Dune II

PC cover

Based on the novel series by Frank Herbert and the sequel to the point-and-click adventure game Dune. Well kind of a sequel, in fact they where both released in 1992 and they where created by rivaling companies. Dune by Cryo Interactive and Dune II by Westwood Studios. Both games was published by Virgin Interactive.
The game was titled Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty, Dune II: Battle for Arrakis in Europe and Dune: The Battle for Arrakis for the Mega Drive (Genesis) port.

Although probably technically not the first RTS (Real Time Strategy) game, it was the game that established the "modern" format as used by the Command & Conquer, Age of Empires and Star Craft series, among so many others.

Stage select

The desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune, is the only place in the universe that has the spice, melange. The spice is used for space travel and is what fuels the empire.
Emperor Frederick IV of House Corrino has proposed a challenge to each of the three houses. The house that produces the most spice will control Dune. There are no set territories and no rules of engagement.
The player chooses to play one of the following houses: the noble Atreides (blue), the insidious Ordos (green) and the evil Harkonnen (red).

Note: Frederick IV only appears in the Westwood games, he is analogous to Shaddam IV in the novels.

Mega Drive (Genesis) screenshot

The currency is credits which is rewarded by harvesting the spice. The harvester units are non-combat units and the spice patches is home to the giant sand worms, that frequently attacks units traversing the spice patches.

You use credits to build buildings and produce units, different buildings allows certain upgrades and the ability to produce certain units.

PC version playing as house Harkonnen

Although being a genre-defining game and a true piece of video-game history, the controls where rather clunky. You could only select one unit at a time and in order to move or attack, you first had to click the move or attack command button. This is the main reason why I couldn't get very far in this game back in the day, since the computer controlled enemies could of course do everything at once, and at lightning speed (at least in my mind).

Here's the intro video for all of you true nostalgics to enjoy.
The PC version sells for about €10-15 on ebay, the Sega version on the other hand goes for about €50-100.
This game was also released for the Acorn Archimedes computer, I've seen it be sold in a bundle with 7 other Acorn games for around €80, which would mean this game would be worth around €10.