There was always something magical about the 80s.

Thanks for this video. One tends to forget that DOS games really spanned several generations of consoles. Games from the 1st generation were written in languages that could be ran on MS-DOS later, such as Basic or Infocom. The 2nd generation coexisted with Atari 2600 with primitive CGA graphics and soundspeaker. The 3rd generation overlapped Nintendo, Commodore 64 and early Amigas with EGA graphics and Tandy. During the fourth generation SNES, Genesis and AGA Amigas the DOS started to compete with Soundblaster and VGA. And at the fifth generation Playstation the PC often ran on SVGA and even 3d accelerators.

(1st year is PC release, 2nd is original release.) 00:04 Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (Sir-Tech, 1984/1981) 00:10 Burger Time (Data East, 1983/1982) 00:15 Snipes (SuperSet, 1982) 00:20 Dig Dug (Namco/Atarisoft, 1983/1982) 00:25 Donkey Kong (Nintendo, 1983/1981) 00:30 Joust (Williams/Atarisoft, 1983/1982) 00:36 Lode Runner (Broderbund, 1983) 00:43 Ms. Pac-Man (Williams/Atarisoft, 1984/1982) 00:48 Pac-Man (Namco/Atarisoft, 1983/1980) 00:54 Rogue (AI Design/Epyx, 1983/1980) 01:00 Tapper (Bally Midway/Sega, 1984/1983) 01:06 Ultima 2 (Sierra, 1983/1982) 01:12 Zork 1 (Infocom, 1982/1980) 01:18 Alley Cat (Synapse/IBM, 1984/1983) 01:24 Archon (Free Fall/Electronic Arts, 1984/1983) 01:30 Bouncing Babies (Dave Baskin, 1984) 01:36 Castle Wolfenstein (Muse, 1984/1981) 01:42 Congo Bongo (Sega, 1984/1983) 01:48 Hard Hat Mack (Electronic Arts, 1984/1983) 01:54 Jumpman (Epyx/IBM, 1984/1983) 02:00 Pitfall (-, 1984) 02:06 Q*Bert (Parker, 1984/1982) 02:12 Soko-Ban (ASCII Corp/Spectrum Holobyte, 1987/1982) 02:18 The Ancient Art of War (Evryware/Broderbund, 1984) 02:24 Beyond Castle Wolfenstein (Muse, 1985/1984) 02:30 Lords of Conquest (Eon/Electronic Arts, 1988/1986) 02:36 Softporn II (-, 1985) 02:42 Temple of Apshai Trilogy (Epyx, 1986/1985) - orig. 1979-1982) 02:48 Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (Origin, 1987/1985) 02:54 Gunship (MicroProse, 1987/1986) 03:00 Karateka (Broderbund, 1986/1984) 03:06 Pole Position (Namco/Thunder Mountain, 1988/1982) 03:12 Shogun (Gang of Five/Mastertronic, 1988/1986) 03:18 Space Quest 1 (Sierra, 1986) 03:24 Starglider (Argonaut/Firebird, 1987/1986) 03:30 Tetris (AcademySoft, 1986) 03:36 Uninvited (ICOM/Mindscape, 1988/1986) 03:42 Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego? (Broderbund, 1986) 03:48 Winter Games (Epyx, 1986/1985) 03:54 World Games (Epyx, 1986) 04:00 10th Frame (Access, 1987/1986) 04:06 Airball (MicroDeal, 1987) 04:12 Bruce Lee (Datasoft, 1985/1984) 04:18 Crazy Cars (Titus, 1987) 04:24 Defender of the Crown (Cinemaware/Mindscape, 1987/1986) 04:30 Elite (Acornsoft/Firebird, 1987/1984) 04:36 Into the Eagle's Nest (Pandora/Mindscape, 1987/1986) 04:42 King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne (Sierra, 1985) 04:48 Leisure Suit Larry 1 (Sierra, 1987) 04:54 Mach 3 (Loriciels, 1987) 05:00 Maniac Mansion (Lucasfilm, 1988/1987) 05:06 Mixed-Up