Obscure DOS Games - Part 1

[@djackmanson]

I am really enjoying your videos. I have only even heard of two of these games, and that's only because I've watched most of LGR's back catalogue. You are really digging deep into obscure stuff and not just posting the same ten games everyone else does.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thanks! And LGR is great! I love his videos, Clint really knows his games. Also, noone does Duke like he does. I know how it sounds, and I'm leaving it written like that anyway. ;) Also, if everyone shows the same games, then they're not that obscure anymore, cause everyone knows about them. That said, I do get viewers pointing out that the games I talk about are not obscure at all. So, I suppose it depends on how many games some had/have.

[@ungeschaut]

I like your videos alot. It's nostalgic for sure but also very informative and somehow i miss these pioneer games that existed just in that time and period

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thanks and yeah, I don't discriminate. Like the channel name states it's all about Old and New video games. If it's 40 years old and worth a mention, it'll get one. If it just came out and is especially good, then... Well, it will not necessarily be named cause while I like all games, I currently focus more on the oldies as there's a lot I haven't seen on KZbin about some and feel that they deserve a minute.

[@davidkulhan1908]

Great video man again :) cant wait to see more "strange games" , i thing that "Bad Mojo" must be introduced in the future episodes :)

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thank you! And you're in luck then cause next one's dropping for members later on today. :) Since it's nearly ready though there will be no Bad Mojo in it. That said, you reminded me about this little oddity. So, there's definitely a spot for it in one of the future ones. That is if I drop the "DOS" bit from the name. Which honestly should not be a big issue. Or I can add "mostly" just before "DOS". It'll be funnier this way. ;)

[@davidkulhan1908]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames yeahh man playing as a roach is sick :o) when anyone say obscure game i always image this one :) and as a bonus the screens u play in are mostly disgusting that´s coool

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@davidkulhan1908 I totally forgot about it and it was such an imaginative and different than anything else title. I remember seeing few screens from it on TV and thinking it was stupid. And then I saw the gameplay and suddenly changed my mind. It was something.

[@GameMakerRob]

8:00 well at least now I know where The Toady One got his dwarf sprite from :D

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

:)

[@unacceptablefailurerate6453]

I used to play Traffic Department a lot, beating it at least a couple times. It was really a blast! Heard of Blackthorne quite often, though never had the chance to actually play it myself. Fatman I heard of many years later. But the rest were totally new to me!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Blackthorne is sooooo good. It's like flashback but more action based and with some strategy to that action. I really recommend it, regardless what platform you actually will play it on.

[@johnziggiridis3168]

Thanks for the great video dear friend. 3 games are in my full interest Spycraft, Blackthorne and Charlie the duck. Thanks for the info.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Glad you enjoyed it and found few worth your time!

[@MarquisDeSang]

Corncob 3D was really impressive and it was free (with magazine)

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

It was unusual, there's no doubt about that. And I believe it was later released as a freeware under the name Corncob Deluxe.

[@judgeprime3730]

Outstanding video! I only had The horde and blackthorne.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Good, means that it was a decent choice of titles. :) And thank you!

[@leadbones]

Well, it's never 10 games I've never heard of. Sometimes one or two. Usually none. But, despite the title of the video challenging my knowledge of DOS games, I enjoy your content, man. There are probably still some obscure games for the old Euro micros that I haven't heard of, as there was just no real access to that stuff over here until we could emulate it. But idk, Kim Justice or Ashens might have told me all I need to know about those too. Regardless, I love this kind of stuff.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Well, there's always someone who's knowledge is in a particular subject is so vast, they're rarely surprised. Well, if not with this one, then perhaps with one of the next few videos, I will get you. ;) There will be one game at some point, you've not heard of. It's a personal mission of mine now. ;) And thanks for your kind words!

[@DigitalCircus777]

Blackthorne looks interesting and Charlie the Duck that I've never heard of! 😀

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Charlie the Duck was a discovery for me too. :)

[@nicholsliwilson]

You can do the “zoom & enhance” cliché in Spycraft? Sold! Blackthorn is one I’ve played both on PC & (of all platforms) Game Boy Advance & it deserved to be better known than it was. It released on pretty much every platform at the time, including the SNES. “Tom Jettakeoff”… hang your head in shame sir. 😂 There are several games I’ve never played here, including one where you play as an extremely violent traffic cop? I hope you can keep this series going as your other obscure games series have found me some gems I’ve never played, thank you.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yeah, that's why I picked this part of the footage for Spycraft, it seemed so TV-like in its stupidity, it had to be included. Although I gotta say that some recent advances in AI upscaling (@LinusTechTips made few videos about it) have been really promising. I mean, you still can't make a whole license plate out of 16 pixels, but out of a good couple dozen you probably can now. ;) Tom Jettakeoff, I know, cringe, but it was just something the game was asking for. And it was stronger than my will to resist. ;) Most Blackthorne's are very similar, just in different resolutions and using different colour palletes but CD32 is entirely different. If you never saw it, hunt it down, it's pre-rendered. It aged much worse cause of that but it was something to behold back then. I'm taking today, tomorrow and half of Sunday off, but after that I'm back to work and gonna try to prepare some more games for the next episode among what I've already planned to do already.

