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10 Overlooked Puzzle Games for MS-DOS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ส.ค. 2024
- What do you think of when you think of DOS puzzle games? Honestly, my gut reaction used to be, "boring". But then I started thinking about games like Boppin', and The Incredible Machine, and quickly remembered that not every puzzle game is yet another Battleship clone.
Here are a few titles - some fairly lesser-known - that have left an impression on me. They’re not all exactly 5 star games, but that doesn’t mean you should overlook the unique strengths that they do have to offer. Each one is good for a little pick-up-and-play dopamine release, especially when you don't have 100 hours to sink into a new RPG.
Most importantly, be sure to check out Cats on Broombas:
eigen.itch.io/...
store.steampow...
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About twice a week, I play the worst (and occasionally best!) DOS games you've never seen, on Twitch. Come hang out, if you like! Here's a link, because spelling my username can be a bit of a hurdle:
/ emmxyzzy
Thanks for watching!
Timestamps:
00:40 - Lexi-Cross
02:08 - 1993tris
04:02 - Avish!
05:46 - Deathball Incarnate
07:06 - D/Generation
09:16 - Vlak
10:48 - Cats on Broombas
12:17 - Switch
13:29 - Rescue Rover
15:14 - Ducks
I knew exactly 0 of these and now I want to play DEATHBALL INCARNATE
You're an example to us all. Deathball technically has a 2-Player mode. Play it with your Mum.
Wow, Vlak has to be a Polish game. In the shots I saw "Haslo: Mydlo". If there were Polish alphabet letters it would read "Hasło: Mydło" which means "Password: Soap".
It's Czech! I very nearly included a Polish game, actually, but it didn't quite make the cut. Feel free to blame Czechaboo bias.
Nah, it's Czech, but there are a lot of words that both our languages share, of course
Good to see you back on the 'tubes Emmy! Liked and shared! I'm (infamously) not a fan of puzzle games, and even struggled playing Switch, but D/Generation is an excellent game that SOMEHOW is still underrated. Rescue Rover is also fantastic, and I played Christmas Ducks one fine festive season and enjoyed it. The puzzle game that I feel is massively underrated is Elements: The Enigma. Check that one out if you haven't already!
I've seen it, but have yet to play it! Looks like Helious set in the Self Control universe, will have to check it out. Cheers, Lawnie!
I just found your channel as I've gotten verrrry immersed into Retro-Exo's DOS preservation project. Thanks for the suggestions!
Watching you play these games just reminds me of going into the "computer lab" in primary school and messing around with Kid Pix and Gizmos and Gadgets. Wonderful times
I like how Deathball unlike Lemmings lets me win when I kill everything. 😁 Great video btw! Ducks is only one of these I remember playing.
Fascinating how no one is familiar with Deathball! Thanks so much for your comment, glad you enjoyed it. 💖
I love D-Generation.
8:20 , I still have a clip saved from 2 years ago of when you played this game for the first time and said 'BLAMOOO.' It was hilarious.
~Anonymaxx
HAHAHAHA. I remember the exact hostage, too. It was a life-altering moment for me.
Thanks for this video. I always enjoy people showing me obscure Dosgames. Do have to admit, ofcourse I already knew about a few of these.
That Lexi-Cross host is 100% cyborg Daryl Summers. Just get Dicky Knee in there and we'll be set.
And then there's D-Generation... What would Mick Molloy say if he knew the game was so different from the show?!
I just started messing around with Windows 3.1 and I've been looking for more games for it! I love that old 1993 aesthetic! Thanks!
I love these compilations of games I've never heard of, especially when they all look so interesting! The only exception is D/Generation, as I was aware of it, even though I never played it myself. Some of my old favourite DOS puzzlers from the top of my head were Jetpack (Lode Runner-like), Push-Over, and Color Buster (Sokoban-like), but these likely don't count as very obscure, except maybe the last one.