Mother Goose (Sierra, 1987) 05:12 Saboteur II (Durell/Keypunch, 1987) 05:18 Test Drive (Distinctive/Accolade, 1987) 05:24 Bard's Tale 1 (Interplay/Electronic Arts, 1987/1985) 05:30 Thexder (Game Arts/Sierra, 1987/1985) 05:36 Wheel of Fortune (ShareData, 1987) 05:42 Airborne Ranger (MicroProse, 1988/1987) 05:48 Arkanoid (Taito, 1988/1986) 05:54 Battle Chess (Interplay/Electronic Arts, 1989/1988) 06:00 Double Dragon (Technos/Taito, 1988/1987) 06:06 Fire and Forget (Titus, 1988) 06:12 Gauntlet (Atari/Mindscape, 1988/1985) 06:18 Jordan vs Bird: One on One (Electronic Arts, 1988) 06:24 Leisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (Sierra, 1988)9 06:30 Manhunter: New York (Evryware/Sierra, 1988) 06:36 Microsoft Flight Simulator V4.0 (Bruce Artwick/Microsoft, 1989) 06:42 Neuromancer (Interplay/Electronic Arts, 1989/1988) 06:48 Playhouse Strippoker (Playhouse/Eurosoft, 1988) 06:54 Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (Sierra, 1987) 07:00 Psycho (Starsoft/Box Office, 1988) 07:06 Silpheed (Game Arts/Sierra, 1989/1986) 07:12 Space Racer (Loriciels/Broderbund, 1988) 07:18 Star Wars (Atari/Broderbund, 1989/1983) 07:24 Strip Poker II Plus (Anco, 1988) 07:30 Tower Toppler (Hewson/US Gold, 1989/1987) 07:36 Trantor (Probe/Keypunch, 1989/1987) 07:42 Ultima 5 (Origin, 1988) 07:48 Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (Lucasfilm, 1988) 07:54 A-10 Tank Killer (Dynamix, 1989) 08:00 Alien Syndrome (Sega, 1989/1986) 08:06 Apache Strike (Activision, 1989/1987) 08:12 Curse of the Azure Bonds (SSI, 1989) 08:18 Deathtrack (Dynamix/Activision, 1989) 08:24 Die Hard (Dynamix/Activision, 1989) 08:30 Emmanuelle (Coktel Vision/Tomahawk, 1989) 08:36 Ghostbusters 2 (Dynamix/Activision, 1989) 08:42 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure (Lucasfilm, 1989) 08:48 Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals (Sierra, 1989) 08:54 MechWarrior (Dynamix/Activision, 1989) 09:00 Nuclear War (New World Computing, 1989) 09:06 Operation Wolf (Taito, 1989/1987) 09:12 Pipe Dream (Assembly Line/Empire, 1989) 09:18 Prince of Persia (Broderbund, 1990/1989) 09:24 Sim City (Maxis/Broderbund, 1989) 09:30 Stargoose Warrior (Spinnaker, 1989/1988) 09:36 Space Rogue (Origin, 1989) 09:42 Sentinel (Firebird, 1989/1986) 09:48 Tongue of the Fatman (Activision, 1989) 09:54 Wayne Gretzky Hockey (Bethesda, 1990/1988)

So many memories playing a lot of these with my brothers and cousins! I still do play many of them too. Commander Keen was my favourite. Anyone else remember Hugo's house of horrors? That game frustrated the heck out of me lol

My first computer gaming experience was Leisure Suit Larry. I think I was 12. I still remember the verification that was built in before the game would load fully to "prove you're old enough to play". A series of questions that were aimed at adults, that only adults should know. Either way, I was always able to get the game to load while my parents were away

Starflight is my favourite space flight simulator in 80s and way ahead of its time !!

