Top 10 DOS GAMES from 1992

Hey, guys! Welcome back! Let’s continue to dive into my  favorite DOS games, year-by-year! And, let me tell you, 1992 was  a terrific year in PC gaming! And it’s all just getting started!  So, are you ready to discover my 10 most played DOS games from 1992  that, indeed, grabbed my attention? Let’s take a look! Bear in mind that, for this one, I had to  leave out of the Top 10 games like Dune, The Humans, Curse of Enchantia, Gobliins 2, A-Train, Lure of the Temptress, Quest for Glory III: Wages

of War, Star Trek: 25th Anniversary and Ultima VII: The Black Gate. All these were that close to be  promoted to this year’s Top 10. So, consider them as honorable mentions. With that said, let’s begin! COMANCHE: MAXIMUM OVERKILL Comanche: Maximum Overkill is the first helicopter  simulator to showcase NovaLogic's Voxel engine, which renders organic and lifelike  terrain and realistic looking objects that no other game using polygons  could match and, along with all that, features the Army's exp

erimental RAH-66  Comanche light attack helicopter. The addition of "Voxel Space"  was indeed groundbreaking. It was the first time DOS gamers were given fully  illustrated environments within which to "fly"; shadows and reflections moved in realistic, relative sync with the "pilot" and in  relation to a "natural" light source. There are over 20 scripted campaign  missions and features a simple flight model, and allows the player's helicopter to take  much more damage than it could in reality. A

dditionally, weapons on the Comanche  feature deadly accuracy and power. It was originally developed and  published by NovaLogic for DOS based computers with two expansion  packs coming later down the road: Mission Disk 1 and Over the Edge. Also, a compilation titled  Comanche CD was released in 1994 that included the main game  and those two expansion packs. By 1995, that compilation was released  for Mac OS simply known as Comanche Mac. A port of the game was in development  for the Super Nint

endo using Super FX and was even displayed at 1995’s  E3, but was eventually cancelled. A Nintendo spokesperson said that  the project was aborted because of unresolvable difficulties with  the game's graphics and speed. ULTIMA UNDERWORLD: THE STYGIAN ABYSS Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss is  commonly considered the first role-playing game with fluid first-person  movement in a real 3D environment. Unlike earlier first-person RPGs such as  Dungeon Master or Eye of the Beholder, the player c

an move in every direction  and the graphics are updated continually. The player is also able to look up and down  with the press of a key, jump and swim. The dungeon is not made entirely  of corridors and rooms arranged in a rectangular fashion but has a lot of variety: slopes, stairs, bridges,  underground rivers and more. It was a technological masterpiece  that pioneered many of the first-person elements that would soon show  up in Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Underworld: The Stygian Abyss was n

ot  a first-person shooter, but rather a deep and immersive role-playing game set  in the long-established Ultima universe, and the excellent music and sound effects further  added to the feeling of being in the game. It was undoubtedly the most atmospheric  RPG of its day and my most played and beloved game in a genre that I  would abandon a few years later. The game's combat system is action-oriented. The player has to draw his  weapon, aim at his opponent, and hold the cursor over the  game s

creen to inflict damage; the longer the player holds  it, the stronger is the attack. Some weapons have different types of attacks,  depending on where the cursor is held: for example, jabs are executed when the  cursor is near the bottom of the screen, while slashes are performed  with the cursor in the middle. The game’s background story is standard stuff about rescuing a damsel from  the depths of the dungeon, but once inside the Stygian Abyss, all  manner of sub-quests and conversations with

non-player characters contrive to  add deeper layers to the initial plot. Control of the game is quite simple,  and although fighting plays its part, you’ll also need to use your head to  bypass the various tribes of the Abys, like learning the phrases of the  Lizards language for example. Underworld is a large game with many  hours of play, and if you can look beyond the rather pixelated graphics, it still  provides a great gaming experience today. It was even given away for free in issue 74 

