DOS Game Club

Monthly DOS game online discussion and podcast

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August 15 · 3 hr 17 min
Star Wars: TIE Fighter
After having run this club for almost 10 years now, sometimes we worry we might run out of good games to feature. Not that we only want to cover the best or most famous games, but we wouldn't want to feel like we're scraping the barrel either. Anyway, this fear is entirely unwarranted, because even after all this time an absolute gem such as 1994's Star Wars: TIE Fighter is available for us to talk about. This game offers a very enticing premise over Star Wars: X-Wing, its predecessor from a year earlier: instead of the hero, now you're the bad guy! Or are you? Maybe the Empire just wants peace and stability for all and Darth Vader isn't such a bad guy after all. That's certainly what they tell a lowly TIE Fighter pilot such as yourselves anyway... Sadly our co-host Florian ("rnlf") had to skip this episode due to an injury that left him unable to play this game. Get well soon, Florian! Host Martijn is here with a big group of guests who are all excited to talk about TIE Fighter. First of all we have Brian ("SpaceGameJunkie") back on the show. We also have Eric ("Shnoogie"), who's joining the podcast for the first time. Then we have Jason ("Angel"), who's in charge of the Tie Fighter Total Conversion project (see links below). And last but not least we have Rik, adaptive music composer and a good friend of Martijn for many years who hasn't played a ton of old PC games, but TIE Fighter being the rare exception! And on top of all this, we've also received no fewer than three voice messages! They are from Firefokker, Evil Taco and Watchful. Thank you very much for sharing your insights with us, we always enjoy hearing your thoughts on the games we're playing. If you want to share a voice message for a future episode, please e-mail them to club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (198 mins, 226 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping with organising the podcast, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Our guest Angel is the project lead on TIE Fighter: Total Conversion (TFTC), an ambitious mod that overhauls the classic game from top to bottom, reworking everything from the graphics to the core gameplay. * Angel also shared a sneak peek video of the upcoming intro, created by OtaKing Animation who previously made an excellent animated TIE Fighter short film. * All of SpaceGameJunkie's output (reviews, podcasts, streams & more) can be found at spacegamejunkie.com * Mission builder David Wessman gave a post mortem talk at GDC on the making of TIE Fighter, available on GDC Vault. * YouTuber TechJesse did a video interview with Edward Kilham, co-designer of both TIE Fighter and X-Wing. * We discuss the infamous leak of the game's release, a story that was covered at the time by the LA Times in COLUMN ONE: The Pirates of the Internet. * DGC member Pix put together a collection of X-Wing Series Magazine Scans, pulled from his personal archive of gaming magazines. * We discuss the origin of the "Oom on you" easter egg. More hidden messages are collected on the Cutting Room Floor wiki. * Friend of the show Jimmy Maher has a great article on the history of TIE Fighter up on his website The Digital Antiquarian
July 26 · 2 hr 2 min
Pool, snooker and billiards
It's time for another multi-game month! After skiing, pinball, cricket and golf, we sat down for a nice game of computer pool. And snooker. And billiards. Basically anything where you use a cue stick to hit a ball on a table. Turns out there are quite a few of these for MS-DOS, but perhaps not as many as you'd think. So we looked at all of them and found some really special ones indeed! Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we have DGC members Richard ("Pix") and DRS ("dr_st") on the show. None of us are pool experts really, but we're trying our best! [ download mp3 ] (122 mins, 140 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping with organising the podcast, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * 1986-1989: PC Pool/PC Pool Challenges, Alex Higgins' World Snooker, Pub Pool, Rack 'Em, Billiards Simulator * 1990-1995: Sharkey's 3D Pool, Jim Kobbe's Pool Game in 3D, Pool Shark, Billiards and Arcade Pool * Archer Maclean put out two notable games: Jimmy White's “Whirlwind” Snooker and Archer Maclean's Pool. There's also a fun little YouTube video about him. * One title that stood out was 1994Pool+, which blends billiards with elements from other genres. * Celeris Inc. released two excellent games: Virtual Pool and Virtual Snooker. * Honorable mentions go to two well-loved freeware titles: Another Pool by Gerrit Jahn and Biliardo 2 by Marco Chiesi.
