 1 hack for DOS is plain weird. That ending though.

 

 

this feels like a fake creepypasta video a teenager made to scare younger teenagers but its real, what the fuck

[Wadmodder Shalton]

The War in Heaven - a 1999 first person Christian action game based on the fantasy book series of the same name by Theodore Beale.

 

Revolution X - a 1994 arcade light gun game which got a MS-DOS port in 1996 that features the band Aerosmith.

 

Pit-Fighter - a 1990 arcade Fighting game that got ported to home computers including the Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and MS-DOS in 1991, with many of those home computer versions being considered inferior to the arcade version in one form or another. It was later released on Windows as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition compilation in 2006, but that version was sadly actually sourced from the same inferior emulated version found in the 2004 Midway Arcade Treasures 2 compilation for the sixth-generation consoles (the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube) and as such, the speed of the game is twice the one of the original arcade vereion making it almost unplayable, unless if it's possible to play it on a slow PC that is below the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition system requirements.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Wadmodder Shalton

[3ryuki.l]

i used to play worldsmmo all the time the game was weird af

[taufan99]

B.U.G.S. (Bill's Unbelievable Ghastly Spaceships), a shoot-em-up game initially released for OS/2 in 1997, it was also released for Windows 95 that same year and later Windows 98 the next year (aptly named B.U.G.S. '98). It was developed by a Danish programmer Jeppe Cramon, more well-known for his OS/2 utility programs, with designs by German artist Ingo Günther, and published by American company Stardock Systems, Inc. It's so obscure that no YouTube videos existed until *ahem ahem* I made a longplay video via DOSBox-X's ZMBV codec.

Spoiler

(I still can't record lossless stuff perfectly because I'm broke and can't afford to buy even a slightly more powerful device and/or screen recorder, sorry!)

Apparently B.U.G.S was also re-released in 2002 under the name B.U.G.S. 2002, but not much information other than a beta release news from Stardock Systems (which no longer sells it) exists. I saw someone on eBay Canada (sooo far away from where I live) sell perhaps the only physical copy of B.U.G.S. 2002 ever known, unfortunately it got sold out to someone else. I contacted Crammon a few months ago, and he's interested in remaking the game if he has any free time. Here's hoping it comes out someday, and someone shares a rip of B.U.G.S. 2002 sooner or later.

[Captain Keen]

Probably not THAT obscure but one of my favorite games as a kid was Creature Shock. It got terrible reviews and isn’t a “good” game per se but the vibe and visuals were really unique and it could make a cool movie. If you like the original 1979 Alien I recommend checking it out. For the time the graphics were mind-blowing, even if they were pre-rendered.

[Tetzlaff]

18 hours ago, 3ryuki.l said:

i used to play worldsmmo all the time the game was weird af

 

Never heard of this one... searching the domain name it seems that David Bowie was involved in this? Can you tell us more?

[3ryuki.l]

@Tetzlaff It was one of the original MMO games that was universal for windows computers back in the 90s and David bowie made it for his music and its sorta like metaverses parent and it was originally called bowie world and there is supposedly a cult but it was just a hoax

[Sonikkumania]

Do you guys remember a game named "Ghast"? I can't find footage out of it anywhere. You played as this ghostly character in an spooky amusement park and some creepy fat clown was the antagonist I guess, I don't know much because I never played much but I know it existed.

[InfernalMonsoon]

Never played it myself but I was always curious about a little 6DOF game called Virus back in the day. The idea of a game randomly generating itself based on your PC's file directories is very cool, weird and I don't think it's ever really been done again on the scale of a full game.

 

 

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Real Pool - a 1998 billiard simulation game developed by DigitalFusion, which eventually became the first game to become a 3D Groove browser game later on.

 

SkyDive! - a 1999 skydiving simulation game published by Electronic Arts under the Gonzo Games label, and developed by none other than The Groove Alliance which later released a couple of browser games running on the 3D Groove engine in the 2000s before closing down in 2009.

Edited November 4, 2022 by Wadmodder Shalton

[GuyMcBrofist]

On 5/16/2021 at 12:40 PM, jupiter_ex said:

Electro man

 

I just stumbled across this game in one of those "100 DOS games in 10 minutes" videos and was totally floored. I played this game very briefly as a kid, and for some reason it left an impression that stuck with me, but I couldn't remember the name, so all my attempts over the years to find it ended in failure. Everything I do remember is all here though, the teleporters, the two letter executable that launches the game, the flat green backdrop (I played a version with simpler graphics). I can finally close the book on this one.

 

 

[Tetzlaff]

On 11/3/2022 at 5:02 PM, Sonikkumania said:

Do you guys remember a game named "Ghast"? I can't find footage out of it anywhere. You played as this ghostly character in an spooky amusement park and some creepy fat clown was the antagonist I guess, I don't know much because I never played much but I know it existed.

 

Gast? Looks Tim Burtonesque...

[princetontiger]

Yobi's Basic Spelling Tricks

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Here's two games that ran on the same engine as Jazz Jackrabbit 2, those being Battery Check and Animaniacs: A Gigantic Adventure released in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

[Asphalt]

Mission Sunlight, also known as Mission: Van Gogh here in Italy, was a 3D exploration game based on the works of famed painter Vincent Van Gogh.

I think it's been quite overlooked, which is sad, because it was very atmospheric and awe-inspiring. It was released in 1997 or so, and basically it predated by almost two decades the current generation of "walking simulators". In the game, you had to navigate the paintings of Van Gogh in order to find clues and objects that you would later need to progress in the adventure. The graphics were quite rudimental, but in spite of this, for whatever reason, the low-poly environments and low-res texturing perfectly recreated the painting style of the artist, and the final result was nothing short of incredible. I really think it's one of the most visually impressive games ever created, even after 25+ years.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

And then there's Opera Fatal, which I'd say is possibly my absolute favourite videogame ever.

It was an educational game produced by a German based company, and it was obviously centered on the worlds of lyrica and classical music. 

It was a point-and-click mystery adventure, where you had to sneak into the opera house during nighttime, in the hope of discovering what's happened to your missing musical score, that's apparently been stolen by a mischievous thief. Useless to say that the music and sound effects were phenomenal, and the hand drawn graphics contributed in creating an atmosphere that was really quite unlike any other. This little game really captured me back in the day.

Priceless.

 

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[Wadmodder Shalton]

Any of the games made by Brilliant Digital Entertainment, many released on Windows but many also had a pre-rendered interactive DVD release as well.

These are as follows:

Cyberswine - a 1997 3D point and click adventure game based on an Australian comic book of the same name

Popeye and the Quest for the Woolly Mammoth - a 1997 3D point and click adventure game based on the Popeye comic strip

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective - a 1998 3D point and click adventure game based on the movie of the same name.

Gravity Angels series - a four-part series with four episodes, those being Alien Discovery, The Betrayal, Payback and Death Force all released in 1998.

Xena: Warrior Princess - Death in Chains: a 1999 3D point and click adventure game based on the hit TV show. The developer also made another Interactive DVD game based on the TV show called Xena: Warrior Princess - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun released in the year 2000.

The Multipath Adventures of Superman: Menace of Metallo - a 2000 adventure game based on the DC Comics superhero.

Choose Your Own Adventure games: not really Windows games but they were Interactive DVD games that could also play on consoles or any PC and Mac media player so I guess it counts. Three games based on the interactive book series of the same name, those being The Curse of The Mummy, How I Became A Freak and Night of the Werewolf all released between 2000 and 2001 respectively.

Just wanted to mention these obscure games from an even obscurer company.

[Wyrmwood]

Played these (hopefully) obscure games on an equally obscure console, namely Panasonic 3d0 but I've checked and they all came out on PC too.

