Shareware clones/lookalikes of popular games

Post by **MrFlibble** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 1:15 pm

Now that we have touched this topic recently, I thought I'd repost what was originally part of the freeware alternatives list but then I decided to remove it.

Basically, the list below includes games that are: a) originally distributed via the shareware model (some have become liberated since and are marked with a L) and b) are straightforward clones or share a significant similarity with some popular game titles.

Command & Conquer

A.R.S.E.N.A.L. Taste the Power [download]

Diablo

ShadowFlare

Doom

Quiver

Duke Nukem

Space Chase

Exile series

Realmz

Metroid

Sinaria

Might and Magic series

Mortal Kombat

Battle of the Eras L

Sonic the Hedgehog

Street Fighter II

Sango Fighter L

Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Kart

Ultima I-V

Ultima VI

Ultima VII

Excelsior Phase Two: Errondor

Warlords

Hostile Takeover

Wolfenstein 3D

Ken's Labyrinth L

X-COM: Enemy Unknown

PaybackTime 2 L

Post by **wardrich** » Tue Oct 15, 2013 4:03 pm

Heads-up: ShadowFlare appears to have gone under. The website is still around, but they took the downloads and sale options last week.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 1:50 pm

Thanks for the info, I didn't know that. Episode One download is still available from various places, including FilePlanet. The ShadowFlare site did not host the download anyway.

Quadko · Post by **Quadko** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 3:07 pm

I'd never heard of it until you guys were talking about it, but now it has "gone away", I'm feeling the scarcity and have an irrational urge to go track it down and play it really quickly.

Stupid way my brain works. Nothing triggers it quite like fake scarcity.

Post by **MrFlibble** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 4:03 am

I'm pretty certain ShadowFlare was mentioned in the post-DOS episodic shareware topic. This is actually a game that was episodic but initially not shareware as the developers first released a demo of the game which was only a psrt of Episode One (the demo is still available here). Perhaps other episodes were not yet available then. Eventually though the entire Episode One was released for free.

The download of Episode One has been removed from C|NET which seems to have been the official download site of the game. Even if the company is out of business and they have stopped selling their product (I wonder why?), this is quite weird, as if they were deliberately trying to make their own game vapourware.

I've always thought that the developers would be interested in keeping their game known even if it is no longer sold and therefore brings no profit, but apparently here it's not the case. Which is a pity.

Quadko · Post by **Quadko** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:06 am

Yes, no kidding. Any chance it is a C|NET decision rather than the companies? I'm not very familiar with their file hosting. (They are still around? I remember them from years ago!)

I've been on an Ultima kick lately, started by reading through the 'Blogging Ultima' pages from 2007ish. I'm playing 5, but now I'm eyeballing your list a few posts above - new stuff I've not seen. Thank you!

Post by **MrFlibble** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:28 am

Quadko wrote:Any chance it is a C|NET decision rather than the companies?

There's no way to know for sure (other than asking them directly that is), but I think it is no coincidence that the last snapshot of the working downloads page from Google chaceh is dated October 6, 2013, while the announcement of the game being discontinued was posted on the official website the day after that.

Also, C|NET Downloads/Download.com had been listed as the official download link on the ShadowFlare website for a long time. There might have been some sort of partnership contract or something between them.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 1:08 am

MrFlibble wrote:Even if the company is out of business and they have stopped selling their product

the developers would be interested in keeping their game known even if it is no longer sold and therefore brings no profit, but apparently it's not the case. Which is a pity.

That's why it's called 'abandonware'.

It's their fault that they didn't even release it to freeware and it's been downloaded illegally, which is very common practice with any company.
(Big hooray for those which do, however.)