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 Star Trek : Judgment Rites (Interplay, 1995, PC)  The plan for this list was, originally, to only include original game concepts; not games that relied on a snazzy movie/TV tie-in. Yet while collating nominees for this 50-Best-Game-Classics list, two titles kept creeping up: Indy/Atlantis (which we already covered on Page 2), and Star Trek Judgment Rites. Even non-Trekkers should agree that this was a supreme adventure game, made even more so with a CD-ROM edition that included voices of all the original cast, plus CGI-enhanced movies to move the story along. I doubt any Star Trek game will come close to this one, even decades after this web page is first posted. Coolest Added Touch : A mini-game between missions included a space battle sim that rivals most similar Star Trek battle games to this very day.

Sundog (FTL Games, 1985, Apple //e) Star Wars fans rejoiced when this title put them in the role of a space smuggler not unlike Han Solo himself. Not unlike Han's Millennium Falcon, your ship received damage during severe space battles, and you had to check its "components" on occasion, to see if you needed a replacement part the next time you landed. While on land, you might get into laser fights with local criminals! The graphics were often limited (sue to slow computers at the time), though it's still a classic. Coolest Added Touch: After a while, barter for special ship parts, including a cloaking device.

Suspended (Infocom, 1983, Apple//e) Once again, a classic game outshines all others, even when it was on the store shelves! No matter how long you search, you can't find a single gamer in the early '80s who can forget this giant white face staring blankly at them, from the software shelf! Long before el cheapo cartoon artwork became the typical "cover" for any and all game boxes, this game had an actual, 3D, plastic mask as its box front. Why? It was symbolic of the mask covering "your" face in a cryogenic capsule, deep under the planet's surface. You've been revived prematurely to save the people on the planet surface. Good Luck! Coolest Added Touch: Robots were each programmed with certain traits, enhancing the puzzle of how to use them...

Tetris (Spectrum Holobyte, 1987, Mac) Designed by famed Russian game designer Alexey Pajitnov, This spawned more clones than the Rubik's Cube! Sets of four squares would be used to create various shapes, which needed to fit in a confined game box. The object was to have a complete row of colored squares, so that row would disappear and the game board wouldn't fill up! Expert gamers sought the infamous "tetris": completing four rows of colored squares at once, so they would all disappear simultaneously. A true classic. Coolest Added Touch: Background music is from famed Russian composers, enhancing the feel of an imported game classic.

Time Quest (Legend, 1991, PC) No, this is not the same game as Hype : The Time Quest, which was an amusing romp with Playmobil toys. This Time Quest is instead a text adventure, based on actual, pivotal moments in history. These moments in time were changed by a madman, and you must change them back...by any means necessary! While its view of said history was often somewhat biased, and it was released on old floppy disks, it's still an amazing experience to this very day (if you can find it). Coolest Added Touch : Bending history a little, in order to save history...

Ultima 7, The Black Gate (Origin, 1992, PC) "Lord British" designed many intriguing Ultimas. While most fans of the series would list Ultima 6 as the best, I liked this one better, due to its superior graphics, music, sound FX, and interface. You could travel to any part of an entire world, enter buildings, search for hidden treasure, and manipulate numerous objects. Create a team of up to 8 characters, in your quest to defeat the evil Guardian's plans. Coolest Added Touch : Each and every moment of MIDI music was some of the best of any game, ever; perfect in every way.

Uninvited (ICOM Simulations/Mindscape, 1986, Macintosh) This was the first really good haunted house graphic adventure. While Macintosh screens at the time were only black and white, ICOM used it to their advantage, making a thriller that resembled classic B&W thrillers. Similar to Shadowgate, you could click, manipulate, or even take into inventory, any object seen in the picture window. The puzzle was that you could take (almost) everything; what you actually needed was up to you to learn. Sound effects, thanks to classic Macintoshes' ahead-of-its-time digital sound, enhanced the fun. Coolest Added Touch : Growing odd plants in the greenhouse.

Wolf 3D (Apogee/ID, 1992, PC) A John Carmack classic, pitting you against Nazis who stuck you in prison (big mistake). In the end, you get to defeat Hitler himself. Coolest Added Touch : The Nazis speak actual German phrases.

X-Com (Microprose, 1995, PC) WHAT? You never played X-com? What are you, an alien? Well, that makes sense; this is a game pitting you against UFOs, and their invading armies. You design your own secret base, hire soldiers one by one, buy weapons, and use labs to research new technology. Extensive research means you're soon fighting with alien technology...then the real fun begins! Coolest Added Touch : An environment sensitive to attack; glass shatters, gas stations explode, and houses can be demolished. Too much damage means less funding for your defense team...a nice added challenge!

Zork (Infocom, 1980, Apple //e) Marc Blank, co-founder of Eidetic, was the founder of a genre that would last throughout the 1980's; the Infocom text adventure. To quote the classic line from The Washington Post, "If it's 2 in the morning, it must be ZORK. Not even Ted Koppel can keep the nation up so late." Zork became an unmitigated legend in the computer game industry, through and through; and a fitting finale to this list, where, truly, the best was kept for last. Coolest Added Touch: Starting the whole adventure genre is cool enough.