Besides, there are several inherent limitations to DOS as a platform, including typically low screen resolution and often limited sound options.
Luckily, there are DOS games that just don't need DOSBox to run in any version of Windows, which is accomplished by a number of means:
1. Official Windows versions
These are games that have both DOS and Windows versions available, either bundled together or released within a short time span. If the game is a Windows re-release, the year of its publication is noted in brackets.
NOTE: For certain old Windows games, you might need additional utilities like DxWnd or winevdm to successfully run them on modern Windows systems.
Commercial titles
- Birthright: The Gorgon's Alliance
- Caesar II
- Carmageddon
- Command & Conquer Gold (1997)
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- Cricket 97
- Dungeon Keeper
- Earthworm Jim
- Fallout
- Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars
- HIND: The Russian Combat Helicopter Simulation
- Ignition
- KKnD Xtreme (1997)
- MechWarrior 2: Mercenaries
- Rally Challenge
- SWIV 3D
- Triple Play 97
- Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition (1999)
- Zyclunt/Blade Warrior
- Advanced Strategic Command
- Alex the Allegator 2
- Alien Cabal (version 2.0 patch)
- Amulets & Armor (2013 port by authors)
- ASCII Sector
- Bolitaire
- Bombs and Bugs
- Boppin
- Bubble Puzzle '97
- Charlie II
- Conquest of Elysium II
- Cylindrix (LGPL port by author)
- Dark Ages I: The Continents
- Death Rally [download]
- Digger Remastered
- DIMONO - browser version
- Dungenon Crawl Stone Soup (DOS version discontinued)
- Dust Fury
- Dzzee
- Emeritus Pong
- Excelsior Phase One: Lysandia
- FaroCar (use winevdm)
- Galactix (2000)
- Gates of Integrity
- Greedy
- Gunmetal
- Happyland Adventures
- Heroes
- Iter Vehemens ad Necem (IVAN)
- Jet Set Willy PC
- KBall
- Kraptor
- Manic Miner PC
- Marbleicious
- Mirror Magic
- Mistral Report, The: Invisible Affairs
- Moraff's Escapade
- Mr.Boom
- Nebula Fighter
- NetHack
- NetHack: Falcon's Eye (DOS builds)
- O.H.R.RPG.C.E.
- Operation Spacehog
- PowBall DeluXe (2006)
- Ptakovina
- Raptor: Call of the Shadows (1999)
- Rob Blanc I: Better Days of the Defender of the Universe
- Rob Blanc II: Planet of the Pasteurised Pestilence
- Rob Blanc III: The Temporal Terrorists
- Robot Redemption
- Rock 'n' Spin
- Rocks 'N' Diamonds
- Rogue Clone IV
- Shaw's Nightmare
- Sherlock
- Silmar
- Sint Nicolaas
- SLASH'EM
- SlipSpeed
- Space Plumber
- Terroid
- Tetris Queen
- VGA Civil War/Civil War Strategy Game
- winSPMBT
- winSPWW2
- Titans of Steel
- UnReal World
- Vitetris
- Winged Warrior
- XOP Black Ultra
- Zelda Classic
- XInvaders 3D
These are enhanced re-releases of DOS games for Windows and other modern platforms, usually appearing a considerable amount of time after the original DOS release. Enhancements include higher screen resolution, improved graphics (higher definition sprites and art, better 3D models, etc.), audio enhancements and various engine improvements (up to a complete engine replacement). Sometimes, other extra content is possible, including development materials, outtakes or even entirely new levels/scenarios.
- Anacreon: Imperial Conquest in the Far Future (2004)
- Another World: 20th Anniversary Edition (2011)
- Blood: Fresh Supply (2019)
- Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (2020)
- Doom Classic Unity port (2019)
- Doomdark's Revenge [GOG]
- Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (2016)
- Full Throttle Remastered (2017)
- Ironseed
- Jasper's Journeys (2008)
- Lords of Midnight, The [GOG]
- Pop Corn 1988 (browser)
- PowBall Renaissance (2015)
- Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition (2023)
- Sango Fighter Special Edition (2021, M.U.G.E.N)
- Secret of Monkey Island, The: Special Edition (2009)
- Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster (2023)
- Star Wars: TIE Fighter - Collector's CD-ROM (1998)
- Star Wars: X-Wing - Collector's CD-ROM (1998)
- Super Fighter: Special Edition (2013, M.U.G.E.N)
If the source code of a game is available, it may be ported to Windows and/or other systems to run natively on these platforms. Source ports are often created by enthusiasts after the original source code is released by the developer and may feature enhancements such as higher resolution modes, improved sound/music and bug fixes.
