Retro Gaming : some pointers

It is not a secret ( far from it ) that I love all things retro - including retro gaming. So, I though it would be a good idea to provide some links and information to those who have not had the pleasure to dive into this under-appreciated 'cult'.

Retrogaming, also known as classic gaming is the hobby of playing and collecting older computer, video, and arcade games. Games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via emulation, or on modern hardware via ports on compilations. Participants of the hobby are known as retrogamers in the United Kingdom, classic gamers, or old school gamers in the United States. Similarly, games that they play are known as retrogames, classic games, or old school games. Retrogaming is often linked to, although not the same as, indie gaming, the hobby of playing games that are not published by any conventional publisher.

In plain english, its about playing games that were created in the past ( whereas past is usually at least 4 years ago ) and ran on various computer systems, such as consoles, 8bit / 16bit systems etc. What makes them relevant today is that those games provide great game-play, the kind of game-play quality that one cannot usually find nowadays. Because they are created in the past those games look outdated ( sometimes very outdated, sometimes its just text ) but it usually doesn't matter. You don't have to go looking for game systems that would run those games on ebay or elsewhere ; there is at least one way to play them on any kind of computer, on any kind of operating system through the use of emulators. Here are some links to get you started.

Abandonware games
Retro gaming
MAME

Mobygames : the absolute games database on the Net.
The Legacy : another games database, a museum for old games, mainly ones running 16bit systems and the PCs.
Lemon Amiga : the best Amiga specific database of games. While you are at it, make sure you check out lemonade.
Home of the Underdogs : a museum for 'abandonware' games, which also offers downloads of those games
Abandonia : Much like the 'Home of the Underdogs', this site offers reviews and downloads for old games that run on the DOS platform

Monday, 28 August 2006 10:43 pm

Think Commodore

Think Commodore is a website about emulating old Commodore computers such as the C64 and the Amiga on your Macintosh. The website also covers subjects such as C64 or Amiga games, demos, music, how to copy files from your Mac back to your trusty old Commodore etc.

Monday, 28 August 2006 5:21 pm

Amiga

There is so much information on Amiga on Wikipedia, such as the history of the AmigaOS versions on Wikipedia.

Sunday, 27 August 2006 11:25 pm