If we stretch it to 1990, Ultima 6 is one. The Amiga version is a pain in the arse due to disk swapping (very few Amiga's had HDD at the time). Also many would argue the MT32 soundtrack was better than the Miggy's 4 channel sample based soundtrack.

You know, I made a list of games up through 1989 that interested me to play on my NuXT. Going through them through, very few are what I would describe as "best" on DOS versus Amiga if screenshots on Mobygames are anything to go by. So far the only one that might count is Space Quest 2, but only because the graphics are equally blocky, with an equally limited color pallet on both. I suspect the Amiga release was held back by the DOS release. I wouldn't describe Pool of Radiance as obviously worse either, but not better. Archipelagos seems about the same.

You know, Sim City might be the first game I'm checking that looks, at least IMHO, objectively better on DOS than Amiga. Even the EGA mode on DOS looks better than the Amiga screenshots I can find.

Going to 1990 doesn't count. It was the year when 16MHz PCs with VGA started to take over with titles like Wing Commander.

I just tried to find something unique or better than the Motorola based versions. Other than text adventures, I found nothing.

There are dos games from the 80's better than the Amiga version, trouble is finding them. Don't forget more Dos games were released in the 80's than the Amiga, or any other platform bar the C64.

Games that I preferred vs Amiga and played on my 8mhz 286 with 8bit VGA ISA card:
A-10 Tank Killer - 1989
Weird dreams 1989
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top 1989
Alien syndrome - 1989
Budokan - 1989
Mission Impossible 2 - 1989
Mean Streets - 1989
Operation Wolf - 1989
Battle of Britain - 1989
F-19 Stealth Fighter - 1988
Drakkhen - 1989
M1 Tank Platoon - 1989
Leisure Suit Larry III - 1989
F-15 Strike Eagle II - 1989
688 Attack Sub - 1989
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation - 1989
The Colonel's Bequest - 1989
Keef the Thief - 1989
FaceOff! - 1989

Some of the above games came out later on the Amiga, in 1990-91 but with reduced colors and usually slower frame rate, like A10 Tank Killer , 688, Battle of Britain etc.
All the above are VGA, most support Adlib, some soundblaster and some MT32. These are games I still own on original 5¼-inch floppies from back in the day when in school. I remember comparing them to my friends' Amiga and preferring the PC versions (using VGA mode of course). Clearly remember for instance liking Operation Wolf on the PC vs Amiga version and that was around November 1989.
Some of them have better sound than the Amiga when used with an MT32 but I didn't have one in the 1980's.
That is just a small list of games I actually played. Looking at game databases there are around 250 dos games released before December 1989 that support VGA. I suspect a number of those will be better than the Amiga versions.

In my library
Gauntlet 2 more for the fact they achieved digital speech from the PC speaker then actual gameplay

Street Rod SE, A car pack for the original Street Rod that was only re discovered about 10 years ago for dos, best of all its freeware!
https://www.streetrodonline.com/downloads/

I started to compare titles myself. I owned an Atari ST pretty well from the moment the ST520+ (1GB, chips soldered on top) became available.
Everything from that early time looks horrible on PC by comparison. Obviously, if it ain't VGA, it won't compete favorably.

Perhaps the PC can outperform the C64 with chip/memory during the early years (82-86), but it usually loses with colors and sound.

Riikcakirds wrote on 2024-09-12, 22:59:

Don't forget more Dos games were released in the 80's than the Amiga, or any other platform bar the C64.

In any case, I would suspect that few games were released on PC only. Most titles found their way to the C64 or Apple II in the early 80s. And to ST and Amiga in the late 80s. But there may well be a (small) subset of PC games that did not get ported anywhere. Which then begs the question "why not?". Probably because they weren't good enough or PD efforts?

The reason I ask has to do with me charting my retro PC needs. I have set up emulators for the c64, Atari ST and Amiga, and found the titles I played or wish I could have played. So far, every game I spotted seems preferable on a home computer. It becomes a close call when VGA and 16 MHz are utilized. Not surprisingly, many games from above list are flight sims. I will look into some of them.

Riikcakirds wrote on 2024-09-12, 22:59:

There are dos games from the 80's better than the Amiga version, trouble is finding them. Don't forget more Dos games were relea […]
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There are dos games from the 80's better than the Amiga version, trouble is finding them. Don't forget more Dos games were released in the 80's than the Amiga, or any other platform bar the C64.

Games that I preferred vs Amiga and played on my 8mhz 286 with 8bit VGA ISA card:
A-10 Tank Killer - 1989
Weird dreams 1989
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top 1989
Alien syndrome - 1989
Budokan - 1989
Mission Impossible 2 - 1989
Mean Streets - 1989
Operation Wolf - 1989
Battle of Britain - 1989
F-19 Stealth Fighter - 1988
Drakkhen - 1989
M1 Tank Platoon - 1989
Leisure Suit Larry III - 1989
F-15 Strike Eagle II - 1989
688 Attack Sub - 1989
Indianapolis 500: The Simulation - 1989
The Colonel's Bequest - 1989
Keef the Thief - 1989
FaceOff! - 1989

Some of the above games came out later on the Amiga, in 1990-91 but with reduced colors and usually slower frame rate, like A10 Tank Killer , 688, Battle of Britain etc.
All the above are VGA, most support Adlib, some soundblaster and some MT32. These are games I still own on original 5¼-inch floppies from back in the day when in school. I remember comparing them to my friends' Amiga and preferring the PC versions (using VGA mode of course). Clearly remember for instance liking Operation Wolf on the PC vs Amiga version and that was around November 1989.
Some of them have better sound than the Amiga when used with an MT32 but I didn't have one in the 1980's.
That is just a small list of games I actually played. Looking at game databases there are around 250 dos games released before December 1989 that support VGA. I suspect a number of those will be better than the Amiga versions.

Drakkhen is vga but not in 1989 version. In 1989 version it's only cga and ega and only pc speaker.

Wasteland 1 might be best on dos or at least indifferent (only has EGA graphics but other versions look just as bad or worse)

Kordanor wrote on 2024-09-16, 11:21:

Wasteland 1 might be best on dos or at least indifferent (only has EGA graphics but other versions look just as bad or worse)

Valid point, as it was not ported to the 68000 crowd. And in 1988, it should be able to compete with Apple II and C64.

Two other originals I found in my attic:
Berlin 1948 - 1989
Tunnels of Armageddon - 1989

Tunnels of Armageddon is 8bit (256 colors) and faster than the Amiga version, think of the game as an early pseudo 3d Descent.