- Abuse - Abuse for Windows, Abuse SDL [latest version], Abuse 1996, Xenoveritas SDL2 port
- Beats of Rage - OpenBOR
- Beneath a Steel Sky - ScummVM
- Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold & Blake Stone: Planet Strike - BStone
- Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space - Race Into Space
- C-Dogs - C-Dogs SDL
- Catacomb II - CatacombSDL
- Catacomb Abyss, The - ReflectionHLE
- Command & Conquer & Red Alert - Vanilla Conquer
- Der Clou!/The Clue - Clou! Open Source Project
- Descent & Descent II - DXX-Rebirth
- Doom & Doom II - Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom, PrBoom-plus
- Duke Nukem 3D - EDuke32, Rednukem, JFDuke3D, xDuke
- Flight Sim Toolkit - FST Data Port
- fRaBs - fRaBs - Free Abuse SDL (2.1)
- Gates of Skeldal/Brany Skeldalu - Gates of Skeldal
- Giddy 3: The Retro Eggsperience - cross-platform source ports
- Gladiator - Openglad
- HACX: Twitch 'n Kill - ZDoom, Chocolate Doom
- Heretic - Chocolate Heretic, Crispy Heretic
- Hexen: Beyond Heretic - Chocolate Hexen
- In Pursuit of Greed - xGreed
- Jump 'n Bump - Jump 'n Bump Windows port
- Keen Dreams - ReflectionHLE
- Ken's Labyrinth - LAB3D/SDL, LAB3D/SDL (w/ hi-res texture support)
- Klass of 99 - Windows version
- KOPS - Suomipelit port
- Lacewing - Lacewing 1.2
- MAG - Mike's Adventure Game (aka MAG), Mikes Adventure Game - Roguelike
- Polanie - polanie-game
- Quake - Quakespasm, WinQuake
- Rise of the Triad: The HUNT Begins & Rise of the Triad: Dark War - WinRottGL, SDLROTT, rottexpr
- Shadow Warrior - JFShadowWarrior, ProAsms SWP [latest version], VoidSW
- SimCity - Micropolis for Windows, RetroCity
- Ski Jump International v3 - skijump3-sdl
- SkyRoads - OpenRoads (browser)
- Star Control II - The Ur-Quan masters
- Triplane Turmoil - Triplane Classic, Suomipelit port
- Tyrian - OpenTyrian
- Tyrian 2000 - opentyrian2000
- Ultimate Tapan Kaikki - Suomipelit port
- Vlak - Vlak (browser)
- Wolfenstein 3-D & Spear of Destiny - ECWolf, ReflectionHLE, Wolf4SDL
DOS games ported/converted to Windows (and other platforms) and enhanced, by fans. Sometimes these projects receive licensing or at least blessing from the original creators and/or copyright holders. Others are libre remakes without any copyright content.
- Bard's Tale Construction Set, The - BtBuilder
- BlockOut - BlockOut 2
- Blood - Transfusion
- Brix - Wizznic!
- Chex Quest - Chex Quest 3
- Clonk - OpenClonk
- Dune II: The Building of A Dynasty - Dune II - The Maker
- Elite - Elite: The New Kind
- Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures - Dungeon Craft
- Joe Snow - Joe Snow
- King's Quest - King's Quest 1 VGA
- King's Quest II - King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones
- King's Quest III - King's Quest III Redux: To Heir is Human
- King's Quest III - King's Quest III VGA Remake
- Linley's Dungeon Crawl - Dungeon Crawl for Windows with tiles
- Mad TV - TVTower
- Maniac Mansion - Maniac Mansion Deluxe
- Master of Orion - Remnants of the Precursors
- Panzer General II - Panzer Marshal
- Prince of Persia - Prince of Persia Unity
- Quest for Glory II - Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
- Sid Meier's Civilization 1 & 2 - Freeciv
- Space Quest II - Space Quest II VGA Remake
- Star Control II - Ur-Quan masters HD
- Rogue Clone 3 - TileRogue
- Turrican II - Hurrican
- Wing Commander: Privateer - Wing Commander: Privateer - Gemini Gold
- Wolfenstein 3D - Wolfram
- X-COM: UFO Defense/UFO: Enemy Unknown - UFO: Alien Invasion
If a source port is not available for whatever reason, enthusiasts often attempt to recreate a native Windows (or cross-platform) version of a game on their own, using observation and/or reverse engineering to achieve a result that would play similarly to the original game. These projects tend to be somewhat less accurate than source ports, but nevertheless quite often are very close to the original game to be deemed a proper replacement.