Oh yes, i remember Battle Chess. The kill animations were the absolute best. Never bothered with Chess ever again...

Airborne ranger - loved that game!

Thank you for making me feel so darn old :)

Thank you for reminding me of my memories!

Cool video! The best DOS games in the 80s were definitely RPGs and early Lucas and Sierra stuff. One was much better off with a C64 for gaming. It's clearly noticeable how quality quickly increased in late 80s with games like Sim City, Ultima V, Maniac Mansion and Prince of Persia. Very interesting to see Nuclear War, hadn't noticed it was also released for DOS. PC speaker is the worst audio device ever created though. Disconnecting it was the first thing on my to do list, when I got my first PC :D

2018 and i find oldies game like this very interesting

Childhood memories: Tapper, Alley Cat, Airborne Ranger, Sokoban, Mother Goose, Operation Wolf and of course Prince of Persia (brr)

Puts some things in perspective about computer graphics over time. As someone who is trying to understand how you can move/redraw so many pixels on a prompt within a moment really fast, that actually astounds me.

ummm, 21 at 2:04 is Polaris, definitely not Pitfall which was about running around a jungle

Welcome to CGA kingdom.

Ethereal, thanks for this upload. Love watching that is still up 2023.

I remember playing those text only mud games too. I had bouncing babies on a Nintendo game and watch back then. Enjoyed the nostalgia, thanks bud👍

I remember vaguely a CGA game in the same time as Bouncing Babies. It had a sequence where you had to keep an injured guy alive by watching his serum levels..?🤔 I’ve searched years for this game!

Wow....Wolfenstein has really come a long way. And, Jumpman looks as riveting as ever.

Alley Cat!!!

6:59 That's not Police Quest II, it's Police Quest I: In pursuit of Death Angel. But apart from that, great video.

A lot of those games were what we called Shareware. You would go down to your local computer store and you could buy these games by just paying for the cost of the floppy disk they were on. Good times.

The ancient art of war. Man i finished that game! rts in diapers. Also archon, hard hat mack, maniac mansion, battle chess, Zack mackraken and the alien mindbenders, that games music still rocks today :D ,Indiana Jones and the last crusade, . And i also finished sokoban, Prince of perssia of course.

2:37 wait, what?!

Damn I miss point and click adventure games. Loved the Lucas Arts and Sierra games..

Oh wow. Thanks for this video. Brought back so many memories. :-) Thexder I would beat and flip the game back to beginning and beat 3 times!! Lol. Old school when you just played for high scores, lol. And early Sierra games in the 80’s!!!! Amazing childhood memories. I played most of these on the Tandy 1000 computer. (from Radio Shack) I was in Middle School. This was the computer my Dad had gotten me to use to practice programming with BASIC for education purposes but spent most of time playing most of these games on this video. Lol. Then in early 90’s thats when I was graduating high school and Sega Genesis and Nintendo were getting more popular and thats when I faded off into playing those systems because computer technology was moving so fast so all the PC games were requiring faster processers and large hard drives when my computer was only working on floppy disks. Lol. I was NOT one of the fortunate ones that could afford a better computer to keep up with the newer games later in the 90’s. :-) Again thanks for these memories.

If I could go back, I'd immediately buy a Sound Blaster card.

1981: Prehistoric Comments and Users Island

Ah yes, strip poker games, the true pinnacle of 80's MS-DOS gaming

wow thank you for posting this i was looking for a puzzle type dos game from when i was a kid hard hat mack very cool that you did this thank you so much 🙏 .

Great stuff, thank you!

Bouncing Babies is the hit. Undoubtedly.

Did anyone hear that door at 3:36? Fookin amazing.

When I saw "OK" in clip picture cover. I imagined about Saitama from One Punch Man. We can called "Leisure Suit Caped Baldy" 😆

this edit is beautiful

The clip for Police Quest II is actually showing the first game, not the second.

