Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 18 January 2017, 1:45 am
Wizball is a shooter/platformer with horizontal scrolling created by Sensible Software for the Commodore 64 in 1987. The game was designed by Jon Hare, whose name is tied to the Sensible Soccer series, and his co-founder Chris Yates.
The two not only created the game but also collaborated with the composer for the music. The success of the game made possible the porting to other platforms, including ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, and Atari ST (in 1988).
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 10 January 2017, 2:42 am
Sensible Soccer is a famous football video game developed by Sensible Software. The original game was released in 1992 for Amiga and Atari ST only. Some months later, the European Champions 92/93 version (known as v1.1) was released and ported to many platforms, including SNES, Game Boy, Mega Drive, Atari Jaguar, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, DOS, and others.
The game was famous for introducing the bird-eye view, with players much smaller than other soccer games popular at the time, like Kick Off. Another characteristic was the "aftertouch", allowing players to apply swerves.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 5 January 2017, 2:55 am
Boulder Dash is a popular strategy/maze game initially created by Peter Liepa and Chris Gray for Atari 8-bit and released in 1984.
The game, published by First Star Software, was ported to several platforms, including Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Atari 2600, BBC Micro, ColecoVision, Intellivision, MSX, NES, ZX Spectrum, and many others. Boulder Dash was so successful that the creators produced an arcade version. A coin-op was released in 1985. It's one of the few cases where a home computer game is ported to an arcade. Usually, it's the contrary.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 30 December 2016, 7:36 pm
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is an arcade game created by Atari in 1984 and despite the title of the third movie, it's the sequel to the first Star Wars game (the third game, The Empire Strikes Back, was released one year later).
The home computer versions were created by Domark and were released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, BBC Micro, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum in 1988.
The game is divided into 3 parts. In the first, you are Princess Leia on a speeder bike and you have to race through the forests, trying to reach the Ewok village.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 24 December 2016, 9:14 pm
The Sentinel (The Sentry in the U.S.) is one of the first games of the famous designer and coder Geoff Crammond, the author of the Grand Prix series. Developed initially for the BBC Micro, it was released by Firebird in 1986 for Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Amiga, and PC.
It's one of the first examples of solid 3D polygon-based graphics running on home computers. Although the speed on 8-bit platforms was not exciting, the game was still amazing and a great example of what could be achieved on platforms like the Commodore 64. Some people define The Sentinel as the first "virtual reality game".
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 19 December 2016, 2:44 pm
Impossible Mission is a famous puzzle-solving action adventure designed and programmed by Dennis Caswell, initially for the Commodore 64. It was released in 1984 by Epyx. The game was ported to several home computer platforms, including Amstrad CPC, Apple II, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, and several consoles.
The player is a secret agent, and he has 6 hours to complete the game and beat evil Professor Elvin Atombender. To do that, he has to find all the pieces of the password and access Atombender's control room, avoiding the robots. Each time the player dies, 10 minutes are lost, and 2 minutes are consumed when the portable computer is used.
Read More