June 26 · 3 hr 42 min
Sam & Max Hit the Road
Back in April we looked at Sam & Max Hit the Road, the first game featuring Steve Purcell's crime fighting comic strip duo. Tasked with finding an escaped bigfoot from the circus, Sam & Max find themselves on a big road trip adventure all across the USA, featuring many road side attractions of questionable quality. And somehow a country singer from Liverpool, England also fits into this? Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we have three guests. First of all we have returning DGC members Patrick ("patrick_wd") and Eino ("evil_taco"). Last but not least we are joined by digital artist and game developer Nathalie Lawhead ("alienmelon"), who made a lot of retro-inspired works that are very much worth checking out (see links below). We also received no less than 3 messages for this one! First of our all from watchful, who recently launched Windows Game Club, another from DGC member Niber who posted it to our forums, and last but not least an e-mail was sent to us from Rusty in Australia. Thanks for all the messages, it's great to hear from you all! P.S. If you listened to the show early after it was published, Niber's voice message was missing. It has since been edited in, so if it wasn't included in your episode then please download it again to get it. Enjoy! [ download mp3 ] (222 mins, 254 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to organise the recording, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Nathalie Lawhead is a digital artist and game developer with a large, wonderfully varied catalog at alienmelon.itch.io, as well as their own website at nathalielawhead.com. * PC Gamer did an interview with Steve Purcell in 2002, where they talk extensively about how Sam & Max Hit the Road came to be. * Telltale's "History of Sam & Max": Part 1 and Part 2 * Sam & Max were featured in Lucas' quarterly newsletter the Adventurer before they decided to turn them into a game * Ron Gilbert's classic essay on adventure game design, Why adventure games suck * Yes, the biggest ball of twine is a real roadside attraction in the US.
May 22 · 1 hr 41 min
The Terminator: Future Shock
In the futuristic year of 2015, Los Angeles is fully under Skynet's control. Extermination camps have been set up to wipe humanity off the face of the earth. You must escape one such camp and get in touch with John Connor, Kyle Rees and the rest of the resistance. This is the premise of Terminator: Future Shock, an ambitious first-person shooter from Bethesda SoftWorks, released in 1995. Where most mid-90s shooters were all about arcade action, Bethesda decided to have more of a narrative focus than was common at the time. Not that there's a lack of action though: not only do you get to kill T-800s on foot, you also can do so while driving vehicles and even flying aircrafts. Does all this result in an exciting game? Let's find out! Hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined by two DGC veterans for this episode. First of all we have Bjorn ("TigerQuoll") who has been on many an episode before and who, despite being new to the game, managed to play it all the way to the end. Last but not least we're finally joined by Watchful, who has sent us many voice messages over the years, but never joined the podcast in person until now! Not only does he have many fond memories of Future Shock to share with us, but he's also here to announce the launch of our new "sister podcast": Windows Game Club! That's right, it's no joke, you can check it out at windowsgameclub.com. [ download mp3 ] (102 mins, 116 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Windows Game Club, our new "sister podcast", hosted by Watchful. * The Legacy 5 on archive.org, this is the warez disc Tijn had as a kid that gave him his copy of Future Shock. It never worked. * 1996 interview with Future Shock producer Todd Howard on Reddit. * The Terminator: Future Shock review by Mike Finkelstein on AsteroidG.com. * YouTube video reviewing all the 1990s Terminator PC games by user GmanLives.
April 26 · 2 hr 13 min
ZZT
Way before Unreal Engine, Epic Megagames had already put out a different game creation system. In fact, it was their first product! Back in 1991 ZZT started out as a text editor, but apparently Tim Sweeney got bored and before he knew it, he was making the editor into a game. The editor remained part of ZZT and was even included in the shareware version, so it didn't take long before people were making their own ZZT content. Even now in 2026 people are still making their own ZZT stuff! Sadly Florian ("rnlf") couldn't make this episode. Host Martijn ("Tijn") is joined by DGC member Simon ("carbontwelve"). We also have two people from the ZZT community to help us make sense of it all: Artee ("RT-55J") who has made many ZZT worlds and has been part of the scene for a long time, and Dr. DOS who has been involved with several ZZT websites over the years and is currently the maintainer of the Museum of ZZT, the largest online collection of ZZT games. [ download mp3 ] (134 mins, 153 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Museum of ZZT, a website dedicated to keeping ZZT alive and kicking, maintained by Dr. DOS. * Games by our guests RT-55J and RT-55J and Dr. DOS * Anna Anthropy wrote a great book about her personal experience with ZZT. * z2 used to be for a good decade and a half the definitive ZZT archive. * A few of our own club members and former guests also released a few ZZT worlds: David X Newton (David Newton / Wong Chung Bang) who has been on many episodes, including Prince of Persia, Transport Tycoon and DOOM, as well as Chris Kohler, who was on the Karateka episode. * We talked about a few notable games on the show: Code, Yoshi series, Little Square Things (which has a modern remake available on Steam), Tales of Adventure: The Treasure of Captain Cutlass, and Burger Joint whose author nowadays has a (non-ZZT) game on Steam called Streets of Rogue. * Other notable authors: WiL and Interactive Fantasies. * More ZZT games that were covered in the episode can be found on our forums * MegaZeux is a related game creation system with a similarly active community. * We talked more about Tim Sweeney on episode 046 ("Jill of the Jungle"), back in September 2020.
