DOS platformers

[Anonymous No.4949462]

I never see /vr/ talk about DOS platformers. Post your favorites.

[Anonymous No.4949469]

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure.

I just replayed it. It's still awesome.

[Anonymous No.4949478]

Are the Douk platformers any good?

[Anonymous No.4949479]

>>4949462
Dangerous Dave. It's pretty simple and i really like the pc speaker sound.

[Anonymous No.4949487]

This was only a thing in Europe. People here rented a Genesis cart from Blockbuster if they wanted that shit.

[Anonymous No.4949502]

>>4949462
i remember playing these "skunny" games as a kid and even in my young years i realized how bad the level design was

[Anonymous No.4949524]

>>4949478
Manhattan Project is great but it's not retro.

[Anonymous No.4949542]

enjoyed Hocus Pocus

[Anonymous No.4949546]

>>4949478
I'm a big fan of the first game.
2 is impressive for only using EGA graphics, but game play is a little bit of a cluster.

[Anonymous No.4949550]

>>4949462
Did anyone not play Commander Keen 4/5?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ62-YYaxKI

[Anonymous No.4949612]

>>4949550
i don't remember which ones i played

[Anonymous No.4949613]

>>4949502
Skunny & Rosy!

[Anonymous No.4949618]

>>4949462
technically the definitive version is on the amiga, but it's still on DOS and the GOAT platformer so im gunna post it anyways

[Anonymous No.4949621]

>>4949462

[Anonymous No.4949623]

>>4949621
He has 'tude

[Anonymous No.4949720]

[Anonymous No.4949723]

>>4949550
>that sneaky red land shark

[Anonymous No.4949731]

Why were westerners so bad at making platformers? Most DOS platformers were Amiga tier trash.

[Anonymous No.4949734]

>>4949723
Not actually sharks but we thought they were in my house.

[Anonymous No.4949735]

>>4949731
There wasn't much demand for them, because most who had a $2000 PC could just buy a $200 console.

[Anonymous No.4949740]

>>4949550
This game is far more challenging than anything Mario, with its one hit kills and very sinister enemies like that weeping angel rock. Super Mario World is somewhat dull by comparison.

http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Keen_4:_Secret_of_the_Oracle

[Anonymous No.4949805]

>>4949550
Commander Keen isn't good because it doesn't have parallax scrolling.

[Anonymous No.4949907]

>>4949735
Yeah people who had PCs wanted games they couldn't get on consoles. The games I played for DOS were flight sim games like X-Wing and TIE Fighter, strategy games like Master of Magic, WPRGs like Dark Queen of Krynn, and Wolfenstein. Also Scorched Earth: The Mother of All Games though I think that might have been an early Windows game.

[Anonymous No.4949953]

>>4949462
Duke II, Bio Menace, Monster Bash.

[Anonymous No.4949958]

>>4949953
Most aren't aware Duke was ever 2D

[Anonymous No.4949962]

>>4949958
apogee games were my jam back in the day, sad these gems are forgotten.

[Anonymous No.4949969]

>>4949958
How does it feel to be so special?

[Anonymous No.4949975]

Very short game but a lot of fun. Cool music too.

[Anonymous No.4949976]

>>4949962
They're not forgotten by those who had PCs. Most had little interest in them before the web was relevant. One time last decade, I brought a laptop to a cabin that was still too remote to have cellular service and my cousin was like "wtf why computer if no internet?"

[Anonymous No.4949986]

>>4949487
>This was only a thing in Europe
we're talking about DOS here you nincompoop

[Anonymous No.4949987]

>>4949907
>>4949735
>>4949731
Another issue is that PC developers didn't necessarily have a standard gamepad controller they could design for. You had big-ass flight-stick style joysticks and you had console-style pads like the sidewinder, but the only thing you could be sure that people had was a keyboard & mouse. Most platform games work best with a real gamepad, preferably a 4th gen console pad or later, and are a bit awkward on a keyboard.

