Old Gamer’s Almanac

Command & Conquer (1995)

Back into the 90s PC project and this week is our first dip into the RTS genre, that's the one we called the definitive PC gaming genre. We've had a number of strategy games we've wanted to play over the course of the show, and the first proper RTS on our list is Command & Conquer. In many ways, it was a major leap forward, but it is trapped in a genre that did a lot of evolving beyond it. Can we ever forgive it for being old?
To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.

Crystalis (1990)

It's our first Off-Topic episode of our 90s PC Game season, as well as our first game from the Every Wheel of this season. Whitebush has generously suggested to us Crystalis for the NES, and I think they're on to something! This is an action RPG that feels like Zelda meets Dragon Quest with a delightful little story and a wonderful use of color and art. It's such a good NES game, Matt even liked it!
To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.

Myst (1993)

90's game #2 is another week spent in 1993 with the much slower paced puzzle classic, Myst. This is one of the most well-known PC games of all time as it managed to break into a mostly untapped demographic for the time. And how convenient is it that that demographic was OLDER PEOPLE. This is the Old Gamer's Almanac, so sounds like this one's for the home team.
To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.

Doom (1993)

We finally get to kick off this new season in earnest and we decided to start with a behemoth. Doom is one of if not the most important first person shooter ever made and it's legacy covers both level design and perfectly optimized system design. It almost seems like an insult to try and cover it in just a little over an hour, but we'll do our best!
To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.
 

1990’s PC Games Premiere (Season 2)

With one season fully under our belt (as well as a "season 0") it's time to begin our next project! The Old Farmers over at our Patreon decided on 90's PC Games months ago, but we haven't decided what exactly that entails until today! This is one of those episodes that's sort of like a company meeting that you get to listen to, but it's also more fun than that. We draft a handful of games and make deals to decide what 15 90's PC games we'll play, we pick 8 off-topic games, AND we spin The Every Wheel twice to include two games chosen by members of our Patreon! And it all starts now!
To see the most up to version of the list and this season's schedule, visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194Zs7HY9o2y4dgOQLsQXT0Q0cBW_Q1WZzkwqG-ALqi0/edit?usp=sharing. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO OLDER EPISODES.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.
 

Bonus: Publisher Tournament [w/ Sun Sanders]

Thank you to the patrons of Old Gamers' Almanac! They helped us reach one of our Patreon goals and as a reward, everyone gets a bonus episode. This time, we've invited Sun Sanders on to help us with the clash of the video game publishers. The Old Farmers (patron) helped us select and seed the top 16 video game publishers and today we will go through a series of matchups to rank only one of them supreme.
In addition, once we have our Top 6 publishers, we'd like to invite all listeners to join in on our little competition. Each of us will select one champion for each of the 6 publishers and YOU will vote on who you think is right! We'll shut the poll off in a couple weeks so get your vote in soon by heading over to https://forms.gle/T6J2RGxxjZ6sZVySA
We had so much fun making this episode and if you enjoyed it too, please consider heading over to our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/oldgamersalmanac) to help us reach our next goal and unlock Matt and Hunter ranking every video game movie of all time.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord. (https://discord.gg/ASG2YpyfPx)

2001: A Game Odyssey Finale (Season 1)

You made it! You've come a long way traveler, but we have finished our season exploring the year 2001 in video games. It wasn't enough to get all of those games added to our list though. So we sat down and held ourselves an old school awards ceremony. We'll put on our best EGM Editor hat and pretend we're calling the shots to determine the best games of 2001, FROM a 2001 perspective (except for when we also want to talk from a 2023 perspective)
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.
 
2001: A Game Odyssey
Halo: Combat Evolved
Max Payne
Metal Gear Solid 2
Grand Theft Auto III
Ico
Final Fantasy X
Klonoa 2
Silent Hill 2
Pikmin
Super Monkey Ball
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Bangai-O
Sonic Adventure 2
Advance Wars
Aliens vs Predator 2
Anachronox
Black & White
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

Ico (2001)

We have finally arrived at our final game of 2001: A Game Odyssey and we're going out with a bang. Ico gave one of Sony's most legendary development studios its name and provided Fumito Ueda with a massive boost to his budding career in the game industry. Depending on who you ask Ico is either the overshadowed little brother of Shadow of Colossus, or the cliché video game hipster opportunity to say "I liked it before they were cool." Either way, it's a legendary game with aspects of its design found in many games that have followed it.
Music by nightcorey. https://soundcloud.com/nightcorey
Consider contributing to our show on Patreon. Email us your thoughts on the ongoing list at oldgamersalmanac(at)gmail(dot)com. Or come talk to us on our Discord.
The List So Far
Disco Elysium
Silent Hill 2
Elden Ring
Celeste
Panzer Dragoon II: Zwei
Super Mario Brothers 3
Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Metal Gear Solid 2
Katamari Damacy
Quake
Raw Danger!
Metal Gear Solid
Hyper Light Drifter
Halo: Combat Evolved
Yakuza Kiwami
Papers, Please
OutRun
Snatcher
Into the Breach
Neon White
Ocarina of Time
Jet Set Radio
Final Fantasy 7
Bangai-O
Centipede
Hitman (2016)
Super Monkey Ball
Crusader Kings 3
Final Fantasy X
Skyrim
Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe
Portal
Soulcalibur
Pikmin
Secret of Monkey Island
Kirby Super Star
Mass Effect 3
Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil
Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
Halo 3
Journey
Inside
Journey to Silius
To the Moon
Mario Kart 64
Inscryption
Mass Effect 2
Max Payne
F Zero
Mirror's Edge
Forza Horizon 5
Darkest Dungeon
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Advance Wars
Grand Theft Auto III
Kingdom Hearts
Donkey Kong Country 3
Anachronox
Sonic Adventure
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Twisted Metal 2
Solar Ash
Mass Effect
Aliens vs Predator 2
Metroid Dread
Killer Instinct
Goldeneye
Halo 2
Sonic Adventure 2
War of the Monsters
Black & White
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories