ApoFree/FreeD Realms

May 8, 2015 5:32 AM

Not long ago, 3D Realms (formerly Apogee, not to be confused with the spin-off Apogee) revamped its website and store, including an anthology (several of these games have also been released on GOG.com). A few days ago, after much negotiation with individual rights holders, a Steam version of the anthology (missing Wolfenstein 3D and Commander Keen, which are (apart from two certain Keen titles) already available on Steam via iD/ZeniMax) was released (direct link to store page). Over the years, they have also made a bunch of their titles freeware. After the break, a full list of links to download those free games via their legacy site (apart from two, downloadable elsewhere) in order of original release. Most of the newer ones are also available in the revamped store for registered users (via the same library as game purchases). Those not available via that store will be marked. Oh, and as always, DOSbox is your friend when running old DOS games.

All downloads except Boppin' and Stargunner are from this page.

Beyond the Titanic (1986) *
Supernova (1987) *
Kroz series (1987) * (note: according to this, the Kroz games are officially seven in number but have a complicated history of aliases and variants, so you may want to read the readme file to make sense of it all)
Trivia Whiz (1988) *
Word Whiz (1988) *
Caves of Thor (1989) *
Adventure and Puzzle Fun-Paks (individual titles: 1986 to 1989 or 1990) *
Pharaoh's Tomb (1990)
Monuments of Mars (1990)
Arctic Adventure (1991)
Dark Ages (1991) **
Bio Menace (1993)
Major Stryker (1993)
Alien Carnage (1994)
Boppin' (1994) * (Link is to page where game can be downloaded; click the floppy disk)
Xenophage (1995) **
Stargunner (1996) (original file host no longer exists, DOS Games Archive to the rescue; stargunf.zip is the full version)

* indicates a game not available on 3D Realms' modern site, ** indicates a game not yet available there but which will be added to its anthology and possibly also as a standalone title

Other stuff:

Wolfenstein 3D Super Upgrades, including 815 extra levels, a level generator and a map editor.
Backup of the legacy site's FTP server on the Internet Archive

posted by BiggerJ (11 comments total)

I can't write a review for Monster Bash on Steam because my copy isn't from there, but I will say that the first episode is a great PC platformer with some unique mechanics and theming, but the level design really suffers in the registered episodes.
posted by Pope Guilty at 6:08 AM on May 8, 2015

Alien Carnage (aka Halloween Harry) is one I've been thinking about for YEARS. Literally since I was 7. So is Dark Ages. Thanks for drawing this to my attention.
posted by blnkfrnk at 6:12 AM on May 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

I'm scratching my head trying to remember which of these I actually played. I definitely played Pharoah's Tomb and Monuments of Mars, which were fun little games although I remember the hitboxes on your characters being fairly gruesomely large. This was an issue with old games where the hitbox was just a big square around your non-square character and you have to be extra careful.

They were distinctive in part because they had a sort of console game feel and at the time that was quite rare in PC games.

I swear I played some of the Kroz games but I can't remember them at all. I'll have to try and DL sometime. Thanks!
posted by selfnoise at 6:20 AM on May 8, 2015

This is literally my childhood.
posted by griphus at 6:28 AM on May 8, 2015 [6 favorites]

I played the shareware version of a lot of these. As an 11 year old with no money the idea of purchasing the full game seemed so enticing and yet so out of reach.
posted by mcmile at 7:00 AM on May 8, 2015 [5 favorites]

I got a kick out of this which is not in the package. Terminal Velocity was a mind-blowing game in the days when people were just starting to talk about 3D cards. Looks like you can still download the S3 Virge patch which I'm sure will be SUPER useful!
posted by selfnoise at 7:02 AM on May 8, 2015 [4 favorites]

I loved loved loved Terminal Velocity. It was pretty much the last 3D game my computer could handle (my video card was something like a 512k Cirrus Logic) and I played the shit out of it.
posted by kmz at 7:06 AM on May 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Dopefish lives
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:16 AM on May 8, 2015 [7 favorites]

I'll always have a soft spot for 3D Realms...I spent so many hours building custom maps for Duke Nukem 3D. I just did a quick web search, and a couple of my most popular maps (circa 1996) are still available on map download sites. Bananas.
posted by Hot Pastrami! at 8:26 AM on May 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

This takes me back to the mid 90s when my dad installed the shareware floppies of Crystal Caves, Secret Agent, Commander Keen Vol I, and Duke Nuken on the computer I shared with my brother. There's something great about the 5 minute-ish levels that made them so playable.
posted by JauntyFedora at 9:23 AM on May 8, 2015 [2 favorites]

Terminal Velocity is part of both the 3DRealms.com and Steam versions of the anthology and on GOG.com.
posted by BiggerJ at 8:04 PM on May 8, 2015