Okay, I stole this idea from another forum, where it went down with a fantastic response. Seeing as this is a specialist games forum, I may as well paste some of the recommended links here as well.
Now I'm not sure how many of you are into playing these sort of games on your PCs, but if you see anything that interests you, then that's great. This thread might sink quicker than Michelle McManus' music career, or we might have something good going on here. I'll consider stickying this if it gets good.
If you know of any other great free games (even little things like Jippii pool, Miniclip table-tennis, etc), post them here with a URL and short description and I'll tap them into this post as well with credit for your name. They don't need to be part of any existing genre; it's not exactly hard to add more. I didn't personally find all these games, so don't bother asking. You can comment on anything regarding these free games (showing gratitute to a poster's contribution, discussing the games themselves, etc), but if there's anything off-topic, or if there's some kind of crappy chat going on then I'll delete your post without any consideration. I've had enough of people's threads being ruined, and that won't be happening in mine.
Enjoy!
MMORPG:
-Ashen Empires (free until at least March 2004): http://ashenempires.com
-Fairyland (like Ragnarok): http://www.fairyland.com.my/
-Adventure Quest (try it, requires Flash 6): http://www.battleon.com/
-Priston Tale (Asian RPG): http://www.pristontale.com/
-PlaneShift (very nice graphics): http://www.planeshift.it/
-Dark Eden (now doesn't require a Korean ID): http://www.darkeden.com/en/
-Faldon (small scale MMO): http://www.illusorystudios.com/
-Dransik Classic (may be free, not sure): http://www.dransik.com/classic
-Mu Online (looks like Diablo 2): http://www.muonline.com/
-Build Your Own Net Dream (complicated name for a multiplayer game builder): http://www.byond.com/
-Fung-Wan (or something, it's Chinese): http://fwo.edenii.com/
FPS:
-Cube (looks very good, worth a try): http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/
-Wolfenstein Enemy Territory (basically RTCW, free to play online): http://games.activision.com/games/wolfenstein/index.asp?section=et
-America's Army (yeah, the one from the Army): http://www.americasarmy.com/
-Hidden and Dangerous (I love this game): http://www......com/file.x?fid=3825
-Marathon (redesign of the original): http://source.bungie.org/ The data files are available here: http://orbitalarm.bungie.org/downloads/alephone.html
-Wulfram (tank based shooter, online play): http://www.wulfram.com/
-Blackshades (randomly generated love, Linux and OS/X only): http://wolfire.com/blackshades.html
Puzzle:
-Bontago (addictive puzzle game): http://www.allwest.net/~sanderso/
-DROD (check it out): http://drod.net/
-Chromatron (mirror game): http://silverspaceship.com/chromatron/
-Laser Tank (tank puzzle game!): http://pages.globetrotter.net/lasertank/ltank_en.html
-The Timmy's Picross (remake of the classic): http://www.thetimmys.com/flash/picross/
-MadMaze (old game from Prodigy): http://pages.prodigy.net/rdbrownmsb/MadMaze2/
-Clickomania (remake of old Mac game): http://www.clickomania.ch/click/ (Win/Mac), http://klickety.sourceforge.net/ (Linux)
-Enigma (addictive puzzle game): http://www.nongnu.org/enigma/
-iSketch (online Pictionary) http://www.isketch.net/ (CONTRIBUTED BY AdXIII)
Strategy:
-Warring Factions (Goon-made, so you know its good): http://www.war-facts.com/
-Wazzal (single player space privateering game): http://www.monkkonen.net/wazzal.php
-Shattered Galaxy (Real-time, a lot like StarCraft): http://www.shatteredgalaxy.com/
-Pirate Wars II (Goon-made): http://www.piratewars2.com/login_form.php
-Allegiance (GREAT looking spaceship game): http://www.freeallegiance.org/
