Doctor Who Video Games: A History 

I always though a doctor who game in the telltale style would work.

It's pretty sad that Lego Dimensions is probably the best Doctor Who video game.

While you talked about Destiny of the Doctors, I was mildly surprised you didn't mention that was the last time Anthony Ainley was the Master.

If Telltale were still around, they could have done wonders with the DW license. Imagine a Telltale style narrative game (akin to their others) where you play as the War Doctor during the Time War but before the Day of the Doctor's events. The lack of media around that setting, plus the moral ambiguity of that Doctor would really give the player something new to experience without it feeling out of place in the DW continuity

"The last Dalek" on the doctor who website was legendary. Every Friday at school people would be playing it, even people who didn't watch dr who were playing!!

It's great to see the future of Doctor Who in gaming is bright. Honestly I really do think the LEGO treatment worked best. You have puzzle solving, basic platforming, and item collecting, all which work great with the style of Who. Not to mention due to the more outlandish style of the LEGO games, you can get away with the Doctor punching Cybermen. Sadly it seems Doctor Who isn't quite a big enough property to warrant a full triple A LEGO game. Here's to hoping Edge of Time is great!

Singapores fate is still unknown...

Dalek attack is still my favourite Doctor Who game but it's really difficult.

Well done for getting The Edge of Time into the vid on such short notice haha

I really liked the Doctor Who game google made for the 50th. I especially liked that when you died you just regenerated in to the next doctor along :D

Doctor Who pinball is still my favorite. It has a storyline and purpose. Not just high scores.

There was a _Doctor Who_ game I used to play on my Amiga in the early '90s, probably unlicensed. It involved you, as the Doctor, trying to collect the six pieces of the Key to Time before the Master. To kill enemies, you had to trick them into shooting or colliding with each other. You could also use the sonic screwdriver to freeze enemies temporarily. You had seven lives - the seven Doctors from the series, and there was a two-player mode where the second player would control random companions.

My favourite Doctor Who "game" was the Doctor Who Bot on Skype. Just being able to chat with Twelve was a dream come true! The greatest moment, I think, is when he asked me what I had been doing for a week. I was playing it as the chapters came out every Saturday. I said, "Nothing", and he actually responded, "Nothing?!" before throwing a snarky quip at me being a human and a puddingbrain. It was worth it.

Tbh fallout who Vegas, despite not being official deserves a place on this list.

I have the Doctor Who Pinball Machine.

Did anyone play the doctor who game when you could go into the Tardis with David Tennant?? That game was epic 😂

I've never been much of a 'gamer' myself but I loved The Adventure Games and The Eternity Clock, splendid visuals! Shame they never made more. Side note, I want Big Finish to pick up on the cliffhanger for The Eternity Clock one day

I think that the best way to make a Doctor Who game is to make it a single-player RPG with a heavy focus on story and exploration. It could be like Mass Effect where you can travel to all sorts of different planets and complete side quests for experience. Leveling up would let you increase your skills like hacking, repair, persuasion, combat, etc. There could also be a character creator that would let you customize the doctor’s appearance to look like you, as if you’re the newest doctor who! Or you could choose from a bunch of pre-sets designed to look like the previous doctors from the show.

Fantastic work. This is DVD/Bluray feature quality. I played a lot of Dalek Attack, loved the sound effects and title sequence. I still have Destiny of the Doctors, CD-ROM, box and all. The game also included a really detailed database featuring a lot of video clips, many which hadn’t weren’t commercially released at that point (on VHS). Even though it looked a bit ropey, it was still a thrill being able to explore the TARDIS.

And Josh, PLEASE do unofficial fan games and unlicensed games! There was a second Doctor Who maze game for the Commodore Amiga. Simple but rather amusing. The voice clip they used for the Master's laugh was hysterical.

Mentioning the Web games made me remember the Google doodle they did for the 50th. That was actually rather enjoyable for what it was-though yes, a step outside the remit of this discussion. What's frustrating about Who games is that the few times someone actually gets the right end of the stick, the project gets sidetracked and tapers off before it's complete. The Adventure Games were actually quite good for their part, with some good talent behind them. Legacy also was on a good roll for a while, until it got hung up on the weird add-on elements and just began to spin its wheels. The show is a strange concept to adapt to existing design templates, and tends to require a level of lateral thinking that isn't going to be happening too much with the low commercial bids the BBC will receive for the license. The tack they used with The Adventure games, actively seeking talented developers with experience in the right kind of design-it's gonna take either more of that or some clever indie darlings to make the right pitch before anything really translates the show's appeal into a set of rules that are worth exploring in their own right.

10:25 my favourite because you can play as all the canonical doctors during 2015. It is the closest to that we’ve ever gotten to official Lego Doctor Who game which is something that I’ve always wanted

I think The Adventure Games is my favourite :D

Thirteen in The Runaway looks like Rapunzel from Tangled.

My favourite game from this list is probably Lego Dimensions, atleast at this point in time. But I'm excited to see what they do with the VR game.

Do you have a TARDIS because my god do you make videos fast

Nice video. Ages ago I had a video game called “Daleks”. It was a unique game where you were in a room with a bunch of Daleks that would move straight toward you and you tried to get them to crash into each other so that you could hide behind the wreckage. It ran on the original 128k Mac. I don’t know who made it, but I thought it was an official game.

I've never had much time or opportunity to play much in the way of video games, but recall seeing adverts and pictures from the various games you show here. Thank you for this exceptionally well-made video, which archives so much stuff I missed out on and always wondered about!

This video reminded me of a dinky little handheld DS-type TARDIS thingy (I really can't describe it) and I played it all the time back when I was a kid and David Tennant was still the doctor so must've been released around 2007-8. It was basically a bunch of mini-games where you'd play as the tenth doctor and go through some of the stories like the wire and the runaway bride. It was really cool and I need to either find mine or get my hands on it again.

Great video as always Josh :) I think Doctor Who would work better as an open world 3D games with an ever expanding universe (DLC) and also as an RTS/RTT where you control the many militaries of many aliens you can either fight for good or evil conquer or liberate?

In the late 90s, early 2000’s, the BBC released an official Doctor Who screensaver game for either windows 95 or windows 98. In it, you controlled K9 on a grid of two colors - and the Daleks were trying to turn the grid a different color. You could also shoot the Daleks with K9.

I wish they did a entire Lego doctor who game the mechanics and designs are perfect for it

I'm still waiting for a full fledged Lego Doctor Who title... and still dream of an AAA Doctor Who RPG and/or open world game (featuring every Doctor).....

I used to play the adventure games all the time as a kid. Wish they did do that second season.

The adventure games are so nostalgic. Used to play that all the time.

Glad at least an advert for the Pinball game made it in! That blew my mind when I was a kid and saw it for the first time! Sadly, the only video games I really played for Who were Legacy and Worlds in Time, though not terribly much of each as my life was quite busy back then.

Doctor who is just so hard to adapt! I think it would be interesting to see an open world doctor who game. Maybe instanced based open worlds like the outer worlds with mystery game elements like the frog ware games? Or a telltale style game?

Honestly, I can only imagine the potential of an open-world Doctor Who game.

Great video. Doctor Who: Legacy was a really great game that more than anything really delved into the history of Doctor Who. It is missed. Doctor Who Infinity is a pale comparison.

My favourite game is TARDIS Flight Classic. It's a roblox role play game where you can role play as which ever doctor, companion, or character you want! You can also create your own tardis interior in it

(by the way - this is a really well-made video. nice editing/production - love the DW themed “game room” vibe.)

You forgot to mention that Julian Bleach also returned as Davros for the Lego Dimensions level pack. In terms of a favorite game, I definitely like Doctor Who Legacy (I should download it again) and the content in Lego Dimensions is also very fun, because all the characters get to be a bit more sillier since it's Lego. Despite older Doctors not coming back to do their voices it's nice that the game re-used some of their most iconic lines. And this is fun with especially the first three Doctors. What a pleasant surprise to hear William Hartnell again as the Doctor years after his passing.

It's hard to understate that Lego Dimensions simply did a better Doctor Who game than almost everyone else. Doctor Who was one of the first level packs released, the Doctor was part of the main storyline, and was still getting DW content even as late as in the Goonies pack, with the Evil of the Daleks levels.

Would be cool if The Doctor used that sonic Wii remote in the Power of Three.

oddly one of my earliest doctor who online memories was playing that dalek game on the BBC website bloody loved it!

I haven't played all the Doctor Who games out there but I really liked Destiny of the Doctors. Although the 3D was a bit ropy, I loved Anthony Ainley's input and the various Doctors who added their voices. The game itself was quite fun, glitches aside! It's a shame this won't play very well on Windows 10.

Fantastic visuals once again 👌Awesome video ☺️

Wow, thanks! Your work is great!

Wow! Great research Dude! Had NO idea any of this existed!

I hope In he future we get a Doctor Who free roaming game, where we can collect various doctors, companions and enemies from the 56 years of the show also visit other worlds from the show

Great content as always! I hope you'll eventually discuss the novels published during the wilderness years.

