Thanks ;)

So I decided to post some Xmas themed DOS games for Christmas. You might need to run them in DosBox to get them to work. These are mostly platformer games with Xmas Editions of Jazz Jackrabbit, Jetpack, Skyroads, and a game called Sint Nicolaas (Saint Nicholas in Dutch). I highly recommend the two Jazz Jackrabbit games. I might also post a few more games tomorrow.

Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare

Released as "Jazz Jackrabbit Christmas Edition", this freeware episode lists itself as "Episode X: Holiday Hare" on the episode selection screen, beneath the 9 episodes from Jazz Jackrabbit. Episode X was never added to the original game, so Holiday Hare is a standalone game based on the Jazz Jackrabbit engine. Featuring the same awesome graphics as the original, tons of weapons, and a rock and roll soundtrack based on a medley of Christmas carols, Jazz travels to the wintry planet Holidaius to fight more tortoises and other enemies.

Reference: Classic DOS Games

Screenshots:

Bonus Level:

Default Controls:
Left Arrow - Move Left
Right Arrow - Move Right
Up Arrow - Look up
Down Arrow - Duck/Look Down
Alt - Jump
Space - Shoot
Ctrl - Swap Weapon
Esc - Menu
T - Slow Motion
P - Pause

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNUGVO22tLc

Download (1.4 MB):
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Jazz_Jackrabbit:_Holiday_Hare.html

Jazz Jackrabbit Holiday Hare 1995 Edition

For the second year in a row, Epic released a freeware episode of Jazz Jackrabbit that lists itself as "Episode X: Holiday Hare" on the episode selection screen, beneath the 9 episodes from Jazz Jackrabbit. Despite the identical name and episode designation as 1994's "Christmas Edition", Holiday Hare 95 is a new standalone game based on the Jazz Jackrabbit engine. Featuring the same awesome graphics as the original, tons of weapons, and an incredible remix of Carol of the Bells for the soundtrack, this time Jazz travels to the planet Candion to fight more tortoises and other enemies, and eat lots of candy.

Reference: Classic DOS Games

Screenshots:

Default Controls:
Left Arrow - Move Left
Right Arrow - Move Right
Up Arrow - Look up
Down Arrow - Duck/Look Down
Alt - Jump
Space - Shoot
Ctrl - Swap Weapon
Esc - Menu
T - Slow Motion
P - Pause

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLmprPe1m3s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PmEmS6v9To

Download (1.4 MB):
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/Jazz_Jackrabbit:_Holiday_Hare_1995.html

Jetpack Christmas Special

In this free promotional Christmas version of Jetpack, you play as Santa Claus! Instead of green orbs, you now need to collect all of the Christmas presents to move to the next level. Santa has a jetpack that allows him to fly (when he has fuel), and he can temporarily phase change bricks to trap enemies or move through walls, floors and ceilings. The levels and challenges are excellent, and make good use of stairs, barriers and different types of terrain. The Christmas edition still comes with a level editor, so you can make your own Christmas-themed levels. There are 10 levels in the game.

Reference: Classic DOS Games

Screenshots:

Controls:
Arrow Keys - Move
Alt/Keypad 0/Insert - Jetpack
Ctrl/Enter/Delete - Phase Shifter
F10 - "Boss" Mode
Esc - Suicide
Q - Quit

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQsHSKs3Vq4

Download or play online (0.5 MB):
(Also downloads for the original Jetpack & Squarez Deluxe!)
http://www.classicdosgames.com/developer/adampedersen.html

Skyroads

The sequel and remake of Kosmonaut, with vastly better graphics and excellent music. More of a driving game than a racing game, since there are no other cars. This challenging game requires you to make it to the end of interstellar highways without being destroyed by obstacles, or running out of gas or oxygen. Gravity varies by level. The game has an awesome soundtrack, the backgrounds are beautiful, and the levels are full of color. There are 30 roads in this game, with only the first 6 playable in the shareware version.

Reference: Classic DOS Games

Screenshots:

Keyboard Controls:
Up Arrow - Increase Speed
Down Arrow - Decrease Speed
Left Arrow - Move Left
Right Arrow - Move Right
Space - Jump
Esc - Quit

Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6Rovi9QSDk

Download or play online (0.5 MB):
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/SkyRoads.html

Alternative Downloads:
http://www.bluemoon.ee/history/skyroads/
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/63/Skyroads.html
http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/skyroads/

Skyroads Xmas Special

An extremely challenging "Christmas version" of SkyRoads. Features identical gameplay but all new levels, many of which have Christmas-themed backgrounds. There are 30 roads in this game, with only the first 6 playable in the shareware version.

Reference: Classic DOS Games

Screenshots:

Keyboard Controls:
Up Arrow - Increase Speed
Down Arrow - Decrease Speed
Left Arrow - Move Left
Right Arrow - Move Right
Space - Jump
Esc - Quit

Videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFU4DRQTTLU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4tH1dgT6Z8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFPXDBqJdQM

Download or play online (0.5 MB):
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/SkyRoads_Xmas_Special.html

Alternative Downloads:
http://www.bluemoon.ee/history/skyroads/
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/253/SkyRoads+Xmas+Special.html
http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/download/skyroads-x-mas/

Sint Nicolaas

Introduction:
Sint Nicolaas is a small PC game about a Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas). Every year Sint Nicolaas comes all the way from Spain to Holland to gives presents and gingerbread cookies to the children. On December 5th, at night, Sint travels over the roofs and drops the presents and cookies through the chimneys.

Story:
Sint Nicolaas has been robbed! The thieves have taken his big sack full of presents and gingerbread cookies. In their run, however, the they aren't careful and presents start dropping out of the sack. Now Sint only has to collect the fallen gingerbread and presents and bring them to the right chimney.

Reference: Official Website

Screenshots:

Controls:
Left/Right Arrow Keys - Walk
Space - Jump
Ctrl - Run
P - Pause game
F1 - Help
F2 - Save game
F3 - Load game
F4 - Sound on/off
F10/Esc - Quit game

Online Manual:
http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/sint/index.php?P=2&L=E

Download or play the online version (1 MB):
http://www.wieringsoftware.nl/sint/index.php?P=4&L=E

Thanks rO. :)

Jack in the Dark is a short abandonware teaser game for Alone in the Dark 2. You have to save Santa from evil demon toys. It requires DosBox to run.

Between the original Alone in the Dark and its sequel, Infogrames has released a small, almost unknown teaser game called Jack in the Dark. Unlike the rest of the titles in the series, this game does not feature Edward Carnby or Emily Hartwood. Rather, this game stars Grace Saunders, the girl who is kidnapped in Alone in the Dark 2. Absolutely no trace of the previous game exists in this pintsized adventure, yet it measures up quite nicely when put to the test.

When little Grace is trick-or-treating on Halloween night, she comes across an old toy store. As she goes through the door, the door slams closed, and she cannot get out. She has heard rumors that the place is haunted, but she has not listened, and now she is trapped inside! Soon Grace realizes that her goal there is much greater than getting out alive. Something truly sinister is going on around her, and she must do something about it.

The engine used in Jack in the Dark is a cut down version of the engine used in the rest of the series. Pre-rendered scenes are used as the environment, and polygonal models are used for characters and objects. As with all the games in the Alone in the Dark series, there must be a mention of the graphics—whereas the backgrounds are beautifully done, the polygons are somewhat pointed and unrealistic. Grace's face is very disfigured, looking as if her face has been smashed in with a baseball bat. If it is not for the broomstick, you may not be able to tell she is dressed up as a witch.

