VOGONS


First post, by CoTeCiO

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Hey guys!

I'm looking for any sort of list of games released in the 90's that included desktop themes for Windows. I know of the Duke3D theme included with the Plutonium pack, the Tomb Raider II theme included with TR Gold, and the Oddworld themes included in Abe's Oddysee and Exoddus, but I'm pretty sure there are more games out there that included themes either on their original CD or with themes hosted in their websites back in the day, but I haven't really found much. I loved games that came with those sorts of extras on their CDs. If you guys know of any, I'd love to hear about it! If you guys know about official themes from TV shows and cartoons from back in the day I'd love to know too. I think there was Dexter's Lab theme available on the Cartoon Network website back in the day? I'm not sure. I know there's countless unofficial fan-made themes out there, but I'm mainly interested in official ones.

Thanks!

Reply 1 of 11, by leileilol

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Command & Conquer (the ~97 win95 version), Red Alert and Tiberian Sun had official Win95 Plus! desktop themes. The steam rereleases should still come with them (which is bizarre as the windows that steam requires had pretty much regressed desktop theming, probably the only steam games that even ship a plus! theme)

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Reply 2 of 11, by akula65

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Some of the larger publishers used to consolidate desktop themes, so you might look for things like this:
https://web.archive.org/web/20001206033700/ht … com/themes.html

Even if the files are not there, it will tell you what themes exist and the filenames to look for. Fansites sometimes have that stuff.

Reply 3 of 11, by wbahnassi

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Crusader No Remorse or No Regret had a cursor pack and probably Windows sounds as well in the extras folder (I remember the running silencer wait cursor).

Turbo XT 12MHz, 8-bit VGA, Dual 360K drives
Intel 386 DX-33, Speedstar 24X, SB 1.5, 1x CD
Intel 486 DX2-66, CL5428 VLB, SBPro 2, 2x CD
Intel Pentium 90, Matrox Millenium 2, SB16, 4x CD
HP Z400, Xeon 3.46GHz, YMF-744, Voodoo3, RTX2080Ti

Reply 4 of 11, by schmatzler

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UbiSoft's POD addon "Battle out of Hell" also came with a Plus! theme for Windows 95.

"Windows 98's natural state is locked up"

Reply 5 of 11, by gaffa2002

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Sonic & Knuckles Collection also had some extras like cursors, wallpapers, screensavers and icons. Not sure about themes.

LO-RES, HI-FUN

Reply 6 of 11, by dr_st

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Tons of games include something, fewer include complete themes. Here is what I could find off the top of my CD image collection:

  • The Doom 3 Demo CD distributed with Doom Collector's Edition includes 4 desktop wallpapers.
  • Earthworm Jim Special Edition (the Windows 95 version) includes a desktop theme.
  • Redneck Rampage includes a Plus! Theme and maybe another theme (there are two separate ZIPs on the 'Gamefest Classics' release).

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Reply 7 of 11, by gerry

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Nice topic 😀 i remember some of these, especially the c&c ones! That used to be a cool feature of some games

Reply 8 of 11, by akula65

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In trying to find some usable links for themes I came across this: https://web.archive.org/web/20180709164212/ht … .com/games.html. No idea how many are official.

Here are some additional games with official themes. I have provided URLs where I could, but links frequently don't work.

Infogrames/Particle Systems I-War (non-working links)
https://web.archive.org/web/20001215151100/ht … ort/goodies.htm

Electronic Arts/Bullfrog Productions Dungeon Keeper (see bottom of page for non-working link)
https://web.archive.org/web/20081224195156/ht … oads/index.html

Electronic Arts/Bullfrog Productions Dungeon Keeper 2 (No unified theme, but separate desktop components)
https://web.archive.org/web/20081222050106fw_ … ktop/index.html

Electronic Arts/Sonalysts 688(i) Hunter-Killer (688_theme.zip)

Bethesda Softworks/Akella Sea Dogs (non-working link)
https://web.archive.org/web/20050311183738/ht … les/SeeDogs.exe

