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Top games

List of the top downloaded games since 2009 on My Abandonware. Amongst the top games, Sid Meier's Civilization, Need for Speed II: SE or Oregon Trail Deluxe free to download!

Prince of Persia

DOS, Mac, Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Apple II, Sharp X68000, TurboGrafx CD1990

Lemmings

DOS, Genesis, C64, Master System, Game Gear, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, 3DO, Atari ST, Acorn 32-bit, Amiga CD32, Sharp X68000, TurboGrafx CD1991

Rogue

DOS, Mac, C64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-bit, Atari ST1984

Old Mac Games

SimCity

DOS, C64, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Acorn 32-bit, BBC Micro, Electron, Sharp X680001989

Screenshot/The Internet Archive

Originally Published:

Real talk: I think learning is always fun. (Yes, I am absolutely a Ravenclaw. Why do you ask?) But when it’s a literal game? Then it’s even better, especially when you’re a kid. That’s probably why there were so dang many fantastic '90s educational computer games — the rise of home computing (and, by extension, the rise of computing in the classroom) during the 1990s opened up a new world of possibilities, including tons of ways to make learning a blast for up-and-coming generations. And you know what? These games are still fun. (Yes, I say that as a fully grown adult.)

A lot of theeducational computer games from the ’90s were originally developed and released long before the decade began, which could be why many '80s babies hold a certain degree of fondness for them; many actually dated back to the decade in which we were born. Some were part of long-running series, while still more of them received a number of remakes and reboots as technology improved. Though the graphics on the computer games from the ’90s may be laughable now, just remember — once upon a time, they were considered the pinnacle of technological achievement.

So, in the spirit of nostalgia, here are 15 ’90s-era computer games that made learning incredibly fun. Most are available to play on the internet now, so in those cases, I’ve also included links to where you can find them — frequently either an app store or the Internet Archive’s glorious collection of browser-based, emulated DOS games.

Have fun, kids!

1. Number Munchers and Word Munchers

The Munchers series was created by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium — or, under a name with which you might be more familiar, MECC. I don’t know about you, but I have vivid memories of seeing those four letters scrawled across a huge number of the educational games I played at school. I mean, there’s even a Reddit thread called “Number Munchers is what computer time was all about.”

The Munchers series' conceit was simple: They taught kids the basics of math and grammar. Number Munchers was originally released in 1990 for the Apple II, while Word Munchers had arrived a few years earlier in 1985. Gameplay-wise, both series functioned kind of like a turn-based version of Pac-Man; the object was to “eat” all of the numbers or words that correspond to the instructions on the screen (multiples of five, etc.) without getting caught by a Troggle.

What exactly are Troggles? No idea, but they're insatiable.

2. Math Blaster!

The original Math Blaster! was released in 1983 by the now-defunct developer Davidson & Associates, but it wasn’t until the ’90s rolled around that the series really hit its stride. Between 1990 and 1999, a whopping 20 games were released in the Blaster Learning System — and somewhat astonishingly, a few more follow-ups trickled out between 2000 and 2008. Math wasn't the only subject addressed by the series; Reading Blaster!, for example,taught language arts. A Science Blaster! Jr. was also released at one point, but due to lack of popularity, it was the only entry in the series to tackle science-based topics.

Math Blaster! is available to play online now; additionally, a bunch of ports of the math-teaching game arrived as Android apps in October of 2013, so the series appears to be alive and well, if somewhat frozen in time.

3. Scooter’s Magic Castle

Like many early computer games, Scooter’s Magic Castle consisted of a relatively large environment full of what we now call mini-games. Released under Electronic Arts’ EA*Kids umbrella in 1993, the game involved players either assuming the role of or simply helping out an elf-like creature wearing a blue tunic, red sneakers, and a red baseball cap turned backwards (the '90s!) as they worked their way through a variety of activities. These activities were designed to teach everything from problem-solving to typing; you could even make terrible MIDI music by jumping up and down a set of colorful stairs.

Scooter's Magic Castle also has a super earworm-y theme song, so if you now have it stuck in your head for the rest of the day… sorry. My bad.

4. The Carmen Sandiego Series

No list of educational ‘90s computer games would be complete without an appearance by this mysterious, trench-coated criminal mastermind. The four major entries in the series — Where in the World, Where in the U.S.A., Where in Europe, and Where in Time — were all first released by Broderbund between 1985 and 1989; the deluxe versions of Where in the World and Where in the U.S.A., however, came along in 1992 and 1993, and as a result, it’s those versions that most ’90s kids remember so fondly. There was no better way to learn geography — and hey, Where in the World deluxe is playable at the Internet Archive, so it looks like I just figured out what I’m doing with myself this weekend.

Fun fact: A Facebook version of Where in the World was available to play in 2011; I’m not sure how I missed it, but it stuck around until 2012.

5. Kindercomp

I’m really dating myself here, but Kindercomp is probably the first computer game I remember playing. Initially released in 1983 by Spinnaker Software Corporation, it was exactly the kind of game that appealed to very young children: It consisted of six mini-games that taught kids their way around a keyboard by having them draw pictures, match pairs, and other do simple activities. The one I remember is the 1984 version, but the Internet Archive has a whole bunch of ’em available, so knock yourselves out. If you have a kid in your life who's around 3 years old, it might be a fun time to play with them!

6. Mario Teaches Typing

As a child in a house full of gamers, naturally I adored Mario Teaches Typing, which first hit the scene in the early '90s. One of a number of educational Mario games released between 1988 and 1996, it put the pixelated plumber to good work teaching us how to type. Hitting the correct key would prompt Mario to hit blocks, jump on Koopa Troopas, and more. Nintendo had almost no hand in the development of these games (a far cry from the tight hold the company tends to keep on the reins of its properties nowadays), but they proved popular all the same.

Old Mac Games Archive