April 1 · 2 hr 43 min
Half-Life
Welcome to the WGC Mk. IV Podcasting System for use in hilarious environment conditions. High-enjoyment Windows gaming: Activated. Atmospheric cinematic shooters: Activated. Blue Screen Monitoring: Activated. Protagonist Dialog Suppression System: Engaged. Offensive Opinion Selection System: Activated. Unforeseen Consequences: Activated. Communications Interface: Online. Have a very fun day! "They are waiting for you Gordon - in the TEST CHAMBERRRR" - if you're old enough to remember when these words were first spoken by a polygonal scientist, you also remember the hype that Half-Life created and how and why we consider this game to be a turning point in the gaming industry. Not only the game itself, but also everything that it enabled. Without Half-Life, the gaming industry would look a lot different nowadays. Since Half-Life is not a DOS game, but was originally released for Windows, we wouldn't be able to play this game with DGC even though it was suggested on the forums many years ago. Because of that we decided to take the very serious decision to, starting now, 1 April 2026, we pivot our podcast to Windows games. We're presenting to you Windows Game Club #001. The DOS podcast just doesn't attract enough listeners and we've also run out of actually worthwhile games. So get ready for a new era in retro gaming discussions. The site layout will be adapted over the next weeks. We'll also delete all old DOS-related podcasts (except for games that were also released for Windows). We're sure this will find your approval. Our hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined by DGC member erys ("erysdren") and Richter ("The old PC Guy"). [ download mp3 ] (163 mins, 187 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen. And thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Valve Archive by Erys * Richter's YouTube channel: The old pc guy * Forum thread suggesting for us to play Half-Life * Half-life segmented speedrun in 20m41s * Combine Overwiki is celebrating their 20 year anniversary in 2026 * Freeman's mind on YouTube, by Ross Scott * Old man murray "start to crate" review system that lead to Half-Life 2 having a crate at the start of the game
March 28 · 2 hr 40 min
The Settlers II
In 1996, at a time when Realtime Strategy Games were more popular than ever, one game series decided to take a different approach to the genre and remove direct control over units and production. Like an actual Roman commander, in Blue Byte's Settlers II you don't tell each of your soldiers directly what to do, or what to produce. Rather, you give orders like "conquer that fortress", "attack those barracks", or "allocate more iron to the forge". And then your friend comes over with a second mouse so you can fight it out in split screen. Join us as we discover what the word "Wuselfaktor" means and whether an indirectly controlled strategy game makes any sense at all. Our hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined by DGC members Wes ("Wesbat") and Benedikt ("Eulisker"), as well as Christopher ("Spike") from the "Return to the Roots" project. [ download mp3 ] (160 mins, 184 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Return to the Roots is a faithful reimplementation of the game * Our guest Christopher (Spike) made a video tutorial about training soldiers efficiently * Settlers II review on GoodOldDays.net by DGC member Mr. Creosote * The Settlers II.net is an online encyclopedia on "The Settlers II Gold Edition" and "Return to the Roots" * A large collection of custom maps on Isch und Ivans Settler II page * Siedler 2-MissionCD is an unofficial game extension by Jürgen Nagel * Christoph Kamon's bachelor's thesis. * Widelands is a free, open-source real-time strategy game inspired by Settlers II. * Official Amiga-version of Settlers II released in 2025
February 8 · 2 hr 39 min
Betrayal at Krondor
Dynamix is a studio mostly known for their excellent 3D simulation games, such as 1990s "Red Baron", so it was a little surprising to see them behind the 1993 fantasy RPG we looked at in December 2025: Betrayal at Krondor. Like blobbers of the 1980s, you explore the world of Krondor in a turn-based fashion, one tile at a time. But unlike those old dungeon crawlers, Krondor is a fully explorable 3D open world. Despite being based on Raymond E. Feist's "Riftwar Cycle" universe, Betrayal at Krondor has an original story and is not based on any specific novel. In fact, it's quite the other way around, because in 1998 the Feist novel "Krondor: The Betrayal" was published, a novelisation of the game! As you can see, there's plenty to talk about with this one. Sadly host Martijn ("Tijn") isn't joined by Florian ("rnlf") for this one, as he was ill when we recorded this, so he had to cancel. Luckily Richard ("Pix") was able to step in, who of course was on many an episode and is also a keen RPG player. Furthermore we're joined by first-time podcast guests Jens ("Jan0sch") and "VGA256". VGA has a special relation with the game, because he is the maintainer of long-time Krondor fansite Dimwood.net. See the links below for more! We also received a voice message from DGC member Red.Hexapus, which we are very thankful for. If you also want