What are your favourite non-mainstream games?

[Tuttle]

I was thinking recently[1] and I realised that although I still buy and play some of the big mainstream games, I keep going back to some of the more indie ones. I'm sure you know the sort -- not available in store, but either freely downloadable or only $20 or so. Sometimes it seems like being independent or in a smaller company and free from marketeering pressures means a higher quality of game. Maybe not necessarily as flashy looking, but just more fun dammit. I still think iD's Commander Keen 4/5 and Apogee's Monster Bash trilogy are some of the most fun platformers I've played on PC.

What are some of the non-mainstream games you've played and enjoyed? Basically, if it's in a box on a shelf in EB then it doesn't count.

Here's a couple to get things started (screenshots are links):

• Deadly Rooms Of Death
  Old engine, King Dugan's Dungeon levels free download from www.drod.net
  Newer shinier engine, new level sets commercial w/demo from www.caravelgames.com
  
  DROD is an untimed puzzle game. You're a little guy with a sword and you have to go through levels killing everything. It's got the mechanics of something like Nethack or Rogue, but it's definitely a puzzle and not an RPG. I played the freebie about 18 months ago, and just found out last week that they've been developing new stuff. I'm hooked again.
  
  
  
  
• Igor - The Time Machine
  Commercial w/demo from www.elmerproductions.com
  
  If anyone remembers Boulderdash (or Rockford, or Supaplex), this is the same sort of thing. Still a puzzler, but requiring a few more reflexes (although you can slow the game way down). Also includes all the levels from Supaplex and Sokoban. There's a free Supaplex remake on the site too.
  
  

[1] Surprising, I know...

[equinoxe3d]

I enjoyed playing Swarm when I got my first computer. It's pretty much a revamped Space Invaders and I don't know if it would really count as "indie", but it was the kind of game sold in the bargain bin even when it was released

[Smitty00]

I once bought a game called "Hacker" for my Apple IIc. Supposed to simulate hacking someones computer.

Loaded it, booted it up, and got a flashing DOS cursor.

Never got anything more than a message stating "incorrect password".

Played it about 2 hours and threw it away.......

Does that count?

[Tuttle]

Depends, do you fire it up every couple of months and guess more passwords?

[MuFu]

Any of these arcade-type games support LAN multiplayer?

[animal18]

OooOoo. OIDS

Absolute BEST game on the old Macs, and now the new OS X! Think of that old chopper/rescue little people game, but in space. With Traps. Lots of nasty, exploding traps. And a map editor.



I still keep an old PowerPC around just to play that game.

[TurtleMan]

I still play "Rogue" once in a while. I think it's the first PC game that I've ever played. It's a dungeon exploration game, using ASCI graphics:





It's hard as hell: I don't think I've ever gotten past the 9th Level (In about 18 years of attempts!).

t-man

[yellow_cloud]

Seem like the so-called mainstream games are losing steams. They are so alike and have been so for years. Need something that is totally different. I am starting to find card games are fun. ... seriously!!!

[ELF2000]

At the moment I am playing Outpost Kaloki

You goto build a space station that attract visitors.
Fun and simple game.

Sometimes I will play Telengard on the C 64.
Its a dungeon exploration game. Very hard, only got to level 18 after playing it for 22 years!

[Tuttle]

I still play "Rogue" once in a while. I think it's the first PC game that I've ever played. It's a dungeon exploration game, using ASCI graphics:

I never played Rogue itself, but I have spent a while on NetHack, which is very similar. NetHack also has graphical front ends available.

[TurtleMan]

I vaguely remember Nethack: my Dad had a Mac+ in the mid 80's. How about "Dark Castle"? That was a fun one, too. Man, those early Mac games were very impressive: it took years for the PC stuff to attain similar quality...

Wow, Telengard: now that's trip down Memory Lane. I also never got very far into it, it was very tough. I also heard that it was "bottomless", so I kind of lost interest after that. "Gateway To Apshai" and "Impossible Mission" were probably my fave C64 games.

t-man

[Quatroux]

Shadow President by DC True was awesome.
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=963
http://www.abandonia.com/games/579/d...wPresident.htm

[StuTheWise]

Does Cyberball on an emulator count?

[Quatroux]

Ok. So maybe Shadow President isn't really non-mainstream. That is, when you compare it to this:

Castle
http://www.abandonia.com/games/226/Castle/Castle.htm

Hard Hat Mack
http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=3007

These are the first games I ever had on my PC made by AT&T. Awesome! These games are responsible for my love for computers and my entry into the IT field.

[ELF2000]

Wow, Telengard: now that's trip down Memory Lane. I also never got very far into it, it was very tough. I also heard that it was "bottomless", so I kind of lost interest after that. "Gateway To Apshai" and "Impossible Mission" were probably my fave C64 games.

According to the site I posted Telengard is a 50 level dungeon with a total of 2 million rooms. It's not bottomless just very big.

I enjoyed Impossible Mission, 6 hours in real time to finish the game.