-Steel Panthers (turn based WW2 game): http://www.matrixgames.com/games/WorldAtWar/main.asp
-Space Merchant (space trading game): http://merchant.shareplay.com/
-Star Kingdoms (similar to Warring Factions): http://www.starkingdoms.com/
-Megamek (BattleTech Board Game): http://megamek.sourceforge.net/
-FreeCiv (Civ 2 clone): http://www.freeciv.org/
-Warpath (Conquer the universe!): http://www.synthetic-reality.com/warpath.htm
-Online Wars (Advance Wars, played online!) - http://members.optusnet.com.au/dancotter/ (CONTRIBUTED BY DeadStarX)
Side scroller or Top Down shooter:
-Soldat (cool online play, very worms-esque): http://www.soldat.prv.pl/
-Notrium (single player top-down survival game, like Crimsonland): http://www.monkkonen.net/notrium.php
-Crimsonland (top-down shooter, free to play, but you can "register"): http://crimsonland.reflexive.com/crimsonland/
-FaceWound (Goon-made, so you know its good): http://www.facewound.com/
-GunBound (online play, very addictive): http://www.gunbound.net/
-Survival Project (interesting Asian game): http://english.spgame.com/
-rRootage (fly spaceship!): http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/rr_e.html
-Grand Theft Auto (yes, it's free now): http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/gta.htm
-Continuum (multi-player Asteroids!): http://www.subspacedownloads.com/?act=file&fid=5
-Warning Forever (I honestly don't know what this game is about): http://www18.big.or.jp/~hikoza/Package/wf102.exe
-Liero ("some sort of bastard child of SOLDAT and Worms"): http://helios.et.put.poznan.pl/~sskowron/liero/
-Scorched Earth (a lot like the classic Bomb): http://www.classicgaming.com/scorch/
-Hot Persuit (like Spy Hunter): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/highwaypursuit.shtml
Adventure:
-Kings Quest (there are other games here too): http://www.agdinteractive.com/
-NetHack (single player RPG): http://www.nethack.org/v343/downloads.html
-Angband (similar to NetHack): http://www.thangorodrim.net/
-The Ur-Quan Masters (another space game): http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
-Ancient Domains of Mystery (like NetHack): http://www.adom.de/
-Progress Quest (try it): http://www.progressquest.com/
-Betrayal at Krondor (old school RPG): http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=116
-Beneath a Steel Sky (I remember this game, play it!): http://www.scummvm.org/
-Out of Order (in the vein of old school Lucasarts games): http://outoforder.adventuredevelopers.com/
-The New Adventures of Zak McCracken (or something, fan made remake of old Lucasarts game): http://gamershell.com/news_BTheNewAdventuresofZakMc.shtml
-Dink Smallwood (like Zelda): http://www.rtsoft.com/dink/
Other:
-Super Mario Pac (Super Mario World + Super Mario Sunshine + Jet Pac!): http://www.aqnw40.dsl.pipex.com/mariopac1-1.exe (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
-Tactics Arena (online only tactics game, like Final Fantasy Tactics): http://www.tacticsarena.com
-Hattrick (manage a soccer team): http://www.hattrick.org
-Stepmania (home version of DDR): http://www.stepmania.com/stepmania/
-Darksigns (hacking game): http://www.jqb.netglob.com.pl/darksigns_installer_091.exe, then patch with this http://www.jqb.netglob.com.pl/darksigns_patch_0.92.exe
-Button Men (online version of a dice game): http://www.buttonmen.dhs.org/
-Babylon 5: I've Found Her (space sim): http://ifh.firstones.com/
-Stair/truck Dismount (great time killer, good physics): http://jet.ro/dismount/
-Orbiter (space flight simulator): http://orbit.m6.net/
-Legends (APPARENTLY its some remake of Tribes 1): http://hosted.tribalwar.com/legends
-Noctis (space picture thing game): http://www.anywherebb.com/
-Pokemon NetBattle (online Pokemon game): http://www.netbattle.net/
-Decker (based on the Matrix from Shadowrun): http://www.caro.net/dsi/decker
