I actually got to play copies of the first “Adventure” and “Star Wars” at UCBerkeley in the 1970’s, and spent a fair amount of time in arcades and got pretty good at “Space Invaders” & not quite as good at “Asteroids”.
But my experience with games after that is kind of spotty. Am wondering what folks recommend to try out, for the sake of “literacy” (and fun). Especially useful are games I can play on my PC as I do not have any console systems.
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Dune II, the first RTS game (which I enjoy to this day).
X-Com: Terror from the Deep is a great strategy game. It is one of those games I wish I haven’t played, just so I can feel all the thrill again!
It is already abandonware, so here’s the link for download if you want to try it out:
You can buy the entire X-Com series on Steam for 15 bucks.
Still have my original Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Cartridge in the shelf.
You cannot even select more than one unit at once, AND scroll with the dpad.
Still my favorite RTS of all time… but nostalgia might be involved =D
Great music too.
@Philfrei
Well over the time I downloaded all the ATARI2600-32bit console emulators and played all the major games.
For old Arcade games there is MAME of course - playing a round of Frogger every day is good for you ! =D
Also collections are great, like Capcom classics and Taito legends
There is also a lot to discover; like for example the popular mobile game “Flight Control” which is actually a copy of the game Final Approach for the ATARI 2600.
Are you aiming for any particular genre or just games literacy in general? Because you’re going to have to be a bit more specific if you don’t want loads of recommendations. 
‘literacy’ is an odd criteria to recommend games for. Something like Battlezone 98 is fantastic game, both for the concept and execution of a FPS/RTS hybrid, and being a genuinely great game. But in terms of ‘literacy’ is almost irrelevant since it’s a complete dead end - no one has really tried to do the same concept and even most of it’s really great UI ideas have gone ignored.
In terms of influence, you’d probably have to go for the high profile, landmark games. Monster Maze 3d, Wolfenstine 3d, Doom, Quake, Half-Life, Deux Ex, Halo, Bioshock, for your FPS lineage.
I guess RTS would be something like Carrier Command, Dune, Command And Conquer, Age Of Empires, Total Annihilation, Homeworld, Starcraft, Supreme Commander, Company Of Heros.
I’d do the other major genres but my brain is tired. Hat tip to anyone who manages to get a succinct list of RPG lineage games.
RPGs well… Diablo 1, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Phantasy Star, Ultima
If you go back far enough the line with early adventure games gets blurry…
RPGs evolved from different genres and have many subgenres now - not the easiest genre
Racing Games ?
Need For Speed, Test Drive, Gran Turismo
Fighting Games
Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat…
But if you just want favorites that were good and influential in general:
My personal tip: Play Metal Gear Solid 1 ! - There is also a PC Version.
So, your recommended emulator is? ;D
Dungeon Master
Nice one. For a more up to date Dungeon Master experience you might try Legend of Grimrock which is quite awesome. And when you recommend Dungeon Master then Captive must also be named
Must play games for the PC from very old to old:
Playstation (emulated if necessary):
I could go on forever though, I’d better stop while I’m not warmed up yet.
I’ve heard of Grimrock, but never checked it out…never even heard of Captive. Thanks for the pointers. For me, four games have really “wowed” me when I first saw/played them: tempest, zelda, dungeon master & doom I.
A couple of others worth checking out: star control II & populous.
Grimrock started out as a free Dungeon Master fan remake, but then grew into a true indie title. And a very impressive one at that. Old school Dungeon Master gameplay (including the spell system, which people either love or loathe), very modern style.
Captive is a quaint science fiction RPG from the 90’s that has one very impressive gimmick even today: its so huge that nobody will ever complete it. This is because the game has an incredible seeded random generator; the game is the same each time you play it, but each base beyond the first is generated nonetheless. Its a bit of a cross-over between Dungeon Master and Elite really. This page tries to explain in detail how the generation works which is a great read for tech geeks:
http://captive.atari.org/Technical/MapGen/Introduction.php
And all that worked amazingly fast on an unexpanded Amiga 500 (0.5mb of memory) or an Atari ST.
Xcom is terrifying, can’t wait to be dissapointed by the new release
XCom was brutally difficult. After building up a decent set of marines or what ever they are called. In one mission you could lose the lot. One would go insane killing a bunch of your own men/woman and then some stumpy alien would take out the rest in like 5 moves. Even a rocket up his arse wasn’t always enough.
Its was a great game. There is a fan version of the game somewhere with a different name. But i can’t find right now.
It was a difficultly level that was unique to a small group of games, yes. Even back then gamers could be put off by it, its not something you can expose to the gamers of today who basically play to win, not play to be challenged. I never really found that kind of punishment fun, so I’ll be happy if the new game is simplified a bit - as long as it still poses a decent challenge. From what I’ve seen so far at least the last incarnation of the game is quite true to the original, in gameplay at least.
If you’re getting tired with FF, there’re Grandia or Xenogear.
Yeah, all excellent choices. Grandia 2 also has a kinda unique fighting system which is fun.
Star Ocean games aswell. 3 and 4 have very nice fast dynamic combat.
But still I wasted my young hours in PS with RE series lol.
Acronyms !
You mean Resident Evil ?
Then I would say: Yeah, back when it was good and scary. Resident Evil 1 was and is one of the most scary games, and look at RE 5 and upcoming 6…
Resident Evil, meh. Let me dive further into history then: Alone in the Dark 1, 2 and 3. Or the 7th guest. Spooky games indeed! Or the horrific Dark Seed which was designed by H.R. Giger.