Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 8 May 2025, 8:15 pm
Space Quest V: The Next Mutation is a humorous graphic adventure released in 1993 for PC.
The game marked a significant shift in the beloved sci-fi parody series originally created by Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy — the “Two Guys from Andromeda.” By this point in the franchise, the creative duo had split ways: Crowe remained with Dynamix (a Sierra subsidiary), while Murphy moved on to other projects. As a result, this fifth entry was led solely by Crowe, giving the game a more personal and streamlined direction, though still rooted in the absurd humor and pop culture satire that fans loved.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 8 May 2025, 1:25 am
Castlevania, released in 1987 in North America for the NES, marked the beginning of one of Konami’s most iconic franchises. Designed by Hitoshi Akamatsu (as later confirmed through interviews and credits), the game combined action-platforming mechanics with gothic horror themes, setting a new tone for side-scrolling games on the 8-bit console.
You play as Simon Belmont, a vampire hunter armed with a whip, making your way through Dracula’s castle to defeat the infamous vampire. The journey is divided into six main stages, each packed with dangerous enemies, sub-bosses, and a climactic boss fight at the end. The level design is linear but cleverly constructed, with tight platforming challenges and strategic placement of items and enemies. Players can collect sub-weapons like the axe, holy water, or boomerang, each consuming limited hearts that you gather throughout the level.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 7 May 2025, 8:04 pm
Akalabeth: World of Doom is often considered the first stepping stone in the evolution of Western computer role-playing games. Developed in 1980 by Richard Garriott, who was still a high school student at the time, Akalabeth was created initially as a personal experiment in computer game design. It was written in BASIC for the Apple II and drew inspiration from Garriott’s love for Dungeons & Dragons, a game he played regularly under the nickname "Lord British," which would become his pseudonym in later game credits.
The earliest version of Akalabeth was not designed with commercial intent. Garriott developed it simply to entertain himself and his friends. The game, however, caught the attention of California Pacific Computer Company after Garriott decided to sell copies of it in Ziploc bags at a local computer store in Houston, Texas. The company offered to publish it, and Akalabeth ended up selling around 30,000 copies — a remarkable number for the time (not all sources agree on this number).
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Author: GN Team - Published: 7 May 2025, 1:05 am
Screamer was released in 1995 for MS-DOS by the Italian developer Graffiti and published by Virgin Interactive. It was a fast-paced arcade-style racing game that stood out for its impressive visuals and pure, adrenaline-fueled gameplay. At a time when the racing genre on PC was increasingly split between simulations like NASCAR Racing or IndyCar Racing, and the more relaxed arcade action of console racers, Screamer leaned heavily into the arcade side—but with technical ambition rarely seen in its category. The game was released around the same time as EA's The Need for Speed.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 6 May 2025, 7:10 pm
NASCAR Racing, released in 1994 for DOS, was the first game in the NASCAR Racing series developed by Papyrus started in 1994.
Developed by Papyrus Design Group and released in 1994 for MS-DOS, the game was one of the first serious attempts to bring an authentic NASCAR simulation to the PC. Papyrus, already known for IndyCar Racing, outdid itself with this title, thanks in part to an official NASCAR license that allowed the inclusion of real drivers, authentic teams, and official tracks from the 1994 season. The game featured over 25 of the 40 regular drivers in the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup season.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 6 May 2025, 6:57 pm
Puyo Puyo is a puzzle game originally developed by Compile and first released in 1991. Its roots lie in the Madō Monogatari series, a first-person dungeon crawler featuring colorful, anime-style characters. While that origin may seem unrelated to falling block puzzle games, Compile used the same characters as the foundation for Puyo Puyo's visual identity, combining simple gameplay mechanics with a unique aesthetic.
The core concept of Puyo Puyo draws clear inspiration from Tetris, the 1984 phenomenon that popularized the falling block puzzle genre. But unlike Tetris, which is about fitting geometric shapes into lines, Puyo Puyo focuses on matching four or more blobs (called "puyos") of the same color. The twist is in the chain reactions: when a group disappears, the puyos above drop into place, potentially triggering new matches. Skilled players can create elaborate combos, punishing their opponents with "garbage puyos" that clutter the screen.
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