Old and NEW Retro PC Gaming
Nov 17 '02
The Bottom Line Chris Kattan impersonating Ricki Martin says, "Retro PC Gaming is HOT HOT HOT!", then jumps into a bowl of lime Jell-O.
The 27 year old PC gamer takes a long, deep breath from his oxygen mask. He rakes a hand through his peppered brown hair, trying to keep it from shaking the brittle strands loose from their worn folicles. He brings his hand down to close his Commodore 64 programming manual, and closes his eyes, a single tear rolling down. His mind is filled with lament over old battle days. The seemingly endless reconnassiance for errors in machine code, and later in the war, subdueing wily GOTO statements before they could wreak more havoc among the lines. How he typed new numbered lines in code to delete old ones because the code was not controlled by a modern word processor. He sighed, "All of these newfangled luxuries! Who needs them!" But as he withers away, time rolls on, and stops in the face of no man.
But why!? I say. Why, as time goes by must we forget the labors of the past? Why must we turned a blind eye to the foundations upon which our modern gaming luxuries are based? In admiring the wonders of the new, should we not, in our respects, pay homage to the old as well? To the essential stones of the roads of old, upon which we arrive at the concrete superhighways of the present? We should give these gaming warriors of days past the respect they so richly garner, and maybe, just maybe, learn something about ourselves and gain some simple pleasure in the process.
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Touching, wasn't it?
So let's roll this fatty, kick back, and settle in. Today's lesson is in Retro PC Gaming: The Old AND the New. Now some of you may be under the impression that Retro Gaming consists of pulling your N64 out of the closet and kicking up Goldeneye. You guys are trippin'. Still others may think they have to assemble a Pong game out of incandescent light tubes and copper wiring. You guys are REALLY trippin'.
In fact, emulated games or clones of retro games are available for the standard new PC all over the net. Well, alright, not that there aren't any incompatability issues, but most of the stuff is cool. The biggest killer of Retro Gaming lately, however has to be Windows ME and XP. This is due to the removal of DOS and the implementation of a fake DOS shell that does anything but what it's supposed to. I don't know what the Windows programmers were flying on when they made this DOS shell, but it certainly isn't the DOS I know and love. Half of the former commands are moot. Worse yet, they didn't even get the operating dynamics of DOS right, almost all games that would run perfectly in any normal DOS run either far too slow or far too fast under this crooked replacement.
Nah, for Retro Gaming, I suggest running a Windows 98 SE system. Most working people in any developed country can afford to buy and run this system and it's only going to get cheaper, albeit harder to find, as time passes. This way, you get the Real McCoy version of DOS, with most of the modern ammenities that make a computer system easy to operate. Alternately, you could run a Linux system and try to find coding to compile for classic games, but this might be a bit more difficult, perhaps a lot.
Once you have the hardware, it's just a matter of finding the software for the old games. Some will come in easily executable forms. Some will require a program to read the coding each time you start it up, and example of this is most programs written in the BASIC language. The BASIC language was the quintessential language in mid-age non-commercial classic gaming and is still in wide use today, although even many amatuer programmers have moved away from it for more flexible languages. Still other classic and retro games will require you to run emulation programs that cause the computer to redirect and compound processor tasks to perform like a different kind of machine entirely, e.g. Atari 2600. However, only very few of the games running on these emulators are original PC games, most hail from their respective emulated systems, so it's not truely Retro PC Gaming.
To find Retro PC Games, you could use some common keywords in a search engine. What? You want me to give you specific sites you can buzz directly to? Pssh, I'm not here to hold your hand(euphemistic language for, "I'm fricken lazy, find it your d-mn self!"). Anyway, some common keywords are simply what you're looking for: "retro games"; "retro gaming"; "classic games"; "classic gaming", add "PC" somewhere in there if you need more specific results. Others are the systems and languages the games were programmed on: "Commodore 64"; "QBASIC"; "GWBASIC"; "BASICA". If you're feeling like searching through thousands of entries you could always simply go with "Old Games" or add the specific kind of game you want like, "Classic PC RPGs". You want to get into the really old and often eccentric sh-t and try, "Text Adventures", and that's good too. Be aware that even I open realize the fact that there are very few decent text adventures out there. But a good Text RPG can be found under the name of "The Wizard's Castle", it's one of the first I had ever played.