[@TeaAndFloppyDisks]

I saw a slightly more in-depth video of ZZT last year or so and I was amazed at what that seemingly unassuming program could do in the hands of creative people. I'd never heard of it until then. Rightfully so, since it's rather obscure, though with quite the cult following I'd say. :) So many great games, so little time, right? :)

[@martinsvendsen1665]

Damn that front pic is weird.. lol.. Blackthorne

[@nicholsliwilson]

LOL! You’ve probably realised the cover image is the Fat Man from Tongue of the Fatman. If you think that’s something you should see the original box art… it may scar you for life but you should see it anyway.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yeah, I stand by what I said in the video - no profanities here. Even if this may suggest otherwise. ;)

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Which one of us is not scarred somehow already? One more will make no difference. ;)

[@phreeze83]

very nice games, didn't know some of them :)

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Good! That's the idea! :) Second episode is out already too, if you're up for it.

[@greenscreen5994]

Great video as always:)For future episode try "Doofus" (1994) side scrolling action game released by Prestige.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Thank you and noted! The name rings a bell, so I must've at the very least played it once or twice, but couldn't guess what it's all about out of top of my head.

[@gumdeo]

Blackthorne, a great one 👍

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

yep

[@arudegesture]

Me and a friend used to take turns playing The Horde! Such a fantastic game with such cringey humour (not that we noticed back in the day since we were 12 years old)!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

I loved it too, and I actually discovered it few years after it came back, so I instantly felt both like I missed something earlier on and as if I discovered a little gem that noone knew of. :)

[@LuaanTi]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames It also took quite a while for it to be properly supported in DOSBox :D

[@23Scadu]

I wouldn't have thought Blackthorne could be considered obscure, but I guess it might be more known as a SNES game. It's a game by Blizzard after all, released right around the same time as the original Warcraft.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Well, if you look at what games came out the same year, and how popular it was compare to them. It wasn't very popular. And truth be told even though I got my first PC a year or two after it released it tokk me few more to "find" Blackthorne. And sure, I may not be a model gamer, but on the flipside back then I used to get my games from less than legitimate sources most of the time, so I could had many more games than your average gamer. Despite of where they came from. And I still didn't found it for a while. On consoles, it's a different story, experiences and games there were much more catered and known. Kinda like today, where sure, we have same games on PS5/XBox and PC for the most part, with some exclusives on both consoles. But there's also thousands-worth of small/indie games that never leave PC and popup on Steam everyday. Most of them will never leave obscurity on PC. While on consoles they would've been a part of much smaller, much better "controlled" and hence well known library.

[@mkastelovic]

I agree, I played a lot this game ( and I wouldn't be able to find anybody between my friends that time, who didn't played it for hours, if not days ). This was a huge hit when it came out. At least in Europe for sure :) . PC version of course, till now from time to time we are playing with friends this one, just to remeber how good game should look like :) .

[@Meusli]

Lexicross is class.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yep

[@gamingtonight1526]

Spycraft is my favourite spy game!

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

I suppose it and Sid Meier's Covert Ops are mine too.

[@m.d.s]

Oh I created and played so much ZZT :o And holy moly I remember Corncob, what a dumb name 😅

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

ZZT was a special title. It didn't perhaps look like much, but was a really fun game. Corncob is indeed a pretty dumb title.

[@annelienkortleven5790]

ZZT reminds me of Sleuth.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

:)

[@HoopleBogart]

You're a cool dude.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

You're a cool dude too. :P

[@nameless5413]

Offcourse viewers of this channel would go for DOS, it is default operating system afterall. but carries now nostalgia comparable to what console gamers feel towards their famicons or master systems or what have you. ZZt legacy must include "baba is you" the similar concept as per showcased complexity and thinking required i would not be surprised if the devs knew and loved it and wanted more people to enjoy such wildness. tho i've not played ZZt i did struggle against baba is you. Lexi-cross sounds like something i'd loved in 90s, i did thorrowly enjoy few puzzle games so it'd slot right in. i must see if GoG carries it. and if not ask them to .) This series (starting with dos portion of it because to me there is good chance i'll see something i vaguely remember like Ivanhoe or something) for i have both nostalgia and way too many games i can not think of by name (yes i had to look up Ivanoe AGAIN, every single time i want to reference it i forget its name). Intent being i will rewatch console portions later when my archeologic cravings are satisfied .)

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Oh, I've no consoles covered on the channel yet. I am thinking about it though. That said Nintendo is tricky, as they are very aggressive towards content creators they don't deem worthy, and I don't really need that headache. So maybe something Sega. We'll see, I've not made any decisions yet.