Honestly, Destiny of the Doctors is my favorite. I have massive nostalgia for the blocky, polygonal graphics of the late '90s, sure. But Anthony Ainley's final performance as the Master is brilliant. The cutscenes even imply that the events of the game lead into his capture and execution at the beginning of the TV movie.

Never even knew there was dr who games. I'm relatively new to the dr who fandom. Only ever watched some of the david tennant episodes but I was really young. Since jodie whittaker has been the dr, I have been watching. I can't wait till it comes back on again.

8:22 I remember when this game was out. I've always wanted to play this it looked so fun

How about the Doctor Who pinball game? It's not a video Game, per-se, (Although there are limited video segments where you have to shoot Daleks, or run away from them, shown on the LCD screen on the backboard ) but it is a famous Doctor Who arcade game. A good friend of mine used to own one. It was great fun to play!

I had no idea there were so many DW games! My first computer was a Commodore 64 - I missed out. :-(. I do have Destiny of the Doctors somewhere though. I paid $5 for it at the supermarket. I want the sonic screwdriver wiimote! I adore the Lego games, and so does my youngest son. He was given Lego Dimensions for WiiU and it was all he played for months. Even now, if he plays it, his favourite character is the Doctor and his favourite vehicle the TARDIS.

Brilliant video, Josh. As well as a big DW fan I am a BBC B fan, having owned one since a boy (that dates me!) so this video is of double interest to me. Fascinating to see how 'Who has been adapted for the video game market over the years but never yet quite found it's niece. The excellent Larry Bundy Jr. did a really good video covering 'Doctor Who' games a few years ago now, but it was Part 1 of a series, and he never completed it. He did mention, though, that the "first" Doctor Who game was a (totally unlicensed) type-it-in-yourself game from an old computer magazine in the early 1980s (yes, people used to sit and type in their own games in those days!) I did inherit 'The First Adventure' later in the BBC's life second hand; played it once. Rubbish. A tacky collection of game clones with the 'Doctor Who' licence whacked on top and a (nonsensical) story trying to thread the games together. Looked horrible and dated even when released and boring to play, I think sales dipping due to the fifth Doctor being on the cover was maybe a convenient excuse when in reality it was just a pretty naff release. (It might have actually fared better totally away from the DW license welded on, instead just being a collection of mini-games). I was a huge text adventure fan so warmed to 'The Warlord' a lot more. (BTW they are actually one game technically, as the second half picks up from the end of the first, and you can't complete the second half without things learned from the first half). 'The Mines of Terror' sticks in my mind as it was a $%*! to get running - it required an extra chip that came with the game to be inserted in order for it to run (production of these chips was one of the reason Micro Power ended up going bust), but the chip was very fussy and could cause problems with - or be cancelled out by - pre-existing chips in the computer. I'd loved 'Castle Quest', of which 'Mines' originally began life as a sequel too, but 'Mines' was just too complicated for it's own good for me to ever get very far or have much interest in. (BTW, as well as the obvious Dalek clones, Splinx the robotic cat is also an obvious stand-in for K-9, who they also couldn't afford the licensing rights to!) A side-note in case you ever choose to cover the "unofficial" DW games, another BBC/Electron game, 'Escape from Moonbase Alpha' (1983) features the Doctor (in Tom Baker guise), as well as the TARDIS, and Dalek-clones. Not license played for (in the days before things were so tight), it also includes unlicensed appearances from The Incredible Hulk, and a clone of Evil Edna from children's TV series 'Willo the Wisp'! I have a nagging feeling that there's one game missing from the list in the video, a quiz based game, but I just can't recall it... maybe I'm just getting confused with 'Destiny of the Doctors'. Either way, love this video and your branching out into different DW media. It's strange how the franchise has never fully found it's footing in the computer games market (then again, 'Star Trek' has completely either). As a massive fan of the point-and-click adventure/puzzle-solving genre, I've always felt that DW would have been perfectly suited to that genre - and is arguably one of the only genre's that 'Star Trek' has fared well on the games market, too.

I'll never forget the coverage of Dalek Attack in DWM, with the full page adverts showing the amazing graphics and gameplay. Unfortunately it seems that it was just the Amiga that got that amazing version and since my family only owned an old Sinclair Spectrum we got a substandard black and white version.

I loved Lego Dimensions. It was so much fun. Even when you had finished all the Doctor Who levels.

Having been at the demo and talk for the edge of time at comic con I can say I'm very interested in it. Seems like a very neat concept and has some stunning visuals. Apparently it has something to do with the new series (12) and has a very strong budget which most of dw games seem to lack.

