Sid Meier's Pirates!
This game isn't a port of the '80s classic, but rather its 2004 PC remake, and it's still a blast to play. The game is well suited to the iPad and mobile gaming. Each section of the game is playable within a few minutes, meaning you're always near a convenient stopping point. You start the game out as a young pirate captain and it's up to you to befriend or alienate the local powers (Dutch, English, French and Spanish), court the daughters of island governors, dig up booty, and fight pitched sea battles. It's a winning formula that's held up well these twenty-odd years.
The Secret of Monkey Island 1 & 2
What can we say about Monkey Island and its sequel that hasn't already been said? They're classics, perhaps the best Lucas Arts adventure games ever made, and they bear the pedigree of Tim Schaefer and Ron Gilbert -- two of the best adventure game designers ever. Both of the original games are available on iOS for iPad and iPhone, along with all the features from the Xbox and PC versions, including the ability to switch between the new HD version and the original with the simple swipe of your fingers. If you like gaming on your phone or tablet, you owe it to yourself to pick these up.
SimCity Deluxe HD
EA ports SimCity to any platform that can handle it, with often mixed results. Feature phone versions of the city simulator packed too much onto too small a screen, and the iPhone incarnation didn't fare much better. SimCity needs a decent amount of screen real estate, and while phones are too cramped, the iPad suits it just fine. SimCity Deluxe HD is a toned down version of SimCity 4, and while it doesn't have all the features of its big brother, it's the perfect way to kill a long plane ride.
Marathon
Okay, Marathon was developed for Mac, not DOS or Windows, but it's still a game for a personal computer. Marathon dates from a time when Mac battled not against the PC, but what were still somewhat anachronistically calling "IBM Clones." The game eventually found its way to Windows anyway.
Semantics aside, Marathon was a top notch FPS in its day, and holds up far better than most of its contemporaries. The iOS version is free on the iPad and plays well. The onscreen dual-analog inputs are no substitute for a mouse and keyboard, but work well enough. This is the game that eventually gave rise to the Halo series, and there's no excuse to pass it up when they're literally giving it away.
7th Guest
Most FMV games are best left buried in the past. They were almost all failed experiments or cynical attempts to combine Hollywood and video games. The 7th Guest is a strange exception. While it's filled with acting that would go over like a lead balloon at a community theatre, and its production values can be lacking sometimes, it works really well on the iPhone. The 7th guest is at its core an archaic forbearer to the Professor Layton series. It delivers challenging puzzles in bite-sized chunks, and while its presentation is a bit dated, it works perfectly for killing time on a commute.
Z
Pronounced Zed (because that's the Queen of England says) Z is a little known DOS real-time strategy game from 1996. Way ahead of its time, the game eschewed the entire concept of resource gathering and dirt farming that typified the genre in the mid-'90s. Instead, Z revolves around capturing key points on the map. Control of these points grants access to nearby factories that pump out units at a steady pace.
Both the iPhone and iPad versions of the game work well, and the limited number of units you'll handle at a time make the lack of hotkeys and control-groups a non-issue. Despite being designed for the PC in 1996, it plays like a game created for a modern touch interface. Checking out the original version on iOS is a great way to get pumped for the upcoming remake next year.
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