Stargose Runner 😃 Hatte ich ja komplett vergessen.

I cant belive i got so excitied when playing those games..

9:00 welp that's definitely some foreshadowing

I miss a list depicting all games frm the video so we can easily jump to our interested titles. Anycase thanks for the time and effort in producing the video

Pole position was the first game I played on late 80s receiving a spectrum zx for Xmas. Wow that seems an eternity ago

love this. just missing bird golf and sopwith but i’m not complaining

Great game I love old ms-dos games

Can someone help me remember a game? Platform: We had a Windows 95 or 98 computer, I think the game was DOS. Genre: For children Estimated year of release: 1980-1995? Notable characters: none The game was on a black background. You had to reproduce a colored shape by selecting a shape among several on one side of the screen, and a color among several on the other side. Once selected, the colored shape dropped from the top in the middle of the screen and assembled with other colored shapes to make a drawing. Once complete, the drawing animated and left the screen, and you started another drawing. Some animations I remember: a boat pulling a water skier, a car with something (an animal?) inside, a bathtub whose tap turned on and filled it, some makeup that transformed into a minigame. I thought the name of the game was "Shapes", but I didn’t find anything under that name. I looked through some abandonware catalogs without luck. It’s definitely not Ernie’s Magic Shapes, Mickey’s Colors and Shapes, Shape Shop or Shapes and Patterns. I know it’s a long shot, but I really hope someone remembers that game, I've been trying to remember for years.

So many fond memories!!

OMG Tapper! Alleycat! Archon! Hardhat Mac! STARGLIDER! I downloaded these off BBs'es in the 80's! Wow.

omg .. Alleycat! I used to play the hell out of that!

Can't remember this medieval PC game name from mid-late '80's: it was about seizing castles via catapults loaded with a choice of pest, fire or rocks. Help a fellow gamer remember it.

It's nice to see how PC graphics evolved throughout the '80s in this video. At that time I never owned a PC, just a TI-99/4A and Atari 800XL. Those early CGA games often looked horrible where Apple II, Atari 8-bit, C64 and even TI-99/4A owners can rest easy but I started seeing vast improvements by 1986 (better looking CGA, and the beginnings of EGA) and when 1989 rolls around, while EGA was still common, VGA was starting to creep in.

King's Quest II Romancing The Stone came out in 1985, not 1987. Aside from that, great video. I enjoyed it.

Lots of perv games, I couldnt find those as a kid in the 80's =(

At first I wanted to nag that the game at 2:00 ain't Pitfall, but then I googled a bit and realized that it actually IS a game called Pitfall that has nothing to do with Activision's VCS hit :) I'm a sucker for these text-based DOS games, how could I have missed this one? Thanks for the upload :) EDIT: 06:54 is Police Quest 1, not 2.

All this video was my "Dream Stracture" Lol i dreamed this everynight.

I'm looking for a game in 2 sections. I can't remember what you did first on kind of a world map, but the second section involved detaching your assault craft from a blimp, engaging enemy motorcycles on the ground, which produced the message: "Lined up with motorcycle" and was overwritten upon reattaching to the blimp, producing: "Docking completeorcycle".

Das war noch was, wie ich mit meinen Freunden gerätselt habe, wie wir die Kopierschutzfragen von Larry beantworten. Und dann ganz wichtig: USE CONDOM :-)

I had 4 PCs , Coleco Adam, PCjr, 8088 with CGA and 80286 with EGA. I played about half of these games. My 80286 had a sound card (I think an adlib). Games that supported were much more enjoyable and the EGA card was much better. VGA card were to expensive at the time.

It's cracy i remember stuff like Testdrive - i must have been like 5 years old (now i am 40) - and i perhaps just played it once when visiting my cousin..