Color Buster looks great! I have a greater tendency to overlook anything in the Tetris/Battleships/Sokoban realm, which leads to me missing out on the high quality exceptions. Thanks so much for sharing. As for Jetpack and Push-Over, both phenomenal games I loved a lot! Definitely heavy on the difficulty aspect as they progressed, though!
I'm so glad to get another one of these videos, they have such a unique friendly vibe to them!
Rescue Rover looks super fun imo. I know its not a super big deal but I thought it was cool that they made the protagonist of the game a black guy, in 1991 especially its kind of strange to see that AT ALL let alone for a game where you're a goofy puzzle guy saving his dog from robots.
Also on the subject of oddly contemporary DOS games, Deathball totally feels like a steam indie release from the modern era lol, down to its bizarre lore with the "High Council of Deathballs"
Honestly, I think Roger's appearance kind of IS a super big deal! It was very distinctive to me, too. Simultaneously a shame that it's rare enough to be notable, but also lovely to see. I'm glad you brought it up!
Completely agree with the Deathball take, too. Indies are generally the best at embodying the creativity (and baffling nature) of the Shareware spirit these days.
I could your hear your smile through your voice the whole way through, and it was quite contagious! I love how passionate you are about all the games you show us. You should make a top 10 best DOS games of all time! Even if you end up talking about a bunch of famous games, it'll be your chance to tell us who haven't played those games WHY they're worth revisiting decades later!
What a very lovely thing to say! I am as passionate about DOS games as my taste in them is questionable, so it's bound to be an eclectic list, but I'll keep it in mind! Thanks!
@@emmxyzzy Well that makes it even better! If you end up talking about 10 games I've never heard of for the entire time I'm way more likely to stick around and listen to what you have to tell us about them!
Thanks for the fun video, lovely to see you back again!
I'm glad I wasn't the only kid that wanted to be on a gameshow someday. Maybe the future cyborg version of myself can get a spot on Lexi-Cross
I was SO HYPED for gameshows. So prepared to win prizes as an adult. Pretty sure they were the backbone to my concept of the economy. Were there any in particular you wanted to be on?
@@emmxyzzy I was weirdly fascinated with Press Your Luck, I thought the Whammy devil guys were cool. Later in life I would learn I was just watching reruns as the show had only ran for three years XD
I recommend the 1995 shareware game Gemstorm, although afaik it's only for Windows. It's a pretty standard "line up the gems" puzzle game but it has some interesting twists, and the presentation is top notch. I would find myself coming back to it again and again just to listen to the MIDI versions of (what I later found out were) pop tunes from the 70s and 80s.
I think my only memories of any of these games were of seeing their shareware or demo versions available for download on BBSs in the 1990s. Obviously from this, I should have been more adventurous in which games to try. Some of these look like smashers! I think back then, I'd been burnt by downloading one-too-many Soleau games to want to chance wasting my daily BBS download credits on another puzzle game. lol
By the way, to be fair to William Soleau, his games weren't at all bad, but they were absolutely spammy. There were dozens of games, but many were just variations on the same idea, which really should have been rules configuration settings within a single game instead of the basis for separate games. Maybe it was just in my local-calling area of BBSs, but Soleau Games were definitely an in-joke for our community.
@@joshuadramsey I, likewise, grew up saturated in Soleau! Second only to Tommy's Toys in churning out the not-so-earth-shattering puzzlers. I hope it at least helped you appreciate the games you do enjoy, even more. (Personally, it just made me wince whenever I'd see a Deluxe Paint font for a good while.)
👍When it comes to dos games, I find myself enjoying people's personal show and tell instead of posting the same " top ten " videos all over the tube.
Holy shit you just blasted me back to the past with Rescue Rover! I was probably 5-6 yo, playing this years after it's initial release, and I'm pretty sure this has to be one of my initial triggers to love puzzle games as I do now.
That is: I think. I didn't even remember this game until just now. I am shook.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this is my favourite kind of comment! Apologies for accidentally working my DOSvangelism on your dormant memories.