Doctor Who would make an amazing open world RPG. With the incredible processing power of the new gen consoles the game could be massive. Traveling the universe in the T.A.R.D.I.S. with a companion, exploring whenever and wherever you like, encountering all of the iconic villains...damn that would be so friggin' stellar! 🤞Fingers crossed🤞 hoping this dream will become reality sometime in the near future. If I ever win the lottery I'm definitely going to fund the creation of a mind blowing Doctor Who game.

Always enjoy you videos.

Out of the games in the video, I'm going to say that Lego Dimensions was the best out of the ones I've played personally, even if it's just for the changing Doctors and TARDIS interiors and playing Keff's theme while flying around in the TARDIS. However, if the BBC website games were included in this video, they would win hands down.

I’m so glad that maze theory announced they’re making more doctor who games

My favourite used to be the BBC Website ones. The Dalek one where you go round killing everyone. The Strategy game where you play as Cybermen in Doomsday. Attack of the Graske. And of course Mickey Smith and the small Robot that he controls and many, many, more. I remember the Adventure games and watching reviews by like MrTardis and remembering how incredible they were. Free in the UK but about 30 quid on Steam. Might buy that actually

I still have my Wii copy of Doctor Who Top Trumps

My son loves the LEGO Dimensions mod. We even have the TARDIS console LEGO set! I'm old enough to still have the Doctor Who board game, the Game of Time & Space, with Tom Baker on the box. Anyone else own that one? Lots of happy memories of some of these!

Nice to see a detailed history of video games. It is a subject not often discussed and there have been many releases in this sphere. I recall the home computer boom of the early 80s and owned a BBC Micro and a ZX Spectrum. I once made a couple of games for the Spectrum based on The Visitation and Black Orchid, but never finished them. I recall drawing a plague village and a cricket pitch! The marketing of the original computer game seems very odd. I remember seeing information about it in the Radio Times 20th Anniversary Special in 1983. They must surely have been aware of Davison!s upcoming departure from the show as he announced it nearly 9 months before he actually left. I used to think the game was perhaps based on The Caves of Androzani as there is footage from a BBC Micro in that serial! There again, there is that moment in Logopolis where the Doctor shows Adric that the Tardis could become a pyramid, using graphics I believe developed on a BBC A computer. The BBC Micro was designated BBC B. Talking of Top Trumps, I had the 1978 traditional card version featuring Tom Baker - one of the first pieces of Who merchandise I ever bought. My brother has Lego Dimensions and we enjoy playing as the different Doctors. My niece always wants to be David Tennant, I prefer to be Pat Troughton or Tom Baker and my brother Peter Davison or Sylvester McCoy. Looking forward to your next video!

Another great video from you. I really wish the game series 'The Eternity Clock' didn't get cancelled, I adored playing that game

I feel like the major difficulty the series often faces with video games is that with the many enemies the franchise has, they can't usually be combated in a consistent way- such as out right attacks which doesn't exactly "fit in" with Doctor Who's vibe at least if you want to be playing as The Doctor. Maybe a FPS/TPS game where you play as members of Torchwood or UNIT would work but then that could very easily fall into seeming like a generic shooter unless given to the right kind of studio. Without typical combat mechanics platforming, collecting, and mini-games seem like the way to go, but with a small budget may usually end up feeling like "shovelware" or microtransaction mobile games. Lego Dimensions is able to get away with things a little more due to its cartoonyness. While there are many games that don't rely on or have little to know combat that are great its usually because they are able to make their own story around it and not have to sorry about making a particular existing franchise work with it. I'd love to see something bigger from Doctor Who in gaming but its going to be a tough nut to crack.

I miss Doctor Who: Legacy. So sad that Tiny Rebel wasn't able to finish it.

I loved Dalek Attack. I had it on the Amiga and sometimes would just boot it up for the intro. I've still got my copy of Eternity Clock kicking around too

I still say a Star Wars: Battlefront-esque or Battle Royale game where it's just all the major villain factions duking it out would make for a pretty good gameplay loop.

My favorite is the Accursed Toys fan game of Dr. Who back in the 80's on the Amiga.

Ever since I first played Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on the X-BOX back in the early 2000s, I determined that a similar game would work wonders with a Doctor Who theme. Playing Oblivion, Fallout 3, and Skyrim has only served to firm and confirm my opinion that if BBC and Bethesda got together, we'd have a truly workable and wonderful open world, open travel video game that is loyal to many of the concepts of Doctor Who (1963-2017) and allow a player to choose whether they wanted to be an evil Time Lord/Lady or a friend to the Doctor or a good Time Lord/Lady, with different attributes and abilities for each.

