10 Ways To Game Like It's 1989 - Epic Time Waster

Yes, I understand that a decent video card that will run Crysis can be had for just North of $100, but these fancy-pants games just aren't for me. I grew up with a Commodore 64, Wildcat BBS, and MUDs. Every now and then I get a hankerin' for some old-school gaming action, and here's where I go to get my fix.

Abandonia
Abandonia is one of the biggest and best-known abandonware sites around. Abandonware is software the copyright holders don't support or distribute any more. Why does that matter? Well, it means that they mostly don't care whether someone like Abandonia distributes it for free (read Wikipedia for more).

And Abandonia is more than happy to redistribute forgotten classics. Their collection boasts such classics as Descent, Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Bad Street Brawler, Starflight, and Betrayal at Krondor. What's more, they have "extras" like boxshots, CD inserts, and printable maps for many of the titles.


The House of Games
While you can find most of their content at Abandonia (in a cleaner, more attractive layout) The House has some real gems that you might want to check out. Among them are classics like Ultima I, Erik the Viking, and Defender of the Crown.

They've also got excellent (and sometimes exhaustive) writeups of most of the games, as well as a utilities page which you may want to bookmark. It's got a great collection of machine emulators for everything from the Colecovision to the Amstrad.


Macintosh Garden
Maybe you were an old timey Apple fanboy and you had one of those sweet monochrome babies to game on. Well, you're not out of luck - all your favorite classics are available, too! Macintosh Garden has a massive selection. Tops on their list of popular games: Oregon Trail, what else?

You'll also find memorable titles like Leisure Suit Larry, Lemmings, and two games that kept me from completing many a high school essay: Dark Castle and Beyond Dark Castle. While you're there, check out the rest of the Underdogs site, they've got classic games out the wazoo.


Doom95
ID Software's classic FPS really got the ball rolling for the genre. At The Page of Doom you'll find Doom95, a launcher that allows Doom to run in a Window at double the original resolution (ok, so that's still only 640x480, but who cares?). They've also got a ton of "forgotten level" add-ons and a complete list of cheats - including iddqd for God mode, one of the only cheat codes I remember from a decade ago.

Abandonia Reloaded
If you've got any legal qualms about downloading abandonware, then Reloaded is for you. Abandonia's angelic sister site offers only freeware games - completely guilt and misdemeanor free!

You'll find sweet mashups like Worms Breakout and some fantastic old gems like At The Carnival and ZangbandTK, an awesome, graphical roguelike game. They also have some great fan-created VGA remakes of older games, like King's Quest I and Ghostbusters.



Nethack
Sticking with the roguelike theme, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Nethack. What is it? It's an ASCII-based dungeon exploration game. Old Mac Plus users might remember the Dungeons of Moria, but it's much harder to find. Nethack is still extremely popular and runs on just about anything - possibly even that old Amiga in your basement.

Mozart MUD
If you're not familiar with MUDs (Multi-User Dungeon), they were an early type of MMO - except with MUDs you had to read (they were text-based) and use your imagination. I bounced from server to server in university before winding up on Mozart, and it was the one that kept pulling me back in.

The things I liked about it: players dump a ton of swag in the donation rooms (making it easy for newbs to get some good gear) and there's no player killing. Those two things alone made Mozart easy to get in to - the massive world, smartly scripted mobs (enemies), and great admin crew made it addictive.

Grab a telnet client - or a dedicated MUD client like Mud Magic - and check it out.

MudConnector
Maybe Mozart didn't interest you. No worries, MudConnector has over 1,300 other MUDs for you to try out. This list has been around for ages, and is the one to bookmark. They've got listings for traditional text and newer graphical MUDs, player reviews, and a ridiculously advanced search feature.

GetBack.Com
The games section at Getback continues to grow, and there are some of my old favorites here - all playable in your web browser. River Raid and Armor Battle will take you way back, and the ability to fire up classic tunes while you play definitely adds to the whole experience.


Virtual Colecovision
Rounding out this episode of our classic gaming is the Virtual ColecoVision. Grab two downloads - the emulator and a games pack - and you're ready to play. Who can say no to the revolutionary isometrics of Zaxxon or the pub fun of Tapper? It's hard to believe how addictive these games were - and still are - but after you play them, you'll understand.

Tags: timewasters