-River City Hacky Sack (cool game): http://www.somethingawful.com/rchs/
-Megamek (adaptation of the old Battletech board game): http://megamek.sourceforge.net/idx.php?pg=main
-Starships Unlimited (shareware, but fun): http://www.apezone.com/
-One Must Fall 2097 (old but cool fighter): http://www.omf2097.com/
-Cybots (online bot game, SA already has a clan going): http://tasman-studios.com/cybots-beta/index.jsp?logout=1&rsm=X982246113
-Silver Knights (3D mech shooter): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/silverknights.shtml
-Tong (Tetris + Pong = Tong): http://www.nongnu.org/tong/
-Vantage Master (engrish RPG): http://www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.html
-Crazy Game 99 (amazingly simple, highly addictive bullet dodging game): http://s87336291.onlinehome.us/crazygame.exe (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
Head Over Heels Remake: http://retrospec.sgn.net/download.php?id=63&path=games/hoh/bin/HeadOverHeels10.exe (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
Collections:
-Some great remakes: http://retrospec.sgn.net/games.php?gamelink=27&lastview=full (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
-Game Tunnel (random collection of games): http://www.gametunnel.com/html/modules.php?name=GT_games
-The Underdogs (where old classics go when they don't sell anymore): http://www.the-underdogs.org/
-PopCap Games (mostly puzzle games): http://www.popcap.com/
-Virtual Apple (old Apple 2 games): http://www.virtualapple.com/
-Orisinal (collection of games): www.orisinal.com (CONTRIBUTED BY Johnny Bosanova)
-Megagames (most of which are already posted, but some new ones): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/freegames.shtml
- Sniper Monkey's Online Mini Games - http://www.snipermonkey.co.uk/onlineminigames/ (CONTRIBUTED BY Foolish_Mortal)
For all of your text-based gaming needs, go here: http://brasslantern.org/ Games available here: http://baf.wurb.com/if/index
If you are having problems running old games on your new computer, use DosBox.
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/
Now I'm not sure how many of you are into playing these sort of games on your PCs, but if you see anything that interests you, then that's great. This thread might sink quicker than Michelle McManus' music career, or we might have something good going on here. I'll consider stickying this if it gets good.
If you know of any other great free games (even little things like Jippii pool, Miniclip table-tennis, etc), post them here with a URL and short description and I'll tap them into this post as well with credit for your name. They don't need to be part of any existing genre; it's not exactly hard to add more. I didn't personally find all these games, so don't bother asking. You can comment on anything regarding these free games (showing gratitute to a poster's contribution, discussing the games themselves, etc), but if there's anything off-topic, or if there's some kind of crappy chat going on then I'll delete your post without any consideration. I've had enough of people's threads being ruined, and that won't be happening in mine.
Enjoy!
MMORPG:
-Ashen Empires (free until at least March 2004): http://ashenempires.com
-Fairyland (like Ragnarok): http://www.fairyland.com.my/
-Adventure Quest (try it, requires Flash 6): http://www.battleon.com/
-Priston Tale (Asian RPG): http://www.pristontale.com/
-PlaneShift (very nice graphics): http://www.planeshift.it/
-Dark Eden (now doesn't require a Korean ID): http://www.darkeden.com/en/
-Faldon (small scale MMO): http://www.illusorystudios.com/
-Dransik Classic (may be free, not sure): http://www.dransik.com/classic
-Mu Online (looks like Diablo 2): http://www.muonline.com/
-Build Your Own Net Dream (complicated name for a multiplayer game builder): http://www.byond.com/
-Fung-Wan (or something, it's Chinese): http://fwo.edenii.com/