The trademark cinematic camera angles are present, but are not as pervasive as in the other games. An example is when Grace goes to the right-hand side of the store, the view is from the outside, looking through the window. It looks just as if the scene is taken out of a movie. It is also worth mentioning that the camera angles help to exhibit the game's atmospheric details—when Grace has her back to the toys, they move, but once she faces them, they stop.

Jack in the Dark is the only game in the Alone in the Dark series to not feature combat, at least not directly. There are some "baddies" in the game, but Grace does not rely on whacking them with her broomstick. As her only commands are Search and Close, she must use her wit to defeat the villain. Clues are dispersed throughout the game, just as in the rest of the series.

This game is a very straightforward adventure. The puzzles are not as esoteric as some of the puzzles in the other games of the series. The story, though small, is interesting, and there is even a bit of a clever twist at the end. On the other hand, character controls remain to be an annoying issue. As the engine used in the different games of the series is essentially the same, running still requires quickly pressing the up-arrow key twice. Users of higher end computers may not be able to use the run feature without using a program to slow down the computer. Luckily, running is not essential, since it just takes longer to move about otherwise. With the perspectives that have been chosen for the game, it is difficult to discern depth, which is necessary in order to accomplish certain tasks. The game is disappointingly short, clocking in at less than 10 minutes of play. With Jack in the Dark, Infogrames has a great premise for a game, so it can easily squeeze in a bit more gameplay without making it tedious.

Originally, Infogrames has made Jack in the Dark a free download as a Christmas time promotion. The game is later included in the re-release CD-ROM version of Alone in the Dark. Although the gameplay of this mini adventure lasts only minutes, it is still a great little diversion suitable for any level of gaming experience and it is certainly a "cannot miss title" for fans of the series.

Reference: http://www.adventureclassicgaming.com/index.php/site/reviews/173/

Controls:
Enter: Open Actions Menu
Up Arrow: Move forward (Double tap to move faster)
Left Arrow: Turn Left
Right Arrow: Turn Right

Download (1.27 MB):
Note: Requires DosBox

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/372/Jack+in+the+Dark.html

p.s.

sorry Wizz, I though I'd checked the games synopsis. The game had been in my to post folder for a long time. There are still games in there that I found right at the beginning of the project. Still, it seems appropriate to repost it here. :)

Also sorry for the lack of any warning about the tool bars etc. I was in too much of a hurry to get these posted today.

As for the images, I mixed up the alone in the Dark Images, but yu should get an idea what thegame looks like.

The latest version of the game which was released 2008 by atari is excellent. check it out via You tube HERE

HERE's
a video of the original by Infogames:

W.R.

I totally forgot that there was two versions of alone in the Dark to post. I've had both games in my to post foler forr ages and always intended to post them together. While searching for the images I had for the first game i found the second game. It's got better graphics, but is essentially a similar game, but with a different story line. another point and click horror game.

Alone in the Dark II: (12.4Mb)

The Game:

Eager to capitalize upon the success of their previous game in the Alone in the Dark series, Infogrames released the second installment just a year after the first game hit stores. Considered by many to be the first true 3D games, the innovative Alone in the Dark series was a revolutionary step in the video game industry.

Unfortunately, Alone in the Dark 2 is not a very fitting sequel to the original. Somehow the second game in a trilogy always seems to be the worst of the three. Sadly that remains true in this case. But that does not necessarily mean that Alone in the Dark 2 is a terrible game, for its many outstanding aspects outweigh its faults.

Story

I will start by analyzing the best part of the game, its story. Though it does not evolve as you play the game like the original does, the extremely well explained cast of characters provides enough plot to keep it very interesting.

The story begins with a man named Striker who travels to the seaside mansion of Hell's Kitchen to investigate rumors of a little girl kidnapped by a gang of, er, gangsters, headed by Jack. No, not Jack Sparrow! I’m talking about One-Eyed Jack. Sounds like a pirate name, huh?

Upon entering the mansion, Striker finds the girl. But I bet he didn't count on Jack showing up in the form of a knife-wielding clown! Luckily Striker sent out a message by wire to our old hero Edward Carnaby. Edward gained considerable fame from his defeat of the Cthulian sorcerer in the first game. He arrives at the mansion with a six-pack (Of dynamite.) just as soon as the game begins.

Much to Carnaby’s horror, he discovers a deadly voodoo curse placed upon an ancient group of pirates, and the true reason why the poor little girl was kidnapped. Your task is to help Carnaby and our damsel in distress, Grace Saunders, to escape from One-Eyed Jack and the vile depths of Hell’s Kitchen.

Ins and Outs

Now I will discuss the inner workings of this brilliant game. Compared to games like Dark Seed 2, which only came out a year after Alone in the Dark 2, the graphics could have been better. Personally, I love the way the graphics are. It's like playing Lego Horror movie on your computer. Seriously, though, the animations are very realistic in contrast with the chunky nature of the characters. Each character moves exactly how you would expect a real life person would move.

Unfortunately, the control scheme is not as smooth. I have frequently been frustrated while playing this game because I could not aim my gun or stop running into walls. I had such difficulty with the controls that I decided not to collect any screenshots past the introduction.

The music is almost non-existent. You’d think maybe that would make the game more frightening, but it doesn’t. Let’s face it, in contrast with the strange and freaky creatures of the first game, these real people and shadow ghosts just don't cut the cheese. (And I’m thankful for that.)

The only truly scary characters in the game are the voodoo lady and One-Eyed Jack. The rest make you feel like you're playing Lego Godfather. Don't get me wrong, I'm just saying that the game is not as scary as it tries to be, and that the control system is terrible. You’re probably used to the bad controls if you played the original Alone in the Dark, so it’s not that big of a deal. After all, these were the first true 3D games. It’s to be expected that the controls would be a bit complicated.

Conclusion

In summary, Alone in the Dark 2 is a great mystery game. Despite its flaws, it has many redeeming qualities. Its excellent story will help you forget everything else you may not like. The story is so good that you will yearn for more of it.

.

When you reach the room with sleeping pirates save often! Depending on what actions and moves you perform, the game may freeze up. It’s still possible to finish the game without walking into any corners, though. To put the barrel in the pirate’s room, use the door in front of the cannon room door. (Not the one next to the ladder.) Doing this will allow you to avoid the bug and help you complete AITD2.

Optimal Settings for DOSBox

- cycles: 15000 - no need for more or you may bump into trouble when trying to run (double tap cursor up key).

The following video shows the original trilogy. I've only posted the first two in the trilogy as the only download links for the third one are bit torrent ones, which would lead me to beleive the third one isn't free yet. however i still think it's worth checking out the video. The games do play in XP, though it is recommended that you play them via DOSBox:

Watch video of the first three Alone in the Dark games HERE

Download:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/892/Alone+in+the+Dark+2.html

Thanks for that Greylox; since re-formatting I've not got around to reinstalling either WOT or site advisor. I keep meaning to, but I have been resting the games for virii using Kaspersky AV and all the games have come up clean. I must re install WOT. :)

I got the game working without having to accept the toolbars etc.

Re: Chinese Chess --- Please Read:

Please note, if anyone installs Chinese Chess make sure the tick boxes are unchecked during installation. Otherwise you may find an extra tool bar and a new home page. sorry, i meant to mention it earlier, but i've not been all there recently. :(

WR

Thanks WR for this long list :), you should take all time you need for your health, we won't starve to death without a game more or less.

Here are two other download links for Moonstone Madness, because the other two have a bad WOT rating:

http://games.softpedia.com/get/Freeware-Games/Moonstone-Madness.shtml
http://download.cnet.com/Moonstone-Madness/3000-7441_4-10973045.html

From softpedia review:

Offers to download or install software or components (such as browser toolbars) that the program does not require to fully function: HiGames Toolbar. You can choose not to install the Toolbar.

