XP being a "dud" it's first year was certainly the minority opinion at the time. To most people, XP was light years ahead of ME or 2000. It also looked gorgeous back in 2001/2002.
Anyway, I'm loving this topic since I was going to post the exact question the same day this one was started. I have full installs of just about every Windows version since 95. This thread (and other forums) seem to indicate Win98SE is the best OS for mid/late '90's games. DOS-based games anyway.
The question is how do I trick my Pentium III running XP (SP3) to install Win98SE? Would a HD format + reboot with the Win98SE disc work? Would it really be that simple?