FPS:
-Cube (looks very good, worth a try): http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/
-Wolfenstein Enemy Territory (basically RTCW, free to play online): http://games.activision.com/games/wolfenstein/index.asp?section=et
-America's Army (yeah, the one from the Army): http://www.americasarmy.com/
-Hidden and Dangerous (I love this game): http://www......com/file.x?fid=3825
-Marathon (redesign of the original): http://source.bungie.org/ The data files are available here: http://orbitalarm.bungie.org/downloads/alephone.html
-Wulfram (tank based shooter, online play): http://www.wulfram.com/
-Blackshades (randomly generated love, Linux and OS/X only): http://wolfire.com/blackshades.html
Puzzle:
-Bontago (addictive puzzle game): http://www.allwest.net/~sanderso/
-DROD (check it out): http://drod.net/
-Chromatron (mirror game): http://silverspaceship.com/chromatron/
-Laser Tank (tank puzzle game!): http://pages.globetrotter.net/lasertank/ltank_en.html
-The Timmy's Picross (remake of the classic): http://www.thetimmys.com/flash/picross/
-MadMaze (old game from Prodigy): http://pages.prodigy.net/rdbrownmsb/MadMaze2/
-Clickomania (remake of old Mac game): http://www.clickomania.ch/click/ (Win/Mac), http://klickety.sourceforge.net/ (Linux)
-Enigma (addictive puzzle game): http://www.nongnu.org/enigma/
-iSketch (online Pictionary) http://www.isketch.net/ (CONTRIBUTED BY AdXIII)
Strategy:
-Warring Factions (Goon-made, so you know its good): http://www.war-facts.com/
-Wazzal (single player space privateering game): http://www.monkkonen.net/wazzal.php
-Shattered Galaxy (Real-time, a lot like StarCraft): http://www.shatteredgalaxy.com/
-Pirate Wars II (Goon-made): http://www.piratewars2.com/login_form.php
-Allegiance (GREAT looking spaceship game): http://www.freeallegiance.org/
-Steel Panthers (turn based WW2 game): http://www.matrixgames.com/games/WorldAtWar/main.asp
-Space Merchant (space trading game): http://merchant.shareplay.com/
-Star Kingdoms (similar to Warring Factions): http://www.starkingdoms.com/
-Megamek (BattleTech Board Game): http://megamek.sourceforge.net/
-FreeCiv (Civ 2 clone): http://www.freeciv.org/
-Warpath (Conquer the universe!): http://www.synthetic-reality.com/warpath.htm
-Online Wars (Advance Wars, played online!) - http://members.optusnet.com.au/dancotter/ (CONTRIBUTED BY DeadStarX)
Side scroller or Top Down shooter:
-Soldat (cool online play, very worms-esque): http://www.soldat.prv.pl/
-Notrium (single player top-down survival game, like Crimsonland): http://www.monkkonen.net/notrium.php
-Crimsonland (top-down shooter, free to play, but you can "register"): http://crimsonland.reflexive.com/crimsonland/
-FaceWound (Goon-made, so you know its good): http://www.facewound.com/
-GunBound (online play, very addictive): http://www.gunbound.net/
-Survival Project (interesting Asian game): http://english.spgame.com/
-rRootage (fly spaceship!): http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/rr_e.html
-Grand Theft Auto (yes, it's free now): http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/gta.htm
-Continuum (multi-player Asteroids!): http://www.subspacedownloads.com/?act=file&fid=5
-Warning Forever (I honestly don't know what this game is about): http://www18.big.or.jp/~hikoza/Package/wf102.exe
-Liero ("some sort of bastard child of SOLDAT and Worms"): http://helios.et.put.poznan.pl/~sskowron/liero/
-Scorched Earth (a lot like the classic Bomb): http://www.classicgaming.com/scorch/
-Hot Persuit (like Spy Hunter): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/highwaypursuit.shtml
Adventure:
-Kings Quest (there are other games here too): http://www.agdinteractive.com/
-NetHack (single player RPG): http://www.nethack.org/v343/downloads.html
-Angband (similar to NetHack): http://www.thangorodrim.net/