of PC Gamer magazine back in July of 2000, along with 11 other masterpieces. Strangely enough, by 1997, a  Japan-only PlayStation version surfaced with improved monster  graphics and redone title music. DYNA BLASTER It was first released for the PC Engine in  December of 1990 under its original title: Bomberman, soon followed by the release of its North  American Turbografx-16 counterpart, in early 1991. European computer enthusiasts  would also start enjoying it, still in 1991, with the release

of the  Amiga version and under its European name: Dyna Blaster. MS-DOS based computer users would only  start messing around with it by 1992. But this concept came a truly long way, written as  a tech demo for Hudson Soft as far back as 1980. Three years later was further developed and  released for several Japanese computers, from NEC, Fujitsu, Sharp and the MSX, and, by 1984, that MSX version was  brought to Europe under a different name: Eric and the Floaters, simply to avoid any associatio

n with a series of terrorist bombings carried  out by the Irish Republic Army. It was also published for the ZX Spectrum  by Sinclair Research in that same year. So, with all that said, I can safely  confirm that this new 1992 version is a remake of the original  created over 10 years prior. But, where Bomberman truly gained  notoriety was on the Famicom and by 1985, being ported back over to the MSX the  following year as Bomberman Special. The Famicom version only left Japan  by 1989, which wa

s kind of strange, just a few months before this superior version  landed over the PC Engine and Turbografx. Dyna Blaster consists of nine levels  per stage, each tougher than the other, and each final one consisting of the  boss that will have to be dealt with. The Bomberman character can move horizontally  and vertically and lay down bombs behind him, thus destroying the enemies, but beware: Bomberman can block himself with his own bombs,  and thus become a victim of his own strategy, somethin

g that was demonstrated on an  episode of the UK TV show Gamesmaster when the five members of the pop group Take  That played it as part of a challenge. Yes, 5 players playing the game simultaneously,  but in this particular case, on an Amiga 600. And, guess who won! Yeah, Robbie Williams! This was possible due to Hudson  Soft’s venture with NEC, back in 1990, in the development of the TurboTap accessory for the PC Engine and Turbografx, later porting  that multiplayer mayhem to other systems. T

he DOS version would only allow for 4  players to battle themselves simultaneously, which was more than enough,  from where I’m standing. CRAZY CARS 3 Now for a racing game! A genre that you know that  I’m completely crazy about! So, talking about “crazy”, here’s Crazy  Cars 3, from the French developer Titus. If you remove the “u” from Titus you get….. Ok, never mind! The Crazy Cars series was part of  my gaming life since the glory days of the ZX Spectrum where I played  the first two games in

the series. We just have to floor our way through  in these illegal street races, overtaking all cars and trying to reach  the main rivals in front of the pack, so that we can arrive in first place and win all the money in stake from the bets  placed before the race started. It’s that simple! We start out with just a basic Lamborghini  and $6000 and the aim is to rise to the top of the 4 divisions of racing through success  on 60 race tracks across The United States. In each division there are

20 rival racers, up  to 3 of which compete in each race at a time. The races also feature lots of local drivers,  Sunday drivers going at normal speed, and police. Before each race we will be told of the quality of  the locals and the likelihood of police presence. Crazy Cars 3 was upgraded and released, a year later, on a bunch of other  systems having also a name change: Lamborghini: American Challenge. Titus managed to grab an official  license from the manufacturer of the iconic Lamborghini

Diablo and packed,  also, a ton of improvements along with it, like changing the training  mode in the original game into a much-desired split screen two-player mode. So awesome! WOLFENSTEIN 3D A classic among classics! And you can confirm that simply by checking out the price of a sealed big  box copy available on eBay! And this one is the CD version  released a few years later! Holy cr@p! Wolfenstein 3D is an episodic first-person  shooter and a follow-up to the top-down infiltration game Cast

le Wolfenstein originally  released back in 1981 for the Apple II. The game puts us in the boots of  B.J. Blazkowicz, an allied spy. There are six episodes: the first  distributed completely free as shareware, that was my first contact with the game; the second and the third episodes  were available after registration; and the three final missions – which  happen before the events of the first episode – were available in  the Nocturnal Missions pack. Each episode has nine levels plus a  secret l