----------------------------------------Addendum

For Chinese Chess v1.0 Google didn't show another download link, only warez or similar.
With the download from nowstat.com you also get a toolbar, as I opted that out, I got a blank game-window, with only the title, no game in it.

graylox

Thanks, Whiterabbit. I think I'll just post my games tomorrow. Right now I'm a bit busy with other things so I didn't have time to write a description and lots of games were posted so it works well.

You can also find Star Wars Chess way back in Week 34. I love the Alone in the Dark series Rabbit, I've considered adding it to the project myself. Good finds.

Looks really nice Whiterabbit! I'll try these later!

[/center]Today's post has been put together rather hurridly. Sorry about the lack of images and the general untidiness of the whole thing. I just don't have the time to tidy it up at the moment. I'll post some images when I've got time. I seem to be chasing my tail at the moment because of all the sleep I've had this week. Anyway I though it would be nice to post a selection of interesting chess games.

Because of the lack of time I've copied the full descritions from Abandonia below, so wont bother to explain the games further. I've also added a couple more games. Alone in the Dark is a point and click adventure. It's fairly old, so the graphics are a little pixillated, but the overall game play is excellent. The other game I've included is an odd racing game. :)

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Star Wars Chess : (17.3Mb)

Rejoice all ye who knowest what the TIE stands for in TIE Fighter!
Rejoice ye that playeth the Game of Chess, for no longer do you have to get out all your old Star Wars figures (devaluing them by taking them out the packages) and make an oversized chess board to re-enact and imagine what would happen if C3P0 were to take on a Sandman or if Chewbacca somehow managed to lose a fight against a Stormtrooper – it’s not just me, is it? - Star Wars Chess is here!

Digitized Soundblaster Blasters and the unforgettable Star Wars themes abound. Digitized voices are also a pleasing addition, if not exactly the voices you remember.
At first, I thought this would just be “Battle Chess enters the Star Wars universe”. I wasn’t far off the mark. But this game is a LOT funnier than I first thought it was going to be. Surprisingly so, in fact.

The battleground has been moved from the vacuum of space, the forests of Endor and the frozen wastes of Hoth to the somewhat smaller, but by no means lesser, arena of the Chessboard.

Not only content with being Emperor, Palpatine also takes the title of King, appointing Darth Vader the title of Queen (really, who else could he play?) and makes his gambit for Galactic Domination. Though this not the Vader I grew up to know and love - none of the malicious and sadistic quirks and foibles that are his trademark here, I’m afraid.
Boba Fett, playing the part of the Empire’s Blaster-Wielding, Jet-Packing Bishop, is perhaps the closest to George Lucas’ “Dark Side” characters to act out their part in this game. The Rebel army is more as you would imagine it to be.

The Dark side of the Force is a shade lighter than it could be. But then, the appeal of Star Wars spans all age gaps. This game is definitely a 3+ age rating, so don’t expect any captures to as graphic as they are in other animated Chess games.

At first, I wondered where Han Solo came into it all, but then I spotted him – still encased in Carbonite in the corner. Relegated to a mere few pixels. Woe is He.
The captures for different pieces are great little comic book animations. Some of them are very unexpected. I don’t really want to say too much about them because watching them the first few times is really what makes this game great. The novelty does wear off but the capture animations can be switched off, not only saving time but also removing, to some extent, the repetition factor that is any animated chess game’s downfall.

The area will be cleared of pieces and the stage set for a short battle between the two characters.

C3P0, as a rather fittingly camp Bishop, asks Boba Fett, “Don’t you know how dangerous these things can be?” before swiping his blaster from his hands, throwing it to the floor and resulting in an accidental discharge decapitating the hero of my youth.
A rather disturbing Yoda, grinning and giving a thumbs up (well, that’s what it looks like to me…), as a Rook, is by far the most humorous character in this game. Watching him tell a Stormtrooper that “Backwards their gun is, yes” then using the force to get them blasting their own heads off made me laugh out loud.

I spent several games figuring out which moves to make just so I could watch every single capture animation! Sad as I am...

Then I turned them off, because they slowed the game, made me forget what it was that I was planning and became irritatingly repetitive. I even turned the sound off after a while as the movement music started to grate…

Watching Yoda shuffle his way across the board, taking his sweet time to do so can lower the pace somewhat, too.

The major disappointment, apart from the AI being a little easy for my liking, is that when Check-Mate is made, there is no finishing animation. I was looking forward to seeing Luke Skywalker get mullered seven ways from Sunday by each piece in turn but, alas alack, it is not to happen. “The game is over” you are told, and that’s it.
For those not so learned in the wiles and ways of the 2nd best board game in the world, the Mentor Menu will give you a hint on what move may be best next and allow you to gloat over all the pieces you have captured.

For experienced players, the AI is also set in this menu. Though, the difficulty is set by allowing the AI more time to compute it’s next move rather than accessing an higher complexity database set.

This can be a touch frustrating, as the computer will take nearly the entire time allotted to it for each move. You can choose to Force a Move (that’s force Palpatine Kasparov to make the move it is currently deciding on, not use the Force, young Padawan…) from the Actions Menu, but this rather defeats the purpose of the AI.
From the Actions Menu you can also Switch Sides, for those who always wanted to drop kick Yoda, give a Wookie a Wedgie or perform Unspeakable Acts upon Princess Leia.
From the Play Menu, you can choose to play against another human opponent instead of the AI, or simply spectate and watch the battle unfold between the two sides. You’ll also find the “Look and Feel” option in here, which is basically whether White is at the top or bottom – these can all be changed mid-play so there’s always the opportunity to change your mind should you get tired of watching Leia wiggle up the board or staring at a row of Stormtrooper’s armoured arses.

In the Actions Menu there are the standard Chess game options of recanting a move, setting the board up as you want (utilising a simple interface that is easy to use) and offering a draw as well as the options, found in the Settings Menu, to turn the animations and sounds on and off. Settings, Save, Load and New Game are all available through the Game Menu.

For a Chess game, with another human opponent, this game is great fun. Until the novelty wears off and you go back to using a regular board – an option that is not available as it is in Interplay’s BattleChess – or to play the game from a different viewpoint.

This is most certainly worth a play through, if only for the capture animations. Though if you are looking for a Serious Chess Challenge, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for…

(By the way, TIE stands for “Twin Ion Engine”)

Overall, this game is what a game should be – Fun. But for a Chess game, it’s not the best. Its redeeming qualities are the fact that it’s Chess, it’s Star Wars and it’s Funny. ‘Nuff said.
Info:

This game is multi-lingual. Just edit the SWCHESS.CFG with any text editor, and change ENGLISH to GERMAN, FRENCH or SPANISH to play in these languages.

Running the game in XP:

Under WinXP you probably have to edit the SWCHESS.CFG with any text editor and change the 5s after MUSICPARAMS and DIGITALPARAMS to 7s. That doesn't mean that you will have sound, but you can run the game at least.

Running the game in DOSBox:

The introduction whizzes past unless it’s at around 500 cycles, but the game needs to be played at around 10,000. Even then, the pace can be slow because of the movement animation. Set the cycles any higher and the music will stutter. Frameskip and you’ll miss out on all the animation that you’ve downloaded this game for.