NOTE: Games that are supported by ScummVM are not listed individually because there are so many of them!
- Arcade Volleyball - GAV
- Atomix - Atomiks
- Blood - nBlood (based on EDuke32), BloodGDX
- Cannon Fodder - OpenFodder (reverse-engineered)
- Carmageddon - OpenC1, Dethrace
- Chip's Challenge - Tile World, Tile World 2
- Color Lines - Kambi Lines
- Command & Conquer & Red Alert - OpenRA
- Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons - Chocolate Keen, Commander Genius
- Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy! & Aliens Ate My Babysitter! & Keen Dreams - Commander Genius, Omnispeak
- Digger (Alexander Lang, Harald Winkler) - Digger 2, Digger (Lutz Roeder) (browser)
- Duke Nukem - ReDuke
- Duke Nukem II - Rigel Engine
- Dungeon Keeper - KeeperFX
- Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty - Dune Dynasty, OpenDUNE
- Elder Scrolls Chapter II, The - Daggerfall - Daggerfall Unity (DFU)
- Exhumed/Powerslave - PCExhumed (based on EDuke32)
- Fade to Black - f2bgl
- Flashback: The Quest for Identity - REminiscence
- Grand Theft Auto - OpenGTA
- Great Giant Sisters, The - OpenGGS
- Greedy - Open Greedy
- Heroes of Might and Magic II - free heroes 2
- Igor: Objective Uikokahonia - Igor
- Imperium Galactica - Open-IG
- Jazz Jackrabbit - OpenJazz
- J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I - Lord of the Rings game engine
- Liero - lierolibre
- Little Big Adventure/Relentless: Twinsen's Adventure - LbaWin
- M.A.X.: Mechanized Assault and Exploration - Mechanized Assault & eXploration Reloaded
- Need for Speed, The - OpenNFS1
- One Must Fall 2097 - OpenOMF
- Pagan: Ultima VIII - Pentagram
- Panzer General - LGeneral, Panzer General Forever
- Prince of Persia - Mininim, SDLPoP (reverse-engineered)
- Radix: Beyond the Void - RAD
- Ragnarok - NorseWorld: Ragnarok
- Raptor: Call of the Shadows - Raptor (reverse-engineered)
- Redneck Rampage - Rednukem (based on EDuke32), ERampage32 (based on EDuke32)
- Rick Dangerous - RickyD, xrick
- Rick Dangerous II - Windows remake
- Robbo/Adventures of Robbo, The - GNURobbo
- Settlers, The - Freeserf
- Settlers II, The - Return to the Roots
- Sid Meier's Civilization - CivOne
- Sopwith - Sopwith 3
- Speed Haste - GLHaste
- Star Wars: Dark Forces - The Force Engine, DarkXL (discontinued)
- Supaplex - OpenSupaplex, Supaplex Online, Rocks'n'Diamonds
- Syndicate - FreeSynd
- Syndicate Wars - Syndicate Wars Port
- Telengard - Telengard Remake
- Theme Hospital - CorsixTH
- Tomb Raider - OpenTomb
- Transport Tycoon Deluxe - OpenTTD
- Tube - reverse-engineered version
- Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar - xu4
- Ultima VI: The False Prophet & Ultima Worlds of Adventure - Nuvie
- Ultima VII: The Black Gate - Exult
- Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss - Underworld Exporter, Underworld Adventures
- Warcraft: Orcs & Humans - OpenWar, War1gus, WinWar (reverse-engineered)
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness/Battle.net Edition - Wargus
- X-COM: UFO Defense - OpenXcom, UFO2000
- Z - The Zod Engine
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