I recently stumbled upon Boxer, a nifty OSX front-end for the x86 DOS emulator DOSBox and it seemed like a good opportunity to rediscover some of the games that I spent so much time playing in my childhood. Compared to other front-ends, Boxer looks and feels really refined, sporting a virtual bookshelf view for all your games, a simplified installation process (which involves just pointing Boxer to the directory of the game and Boxer copies it into your collection) and shortcuts for re-launching games (so you never expect to see the DOS prompt again after installation).

Aside from the demos of Commander Keen and Epic Pinball that come with Boxer, you can download other old games (generally known as ‘abandonware’ because the original owners/publishers no longer exist) from various sites including Abandonia and Home of the Underdogs. Technically, such games are in a legally grey area, but I have a hard time imagining anyone making a fuss after so many years.

Boxer, the DosBox front-end with all the games in a neat and tidy little drawer

Here are a few lesser-known 90’s games that I felt were really fun:

• Jones in the Fast Lane – I’m not sure how Sierra managed to make a game about normal life fun, but somehow, they succeeded with Jones in the Fast Lane. It is best described as a life simulator where players compete to get an education, find a job, earn money, eat, buy nice things and try to beat each other (including the computer player, Jones) to the finish line (you get points for wealth, happiness, and other measures of “success”). Random events like getting robbed, or winning the lottery (if you choose to buy tickets) add a bit of needed variety and uncertainty to the game. There are actually some pretty interesting strategies for deciding what to focus on and do first, and it’s a lot of fun to see how different people play the game. Some days are just repetitive clicking (go to work, work for a couple hours, buy food so you don’t starve, repeat), which is surprisingly realistic in hindsight. :)
• The Castle of Dr. Brain – Perhaps my favourite edutainment title, the draw of the game is not so much in the wide variety of puzzles and games ranging from math to astronomy, but rather the character and interactivity of everything inside the Castle. The game is riddled with inside jokes throughout, and is a challenge for kids and adults alike. You can really tell that the developers had a lot of fun making the game, and it is really a shame that the sequel (The Island of Dr. Brain) fails to live up to the original title.
• Falcon AT– For a really long time, I never really understood how to play this game. I would start up the game, fly around for a bit, shoot some missiles, then crash and move onto something else more fun. But when I got a little older, I actually sat down one day and read through the accompanying guide book, that my Dad had, to find a serious in-depth overview of F-16 startup procedures, maneuverability, dogfighting strategies, and a description of each of the missions in the simulator game. After that, me and my brother ended up playing through all the missions in the game using a beat up joystick, all with the exception of this one bombing run where (if I recall) you were supposed to fly off and destroy some SAMs and fly back to base. But due to an error in the book printing, or a bug in the game, it would never record the mission as successful. Bastards! Either way, F-16 turned out to be a lot of fun once you put a little bit of time into learning it. Same for F117-a Stealth Fighter listed below.
• Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri – The very definition of an underrated game. Terra Nova is my favourite game of all time, and one of the least well known. The story of how I came to find this game is long and boring, so I won’t go into that now, but in 1996, Terra Nova was the most spectacular blend of action and strategy, all tied together with a captivating storyline and pretty graphics. My descriptions just don’t do the game justice, so just go and play the game if you ever get a chance.
• Traffic Department 2192 – Despite the cheesy sounding name, TD 2192 was one of the darker, grittier, and more challenging games I’ve every played. It’s also one of the few games where the lead character was female, and while the gameplay dynamics are simplistic (top down shooter), there was an engrossing storyline, which brought everything together and sreally ets the game apart. The story was so serious, and the AI so ruthless that I never really got around to finishing it... perhaps I’ll give it another shot sometime.
• And if you have even more time on your hands, these other titles are really fun as well (in no particular order): Death Rally (top-down racing), Raptor: Call of the Shadows (top-down shooter), F117-a (simulator), God of Thunder (puzzle zelda-like game), Wing Commander: Privateer (space/trading), Master of Magic (fantasy strategy 4x), Master of Orion (space strategy 4x), In search of Dr. Riptide (side-scroller), and Biomenace (side-scroller), Metal Marines (strategy).

Fun times!