Command & Conquer is a real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and released for DOS on 26 September 1995 in North America; Virgin Interactive published it in Europe. Development began in early 1993, near the end of work on Dune II. The game was first set in a high-fantasy world before the team switched to modern warfare, citing the Gulf War as an influence.
The Covert Operations expansion with 15 missions followed in 1996, and the game was ported to Saturn, PlayStation, Mac and Nintendo 64. It is widely credited with defining and popularizing the real-time strategy genre.
Electronic Arts made the game freeware in 2007 for the series' 12th anniversary. The Remastered Collection by Petroglyph came out on 5 June 2020, and EA released source code under the GNU GPL the same year.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Command & ConquerRussian Wikipedia gives 31 August 1995. | MS-DOS | Sep 26, 1995 | Westwood Studios | 1 |
| NA | Command & Conquer | Mac | Dec 18, 1996 | — | 1 |
| NA | Command & Conquer: GoldWindows 95 edition; the article text says 1996, the infobox 10 March 1997. | Windows | Mar 10, 1997 | — | 1 |
| NA | Command & ConquerPort by Looking Glass Studios; Europe 30 July 1999. | Nintendo 64 | Jun 29, 1999 | Nintendo | 1 |
| EU | Command & Conquer | MS-DOS | Sep 29, 1995 | Virgin Interactive Entertainment | 1 |
| EU | Command & ConquerNorth America December 1996. | Saturn | Dec 6, 1996 | — | 1 |
| EU | Command & ConquerNorth America 17 March 1997. | PlayStation | Dec 13, 1996 | — | 1 |
| WW | Command & Conquer Remastered CollectionRemaster by Petroglyph together with Red Alert. | Windows | Jun 5, 2020 | Electronic Arts | 3 |
Also known as: Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn WW1Command & Conquer: Gold WW1Command & Conquer: Der Tiberiumkonflikt EU2Command & Conquer: Conflit du Tibérium EU2
Box art by region
NA Command & Conquer
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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GameplaySaturnPlayStationNintendo 64
The console versions have no multiplayer; the DOS original supports up to four players, and Gold added Internet play and SVGA graphics.1
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ContentPlayStation
The PlayStation version includes the 15 Covert Operations missions plus six new Special Ops missions, one of them secret.1
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GraphicsNintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 port has 3D models and environments and four new Special Ops missions, but replaces the FMV cutscenes with still images, voice and sound effects.1
Translations
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Spanish Official
Electronic Arts2020Windows · Remastered CollectionReleased · partial
The 2020 Remastered Collection offers Spanish (Spain) text without Spanish voice-over.3
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Russian Official
Electronic Arts2020Windows · Remastered CollectionReleased · partial
The 2020 Remastered Collection offers Russian text without Russian voice-over.3
Where to play legally today
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Steam Purchase
Command & Conquer Remastered Collection
Windows; remaster of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert with all expansions
Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com
How to run it today
The Remastered Collection runs natively on modern Windows. The old Windows version has many problems on current systems; PCGamingWiki points to the fan patch Project 1.06, the CnCNet installer, the open-source Vanilla Conquer (based on the Remastered source code) and the OpenRA recreation.
- Command & Conquer on PCGamingWiki pcgamingwiki.com
- OpenRA openra.net
Best version
The Remastered Collection (2020) is the current official release: Command & Conquer and Red Alert remastered in 4K by former Westwood Studios team members.3
Reception
Metacritic 94/100 for PC; GameRankings gives 90% for Saturn, 87% for PlayStation and 78% for Nintendo 64. More than three million copies were sold, and PC Gamer US named it the best strategy game of 1995.1
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.