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Old Games that are Still Alive and Kickin'?

Posted by Cliff on from the they-keep-going-and-going-and-going-... dept.

Lord Grey asks: "Recently I was killing time while debugging a long-running program and decided to fire up a copy of Shanghai II -- a Mahjongg game for the Macintosh. I've had this game for years, faithfully moving it from computer to computer while keeping pace (more or less) with the newer hardware. I started wondering if there were other people out there that just hold on to those old games and, if so, just how old are they? It would be interesting to see what the oldest game that still runs on current hardware is (my Shanghai II dates from 1991). Or am I the only one that's clinging to the past?"

6 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Old games by SuiteSisterMary · · Score: 4, Informative

    Pirates! - 1987. Covert Action - 1991(ish) Sword of the Samurai - late 80's/early 90's (see a pattern forming yet?) The various Gold Box AD&D/DragonLance/Buck Rogers games - C64 days. Leisure Suit Larry/Quest For Glory/Space Quest

    --
    Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
  2. Old Mac Games by Lightman7 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Milles Borne (1000 miles) which still runs on my G4 laptop. This creation date is Jan 14, 1987 - my other copy which is called 1000 Miles (same program, different name - too long ago to now why) is creation dated May 18, 1990

    I also have ColorizedGunShy 1.2.1 creation dated Dec 20, 1998, Daleks 2.0 dated May 18, 1990 (can you see a pattern? I must have done a recovery of some kind on May 18, 1990). I have a dungeons of doom dated May, 1986, but it doesn't seem to run anymore.

    WAIT - I think I just found my oldest one that still runs - StuntCopter1.2 creation dated November 7, 1986!

    So, no, you are not alone, I am a packrat too!

  3. More great games by solendril · · Score: 3, Informative

    Some of the best games ever are the truly dusty ones. PCGamer released a CD not too long ago with some fantastic oldies that run well on todays hardware. Here I'm thinking Wing Commander, XCom and The Secret of Monkey Island among others. I spent money for The Ultima Collection awhile back and it was the best $30 I have ever given up. Even if you have mem or hardware problems, remember that there are some cool people who have reprogrammed games to run on modern hardware (Ultima 7 for example can now run under WinME) and one can always grab MoSlow or an emulator if you're desperate.

  4. Planetfall by matthewd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I played this one last year for old times sake when I downloaded a Z-machine interpreter for Windoze... but I actually have a copy in the original packaging ("Official Documents File") for CP/M on an 8" disk. Dates back to 1983. Nice to have all the original junk from the package. I had the C-64 version when I was in high school and actually signed the Stellar Patrol Special Assignment Task Force card and carried it in my wallet. Geez, I was a loser!

    I guess I keep it because someday it may be valuable! (Or maybe my dad might someday piece together one of his old systems for his "computer museum" and we could see if the disk is still readable.)

  5. Many of them are being re-released on new hardware by Controlio · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I about wet myself when walking through a Meijers just the other day. I walked through the video games, and found a cartridge from Namco that absolutely had to walk out of the store with me.

    Namco has released NamcoMuseum, a game cartridge for Gameboy Advance that has four of my all-time favorite legacy video games... Pole Position, Dig Dug, Ms. Pac Man, and Galaga (Galaxian too, but who cares). Combined, these four games probably took the majority of my childhood quarters. This cartridge is fantastic, because even though I used to own the consoles to run these games, as of recently I can't find anything older than my SNES. This more than makes up for my loss.

    I had purchased my GBA to play all of the Gameboy games I hadn't played in years (due to a fried gameboy), so I had legacy titles in mind from the start. I only own two GBA titles... F-Zero, and the NamcoMuseum pack... and I can honestly say I haven't touched F-Zero in weeks. Merely turning on NamcoMuseum and hearing all of those familiar sound effects and songs from years ago gave me chills. I can't put this game pack down.

    New games come and go... but those legacy titles never die. Hopefully in a few years I'll have enough dough to start collecting the actual arcade units... but multi-game packs like these will more than keep my attention for the time being.

  6. Current, and much older... by AtariDatacenter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've kept around my Master of Orion game. I still love it. (And MOO3 is to be released soon!)

    I think, however, the "oldest game" list is best satisfied by retrocomputing. Mind you, I have some Atari home computers in my closet, with cartridges and software on disk/tape.

    I've also played them, now and then, on my Atari home computer emulator. I've also used the serial port on my PC to emulate an Atari disk drive (!) and played some favorites on a hybrid Atari/PC combo.

    And even in another form, classic arcade games sort of fit the bill. But my oldest ones are all from 1981: Gorf, Pac-Man, Wizard of Wor, Zaxxon. Still running on original hardware and still quite playable.

    Yeah. Those classics are staying around for as long as they generations who played them are still on the earth. And probably just a little bit longer.

    I'm just happy that I don't collect rotary phones. Heck, kids today probably don't even have any idea how to use them! ;)