[@nameless5413]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames oups i did not mean to suggest that lol. Especially given how nintenDONT approve of people having heir own thoughts... in general it seems. If you are looking for questionable ideas than you could look into the very first game on anything digital, which i do believe was on radar systems? some form of proto-sweeper type deal maybe? Or maybe that TeeVee game (yep thats what its called James Channel had that possibly pong console clone) type thing, an obscure hardware. Alas thats stryign from software to HW which gets expenssive so maybe just crazy odd games, is good enough .) i certainly love it.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@nameless5413 I think if I was to do that, which actually is not a bad idea, I would modify it a little. And I would focus on covering first game for each and every platform, rather than first few games overall, as (let's not kid ourselves) they're not great. ;) I do think the general idea is good, and I may use it in this modified form. Pick like 10-ish platforms of yesterdecades, and cover first ever game for each. This could be fun. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@nameless5413]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames If ANY nonsense that drops from my brain is of any use to you than please by all mean use it. It makes me feel little less useless. Hope it is a fun thing fr you to think over, i am quite into the archeology as mentioned, in sense of looking into older games.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@nameless5413 Yep, it may be fun to look at the "first" games for a few systems, and then have a follow-up looking at the "last" ones.

[@curtisnewton895]

"blackthorne" ??? obscure ??? dude that game is in so many reviews out there

[@kyleolson8977]

Fatman gets a bad rapl all fight games before Street Fighter 2 looked much worse in retrospect. The Genesis port was released late enough to seem contemporary with SF2. I think it's fair to judge a game on not just how it is now, but how it was then. Fatman is and always was a clunky game, but clunky was the normal state of action games for the PC in the 1980's. It also had a control scheme more in line with the "simulation" controls of Karate Champ than practical fighting controls. For those reasons, the play the game now requires more patience than most gamers would tolerate. But this was also game that could be played one on one with 10 unique fighters (Eventually) combined with the item system and the betting system there was an amount of progression that gave you something to come back to and play for. The fighters were intentionally unbalanced and getting to the end was frustrating, but not unreasonable for the time. My brother and I had this game on the PC. Despite having many other options on the PC or especially on the NES, we consumed a decent amount of time with this game in 1989. I don't think there's nearly so much to come back to now except the novelty.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Fatman is an odd one. But it also came out in 1989 and since it was few years before the SF2/MKI, comparing it to them is unfair. And yeah, I agree, it's one of those games that most would not look at today for one reason or another. But it's also a game that should not be forgotten as it was important in gaming history overall. The balancing... I'm on the fence, I understand it may have been by design, but I prefer my games with a steady increase in difficulty.

[@kyleolson8977]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames The balance was bad then and now. I suppose "unreasonable" is less accurate than "unexpected" or "unusual".

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames The choppiness of it turns me off. And this is coming from someone who doesn't think SF2 for the Amiga was as horrible as everyone claims.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@lurkerrekrul I get you. I mean in that that I played SF2 on Amiga a lot even though it was half-arsed port at best. But then Super Street Fighter 2 The New Challengers came out, and while the sprites were tiny, it played like a charm...

[@lorigulfnoldor2162]

Tongue of the Fatman is far from "best" though - it was hellishly unresponsive and borderline unplayable as I remember it. Budokan was a much better game of the genre IMHO. The Horde, though, is pure sex, it's soooo good and unique. The only thing akin to The Horde I ever saw was Beasts and Bumpkins many years later, but it did not have the action part of running around thwacking some monsters.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

In Fatman's defense, however it may sound, it released in 1989. So it was a very early title. We didn't have a benchmark of likes of Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat yet. The Horde is great, I agree. :)

[@lorigulfnoldor2162]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames Was Fatman not much, MUUCH smoother on Sega Genesis, though? The idea and visuals of Fatman were, of course, shocking, edgy, punk-like-unsexy-sexy kind of thing, and by aesthethics alone it had little of competition back then and still has little of it, of course. But the gameplay itself... ugh. It was horribly unintuitive, "how to I attack?", "how do I throw those items I spent so much money on?"

[@federicocatelli8785]

Not so obscure to me 😏 still have Spycraft cds somewhere ...too bad I dumped the big box years ago.

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

Yeah, those old boxes look so good now, compared to today's "DVD" cases. ;)

[@federicocatelli8785]

@@OldAndNewVideoGames They look less good when you're moving to a smaller house😥

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

@@federicocatelli8785 I thought that in the age of political correctness we should call them "cozy houses", LOL ;)

[@atomicspark7747]

What a jewel The horde! ❤

[@OldAndNewVideoGames]

The Horde was great, and to this day there aren't many games like that. I mean in theory you could consider all those Dungeon Keeper and modern Dungeons series similar but Horde had something special that these don't I feel. At least not in the same capacity.