Download:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/5205/Star+Wars+Chess.html

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National Lampoons Chess Maniac Five Billion and One (17.3Mb)

Chess Maniac Five Billion and One is very obviously meant to be a spoof of Chessmaster and goes quite a bit further to entertain than Battle Chess does. The emphasis here is on the word maniac because the people who designed this game had to be slightly off. The thing that impressed me about Chess Maniac is that even though the game does not appear, at first glance, to take chess very seriously there are a decent number of difficulty levels (10) and a lot of gameplay options that the player can experiment with that will not only provide a different look and feel but will also satisfy the chess enthusiast from novice to expert. I expected silly. I didn’t expect this kind of challenging and satisfying chess experience. Well done, MicroProse/Spectrum Holobyte.

The Maniac (the games host as described in the manual) is actually rarely seen in the game but the things he does to affect your play are present everywhere. If he beats you he will have raised your ire enough to want to play him again and kick his puny you-know-what. If you beat him, you will want to grind your victory in his face after the verbal abuse you have taken. After which he will calmly exclaim “Up Yours”. If you have ever seen 2001:Space Odyssey and remember the voice of HAL at the movies end you will recognize the voice in this game immediately. A computer’s version of insanity, I guess. There is also an option to turn his play by play description off although you can’t shut him up completely without turning the sound off. If you are ever feeling like playing a vanilla game of computer chess simply select the 2D board and turn your speakers off. If you want to play another person you can do that as well but you will have to do it on one computer; no networking is included.

After the opening credits, splash screens and copy protection you are presented with a choice of going with the boring sets or the bawdy sets. If you don’t have the 3D board display option turned on, the bawdy and boring game is basically the same. With 3D turned on they are quite different. You can choose whichever set fits your mood at the time. In all variations of the sets you can use, the opponent will try to distract you in every way possible. He will throw insults at you. He will mock your bad moves and get riled at your good ones. He will do anything he can to break your concentration. And, if you aren’t paying attention, he will cheat. So don’t get up and go to the bathroom and leave him sitting at the table by himself. He can’t be trusted. The cheating scenarios are also a little silly and should be experienced before you turn the cheat option off. If you catch him cheating you can press any key on the keyboard to stop him and possibly dole out a little punishment. He won’t be able to cheat without you knowing unless you have left the computer.

Bawdy. To truly appreciate just how weird Chess Maniac can be you have to play the bawdy set a few times at least. This is the set that will provide the animations that fans of Battle Chess will probably enjoy. Unlike Battle Chess the animations in this game are really video clips involving human beings doing strange things. I have played at least a dozen games on the bawdy set and there are still new and unexpected things that happen during the course of a game. The animations/clips aren’t as well done as in the enhanced Battle Chess but they are decent and are enough to make you smile at the silliness and want to test all combination of captures as each will provide it’s own unique twist to the game. To be honest, though, after you have played a few games on the 3D bawdy set you will probably switch over to 2D or go to the “boring” 3D set as the uniqueness of the video clips will have, at least temporarily, worn off and you’ll want to see the board better. My chief complaint of this board setting is that the characters obscure your vision of the board and it is sometimes difficult to determine which square a character is standing on. If you have difficulty recognizing what piece a character represents the player can right-click that character and the corresponding piece will be announced.

Boring. Boring? Not exactly. The 3d version of the boring set doesn’t have the video clips that play when a piece is captured. The chess pieces are represented in their traditional form and an occasional yawning pawn is about all you are going to see for on-board animations. What the game will provide in this set is a changing background and music that is meant to distract. The music can be turned off. The backgrounds aren’t really that distracting but might be enough to break your concentration. As in the bawdy set, the opponent’s voice is there to insult you and heckle you throughout the game.

In conclusion I guess I have to say again that for a game that I didn’t expect to be more than an off-color version of Battle Chess, I was impressed at the number of variations that can be created with the controls that the player is given. It may not rival Chessmaster but was impressive nonetheless.

This game will appeal to all ages and all skill levels. If you think Battle Chess was a four rating or better then you have to give this one at least a four. If you are easily annoyed and a chess purist you might not think as highly of this game but it is getting two thumbs up and four stars from me. There is one serious drawback in the visibility of the game in the 3D bawdy set. If not for that fault this game would be a shining five star. All in all this game is great fun. See what you think.
Info:

About the Extras: The manual, like the game, is meant to be a spoof. If you enjoy the National Lampoon type of humor you will enjoy reading the manual as well as playing the game. You'll find it HERE

Playing in DOSBox:

The game plays well under DOSbox but you need to turn the cycles up to 9000 or higher for smooth animation. Run CM5 from the game directory to start the game. The game, as downloaded, is set up for Soundblaster sound. If you want to reconfigure the sound run “CM5 S” (without the apostrophes).

Download:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/23328/National+Lampoons+Chess+Maniac+Five+Billion+and+One.html

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Chinese Chess v1.0 (2.21Mb)

Chinese Chess is an interesting board game for free. Chinese Chess is an ancient game nearly 2000 years old, and played by millions of people the world over. The rules of Chinese Chess differs slightly from the internationally recognized game of Chess making it easy for anyone who know Chess to learn how to play Chinese Chess. Rules are in game.

The game:

Chinese Chess, or xiangqi, is an ancient game of intelligence. People often know some philosophy of life to raise their awareness of ability,thinking and have fun through a chess board.You can play against computer or a friend.All your family members can join in.

Chinese Chess Soul is also an excellent master level and popular Chinese Chess Game software. Whoever you are, beginner or expert, you will have FUN and EXCITING playing with her. You and your family can be enjoy by beating computer and improving chess level; Arena match game model, Computer adjusts its level to meet your level and record your scores.

The variations in the pieces, their movements, and the board layout make Chinese Chess Soul an exciting and challenging game.Now download Chinese Chess Soul and lead your army filled with Mandarins, Elephants, Horses, Chariots, Cannons, and Soldiers, fight, attack, and checkmate.

Reference accessed HERE

Watch out during installation. Theres a few tick boxes that need unchecking otherwise you'll et a tool bar and a new home page.

The game is playable in only a window. If anyone has the time to see if it's possible to change the coonfiguration via a config file within the installed games folder I'd it would be much appreciated. I just don't have the time at the moment to see myself. Despite it playing in only a window the game looks very smart graphically. The lay out for chinese chess is totally different to the Chess that most of us in the West think of chess.

On the playing screen you have access to a set of rules and there's a link that but the link doesn't seem to be active. in fact you'll find that some of the links (found to the top left of the playing arena take you to pages that show you the various playing pieces. It looks like th game is no longer supported by the author; howerer that game works and is a pleasure to play if you're looking for something a little different to the usual chess.

You'll find more free versions of Chinese chess HERE

You can also get an interesting variant of the game called Qianghong, which has additional plugins to give you a more challenging game. you can get it HERE and another version called Chinese Chess Soul HERE

Downloads:

Get Chinese chess HERE

Get Chinese Chess Soul HERE

Get Qianghong HERE

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Alone in the Dark: (5.3Mb)

Alone in the Dark is a very creepy and scary game. Its story and theme are based on the works of H.P. Lovecraft. To tell you the truth, I never completed it, since it used to scare the living daylights out of me. I just didn't have the nerves to play it. It seems funny now, but try to lock yourself in a dark room, turn up the volume and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The introduction sets the atmosphere perfectly, and it builds up consistently throughout the game. The story takes place in a haunted house. A certain Jeremy Hartwood died there (possibly through suicide), and it will be your task to investigate what really happened. You will be given a choice between two characters to control throughout the game: Emily Hartwood, who is Jeremy's niece, or Edward Carnby, a private detective. The storyline will not depend on the character of your choice, and their features are equal so it doesn't really matter which one you choose.