[Anonymous No.4950010]

>>4949907
Scorched was DOS.
Fuckin' MIRVs.

[Anonymous No.4950020]

Captain Comic, niggas

[Anonymous No.4950094]

>>4949462

[Anonymous No.4950104]

[Anonymous No.4950126]

>>4949731
First off, the hardware was different from consoles - not optimized for smooth-scrolling platformers.
Second, there were WAY more computer games than console games due to the lack of restrictions. So of course there would be more bad games.

[Anonymous No.4950438]

>>4949720
Pure kino.

>>4949987
Back in the day, a mouse was an obscure peripheral.

[Anonymous No.4950480]

Apogee platformers are so much fun, I still play them on occasion.

My favorite is one of the lesser known ones, though, Crystal Caves.

[Anonymous No.4950656]

>>4950104
Is the pic in the corner supposed to show what weapon you have equipped? Because that's a neat little excuse to leave a closeup of her ass whole time

[Anonymous No.4950691]

>>4950656
Yea. Sadly it's the only weapon that does that.

[Anonymous No.4950695]

How is Zool 2?

[Anonymous No.4950706]

Not a platformer, but the best (and only) sokoban-like I had. Came on the same floppy as that well known platformer.

[Anonymous No.4950842]

>>4949462
Prehistorik 2 had really funny secret levels.

[Anonymous No.4950858]

Zool was pretty nice. Not a DOS exclusive, though, but that's the system I played it on.

[Anonymous No.4950867]

>>4950858
Are the DOS Zools very different? I had fun with Sega Zool up until a level where you had to rely on random drops while to get enough collectibles to continue while on a time limit.

[Princess Sevenleaf !IT2uZpX.Ic No.4950885]

>>4950691
>sadly

IT'S THE DEFAULT WEAPON. AND IT'S MAXIMUM CRINGE.

Vinyl is a decent DOS platformer albeit marred by its association with the aggressively exploitative beauty industry, and Jill of the Jungle was just plain a better game. BUT, I also have nice things to say about Vinyl. The soundtrack is pretty rad and like, it perfectly nails that 90's game feel with all the weird monsters and inane excuse-plot. It's actually a legit good game, it's fun and I recommend it.

[Anonymous No.4950927]

>>4950885
>Jill of the Jungle was just plain a better game
ehhh...I always liked the way jumping and weapons felt in Vinyl more. That exploding bottle weapon can go fuck itself though.

[Princess Sevenleaf !IT2uZpX.Ic No.4950984]

>>4950927
Jumping in JotJ is definitely very stiff and takes some getting used to, I'll admit that. But like, just the general "feel" of Jill, it's hard to explain but I just think Jill is a very unique game with some interesting atmosphere to it. And Jill is a cool character.

[Anonymous No.4951010]

>>4949550
One of the first video games I ever played, but I have played them so much that the nostalgia is already gone. I played a few fan games recently (Battle of the Brains, Atroxian Realm) and was really impressed by them.

>>4949740
At least you can save everywhere. I can only imagine the frustration if you couldn't. Dunno, maybe they were balanced around savescumming.

[Anonymous No.4951014]

>>4949621
Did the "Sanic with guns" thing 10 years before the edgehog

[Anonymous No.4951035]

>>4950858
Shit, I have been looking for this game but couldn't remember its name

[Anonymous No.4951065]

>>4950020
nice one

[Anonymous No.4951098]

>>4949953
Played Duke 2 a lot, but it doesn't feel like a Duke game without one-liners, gore and strippers

[Anonymous No.4951114]

Had the shareware of this. It looked really nice and played smooth, but the gameplay is really hectic at times.

[Anonymous No.4951124]

>>4949462
Holy fuck OP. I played that game when I was kid, while I was visiting small office that mom was working in. Yes, somebody had installed bunch of dos games on workplace computer, it was different time back then. Never to this day, I didn't know that game's name. Thanks.

