PC Freeware Recommendations

[Moniker]

Throw down your favorite freeware PC games. Coz I want to play them and not pay for it. (Not listing roguelikes or shmups - I could recommend a couple dozen before getting started.)

An Untitled Story - Matt Thorson ------ best metroidvania evar
Cave Story - Pixel ------ the original is still the best
Hero Core -Daniel Remar ------ metroid meets zelda on the gameboy
Iji - Daniel Remar
La Mulana - Nigoro ----- the originial is still the best
Legend of Princess - Konjak ----- the zelda platformer you've always dreamed of
Maldita Castilla - Locomalito ----- the gng platformer you've always, erm...
Nezumi Man - Fishman ----- the best megaman tribute of all time evar
Nitronic Rush - Digipen ----- trials hd 3d hardcore, bro
Shoot First - Beau Blyth
Spelunky - Derek Yu ----- the nethack platformer you've always dreamed of
Vantage Master - Nihon Falcom
Viriax - Locomalito ----- the antishmup balloon fight something or other of the century

[Ruldra]

Cave Story
La Mulana
Iji
Spelunky
Shoot First
Nitronic Rush
Vantage Master
Viriax
Hero Core

I'm sure there are more I can't remember right now.

[lilmanjs]

N, Knytt, Knytt Stories, Speed Dreams. There's a platformer I loved that you were a chicken. I can't remember the title sadly.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Grand Theft Auto 2. (1 and Wild Metal Country are freeware too, but 1 isn't of much use on even not-so-modern PCs; as for WMC, I've yet to play it.)
Would expect TrackmMania Nations (Forever) to be mentioned sooner, but I've yet to play those either.
Boulder Dash - excellent Boulder Dash remake.
Wind and Water: Puzzle Battles, onEscapee - worth a go each for the presentation alone.

[Ed Oscuro]

Iwanaga looks cool, but downloads are hard to find, and I can't even get it to work properly.

[Ebbo]

Jelly no Puzzle
Very simple puzzle game where your goal is to combine cubes of jelly aka Aha! Moment - The Game.

[Observer]

Funny you mention Locomalito but don't mention Hydorah!

So, yes, here come a couple:
Hydorah - Locomalito
GENETOS - Tatsuya Koyama
PatriotDark - Temperance Lance
Warning Forever - Hikware
Yume Nikki - Kikiyama

[BrianC]

Funny you mention Locomalito but don't mention Hydorah!

From the first post:

(Not listing roguelikes or shmups - I could recommend a couple dozen before getting started.)

[Ganelon]

I prefer commercial games later released as freeware:

Arena, Daggerfall, Ultima IV, and Betrayal at Krondor are some of the best RPGs ever.
One Must Fall 2097 is a solid fighting game.
Beneath a Steel Sky is among the best adventure games.
The Ur-Quan Masters is a solid port of Star Control II, one of the premier 4x space sims.
Command & Conquer and Red Alert are fathers of the RTS genre.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I thought Dune II and Herzog Zwei were the founding RTS games.

[Mischief Maker]

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.

PERIOD.

[Ganelon]

I thought Dune II and Herzog Zwei were the founding RTS games.

Those 2 are mentioned most often but there are actually numerous claimants for "progenitor of the RTS genre." C&C is not among them but it (along with the original Warcraft) were responsible for kickstarting RTS from a niche novelty to one of the best-selling PC genres.

[Ed Oscuro]

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.

PERIOD.

but I have to play the original SHUJ before this, don't I

[Mischief Maker]

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.

PERIOD.

but I have to play the original SHUJ before this, don't I

If you've watched "Space Jam" you're golden.

[Drum]

Rescue the Beagles is a lot of fun. I think I've played that more than any game that's not Nethack or Spelunky.
Yume Nikki ought to be mentioned, though my patience with that waned.
I liked A Game With A Kitty.
I thought Yahtzee's Chzo adventure games were really good, though I was much less interested in the sci fi ones.
Drain Storm is a super-streamlined roguelike that's just as much Smash TV (but turn-based) so it probably counts. Fun, but hard to find.

Seems kinda weird to exclude roguelikes and shmups while including platformers, but I suppose it does make it manageable.

[Ed Oscuro]

Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden.

PERIOD.

but I have to play the original SHUJ before this, don't I

If you've watched "Space Jam" you're golden.

I don't think I ever did...I'll do that though.

Looking at the developer site, I see they have the original, rather crappy version of the game available (which I'm sure I downloaded but never fooled around with back at the time).

What I really want to see is their "Non Human" game; it looks pretty fresh.

[Moniker]

Seems kinda weird to exclude roguelikes and shmups while including platformers, but I suppose it does make it manageable.

Once I work up the motivation, I'll assort 'em by genre, so might as well include everything, I suppose.

Boulder Dash - excellent Boulder Dash remake.

This reminded me of Supaplex, an old DOS Boulder Dash clone. Many many hours of my childhood and adolescence were spent eating motherboards and avoiding rampaging scissors.

There are a couple of variants that attempted to modernize it - Megaplex was one, I think there was another that worked better. Will investigate.

[louisg]

This reminded me of Supaplex, an old DOS Boulder Dash clone. Many many hours of my childhood and adolescence were spent eating motherboards and avoiding rampaging scissors.

There are a couple of variants that attempted to modernize it - Megaplex was one, I think there was another that worked better. Will investigate.

Whoa! Is that the one with slick VGA graphics and orchestra hit sound effects? I really liked that one.

What about Oldie GP? I think that's the title. It's kind of like Monaco GP crossed with other top-down racing games like Zippy Race. But a lot better. I cannot find it now though.

EDIT: Found it! The author's site might be down, but here's a sketchy download link which may or may not contain malware: http://www.gamesreplay.net/joomla/gioch ... wnload/189 .. this is New Oldies GP, the good one. The screenshot is from the original Oldies GP I believe, which isn't as varied.

[Batsu]

Hey folks!
You should also try Treasure Adventure Game by Robit Studios.

Greetings

[lilmanjs]

Pekka Kana 2. You play as a chicken, and don't let the cute music and graphics fool you. This game gets very hard towards the latter levels. Great platformer. http://www.pistegamez.net/game_pk2.html

[louisg]

Wait, here's a New Oldies GP link that's not totally sketch! http://rinrin.saiin.net/~kojiwada/softw ... index.html

IIRC, it's really good. Check it out.

[RNGmaster]

Within A Deep Forest is a really cool puzzle platformer where you play as a rubber ball. Made by the NightSky devs.

Guess who has the WR speedrun for it?

I also enjoyed CAT PLANET, Yume Nikki/Yume 2kki/.flow, Irisu Syndrome, Bonesaw: The Game, Nikujin (weirdo fast-paced ninja action), I Wanna Be The Boshy (the only good IWBTG-style game) and some others.

[lilmanjs]

Within A Deep Forest is a really cool puzzle platformer where you play as a rubber ball. Made by the NightSky devs.

Guess who has the WR speedrun for it?

I also enjoyed CAT PLANET, Yume Nikki/Yume 2kki/.flow, Irisu Syndrome, Bonesaw: The Game, Nikujin (weirdo fast-paced ninja action), I Wanna Be The Boshy (the only good IWBTG-style game) and some others.

How could I forget Within A Deep Forest in my first post. That man makes some great stuff. I got my dad hooked on NightSky. you really hold the WR speedrun for it?

[RNGmaster]

no. chum holds the WR, that's why i linked to his channel.

[Zeether]

I forgot Vantage Master was available for free, Retronauts mentioned it on one episode and it sounded worth checking out.