Wing Commander ®: Privateer ™

To me this is the game that first got me into space trading and combat games. It's still playable now, but you MUST read the manual first and probably print out the keyboard shortcuts. Warning, it's not very playable with just a keyboard. I'm doing okay with an xbox controller, but it's not super smooth. The joystick I have is about comparable. Keyboard is rough though. Referencing the manual and playtest guide is really handy. I am fortunate to still have the original hard copies of those. :) Playtest guide is also super nice to see prices of items to sell and buy. Almost a must for trading. Grind it out in Troy for a long time until you're upgraded enough to do other things. Save EVERY TIME you are at a base.

I played that game back in the 90's with a joystick. Now, Dosbox won't recognize it, and my only options are keyboard or mouse, both of which are horrible in a dogfight. It takes hours (literally) to kill anything.

This is the go to game for space combat/dogfighting. You play as a privateer, a bounty or merchant or whateve you decide. You buy and sell goods to make money and upgrade your ship. Eventually you get the ship good enough to accept some lucrative contracts either hauling goods or shooting pirates. And finally trade that old clunker in for a brand new ship, after all you can only upgrade it so much. It has a decent story to it which begins in a bar in New Detroit. Be aware that most of the story missions are hard so have a good ship to start them. The graphics are great for its time, as are the sound effects. But it is form the early 1990s so it hasn't aged well, which cost it one star. This game far surpasses the sequel or any other game in its genre. Even 30 years later they haven't come up with a better space combat game. I highly recommend it , but beware that if you fail even one story mission you are out fo the story for good and are stuck with only the random contracts. Fortunately this was corrected in Righteous Fire, also included in this package, where it allows you to repeat a failed mission.

The graphics are not as great as I remember. (They never are - haha) The game is still the great game that made me fall in love with gaming on the pc.

I first played this on my roomate's "upgraded" 286 back in the 1990's. It has the most freedom to follow the story or not as you like. I enjoy just doing my own thing and upgrading my ship. Most games don't let you do that.