Those were the kind of games I was afraid of stumbling across when trying out 90s DOS demo CDs

Was my happiest time after school with my 10mhz cga non hdd pc 😂

Those cyan and magenta games scream vaporwave

PrinceOfPersia Controls 10/10

These were some high def graphics right here 😂

Marble Madness! It may have been Atari, but it kinda belongs here. Tapper was seriousfully stressful. Loderunner, Arkanoid & Jumpman were amazing.

I played most of these. Some good ones here.

Out of all of this, I played only Battle Chess (1988), Silpheed (1988) and Prince of Persia (1989), and never even saw the rest.

I absolutely loved the cRPGs back then, AD&D turn based games like Curse of the Azure Bonds were my thing. In games after Baldur's Gate II I couldn't get into the newer rules based D&D games since I didn't know them, now everything is console games you play on the computer.

If I could live in an infinite loop. It would be from 1980 to 2000

9:25 This is a medieval simcity. That's not what I played though.

I just cant find a MS-DOS game in semi-pixelated 2D where you star as a woman in a red suit and uses a rifle as a weapon who fights demons and the beginning begins in a crypt/cemetery where some flying creatures come out of the tombs and you shoot them down with your weapon, as you advance you reach a cathedral/church where there is a gear full of blood because there is a person stuck and destroyed in it, and on the other side of a door there is a demon waiting. The game interface has a bar at the bottom of the screen with a red bottle representing health, as well as the face of our protagonist who, as she receives damage, changes her appearance where she is seen bleeding from her head and nose. the damage received. It was for Pc and u need a disc to play it, if u know something let me know, i´ll pay a reward.

nice, I loved the idea of the original 100 games in 10 minutes.

You should redo this video with a composite filter for the CGA

I got a rush of nostalgia seeing "Into The Eagle's Next". 4:36

I had that "Wheel of Fortune" game on my old comp!

Those CGA graphics. I miss the DOS days. 😄

1983: 30 Users are invited

Saw lode runner and immediately thought of jumpman. I wrecked that game on coleco back when i was 8. played again when i was 20 and it was hard af. still can't find that one mystery dos (?) game from ~84. One day.

1981: 10 users are invited to go on Primary

thank you for uploading an 80s version. i always wanted to see the evolution of dos games in the 80s.

Remember when these games were innovative for their time ahhh the good ole times

Probably pointless to say this now, but video you have for 70 is from the first Police Quest.

What game was that little intro jingle taken from at the very start? Ive heard it so many times but cant remember.

1:20 OMG yes i love you my dearest Alley Cat, i was so good at that! 1:50 yes yes Hard Hat Mack

I'm trying to find this ninja game from the probably mid 80s. The graphics and gameplay were similar to lode runner, you just go from level to level killing as many enemies as possible.

When I was a kid Dad and I had a DOS game that was a drum simulator.

A sober reminder just how bad IBM PC was until the early 90’s as a gaming machine.

A lot that weren’t mentioned, which is a shame because Ive forgotten their names and was hoping to see them. Didn’t see Kings Quest or Wolfenstein on your list either. But thanks for the memories. BTW I played battle chess badly just to watch the battles.🤣

To this day i sometimes play Master of Orion. Where was it?

I miss you 99-2000

Wow, the uh.. ancient art of war game looks rather... interesting. Huh.

Playhouse strip poker was on number 69. Coincidence? I think not!

Who remembers a single screen bush/grass area game where there was a little ant and each keyboard letter press made something different happen!? His friend brings him out a birthday cake, and another key made him go fish in his little boat!? If I had to guess it looked like it must have been from late 80's early 90's? IVE BEEN TRYING FOR YEARS NO ONE KNOWS!!!

Is it a bad sign that I remember having played most of those games when I was a kid?

I used to play "quebec police chief" ...it was like police quest but mostly dealt with hassling vagrants ..great game though ...

Amazing video, please the 90s Edition

I loved Rogue !

I really miss that pc speaker

was looking for an 80'S dos game called geography or something, wanted to see if it still existed

Ken sent me.

Aaaahh you missing Autoduel 😢😢