Great list! (Though I was secretly hoping Laser Light would show up on there)
Hahaha! I have played Laser Light (on your recommendation), twice. Both times I got to the second level, went "Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah, it's fiiiiiine.", then quit.
You should try Troddlers! I think the dos version has the best music too
Have you ever checked out Amiga games? Many DOS games got ported over to it, but it has a huge amount of its own games as well
Amiga games don't generally appeal to me as much, ironically because the games are often so well crafted. I find there's less creativity and resourcefulness in the way that I most appreciate. There are definite exceptions, though!
I just had a Dream where i got to meet Emmxyzzy and out of nowhere she started throwing a DOS trivia, for some people that would be a nightmare but it was awesome all the DOS information tha Emmy can trow at random 🤣
Always happy to learn more about DOS
Hahaha, oh geeze! Even I would be afraid to attempt an impromptu Emmxyzzy DOS trivia. Sorry about the night terrors. 😅
@@emmxyzzy Hahaha not at all, i remember you asked how many games i know released on the nes and also on DOS, i answered with the famicom disk system games 😅 Thats was the true terror
Not sure if most would consider it a PUZZLE game... It was BATTLESHIP, with a twist--- it was based on the audio of two underground "comedians" known as the "Jerky Boys" --Basically prank call artists of the late 80's if I had to recall/guess. The issue was while I think it was DOS, my fellow pals say FLASH (I shudder to think). Searching on and off for a few years and it seems to be gone (could be a copyright issue, but not sure)
@@Gale_Force_Raceway I tend to steer clear of most battleship games. There are SO MANY clones, and after my first... forty, there wasn't much to draw me to them. That said, have you tried posting on r/tipofmyjoystick?
@@emmxyzzy I have not...sounds dirty, but I'll check it out, LOLOL! Thx for the super fast reply!
I'm suing the creators of Avish for stealing my likeness.
I did not enjoy 1993tris. If it was just the columns games without the silly power ups, and better coloured block instead of the insects, could have been fun.
But that's what makes it WEIRD. That's what makes it INTERESTING. But yes, I very much get your point. Were there any other Tetris/Columns clones you liked? I didn't mind Textris, but found a lot of the others dull or just... cruel.
@@emmxyzzy Yea, fair point. My favourite DOS Tetris from the 90's was something called "atomic Tetris", and its 2 player mode where powerups could mess with your opponent. Didn't get to play that one enough with my brother or friends
D-Gen seems pretty interesting
I really liked Heartlight PC, a puzzler with boulder-dash style elements.
Lemmings 2 was so fucking hard.
Heartlight's the one with the horrifying cover art, right?
And THANK YOU. I am, yet again, endlessly haunted by the Psygnosis Owl.
Holly heck... I want to call the Deathball devs and ask them if everything is allright with them xD . Shockingly goree for such simple graphica O_o.
D/Generation is one I always wanted to play back in the day but never got a chance. Still looks great. :D
You still can! It runs on almost as many platforms as DOOM! Try it before it finally spreads to every platform ever made! D/Gen for the Playdate, Neo Geo, Nokia N-Gage!
@@emmxyzzy Ha! Yeah, just after I wrote that I realized that, other than finding the time to do it, there's literally nothing stopping me from it at this point. Maybe I'll track it down and finally give it a go. :)
Emmy the master of videos
Kraid the master of being encouraging. 🙏
The only one of these i have tried is 1993tris, but i never got far before i went back to playing Supaplex or Sokoban or maybe T.I.M. or all the ones a cant remember the name of.
I... don't blame you. So many people LOVE Supaplex! I think I found it a bit visually overwhelming as a kid, but it's definitely a solid game.
@@emmxyzzy I was pretty surprised when i tried to find it again some years ago and found out it had been ported to modern platforms.
Yay! Nem Emmy vid ^_^ .
Woof woof.
Ready to bust out the Rescue Rover theme at karaoke, I see.
Ooh, these are very cool! Thank you for creating this video and sharing with us things that I'd have no idea existed before!
This is such a sweet comment! Thank you! 🥺