[Princess Sevenleaf !IT2uZpX.Ic No.4951132]

>>4951124
I've been working in offices pretty much my whole life, and they always have strict policies on what you can and can't do with a work computer. It's weird to think there was a time when businesspeople could install games like Doom on a work computer and play it during their breaks. The call center I work at won't even let me let me read on my Kindle outside of designated break areas :(

[Anonymous No.4951149]

Not an exclusive for DOS, the amiga version looked great, but I still enjoyed it a lot. I still consider it a platformer, but on every screen you have to perform a different task.

[Anonymous No.4951198]

>>4949462
Man I feel lame I mostly played the fuckton of Sierra point and click shit back in the day.

[Anonymous No.4951238]

>>4950885
>marred by its association with the aggressively exploitative beauty industry
Jesus Christ...

[Anonymous No.4951319]

>>4951238
I'm surprised it took so long for someone to point out this bullshit. When I first read it I thought the game was produced by Revlon or some shit.

[Anonymous No.4951421]

>>4951010
Save-anywhere was essential for a DOS game because it couldn't be put in the background when you wanted to do something else with your expensive IBM clone.

[Anonymous No.4951425]

>>4951014
Isn't that Metroid as soon as he finds screw attack?

[Anonymous No.4951523]

>>4950706
I loved that game.

[Anonymous No.4951539]

>>4951421
Many of the games, at least many of the Apogee ones, were also heavily "puzzle" based, meaning that you usually spent much more time in a level than you would in a game like Sonic. I always appreciated the save function.

[Anonymous No.4951545]

>>4950438
>Back in the day, a mouse was an obscure peripheral.
Yeah I realized that mistake as I hit submit, oh well. Point is platform games are usually designed for game pads and the console game pads were usually superior unless you were doing something like a flight simulator.

[Anonymous No.4951665]

>>4949986
huh? the premier euro platformer super frog is available on dos.

[Anonymous No.4951704]

>>4949740
Super Mario World is far and away more mechanically engaging though, which is the most important aspect of a platformer.

[Anonymous No.4951713]

>>4949987
>Most platform games work best with a real gamepad, preferably a 4th gen console pad or later, and are a bit awkward on a keyboard.
2d platformers all perform just as well on a keyboard as they do on a gamepad. Top Dustforce players very frequently use keyboards.

[Anonymous No.4951857]

>>4951713
Try getting a good time in Super Metroid on a keyboard and get back to me on that.

[Anonymous No.4951870]

>>4951857
>The run-ahead feature in RetroArch is banned.
I don't like playing on CRTs, so that's a no-go for me.

[Anonymous No.4951890]

>>4951713
It's not just about performance, it's about being accessible to a typical player. Whatever gear experts might use to optimize their performance is not the point.

With a gamepad you have directional movement and 6 buttons to handle jumping shoot, blocking, changing your weapon, etc. You often wind up with a standard button for some action across all platform games on that console.

[Anonymous No.4951897]

>>4951870
Coward.

Sure, keyboards work for the most simplistic of platformers, but they're shit for anything remotely complex.

[Anonymous No.4951913]

>>4951857
Dustforce has a far higher skill ceiling and more buttons than Super Metroid, so your point is kind of redundant, but why would you not be able to?

[Anonymous No.4951915]

>>4951897
>they're shit for anything remotely complex
Dustforce is the most complex 2d platformer in existence by far and many of the top players use keyboards.

[Anonymous No.4951916]

>>4951897
Worked pretty well for Keen, which has jump, shoot, and pogo stick. For digital inputs, I think keyboard can be just as good with enough practice. I have some gamepads on my desk but I often play the more difficult platformers with Cherry MC Browns.

[Anonymous No.4951917]

[Anonymous No.4951919]

>>4951897
>they're shit for anything remotely complex.
what a load of shit lmao. fighting games are more complex than any platformer and FGC players use keyboard style control schemes (box controllers, etc) all the time.

