17 Retro Games You Can Run on Modern PCs

[lockhrt999]

I have huge respect towards these games. It'd have been great if released year and makers' name were also mentioned.

 

[tbq]

I'm still waiting for more of the LucasArts games to be released for modern systems. They did an awesome job with the rereleases of the first two Monkey Island games.

 

[Guest]

Can I have a look at the minimum specifications .

 

[Guest]

Don't forget SimCity 2000. I remember Sim Tower. Seemed less pixelated back then

 

[nforce4max]

LoL now I feel old, I remember playing Sim Farm back in third grade and still remember one of the cheat codes XD

As for GTA 1 and 2 well I only got them for the ps1 including gta london.

 

[gatosoft]

Hey! Where's Jazz Jackrabbit, Duke Nukem II, Vynil - Goddess From Mars, Super Mario VGA and Cool Coyote in Fire & Ice? D:

 

[wayneepalmer]

I just wish I could get my fracking copy of Star Trek Klingon Academy to work in WIndows 7 ...

 

[Horhe]

I play TTDPatch (the OpenTTD alternative) regularly. I remember going to Internet Caffes to see others playing GTA and Diablo because I didn't have a PC back then, only a ZX Spectrum copy.

 

[Guest]

It's missing Commander Keen!

 

[Guest]

These are certainly not the retro games that bring back fond memories for me.
How about Space Invaders, Galaxian, Galaga, Galaga '88, Ms. Pacman, Ladybug, Space (or Time) Pilot, Moon Cresta, Outrun, Puzzle Bobble, After Burner, Amidar, Arkanoid, Asteroids, Tetris, Berzerk, Bomb Jack, Boulder Dash, Battle Zone, Carnival, Centipede, Championship Sprint, Circus, Commando, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Double Dragon, Dig Dug, Elevator Action, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gorf, Gyruss, Hang On Junior, Mouse Trap, Ikari Warriors, Joust, Klax, Frogger, Marble Madness, Mortal Kombat, Moon Patrol, Junior Pacman, Off Road Racing, Operation Wolf, Pang, Paperboy, Pengo, Phoenix, Pole Position 2, Q*Bert, Qix, Raiden, R-Type, Super Breakout, Scramble, Tron, Turbo, Vanguard, Wonderboy, Yie-Ar Kung Fu, Zaxxon

Sure, they're arcade games, and can be played with an arcade emulator.
When it comes to PC games, I have the following I liked :

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, and followups, and other old Sierra games, such as the King's Quest, Space Quest and Police Quest series.
Also the Indiana Jones series and the Series of Monkey Island (1, 2) , Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle, Rebel Assault, Jazz Jackrabbit, and many other games I can't think of right now.

 

[chickenhoagie]

Ahhh GTA2...one of the best of my childhoods

 

[psiboy]

Would be nice if the link to Carmen San Diego actually worked....

 

[nottheking]

[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]Does it have to be a DOS game or just have crappy 8bit graphics?[/citation]
The use of the term "8-bit" and particularly "8-bit graphics" always gets me... Exactly where do you define it? Typically bittedness in that sense refers to the bit width of the CPU, where the "8-bit era" referred to machines powered chiefly by the MOS 6502 and Zilog Z80, or similar CPUs. (including Intel's CPUs like the 8080 and 8085)

Graphics-wise, a lot of older games relied on 2-bit or 4-bit color depth, especially for PC games in the 1980s, since there was a strong push to ensure all software ran on virtually all PCs, hence eliminating much of the point of buying anything other than a base PC with an 8088, 64KB of RAM, and a CGA card.

On the flip side, VGA-based games had an 8-bit color depth, but very often didn't look crappy; they cut most of the visual distance to modern games using 24-bit color depth. Earlier popular FPS titles like Doom, Dark Force, and Descent would be good examples. (which all, coincidentally, required 32-bit CPUs to run)

[citation][nom]DSpider[/nom]Ask a 15 yo and he'll tell you Starcraft, Red Alert 2, Diablo II, etc.,[/citation]
I'd be surprised at a 15-year-old primarily playing games almost as old as they are, to be honest... At least in this day and age.

[citation][nom]hawkwindeb[/nom](ok this last one was not well known, but still a fun RPG)[/citation]
I actually preferred its sequel-in-spirit Hard Nova, even though it may be even more obscure a game.

[citation][nom]Anonymous[/nom]Remember that Windows XP is not a modern platform even if it is still in use.[/citation]
...Yet virtually all software today is still written to run on it natively, given that it still makes up a substantial percentage of the installed base for OSes; I don't think Half-Life2 would qualify as a "retro" game because it was made before Vista was put out, especially with its episodes releasing later.

 

[Guest]

King's Quest really should have been in that list.

 

[DSpider]

Golden Axe, Joe and Mac... Ghosts N Goblins!

Come on.

 

[Northwestern]

[citation][nom]DSpider[/nom]"Retro" is very subjective.Ask a 15 yo and he'll tell you Starcraft, Red Alert 2, Diablo II, etc., something he played as a kid.Ask a 35 yo and he'll probably tell you Dizzy, Manic Miner, Space Invaders...I would've probably added OpenTyrian to the list, as well as Abuse, Contra, Outrun, Monkey Island and a lot more and it's why I think this list is shit (except maybe for The Lost Vikings). "Secret Maryo Chronicles" ? Come on.[/citation]
I don't think it should depend on age, but the childhood. I'm fifteen and games I would classify as retro would be titles such as SimCity 2000, Nuclear Strike, Age of Empires, Civilization II, Sid Meier Alpha Centauri and Leisure Suit Larry. While these games are mid to late 90s, I have had my share of text-based DOS games.

It's dependent on the person, not the age.

 

[teddymines]

Need Thexder and Starflight!

 

[EVILNOD]

hmm... no need to put all 3 xcom in the list..
here something retro for me..
1. text adv - A mind forever voyaging / Planetfall ( i know alot ppl would pick zork.. but i got 3 zork and never finish any of them. at least i think those 2 are best in story telling at the time)
2. RPG - Ultima 4~7, Might and Migic (ultima become crap after U7 exp pack, and 1~3 gfx kinda crappy)
3. adv game - LSL, i remember i keep asking my dad those damn question whenever i start the game lol.
4. space flight sim - all wing commander (think i buy sound card for this one.. gameblaster from creative at the time)
5. strategy - civ2, MoM (from civ1 to civ2 thats big jump, while civ4 to civ5 is 10 step backward)
6. action - loadrunner (i dont think this is popular game.. most ppl may not play it b4. but its tons of fun in apple II)

 

[Guest]

Boy i love this collection. Add also Captain Claw

 

[hythos]

How is it considered "Retro" if I'm still playing some of those games??