Late 90s
At this time I had my own PC - a Compaq Contra 430C laptop, with 486DX4 and 8Mb RAM. It had no sound or CD-ROM, and no hardware 3D acceleration, so I'd mostly play DOS games on it
Games from this period include:

• A DOS clone of 7Colors, except it used hexes, and was not the Win16 "Crazy Filler" game
• Color Lines, also known as lines.exe REMOVED
• Prehistorik 1&2 - available on GOG.com
• Abuse - REMOVED
• A Xonix clone with additional motivation called Sexonix, I think you get the gist
• Dangerous Dave - REMOVED
  Overall, this laptop wasn't the best gaming system by any means, but it was a great computer to work on.

Of course, my gaming experience in the 90s was not limited to these - we had "computer places", our alternative to arcade places, which were essentially garages repurposed for gaming. They had game consoles - first Sega Genesis, then Sony Playstation - and you would pay by the minute, 10 minutes cost about a nickel in US money, and the owner would set a turn off timer on the TV you were playing on. They had MK3, MK3 Ultimate, Zombies ate my neighbors, a James Bond game, a Michael Jackson game on Sega Genesis and Gran Truism, Tekken, Twisted Metal, Fighting Force, Medal of Honor, Syphon Filter on PS1.

Early 2000s
This is when I built my first desktop PC I really could game on and catch up to all the games I had missed. It was a P4 Northwood 1.8A, Gigabyte P5 Titan 533 motherboard, 128Mb RAM, GeForce2 MX200, Sound Blaster Live! - not bad by any means.
I did catch up on Doom, Duke3D, Quake and other classics from the previous era, but here are the games that defined the period for me:

• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2
• The Sims
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein
• Unreal Tournament 2003
• Fallout 1&2
• Baldur's Gate 1&2
• Thief 1&2
• Diablo 1&2
• Warcraft 3
• Planescape: Torment
• Medal of Honor Allied Assault
• Drakan: Order of the Flame (a pirated Russian version that came with the nude mode preinstalled, which made playing this game infinitely awkward)
• NOLF 1&2
• Starcraft (I did play it on the 486, but the performance was... sub-optimal)
• Hitman 2: The Silent Assassin
• TES III: Morrowind

In the early 90's I was 30 something ... youth/childhood long behind me =)

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-15, 07:22:

In the early 90's I was 30 something ... youth/childhood long behind me =)

Ahaha )) I was born in 86.

It wasn't childhood, but the first PC game I got into (after nearly a decade of using a commodore 64) was Radix: Beyond the Void
At the time, I was completely blown away

Settlers 2 , ecstatica , th2 ah3 ( core design ) , time commando

ncmark wrote on 2024-01-15, 15:56:

It wasn't childhood, but the first PC game I got into (after nearly a decade of using a commodore 64) was Radix: Beyond the Void
At the time, I was completely blown away

Radix, that's familiar. Isn't it the first person spaceship combat game? It's quite awesome and that's what got me into Tie Fighter/X-Wing, Starlancer, and that's an itch no modern game has scratched these days.

Aldo's REMOVED

Now that I think of it, here's a few non-horror games that creeped the hell out of me back in the day:

Diablo 1. It's the only game in the series with some serious horror vibes, and meeting Butcher for the first time terrified me.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I didn't know what I was getting into. I thought it would be like Medal of Honor. I used the knife to break the stone blocking the entrance to the catacombs, there were Nazi soldiers shooting, I assumed - at me, so I threw the dynamite down the hole in the floor, which annihilated everything in the room. Then I went my merry way and was instantly murdered by zombies, fell off my chair and wouldn't touch the game for a couple of weeks, saw nightmares and felt creeped when an unrelated song was played on the TV (Girls Aloud - Sounds of the Underground). Then I grew a pair and finished the game.

Thief 1 & 2. If you played them, you know.

Aliens vs Predator Gold. The Colonial Marine campaign - by the end of it you do feel like a badass, but the beginning, the idea of having to choose between the radar and night vision - the game was one of a kind.

My "childhood" was excessively stupid.

Apart from the games everybody already knows about by now (Doom, Wolf3D, Descent, etc) here's some of the crap I grew up with:

I've played the "TC" games, that I'm sure leileilol knows exactly which ones. I'll give you all a hint: Welcome.

I've played the earliest shareware version of "Warpath". You can still get that version here.

I've played the earliest demo of Gunmetal; the one without any music, massive instability, and it came with the following levels: AVALON POWER PLANT, LACHESIS TOWER RESCUE, GHOST TOWN.