[Anonymous No.4951923]

>>4949462
>-- DOS platformers

winnuke worked pretty well until Microsoft got broken up

[Anonymous No.4951925]

>>4951916
*Cherry MX Browns

Cost me $50 shipped because the manufacturer was wanting to be rid of some boards with different branding.

[Anonymous No.4951926]

[Anonymous No.4951927]

[Anonymous No.4951931]

[Anonymous No.4951939]

>>4951913
>>4951915
Dustforce uses 4 buttons. You need 6-7 buttons to play Super Metroid at a high level. Good luck doing that effectively on a keyboard.

[Anonymous No.4951945]

>>4951917
Based on popular Youtube personality Xargon of Akkad.

[Anonymous No.4951948]

>>4951939
>two thumbs and two fingers are better than two thumbs and 10 fingers
you sound like a retard.

[Anonymous No.4951953]

>>4951948
8 fingers*

[Anonymous No.4951956]

>>4951948
You sound like someone who's never actually played video games before.

[Anonymous No.4951957]

>>4951956
No, that isn't correct.

[Anonymous No.4951960]

>>4951956
how is that an argument? there's no reason someone wouldn't be able to do on a keyboard what can be done on a digital gamepad.

[Anonymous No.4951973]

>>4951939
>You need 6-7 buttons to play Super Metroid at a high level.
Good thing keyboards allow you to literally use all your fingers at once lmao.
>Good luck doing that effectively on a keyboard.
Why would you not be able to? So far you're just screeching "nuh uh!!!" and it makes you look like a mongoloid.

[Anonymous No.4951980]

>>4951960
The reason is that the inputs you have to perform simply aren't suited to keyboard layouts. Yes, they are physically possible. They're also incredibly awkward. There's a reason none of the top players (even the ones using emulators) use keyboard. Maybe you'd have better luck if you could attach a real d-pad to your keyboard, but then it's just a big, unwieldy gamepad.

[Anonymous No.4951985]

>>4951980
>The reason is that the inputs you have to perform simply aren't suited to keyboard layouts.
Why? You keep asserting this ad nauseum without elaborating on what the fuck it even means.
>There's a reason none of the top players (even the ones using emulators) use keyboard.
It's because SNES consoles run at a slightly higher refresh rate than emulators, saving a few seconds across the run. Also, original hardware is generally preferred over emulators in speedrunning to begin with. You have no idea what the fuck you're talking about.
>if you could attach a real d-pad to your keyboard
Literally arrow keys, you feloniously stupid cunt.

[Anonymous No.4951989]

>>4951985
>It's because SNES consoles run at a slightly higher refresh rate than emulators, saving a few seconds across the run. Also, original hardware is generally preferred over emulators in speedrunning to begin with.
Also, SNES consoles have no input lag when played on a CRT and emulators do. Forgot to add that.

[Anonymous No.4951991]

>>4949805
The fact the Keen games HAD scrolling in the first place was a big fucking deal back then.

[Anonymous No.4952001]

>>4951980
>SNES controllers are perfectly suited for the elaborate tech in a speedrun that the devs didn't intend to ever be done on the controller or see coming in a million years
how many paint chips do you have to eat as a child to be this stupid?

[Anonymous No.4952052]

>>4951989
SNES has no *additional* lag. Most games have 1-3 frames of internal lag. run-ahead is neat :-)

[Anonymous No.4952092]

>tfw you make a simple observation about motivations of platformer devs in the 90s and start a nerd war over game pads vs keyboards.

[Anonymous No.4952112]

it was total crap which is kind of strange since the same people released Witchhaven the same year

[Anonymous No.4952115]

>>4949478
II is clunker but i had fun with it

[Anonymous No.4952451]

>>4952092
It's a weird thing to war over though. In a digital game it's almost all preference. I use arcade sticks but I wouldn't say they're better for everyone.

[Anonymous No.4952461]

>>4952451
I use one of these for DOS platformers just because they're the ones I've played with back in the day. They're far from convenient, but they feel so right.

