5 Sites To Play Old Computer Games Once Again
I don’t know about you but I’m not much into fancy-pants 3D first person shooters. I can’t be bothered to build a massive gaming rig, blow $500 on a video card, and figure out what custom weights give me the best mouse response.
I’ve got a WII, and I love it, and one of the big reasons I do is for the emulation. Sadly however, I can’t bring my WII to work or to the coffee shop down the street - but I can bring my laptop, jump on their WiFi and fire up these four awesome sites for a quick old school gaming fix!
VirtualApple (Apple II and Apple IIGS)
I don’t know about you but every now and then I get a craving to hunt square rabbits, hire unfit workers, make them walk too far and then lose three days because I’ve got scurvy. Virtual Apple always satisfies my Oregon Trail fix; but don’t other classics like John Elway’s Quarterback, Crystal Castles, and Max Headroom (don’t lie, you remember Max Headroom).
c64s.com (Commodore 64)
My family’s first computer was the UPS-brown Commodore 64, so this one really takes me back. I even remember “modding” the case to the newer, more angular style when it came out. Yikes. Thrill to such Commodore favorites as Zork, Wizard’s Lair and Pakacuda. The site has all the titles categorized by genre and features screenshots - further underscoring the real graphical prowess of the C64!
Virtualnes.com (Nintendo Entertainment System)
vNes has a huge catalog of NES cartridge titles available for play on their site via a Java-based emulator - 765 of them to be exact. I’ve noticed a few problems with slowness on a few titles, but all in all it’s an excellent place to play old games online and satisfy your urge to jam on Super Mario Brothers, Zelda, or one of my favorites: Ivan Stewart’s Super Off Road.
Playnes.net (Nintendo Entertainment System)
Another big catalog of NES titles, but you’re able to register which gives you the ability to save states in the games you’re playing. You can even open other people’s states - meaning that when your buddy gets stuck trying to battle through the ninjas, you can swoop in, rescue the President, and prove just how bad a dude you really are.
GetBack.Com Arcade
Unlike the rest of the sites I listed, GetBack isn’t strictly a gaming site. It’s kind of a “throwback culture” site. The upside is that they do have several games in their arcade that you can play, like Intellivision Backgammon and River Raid.
What about you? Where do you go to satisfy your vintage gaming urges? Let us know!
(By) Lee Mathews is a blogger who writes to share downloads, links, and tech advice with other slightly frustrated users at Unsightful.com.
Oh man, this REALLY takes me back! Our first family computer was also a brown Commodore 64! My favourite game was a strategy game where we were in command of a old fashioned sailing ship and we had to fight enemy ships and take promotion tests to get to the next rank. I loved that game but I can’t remember the title of it. Maybe if I visit that Commodore 64 site, it might be there….
Excellent Oregon Trail online, let’s see how fast it takes for the entire team to get dysentery.
That games was “Ship of the Line” I believe.
I would’ve finished this post a lot sooner, but I caught scurvy and lost three days. Now if he would just get his hands on “Car Builder” I’d be all set!
You’re taking us way back here Lee!
yeah and he’s totally wrecking my productivity! I am totally stuck on playing “Commando” on the Commodore site and I can’t stop! Thanks a bunch Mr Mathews!
We can’t be all business all the time, can we? I mean, half the fun of being a tech is being able to multitask something pointless like old Konami games while you polish off your code!
nice reference to Bad Dudes… which I owned in arcade form for a short, sweet time.
nintendo8.com > playnes.net & virtualnes.com imo
This one took a lot of my time; a browser version of Lemmings:
http://www.elizium.nu/scripts/lemmings/
Wow, just the joystick on top of this was a flashback for me. Fun stuff!
Hey what’s up. How do I use a joystick to play old school games like mario?
Playing old games again….Its a very fun.
Thanks
http://www.dotndot.com
Wow, its cool to see old games becoming popular again but I have used emulators and ROMs for years to keep the old games alive.
JT
Ultimate Anonymity
What a small world! I found and posted this yesterday as well: http://www.asktheadmin.com/2008/06/play-nes-games-in-firefox-tuesdays-time.html
I have been hooked playing all the Super Mario Brothers Since!!
The destination site is in Spanish but the post describes how to get your game on!
thanks for sharing those links. i learned about firenes some days ago. it’s a free firefox plug-in you can download here: http://firenes.en.softonic.com/
play over 2500 nes games in your browser. a java vm needs to be installed tho.
Great post, I’m sure many people who read this article clicked straight on over to one of numerous sites to start playing old school games!
I know I did!
Cool post.
I’m looking for a game that was on the old Macs around 1988 or so. Can’t remember the name! You started out with one open square and a field of black, and you are a tank. You used the arrow keys to move in any direction. You gained territory, found more tanks, I think you traded tanks in for planes, ships, etc. It was kind of a world conquest theme, but very simple. It was so fun!
If anyone knows how I could find a PC version of this game, I’d be grateful forever!
hey what is that old game where u start off with two balls bouncing around in a square box and then you use your mouse and click and it sends a red line up and a blue like down and splits the room in half. and you keep doing it until the balls are in seperate boxes and there small. and each level has another ball…? anyone??
JezzBall!!
thats what it was called!!
Give Classix Games a shot too :
Play Sega Genesis/Master System/Game Gear, Nintendo NES/GameBoy/GameBoy Color, TurboGrafx 16 games online.
http://www.classixgames.com/
SNES going to be added in October, polishing the emulator
Try Classix Games for genesis games
I use to play Duck Hunt and Mario Bros. at http://originalnintendo.net
They always have games there. I enjoy those websites as well. Long Live Nes.
http://flyingpc.com/play-22212-Super_Mario_Brothers.html i play there all the time. They have a ton of them there. Its the old ROMS and Emulators that play on a computer..
my favorite is Super Mario..
The also have a VISTA GAGDET very unique you can install it in the gadget side bar and play them offline as well. http://flyingpc.com/gadgetRSS/update.php
Nice Post
Todd
Super Mario Sucks.
I love VNES– that site brought me back my childhood.\
There is one other website that you might be interested in– http://2dfighter.com
This website allows any registered user with certain arcade ROMS to play against each other online. I’m not talking about new aged 3d arcade games like Time Crisis or other pariferal based like most racers. I’m talking about joystick and a bunch of buttons involving kick, high punch, low punch; or even just jump and fire.
The only downloads required include the latest .NET framework, Firefox users require a small add-on, and the ROM for the games, which can be found across the internet. A complete list of games can be found on their website.
Does anyone remember the name of the game where you were in ancient egypt or somewhere and you had to get artifacts and do different kinds of puzzles to get to the next level?
Well i am more into old dos games. I normally use this Old Games site to download old games. You need to use DosBox emulator to make them work. I really miss those old days….
Bye
Oh man Oregon trial? That brings me back. I loved playing that game on the family IIe! For NES games, I like using http://www.playnesflashgames.com
Holy crap, my first machine was Commodore 64 too. I think I still have it somewhere in the atic, but I’m too lasy to get it so the emulator will do. Thanks.
Another one to try is Goldies Games which has loads of Sega Master System and Genesis games, plus NES and TG16 games. The great thing about this one is the games run in Flash 10, no need for Java.
Try it here : http://www.goldiesgames.com