DOS Games Discussion

I wanted to ask others what their top ten list of DOS arcade games that have attract modes? For example Astrofire has a great attract mode. Thank you for your suggestions.

I recall watching Zaxxon playing itself was fun for awhile, but I can't say I looked for these things, so I can't fill a top ten list. Maybe I'll add some more if I remember them.

Moved from Find Old Games to General Gaming

Hey, good question! A while ago I wanted to make a list of DOS games with attract modes, even. Some can be found in the list of games with recordable replays at MobyGames, but it only includes those where the user can record own demos.

I'd say that an interesting case are games where the attract mode demo shows a level that is actually not playable. Prince of Persia is a notable example, Warcraft and Warcraft II also show special non-playable scenarios in attract mode (the first game recycles single-player campaign maps for this purpose though). In Horde: The Northern Wind, it's more of a tutorial than an attract mode demo; the map is the same as in the demo (but is not included in the full campaign). The early shareware version of Abuse (v0.33) also includes an attract mode, but the level is very simplistic and only shows combat with lots of monsters. I don't remember if the player can record own demos in that game.

Some of the FPS titles like Duke Nukem 3D also show secret levels in the attract mode demos. Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior (early shareware releases of this game also have self-running demos) have another interesting feature: in certain areas of a level the demo switches to third-person view, which is a cool effect not found in other games.

BTW, several YouTube users have uploaded records of attract mode sequences in FPS games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0nXvoR4 ... 35D6C5D636
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2938B188ABB3B33F
http://youtu.be/tt7Sd9W9B6I
http://youtu.be/R5EQsSfftwc
http://youtu.be/gUNZOaHSDrc