[Anonymous No.4952627]

>>4951927
Kino.

[Anonymous No.4953110]

>>4952461
That looks pretty damn sweet, anon. I'd rock one.

[Anonymous No.4953142]

Abuse seemed pretty interesting, but i can't honestly say it's my favorite because i stopped playing after only a few levels. It seemed like it could have had greater potential.

Also, (i know it gets hate but) the DOS Turrican II port is quite decent IMO.

[Anonymous No.4953235]

>>4951897
Keyboards are generally superior input devices because you can allocate a finger to each button. The problem with gamepads is that they're designed to be played with thumbs, so every time you need to do simultaneous actions (like jump and shoot), you need to slide your thumb on it, costing time. The only exception is if you have huge fat fingers that cover both buttons at once, but this shouldn't be a requirement. Simply, no gamepad is able to match the usability of a WASD setup, a huge number of available keys with barely any travel time.
Seriously, have you tried holding a controller so you cover, say, X and square with two fingers? It's extremely uncomfortable, clearly not intended, whereas this is a natural action on any keyboard.

Now, obviously gamepads are made for laid back comfortable play, so I can sit back on my couch and relax. I don't emulate console games with keyboards generally. But I sacrifice input reaction and overall performance to get this comfort.

[Anonymous No.4953279]

>>4949502
Has anyone ever played a REGISTERED copy of Skunny? Gotta save those pizzas though.

>>4951926
This is an Australian game.

[Anonymous No.4953325]

>>4949462
Pic related

[Anonymous No.4953339]

>>4953325
hi lgr

[Anonymous No.4953342]

>>4953339
?

[Anonymous No.4953379]

What is your trustworthy site to download these games?

[Anonymous No.4953424]

>>4953342
e-celeb babble. Just ignore it.

[Anonymous No.4953440]

>>4953339
Is he the guy who keeps using "ape" as a verb here?

[Anonymous No.4953497]

>>4953279
>This is an Australian game.
It shows.

[Anonymous No.4953502]

>>4950020
wow. my neighbor had that game. it's all coming back to me

[Anonymous No.4953710]

>>4949621
Based as fuck. Jazz Jackrabbit was my favorite game as a kid

[Anonymous No.4953732]

>>4949462

[Anonymous No.4953734]

>>4949953
>>4949462

[Anonymous No.4953839]

>>4953379
Rip from the 5.25” that I purchased legally.

[Anonymous No.4953841]

>>4953235
You can do circles on a dpad with your thumb much faster than you can do circles on WASD with three fingers. Dpads work so that you can hold your thumb in the center of it and simply tilt your thumb slightly to hit any button. Gamepads are objectively better here.

The buttons on a snes pad are designed so that your thumb can cover about two at a time. This is where keyboards reign supreme, because you can reach 5 buttons at a time without moving your fingers.

Keyboard is better for action buttons, but not for 8 directional movement.

[Anonymous No.4953856]

>>4953841
lol tell that to hitbox users who are literally banned from tournaments.

[Anonymous No.4953864]

>>4953856
Melee doesn't use a dpad.

[Anonymous No.4953869]

>>4953864
who gives a shit about melee?

[Anonymous No.4953927]

>>4953869
Millions.

[Anonymous No.4953934]

>>4949462
Oh, man. That pic brings up a bittersweet memory.
>Dad is installing games in our Win95 from a bunch of floppies who knows where he got from.
>He was big into DOS games and I would watch him play, occasionally sitting and playing too.
>Some days later, while on school recess, I started picking up some games at random while he prepared lunch.
>Last one was Prehistorik before shutting down the machine.
>When I turned the PC on, it when from the boot sector straight to the Titus logo, starting Prehistorik.
>I panicked, dad checked it out, if it didn't had a floppy disk inside or anything.
>Nothing worked. The game apparently overwrote part of the boot sector and would start the game.
>Nice joke from whoever gave him the games or something.
>Four days passed until he said he would reformat and reinstall the OS.
>I kept playing, barely making progress, saying all that time "maybe if i win, I will restore the PC".
Young me felt responsible for messing up and I would wake up early and use the half hour i was allowed to play to "undo what i did wrong". Now, whenever I see the Titus logo I remember how much I suck at platformers.