I've played the single level demo of Sandwarriors. (And I've streamed the full game dozens of times...)

I own a copy of the floppy disk version of SpectreVR for MS-DOS and Windows 3.x

I own a CD-ROM of Icebreaker for Windows 3.x

Played the shareware of Bad Toys 3D. (also for Windows 3.x)

Played a really early version of Z.A.R. that had completely different sound effects, only one level playable.

I've also played the demo of Operation: InnerSpace.

I've played the two level shareware of Ravage and streamed the full game on Twitch several times over. I've even ripped the music and provided the rip to MirSoft - World of Game MODs.

The list goes on but that's the bunch I remember the most.

DracoNihil wrote on 2024-01-15, 20:29:

My "childhood" was excessively stupid. […]
Show full quote

My "childhood" was excessively stupid.

Apart from the games everybody already knows about by now (Doom, Wolf3D, Descent, etc) here's some of the crap I grew up with:

I've played the "TC" games, that I'm sure leileilol knows exactly which ones. I'll give you all a hint: Welcome.

I've played the earliest shareware version of "Warpath". You can still get that version here.

I've played the earliest demo of Gunmetal; the one without any music, massive instability, and it came with the following levels: AVALON POWER PLANT, LACHESIS TOWER RESCUE, GHOST TOWN.

I've played the single level demo of Sandwarriors. (And I've streamed the full game dozens of times...)

I own a copy of the floppy disk version of SpectreVR for MS-DOS and Windows 3.x

I own a CD-ROM of Icebreaker for Windows 3.x

Played the shareware of Bad Toys 3D. (also for Windows 3.x)

Played a really early version of Z.A.R. that had completely different sound effects, only one level playable.

I've also played the demo of Operation: InnerSpace.

I've played the two level shareware of Ravage and streamed the full game on Twitch several times over. I've even ripped the music and provided the rip to MirSoft - World of Game MODs.

The list goes on but that's the bunch I remember the most.

Hey friend, I understand that what I'm saying was unasked for and I'll totally understand if you tell me not to poke my nose into your business.

I think quite a few of us here have some regrets from out past, and I understand why you would call your childhood stupid. But sure there were fun times too 😀) and for the games that everyone knows about, there's a reason for that - they were good, and your memories of those games are different from mine, and valuable. Sure you got some war stories from the old days 😀)

Also know that if you want to talk, I'm here for you, ok?

Take care.

I was a big fan of RPGs and dungeon crawlers like, these are the ones which I liked the most:

- Dungeon Master
- Betrayal at Krondor
- Lands of Lore
- Might and Magic III
- System Shock I & II

In terms of PC stuff we had a family pc , Prolly running Win95 , had a Matrox Mystique , later on I got a laptop (I was a bit spoiled) that ran XP.

MechWarrior 2 , Tomb Raider 2 , Age of Empires 1 , 2 , Age of Mythology.
Croc 2 , Indiana Jones And the Infernal Machine , Power Chess 98.
GTA 1 , Spec Ops Rangers Lead the Way.
Destruction Derby 2 , Scorched Planet.
Worms 2 , Worms World Party , Morrowind.
TOCA , Chronicles of the Sword
Rayman Maths , Rayman 2.

I remember playing a lot of the Hidden and Dangerous 2 demo and beat it years later , ditto for Quake 3 Arena and Hitman 2.

Some of the more kids orientated games
JumpStart Kindergarten , Allie's Playhouse, EA kids Peter Pan and Scooters Magic Castle , Spy Fox , Zoombinis.

So yeah bit of a mix of stuff , most were pretty solid games bar maybe Chronicles which was pretty awful and Spec Ops was brutally difficult , I got it working on my 95 rig a few months ago and it was as impossible to beat as I remember.

Other than that I had a Super Nintendo with Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country , but we got robbed and they stole it believe it or not.
But silver lining we ended up buying an N64 with Goldeneye as a replacement.

Prince of Persia - The first PC game I've ever played.
Grand Prix Circuit
Test Drive 2: The Duel
Wolfenstein 3D
Ugh!
Prehistorik 1&2
Blues Brothers 2 (I remember the copy I had had an extra executable which loaded a nude of Pamela Anderson for some reason. It was very influential for elementary school me.)
Psycho Pinball
Stunts
The Lion King
Lakers versus Celtics and the NBA Playoffs
Operation Wolf
Command & Conquer
Carmageddon
Tomb Raider 1&2
Some Super Mario port
Some mouse and cheese themed Sokoban clone for Windows
Jazzball
A score-5 tic-tac-toe game that insulted the player after every turn.
A Wheel of Fortune style game that insulted the player after every turn.
A Hangman game that didn't insult the player, but had very annoying music.
A football game, probably FIFA International Soccer.
Ski Free
Ski or Die
Batman Forever
Doom 1&2
A very speed sensitive Pacman clone that wasn't playable on anything faster than a 386DX-40.
Worms Armageddon
Wacky Wheels
Blitzer
Twisted Metal 2
Duke Nukem 3D

And others I don't remember.