to contribute a voice message for a future episode, please email it to club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (159 mins, 183 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Dimwood.net is the current address of one of the oldest and most expansive Betrayal at Krondor fansites on the web, maintained by VGA256 * Pix's Origin Adventures is Richard's website, offering many blog posts and interesting download links on many classic games * Neal Hallfor's blog tells the story of how Betrayal at Krondor was developed * CRPG Addict's review of Betrayal at Krondor published only last week! * Mages & Modems is VGA256's book about their computer history of the 80s and 90s * Commodork by Rob O'Hara is another personal computer history book, focusing on BBSes and Commodore * The Riftwar Cycle on Wikipedia, the novel series Betrayal at Krondor is based on / set in
January 13 · 2 hr 13 min
Toonstruck
The Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show needs more cute cartoon characters, and animator Drew Blanc is the guy who has to come up with them... by tomorrow morning! Working through the night, his TV suddenly starts acting up and he's sucked into a world filled with toons! Or maybe it's just a dream, who can tell? Either way, Drew is now stuck between a host of different zany cartoon characters as he tries to get back home somehow. That's the premise for Toonstruck (1996, Burst Entertainment / Virgin Interactive), starring "Doc Brown" from Back to the Future, Chris Lloyd. He's joined by an all-star cast of famous voice actors, including Tim Curry, Dom DeLuise, the list goes on. This game is a huge production, but is it any good? Let's find out! Hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined by three guests on this episode. First of all we have returning member Lars ("fastwinstondoom"), who not only has been on many episodes before, but who also suggested we play this game! We're also joined by Daniel ("ainmosni"), who's brand new to the show and only has been a member for a couple of months after he found us through our Mastodon instance. And last but not least we have Ben ("ps_garak"), who previously joined us for Discworld. He streams adventure games on Twitch and is one of the hosts of Quest Quest, a podcast about adventure games. We also received a voice message from DGC member Watchful, which we are very thankful for. If you also want to contribute a voice message for a future episode, please email it to club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (133 mins, 153 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Ben's Twitch channel * Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast hosted by Ben and Jess (who was on our Space Quest episode) * Advertisement for Toonstruck which focuses on the kinky cow scene, from Computer Gaming World issue #142, May 1996 * Great article about Toonstruck on the Digital Antiquarian by Jimmy Maher (who was on our episode about Planetfall not so long ago) * While searching for audio clips, we found this great resource of unused media found on the Toonstruck disc * Thread on our own forums about how to get subtitles in the cutscenes when playing in ScummVM * And speaking of our forums, as always Pix has scanned in some magazine reviews for us
Dec 22, 2025 · 1 hr 12 min
Talking to John Passfield and Pete Mullins
As regular listeners will know, our podcast usually includes a bit where we dive a little into the history of how a game came to be and who was involved with its creation. That part was missing from our recent Halloween Harry episode, and with good reason, because we got a chance to sit down with Halloween Harry creator John Passfield and hear it all from the man himself directly. He brought his friend and long-time collaborator Pete Mullins along, who among other things helped with making the box art for Flight of the Amazon Queen, another game from the mind of John Passfield. Together they are working on a brand new Halloween Harry game that will be available in the near future. [ download mp3 ] (73 mins, 84 MB) Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Various clips from Australian TV covering Halloween Harry and Zombie Wars back in the 90s on YouTube * John Passfield's personal homepage and his game studio Red Sprite Studios together with Pete Mullins * Archived copy of Apogee/3DRealms' legacy site which hosts the freeware release of Halloween Harry and Alien Carnage, the original page has sadly gone offline recently * Download Flight of the Amazon Queen (freeware) at scummvm.org
Dec 20, 2025 · 1 hr 36 min
Halloween Harry