I also remember playing The Lost Vikings, Earthworm Jim and others. Fun times.

[Anonymous No.4953942]

I always thought it was really weird and kind of creepy how the perpetrators behind all those gory corpses and half-eaten skeletons scattered around the levels in Bio-Menace were actually Barney-looking jiggly googly-eyed monsters.

[Anonymous No.4954402]

>>4953934
I formatted my computer because it was generally running like shit when my parents were away and when they got home my dad went apeshit, blamed it on porn and took away my dreamcast.

[Anonymous No.4954453]

>>4954402
Actual boomers don't understand they need to keep backups or even that digital information can be copied without degradation. I've known some to keep an old PC set up just to sometimes view a few photos.

[Anonymous No.4954457]

>>4953934
Mein neger! I had pretty much the same experience as a kid.
>install a (literally) retarded game on our Win95 machine
>play for a while, come conclusion it indeed was retarded and good for couple of laughs
>exit game
>somehow PC reboots ... into the retardo game
>again ... and again
>dad has to reinstall Windows
Felt super shitty about it even though I didn't get yelled at or anything. An accident's an accident and I didn't do anything to make the game insist on starting up on reboot instead of OS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3zDNDKK3hU

[Anonymous No.4954497]

>>4954453
nah he's an electrical engineer who built pcs before but just happens to also be a fundamentalist christian

[Anonymous No.4954703]

>>4949542
Nice! I remember playing this

[Anonymous No.4954874]

[Anonymous No.4954876]

[Anonymous No.4954883]

[Anonymous No.4954893]

[Anonymous No.4954895]

>>4954883
I had bert's dinosaurs. what a shitty "game".

[Anonymous No.4955041]

>>4953856
Hitbox is only banned from Melee but so is every other controller that's not an original Gamecube controller preferably with a slight design flaw to make the game play better because fuck Melee.

[Anonymous No.4955074]

>>4954893
E L E C T R O B O D Y

[Anonymous No.4956303]

>>4954402
If my kid was that much of an oblivious, inconsiderate dumbass he'd never touch my computer again.

>>4954453
No matter what my backup strategy.

[Anonymous No.4956520]

>>4953734
+ Crystal Caves :D

[Anonymous No.4956636]

>>4951927
Breddy good.

[Princess Sevenleaf !IT2uZpX.Ic No.4957185]

>>4951319
>>4951238
..... Because one of the game's marketing gimmicks was that the main character is a digitized supermodel (she was that year's Miss Universe IIRC) and the game came with a freakin' CENTERFOLD. Learn your herstory you screwbs.

[Anonymous No.4957236]

>>4957185
This doesn't change or "refute" anything that has been said in response to you, you clown. No one was denying the game's use of sex appeal as a marketing gimmick. I just thought your problematizitation of it was ridiculous.

[Anonymous No.4957238]

>>4954874
Took me a while to even spot the player character.

[Anonymous No.4957282]

I can't find the game. It was a platformer where you control an astronaut of sorts going through tunnels. There was a bouncing ball enemy that would be fucking annoying and push you into spikes.

[Anonymous No.4957287]

>>4957282
Bounder is your friend :D

[Anonymous No.4957329]

>>4953142
alien rampage, just found about of it some years ago. It's pretty playable

[Anonymous No.4958143]

>>4950104
I loved this game as a kid.

[Anonymous No.4958194]

>>4949479
omg I've been looking for this very game for 20 years. Thank you anon

[Anonymous No.4958451]

>>4949469
Just came here to see if anyone would post this. I played the shit out of this as a kid.