100. MDK (Shiny Entertainment, 1997)
A downright manic action-shooter-platformer hybrid that could only have come to us from the company that created Earthworm Jim. The Giger-esque visuals and story about enormous alien mobile cities strip-mining the planet make it sound pretty grim and nightmarish on paper, but the quirky humor throughout adds plenty of levity, with shooting galleries of aliens that childishly taunt the player, clever moments like having to disguise yourself as a robot to sneak through a heavily guarded corridor, and hilarious powerups and weapons like "the World's Most Interesting Bomb" and "the Very Large Hamster Hammer".
99. Simcity (Maxis, 1989)
The story of Simcity is a famous one - Will Wright developed the top-down shooter "Raid on Bungeling Bay" for the Commodore 64, but had more fun designing maps and upgrading the editor than playing the game itself. Said maps were surprisingly intricate and realistically designed - there are plane runways and seaports, networks of roads and buildings, rivers and inlets, radar dishes tracking your movement and even boats ferrying supplies between the islands, so it made the game world feel more dynamic and alive than most top-down shooters. Eventually he expanded that idea into a full-fledged city planning and building simulation, and the end result was SimCity. It doesn't sound like a particularly fun game on paper - constructing your metropolis while managing crime, pollution, traffic, sim health, entertainment and land value - but its addictive design and random disastrous events like fires, floods, tornadoes and monster attacks kept it fresh and engaging. It has also since been made open-source (albeit under the name "Micropolis" due to copyright concerns) and ported to just about every platform imaginable, so you have no excuse not to check it out in some form
!
98. MegaRace (Cryo Interactive, 1993)
The FMV game genre had a resurgence in the 90s with the advent of CD technology, allowing developers to record and encode videos (usually in very low quality) and stick some gameplay on top of them to create "interactive movie games" (also generally of very low quality). MegaRace stands out from the pack, though, on the merits of its strong presentation. While the game itself is a fairly standard combat racer, having the player destroy all the other cars on the track before time runs out, it's wrapped in a dystopian space-age game show hosted by sleazy corporate stooge Lance Boyle (played by Christian Erickson). Through that, it paints a picture of a zombie-like populace permanently enamored by trashy TV, though with a sardonic and humorous tone that makes it quite an enthralling one to experience; not completely unlike Robocop. The great soundtrack by Stéphane Picq is certainly worth a listen in its own right too.
97. Diablo (Blizzard Entertainment, 1997)
Warcraft and Lost Vikings were fairly popular games in their time, but Diablo is the game that really put Blizzard on the map. Taking the concept of games like Rogue, adding an action bent and dousing the whole thing in a heavy grim atmosphere, it definitely awed people at a glance. It only became more immersive thanks to its fantastic soundtrack and a surprisingly good story with some high quality voice over, and the fact that you got a random shuffle of quests, items and spells each time you played lent it quite a bit of replay value. It had an official (though non-canon) expansion in Hellfire as well, adding in several new quests and three new playable classes (though you do have to do some file-editing to make them all accessible). While largely overshadowed by its sequel these days, Diablo is a historic game that is not to be missed.
96. Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Tale of Orpheo's Curse (Viacom New Media, 1994)
A tie-in to the Nickelodeon horror anthology show, which plays out much like an episode of it, even featuring the Midnight Society for the framing device around the story (with the player telling the Tale of Orpheo's Curse in hopes of becoming a member). The game itself is also a surprisingly good point-and-click adventure, with environments rendered from still photos and CGI, a lot of bizarre sights to see and some eerie music making for a creepy and tense experience. Even the acting in-game is surprisingly good and the puzzles actually make sense, so it's a good experience despite being a horror themed title for kids. Sadly it hasn't resurfaced on any digital platforms owing to licensing issues, but if you can find a copy it's a pretty fun adventure.
95. Kingsway (Andrew Morrish, 2017)
Roguelikes are definitely a hallmark of PC gaming, bringing a unique brand of challenge and staggering replayability that few other genres can even hope to match. I'm not the biggest fan, that said - they generally have to have a pretty unique hook to hold my attention for very long, otherwise it's just monster bashing with cheap deaths mixed in. Kingsway is one that certainly has a unique presentation, putting you at the helm of a Windows-95-esque operating system to travel about the world, manage your inventory and stats, accept quests (via a messaging app) and even play background music on a Winamp look-alike. Combat similarly has enemies pop up in windows that constantly move about the screen, with you having to hit buttons to attack, defend and use abilities, as well as evade their attacks (in the form of a popup that flies across the screen or arcs, simulating things like firing arrows or thrown bombs). A clever idea that's executed well, and the end result is some good tongue-in-cheek entertainment.
