The Shareware Motherlode
A downloadable game
Take a trip down to the origin of PC gaming! Here are 43 handpicked shareware and freeware games in a nice, ready-to-play package. Each game has a short description and can be played right from the box without installation!
Included games:
Bouncing Babies • Doom • 1Pinball • SneeSnoo Snake • BlueBalls • XQuest II • Catchem • Astrofire • Epic Pinball • Overkill • 3-Demon • Blake Stone • Nitemare-3D • Depth Dwellers • Heretic • Shadow Caster • Megawolf • CodeMaster • Bounty Hunter Game • Big Rig • Advanced Robot War • Cyberbox II • Arena • Minefield for Everybody • Sleuth - A Murder Mystery • Captain Comic • Abuse • Bionic Menace • Secret Agent • Jetpack • Arcade Volleyball • One Must Fall 2097 • Scorched Earth • Gravity Wars II • BananaTron • Wacky Wheels • Redhook’s Revenge • Catacomb • Kaptajn Kaper i Kattegat • Chopper Commando • Wolfenstein 3-D • Quatris Pro • Boxmov
Status | Released |
Rating | Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars (1 total ratings) |
Author | Kasper Hviid |
Tags | DOS, Retro |
Download
Install instructions
Just download, unzip, and run Shareware Motherlode.exe
Microsoft Smartscreen may complain that it's an "unrecognized app". Don't worry, the software is fine. It's Microsoft Smartscreen that has a problem. The .exe is just a renamed version of the DOS emulator DosBox Staging.
Development log
- SHAREWARE MOTHERLODE is hereby released! (finally!)Mar 19, 2021
Comments
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This is really a fantastic idea; reminds me of a modern version of those shareware CDs I used to buy in newsagents as a kid!
The main games I felt were "missing" were Commander Keen, Duke Nukem and Crystal Caves. I feel they are among the most iconic shareware games, after Doom and Wolf3D.
I would also love to see added (shareware versions):Descent
Vinyl Goddess From Mars
Jill of the Jungle
Jazz Jackrabbit
Xargon
Traffic Department 2192
Highway Hunter
Solar Winds
Is there a reason any of those could not be added besides personal preference? Just checking because I'll make a private patch that adds them for me if not! :)
Thanks, good selection! Will see if I can get them added in the next update. This is still pretty much an in-dev project, so lots of classics are missing.
Had a bit of trouble with Jill of the Jungle though. It didn't return to the batch file it was run from (the menu) so I ended up just removing it. Might try it again!
Hi! Thanks for the reply (I forgot RADIX too, I think that had a shareware version?).
I just tried "inserting" Jill into your collection and got it working to return to the batch/platformers menu. If you need a hand with anything. please drop me a message or email; I'm an old DOS vet and grew up with these games as well as pretty pretty adept with DOSBox, and would be happy to help. :)
You got Jill to work? Splendid! Please tell me how. My mail is kasperhviid over at gmail
What a nice idea! I feel like being thrown back into the mid-90ies, exploring one of these 9 bucks-shareware cds. Thank you for this experience! :)