evel activated by a hidden switch somewhere in the eight first levels. Regular levels often feature a maze-like  appearance or large areas with many enemies, where we must reach the exit elevator. To do so, we must kill the enemies,  and depending on the level, activate "push walls" and/or get silver  and golden keys to open certain doors. Many objects can be found in a  level, from medikits, chicken meals, dog food and even puddles of  blood – to restore health –, to ammo and treasures, these 

solely exist for points. There are four weapons, all of them using  the same bullets except the knife, obviously! The knife and the pistol are  given at the start of the level, while the machine gun is either found, mostly  in secret areas, or picked up from SS troopers, and we must use them to slain all five  kinds of enemies present in the game; six if we include the bosses. We start the game with 3 lives; once  we lose the last life, the game ends. To win extra lives, we have to either find t

he  1-up item in the level or get 20,000 points. Wolfenstein 3D takes place during  World War 2, but the enemy soldier getting knocked down by Blazkowicz on the  box cover of the game, is carrying an M16. That weapon didn't exist until 1960! Here’s one more proof that Nazis  did some time travelling back then and got some help from a more  evolved species from the future! KING'S QUEST VI: HEIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW I will always recall this 6th entry in the  King’s Quest series with huge nostalgi

a, ‘cause, back then, me and five more friends saved money  for months to buy the original boxed DOS version. So, in late 1992, and after playing  a pirated copy of the previous title, that was mentioned on my video about  my 10 most played DOS games from 1990, the 3D graphic intro movie,  the professional voice acting and the multiple routes through  the story, overwhelmed us all! It just blew us away! Obviously that we needed to make copies  of the original floppy disks, so that each of us wou

ld play it and share experiences  helping each other advancing through the story. Every day, at school, we would  gather around and talk about each other’s progression and this was how  we shared “walkthroughs” in early 90s! We would even draw sketches for the  puzzles and take photocopies so that, when we got home, could advance a bit more. It was the first point ‘n click  graphic adventure that I played on my brand-new IBM PS/1, with sound  coming only from the PC Speaker. Sound cards and a pa

ir of speakers were  so expensive back in those days, you know? A luxury! So, my first playthrough of King’s Quest VI was done entirely using the internal  speaker of my IBM that, gladly, had this pretty handy volume knob  so that I could play the game all night long without my parents noticing it! King’s Quest VI brought huge improvements  to the series and, to my eyes, could finally rival the latest Lucasfilm and LucasArts graphic  adventures with its awe-inspiring visual beauty. An amazing ex

perience that  brings so many awesome memories! Like its predecessors in the  series, King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is a third-person puzzle-solving  adventure game, where we, as Prince Alexander, must travel between the Land's four magical  islands, each based on myth and fables, and encounter people and strange beasts  that will either help or hinder him. And “why must we do that?”, you may ask. Because of a girl we met in the  previous game, Princess Cassima. It had to be! Later,

a CD-ROM version of the  game arrived that included both DOS and Windows versions, along with full speech, a pre-rendered introduction and  the “Girl in the Tower” theme song, that could be heard for just 5  seconds on the floppy version. Obviously that this one would be amongst my  favorite point ‘n click adventure games ever! Feel free to check my Top 10. Link on the top  right of the screen and in the description below. MICROPROSE FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX Already out for the Amiga since Novemb

er 1991, MicroProse Formula One Grand Prix dropped like  a bomb on all MS-DOS based PC’s hard drives! Even if you weren’t into racing  games or even into Formula One, you most likely played this one back in the day! I was never that much of a fan of Formula One, but I can recall 3 or 4 titles that I  truly enjoyed playing throughout the years. Geoff Crammond is a legend when it comes to  designing and programming sim racing videogames. After Stunt Car Racer we  could only expect the best! And th

at was exactly what he delivered, the best Formula One game – and racing  game for that matter – until that moment! So, 1992 started with a bang with this incredible and accurate representation  the 1991 Formula One season, even if the game itself was  not affiliated officially with the FIA or any Formula One drivers, that  obviously had fictional names within it. As said, the game is a simulation of Formula One racing, from that period of time,  and was noted for its 3D graphics, remarkably hig

h framerate – around 25 fps – and attention to detail, in particular  the player's ability to edit the teams and drivers and set up their car to  their own personal specifications. So, and along with Indianapolis 500 “from Papyrus”  that I mentioned in my 1989’s Top 10 video, Formula One Grand Prix was the second  racing game to implement something that resembled “real world” racing physics, accurate track modelling and car  handling that required a “nails-kit”, somewhat similar to real-world  d

riving skills to perform well, along with meaningful options to  tune the behavior of the cars. Although not quite on the  level of later simulations, the most important variables, such as gear ratios, tire compounds and wing settings were  available to tune and, more importantly, proved to make an actual difference when driving. Important were also the functional rearview  mirrors and an "instant replay" system with a wide range of adjustable camera settings  not seen in other games of that era

. A truly groundbreaking game that resulted in a huge commercial success  that spawned three sequels: Grand Prix 2, Grand Prix 3 and Grand Prix 4. Yeah! UGH! How can such a small and simple game be so addictive and on my top three  most played DOS games from 1992? Beats me! What I know is that it grabbed me  right in the first second of gameplay! UGH! was developed by Egosoft for  the Commodore 64, Amiga and MS-DOS, and is known to be a Lunar Lander  and Space Taxi pre-historic clone, where we c

ontrol a muscle-powered  helicopter kind of elevator and, to make some money for our future  wedding with our pretty lovely cave girl, we have to transport passengers  from one place to another. Each level is made of a series of  platforms, with several cave entrances. Cavemen walk out of the caves and  loudly announce where they want to go. We have to land our helicopter taxi  next to the passenger and wait until he crawls inside and then fly to  the cave that he wants to get to. Controlling th

e vehicle is a bit complicated  - we cannot directly fly up or down; instead, we have to keep pedaling to fly up,  and cease pedaling when we want to go downwards. Bumping into a wall too hard will cause  a game over and force us to restart. There is also a time limit for  each level and we’ll get extra bonus points for getting passengers to  their destination before time runs out. At the end of each level, we’ll be given  a code for keeping track of our progress. There are some dinosaur  advers

aries on certain levels - a pterodactyl which appears  unexpectedly and flies across the screen, and a triceratops which becomes agitated  when we land near and charges at our taxi, not mentioning the T-Rex that is sleeping  and blows our vehicle with its nostrils. As we pedal, we exert energy. To refill our energy so that we can  keep pedaling, we can pick up a rock with blinking eyes and toss it at a tree also  with blinking eyes, making a fruit drop down. So, let's eat it to replenish our ene

rgy. Also available is a very entertaining two  player cooperative mode, where we and our cave buddy will most likely fight for the  passengers rather than help each other! So addictive! DUNE II Dune II: Battle for Arrakis, or The Building of  a Dynasty in the US, was first released for DOS, followed, a year later, by an Amiga port  and, by 1994, a Mega Drive / Genesis release. It is often considered the first  mainstream modern real-time strategy game and established  many conventions of the ge

nre. Even though set in Frank Herbert's  famous Dune universe, the game is only loosely connected to the plot of any  of the books or the films based on them. Controlling either of the three Houses, the player must fight a number of  battles against the other Houses. In the early levels, the goal is simply  to earn a certain number of credits, while in the later missions,  all enemies must be destroyed. The single resource in the game is the  Spice, which must be collected by harvesters. The spi

ce is converted to credits in a refinery, which are then spent to construct  additional buildings and units. There are two terrain types: buildings  can only be constructed on stone, while the Spice is only found on the sand. However, units moving on sand  attract the large sandworms of Dune, who are virtually indestructible and  can swallow even large units whole. As levels progress, new and more advanced  buildings and units are made available, including structures like a radar station, a repa