We like to pick spooky games for October, as we feel it fits with the Halloween season and everything. We wouldn't say Halloween Harry (1993, developed by Interactive Binary Illusions and SubZero Software, published by Apogee) is a particularly scary game. It does feature a lot of zombies. But more than anything it has "halloween" in the name, and that's all we need to be convinced to put this on the roster! Hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined by three veteran DGC members: Bjorn ("TigerQuoll"), Shawn ("DJ Hip") and DRS ("dr_st"). The first two guests are both from Australia, which is apt, because that's where Halloween Harry was developed, by John Passfield and his team. More on that in the next episode, in which we get to talk to John Passfield and his business partner Pete Mullins. Enjoy! [ download mp3 ] (96 mins, 111 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Archived copy of the Halloween Harry Webshrine, an old fan site * John Passfield's personal homepage and his game studio Red Sprite Studios together with Pete Mullins * LGR reviewed Halloween Harry on YouTube 12 years ago, and also covered its sequel Zombie Wars no less than 15 years ago * Archived copy of Apogee/3DRealms' legacy site which hosts the freeware release of Halloween Harry and Alien Carnage, the original page has sadly gone offline recently * Blog post about why Elvis Presley randomly showing up was considered absolutely hilarious in the 90s * More Apogee in DGC episodes: 9 (Commander Keen), 16 (Duke Nukem 3D), 18 (Death Rally), 55 (Rise of the Triad), 65 (Raptor), 93 (Wolfenstein 3D) and 95 (Wacky Wheels)
Nov 20, 2025 · 2 hr 19 min
Ascendancy
As noted earlier, we seem to be having a bit of a space-themed streak at DOS Game Club this year. And it continues with September's game: Ascendancy, a 4X turn-based strategy game from 1995, developed by The Logic Factory. Pick one of the wild and very imaginative alien species featured in this game and get ready to dominate the universe! Hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") are joined by no fewer than three guests for this episode. First of all Lucas ("Cas") is back, who is also the one who suggested we play this game. He is joined by Hannes ("Mr. Creosote"), who has written a review of Ascendancy for his website GoodOldDays.net (see link below). And last but not least we are joined by Juan ("Reidrac"), who not only plays retro games, but also makes brand new ones for various old platforms, including MS-DOS! See the links below for his website where you can find his games. We also received a voice message from Peter ("pointer"), who has put together a possibly helpful script to combat the micromanagement that plagues this game, by automating a lot of the clicking around you have to do otherwise. Again, see the links below for the forum thread, we love seeing stuff like this! [ download mp3 ] (139 mins, 159 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Ascendancy review on GoodOldDays.net by Mr. Creosote * Juan's retro games * Pointer's AutoHotKey script * List of alien species, the website has other cool Ascendancy info as well! * Ascendancy official strategy guide, with a foreword by Logic Factory co-founder Jason Templeman about the history of their game development studio * We mention Master of Orion 2, another space-themed 4X game, which we discussed on episode 024, back in November 2018
Oct 28, 2025 · 1 hr 54 min
Golf games!
We've done some multi-game episodes, where we take a look at a whole genre of (typically) sports-type games. We've looked at skiing games, we've looked at pinball, we've looked at cricket. But this month is our most ambitious one yet, in which we venture into the world of PC golf. No fewer than 50 games have been discussed on our forums, ranging from humble text-only beginnings in the 1980s to fully featured multimedia presentations that really show what your late 90s machine is capable of. There's a golf game for everyone! Alongside hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we are joined by two excellent guests. First of all long-time DGC member Richard ("Pix"), who took the deepest dive of all this month and documented his findings on the forums, where he reviewed all 50 golf games for MS-DOS we came across. We are also joined by Corwin ("Wildweasel"), who is the maintainer of the "golfshrine online", a webpage dedicated to a physical cabinet which he uses to showcase his vast collection of golf videogames for various platforms. Both Richard's forum thread and Corwin's golfshrine are well worth a visit, see the links below! [ download mp3 ] (114 mins, 131 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for helping to make the podcast happen, and thanks to DGC member Console for editing the audio. Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Pix's golfing grand tour forum thread * Golfshrine Online by Wildweasel * Lot's of Jack Nicklaus custom courses can be found online through discmaster.textfiles.com, such as: this one or this one * We mention the Sierra Imagination Network at some point, which can still be accessed today through INN Barn
Oct 1, 2025 · 3 hr 49 min
Planetfall
