Home and Arcade Games

Since the first Microcomputers, Arcade Games and gaming have always been linked in some fashion to the world of BBSs. It would make sense that if people used computers to play, they'd be attracted to machines who were dedicated to nothing but playing games.

The parallel lines of arcade games and home-based "console" systems didn't meet with complete full-on force until the 1990's (where they're essentially the same thing and considered the same product) and for a long time the nature of the two cultures were inherently different.

If you're looking for things like card games, sports, or other recreational activites (except for sex) I'd suggest looking for them in the Fun section.

Filename
Size
Description of the Textfile
ARCADEFiles about full-size "Arcade" Video Games including social commentary, instructions on using/caring for them, and beating them
ATARIMAIL10 Years of Atari/Atari Games VAXMAIL (Messages Between Employees) (1983-1992)
CHESSFiles about Chess (Please, calm yourself)
CONSOLESFiles about home-based "Console" systems made to hook up to a TV and play
FIGHTERSThe Over-The-Top world of Fighting Games
REVIEWSReviews of Game Software from Many Sources
 
1samuslv.txt 24901
Solution to First Samurai by Doctor Butcher and Fixed by Rygar
a_w_solv.txt 9398
Another World Cheat Codes by Pot-Noodle
abbrev.txt 7129
The Complete NetHack Acronym and Abbreviation List by Satoshi Asami, Boudewijn Wayers and Adam Dawes
abc.txt 2255
The ABCs of Adventuring by Admiral Jota, Dylan O'Donnell, G. Kevin Wilson, and Dan Shiovitz
addres.ses 3514
List of Distributors of Arcade Games from Rajesh Nakhwa (October 16, 1992)
aitd2.txt 17281
Alone in the Dark II Complete Step by Step Walkthrough v1.0 by Richard Liblanc
aitd3.txt 14990
Alone in the Dark 3 Walkthrough written by Darrell Upchurch, David Mitchell and Polly Robinson
alienbr.txt 10365
Solution to Alien Breed by Doctor Butcher
alonesol.txt 4735
Solution to Alone in the Dark
android.faq 18095
FAQ: Epic Pinball's Android Pinball by Normal G. Sippel Verison 1.12 (May 15, 1994)
arcade.cht 159463
The Definitive Arcade Video Game Cheat Sheet (April 28, 1992)
arcade_c.hea 159464
The Definitive Arcade Game Cheat Sheet (April 28, 1992)
arcana.txt 23423
Arcana Arcanorum: The Card-Playing Oracle, by The Prophet Aloysius
arenadoc.asc 13009
How to Play The Elder Scrolls: Arena
arenaed.txt 23865
Frequently Asked Questions about ArenaEd
atarishw.txt 4105
Advertisement for the 1994 Connecticut Atarifest (May 25, 1994)
auctions.faq 18335
FAQ: Buying Video Games from an Auction, by Doug Jeffreys and Steve Ozdemir (March 1, 1993)
avp.txt 33090
Alien vs. Predator Mini FAQ Version 2.1 by Rey Kanzaki (October 6, 1994)
aw_solve.txt 11546
Walkthrough for Another World by Piston and Skyim (April 15, 1992)
backdoor.txt 11822
Back Doors to Various Games by George Knochel (February 20, 1989)
bak-code.txt 4649
The Betrayal of Krondor Cheat Codes by Steve Amburgey and Jim Clear
bally.jmp 13742
A List of Settable Jumpers for Bally/Stern Games by Dallas Overturf (January 26, 1993)
bass-sol.txt 14859
Complete Walkthrough for "Beneath a Steel Sky" by Mitch Shaw (October 14, 1994)
bc_hints 4934
The Black Crypt Hintbook, Compiled by Deathwish of AFL
beavis.fan 7040
Bowen's Guide to the New Williams Beavis and Butthead Game, by Bowen Kerins
beneth.txt 10476
The Complete Beneath a Steel Sky Walkthrough
blackc.txt 5212
Solution to the Black Cauldron by P. J. Gagnon
bloodnet.txt 5387
Bloodnet: The Quickest Route to Success by Matt Showalter
byrne.txt 19227
Analysis of Grandmaster Robert Byrne vs. DeepThought (February 11, 1990)
cheat.txt 2008
CHEAT: Secret Backdoors and Debug Codes the Programmers Don't Want You to Know About by Mike Zier
cheats.txt 85079
Zenobot's Atari ST Game Cheats Compilation (October 24, 1991)
chichess.src 2985
Chinese Chess Resources by Roleigh Martin (January 9, 1994)
chunli.txt 38815
The Indispensable Chun Li Strategy Guide for the SNES or: How To Beat Level 7 Without Having a Hernia by Richard Lawrence (January 1, 1993)
collisio.txt 19318
An Overview of Collision Detection, by Tom Moertel (July 4, 1994)
design.txt 18792
Some Thoughts on Computer Game Design, by Dave Seah
dwango.txt 10623
DOCUMENTATION: DWANGO v2.0 - The DOOM Wide-Area Network Game Organization! (1994)
etrnchmp.txt 101712
The Eternal Champions FAQ Verison 1.2 by Dave Woodall (April 11, 1994)
evolut~1.txt 23406
Intelligent Behaviour without AI: An Evolutionary Approach, by Neil Kirby (July 24, 1991)
fsb.txt 18433