-The Ur-Quan Masters (another space game): http://sc2.sourceforge.net/
-Ancient Domains of Mystery (like NetHack): http://www.adom.de/
-Progress Quest (try it): http://www.progressquest.com/
-Betrayal at Krondor (old school RPG): http://www.the-underdogs.org/game.php?id=116
-Beneath a Steel Sky (I remember this game, play it!): http://www.scummvm.org/
-Out of Order (in the vein of old school Lucasarts games): http://outoforder.adventuredevelopers.com/
-The New Adventures of Zak McCracken (or something, fan made remake of old Lucasarts game): http://gamershell.com/news_BTheNewAdventuresofZakMc.shtml
-Dink Smallwood (like Zelda): http://www.rtsoft.com/dink/
Other:
-Super Mario Pac (Super Mario World + Super Mario Sunshine + Jet Pac!): http://www.aqnw40.dsl.pipex.com/mariopac1-1.exe (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
-Tactics Arena (online only tactics game, like Final Fantasy Tactics): http://www.tacticsarena.com
-Hattrick (manage a soccer team): http://www.hattrick.org
-Stepmania (home version of DDR): http://www.stepmania.com/stepmania/
-Darksigns (hacking game): http://www.jqb.netglob.com.pl/darksigns_installer_091.exe, then patch with this http://www.jqb.netglob.com.pl/darksigns_patch_0.92.exe
-Button Men (online version of a dice game): http://www.buttonmen.dhs.org/
-Babylon 5: I've Found Her (space sim): http://ifh.firstones.com/
-Stair/truck Dismount (great time killer, good physics): http://jet.ro/dismount/
-Orbiter (space flight simulator): http://orbit.m6.net/
-Legends (APPARENTLY its some remake of Tribes 1): http://hosted.tribalwar.com/legends
-Noctis (space picture thing game): http://www.anywherebb.com/
-Pokemon NetBattle (online Pokemon game): http://www.netbattle.net/
-Decker (based on the Matrix from Shadowrun): http://www.caro.net/dsi/decker
-River City Hacky Sack (cool game): http://www.somethingawful.com/rchs/
-Megamek (adaptation of the old Battletech board game): http://megamek.sourceforge.net/idx.php?pg=main
-Starships Unlimited (shareware, but fun): http://www.apezone.com/
-One Must Fall 2097 (old but cool fighter): http://www.omf2097.com/
-Cybots (online bot game, SA already has a clan going): http://tasman-studios.com/cybots-beta/index.jsp?logout=1&rsm=X982246113
-Silver Knights (3D mech shooter): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/silverknights.shtml
-Tong (Tetris + Pong = Tong): http://www.nongnu.org/tong/
-Vantage Master (engrish RPG): http://www.falcom.co.jp/vantage/index_e.html
-Crazy Game 99 (amazingly simple, highly addictive bullet dodging game): http://s87336291.onlinehome.us/crazygame.exe (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
Head Over Heels Remake: http://retrospec.sgn.net/download.php?id=63&path=games/hoh/bin/HeadOverHeels10.exe (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
Collections:
-Some great remakes: http://retrospec.sgn.net/games.php?gamelink=27&lastview=full (CONTRIBUTED BY Troublegum)
-Game Tunnel (random collection of games): http://www.gametunnel.com/html/modules.php?name=GT_games
-The Underdogs (where old classics go when they don't sell anymore): http://www.the-underdogs.org/
-PopCap Games (mostly puzzle games): http://www.popcap.com/
-Virtual Apple (old Apple 2 games): http://www.virtualapple.com/
-Orisinal (collection of games): www.orisinal.com (CONTRIBUTED BY Johnny Bosanova)
-Megagames (most of which are already posted, but some new ones): http://www.megagames.com/news/html/freegames/freegames.shtml
- Sniper Monkey's Online Mini Games - http://www.snipermonkey.co.uk/onlineminigames/ (CONTRIBUTED BY Foolish_Mortal)
For all of your text-based gaming needs, go here: http://brasslantern.org/ Games available here: http://baf.wurb.com/if/index
If you are having problems running old games on your new computer, use DosBox.
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/
