Reviving Old Computer Games

Remember the good old days of gaming, when there were only 5 pixels in the protagonist and your imagination could turn them into a heroic figure of Schwarzenegger proportions? When the enemies and the heroes were distinguished by colour and you only needed one button on the joystick? Well times have changed and technology has moved on. Pulling my old Commodore 64 or Atari out of the back of the cupboard and setting them up often takes more time than the nostalgic pang lasts. I've also noticed that some of my old disks are starting to age and become corrupted. Enter the Internet.

The wonderfully technologically gifted and giving Internet populace is out in force in their attempts to preserve the older side of gaming. Remakes and Emulators for almost any old machine can be found around the Internet. Emulators act as a layer between old software and new hardware allowing modern PCs to run programs that such hardware was never meant to see. Commodore 64, Amiga, NES, Master System, Arcade Machines and more have all been emulated and the necessary programs placed online for download, usually for free.

Emulation is not a new idea. I had a hardware emulator for the VIC20 that plugged into the back of my Commodore 64 and allowed the use of the older VIC20 cartridges with the new hardware (I never actually owned a VIC20 or any programs for it but that's another issue). Emulator popularity has been fading in and out for many years, only coming into many people's attention with the release of Bleem!, a Playstation emulator for PC that was released while the PSOne still held a dominant share of the video game market. Bleemcast (a Playstation emulator for the Sega Dreamcast) soon followed causing one of the more interesting video game legal battles as Sony fought to have the emulator shut down. However, the emulators have a strong following and very active user base.

Emulators are easy to find and download. Simply search for the system you want and add the word emulator to the end (e.g. "SNES Emulator") and you'll probably come up with a lot of hits. Be slightly wary as some emulator sites will either be false links or may contain pornographic ads. Setting the emulators up to run is usually fairly straightforward and there's a fair chance that you'll be able to find some documentation and help. Some of the newer systems require a BIOS image to be installed with the emulator. This is to get around the legal issues raised by Sony in the Bleem! legal battles by requiring you to be in possession of a Playstation BIOS (and hence, presumably, a Playstation) in order to play the games on your computer. Making a BIOS image to load into your computer will most likely be beyond your technical expertise, but a quick check of your console's case will reveal the file you need to get and then it's as simple as searching the internet for a BIOS image that matches the BIOS you already own.

Of interest are the PC emulators now available. Windows no longer has very good support for older DOS-based games so there are a few emulators out there now to emulate the DOS environment. DOSBox (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/) is probably the best known of the crop. There are also game-specific emulators such as ScummVM (www.scummvm.org) or DOOM Legacy (http://legacy.newdoom.com/) that focus specifically on certain games and hence are able to improve the experience for those particular titles.

Once you have yourself an emulator you'll need to get yourself some programs to run with it. These programs are called 'ROMs' and are images of the original storage device that the program came on (be it a cartridge, tape, floppy or other). The process of creating a ROM is probably far too technical for the vast majority of computer users so you're probably going to have to find a 'backup' from somewhere to download. This is where the venture gets slightly foggy. Basically the deal is that you can only have a program ROM if you own the original program. So if you have boxes of old Amiga disks, NES cartridges, or other old gaming programs stored away somewhere, you're in luck, otherwise you're treading on legally shifty ground. While it can easily be argued that the downloading of a 1987 computer game is of no real consequence to the company that has in all likelihood closed down, copyright doesn't actually expire for 50 years and computer games just haven't been around that long.

Online 'emulation' is a new area now being explored. The idea is that you simply play the game in your browser through a Java applet or Flash application. These might not always strictly be emulated programs but many remakes are feature perfect with the originals. The graphics, sounds, and game play remain intact. One excellent place to look for online games is Every Video Game (http://www.everyvideogame.com). While the site does not in fact contain 'every video game' it does have a very large list of old games from the arcades, GameBoy, NES, and Master System all playable through your browser. Many remakes can also be found at Shockwave's site (http://www.shockwave.com/sw/actiongames/arcade_classics/).