You will start your adventure in the attic, because you have reason to believe that an important clue has been hidden in an old piano there. This game combines elements of both adventure and arcade. The minute you start, monsters will start waking up throughout the house and will be coming after you. Depending on the difficulty setting, there will be more or less of them, but an infinite number in either case. This means you will have to play quickly. You won't be able to afford the time to stop and think about what to do next. At the beginning, you will only have your arms and legs for fighting, but as you progress, you will also find guns and swords to fight with. While defending yourself from the monsters, you will also have to complete your original task - solving the murder mystery.

You can probably guess that this game is non-stop action for both your fingers and your brain. But it doesn't just end with excellent story and gameplay. This is also one of the first games to offer three-dimensional graphics that run smoothly even on x386 processors. This was made possible by combining beautiful static backgrounds with not-so-beautiful polygonal characters. It's a compromise that had to be made, but the overall result was breathtaking back in 1992 when the game was published. You have to admit that just by looking at the screenshots, you would say this game requires at least a fast 486. Well, I would like to finish the review here, but it does not end with a brilliant graphics engine either! The game's sounds are great mood setters and will probably cause goose bumps every now and then! Enough said! If you are not convinced by now, you'll never be! A mark of 5, of course, and a definite recommendation.

Info:

Tip: Only the disk version is hosted on this site. If you manage to find the CD version, you'll be rewarded with beautiful CD audio music during the game.
The game plays on my XP pro SP3 okay, but it’s recommended you play via DOSBox. The optimal setings are around 10000 cycles; however increasing the cycles won't harm the game but some animated scenes may occur too fast for you to enjoy them if you do and running will be harder to pull off (double tap of the cursor up key).

Download:

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/91/Alone+in+the+Dark.html

you can get a walkthrough via the above link and you can reas the game manual HERE

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Moonstone Madness: (4.49Mb)

To win a Punununu competition you must ride a boar across the village and through swamps avoiding different obstacles and collecting the required number of moonstones. When you are riding the boar, the arrow keys serve to go faster/slower and to jump/crouch. Spacebar serves to hit the objects. Some objects are breakable and contain moonstones or other useful items. Sometimes Tak can jump high into the air and collect lots of useful stuff.

Download:

http://www.bestfreewaredownload.com/freeware/t-free-moonstone-madness-freeware-gxbzdibx.html

or

http://www.brothersoft.com/games/moonstone-madness.html

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Thanks Whiterabbit, I'll have to check these out later, if indeed I will have time later. :)
--Webmaster

Finally Tuesdays games are here…. I apologise for the lateness, but as I’ve said to a few community members that I’ve finally fulfilled promises too, better late than never. There’s a good range of genres to be found in my selection for today. A cool point and click adventure, a bug orientated racing game, an interesting clone of the DOS based puzzle Gear works (which is windows not DOS) and finally a great arkanoid taster.

I’ll have some more games for you tomorrow, though technically they are actually today’s games. reverseOrder will also be posting his games tomorrow, so you’ll have a double bonus to look forwards to as you have today with wizard posting a great game from Vertigo games as well. (thanks Wizz). I’ve neglected to include my screen shots. I need to create a couple more photobucket accounts as they only allow so much bandwidth each month. I hate the images disappearing as it looks so shoddy, so need to create a few more. Which means I need to create some more emails as you can only use an Email once when creating a free account. You’ll see images appearing over the next several hours and hopefully by the time I post today’s games in the morning (or around lunch time, I’ll have all the images uploaded. It’s added a lot of extra work adding images, but I do think it helps to give you a better idea as to what to expect. I realize some of you have capped download limits out there so I’d hate for you to be downloading too many games that you decide aren’t your thing. It’s hard to give a global description to any game as we all have our preferences, and sometimes I may describe a game as fantastic, but in reality it’s only fantastic to me, lol. :) anyway, here’s today’s selection. Please do leave a comment if you decide to download, if only to say what you though of the game. Thank you in advance.

I've uploaded too many images to post below so though it would be cool to post a link to all the images. i've placed them all in the same folder, but labelled them, so you can see which images belong to which games. THIS link takes you to a page with all the images on. you can click on individual pictures to see a larger resolution image, though photobucket only allow up to 800 x 600 resolution images with the free account; however the size is adequate for the purposes of this post. You can also see all the images as a slideshow HERE, where you can see all the images in the highest resolution automatically. There is a slider to the top right of the grid page (where you can see all the images), which enlarges all the thumbnails to a respectably sized small image. :)

W.R.

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Dirty Split: (182.75Mb)

German Menu

A point & Click Adventure developed by Dreamagination. Mistyann PM’ed me several days ago recommending this great little point and click adventure which was developed as freeware by Dreamagination. I noted that they have had bandwidth problems in the past when there’s been a run of downloads from their own download link, so, if you have problems downloading from the first lik provided below, use the second one which is unlikely to go down. However use the developers link first as I’m sure they would like to know the number of downloads that are made.

Penthouse Suite

The game:

When a plastic surgeon is found murdered in his office the police are quick to apprehend a prime suspect. It is a textbook case – except the suspect didn’t do it. There is more to the deceased doctor than meets the eye. Much more.

The aim of the adventure is to lead private investigator Alan Baxter to the truth as an ever-increasing mystery unravels before his eyes. Follow clues to exciting locales such as Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York. Feel the vibrant style of the 1960s era and meet a fascinating variety of characters. 'Enjoy' a story that will keep you guessing until the end.

The game was inspired by the artworks of Josh Agle; this project tries to revive the buzzing and stylish lifestyle of the early 1960s. It was developed using the Wintermute Engine

International Airport

Features:

• surprising original plot

• over two dozen stylish screens

• 19 interactive characters

• German, English, French, Spanish, Italian and Czech versions version

• beautifully voiced characters throughout

• original soundtrack

• animated cut scenes

• classic point & click adventure gaming

• FREE download

Casino Entrance

Download:

You can download Dirty split HERE; or, if you are having problems get the game from HERE

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A Bugs Drive: (7.40Mb)

The game was developed for the Caiman games car game contest.
You race against other Bugs, across 12 tracks. Finish in the top 3 to unlock a harder Championship. Improve your lap time in Practice Mode by racing your own Ghost. Each track can also be driven in Reverse mode.

Game Modes

Options

A nice and exciting 3D racing game with off-road Beetles

A very complete game with 12 tracks, 4 difficulty modes, Championship, Quick race etc.. Each with Practice, Qualify and Race.
Every track has his own graphics and a bit of variety with elements such as tunnels, bridges and different textures.

In Practice Mode you can now race against the ghost of your best lap. There is one ghost representing your overall best, and another for your session best. Even if you choose not to display them, the ghosts of your best laps will still be saved.

Reference accessed HERE November 09

In game

Controls (keyboard or gamepad):

Arrows = Steering, accelerate, brake

P = Pause

Q = Quick restart

C = Camera

M = Pause/unpause music track

N = Play next music track

Enter = Confirm

Esc = Exit to menu

These are the default controls (A). You can change to a different control set-up on the Options Menu. Controls B use other keys. Controls C and D use a joypad.

In game Options

Download:

You can download A Bugs Drive HERE, HERE or HERE

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The Gear That Works: (1.2Mb)

This is a Gearworks clone (see links to the original abandonware version below) Basically you have to connect the red cog to the green cog so that all the other cogs turn and you win the level. The game is virtually the same as Gearworks except the graphics are much improved and the levels are different. The levels get progressively harder (as you would expect in a puzzle game). This is an ideal game to play in short bursts; for example, during a coffe break at work, or if you’re like me, as a break from one of the big boys like Call of Duty or Crysis. :)

The following description was written by The Game Hippo reference http://www.thegamehippo.com/game.php?Game=5828473">HERE. You can also get the latest version of the game from their site by following the reference link above.

