Not BEFORE 1990, but not after either: Stunt Island
Ultima V
E:
Bomb Jack
Klax
Lode Runner
Dungeon keeper, emperor: rise of the middle kingdom, Rome, theme hospital, zeus/atlantis, pharaoh/cleopatra why yes, i am big on world builders.
I think all of them are in the 90s, great games though.
Ack, misread.
Well earlier i'm mostly in Atari 2600 territory. But dmg you have dadalean opus, you have the assorted marios and donkey kongs, MK,, castlevania etc etc
Hubs recommends wonderboy in monster land and wonderboy 3: the dragon's trap.
nethack, super startrek (basic), space quest, infocom games, ultima,
one of my favorite games of all time is called Rags To Riches on commodore64. you play a homeless guy getting your life together getting a job and education with very addictive gameplay in my opinion.
there is a pico8 remake you can play oline but the og is better. https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=29519
For games that "hold up" look at arcade games. So install mame and go nuts. Or buy one of those cheap "3000in1" arcade joystick systems which plug into your tv. Arcade games really are better played with the arcade "ball stick" and buttons.
Then if you insist on PC, anything by Sid Meier, and then all the quest games by Sierra.
Xexyz, on the NES, is an underrated gem. It's a mix of platformer and shoot-em-up, and honestly seemed a bit ahead of its time.
Pre-1990, you're mostly looking at the NES library as the go to. The older Atari games I don't think are worth it, outside of the historical context angle.
I'd say give Zelda I and II another shot. They are clunky, as most things from the era will be. But when you engage with them on their own terms, I think they're both really rewarding experiences.Don't be afraid to look for hints, some things can be obtuse - you can probably find old magazines in the Internet archives to reference.
If 1990 exactly counts, Crystalis is a Zelda-like with RPG elements that outdoes Zelda is many ways.
Castlevania is another one that's really great, but very clunky. There's no air control, so once you jump that's your arc. The game challenges are built around that in a satisfying way though.
SMB 1-3 you probably have played before, but if not those hold up.
Even more frictionless, the first 2 or 3 Mega Man games feel just as refined as if they were made today.
Ninja Gaiden is known for challnge, but it also controls super smoothly and feels good to play.
Basically I guess my recs are mostly just explore the NES library. There's some Sega worth checking out and probably TurboGrafx too, but NES had most of the classics.
What kinds of newer games do you generally like?
Hard to say which genres I like most, but I like games which present a good story & atmosphere or do interesting things mechanically. Besides sport games I play nearly everything.
Games which I really enjoyed: Disco Elysium, Outer Wilds, Hollow Knight, Planescape: Torment, Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, Return of the Obra Dinn, Zelda: Twilight Princess, What Remains of Edith Finch, Pyre, HalfLife & Portal series
Sounds like point and click adventures might be your jam? Check out the Macventures (which had NES ports, although some of the ports go past your cutoff date): Deja Vu, Shadowgate, Uninvited.
Point and click adventures were a very popular genre at the time, although they had a well-earned reputation for difficulty and illogic. Someone who knows more about them could give you more specific advice.
I played a lot of JRPGs, and it's hard to recommend JRPGs of the period. They're rather different from both their 90s descendants and their late 80s WRPG contemporaries, and you look like you would much prefer 90s JRPGs. The 80s have two phases: the antique JRPGs focused on exploring the world with a simple plot, and the pre-classic JRPGs with a much heavier focus on plot not yet accompanied by much skill at storytelling or pacing. The best of the antique JRPGs is Dragon Quest 3/Dragon Warrior 3 (1988). It's a little complex to just jump into, so if you bounce off the complexity I would retreat to Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior (1986). If Dragon Warrior's grinding weren't so slow, it would be easy to recommend as a tutorial game to anyone trying to get into JRPGs.
If you'll take a game from 1990 on the nose, Dragon Quest 4/Dragon Warrior 4 is the most polished pre-classic JRPG in your time range. If not, Phantasy Star 2 (1989). But these games are hard to recommend nowadays to someone with modern tastes because they're not as polished as Dragon Quest 3 and don't have a 1990s-sized storage device for better storytelling and writing. The one thing I'll say for Phantasy Star 2's writing is that it has the guts to go places that games even now rarely go.
Star Flight. Really a must-play, and get the run speed down low so you have some suffering on the long trips. Then you get really excited to find a wormhole.
Qbert, Space Fury, Looping
Atari Real Sports Tennis, no lie it’s great
Metal Gear (1987)
Metal Gear?!
The first two Metal Gear were 8-bit games released for MSX computers (and the NES/FC, I think) in the '80s. The one most people think as the first in the series is actually the third mainline title (Metal Gear Solid for the PSX).
A gaming community free from the hype and oversaturation of current releases, catering to gamers who wait at least 12 months after release to play a game. Whether it's price, waiting for bugs/issues to be patched, DLC to be released, don't meet the system requirements, or just haven't had the time to keep up with the latest releases.
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