Some of the old games have even been remade and updated for this modern world we now live in. Try doing a search for remakes of a game title you particularly enjoyed and you may be surprised at what you find. There are games that have been updated to be 3D, such as some old favourites of mine: Pac man (http://www.caiman.us/scripts/fw/f1292.html) and Barbarian (http://www.dgdevteam.tk/), and while these might not always be brilliant games or remakes in their own right, the thought and effort put in often leads to an enjoyable diversion. There are also more traditional versions of games that have just updated the code as well as possibly the graphics so that they can still be run.

So if you're feeling nostalgic or just can't get the hang of these new-fangled games that require you to push fifty buttons in a precise configuration just to jump, you may like to check out the emulation and remake scene. It's surprisingly entertaining to go back in time to when games were simple yet fun.

Daniel Punch M6.Net Web Helpers http://www.m6.net

---

Evolution of Gaming : Graphics vs Gameplay

If you are old enough to remember the early days... Read More

Guns Dont Kill People - Videogames Do!

"Ban these evil games", "Videogame violence corrupting our nation's youth",... Read More

Computer Traumas

It has happened! Computer games have started to control my... Read More

Counter Strike, The Beginner of Broad Band PC Gaming

This is the world of 21st century, the century of... Read More

7 Simple Steps to Avoid Being a Newbie in Online Games

It doesn't matter if you are new to online roleplaying... Read More

Why We Play Games, Part 2

Last week we started to get into the motivation of... Read More

A Comparison Of the Next Generation Gaming Consoles (Part 1)

It's been about 5 years since we have seen a... Read More

XBOX 360 vs. PS3: an in Depth Look

All gamers are awaiting the release of the Xbox 360... Read More

The Future of Video Games

I've recently been thinking about where video games could be... Read More

Blast From The Past - Retro Games Are Hot Again

Miss the brainlessly simple and extremely addictive games from the... Read More

Xbox vs. PS2 Game Consoles

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the... Read More

RPG: Table and Computer

It's not a secret that table RPG games are not... Read More

A Look at the Sony PlayStation 3

At the recent E3 gaming Convention, Sony gave the world... Read More

Play a Cool Jeep Game Online

If there were anything that could excite a Jeep enthusiast... Read More

You Dont Have To Be Rich To Be A PC Gamer

There is a common misconception that you have to take... Read More

Sony PSP

The period of the greatest portable console has finally arrived.... Read More

Codename Revolution - Nintendos Next Generation Gaming System

Over the past year or so plenty of hype, mystery... Read More

New Helicopter Design for Your Video War Games

Using Underbelly Cone with Slots Facing Up On a Helicopter... Read More

Securing Your Accounts With Well-Crafted Passwords

In the past I've never really paid much attention to... Read More

UAV Swarm Reconfiguration for computer war games

The modern battlespace is changing in the real world and... Read More

Zuma Deluxe Style Games Evolution

As I think most of gamers who play in shareware... Read More

Rent Games Online for the Kids

It's risky business allowing your children to play games online.... Read More

The Game Tester

It's not easy to be a hardcore gamer. It's hard.... Read More

UAV; Hunter II and RQ-1A Predator UAVs Needs Additional Modifications

Since the Predator has inverted "V" shaped stabilizers these stabilizers... Read More

Halo 2 Multiplayer Tips for Beginners and Advanced players

Here are some general tips from an advanced player for... Read More

SMS Gaming - Text Paging Games that can be Played by Anyone

Using the Physical World as a Game Board: This is... Read More

Laying Smart Dust With Smart Munitions

We believe that we need to make the Smart Munitions... Read More

Full Version Pocket PC Games For Free

Play Games InsteadDo you like your full version pocket pc... Read More

Another Title by Atari Released on StarForce Protected DVDs

"Atari has selected StarForce to protect their brand-new game called... Read More

Increasing Rates of Climb in Fighter Aircraft Like the New Joint force Strike Fighter

We know from studying aircraft like the F-8 Crusader, in... Read More

Directional Afterburners for Tighter Turns, Vertical Flight and Agility

Directional Thrusters can increase the maneuverability of just about any... Read More

Next Generation Games Consoles - Separating Fact from Fiction

Over the next 18 months the 3 giants of the... Read More

Cloud Laser Art

A new art form in the future will be CLA.... Read More