The Gear That Works is a simple logic based puzzle game involving three different sized cogwheels, a start point, an end point, and no questions asked. The aim of the game is to connect the starting cog to the ending cog in such a way so that both of them are spinning. This can be made difficult due to gaps in the play board, spinning cogs placed in hard to reach places, and my favorite: accidental jams (placing cogs in such a way that they stop each other).

You can place cogs anywhere you like on the board and you're given three cog removals every five levels. Removals are handy, so only use them if you jam up your chain. The fact that you can place cogs anywhere and that you get a point deduction for every cog that isn't spinning when you finish the level adds a unique strategy aspect to the game.

If you're given a cog that isn't useful, you have two options: either place it out of the way or latch it onto a cog in a way that it won't hinder the rest of the chain. If you place it out of the way, then that cog won't be part of the chain and therefore won't be spinning when you finish the level, resulting in a point deduction. On the other hand, latching the cog onto the chain may end up ruining future moves if you choose a wrong spot.

As a side note, the music is about as simple and catchy as it gets. It got to the point where I left the window open just to hear it. I'm sure the majority will find it annoying, but I rather liked it.

In short, The Gear That Works is an addictive and simple puzzle game that's sure to waste some time during your coffee break.

Downloads:

You can download The Gear That Work HERE, and from the reference link above (Game hippo) plus theres an earlier version that’s less than a Megabyte HERE

.

You’ll find an early gears game called Gear Works and Gear Works (re-make) in the games discussion forums HERE

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Rival Ball: (3.89Mb)

Rival Ball is in the style of the classic old school arkanoid games, with decent graphics.

Destroy all the blocks on the level to pass through to the next. There are many bonus’s that will appear when some of the blocks are destroyed. These include guns, speedup, slow down, skull and bones, and all the other common pickups in arkanoid games. It’s only a short game with 8 sets of 3 levels each. I though it worth tagging onto todays free games. It’s more an intro to the larger game This is a free sequel to DX Ball 2. There is a commercial version of Rival bBall which I purchased (around 4 years ago)before finding this free version.

I loved DX Ball 2 (all the level packs that used to cost extra are now free if you own the full version game of DX Ball 2) and its sequel is equally as good to play. (I don’t regret buying it, though I paid a lot more money that what’s being asked for now) The commercial version has loads more levels and extra level packs (costs around $5 each and can be found HERE). There’s actually more levels in the demo version of the commercial version (32 in the demo compared to 24 in the freeware version), so it may be worth checking that out if you liked the freeware version. :)

Download Link:

You can download rival ball HERE or HERE

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No problem midori, I hope you enjoy all of the games. Each one is a gem in my opinion. I'd also highly recommnd a GTA IV copy cat game called Saints Row II which you can get for $5 fo today only. The offer lasts until around 6pm tomorrow (GMT). I've posted details in another thread.

WR

Now these I've gotta try. Great finds, wrabbit! Thank you, sir bunny. :)

Here are most of the games I mentioned yesterday. Though Axiebal comes in htree flavours, so you've effectively got six games today. :)

Funguloids: (17Mb)

The original fungaloids was made for the ZX81 and bears no resemblence to todays game. There is a video of fungaloids ZX81 avaialble via Yo tube if you're interested HERE

The basic premise of this game - collect mushrooms in space to make a profit.

Never before has collecting mushrooms been this mildly entertaining. At least not in outer space. It's more of a lifestyle than a game, really. The game has been updated to include sound and improved graphics.

The developers say they like to think of the game as a space-flying-mushroom-picking-simulator. Well no, "Those Funny Funguloids!" is actually a nice little piece of entertainment. You collect mushrooms, bring them back to your home base and profit! That's the basic idea in a nutshell. It has smooth, appealing 3d graphics and nice atmospheric sound effects.

Controls:

Cursor (Arrow) keys and spacebar

Download

You can download those funny fungaloids HERE or HERE

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Letter Strop:

LetterStrop is a very flexible version of the popular game Hangman. You can play the game with multiple wordlists in more than ten languages, you can change the look & feel of the game by downloading "skins" , for example there’s a chalk skin that changes the words from magnetic letters to chalk, plus a few more as well as a word list. Not sure whether the word list is editable yet.

Skins:

Different Languages:

English:

Dutch:

French:

You can download Wordstrop HERE

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Alien Breed: Obliteration: (1.61Mb)

I posted a couple of Alien Breed versions several months ago and promised I’d find more as I knew there was at least one more. Well I’m happy to say here it is. It plays via windows though it'll play and sound better via DOSBox. The menus tend to be a little slow in windows, but once the game starts it's fine. Use Ctrl to select from menus and to fire your weapon. Cursor keys dictate the direction your character moves. Walk over objects to pick them up. I used to love this game when it was first released to the PC. I think it first came out on the Amiga and was then ported over to PC during the DOS days. My first encounter with Alien Breed was via one of those floppy diskettes that you got for free on computer magazines. I loved it immediately so bought a copy.

Alien Breed Obliteration is a top down shoot'em up action game that is a partial remake of the original Alien Breed. I say partial remake because there are some minor differences in game play and there are 15 new levels in Obliteration. Players are on a mission to stop an alien invasion, Levels are littered with ammo, weapons, power-ups, health bonuses and more.

The game was based on the film Aliens and this is an updated, but still authentic remake of that game.

You need to scour the corridors for items, such as keys and ammo, in order to make it to an elevator located on each level. The aliens will continue to breed off screen and come to attack you, so time is of the essence while also conserving your limited ammunition.

The graphics in this offering are very high quality and will remind any seasoned player of the early '90's graphics style, such as Alien Carnage (the original from Apogee) albeit in a slightly darker tone.

To put it simply, this is a great title you should not miss out on. Alien Breed Obliteration comes very highly recommended.

Reference and download can be found HERE

You can find two other Alien Breed games that I posted earlier in the project HERE

Video

You can see a couple of Videos of the Alien Breed: Obliteration game play HERE and HERE

Download:

Apart from the download link above you can download HERE http://homepage.ntlworld.com/xavnet/alienbreed/">HERE and HERE[b] as well. The last link does have a yellow rating from site Advisor, but I found nothing untowards.

[b]Axieball 7

The latest episode in the Axiebal-series is still a mix of skill, puzzles and action, but that's about all it has in common with its predecessors. You’ll find 50 levels plus a levels editor to make more levels when you’ve finished those provided.

This time you control the ball from a top-down-view. The (now scrolling) levels are bigger, the visual effects more spectacular and the sound effects cooler!
Guide the little ball through the levels, avoid all the dangers and pull off some terrifying stunts to obtain all the flags!

It even contains a level editor, so if you want to, you can create your own levels or change the existing ones!

You have to roll the ball to capture every flag and then go to the exit. This is not always as easy as it sounds because the obstacles which include gaps and water to drown in, get in your way! Sometimes you will need to detonate a bomb to blow up a brick that is in your path.

Controls:

• Arrows = Move ball (notice the ball moves according to the laws of physics, this means amongst other things that it will keep on running for a while once you stop pressing a cursorkey.

• Enter = Zoom (press and hold Enter to zoom out)

• Spacebar = Detonate bomb (if you have any)

• Ctrl = Jump

• Esc = Exit the level (if you're stuck)

You can download Axiebal 7 HERE

Axiebal Winter:

Axiebal Winter is the sequel to Axiebal 2004 (see below). You’ll find 75 new levels, new and challenging puzzles, brand new graphics, artwork, music, etc.! Control a little ball in a strange world filled with dangers, try to collect all the flags and find your way to the exit.

Here and HERE are a couple of video of Axiebal Winter game play. You'll find solutions to many of the levels on yo tube.

