I’m setting up my MiSTer FPGA and want to prioritize a bit. I currently have DOS and Win 95 running, but plan to setup Macintosh and any other worthwhile computer platforms. Any computer platform welcome (I already have the consoles figured out). What are your “must try” game suggestions?

Edit: I just got back to this post and am pleasantly surprised by the response. I’ll probably be adding most if not all of these to test since I have the space. Thank you to everyone who commented.

  • Ashtear@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Some of my favorites in a variety of genre:

    • TIE Fighter and/or Freespace
    • Planescape: Torment
    • Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
    • Pharaoh

    Also one of Sierra’s adventure games. A popular one is King’s Quest VI.

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
      0·
      20 days ago

      I remember the difference between xwing and tie fighter. How tight where the missions and the campaign… If there’s a remake to make that’s the one for me.

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Definitely go and find Marathon and it’s sequels, preferably in their original form on the Mac. But you don’t need to go through all that trouble necessarily, Bungie released all the source some time ago and it is all freely available for new hardware now.

    • Webster@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      19 days ago

      God I love Lords of the Realm 2. I bought it on GoG and go back and play that every few years for a spell. Rarely see others mention in and it was one of my favorite games of that era.

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
      0·
      20 days ago

      Reticulating splines.

      I still play it now and then, while I like the newer editions this is the one that aged better in comparison.

    • massive_bereavement@fedia.io
      0·
      20 days ago

      My highlight in Civ II was losing against a mega empire and then half of it seceded and started a war, so I eventually got the upperhand.

      For X-COM, I remember the sheer terror of boarding a ship with my puny squad.

      • slingstone@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        20 days ago

        One time, in Civ I, I was living my best life as Rome on a big island until the Chinese sent a battleship to my shores and started destroying my triremes. Somehow, I used a diplomat to take over one of their cities and production was stuck on mobile infantry (must have been a bug), which gave me the ability to make units that could defend against their tech. Then I sent more diplomats to steal tech. The list of tech ran off the screen, but it allowed me to still select tech I couldn’t see. So I started scrolling beyond the visible point and blindly stealing tech. When I accidentally stole nuclear weapons, I built one, loaded it on a trireme, and sent it to Beijing. Their empire instantly split, and I was able to survive. It’s still my best memory from any Civilization game.

  • RobotZap10000@feddit.nlEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Half Life. While I am too young to have played it when it released, it still was an astounding game for its time.

    • Elkenders@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      20 days ago

      Ooo I used to love Total Annihilation. Forgot all about that game! I used to spam build hundreds of tiny fighter planes and swarm the enemy.

  • billbasher@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    Gex

    Mario Teaches Typing

    All of the ‘Blaster Learning System’ games like Math Blasters: In Search of Spot

    I was pretty young still so those educational ones were hella fun and my parents would let me play as much as I wanted

      • billbasher@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        18 days ago

        Yeah they worked amazingly. I went into classes already knowing a lot of the math and science material and the teachers lessons taught principles instead of just formulas. I would say they are still beneficial for todays kids although there may be better ones now. There’s nothing like saving your little video game buddy to force you to memorize things haha

        For the typing yeah it trained me not to look at the keyboard and type things very quickly. One trick my typing teacher in school used was to put cardboard over the keyboard so you can’t see. I think that would probably pair nicely with the game.

  • sadie_sorceress@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    0·
    20 days ago

    I don’t know how popular it was since none of my friends remember it but I loved Phantasmagoria. Its a point and click horror mystery game with video captured graphics.

  • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
    0·
    20 days ago

    Terranigma. Still my favorite RPG to this day and one of my favorite games to this day, but it’s hard to gush about this game without any spoilers and its written in a way that requires a bit of attention from the player. You do need to either have an EU / PAL SNES or emulate it though, because it never released in the Americas due to publisher drama.

    Secret of Mana is great too, or if you already played that, Seiken Densetsu 3, which is the sequel title that never got released in the West, but got fan translated roms out there. Seiken Densetsu 2 being SoM, and the original Seiken Densetsu 1 was released as Final Fantasy Adventures and sort of a side story to the Final Fantasy franchise, which got dropped and became its own franchise with the second game. SD3 (or “Secret of Mana 2”) is a significant step up to the first game in many aspects and even has multiple characters & branching endings based on your character selections.

    On the PC definitely the Command & Conquer’s Tiberian series, starting with the first game and a GDI campaign run, followed by a NOD campaign run. It got those cheesy but amazingly entertaining little clips between the missions that actually get you immersed into the story and it has a killer soundtrack too. It’s one of the many great franchises ruined by EA, but I heard the remastered version is actually decent (I still won’t buy because I still boycott them). The already suggested Red Alert is a spin-off series with some references to the Tiberian series, so I would not start with that one until you played the Tiberian one.