There this myth about PC gaming that it’s about specs: getting the latest hardware, and then buying AAA titles that pushes that hardware to its limits.

I’m not denying that for some people that is the draw of PC gaming. The likes of Nvidia and Dell have made a fortune marketing to such folks. Hell, if that weren’t part of the appeal of PC gaming, then I wouldn’t have bought a discrete GPU.

But PC gaming is also about games like Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure. Even for 1992, at the time of release, this was a low end game. It only required a 286 with 640KB of RAM. And though VGA monitors were plentiful at the time, this was very much an EGA game.

The framerate was choppy. The pixel art was crude – especially when you compare it to games on the Super Nintendo and SEGA Genesis. The sound design? It wasn’t winning any awards.

Yet, even to this day, I play Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure. It is a mood. The level design is outstanding. Despite this looking like a simple game, there is just so much to see and do.

The way I like to explain Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure is it’s a 2D platformer kind of like Conker’s Bad Fur Day before Conker’s Bad Fur Day existed. You’re an alien, and you’re having a very bad day. You’re on your way to Walt Disney World when a comet hits your ship and you wind up on a strange planet where almost everything is trying to kill you.

What I really love about this game, though, is that there’s so much stuff to collect. Each level is massive, and there’s always new stuff to find. There’s fruit, stars, and bombs – and so many crevices and caves to explore to find them. If you’re the kind of person who likes stuff then Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure is up your alley.

Another thing I really appreciate about this game is the controls. They’re really well done. On a keyboard, platforming feels so natural. Believe me, you can’t say that about several other early DOS games (coughContracough).

Apogee Software developed Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure. I’ve mentioned them a few times in the past. That’s because they were one of the best PC developers of the 90s. Among the games they made are Crystal Caves, Bio Menace, and Duke Nukem. They also popularized shareware with such games as Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3-D, and Raptor: Call of Shadows.

This game is cheap. On both Steam and GOG.com, Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure sells for C$5.49. You get all three episodes. Plus, this game also supports modern gamepads – which means it will work with an Xbox controller.

I highly recommend this game, especially if you love 90s shareware titles.