Early PC games:
Digger
Tetris
Block Out
Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom
Grand Prix Circuit
Test Drive
Alley Cat
Into The Eagle's Nest
James Bond: License to Kill
Robocop
Microprose's Soccer

Action adventure games:
Karateka
Prince of Persia

Simulations/racing:
F-16 Combat Pilot (and I regret it)
F-15 Strike Eagle II
M4 Sherman
Death Track
Days of Thunder
Test Drive II: The Duel

Adventure/RPG:
Police Quest
Code Name: Iceman
Hero's Quest (later known as Quest for Glory)
Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
Ultima VI
Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday
Space Rogue

Fighting games:
Budokan: The Martial Spirit

Strategy/wargames:
The Global Dilemma: Guns or Butter
War of the Lance
D.R.A.G.O.N Force (although it's tactical)

GTA Vice City
GTA San Andreas
Project IGI 1 and 2 (this franchise was popular in my country. People would line up to compete for their "tactical" skills)
Call of Duty 1
NFS Hot Pursuit 2
NFS Most Wanted
Prince of Persia Warrior Within
Eragon
Mario 1984, DuckHunt, Adventure Island on a NES clone machine...

songoffall wrote on 2024-01-18, 07:08:

and I understand why you would call your childhood stupid. But sure there were fun times too 😀)

Oh, I just say that because of all the "shareware/freeware" compilation CD's my late father got me over the years from software stores were so full of incredibly dumb things on them.

I've lost count of how many "Klik & Play" games I stumbled across on those too.

My late father also was a subscriber to PC Gamer and Maximum PC so the cover discs on those were the only times I ever got the demos to "mainstream" titles, but those large compilation of FTP/BBS shareware/freeware archives were a "wild west"; about as wild as Steam, Itchio and GameJolt combined.

DracoNihil wrote on 2024-01-18, 17:45:

Oh, I just say that because of all the "shareware/freeware" compilation CD's my late father got me over the years from software […]
Show full quote

songoffall wrote on 2024-01-18, 07:08:

and I understand why you would call your childhood stupid. But sure there were fun times too 😀)

Oh, I just say that because of all the "shareware/freeware" compilation CD's my late father got me over the years from software stores were so full of incredibly dumb things on them.

I've lost count of how many "Klik & Play" games I stumbled across on those too.

My late father also was a subscriber to PC Gamer and Maximum PC so the cover discs on those were the only times I ever got the demos to "mainstream" titles, but those large compilation of FTP/BBS shareware/freeware archives were a "wild west"; about as wild as Steam, Itchio and GameJolt combined.

Well, I think in those days we played whatever we could lay our hands on 😁 you know why I was only constrained by the capabilities of my computer? Because I live in a former soviet country and there were no legit ways to get games in the 80s and 90s. There was no distribution, nothing. But my country happened to be next to Russia, so we sailed Russia's high seas. Then Steam happened and most people here went legit.

Well, there were legit-ish ways of getting games through Russian publishers like Akela and 1C, but that would mean playing those games in Russian.

DracoNihil wrote on 2024-01-18, 17:45:

Oh, I just say that because of all the "shareware/freeware" compilation CD's my late father got me over the years from software […]
Show full quote

songoffall wrote on 2024-01-18, 07:08:

and I understand why you would call your childhood stupid. But sure there were fun times too 😀)

Oh, I just say that because of all the "shareware/freeware" compilation CD's my late father got me over the years from software stores were so full of incredibly dumb things on them.

I've lost count of how many "Klik & Play" games I stumbled across on those too.

My late father also was a subscriber to PC Gamer and Maximum PC so the cover discs on those were the only times I ever got the demos to "mainstream" titles, but those large compilation of FTP/BBS shareware/freeware archives were a "wild west"; about as wild as Steam, Itchio and GameJolt combined.

I wish my dad was half that fun 😀) I had to play games in secret because my dad believed in an extreme version of "no pain - no gain", like everything that's good should be painful, and everything fun was just corrupting you. Which is why I never liked weekends - that's when he was home all day. The rest of the week I tried to play my games and do my homework and go to bed before he got home 😀)