What happens when a lowly Stellar Patrol ensign, stuck with endless busywork aboard the S.P.S. Feinstein, suddenly finds himself the lone survivor on a mysterious, crumbling outpost? Intercom's 1983 Planetfall isn't just another text adventure. It's a mix of sci-fi exploration, survival, and an emotional punch to the gut. Will we uncover the secrets of the abandoned alien world? Can we repair the failing base before it's too late? And what about that quirky little robot who insists on following you everywhere? Friend, nuisance, or something more? Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") on this episode we have three guests to discuss the game. First of all returning DGC member Hannes ("Mr Creosote"), who wrote a review of Planetfall for his website GoodOldDays.net. Also joining is Tony Longworth, a music composer who contributed music for Jason Scott's "Get Lamp" interactive fiction documentary and also made an album inspired by Infocom games called "Memories of Infocom volume 1". Last but not least we are joined by Jimmy Maher ("The Digital Antiquarian") who has written about the history of videogames in general and Infocom in particular for many years for his website Filfre.net. We received a voice message by Jon ("BogusMeatFactory"), for which we are very thankful! If you, too, want to be part of a future episode you can send one to club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (230 mins, 263 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix for making us all stick to actual schedules (did you notice we're not really lagging behind anymore?). And thanks to DGC member Console for editing the episode, you're a lifesaver! Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you. RELEVANT LINKS: * Mr. Creosote's review of Planetfall on GoodOldDays.net * Memories of Infocom - Volume 1 by Tony Longworth (also available as physical release from polyplay) * The Mind Electric - a selection of music from Get Lamp by Tony Longworth & Flesh-Resonance * The Digital Antiquarian offers many relevant articles, for example this one about Planetfall and this one about the roots of Infocom * The Literate Pixel podcast hosted by Jon ("BogusMeatFactory") and Nick * Get Lamp documentary about interactive fiction by Jason Scott * Steve Meretzky's personal homepage * In 2008 Steve Meretzky wrote about how he created Floyd the robot in Planetfall * Steve Meretzky kept meticulous notes, the ones on Planetfall are available on archive.org: part 1 and part 2
Aug 29, 2025 · 2 hr 23 min
Frontier: Elite II
With Earthworm Jim previously and Planetfall up next, you could say we're on a bit of a space-themed streak here. But while those games have lots of other things going on, the Elite series puts the vastness of outer space absolutely front and centre. When the original Elite came out in 1984 the sheer scale of the game blew everyone away. A whole universe on a floppy disk, who would have thought it possible! It was going to take a lot to amaze the audience again when the sequel was released, a whopping 9 years later. But Frontier: Elite II had kept up with current events. Gone were the wireframe graphics, a new colourful galaxy was there for you to explore. Just request take off permission and fly off, commander! Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") on this episode we have two guests to discuss the game. First of all returning DGC member Brian ("SpaceGameJunkie") who as you can tell by the username is all about space games. See the links below to find his YouTube and Twitch channels as well as the two (!) retro gaming podcasts he hosts. Also joining for the very first time is Tane, for who Frontier is one his favourite games. He also made a cool space visualiser inspired by Frontier that's linked below. We received no voice messages this time (boo!), but if you want to be part of a future episode you can send one to club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (144 mins, 164 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix, who also recorded the audio clips from his retro hardware which you hear in the episode's intro. And thanks to DGC member Console for editing the episode, you're a lifesaver! Thanks to all who make this show possible, we couldn't do this without you. RELEVANT LINKS: * Check out Brian's stuff at spacegamejunkie.com and retrodogfight.com * teskooano.space is Tane's procedural space viewer * Ian Bell's website * Frontier Fundamentals is a fantastic beginner-friendly tutorial series on YouTube by JimPlaysGames * Great Frontier fan sites: Frontierverse and FrontierAstro * Some games mentioned on the podcast are: Frontier First Encounters D3D, Oolite and Pioneer * We mention Starflight, which was discussed on DGC episode 17 and Nomad, which was discussed on DGC episode 40
Aug 9, 2025 · 1 hr 57 min
Earthworm Jim
"It's a day like any other. A crow is chasing a worm, a worm named Jim. Today the worm escapes to safety and the crow eats dirt. Jim looks left, then right. It seems he has given the crow the slip. Jim returns to his normal daily life, cruising about avoiding crows and doing other general worm-like things. Jim is suddenly struck by a very large ultra high tech indestructible super space cyber suit." This is all the backstory we get from the manual to explain why a worm is walking around in a space suit. And to be fair, it's all we need! Earthworm Jim (1994, Shiny Entertainment) is the kind of 2D platformer, with its cartoony graphics and smooth animations, that was becoming quite commonplace on the consoles of the time, but was still pretty rare to see on the PC. As a product of the 90s it's full of bizarre humour, only elevated by its eclectic soundtrack. There's no doubt this game has a great production quality. But is it fun to play? Let's find out! Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") we are joined by two guests. First of all DGC member Wouter ("Jefklek") is back, who previously was on the Heretic episode. Newly joining the show is Lukasz ("Red Hexapus") who turns out to be a big fan of the game, so that's always good. Once again DGC members Watchful was so kind to send in a voice message, for which we are very thankful. If you also want to send in a voice message, you can email them to us at club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (117mins, 134 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix, who also recorded the audio clips from his retro hardware which you hear in the episode's intro. And thanks to DGC member Console for editing the episode, you're a lifesaver! Thanks to all who make this show possible, we can't do this without you. RELEVANT LINKS: * Earthworm Jim DOS and Windows comparison by DGC member dr_st, who also suggested we play the game! * Very colourful Earthworm Jim fan site full of drawings and other cool things * All of Jim's idle animations by Master0fHyrule on YouTube * Shiny Entertainment was previously discussed in DGC episode 96, on MDK
Jul 4, 2025 · 2 hr 41 min
Loom
"Rise, son of Cygna. It is the dawn of your seventeenth year. The Elders await you in the sanctuary." If you didn't listen to the 30 minute audio drama first, you'd have no idea what's going on when you first play Loom (1990, Lucasfilm Games). And if you did listen to it, you probably weren't any less confused. And on top of its unique magical fantasy setting, there's an unfamiliar music-based user interface to grapple with! Loom is probably one of the stranger Lucas point & click games, but its definitely not without its charm and therefore well worth checking out. Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") for this podcast we have three guests. First of all returning veteran DGC member Esko ("Firefyte"), who has been speedrunning Loom for many years. Joining the podcast for the first time is DGC member Eino ("Evil Taco"), we love it when we get new people on! And last but not least we are joined by Mads from the Retro Asylum Podcast, who did a podcast on Loom themselves a few years ago. On top of all this, DGC members Watchful, Juan ("Reidrac") and Christian ("stdevel") sent in a voice message. Thank you so much, we love hearing from our listeners! If you want to send in a voice message too, you can e-mail them to us at club@dosgameclub.com [ download mp3 ] (161 mins, 185 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix, who also recorded the audio clips from his retro hardware which you hear in the episode's intro. And thanks to DGC member Console for editing the episode, you're a lifesaver! Thanks to all who make this show possible, we can't do this without you. RELEVANT LINKS: * Retro Asylum Podcast episode 220 about Loom * Loom on Speedrun.com * Space Quest IV on Speedrun.com * Loom EGA vs VGA video by DOS Nostalgia on YouTube * A webpage dedicated to the EGA vs VGA graphics of Loom on superrune.com * Interview with Loom designer Brian Moriarty * Forge is an unfinished fan-made sequel that's worth checking out * Mark Ferrari's website has some other gorgeous pixel art he made over the years * Interview with George "The Fat Man" Sanger on the Retro Hour Podcast * Loom review by the International House of Mojo * Florian was a guest on the Focus On Linux podcast in an episode about retro gaming on Linux * We mention some previous DGC podcasts during this episode, including #45 Gateway, #22 Monkey Island, #54 Day of the Tentacle and #53 Interview with David Fox
Jun 16, 2025 · 2 hr 11 min
Revisiting DOOM
Florian has been counting all of our regular "one game a month" episodes, and it turns out we've hit 100 of them! We started this club back in March of 2017 with the first DOS game that came to mind, which happened to be DOOM (id Software, 1993). In hindsight this was a bit of a big game to kick things off, so even though we did have a great time with our very first guest Mike ("toasty", who was on the Cricket episode not that long ago), much of the Doom rabbit hole was left untouched. We've long felt it would be good to correct this by diving into Doom again, and a 100th episode anniversary seems as good an occasion as any, so here go! This month also saw the creation of the biggest DGC community project yet: a full episode of custom Doom levels! Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") on this episode of the podcast we have three fantastic guests, who are all not only keen long-time Doom players, but also Doom content creators. The custom content and community aspect of Doom is especially an area we felt was left unexplored in our first episode, so we tried to focus on that specifically. First of all joining this episode is long-time DGC veteran David X Newton, who has a fantastic YouTube channel that's for a large part filled with videos related to Doom. We are also joined by Scwiba, a prolific and award-winning Doom level designer who focuses mainly on levels that are compatible with the original vanilla Doom. Last but not least we have Jazz Mickle, a wide-ranging artist who does everything from graphics to music to games, including a ton of different Doom things such as maps, songs and tools. And on top of all this we received two voice messages, both from long time friends of the show. The first is from Watchful