Legend of the Red Dragon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Red_Dragon
Also WildCat! BBS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat!_BBS
Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
31–40 of 202 posts
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#32http://www.ThePalace.com in either 1994/95. That website looks like it's straight out of the 90s.
I bet the owner of that domain could earn a good payout by selling it.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#33Slicks 'n' Slide, still my gold standard for multiplayer 2D racing, Super Cars 2 on Amiga is the only one that came close: https://www.slicksnslide.com
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#34I couldn’t afford software in the 90s, but I would definitely have registered PowerMenu from Brown Bag software (DOS front end and program launcher). It was really powerful and enjoyable to use, and the interface was delightful. I still think about it often and fired up a DOS emulator pretty recently.
We used 3DMenu for a long time, it was great, I eventually learned how to add menu entries and had a bit of fun with it too.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#35Terminate, One Must Fall 2097
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#36The DICE C compiler for the Amiga (must have been 1991 or 1992, not sure if it was actually shareware though, but it wasn't a "proper" boxed product either).
I exchanged Deutsche Mark into a hundred-dollar bill, put that into an envelope with backaddress and sent it over to the US. A couple of weeks later I got the reply with a 3.5" floppy disc (or was it two?) and a handwritten letter by Matt Dillon (later of DragonFly BSD fame).
Good times! (and one of the best software investments I ever made)
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#37One Must Fall from Epic Megagames. Took close to two months to arrive iirc
Loved OMF, I played the shareware version so many times. Eventually got a copy of the full version (since it was still a diskette game iirc so easily copied), I did play all of it but it didn't have the feeling of the shareware version, weirdly enough. Kids interact with things differently.
There was a sequel at one point, a 3D, 3rd person arena melee variant, but it just didn't work imo. A shame, it was a great franchise.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#38One Must Fall from Epic Megagames. Took close to two months to arrive iirc
> One Must Fall from Epic Megagames Thank you - Epic Megagames was a name i was trying to recall while writing this post. Their Jill of the Jungle and ZZT are shareware titles i remember (but never bought).
ZZT was great, it was my first programming experience and the earliest user created content / programming game I can think of; it was always a joy to find a collection of ZZT maps on these disks you'd get with computer magazines.
They were onto something as well, given the success of Fortnite which also has user created levels.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One Must Fall from Epic Megagames Thank you - Epic Megagames was a name i was trying to recall while writing this post. Their Jill of the Jungle and ZZT are shareware titles i remember (but never bought).
Interesting how far they've come, though they're just called Epic now.
I hope they bring back the MegaGames brand and start producing retro DOS games again, that would be cool.
Re: Ask HN: What 1980s/90s-era shareware did you purchase?
#40pkZip - Phil Katz's archive program. pkzip 2.04g was the bees knees for a very long time. That, plus a stack of floppy disks with labels was my version control system for a decade.
Vern Berg(sp?) - LIST.COM - a file viewer, with a hex mode. I ended up writing my own clone, look
TurboPower Software - EDWIN - a wonderful text editor, had the ability to record and run macros.
I used Borland's SkidKick and Turbo Pascal all the time.
I don't remember the name of the image viewing program we all used.