I’m pretty sure Doom will be the most popular (and my pick too), but I’ll throw a shout-out to Epic Pinball; that Android table was the best one in the game anyway.
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Probably Rise of the Triad.
Pretty sure I even bought the full game and never ended up getting very far. I also remember spending a little chunk of time on Hugo 3: Jungle of Doom, but could never figure it out enough to progress very far.
Edit: Another one I was trying to recall, the name was H.U.R.L.
ITT: everyone had the same “500 games on two CDs!” Shareware compilation CDs that I had growing up.
So many great titles in the comments. I’ll add a few of mine:
Jill of the Jungle
Zaxxon
Heretic (Doom clone)
Stellar 7 (can’t recall if shareware or if I just shared it)Heretic was more than a Doom clone, it was developed using a modified Doom engine with the participation of Doom developers. It was a clever game in its own right, adding a lot of fresh elements to the then-budding FPS genre.
I don’t know if it was their SDK or what, but Epic’s sound design in this era was so good. Jill of the Jungle still stands out to me for that.
Commander Keen!
Jumping around with the pogo stick in Keen 6 was so much fun. I recently found the full game. Was surprised how hard that factory level was. But the music was still how I remembered it.
brave dwarves 1
The graphic design looks so much like Spelunky. Cool!
Realmz
I think this question just fried my brain. I don’t even know where to start.
Most played shareware of all time though was probably Transport Tycoon.
Colobot - don’t think it was “shareware” but it absolutely came as a demo on ceebot.com (still hosted there today I believe). Literally THE game that got me into computer programming and whatnot.
Otherwise for actual shareware, I loved Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Crazy Gravity and some game unfortunately titled “Worm” (snake clone) with MIDI and sound effects still stuck in my head to this day
I really wanted to play a couple shareware games called Jetpack Joyride, and Hot Chix n Gear Stix as a kid, but neither of them would play on my Windows XP netbook as they had a hard check for if you were on either Windows 95 or 98, even with compatibility mode.
Jazz Jackrabbit always crashed out on my 486 D: I wanted to play it so badly.
I’ve been playing some Jazz Jackrabbit and Duke Nukem 1, they are both great. I think I prefer the design of DOS games to the design of console games.
We got mario kart at home
I loved Whacky Wheels so much but recently put it on my Steamdeck and eh, it did not age well. Very choppy gameplay. But it still has a place in my heart.
What is the name of this game, I played it so much as a kid but I always forget the name
Edit: Wacky Wheels, got it though reverse image search
A couple of people have mentioned Raptor: Call of the shadows, which was an absolute favorite of mine. Skyforce Reloaded is pretty close in terms of gameplay. I wish there were more games out there like Raptor
You try Tyrian? It was like raptor but dialed up to 11 with different planes and an actual storyline :o
There’s a pretty good Android port now! Look up OpenTyrian.
Woah didn’t know about the Android port! Def gonna check it out. Thanks!
My first internet game was a Scorched Earth-inspired game where you’re in space, on planets, with gravity and stuff. I wish I remembered the name of it, it was amazing.
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Spending every lunch hour on the library computer with three friends in 1994 playing this is probably why I didn’t have a girlfriend.
Great game.
Did this exist before or after worms?
Long before
before or after gorilla.bas? i remember there being even old types of this gameplay.
MY DUDE
Save 5 rounds of cash for a death’s head nuke
Shriek “Now tremble before Thor’s Hammer mortals!” to your friends seated around you
Press fire
Accidentally blow yourself up when the wind pushes it back in your direction 🤡
One Must Fall 2097
You just heard the lightning strike
So good. I wish OpenOMF matures soon.
The theme song is the shit
Kenny Chou! He also composed Zone 66 which is another awesome DOS game soundtrack.
What a banger
Man. I love that game. Still fire it up every so often. That sequel was also an early example of just how terrible a sequel can be. So disappointing.
I can’t tell you how many times I played the shareware version of Gazillionaire.
Great deal.
I was a huge fan of Solar Winds: The Escape. Cool plot, aliens, dogfights, ship systems management, evil shadow governments, rebels… what’s not to love? It was my introduction to the genre and will always hold a special place
Oh my gawd. I was reading the comment above yours when Solar Winds popped into my head. Then I scroll down to see this. Bless you.
I’m so stoked to see this here. It was my first thought when I saw the thread.
It was a stand out experience from my childhood.
For real though, I’d love to see a modern take on this - something in between NMS, Mechwarrior, and FTL. I’ve not found anything out there with the correct combination of exploration, ship customization and management, and sinister plot. Several games get closer, but they’re all missing something
Solar winds blew my mind once I actually figured out all the controls. The universe they built was super cool and I really dug the combat. Can’t count the number of times I got owned by this guy trying to blow him up from the get go.
