DOS Games Archive Site Update July 12 2014

Post by **Jorrit** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 11:13 am

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:11 pm

Z isn't shareware, it's a playable one-level demo.

Same goes for Zorro and NASCAR Racing, which are also playable demo versions of commercial games (not shareware).

Post by **Jorrit** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:15 pm

MrFlibble, thank you for your reply! I have changed the version information on the website.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 1:59 pm

Thanks!

Actually, I've noticed a few more games that should be in the Playable demo section:

Alien Breed: Tower Assault
Alone in the Dark 2
Blackthorne
Corridor 7
Descent 2
Earthworm Jim
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Lion King
Out of this World
Soldiers of Fortune (a.k.a. The Chaos Engine)
Spear of Destiny

The easiest way to determine if a game is shareware or playable demo is to check the supplied documentation. It's very rare that the same game will be designated both as "shareware" and "demo" in the official sources (e.g. Warcraft II).

Also Mario Brothers VGA is an illegal clone, I'd suggest to remove it.

Post by **Jorrit** » Sat Jul 12, 2014 2:40 pm

Thanks again, MrFlibble. I have changed the version information of the games that you mentioned.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 6:58 am

On a somewhat related note, perhaps you would consider removing another Mario clone too? You can replace it with another game by the same developer, Super Angelo, which at least does not use Nintendo's copyrighted assets.

Also what would you say about updating certain games on the site to newer versions? For example, you have Tyrian shareware v2.0, but there's also the v2.1 patch. Apparently Epic MegaGames never bothered to update the shareware distributive to v2.1, so it's up to you to decide whether you'd like to keep the files original (and add the patch as a separate download) or update the archive on your own.

BTW, have you considered bundling the games - at least, for Windows users - with pre-configured DOSBox, as GOG.com does? While I'm not exactly a fan of this practice it surely would help make the games more accessible to the users.

Another thing I've noticed: because most of the shmups on the site take place in space they are in the Space shooting category. However, games of the very same genre that are not set in space (Raptor, Flying Tigers) ended up in completely different categories because of this. They should be in the same category as Tyrian, whereas Star Crusader is a simulation game and has nothing to do with shmups. Similarly, STELCON 2469 is a strategy game, unrelated to shmups.

I suggest that you rename the "Space shooting" category into "Shooter" or "Shoot 'em up", include Flying Tigers, Raptor, Highway Hunter, Rocketz, Seek & Destroy, Stargunner, Traffic Department 2192 and Zone 66 into it, and move unrelated games like Star Crusader into other categories.

There seem to be enough fighting games on the site to warrant a separate category too.

Post by **Jorrit** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 9:36 am

Thank you for the great suggestions! Here are the 2 new categories:
- Shoot 'em up: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/category/shoot-em-up/
- Fighting: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/category/fighting/

Perhaps you already noticed that I added a Racing category yesterday (actually my favorite gaming genre). Before these games were listed in the Simulation/sport category, but the new Racing category fits these games much better: http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/category/racing/

I have checked the games and I think they are all in the right categories now. Please let me know if you think a game suits a different category better.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Sun Jul 13, 2014 10:30 am

Cool!

On another note, Donald Duck's Playground doesn't seem to have an official DOS release, according to MobyGames and Wikipedia at least. Al Lowe's page that the site links to also mentions running those games via Apple computer emulators.

[Edit]

MrFlibble wrote:Also what would you say about updating certain games on the site to newer versions? For example, you have Tyrian shareware v2.0, but there's also the v2.1 patch. Apparently Epic MegaGames never bothered to update the shareware distributive to v2.1, so it's up to you to decide whether you'd like to keep the files original (and add the patch as a separate download) or update the archive on your own.

The DEMU collection at archive.org has a v2.1 shareware zip here:
https://archive.org/details/TyrianV2.1S ... Inc.Action

No idea what the original zip filename was, perhaps tyrsw21.zip.

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DOS Games Archive Site Update July 12 2014

DOS Games Archive Site Update July 12 2014

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