 

Hell: a Cyberpunk Thriller - a very difficult (well I never finished it) point and click adventure game that used a lot of FMV and had a few real actors like Dennis Hopper and Grace Jones. A noir detective story in a near future where demons and stuff seemed to live on earth for some reason.

 

Quarantine - a first person view driving game set in a sort of Escape from New York styled city/prison. You could upgrade your cab with chainsaws and things, shoot out the side windows and turn on the windscreen wipers to clear the blood. Maybe closer to Descent but on roads.

 

Supreme Warrior. A first person view fighting game but with real FMV combatants, your arms were sprites but you punched real actors. Really janky implementation but impressive for the day.

 

Demolition Man - probably one of the last old school licensed games, 5 or 6 levels each one kind of a separate mini-game, one was a crap Doom clone another a rails shooter, etc. This time you got movie clips between scenes to modernize it but really money would have been much better spent on the DVD (or probably VHS then!).

 

 

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Hard Drivin - a 1989 arcade racing game with a single track that got ported the same year to the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It later got ported to MS-DOS in 1990, and Commodore 64 in 1991. It was later released on Windows as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition compilation in 2006, but that version was sadly actually sourced from the same inferior emulated version found in the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 compilation on the sixth-generation consoles (PS2, Xbox and Gamecube).

Race Drivin - the arcade sequel to the aformentioned Hard Drivin released in 1990 which got ported to MS-DOS, the Amiga and Atari ST. It was later released on Windows as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition compilation in 2006, but that version was actually sourced from the Midway Arcade Treasures 3 compilation for the Sixth-generation consoles (PS2, Xbox and Gamecube).

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Elf Bowling and Elves in Paradise: Elf Bowling 2 - the former being an actual Bowling game and the latter being a shuffleboard game, both developed by NStorm and released in 1999 and 2000 respectively.

 

The first two games were later infamously ported to the GBA and Nintendo DS in 2005 to extremely poor reviews.

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Saints of Virtue - a 1999 religo-FPG game that is virtual broken in the gameplay department.

War Gods - a 1995 3D arcade Fighting game developed by Midway which got ported to Windows 95 in 1996 by Eurocom.

[Redneckerz]

On 11/7/2022 at 5:02 AM, Wadmodder Shalton said:

Here's two games that ran on the same engine as Jazz Jackrabbit 2, those being Battery Check and Animaniacs: A Gigantic Adventure released in 1998 and 1999 respectively.

I had/have Battery Check. It was a dutch advergame to trash your batteries properly.

[Sonikkumania]

Separila : An indie game where your objective is to guide patients of an intellectual disability nursing home to where ever they want to go. The challenge is to make up the destination of their "deranged" speech. If you fail, the patients are not too happy about it. It's juvinile, yes, but a product of it's time and an artistic piece of black humour.

 

[HalfLife9000]

On 1/27/2021 at 4:25 PM, Boaby Kenobi said:

Harvester is a brilliant game from the 90s.

 

 

you always were a kidder, steve

[HalfLife9000]

On 11/9/2022 at 10:22 PM, Wadmodder Shalton said:

Hard Drivin - a 1989 arcade racing game with a single track that got ported the same year to the Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It later got ported to MS-DOS in 1990, and Commodore 64 in 1991. It was later released on Windows as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition compilation in 2006, but that version was sadly actually sourced from the same inferior emulated version found in the Midway Arcade Treasures 2 compilation on the sixth-generation consoles (PS2, Xbox and Gamecube).

Race Drivin - the arcade sequel to the aformentioned Hard Drivin released in 1990 which got ported to MS-DOS, the Amiga and Atari ST. It was later released on Windows as part of the Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition compilation in 2006, but that version was actually sourced from the Midway Arcade Treasures 3 compilation for the Sixth-generation consoles (PS2, Xbox and Gamecube).

oh my god that brings back memories from playing it on Midway Arcade PS2 CDs