DOS ist gut!

[ThreeOhFour]

I love game art - especially DOS era VGA art. Love it - not just because it's the stuff closest to my own, but also because I just love the way those big pixels look.

When I play games - almost any games - I find myself taking as many screenshots as possible of stuff that inspires me stylistically. I'm a compulsive screenshotter; I'll quite happily play a bit over and over just to get the screenshot I want. One day I was looking at all my lovely screenshots and feeling sad that nobody else could see them and how beautiful they are, so I decided to start a tumblr page dedicated to posting just screenshots of just DOS games. Thus, I put up what DOS screenshots I had at the time, and have since been on an amazing journey of playing as many pretty DOS games as I can find, and posting them on my tumblr. It's a weird mix of stuff I grew up playing as a kid, stuff I'd heard of but never gotten a chance to play, stuff GOG has put out that interests me and weird stuff I've found while browsing ebay at 2am instead of sleeping, and I've got everything from Doom to Dominus up there. 5 screenshots each, any genre, as long as it's DOS.

Anyway, enough ranting. Here's the little online art museum I curate: http://dos-ist-gut.tumblr.com/. Feel free to recommend more games but be aware that I've got a *ton* of DOS games on my shelf I haven't put up there yet.

[dactylopus]

I do the same thing (compulsive screenshots), so thanks for posting this!  I've only glanced, but you've got some great shots.

[Radiant]

May I recommend...

Eye of the Beholder II
Legend of Kyrandia (or its sequels)
The Lost Vikings

[Crimson Wizard]

Might & Magic: World of Xeen
Coolest enemy evar

Spoiler

[close]

[Gribbler]

I looked through all of your games. So many memories... (sigh) Beautiful DOS age of gaming.

[ThreeOhFour]

Those four are already on the list! World of Xeen and Lost Vikings are already installed, too. I've been holding off on EOTB because I did LoL:ToC recently, but aye, those'll definitely be going up at some point. Still, thanks for the recommendations and nice comments.

[Crimson Wizard]

Little more obscure ones then.
(...hard-working memory sounds...)

Boston Bomb Club
Captain Comic, absolute classic, lol; I still remember its opening tune.
Metal Mutant
Those aren't VGA though. not all of them are VGA.

Also, since "Lost Vikings" were mentioned, another early Blizzard's game: "BlackThorne".

[ThreeOhFour]

Yep, Blackthorne is on the list, too.

I've looked at Metal Mutant and Boston Bomb Club but never played them, nor do I have copies. Would like to get them at some point, though! Not strictly limited to VGA but I'm focusing on those for now.

[Radiant]

Captain Comic, absolute classic, lol; I still remember its opening tune.

Hey, I thought I was the only one who knew that   You play the sequel too?

I'll see your Blackthorne and raise you a Prince Of Persia II.

[ThreeOhFour]

Haven't played PoP2 since I was a kid and we had it on a mac at school. It did have awesome graphics, though! Maybe I'll be able to get my hands on it at some point!

[Darth Mandarb]

CAPTAIN COMIC!  My stars I haven't thought about that game in YEARS!  I used to play that game every day after school for [what seems like] a long time.

Good list and a good read... there's just something magical about pixels.

[Daniel Thomas]

This is great Ben, Thanks! So many beautiful games I have missed.

[ThreeOhFour]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who appreciates old game art!

[Armageddon]

I'm glad someone else has played Powerslave.

I suggest the point and click Batman Forever game, it's very pretty and fun.

[san.daniele]

Burntime!
Still one of my favourites.

Wonderful gallery

[Andail]

Awesome!
I browse the screenshot galleries at sites like mobygames like there's no tomorrow.
When it comes to classic point-and-click adventure background art, I think BASS and Discworld belong to my favourites.

[selmiak]

of course all the Lucas classics
lemmings
mortal combat
pinball dreams/psycho pinball
rise of the triad
jill of the jungle
battle isle
hugos house of horror (was this even DOS?)
I remember a game called centipede or milipede, it's like snake with more action
and find a C64 emulator for DOS


awesome tumblr!

[Crimson Wizard]

pinball dreams/psycho pinball

Also "Pinball Fantasies" had colorful VGA graphics: http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/2851-pinball-fantasies-dos-screenshot-stones-n-boness.gif

[ThreeOhFour]

Yep, I know these games (depending on which game you mean by the centipede one), but would politely remind you that I'm looking for the prettiest DOS games, and stuff like Jill of the Jungle and Hugo's House of horrors are very basic, graphically.

I do plan on doing some of the pinball ones listed, the LucasArts classics (already done FT), Battle Isle 2200 and Lemmings (although I want to do Diggers 2 before Lemmings). I absolutely cannot stand Mortal Kombat, and more to the point think it's hideous. 

Powerslave and Burntime are both pretty cool, and definitely deserve way more love than they get. Discworld and BASS shine particularly because they have hand-painted backdrops, and it really gives them a lot of character. Stuff like Curse of Enchantia, Universe and Dragonsphere do too, but are not digitized quite as well, and suffer a bit for it.

[selmiak]

I do plan on doing some of the pinball ones listed, the LucasArts classics (already done FT), Battle Isle 2200 and Lemmings (although I want to do Diggers 2 before Lemmings). I absolutely cannot stand Mortal Kombat, and more to the point think it's hideous. 

Well, you can screw the gameplay mechanics of MK compared to tekken and the like, but there is some morbid graphical beauty in the game. The whole selling point of the game is the over the top violence in pixels that attracts teenage players and some fatalities, which are the only reason to play the game, are gruesome and creative in one. I'd screencap and gif the hell out of MK