Games Sampler 1 for Windows 95

In 1995, Microsoft released the first operative system that started to leave behind the era of MS-DOS applications, that began with Windows 3 and earlier. The one and only Windows 95.

To accompany the big release and all the things Windows 95 was capable of, it was usual at the time to hand over a few Microsoft CDs along with a purchase of a Windows 95 PC. By doing so, Microsoft let customers get a taste of capabilities with various software demos and games that could run on the brand new operative system. At the same time, it allowed software publishers to get some exposure on their new products for the new operative system.

One of those CDs was Games for Windows 95 CD Sampler, released on January 8th in 1996, produced by young Monolith Studios, that created the interactive menu called Manhattan Space Station, used to launch the demo samples contained in the CD. The disc contains over 30 demos, not all playable, from different publishers back in the day. Later on Microsoft published more of these demo sampler CDs with a variety of other software.