Microsoft Monday
A few days ago when Ryan wrote about the fact that Space Cadet Pinball (a.k.a. Windows Pinball or 3D Pinball) is no longer included with Windows as one of the standard games, he also mentioned some of the other classic games that Microsoft has retired. I thought it would be fun to go back and take a look at some of those games that many of us used to play on a regular basis. While they are retired, they are still available for download, which I’ll include the links for.
—Pinball—
Pinball was introduced as a standard game included with Windows when NT 4.0 debuted in 1996. Formally called 3D Pinball: Space Cadet, it became a favorite and was included with versions of Windows up until Windows Vista.
About Pinball: Those of you who played it know that there were 9 different ranks that you could attain by completing missions. The lowest rank was Cadet, and went all the way up to Fleet Admiral. I don’t even remember what my highest rank was, but I know for sure it wasn’t Fleet Admiral 
—SkiFree—
SkiFree was actually created by a guy working at Microsoft as a game he played for his own education and entertainment. So how did it end up as a classic Microsoft game? On the official SkiFree website, creator Chris Pirih says, “One day while I was playing with it at work, the program manager for Windows Entertainment Pack happened to look over my shoulder and immediately decided he had to have this game. I called it WinSki, but the Microsoft marketroids hated that and decided, for inscrutible marketroidal reasons, to call it SkiFree. After some token resistance I let them have their way. Since the program was not originally a Microsoft product, Microsoft licensed it from me and paid me some trivial one-time fee (something like 100 shares of MSFT stock, no royalties) for its use.”
The object of course, was to ski down a slope but do so while avoiding obstacles. It was designed for 16–bit Windows, and then later turned into a 32–bit version. The very first version is pictured below and uses “^” to mark where the trees are, and “//” to mark the skier. A more updated version is pictured next to it.
Don’t forget about the Abominable Snow Monster who’ll appear and attempt to eat you!
—Hover—
You’ll remember Hover from Windows 95 where according to Wikipedia, “it was a showcase for the advanced multimedia capabilities available on personal computers at the time.” It’s best described as a “capture the flag” type of game where the object is to capture your enemy’s flags before they capture yours.
—Rodent’s Revenge—
Rodent’s Revenge is probably one of my all-time favorite games to come with Windows. If you’ve never played it, you’re missing out! It was originally created in 1991 and the object is to trap the cats. Once the cats are trapped and they can’t move, they’ll turn into cheese which you’ll want to go back and eat to get some extra points. You’ve got three lives to get you through 50 levels!
You can actually beat the snow monster:
[en.wikipedia.org]
Crazy…I didn’t know you could get around the snow monster!
I think you just made his day
Great list, that reminds me theres a flight sim game and another one.. um.. i forgot its name, it’s like you place some pipes and after some time some green liquid got squeezed out and you need to place enough pipes to let it flow. Anyone knows where can I download back those 2 games? Thanks LOL. Oh yeah both games are in Windows 3.1, or 1.3, oh I forgot! But it must be before Windows 95, on the same platform as SkiFree! Oh I wanna play them now!
I would also like to download that game with the pipes and the green liquid. There’s another one, though. It’s a maze and there’s a boy. You have to move blocks around to get to the finish of the level and you’re picking up keys…? It would almost be like the early stages of Zelda!
The one with the green liquid is Pipe Dreams, and there is another title for itg
The other one with the boy and the blocks is chips challenge
these can be found here:
[siteaboutnothing.com] under BOWEP (best of windows entertainment pack.
I’m looking for one of the old games with the ood shaped yellow blocks, with one red block. The goal is to get the red block out of all the yellow ones…. any ideas….
I have no idea what that game could be. I don’t think it is one that came with Windows.
whats the one where you try and separate the balls into their own sections?? the balls look like they bounce off the walls and they are colored red and white.
what game is that???
the one where you separate the balls is called Jezzball. it’s included in BOWEP if you can find that.
WHERE CAN I DOWNLOAD THE GAME CALLED LOADRUNNER? The one for windows. i have found the pocket version, but that is retarded. i want the real thing!
What’s the name of the game that came on windows 95 or a later version where you had to create a way for objects to get from one side of the map to the next.I think the name had a proffessor in the title.Objects like buckets of water even babboons were used.I really don’t knowm another way to describe this game!!
Ik search the old game: GOAL. I played that i thought in 1995. Where can i found this old game?
I am looking for two games one is the snake game that you eat apples in and the other didn’t come with windows i don’t think but it’s midevial ages and you fight people (kind of like an RTS)
OK well i downloaded Hover and it won’t let me play it. it says that it is haveing trouble reading one of the files. i saved it to my hard drive and then openedit and it won’t work should i re-download it?
I am looking for a version of taipei that uses numbers and stacked fields in varios shapes to play . I believe it might have been part of windows best of entertainment package that came out in 1995. thank you.
the sanke game is called Rattler Race. that is the one i’m trying to find myself for download…but i can’t find the files
What is the game with the grid made of dots, with the pole/pipe/stick that revolves around one, and then you skip to the next dot, and if the pipe swings over a fuse, the fuse lights and blow this thing up…
i wish i could give a better description, but i was 5 or so when i used to play it with my bro.
Any help?
Also, check this website out, Steve, and everyone else…
[geocities.com]
It didn’t work on my computer, is there an alternate website?
What is the game where you have to get to collect things on the screen. You had to go through doorways/entries which would then open, letting spinning “enemies” out. If they hit you, you would die. I can’t remember what it is called. I want to say “dodger” or something like that. Where can I download it?!!
i need to downlode 3d pinball idk how to
i really need to know how
Hey guys around 1995 I got my first pc with windows 98 and I didn’t have any games so my dad and I went over to our nearest CompUSA and I got a software cd called games surplus. It came with a bunch of games that were either demos, shareware, or freeware. When you popped the cd in it would show a box in the background and have a bunch of different options you could choose.
There was one game in particular on that cd that I really enjoyed. I think it was called gang wars or thief or gang lands or something. The game started off with a small person icon on a map of a city. You could only take a couple of steps before the day changed.
The game let you hire some people from the loan shark, and when you commit certain crimes like kidnapping children from the “playground” you can hold them for ransom but then you get to the drop off point and you enter either a mini game where you have to chase the kid who took the ransom money under your nose or you might have to go into a battle with the police.
The game also allowed you to hold up diners or banks but depending on your “gangster” status they either took you seriously or they kicked you out. BTW you start the game off with only your fists (or it might have been a knife)
I know this is very vague and long but if anyone knows what this game was called and where I could get my hands on it I would be forever grateful. Please email me @ Vergilus@gmail.com if you might know.