Tim Sweeney's famous first game, published by Potomac Computer Systems until v3.2, when it was renamed Epic MegaGames. ZZT is an ASCII adventure along the lines of the famous Kroz series. The hero can move from screen to screen, fighting monsters and collecting treasures as he goes. Torches are necessary to see in dark rooms such as caves, and keys are needed to open passages to some areas. ZZT is known for clever level design and use of the 16 color palette, and also uses the PC speaker to create music more effectively than most games of this era. The game also came with a level editor, inspiring thousands of user-created levels. There is still a fan following for this game even today. Epic released the full version of this game as freeware on their website in 1997, but Epic Classics is still selling it on their website. I am asking the author whether or not it is still legal to distribute the full version. There are 4 volumes in this game, with only the first volume playable in the shareware version.

Volume 1: Town of ZZT
Volume 2: Caves of ZZT
Volume 3: Dungeons of ZZT
Volume 4: City of ZZT

Added by DOSGuy

Downloads

ZZT v3.2 Shareware Episode (130,219 bytes)	xxxx	DOS
ZZT v3.2 Registered Version (180,073 bytes)	xxxx	DOS	Play online
ZZT v3.1 Shareware Episode (118,539 bytes)	xxxx	DOS
ZZT v3.0 Shareware Episode (106,156 bytes)	xxxx	DOS
ZZT v2.0 Shareware Episode (110,276 bytes)	xxxx	DOS

Availability

Epic MegaGames generously released this game as freeware under the ZZT Freeware License.