and the second from Spoonboy. Thank you very much for sending these in, it's always great to hear from club members! [ download mp3 ] (132 mins, 151 MB) Thanks to our producer Pix, who also recorded the audio clips from his retro hardware which you hear in the episode's intro. And thanks to DGC member Console for editing the episode, you're a lifesaver! And finally thank you, the listener, for sticking with us for so many years. Here's to the next 100 episodes! RELEVANT LINKS: * David X Newton has a YouTube channel and runs the yearly RAMP Doom map project * Scwiba organises NaNoWadMo and many of his levels can be found on DoomWiki.org * jmickle.com holds all of the many things Jazz Mickle has made, most of the Doom things were posted between 2014 and 2018 * Doom Is An Art Scene, YouTube video by Jazz Mickle * Our very own DGC map pack created by the community! * Doom Connector multiplayer tool for Doom * Doom World one of the oldest and biggest surviving Doom community websites * Zdoom offers different source port variations for playing Doom on modern hardware * Retro Ahoy on Doom video on YouTube * Action Button reviews Doom video on YouTube
May 26, 2025 · 3 hr 10 min
Ultima Underworld
We're back with a big one, in more ways than one! Normally we do a different game every month, but between December and February we've focused on Ultima Underworld for three months in a row. This was mainly done to give ourselves a chance to catch up, as we've been lagging behind with the podcast a fair bit. But also it's not easy to beat an open world RPG like Ultima Underworld in a single month, so this way everyone had a chance to check it out and see what's what with this groundbreaking title. Enjoy! Sadly our trusty co-host Florian ("rnlf") again couldn't make the episode. We promise it's just a hiccup, there's no drama and he'll be back for future episodes! Joining host Martijn ("Tijn") we have no fewer than four great guests. First of all there is DGC veteran Richard ("Pix") who is not only very keen on talking about Ultima Underworld, but he also been helping us as a producer the past months to make sure we get back on schedule. Next up we have two returning DGC members on the show: Patrick ("patrick_wd"), who was on the Jazz Jackrabbit episode, and Lars ("fastwinstdoom"), who joined us for Dungeon Keeper and Wacky Wheels. Last but not least we are joined by Chester from the excellent CRPG Addict Blog, where he has covered many RPG games over the years, so he can tell us a thing or two! [ download mp3 ] (191 mins, 218 MB) Thanks to all who help us make this show possible, we can't do it without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * The CRPG Addict blog by Chester * Ultima Underworld 3 design document from Pix's website * Reddit thread about the item limit as brought up by patrick_wd * Monomyth is a spiritual successor to UUW that was mentioned by Lars * Excellent deep dive in the making of Ultima Underworld by The Digital Antiquarian * Some 10 years ago PC Gamer posted an hour-long playthrough of UUW with creator Paul Neurath on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=6sh_DY28wl4
Apr 22, 2025 · 1 hr 36 min
Subwar 2050
We've featured a lot of different kinds of sim games over the years. We've piloted fighter jets, space ships, a ww2-era bomber and even giant mechs. But never before have we gone under water! In a lot of ways, 1993's Subwar 2050 by Particle Systems and MicroProse could be described as "aquatic Wing Commander". But even though it might be a little light on its story, there's a surprising depth to this game (pun unintended!). Being submerged under the oceans brings its own unique atmosphere, and it turns out Subwar 2050 manages to capture it well and turn the experience of playing it into something that's quite unlike anything else. Enjoy! Sadly our trusty co-host Florian ("rnlf") couldn't make the episode, but joining host Martijn ("Tijn") we have three excellent guests to more than make up for it. First of all there is DGC veteran Bjorn ("TigerQuoll") who is always keen on any combat sim. Joining for the first time we have Dario ("Psy"), who we welcome to the family. Always exciting to have new club members on! And last but not least we have Alex, who runs the "Tales from the darkened room" blog and YouTube channel, which has several articles and videos on Subwar 2050, as well as many other sim games. [ download mp3 ] (96 mins, 110 MB) Many thanks to DGC member Richard ("Pix") who helped produce the show, to DGC member Bernd ("console") who edited this episode, and to Bjorn ("TigerQuoll") for providing the game audio & music. Thanks to all who help us make this show possible, we can't do it without you! RELEVANT LINKS: * Subwar content on Tales of the Darkened Room the sim gaming blog maintained by Alex * Alex also posts to YouTube, such as this video of Subwar running in Dosbox Staging * Subwar 2050 on Mobygames * Subwar 2050 is available on both Steam and GOG * Microprose was previously discussed on DGC in episodes: 024 (Master of Orion 2), 032 (Knights of the Sky), 034 (X-Com / UFO Enemy Unknown), 035 (Sid Meier's Pirates!), 052 (Master of Magic) and 078 (B17 Flying Fortress)

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