Would be interested in seeing you cover the fan games especially ferroxy's amazing VR interior

List Of Games (in order of release): Doctor Who: The First Adventure Doctor Who And The Warlord Doctor Who And The Mines Of Terror Doctor Who: Dalek Attack Doctor Who: Destiny Of The Doctors Top Trumps: Doctor Who Edition Doctor Who: The Adventure Games Doctor Who: Return To Earth Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth Doctor Who: The Mazes Of Time Doctor Who: Worlds In Time Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock Doctor Who: Legacy Lego Dimensions: Doctor Who Expansion Doctor Who: Infinity Doctor Who: The Runaway Doctor Who: The Edge Of Time

You also had Doctor Who: Battle of Time for iOS/Android by Bandai Namco and on a side note Torchwood: Web of Lies also for iOS/Android. I believe Top Trumps: Doctor Who was available for Java phones.

My favourite doctor who game is time tennis.

If you find that underwhelming i recommend either the TARDIS or DALEK mod for Minecraft java, which offer many features, probably the closest thing you can get to a modern doctor who game

My favourite is probably the Pin Ball game!

I really want a 1st/3rd person doctor who open world game, I'd die for that to be made

When you said "games with Doctor Who references" I had a flashback to me playing Wizard101. It has a character based off of The Doctor called The Professor.

The Adventure Games, Into the Vortex, I loved those games.

Im very hopeful of the edge of time, being a playstation Vr user myself I cannot wait to buy it

As a games designer this interests me. The BBC has revived the series and it always has seemed it could be so much more... The scope to deliver narrative and use ludology is ... Well... That is maybe the problem. The IP is so daunting... The fanbase so huge and varied... How do you even start? How do you offset the deep narrative whilst still giving a player agency? This is where early games go wrong. Telltale Games style games are probably some of the best examples of how something that is heavy in narrative can still have agency. The other problem is do you play as the Doctor? Or let the player be a companion? I have often thought of a Metal Gear style Doctor Who game. Third person where running and stealth are needed. Where puzzles must be solved to advance. For the older games... I never understood why they never tried a Beneath A Steel Sky style point and click adventure. I will say there are currently things in development at a couple of Devs. With the actress that plays Yasmin (Mandip Gill) also now starring in another game by Wales Interactive called Five Dates. So there are things rumbling and who knows what the future may bring. But the gaming industry is something the BBC are now seeing as being another revenue stream given the growing unrest in the UK regarding licensing fees. For anyone unaware - we don't get a choice in the UK. You have to pay a TV license whether you want to or not. So the BBC have to keep in mind that they may lose a hell of a lot of money should they lose the license.

Destiny of the Doctors has to be my absolute favourite! It came along at just the right time and in many ways helped me to understand and figure out how to properly use my PC!!

OK this might be super obscure but does anybody remember The Beginning or The Five Doctors games? They weren't flash games because I remember having them downloaded and I guess they were fan made. In The Beginning you played through the Tribe of Gum (or that's as far as I got) and in Five Doctors there were levels from Tomb of the Cybermen, Three Doctors and Genesis of the Daleks (from memory). You could sneak through Davros's lab and get your foot caught in the clam and in the Tomb level I remember a soundbite from Troughton (the "they must be fought" clip) playing before the Cybermen were released. I can't find anything online about these please help.

There was a fun mod for Doom that put Dalek , Cyberman and Unit Soldiers in the place of the monsters from Doom.

Rip Legacy it was my favorite and now I can never play it again :(

I actually wish that Doctor Who had entered the VCR Board Game market in the early 1990's.

The Dalek flash game is the best

I wish they would continue the Adventure Games, going through the Matt Smith era then onto the Peter Capaldi era.

U should do a video on the DVD easter eggs on both classic and modern Doctor Who

I need that Sonic Screwdriver Wiimote

I loved the Doctor Who level pack for Lego Dimensions, it was a lot of fun. The game in full was a lot of fun, I would love to see the developers of the Lego games do a full Doctor Who game, they fairly have a knack for making fun games with a lot of love and care for the respective settings and themes so they could be the ones to truly deliver an excellent Doctor Who game worthy of the name. If they ever did that any way.

The Doctor Who mods for Doom 2 and Quake were great.

The Doctor Who adventure games were pretty cool, but hands down, the best DW game is the pinball game. It's mostly a pinball game with small video game elements built in. And it's totally awesome to see and hear. :)

The obvious game to make would be a proper LEGO Doctor Who. Maybe TT Games can get around to it after the new LEGO Star Wars.

1980s game based on ‘Death to the Daleks’, part 3 & 4 in particular with Jon Pertwee. My school friend had it, there was puzzles from the show and more. I’d like to see a video with details. It would be much appreciated if I was pointed in the right direction.