Mindscape 1994
Genre: Strategy, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Windows 3.1 has never been a gaming platform. It was simply too slow and instable. There were of course exceptions. Most of them were turn-based games requiring much thinking. And there was Win-Doom as an action game. But that's it. Almost. One game which showed one possible way to work with Windows is almost always forgotten: Metal Marines!

Silmarils 1991
Genre: Action, Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: Francais, English, Deutsch
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

As everybody knows, technology is evil. Some day, it machines will take over control and make humans their slaves. Comparing the amount of fictional coverage this theory gets to visions of less grim futures, it seems impossible it'll not come true. This game is yet another version of this well-known story. This time, mankinds only hope is a cyborg, the Metal Mutant of the title.

subLOGIC / Microsoft 1988
Genre: Simulation
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

In the 1980s, Microsoft was not known for gaming. At that time, the still fledging company tried to persuade the world that MS-DOS was the best thing since sliced bread, and that their VisiCalc software could take on Lotus 1-2-3 any day. There was one exception, though: Microsoft was the pioneer in civilian aviation simulators. Let me correct myself: Microsoft was the publisher of one such pioneer, Bruce Artwick, and his company, subLOGIC.

Infocom 1986
Genre: Adventure
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

The player takes over the role of an American detective who has attained some fame by solving tough cases. One day, he receives a letter from his old friend Tamara Lynd who's going to marry an English Lord soon. Back in her fiancée's castle, a ghost has started to appear again, targetting Tamara in specific. Is it actually the legendary 'White Lady' or the ghost of the recently deceased Deirdre? Or does everything have completely worldly causes? To solve all these questions, you've been invited to join your old friend over in the 'old world'.

U.S. Gold 1990
Genre: Adventure, Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Amiga

Detective Adventures may not be the most common genre, but they do exist (especially here on this site). All of them are somehow linear in their story and limited in their puzzles. All but one: Murder.

Apogee 1994
Genre: Action, Puzzle
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Shareware
System: PC

The Baron Baldric goes to the puzzle and trap filled lazarine towers of his wizard ancestors in a mission for clearing them of monsters in this isometric adventure.

Each time you go inside one of them the doors will close, and remain so until you have killed all the creatures and destroyed the monster generator, located always in the third and middle tower level, to avoid more of them from appearing. Only then you will get the main gate key and advance to the next tower.

Papyrus 1994
Genre: Sport, Simulation
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

With this game and Indycar Racing Papyrus covered the two most popular American racing series which see up to today frequently appearing new versions (NASCAR 4 being the latest).

Nascars are very simplistic yet powerful stock cars which run mostly on ovals. Although not as fast as Indycars they are quite sturdy and durable and this is absolutely necessary because NASCAR races are endurance races which can last up to 3 hours pure racing time and more.

Acclaim 1993
Genre: Sport, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: SNES

Many sports games are usually followed by at least yearly but unimproved sequels (like FIFA or NHL). NBA Jam is the first part of such a series, so I chose this one for the sake of originality.
NBA Jam simulates (you guessed it, did you?) ghetto sport #1: basketball. To make things clearer the teams are reduced to 2 players, so it's more like streetball than basketball. You can choose from the original NBA-teams, represented by their best (= best known) 2 men. Up to 4 human players can compete simultaneously. In solo games the computer takes control of your partner, but you can still request him passing or throwing. You can also select to always control the player who has the ball or to team up with a friend. Difficulty level and length of a game can be set as well.

Hewson 1987
Genre: Puzzle, Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: PC

Nebulus is one of the most addictive puzzle arcades I have ever played. First encountered on my Spectrum, the game has followed me ever since, and still graces my hard drive. Created by the same people who released the hellish Impossaball, Hewson, the game is a little simpler, but even more addictive.

Taito 1988
Genre: Action
Rating: 4/6
Language: English
Licence: Commercial
System: Atari ST

Every system of the 80s and early 90s had 'its' platformer. This immensely popular genre was especially liked by the companies because it was so easy to make those games! You didn't need any ground-breaking new ideas. The basics are always the same anyway: run from left to right (and sometimes up and down) and avoid your sprite is killed by the nasty monsters. To kill those, there were two general ways: shooting them (in whatever way) or jumping on their heads. Whoever came up with the latter must have smoked a bit too much of the wrong stuff! But for some reason, this concept stuck.