Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 24 September 2022, 2:27 pm
Knightmare, known in Japanese as Majyo Densetsu, is a fantasy vertical shoot-em-up created by Konami for MSX computers in 1986.
In this game, you are Popolon, and your task is to save Aphrodite from the Prince of Darkness. To do that, you must travel across eight levels full of enemies and kill the terrible end-of-level bosses.
What makes this extremely enjoyable game different from the plethora of shooters released in the 80s is that the gameplay is exactly like a classic vertical scrolling shoot-em-up, with starships firing lasers and collecting power-ups, but ported to a fantasy universe. So, instead of a starship, you have a knight walking and firing arrows and swords (or double-swords, if you get the proper power-up). Enemies are classic Japanese fantasy monsters, like demons, ghosts, or evil knights. The bosses are not giant alien monsters but instead witches and devils.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 14 September 2022, 8:38 pm
Rescue on Fractalus! is a sci-fi combat game created by Lucasfilm Games (aka LucasArts) in 1985, initially for Atari 8-bit computers. Later it was ported to Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and other platforms.
Fractalus was one of the first two games (the other one is Ballblazer) created by the famous game studio founded by George Lucas as a spin-off of his main company. The designers of this game include David Fox and Gary Winnick, that would later work with Ron Gilbert on Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders, and other famous adventures.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 10 September 2022, 12:26 pm
Moonbase: Lunar Colony Simulator is a strategy/simulation game created by Wesson International in 1990 for MS-DOS. It was later ported to Amiga and Macintosh.
As you can imagine from the title, the game will ask you to build and manage a moon base, specifically, the first human base on the moon. The game designers, Bobby Green and Brett Adams, worked with NASA and KDT Industries to make a simulation as realistic as possible. KDT Industries was a contractor of NASA at the time, and they designed a prototype of a potential moon base. All the game elements are based on this prototype, making it an exciting game from a scientific point of view.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 27 August 2022, 2:18 pm
Qwak is a platformer arcade initially released in 1989 for BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. Four years later, the original author of the game, Jamie Woodhouse, developed an improved Amiga version published by Team17.
In this game, you control a duck and have to complete 80 levels divided into ten areas. To complete each level, you have to kill the enemies and collect the golden keys that will open the door to the next level. At the end of each area, there is a big boss, and you have a limited time to defeat it. Silver keys are required to collect power-ups and access hidden levels.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 3 August 2022, 5:30 pm
Special Forces is a tactical action game with stealth elements created by MicroProse and released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. It's the sequel of Airborne Ranger, an 8-bit game released five years earlier.
While Airborne Ranger was developed internally at MicroProse, MicroProse commissioned the creation of Special Forces to a small studio called Sleepless Knights. The game designer was Jim Bambra.
You control a team of four soldiers who will need to perform several special missions, including rescuing hostages, assassinating evil criminals, destroying enemy bases, etc. It's not a real strategy game like Jagged Alliance, and it's not turn-based like Laser Squad. There is not much time to think in Special Forces since everything happens in real-time: you have to act, hide and run; otherwise, not all of the team will make it back to the base.
Read More
Author: GN Team - Published: 21 July 2022, 8:11 pm
Fire Power is a competitive two-player game created by Silent Software originally for the Amiga and released in 1987 by Microillusions. There were also DOS and Commodore 64 versions, released in 1988 and 1989.
In Firepower, two tanks have to compete on a battlefield and try to destroy the enemy fortress. The game is probably inspired by the 1980 Namco arcade Tank Battalion or the classic Atari game Combat. It belongs to the so-called "combat arena" genre. It's possible to challenge a friend either via modem, null modem, or split screen. Nowadays, you will probably use the split-screen mode unless you plan to install the game on real machines. You can also play against the computer, but it's not the same. Player vs. player is entertaining, while the single-player mode is a bit too hard.
Read More