Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 12 October 2019, 1:04 pm
Pool of Radiance is a computer RPG created by Strategic Simulations Inc and released initially for Commodore 64 and Apple II in 1988.
It is the first official adaptation of the rules of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, specifically AD&D 2nd edition. The game was ported to many other platforms, including DOS, Macintosh, and NES.
The Amiga version, released in 1990, wasn't developed internally at SSI. Ubi Soft took care of the conversion.
Pool of Radiance was a complex project that cost more than 1 year of development. The rules of D&D, including combat, statistics, classes, rolls of dice, were faithfully recreated. The Forgotten Realms setting, with its monsters, cities, and gods were added to the game. Even the graphics were taken from the official manuals. TRS artists and authors collaborated with SSI to create the game.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 10 October 2019, 6:07 pm
The Great Giana Sisters is a 2D platformer inspired to Super Mario Bros (you might say "clone"). It was developed by Time Warp initially for the Commodore 64/128, in 1987, then ported to Amiga and Atari ST in 1988.
The development team took the task of copying Super Mario Bros very seriously. They tested and played the original game for several months, trying to reproduce it. Unfortunately, all this effort didn't end well, because Nintendo blocked the sales of the game almost immediately, threatening legal action for copyright infringement.
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Author: Tasha - Published: 9 October 2019, 12:23 am
R-Type II is the sequel to the original R-Type and is a side-scrolling arcade shooter developed and published by Irem in 1989 in arcades only. It soon made its way onto multiple platforms including Amiga, Atari ST, Gameboy, and even iOS.
R-Type II, as the sequel to the original R-Type, takes all of the things that made the first one appreciated and expands upon it. Improved graphics, an upgraded ship with upgraded weapons, as well as the addition of a few new weapons, including one to take care of those pesky enemies that can pop up from below.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 6 October 2019, 6:08 pm
Koronis Rift is one of the earliest games created by LucasArts (aka Lucasfilm Games). It was designed and produced by Noah Falstein, and it was released initially, in 1985, for the Atari 8-bit computers. It was later ported to Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and other platforms.
The game makes use of "fractal" algorithms to generate rifts - the same technology used in Rescue on Fractalus - in which your planetary rover will have to find weapons and other aliens technology.
Being developed for the Atari 8-bit, Koronis Rift is one of the few games able to use all the graphics features of these computers. The higher number of colors is, in fact, used to render the depth of field and show with more realism, objects far from the player.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 5 October 2019, 9:20 pm
Armour-Geddon is a post-apocalyptic 3D strategy/simulation game created by Psygnosis and released for Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS in 1991.
The game is a mix of strategy and 3D vehicle simulation. In the strategic mode, you can decide how to assign scientists and engineers to research and develop new weapons. In simulation mode, you can pilot several vehicles, including helicopters, hovercrafts, and tanks. Armour-Geddon was ahead of its time and received highly positive reviews, especially the Amiga version. The only downside is the difficulty. Don't forget to download the manual.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 3 October 2019, 1:08 am
Dark Seed (or Darkseed) is a horror graphic adventure created by Cyberdreams for PC and Amiga in 1992 (and later ported to other platforms). The game illustrations were drawn by the famous artist H. R. Giger, the maker of the design for the movie Aliens. Giger wasn't happy with the typical VGA resolution of 320x200 pixels, so he asked to use the hi-res mode with 640x350 pixels. The problem is, instead of the usual 256 colors (or 32 on the Amiga) the available colors are only 16 on the ho-res mode. All of this makes the graphical style of this game really unique.
Apart from the fantastic graphics, Dark Seed is one of the scariest games you can play on your computer. It's not easy, though, so you might want to use a walkthrough.
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