News & Updates

30 Years Since id Software’s Birth That Powered MS-DOS Gaming Legends

On this day — February 1, 1991 — a pivotal moment in PC gaming history quietly occurred: the programmers John Carmack, John Romero, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack formally founded id Software, the company that would go on to define a generation of MS-DOS games with titles like Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom.

Before id Software became a worldwide influence, its core team cut their teeth in Softdisk’s Gamer’s Edge series — including the MS-DOS shooter Slordax: The Unknown Enemy, completed in late 1990 — but February 1, 1991 marked the day they struck out on their own, establishing a development house that would radically reshape the first-person shooter genre and PC gaming culture throughout the 1990s.

At the time, MS-DOS was the dominant platform for PC games, and id Software’s innovations in smooth scrolling, VGA graphics, and shareware distribution helped push the IBM-compatible PC from an also-ran platform into a leading home gaming machine. Celebrating this anniversary gives retro gamers reason to revisit the Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D shareware episodes, the latter of which helped codify the FPS template on MS-DOS systems.

DOOM’s 32nd Anniversary: the MS-DOS landmark that reshaped PC shooters

On this day 32 years ago, id Software quietly but decisively changed PC gaming: at (just after) midnight on December 10, 1993, the studio released the first episode of DOOM as shareware for MS-DOS — an upload that immediately spread across BBSes, FTP sites and early internet nodes and helped establish the modern first-person shooter. The team published the first episode freely while selling the full game, a distribution strategy that fuelled DOOM’s rapid, word-of-mouth growth.

The launch was notable not only for timing but for scale: demand was so high that the planned FTP upload overwhelmed the university server id intended to use, forcing administrators to increase connections and clear existing users before the file went live — a small but vivid moment illustrating how quickly DOOM spread. Technically, DOOM introduced a powerful engine and mod-friendly WAD file format that invited user maps and mods, seeding a vibrant community that extended the game’s lifespan and influence.

Play here -> Doom

The Secret of Monkey Island (1990) turns 35 — celebrate Lucasfilm’s classic MS-DOS adventure

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the original release of The Secret of Monkey Island, which first shipped for MS-DOS (and Amiga/Mac) in October 1990 — commonly cited as October 15, 1990 in contemporary retrospectives and archival sources. This Ron Gilbert-designed SCUMM title introduced Guybrush Threepwood, LeChuck and one of the most beloved comedy-adventure scripts in gaming history, and it remains a defining example of the late-DOS point-and-click era. Happy Birthday!

Return to Zork (1993) turns 32: Activision’s FMV-powered revival of Infocom’s classic

Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the worldwide release of Return to Zork, which shipped for Mac and MS-DOS on September 15, 1993.

The game modernized the Zork franchise by moving away from Infocom’s text-parser roots to a first-person, point-and-click graphical adventure; CD-ROM editions featured full-motion video and Redbook audio (one MS-DOS CD version required the RealMagic MPEG board to play in-game FMV).

Return to Zork was the last Zork title released under the Infocom label and became a commercial hit — shipping roughly one million copies by the mid-1990s — helping stabilize Activision after corporate turmoil.

Shadow Warrior (1997) turns 28: remembering 3D Realms’ MS-DOS shooter

Today marks the 28th anniversary of the full retail release of Shadow Warrior, the Build-engine first-person shooter by 3D Realms (published in retail form on September 12, 1997 after a shareware episode earlier that year). Originally released for MS-DOS and later ported to Mac, the game introduced the wisecracking protagonist Lo Wang and mixed fast FPS action with tongue-in-cheek, often controversial humor — a distinct part of the late-’90s PC shooter scene. Shadow Warrior

New news section!

A new news section has been added to OldSchoolGames.eu, you can look forward to various interesting things from the retro world of MS-DOS games as well as information about website updates!

September 7, 1991 – Leisure Suit Larry 5 Released!

On this day in 1991, Sierra On-Line released Leisure Suit Larry 5: Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work for MS-DOS (as well as Amiga and Macintosh). This fifth entry in the iconic comedy adventure series continued the misadventures of Larry Laffer, blending adult humor, satire, and classic point-and-click gameplay.
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