The Force Sourcebook, for use with the Star Wars Roleplaying Game (1992)
fsm.txt 11338
Modeling Sprite Animation Using Finite State Automata, by Diana Gruber (1995)
ftball1.txt 12208
Chain Letter: The Football Game of Sex (1996)
ftball2.txt 12592
Chain Letter: The Football Game of Sex (1996)
gamble.txt 2765
ADVERTISEMENT: Learn How to Gamble
gameboy.faq 31804
FAQ: Nintendo Gameboy, by Marat Fayzulliun Version 2.0 (April 13, 1994)
gamedev1.txt 15188
Alternative Marketing Methods: Self-publishing via Shareware and Low-Cost Retail by Diana Gruber (1994)
gamegear.faq 101592
FAQ: Sega Game Gear Frequently Asked Questions by Tony Clark (April 21, 1994)
gmj-1.txt 50176
Game Master Journal Issue #01 (1992)
gmj33.txt 65220
Game Master Journal Issue #33
gmj43.txt 24607
Game Master Journal Issue #43
gmj44.txt 24132
Game Master Journal Issue #44
gmj46.d70 37649
Game Master Journal Issue #46
gmj50.d70 56985
Game Master Journal Issue #50
gmj51.d70 59037
Game Master Journal Issue #51 (July 5, 1994)
gmj52.d70 51384
Game Master Journal Issue #52 (July 12, 1994)
goblins2.txt 19255
WALKTHROUGH: Goblins 2
guru1-1.txt 81953
Game Guru Issue #1 (March, 1994)
helpme.doc 8977
DOCUMENTATION: Epic Pinball: Instructions and Troubleshooting Info Version 2.0
lynx.txt 2900
Video Games Rating Report: Atari Lynx, by Eric NG
mm2codes.txt 6691
Day of the Tentacle (Maniac Mansion 2) Manual Protection Patents by Dead Goon & Hoson (June 11, 1993)
mm2hintf.txt 16767
The Maniac Mansion 2 Hint File, by Hoson (June 12, 1993)
mudrepor.txt 364408
Interactive Multi-User Computer Games (The MUD Report) by Dr. Richard Bartle (December, 1990)
nec.txt 5251
Video Games Rating List: NEC, by Eric Ng (April 1, 1992)
nes.txt 8391
Video Game Ratings Report: Nintendo Gameboy, by Eric Ng (April 1, 1992)
optimize.txt 11234
Writing Smaller Games, by Diana Gruber (1995)
pcd_txt.txt 31751
Practical Collision Detection by Johnathon Blow (1997)
pmgoldbr.txt 1989
A Couple Video Game Folklore Stories for Pac-man and Space Invaders Part II
saturn.faq 18094
Frequently Asked Questions about the Sega Saturn Verison 1.15
sega.txt 8779
Video Game Ratings Report: Sega, by Eric Ng (April 1, 1992)
spoil700.nh 309861
The Nethack Spoilers Revision 7.00 by Paul Waterman (1991)
spor 4096
The Sports Page, by Tommy Van Hook (1994)
tilefaq.txt 34138
The Tile-Based Fames FAQ Version 1.2 by Greg Taylor (April 20, 1995)
tw2002.txt 68141
Trade Wars 2002 from Martech Software (Documentation) (1991)
vg-about.txt 3250
About the Video Games Ratings Report, by Eric Ng (March 5, 1992)
vg-lynx.txt 2939
Video Games Rating Report: Lynx, by Eric Ng (March 4, 1992)
vg-nec.txt 5066
Video Game Ratings Report: NEC, by Eric Ng (March 4, 1992)
vg-nes.txt 8161
Video Game Ratings Report: Nintendo, by Eric Ng (March 4, 1992)
vg-sega.txt 8497
Video Game Ratings Report: Sega, by Eric Ng (March 4, 1992)
w7edit.txt 3898
Documentation for a Wizardry 7 Character Editor by Hy Nguyen
war2.txt 2582
Warlords II Frequently Asked Questions List
wb_hint.txt 18393
Hints for Willy Beamish from Sierra On-Line by Rygar
wb_solv.txt 50819
Walkthrough for The Adventures of Willy Beamish by Venger (1991)
wc3-help.txt 38129
Most Common problems with Wing Commander III by Anthony Sommers Version 2.0 (February 1st, 1995)
wc3-miss.txt 18049
The Wing Commander III Mission Tree by Aubrey Chen and Klaus Weidner of TCN
wc3.txt 87272
Wing Commander III FAQ by James Hogan (October 24, 1994)
weakflip 1550
Dealing With Weak Pinball Flippers, by Cameron Silver (July 26, 1993)
web.txt 10770
A Complete Walkthrough for Dreamweb by Zeus of Razor 1911
whirlwin 15232
A Walkthrough for Whirlwind by Jim Hoxsey (1990)
whitewat.qt 6477
A Quick Take of Whitewater, by Kevin Martin
wing.con 22857
Conference with Chris Roberts of Origin (November 26, 1990)
wiz7.txt 49316
FAQ: Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant (January 14, 1994)
wmsromre 2736
Williams ROM Revisions from Jonathan N Deitch (February 6, 1995)
wndwalkr.sol 11965
A Solution to Windwalker
wolf3d.txt 119212
Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny Frequently Asked Questions by Adam Williamson Version 4.15 (1994)
worldcup 16062
The Rules to Bally World Cup Soccer v1.0 by Greg Dunlap
worldher.mov 15733
FAQ for World Heroes 2 (February 25, 1993)

There are 95 files for a total of 3,055,800 bytes.
There are 6 directories.

If you wish to have the entire directory conveniently archived and compressed into one file, please download either games.tar.gz (6379653 bytes) or games.zip (6934981 bytes) instead of all the files separately.