The history of gaming is littered with long-forgotten classics, great games rendered unplayable due to compatibility issues, or the lack of a 5.25″ floppy drive! Add the complexity of getting DOSBox configured and optimized, and the bar is simply too high. But now the Internet Archive has set up a portal to play 2400 games on your web browser!
From the collection:
Software for MS-DOS machines that represent entertainment and games. The collection includes action, strategy, adventure and other unique genres of game and entertainment software. Through the use of the EM-DOSBOX in-browser emulator, these programs are bootable and playable. Please be aware this browser-based emulation is still in beta – contact Jason Scott, Software Curator, if there are issues or questions.
There are a load of classics included, including Dune 2, Masters of Orion, The Oregon Trail, Castle Wolfenstein, Warlords II and more.
But my choice of great discovery has to be the SSI classic D&D game Champions of Krynn. Here are some image panels from Wikipedia:
Here is the description:
The War of the Lance is over, the dragon armies have been defeated. But evil has not left Krynn. In northeastern Ansalon, outposts of the Knights of Solamnia remain to guard the fragile peace. Your party of adventurers is hired to carry out missions for the Knights. On your first mission, you stumble upon Draconians, long believed to have left the area. What are their plans? On your travels you have to face dangers in many dungeons and towns and might even meet some of the legendary Heroes of the Lance. Champions of Krynn is the first of SSI’s “gold box” games set in the AD&D world of Dragonlance, with all the usual features: first-person view and movement in dungeons, towns and outposts, overland travel on a map of the area and tactical turn-based combat from a top-down perspective. As the first game set in Krynn, it has several features unique to that setting: In character races, one can choose from Kender, Silvanesti or Qualinesti Elves and Mountain or Hill Dwarves in addition to humans and half-elves. Special character classes include Solamnic Knights, clerics of the major deities of Krynn and mages of either the Red or the White Robe. The deities grant special spells and powers to their respective clerics. Red and White mages have access to different spells and the phases of the moons of Krynn affect their spellcasting abilities.
As noted there are nearly 2400 games available on the site … so head to the Internet Archive and check them out!