ir facility, or defense  turrets, and, for units, various ground troops, light vehicles and tanks. Each House can construct one  unique special unit, and, after building a palace improvement,  can unleash a unique palace effect. After a mission is completed, we can  select the next mission on a map of Dune. This choice determines the  layout of the next map to be played but has no effect on the overall campaign. A largely unknown but very curious  feature in Dune II is that a small amount of cre

dits is frequently  subtracted from the player's budget, the amount directly proportional to the  current power consumption in the player's base. Westwood Studios was really thinking ahead  when creating this masterpiece of a game! INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS You’ve already noticed that I’m the biggest  Indiana Jones fan out there and The Fate of Atlantis should be turned into a movie  and remastered for current gen systems. Damn! I even went on national TV stating that! Screenwriter

Hal Barwood, that would  return later to also write the story for Infernal Machine, another  one of my all-time favorites, wrote an amazing plot centered around  the lost continent of Atlantis. I’ve forever been intrigued with  Plato’s amazing “Atlantis Dialogue”. So, The Last Crusade was begging for  a sequel and it eventually arrived, first in 1992 and, a year later, with an enhanced CD-ROM version which included  amazing voice acting and digitized sound effects. I still have my Kixx re-releas

e  of the game in all its glory. It offered an overwhelming and original story that can rival with the ones  from all three first movies. The 4th one is quite forgettable, and  the 5th could have been so much better. Just saying! So, Nazis, a sort of mythological flavor  and a beautiful, and somewhat annoying, female character, were the perfect  ingredients for an Indiana Jones adventure. Sofia Hapgood would return, later,  for Indy’s first 3D action-adventure, the aforementioned Infernal Machin

e, released  in 1999 and that I’ve also reviewed in the past. Check my playlist of all Indiana Jones  video games that I’ve covered throughout these 10 years of content  creation here on YouTube. Links in the usual places. Needless to say that, later, I would also grab the GOG and Steam versions to play  again, and again, and again… damn! I completely lost the count of how many times  I’ve played and finished The Fate of Atlantis! It still has the power to held my attention  hostage like if ther

e was no tomorrow! And let’s not forget that this game has 3  different approaches to the story with the in-game dialogue and storyline being  cleverly adapted to each situation, which I found truly groundbreaking at the time. As the name suggests, we take control of  the famous archaeologist in a frenetic race against the Nazis to be the first  to unveil the secrets, and whereabouts, of the lost civilization of Atlantis. The action takes place in 1939 when Hitler’s  foes are searching for an an

cient Atlantean power source that will potentially  supercharge their tanks and bombs. So, off we go on a globetrotting adventure which manages to capture all the  action, humor and undertone of the movie franchise with John Williams’  intemporal soundtrack playing in the background. A variety of compositions were  arranged by the iMuse team, Michael Land, Clint Bajakian and Peter McConnell, and the fact of not being based  on any of Indy’s previous movies, gave loose reign to Hal Barwood and hi

s team to  create this unique, inspiring and original story. And let’s not forget that this game was  included as an unlockable extra of the Wii version of Indiana Jones and the  Staff of Kings, released back in 2009! All these years later Indiana Jones and  the Fate of Atlantis refuses to die, and I’m crossing my fingers in relation to  the upcoming Indy game from Machine Games! I’m sure that I will love it, no matter  what, ‘cause, as I said in the beginning, I’m a huge fan of “the man in the

hat”  and everything that comes out that is even slightly and remotely related  to Indy, I simply have to check out! That’s why the Tomb Raider and  Uncharted series are so dear to me. So, guys! Here you have it! The 10 games, released back in 1992,  that I spent the most time with! Tell me, down in the comments section  below, if you’ve played any of them! And feel free to share your personal  favorites from that particular year! I would love to know, ‘cause I’m sure that I’ll  discover a ton m

ore by reading your feedback! In the meantime, if you’ve enjoyed  this episode, you know the drill! Thank you very much for watching, and… I’ll catch you all in my next video! Cheers!