Places to download shareware games and demo releases

[MrFlibble]

Thanks! I wasn't sure if the IA had a tar contents viewer.

BTW, do you know if there is an archive/mirror of this FTP:
ftp://ftp.padua.org/pub/msdos/dos/games/local/
ftp://ftp.pgp.net/pub/msdos/dos/games/local/

They had some rare stuff.

[Cire]

Yeah sure, IA has that one backed up too here: https://archive.org/details/2015.03.ftp.padua.org
Not sure If it's complete but considering it's overaller 400gb I would presume it is.
And the good thing is that every tar and zip file at IA can have it's contents viewed in the same way. You just add a trailing slash (/) to the filename to get to it

[MrFlibble]

Thanks!

And the good thing is that every tar and zip file at IA can have it's contents viewed in the same way. You just add a trailing slash (/) to the filename to get to it

I "kinda" knew this but have so far only used that with CD ISOs (I guess I tried to view pretty huge archives the same way and didn't have the patience to wait for them to load in the viewer).

[Cire]

I was thinking about id Software's former FTP server. I've no experience of it from the past, but I suspect that there was files that was released on it and then later removed. So e.g. the last snapshots of it backed up on Internet Archive is only complete in that moment of time, but files are missing which used to be there Before, if you know what I mean. But it's kind of hard to know which files where actually part of the FTP orignally and the directory structure etc. having no memory of it myself. Maybe someone could help me out here? I'm trying to recreate an as complete as possible version of the FTP. Gameaholic's FTP was helpful here. I've also found some other FTP's with old id related files which I suspect may (or may not) have been originally present there:
ftp.fu-berlin.de/pc/games/idgames/historic
ftp.pl.vim.org/vol/rzm4/coast/games/idsoftware/quake
ftp.scma.org/pub/quake/
vert.synchro.net/main/GAMES/wolf1v.zip
ftp.luth.se/pub/misc/swertcw/et

[MrFlibble]

I think that the historic folder was not part of the official id Software FTP. It might have been introduced by gamers.org/3D Action Gamers' Archive/idgames archive and spread to other mirrors from there.

As for the old patch files etc. that might have been removed from the FTP, I guess something might be reconstructed by using the Wayback Machine to check out older snapshots of idsoftware.com, as well as probing newsgroup archives via Google Groups.

[MrFlibble]

At the suggestion of 486 player, here are two websites with freeware (mostly) DOS games:
WIP Games by Georg Rottensteiner
The Hamster Republic Download Museum

[MrFlibble]

I was just browsing some old topics and found a link to a shareware RPG called Enchantasy:
http://freelicensegames.com/Enchantasy.htm

The site is only accessible via the Wayback Machine now but it looks like there could be some other interesting titles as well.

UPD: I found the home page of the project:
http://members.aol.com:80/enchantasy/

The download works too (link at the bottom of the page):
http://members.aol.com:80/egaftp/index.htm

There's also a mirror page (sort of) that has a list of shareware RPGs from the era.

[MrFlibble]

The Bard's Lore freeware (2002-03-15): bardfree.zip

[MrFlibble]

Here's a snapshot of the game download pages of the French shareware publisher TLK Games:
http://www.tlk.fr/jeux.php

Many downloads seem intact, but most use a Win16 installer so you might need to use otvdm to run them.

[MrFlibble]

Adventure

• Twinland

Arcade

• Biprolex+
• Cosmic Ambush
• Greedy
• Pebbles
• Tecnoball Z

Fighting

• Fostiator

First-Person Shooter

• Absence
• Freaks
• Lord of Lightning [download]
• The Orb of Dilaaria
• Resistance

Platform

• Akiko and Minami
• Bert the Barbarian
• Indian Commander in Robot Confrontation

Puzzle

• Blupimania
• Bref 2.0
• Bubble Puzzle
• The Continued Adventures of Cyberbox
• Flynn Sprint

Racing

• Maximum Overdrive
• Overheat
• Topspeed 300

Real-Time Strategy

• Future Conflict [download]

Role-Playing

• Aleshar: The World of Ice
• Gene Splicing
• Gladius

Shooter

• Alien Assault II
• Baller! And Forget
• Frenetic Plus

Simulation

• Combat Flight Simulator [v0.2]
• Eagles
• FGFly [v.01c]
• Space Glider
• Vertigo

Turn-Based Strategy

• Ata - Extracts from the American Civil War [v1.00] [patch to v.15]

Prototype / incomplete

• Acrophy [RTS]
• Valkin II [RPG]
• Fenix Blade [RPG]

[MrFlibble]

Page with links to free or shareware DOS chess games:
http://webhome.globalserve.net/chess/chesprgs.htm

[MrFlibble]

Nice collection of QBasic games:
http://games.qbasic.com/

[MrFlibble]

Here's a nice listing of downloadable games from the 90s:
http://www.pcgame.com/demoland/dla.htm

[MrFlibble]

Haven't updated this in a while, here's a few more pages with free games (in no particular order):

A selection of modern DOS games made for a competition
Several modern DOS titles at itch.io (part of DOS Game Jam)
A couple more small DOS games
.HHC. ~Software~/Random '64 downloads
Carl Erikson's games
InterAction Studios
Nephewsoft
Fractile Games
New Games for DOS
Radian Entertainment
Binary Spells

No Future? -- German environmentalist edutainment/awareness campaign game (MobyGames page)
Manick Manschion -- a German "parody" of the LucasArts classic adventure
Hero -- adventure game
BRICKS -- puzzle game(s)
Laser Tank -- another puzzle game
Mister Kid -- a Super Mario Bros.-esque arcade platformer written in QBasic.
Invader Alien -- a nice faux 3D perspective shoot 'em up created with DIV Games Studio.

[MrFlibble]

Haven't checked them out yet but these racing games seem nice (found at Reloaded.org):
Victory Road
Road Fighter Remake

A few more findings, these are for DOS:
Jumpball
Final Soccer Challenge
WackyBrit Pong
Top Hat Willy
Raymond Fait Du Kart