The zipped packages of Retro games come in a wide variety of levels of understanding to install, ranging from Moronic Ease to Wizardry of DOS. Admittedly, there are some packages I've come across that even I couldn't install. However, most are rather simple, and shouldn't be a problem. Another difficulty lies in the emulators and code reading programs that are necessary to run a game. Sometimes, you'll have to figure it out and find them yourself. Many of these are very primitive, and will require you to make line modifications in running the programs. I can't help you much there, but I can offer suggestions. First of all, read any text files that are included in the packages, and make sure you read everything on the web page you downloaded it from. If line modifications are necessary, you'll need to either open the program from DOS or make the modifications in the windows preference menu in the code reading program. To do this, you'll need to open up the preferences window for that file and change the opening command line to include the appropriate modification and direction lines. This can often be a hassle, but a good game can be worth it.
The era in which the game was originally coded can have a large effect on both the difficulty to install and the quality of the game. Again, I must admit that some of the much older games can be very....lame. There is almost always an exception or two here and there though. If you really get into it, spy around forums, there's a lot of talk about Retro Gaming, and listening to what other people like is a good way to avoid the more fecesious games out there. Generally, a game from farther back in time is going to be both harder to install and less depthful to play, not that it won't still be fun. Yes, there are major exceptions to this rule. Not only were there brilliant programmers in all eras but also were there very poor ones. Some earlier games will blow you away and some later games will leave you wondering, "Why did anyone even release this?"
For the newest Retro Games, keep your eyes on the BASIC programmers. Most BASIC programmers are major fans of old games, and will create their own, styled similarly. With the latest innovations in gaming styles, plots, engines, etc. Many of these new Retro games will give you a unique mixture of past and present gaming standards, this can be really cool. For instance, a classic Zelda-like game with more weapons and mini-games.
If you start getting into it, and think you'd like to program your own Retro games, a crash course in QBasic 4.5 or C coding is all that's necessary. This is easier said than done, of course, but also easier done than programming something like...Diablo II. Programming in a Retro style allows you to infuse new styles that you like into older style engines. You could create something really unique by mixing 16 bit graphics with gaming ideas from the 32-128 bit eras. You could make something nearly as enthralling as some of the recent games with a lot less effort. It's not necessary to meet commercial standards as long as you and a few other people have a lot of fun with it.
Finally, here's an explanation of some of the Retro Styles you might encounter.
Text Adventure - There are two kinds of Text Adventure, they don't tend to have specific names, but I'll call them Puzzle Adventures and Text RPGs. Both normally have a coordinates plane that you can move about to find your objectives. In a Puzzle Adventure, you'll be set to finding items and solving puzzles to eventually beat the game. However, I prefer the Text RPGs. You encounter RPG elements such as HP, Strength and Dexterity and must fight enemies on the coordinates plane, collecting items to make you stronger until you finally defeat an end boss or get the critical item. "Humbug" is an example of a Puzzle Adventure. "The Wizard's Castle" is an example of a Text RPG.
2D Platformers - You should be aware of these, you run along various platforms, blasting, throwing, or shooting things at opponents. The levels typically have bosses, although many Retro Platformers make the objectives simply finding the way through a maze or freeing someone or collecting an item. A more modern example is "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night". Retro examples would be "Duke Nukem 2" or "Jetpack".
Graphical RPG - These are the younger brother to the Text RPG. They have a graphical interface which allows you to roam freely around a typically 3-Dimensional world, only viewed from a one or two point perspective. Sadly, many of the non-commercial Graphical RPGs are poor at best. However, there are a few good cult classics, such as "Mysterious Song", I haven't played it though, but it's supposedly quite good. A good example with an entirely different engine is "Ragnarok".
Strategy Games - Strategy games come in both text and graphical format. Non-commercially they are more in text. These consist of balancing some kind of simulated system. Warfare, administration and different companies are common topics. A commercial examples are "Castles" or "Caesar". A non-commercial text game for BASIC is "Hammurabi".
Puzzle Games - For some reason, Retro PC programmers loved puzzle games. There are quite a number of them, although I remember very few. "Lemmings" would be a common example.
There are many other miscellaneous types that I really don't feel like categorizing right now. But I think this gives everyone a fairly good foundation at the Retro PC Gaming gig. Again, if you'd like to make some of your own games QBasic 4.5 is an excellent place to start. You should know that it's not legal to download, but I doubt Microsoft cares anymore.
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