Wing Commander ®: Privateer ™

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.

I lost many a night to this game back when I was growing up! I'd never quite experienced this level of freedom in a game before, and it was mesmerizing! Privateer is an elite-style freeform space game - trading, fighting, smuggling, you name it! There is a story, but t'be honest I couldn't tell you what it was - I always got distracted by the random missions that can be picked up at any spaceport. Those give you money, and money means a better ship! The vast array of weaponry and upgrades, all available from the start but stupidly expensive, keep pushing you to get more and more powerful, exploring the (massive) galaxy and destroying pirates by the dozen! Or police, if you happen to want to play that way... Sadly it looks like GOG haven't included the rather fun add-on 'Righteous Fire', but I'm sure that'll come with time. For now, download and get lost in the Gemini Sector!