Pixels of the Past - Chapter 2: Games I Loved in the 1990s, Part 1

A richly personal retro-gaming chapter about the DOS PC games that defined the early-to-mid 1990s — from cinematic space combat and CD-ROM spectacle to strategy classics, first-person shooters and giant stomping BattleMechs.

DOS Games of the 1990s:
This is a nostalgic, memoir-style journey through the DOS PC games that helped reshape home gaming during the 1990s. Written from the perspective of someone who lived through the transition from 16-bit home computers to powerful 32-bit PCs, this chapter captures the excitement, frustration and wonder of a period when games suddenly became faster, larger, louder and more ambitious.

Across this chapter, the author revisits the era of DOS commands, CONFIG.SYS mysteries, Sound Blaster cards, CD-ROM upgrades and mail-order anticipation. The chapter moves through eight favourite DOS games of the decade, supported by personal memories, historical context and reflections on why these games mattered so much at the time.

This is not a detached encyclopaedia of old games. It is a warm, reflective and highly personal account of what it felt like to discover cinematic PC gaming, 3D space combat, real-time strategy, tactical alien warfare, CD-ROM audio, full-motion video and early immersive worlds as they arrived in homes for the first time.

What’s Inside:
• A memoir-style introduction to gaming and popular culture in the 1990s.
• A personal account of moving from Atari ST gaming to a 486SX DOS PC.
• Reflections on early PC hardware, Sound Blaster cards, Windows 3.1 and DOS boot configuration.
• Eight detailed favourite DOS game retrospectives. These include Dune, Frontier: Elite II and Command & Conquer.
• Four additional honourable mentions for other games from the same period that didn’t make it to the main list. These include Ultima Underworld and Star Wars: Rebel Assault.
• Personal anecdotes about family gaming, student life, mail-order purchases and multiplayer setup hassles.

Who This Is For:
• Retro gamers who grew up with DOS PCs, Sound Blaster cards and CD-ROM drives.
• Readers interested in personal gaming history rather than purely technical game analysis.
• Fans of 1990s PC classics such as Doom, X-Wing, X-COM and MechWarrior 2.
• Anyone who remembers typing DOS commands, tweaking boot files or waiting impatiently for mail-order games to arrive.
• Writers, bloggers and game historians interested in preserving lived experiences of the home-computing era.
• Younger gamers curious about what made early PC gaming feel so transformative.

Why You Might Enjoy It:
This chapter is for readers who enjoy reflective, story-led writing about games. Rather than ranking titles by review score or technical achievement alone, it explores why certain games stayed in memory: the first time a PC seemed impossibly powerful, the thrill of CD-ROM audio, the stress of losing a veteran X-COM soldier, the wonder of flying through a living galaxy in Frontier, or the shared family memories created around a joystick and keyboard.

If you enjoy writing that combines nostalgia, technology, humour and personal memory, this eBook offers a warm return to a time when PC gaming was still discovering what it could become.

About the Series:
Pixels of the Past is a five‑part journey through four decades of gaming history, tracing the author’s life from early home computers to the golden age of PC gaming.

Each chapter blends personal reflection with cultural and technological insight, exploring the games, hardware and moments that quietly shaped a generation.

Together, the series offers a nostalgic, narrative‑driven look at how gaming evolved — and how those eras left their mark on the author.