Retro games, abandonware, freeware and classic games for PC and Mac
Author: GN Team - Published: 11 September 2019, 11:12 pm
Star Raiders is a space combat sim created by Atari and published in 1979 for the 8-bit computer series. Later, it was ported to Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Atari ST.
The game was created by Doug Neubauer, one of the engineers who worked on designing the Atari 8-bit computers. It was one of the first titles released for the Atari computer and probably the first space combat sim ever created. A genre that will produce masterpieces such as Elite, Frontier: Elite II, Wing Commander, Freespace, and many more.
Star Raiders is incredibly advanced if you think it was created in 1979. You can move on the 2D map from one galaxy sector to another. Once you detect the enemy ships (called Zylon, an obvious reference to Battlestar Galactica), you can use the hyperjump to reach them and destroy them. The first-person view is amazingly created thanks to the starfield moving in the background, while the radar informs you in real-time about the movements of your targets. The enemy ships, resembling Tie fighters and Klingon ships, move smoothly on the screen, thanks to the usage of the hardware sprites of the Atari 8-bit. The explosions, alarms, engine sounds are generated by the audio chip of the computer (the chip that Neubauer designed).
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Author: GN Team - Published: 8 September 2019, 1:43 am
Frogger is an arcade created by Konami and one of the most popular video games ever created. It was released for the first time in 1981, and it has been ported to almost all platforms since then.
In case you don't know this game, the goal is to save the frogs taking them safely to the other side of the screen, after crossing the road and the river. It won't be easy to survive, because the road is full of cars, trucks, and bulldozers. In case the unlucky animals manage to get to the other side of the street, you will have them to pass the river. You might think that this is easier since we are talking about frogs, but for some strange reasons, frogs in Frogger cannot swim. They will have to jump on the logs and turtles and avoid the crocodiles. If they touch the water, they die (don't ask me why).
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Author: GN Team - Published: 29 August 2019, 1:52 am
Battle Chess is a chess game created by Interplay initially for the Amiga and published in 1988. It was so successful that it had been ported to most platforms available, including MS-DOS, Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Macintosh and many others. It was followed by two sequels, Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess and Battle Chess 4000, and you can find references to this game in movies and other media.
The game was produced by Brian Fargo himself, founder of Interplay. The idea is brilliant but straightforward: take the classic chess game, but every time a piece is captured, show an animation. If you have watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone you know what I'm talking about. When a piece is going to capture another piece, there is a short - and comical - combat scene, and after that, the captured piece disappears. There are a lot of funny references, such as the scene where Indiana Jones gets rid of the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 22 August 2019, 10:13 pm
Skate or Die is a skateboarding game created by Electronic Arts and released for the Commodore 64 in 1987. It was then ported to ZX Spectrum, Apple II, MS-DOS, NES, and other platforms in the following years.
A real fan favorite, it is considered one of the best games ever created for the Commodore 64, but not only, because the NES version was a commercial success too.
In this game, you can test your skills in five different events: freestyle ramp, high jump, downhill race, downhill jam, and the pool joust. Up to 8 players can compete, playing in turn. Of course, you can also play alone, but the real fun is against friends.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 17 August 2019, 5:38 pm
Paradroid 90 is the remake/enhanced version for 16-bit computers (Amiga and Atari ST) of the classic C64 shooter Paradroid. It was published by Hewson Consultants in 1990.
The conversion to 68000 Assembler, and the subsequent Atari ST version, was made by the original creator of the Commodore 64 game: Andrew Braybrook. He also personally ported the title to the Commodore Amiga.
In this top-down multi-directional shooter, you control a small droid, and your goal is to eliminate all the other droids infesting the spaceship. Interestingly, you can destroy them with your laser or try to control them with a ‘transfer.’ The transfer is dangerous, but it will allow you to use their skills and weapons. The resulting gameplay is quite fascinating and original.
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Author: GN Team - Published: 14 August 2019, 1:49 am
Z-Out is a 2D sci-fi shoot 'em up created by Advantec and published by Rainbow Arts in 1990 for Amiga and Atari ST.
The game was released as the sequel of X-Out, another horizontal scrolling shooter, even though this was not the initial idea of the developer. You can notice it because the game is probably more similar to R-Type rather than X-Out. However, Z-Out can be defined as the typical 16-bit shooter you could expect in 1990: great music (composed by the legendary Chris Hülsbeck), excellent graphics (with an organic/sci-fi style inspired to Aliens), and a difficulty level set to "impossible".
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