LucasArts Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20000818053530fw_ … dy_download.htm

Electronic Arts/Origin Systems Privateer 2: The Darkening (p2_6x4.zip, p2_8x6.zip)

Epic Games Chaos Works Fire Fight (FFTHEME.ZIP)

Ubi Soft POD (PodTheme.zip)

Infogrames Appeal Outcast (outcast_theme.zip)
https://web.archive.org/web/20020205094916/ht … ast/theme_1.exe

Infogrames Epic MegaGames Unreal Tournament
https://web.archive.org/web/20020205094916/ht … ent/theme_1.zip

Interplay Fallout (fallout_theme.zip)

Interplay Fallout 2 (fallout2_theme.zip)

Origin Systems Crusader: No Regret (Crusader-Themes.ZIP)

Activision Interstate '76 (i76theme.zip, link on URL below does not work)
https://web.archive.org/web/19970606141902/ht … /downloads.html

Westwood Studios Blade Runner (blade1_0.zip)

Mindscape/Simis Team Apache (apache.zip)

Blizzard Entertainment Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (w2themes.zip)

Westwood Studios Command & Conquer (ccthemes.zip)

Westwood Studios Command & Conquer: Red Alert (FRTHEMES.ZIP, GMTHEMES.ZIP, RATHEMES.ZIP)

Westwood Studios Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (RA2THEME11.EXE)

Westwood Studios Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun (TSGDITP1.EXE)

Westwood Studios Dune 2000 (D2000TP1.EXE)

Westwood Studios Emperor: Battle for Dune (EMPTHEME11.EXE)

Konami Corporation Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (1024x768theme.zip, 1280x1024theme.zip, 800x600theme.zip)

Codemasters Colin McRae Rally 2 (cmr2theme.exe)
https://web.archive.org/web/20010801152655/ht … c/cmr2theme.exe

Codemasters/Bohemia Interactive Studio Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis (flashpointtheme.exe)

Gremlin Interactive/Digital Illusions Motorhead (mhtheme.zip)

Monolith Productions/Nival Interactive Rage of Mages (rom_themes.zip) (non-working link in URL below)
https://web.archive.org/web/19991008060101/ht … s.com/download/

JoWooD Productions/Wings Simulations Panzer Elite Special Edition (panzer_elite_desktop_theme.zip)

3DO Uprising (uprising.zip)

Electronic Arts/Firaxis Sid Meier's Gettysburg! (gettheme.zip, link below does not work)
https://web.archive.org/web/19980114144726fw_ … getty/theme.htm

Last edited by akula65 on 2026-03-27, 12:09. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 9 of 11, by dr_st

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Some pre-order releases of Prince of Persia (the 2008 reboot) included a multimedia bonus DVD which had wallpapers, AIM/MSN avatars and a (useless) Vista widget.
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands also featured a 'limited edition' with a bonus DVD that had some wallpapers.
None of them had complete themes.

Rayman Compilation (a promotional SONY release, including a handful of Rayman 1 levels and a demo of Rayman 2) included a Rayman 2 Win98 Desktop theme, a screensaver and some wallpapers.

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Reply 10 of 11, by leileilol

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FYI the gamesdomain.co.uk ftp mirror on gamers.org does have some of these official themes, but be warned it's a bare folder that's also mixed with unofficial fan-made themes. Not linking because I don't want to guide the ai overlords towards hammerleeching them into oblivion.

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long live PCem
FUCK "AI". It is a tool of fascism. We do not need it. We do not use it.

Reply 11 of 11, by schmatzler

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akula65 wrote on 2026-03-26, 19:19:

Infogrames/Particle Systems I-War (non-working links)
https://web.archive.org/web/20001215151100/ht … ort/goodies.htm

I archived those here (and you might've even sent them to me all those years ago 😁):

https://i-war2.com/downloads/download/33-good … -desktop-themes

"Windows 98's natural state is locked up"