The Rarest DOS Games (And How Much They’re Worth)

In the early days of personal computers, one of the most popular interfaces was MS-DOS, which stands for Microsoft Disk Operating System. Unlike competitors like Apple and Commodore, DOS could run on any PC regardless of who built it, and users could even boot it from floppy disks instead of a local hard drive. The size of the market also led to many developers creating games for DOS. Not only could you count on many potential customers, but computers could handle more complex games than modern game consoles.

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It also helped that some floppy disks were much cheaper to manufacture than proprietary cartridges. Of course, some of these disks, while cheap at the time, have become collector’s items. Like many retro titles, the once-regular games are now artifacts of history and nostalgia. Far from being cheap, the rarest and most expensive DOS games are still highly sought-after collectibles.

All prices are from PriceCharting.com and correct at time of publication.

Back before The Elder Scrolls Onlineback forward Skyrimand even before that Morrowind And Daggerfallthere was The Elder Scrolls: Arena. A young company called Bethesda Softworks wanted to develop a medieval team battle game called arena, but as development progressed, the game became more and more ambitious, eventually becoming an RPG about exploring an entire continent. The only remnant of the original idea that would appear in the final product would be the game’s name.

Nowadays, Bethesda offers The Elder Scrolls: Arena available for free as a digital download through Steam and their website, but physical copies are much harder to find. Given the game’s groundbreaking scope and enduring legacy, it’s no wonder original copies have become valuable to collectors.

5 Neverwinter Nights ($787)

In 1988, tabletop gaming company TSR capitalized on the rise of computer RPGs through licensing Dungeons and Dragons to the developer SSI. The games resulting from this partnership are called golden box Series as most games came in gold colored boxes. Never winter nights was a special entry.

SSI has teamed up with early Internet company America Online (AOL) to create an online role-playing game using the same engine as the rest golden box series, and anyone using AOL’s service could connect with other players over the Internet. Never winter nights wasn’t the first MMORPG, but it was the first to have graphics and not just a text interface. The Never winter nights Developed by BioWare in 2002 and the Never winter The 2013 MMOs developed by Cryptic Studios are both sequels to it golden box The legacy of the game.

4 Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter ($886)

Before id Software changed everything by developing first-person shooters, the studio developed a series of side-scrolling platformers with main characters Commander Keen, a child genius and space adventurer. The first set of Commander Keen Games was so popular that the developers set up their own studio, but the latest games in the series really brought the idea of ​​the PC platform game to life.

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Aliens ate my babysitter is the last game in the Commander Keen Series. It was originally intended to be the final part of a trilogy, but the story and environments were so unique that id Software was able to release it independently. For Keen fans it’s sad that I would make it Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 and the team never looked back to their platformer days.

3 Kyoto Cosmology ($1,001)

Some collectibles weren’t popular when they first appeared, but they had a cult following that kept their name alive long into the future. Kyoto cosmology is one such game, which has gone from being an obscure and somewhat bizarre title to one of the most expensive MS-DOS games in the years since its initial release.

Kyoto cosmology is a rare Japanese game developed for PC platforms and whose developer was called Softedge. The game has no central storyline. Instead, players are dropped off in Kyoto in AD 1000 and must explore the city in a sandbox environment. The game didn’t make much money in the United States, probably due to its unusual style and all-Japanese voice acting, but film critic Roger Ebert gave it a rave review in 1994.

2 Indiana Jones in Revenge of the Ancients ($1,280)

Indiana Jones in Revenge of the Ancients is a good example of a game that could only exist on a PC. The very first adventure games were text adventures, which meant players had to enter their commands using keywords or letters, and then the game described in text what was happening. Games like this are still made today and the genre is called interactive fiction.

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revenge of the ancients is important for several reasons. Although it wasn’t the first Indiana Jones It was the first game ever developed for PC platforms. Second, it’s the only interactive fiction game ever made with the Indiana Jones license. After all, this is well-written fiction, which was no guarantee even back when the genre was popular.

1 Commander Keen in “Goodbye, Galaxy” ($2,187)

Aliens ate my babysitter was a good entry in the Commander Keen series, but it’s not the one most people remember. The entry in the series that achieved the biggest breakthrough and garnered the most attention was Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy.. The game featured relatively sophisticated and colorful graphics that brought the cartoon character of the story to life, not to mention the excellent sound design and the creative choice of enemy types and level designs.

The id Software team would use this creativity again in development demise in 1993, and there’s a reason more people remember it demise as Commander Keen. Quiet, Goodbye galaxy is a fun game, it’s a historically significant game, and thanks to id’s old shareware marketing model, it’s a rare game to come bundled with it. All in all, it’s really no wonder it was one of the rarest DOS games.

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