Play alone or with a friend, select one of many game types and difficulties, and roll the little ball through all 75 levels! There is also a separate levels editor available which is also compatible with Axiebal 2004.

Level editor:

If you want, you can create your own levels for Axiebal 2004 and the winter version of the game. The level editor isn't very user-friendly though because it's a DOS-program from 1994 . Also, it's only available in Dutch!

Download link for Axiebal Winter plus level editor:

You can download Axiebal winter and the Level Editor HERE

Axiebal 2004: (2.54Mb)

Basically anarlier version of the winter and 7 versions. You control a little ball in a strange world filled with dangers, try to collect all the flags and find your way to the exit.

You can find 60 videos of Axiebal 2004 covering most of the levels HERE

You can download Axiebal 2004 HERE

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Thanks for the games, rO! Both look well worth a spin. :)

Wow, thanks for informing me of this Whiterabbit. This will definitely be useful for the free games project. Very nice. =)

OMG we can post images. This is going to really help with the game project though add a little more work. :) Thanks for the games rO. The following images of rollerball were copied from Caimans and the ones for silverball from Google image. I then uploaded them to an ftp so that they could be posted here. Please excuse the differences in scale. I need to reinstall my image applications so that I can make them more suitable for posting. :)

Rollerball:

Silverball:

And here's an image of an original silverball table:

Thanks rO! Especially for the pinball.
I had Silverball on my old win95 machine and played it in every free minute not very many in that time - memories.... One day not only the game got broken but even the computer. As I was sure that the game destroyed the puter, I didn't dare to put it on the new machine, win98. Now with Vista and some better understanding of computers I'll give Silverball a new chance, and now I have lots of time for playing. Let's see, if it is still as exciting as it was then.
More memories: In times of the good old classic tables I got the nickname "Tilty".

tiltylox

I have 2 games today... the forums are different :). Rollerway is a marble rolling game where you have to reach the finish line at the end of the tunnel and avoid falling off. This game is also extremely difficult, and it really needs checkpoints instead of restarting the level when you fall off. I suggest taking things slowly when you get stuck. Silverball 1995 is an abandonware pinball game from Abandonia. The Game Torpedo website also has a few games I haven't seen before so I'll probably post more from there later.

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Rollerway

Rollerway is a fast-paced action game in which you must get the ball to the finish line whilst not falling off the track. There is a total of 15 levels, each getting progressively harder.

How to play:
Use the mouse to control the ball (you may also use the arrow keys if enabled). Click to roll forwards and move the mouse sideways to steer the ball. Get the speed boosters (blue lights) and jump boosters (purple lights) which are placed throughout all 15 levels. Enjoy!

Note:
In order to enable arrow keys you have to create a shortcut to the game. Right-click on the shortcut and select properties. In the target box add -ENABLEARROWKEYS to the end of the line so it looks like:
"C:\*path*to*location*\Rollerway.exe" -ENABLEARROWKEYS

Download (14.6 MB):
Requires DirectX 9.0c

http://www.gametorpedo.com/games/rollerway

or

http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f3905.html

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Silverball 1995

Game arcades were an important form of entertainment long before they started using computers to power up sophisticated games to play. After all, even Edison’s motion picture viewing machines were more or less a penny arcade attraction.

But there is a machine without which you simply cannot imagine an arcade and that’s the good old pinball machine, with its decades long tradition of producing weird sounds and forcing you to spend both time and money.

Apparently pinballs converted quite nicely from the classic tables into computerized version (there are many pinball games confirming this statement).

One of familiar names when talking about computerized pinballs is deffinetly Silverball, originally released in 1992. After three years on the market, the game was slightly modified and re-released in 1995 and that’s the version we’ll take a look at today (in the Silverball review by janm.l already on the site it’s mentioned as “Silverball Plus 2”).

Well, it seems that there really isn’t much difference between the both games, except for the two added tables you can play (Warbot, and Duel). Here’s a little overview of the tables prepared by WolverineDK (who is also the person you should thank for supplying the game archive):

Fantasy table is set in roleplaying setting (meaning dragons and other fantasy creatures are on the table).

Nova could be called a tribute to many 2d shooters, meaning there is a big space-jet near the bottom of the table and the game is set in space.

Blood table is also set in a fantasy setting, just like Fantasy.

Snooker Champ table is a Snooker Billiards themed table.

Odyssey is a Greek mythology themed table, with Atlas holding a pinball on his shoulders instead of the world.

Warbot is a futuristic robot themed table.

And finally Duel, which is a medieval/musketeer(ish) themed pinball table.

Controls:
Space - launch ball, nudge table
Left Shift - left flipper
Right Shift - right flipper
Enter - Toggle score display on/off
Ecs - Quit Menu

Download (1.27 MB):
Note: Works best in DosBox, I couldn't get it to work properly in XP. Run SILVER to start the game. There seems to be a glitch where it shows two FANTASY tables but the second is actually the NOVA table.

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/1014/Silverball+1995.html

So I just saw via http://www.abandonia.com that there is a new dos emulator for Mac called Boxer. This is great news for the Mac community, so for all you Mac users that shied away from some of the dos games that we've posted over the months, don't be afraid anymore. I can't comment on the software, but from the description it sounds rather easy and simple. Much easier than dosbox.

http://www.boxerapp.com

We decided that it would be better if I post these games now instead of Saturday. Then Whiterabbit will take over Friday and the weekends. Actually, I'm getting a bit lazy so I'll just steal some abandonware dos games and reviews from Abandonia. Ascendancy is a space strategy game and The First Samurai is a fighting/platformer game. Since these are dos games it's best to use Dosbox to run them.

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Ascendancy

Ascendancy is a truly unique and groundbreaking game. However, it never received the popularity and praise it should have, because it lacked one thing: an adequate computer AI. The lack of challenge unfortunately made it quite boring for experienced players. This overshadowed all the great features and potential Ascendancy had to offer. Thankfully, an AI patch was released which will make the computer much smarter and tougher, and will make this game really shine like it was supposed to from the beginning. You can download this from the extras section.

The game itself is a space strategy game that bears a slight resemblance to the Master of Orion series. However, all the visual/genre similarities are superficial so it would be unfair to call it a MoO clone. You start the game by choosing your race, enemies and galaxy layout. There is a vast selection of races to choose from, each one possessing a unique set of characteristics and a special ability. The race design is very original so playing the game with another race will be a whole new experience. When you have chosen a race, you may also choose a number of opponents, how big you wish the galaxy to be and the overall hostility of other races.

The actual gameplay will involve both micro- and macromanagement. There is an option for automatic micromanagement, but it is questionable whether you wish to turn this on since in the un-patched version, the computer can barely maintain its own colonies. You will have to take care of colonization, defend your systems and planets, research, build facilities and practise diplomacy. Research is probably one of the most advanced features of Ascendancy. The research tree is simply immense. There are countless ways in which you can choose to develop, and each path will lead you to different technologies and discoveries. To make it even more interesting, the tree is also influenced by technologies you can steal from your rivals, and it can be rotated in three dimensions in order to give you a better idea of how you evolved.

Another interesting feature is the building of ships. At the beginning, you will have small ships with only a few slots on which you can place different ship components, but with time you will get bigger ship designs that will allow you to use some creativity in designing. Each ship will have to contain some components such as the engine and generator, but the rest is completely customizable. You may build a slow ship with lots of shielding and powerful weapons, a fast one with light weapons, unarmed scout ships packed with different sensors - it's entirely up to you. This aspect is a lot of fun, but should be used wisely as you will need a fleet with different types of ships in order to successfully protect your territory.

