Retro game lovers, unite. We are many, and we obviously have a huge soft spot for oldies but goldies. With every chance we get, we will play a level of Tetris or finish Prince of Persia one more time. Nowadays, there are many opportunities for us to play retro games. We can play them on old consoles, computers, and even on our smartphone. In this guide, we will see the best websites that offer the ability to play such games on our computer.
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What is Abandonware
Before we start, we need to learn what this word means.
Abandonware is a word used to describe a game or software which is no longer in development. There are two main reasons why that be the case. Either the creators no longer exist, or they don't care about it anymore; thus, they have stopped supporting it.
Someone might wonder why the creators would do such a thing. The specifics are a bit more complicated, and the answer may vary.
Some of them might be the incompatibility with newer hardware, or that the product is no longer profitable. Maybe fixing bugs isn't worth their time and money, or maybe it's something else entirely.
As we know, the world is evolving, and creators may simply decide to move on. On the other hand, users usually don't share that view, since many of them still use Windows XP, for example.
Someone might think that finding abandonware for free would be an easy task. Nonetheless, most companies decide to remove these games from their online stores and forget they ever existed.
In those cases, since no one really cares about copyright and such at this point, we can find retro games being distributed for free, without it being illegal.
One might wonder how on Earth can that ever be legal. If the copyrights are still active, then what gives? The answer is simple. Since not even the people who made these games care enough to give them the time of day, then who would bother coming after you?
However, there were games released decades ago, and they are still on sale, business as usual. For example, EA essentially closed BullFrog Productions, but, being the game's publisher, still sells Theme Hospital. Yes, we can buy it 20 years after its release.
Old Games
On OldGames.SK there are retro games for consoles and computers. All games on the site are abandonware, and they are available to download.
Also, on each game's page, we can find its description, a few screenshots, the users' rating, and much more.
Interestingly, we can find articles from old magazines, as well as sources to play the game online.
OldGames.SK is a complete library of retro games, at least when it comes to what info it provides. Of course, the list of 8.000 game titles doesn't go unnoticed.
Abandonia
In 1999, Kostas from Croatia created the Abandonia website in order to share his passion for retro games with the rest of us.
Almost 20 years have passed since then, and this website is still the largest of its kind.
Abandonia hosts DOS games, whose copyright has either expired or their creators no longer support them. As such, these games rightfully earn the title of abandonware.
On Abandonia, we will find screenshots, ratings, and on many of them, user reviews.
More than 800.000 people have used the site, and have downloaded at least one of the 1400 free retro games it offers.
Abandonware Dos
On Abandonware Dos, we will find DOS games, classic Windows games, and remakes of retro games. Those remakes are either created by users or the original developers, and they can be free or paid versions.
The most recent game we will find is from 2003, and every game has a description, screenshots, ratings, and even gameplay videos.
Of course, the ratings come from users, who occasionally leave a comment with their opinion and experience with each game.
The best thing about Abandonware Dos is the extra information we get in it in comparison to other sites of its kind. Among others, they mention joystick/keyboard support, graphic/sound type, the distribution method, and more.
RGB Classic Games
RGB Classic Games distributes retro games initially developed for DPS, CP/M-86, OS/2, Win16, and Win9x.
On the website, we several free-to-play games we can download.
Moreover, there are also titles such as Worms and SimsCity. In such cases, we are referred to a website from which we can buy them since the creators haven't abandoned their games...yet.
Meanwhile, we will find games that were never even officially released, and others developed in modern times, but are compatible with older operating systems.
Same as the previous websites, we will see a user rating, a description, and screenshots.
Furthermore, on the bottom of the page of each game, there are cheat codes and links to buy game collections.
Best Old Games
In case we haven't found the game we are looking for in one of the websites we've already mentioned, then it's time to try our luck on Best Old Games.
On that website, we will only find DOS games. Every one of them has a short description, and information such as the type, size, and the year of release.
In comparison to the rest of the sites for retro games, this doesn't offer a lot of information or great variety.
The Internet Archive
Internet Archive is an organization which strives to maintain the history of the internet, and offer worldwide access to knowledge, kind of like a library.
In its library, we will find countless retro games with information such as the game type, the year of release, the theme, and much more.
Also, there is a short description and reviews from other users.
Sadly, the games are only available to play online, and not downloadable on our computer. However, we thought we had to at least give it an honorable mention since when it comes to retro game libraries online, this is as close to complete as it's gonna get.
Retro games are simply immortal
Retro has now become synonymous with classic, and anything that's classic can never really die. The ease with which anything vintage can fascinate us is mysteriously remarkable. The human mind has always been notoriously hard to understand, after all.
Do you play retro games? Do you know of any site similar to the ones described that we didn't mention? Let us know in the comments.
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