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Today, gaming is on the forefront of technology. You want augmented reality? You got it? You want to play a new game that looks like an old game? You can do that? You want to play on your computer? Fine. You want your gaming platform to also stream movies and play 4K discs? That’s all possible. Not in the 90s. That was an era where our dreams weren’t yet matched by available graphic and sound cards, but that didn’t stop us from playing and dreaming.
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Before Windows was on pretty much every computer ever, you had to understand DOS to be a great gamer. Without knowledge of DOS commands you wouldn’t be able to play classics like The Oregon Trail, Commander Keen, or Prince of Persia. The great thing about learning DOS to play games is that once you learned this early coding language you could do SO MANY things with the knowledge, not just play Dune II.
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We currently live in a state of first person shooter overload, but in the 90s it was groundbreaking to play a game where everything was from your perspective. Released in 1993, Doom set the standard for first-person shooters and single handedly jump started a PC gaming genre full of fast paced action and insane graphics for the time. Halo, Bioshock, Call of Duty; none of those games would exist without Doom.
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This slow paced, immersive puzzle adventure game was bewildering at the time of its release but that didn’t stop it from becoming one of the best selling PC games of the 90s. Myst transports players to beautiful, mysterious worlds that stretch your imagination and make players think outside the box as they attempt to solve the puzzles that make up the heart of the game. Mind boggling, thought provoking, and genuinely touching, Myst will blow your mind if you let it.
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No school computer lab in the 90s was complete if someone didn’t die of dysentery, specifically in the game Oregon Trail. This simple game was a staple of 90s classrooms, but it’s still out there teaching children the dangers of frontier life, be it snakes, starving, or yes, dysentery. It’s likely that without Oregon Trail there wouldn’t be a generation of gamers who like to mix education with their play.
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With SimCity 2000 players were allowed to build the metropolis of their dreams. If you’ve ever wanted to feel like a god/city planner then this is the game for you. In this classic PC game you have to design a city while balancing resources and disasters in a complex simulation designed to allow your creativity to go crazy. SimCity 2000 was one of the first games that let you create and destroy, which option you choose really tells you something about yourself.
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Today, World of Warcraft is a wildly popular MMORPG with millions of online subscribers, but in the 90s Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was a simple game that introduced a new era of real time strategy into the gaming ecosystem. Whether you played as a human or an orc your objective was simple – take over the world. If you’ve played Civ in the last few years then you’ll get the basics. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans laid the foundation for one of the most successful franchises in gaming history.
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Something that we don’t have anymore is the point and click adventure game. If you’re too young to remember, or you just didn’t get around to playing P&Cs, these were games where you quite literally pointed and clicked on an object, place, character, or even a verb in order to continue the game. As Guybrush Threepwood you go on a quest to become a pirate in this humorous take on the action/adventure genre. Unlike a lot of the games of the era, The Secret of Monkey Island does everything it can to keep you from dying as you learn the secrets of this incredible world. It’s no wonder that the series picked up such a rabid following.
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With the rise of Quake, a first person shooter/puzzle game, PC gaming became all the more cinematic. With a storyline straight out of a movie, players controlled a “Ranger” on the hunt for a teleporting enemy. With a killer score by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, Quake is the quintessential 90s game. One of the coolest things about Quake is the way that users can mod the game to fit their specific tastes. This led to a massive online community that continues to this day.
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Duke Nukem 3D is remembered today as much for its edgelord humor as it is for its fast paced gameplay. This early standout in the world of FPS is essentially a re-skinned version of Doom, but its titular character made it a game that young people sought out. By mixing pop culture references with in your face alien destruction, Duke Nukem 3D became a must-play game for preteen boys at sleepovers.
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By the mid-90s, Windows was the dominant platform, allowing PC gaming to become even more accessible than ever. The DOS era slowly phased out as games like Age of Empires and Diablo were released, leading to an influx of players who were happy to embrace this new style of computer gaming. The DOS era was short-lived, but it holds a special place in the hearts of 90s kids everywhere.