94. Get Medieval (Monolith Productions, 1998)
A top-down action game that takes the arcade classic Gauntlet, combines it with elements of Gauntlet and tops it off with a little bit of Gauntlet for good measure. ...Yeah this one certainly makes no secret of its inspirations, even suspiciously being released only a couple of months before Atari rebooted the series with Gauntlet Legends. But you know what? That's no bad thing in my book. It's just pure hack-and-slash fun, mowing your way through hordes of enemies, finding keys to open doors, and using magic in a pinch to get waves of enemies off your back. It does add a few new elements to the formula though, letting you upgrade your stats with powerups and adding in elements like traps that do things like reverse your controls or thieves that try to steal your powerups and vamoose. It's not the most original game ever, but it's great fun and supports four players both over a network and in local play.
93. Castle of the Winds (Saadasoft, 1993)
Dungeon crawlers have always been a pretty PC-centric genre; various attempts at creating them on consoles have usually been met with relatively lukewarm reception or relegation to cult classic status at best (Atlus's Etrian Odyssey being one of the more well-known examples). Out of all of the games in this vast genre, though, Castle of the Winds has to be one of my favorites, in no small part because it manages to be relatively easy to pick up and play while retaining the challenge the genre is known for. Simplistic yet charming sprites for visuals, a windows-based interface and a relatively bare-bones yet still captivating story also make it an enjoyable experience, and let's be honest, it's always fun carving your way through an entire swath of ogres or giants and emerging victorious with enough loot to buy a luxurious mansion, only to spend it on some better equipment instead.
92. Horizon's Gate (Rad Codex, 2020)
A
game that has been described by many as "Final Fantasy Tactics by way
of Uncharted Waters", and upon playing it, I can confirm that is indeed
the case. You build a character, take part in turn-based battles both
on foot and by sea, unlock new classes as the game progresses, and can
basically explore, trade or become a privateer at your leisure, taking
part in ship battles or legitimate business to earn loot for later
upgrades. Inventory management and item manipulation is simple as can
be too, using a keyboard-and-mouse interface that reminds me a bit of
the classic Ultimas. It's certainly not the deepest example of anything
it attempts to be, but it is a lot of fun, and really, that's what I
come to a game for anyway. Sacrilege, I know.
91. Shadow Warrior (3D Realms, 1997)
3D Realms famously abided by a philosophy of only releasing games "When they're done", even to the point of restarting development multiple times to stay on the bleeding edge. But while Duke Nukem Forever became infamous for this, Shadow Warrior was the first to really showcase it - prototype builds of this game dating all the way back to 1994 were made available on Steam, showing just how much was changed and added as development dragged on. By the time it finally debuted in 1997 it was just a bit too late to impress gamers, as the fully-3D Quake was out by then and Quake II wasn't far off. Still, stuff like voxel models, turrets, vehicles, dynamic environments, reflective surfaces, true room-over-room and multiple firing modes for each weapon were pretty novel at the time, and of course the game is absolutely awash in 3D Realms' irreverent and often juvenile humor. From fortune cookies full of double entendres to pervy anime references to Lo Wang's constant wisecracks (voiced by John Galt doing a bad faux-Asian accent), it's an incredibly absurd and fun experience. It's also free to play nowadays, so anyone with an interest in silly '90s shooters owes it at least one go.
Warcraft and Lost Vikings were fairly popular games in their time, but Diablo is the game that really put Blizzard on the map. Taking the concept of games like Rogue, adding an action bent and dousing the whole thing in a heavy grim atmosphere, it definitely awed people at a glance. It only became more immersive thanks to its fantastic soundtrack and a surprisingly good story with some high quality voice over, and the fact that you got a random shuffle of quests, items and spells each time you played lent it quite a bit of replay value. It had an official (though non-canon) expansion in Hellfire as well, adding in several new quests and three new playable classes (though you do have to do some file-editing to make them all accessible). While largely overshadowed by its sequel these days, Diablo is a historic game that is not to be missed.