Diplomacy and planet management are pretty straightforward. Each planet has a different set of squares that allow different types of buildings (including facilities for growth, habitation, production and research) to be built on them. However, different species will have different features, so some will reproduce quickly but will lack research capabilities while others will produce quickly but reproduce slowly. You should plan your colonies according to these features in order to maximize your efficiency. Lastly, by using diplomacy you can negotiate peace treaties, exchange maps or knowledge, and initiate warfare. This aspect should not be neglected since some species’ features offer advanced diplomatic skills which will allow you to manipulate your rivals.

As for the graphics and sounds, this is an area in which Ascendancy excels as well. They are easy on the eyes and very attractive. Every species has a few portraits, and buildings and ship components also look extremely neat. The main view is straightforward and easy to navigate, so learning the game navigation will take little time. Music is simply amazing and adds a lot to the overall atmosphere. All in all, you will certainly not be disappointed by this game.

Notes:

Beginners may try the un-patched version, but experienced players of space strategy games should definitely use the AI patch to make the game more exciting and interesting! The game worked flawlessly in DOSBox. I also managed to get it started on Windows XP, but the sound was choppy so I recommend DOSBox for those with processors faster than 1 GHz.

Download (40.4 MB):

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/221/Ascendancy.html

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The First Samurai

"The Demon King descends from his mountain domain to you, the First Samurai and your master. Defenceless against the Demon's magic, you succumb to his powers, leaving your Master to fight the Demon King alone. Your master falls in combat, dying. But, with his last breath, he summons the Wizard Mage. The Demon King fearing defeat, escapes to the future. Tormented, the young samurai seeks the teachings of the Wizard Mage in the ways of magic. Boiled with revenge and armed with a magical sword, the young samurai follows the Demon King into the future and the unknown..."

With these words, the nicely done intro brings you into Vivid Image’s game The First Samurai. It was published in 1991 for PC, Amiga, C64 and SNES and was a successful answer to games like Shadowdancer and the famous Last Ninja, which had been keeping fans of far-eastern arcade action entertained during the early nineties.

The First Samurai is an arcade platformer, full of action, in which you guide your hero through time – visiting different worlds, mystical to futuristic - on his quest for revenge. Even if the story might not be that original, the great gameplay balances this out very well and provides a bunch of nice innovations.

You control your samurai using the keyboard. You walk, crouch, jump and climb with the cursor keys, and by combining them with space bar, several effective attacks can be performed. As long as the samurai is not holding his sword, you defend yourself with punches and kicks which strike into different directions, but don’t worry, you’re also going to find weapons soon enough. There are daggers and axes, for instance , that can be thrown towards your enemies. The most important weapon is your magical sword, though. It is not only supporting you in encounters, it is also part of a clever energy system. I will come back to this later on.

The levels are quite complex and interestingly structured. Most of the time, you won’t be moving simply straight forward, for your agile samurai is able to climb many of the vertical surfaces or can slip though holes in the ground to access lower areas. Not all of these ways are easy to use, though. Some have to be spotted first and then rocks or such are often blocking the passage and have to be removed by hitting them. But it’s worth the efforts for many nice goodies await you. And threats, of course.

To make sure that the samurai has a hard time venturing the levels, plenty of fierce creatures are crossing his path. To be precise, they run, fly, jump and roll around and give their best to stop the brave hero and to protect their master, the Demon King. The monsters come in a large variety – bats, rats, fire-spitting stone statues or alien-like frogs and even other warriors are only some to be mentioned. Furthermore, there are pretty sneaky traps cutting down your energy, if you are not cautious enough.

Speaking of energy, your samurai will suffer from attacks and traps, no matter how hard you fight. You begin the game with four lifes. Your life energy is indicated by the arm icon on the lower left part of the screen. When the arm has disappeared completely you'll lose a life. You will find numerous items refreshing your energy, such as food baskets or potions, to ensure you won’t be finished off too easily. The developers of the game have thought about something else and that’s connected to your magical sword. As I have mentioned above, your sword is your most important item. Its special magical energy is displayed by the sword icon on the lower right of the screen. Whenever you have destroyed an enemy creature, it releases a glowing, flying star which you absorb automatically. It lets your magical energy rise and the sword icon grows a bit. After having collected enough of this magical energy, your sword will appear in your hand and you can use it. The cool thing is, it’s not only very useful to fight with but it also represents sort of a reserve for your life energy. If, actually, your life energy has been drained too low, your magical energy is reduced and part of it transforms to life energy, preserving you from death – for the time being. When this happens the sword disappears until you have regained enough magical energy to get your beloved weapon back.

Another nice innovation in The First Samurai are ‘resurrection pots’. These pots are distributed throughout the levels and are somewhat similar to checkpoints. To use them you will first need to charge them with some magical energy. As soon as they begin to glow, they’re ready to use. If you succumb during fights, you'll loose a life and will be resurrected at a pot. You can even choose at which pot you want to restart. That eliminates the need to cover old ground after you’ve died and it can be also used to move the hero quickly between different parts of the level. The usage as shortcut can be very helpful, as the game, like I said before, is quite non-linear in certain parts.

The pots are, of course, not the only items supporting you on your quest. There are other magical items which can be picked up (only if enough magical energy is collected). These items can be used to overcome certain areas, which would be otherwise unpassable, like walls of fire, rivers or other similar spots. Furthermore, you have the possibility to get clues for such tasks from the Wizard Mage, whose blue-shimmering face appears from time to time.

But I don’t want to reveal too much in this review, for it’s your fun to explore and discover the world of The First Samurai yourself. I will go into the technical aspects instead now. The game runs perfectly on Dosbox. Sadly, there’s only music during the intro, but at least it’s very good and catchy. The in-game sound effects are nicely done, suiting the overall atmosphere well and don’t get annoying. The VGA graphics are really beautiful to watch and the diversive designs of creatures, effects and landscapes are animated smoothly. The character itself is also very well drawn and animated and it’s a pleasure to watch him fight and move. The only feature I missed, was the cool parallax-scrolling which had been implemented in other versions, but not in the PC-version, although that fact does not reduce the fun playing this game in any aspect.

Although the different attacks of your samurai take a little to get used to, the controls are generally fairly simple and straight-forward. The difficulty of the game is moderate, in my opinion. As enemy creatures are constantly respawning, you’ll be well advised to keep in motion most of the time, but there’s no need to panic since the resurrection pots prove to be a great saving system. You even keep all items you were carrying after you’ve been resurrected.
Nevertheless, this game is by far not easy, so a little practice for the handling is required.

My mind is settled. The First Samurai offers great Arcade-Action and many nice innovations. The beautiful visual appearance, the mixture between moving, fighting, exploring and puzzling and last but not least, the well-balanced yet diverse leveldesign result in many hours of game entertainment! Vivid Image have done an amazing job and even for today’s standards The First Samurai is a very recommendable challenge to all fans of this genre.
Don’t miss it, it’s a clear 5!

Download (0.5 MB):

http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/464/First+Samurai%2C+The.html

Nice one Luke. I nearly missed this one. :)

Atomix clone for Windows : WAtomic

You're welcome everyone.
Glad you enjoyed Atomix, g@rgoyle.

Thoroughly enjoyed Atomix! Thanks rO!
I don't agree with the Abandonia reviewer about the two negative points for this game. Sure, sound effects might have been nice, but it's just as much fun if you make your own. The only negative IMO is that the game is too short :-( but I guess that leaves me time to check out the other games :-)
Thanks very much for these! And for the heads up on the DOSbox update!

Regards,
Lan

Thanks, rO! A great celebration for the "new" DOS. :)

Thanks rO. :)