If you’re older than Generation Y and the “millenium” kiddies, then there is no doubt your feelings about old school games are as such–they totally rock. Do you remember the first time you played Dig Dug? Yeah, that time when cheesy 80s slow songs came on in the local skating rink and you were too shy to ask anyone to skate with you? Blowing up Pooka with your “pumper” gun or dropping a rock on Fygar just seemed a lot more comforting. Or what about the first time Sinistar scared the crap out of you when he chased your tiny little spaceship while shouting, “Run, coward, run! I hunger!” Back then you just didn’t have enough money to “get good” at collecting all those crystals.
Fortunately, you can now seek your revenge. While there’s nothing you can do about your mom having tossed all of your Atari 2600 cartridges out after you graduated from high school, there is still hope. You can relive all of your “back in the day” memories by simply turning your computer into the ultimate old school gaming console. Even the most modest of home PCs these days can easily play any game that took a high-end arcade system and a sack full of quarters to play back in the days when the football jocks were stealing your lunch money and stuffing you into garbage cans.
The three most popular ways to transform your PC into an old school gaming console are as follows:
1. Buy ported game collections. Many old-school game companies like Namco and Activision have released their vintage titles in collections available for PCs. Activision’s Anthology lets you play old favorites like Barnstorming, Chopper Command, more with just a Pentium II computer. Namco’s Museum lets you play countless Namco favorites, including Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, and Pole Position II.
2. Install an emulator. While not as easy to install as a game collection, hundreds of games from a myriad of old-school platforms can be played through use of an emulator. Emulators basically mimic the original console hardware on your PC. Emulators like MAME and FBA allow you to run more games than can be found in a ported game collection. A multiviewer will help to see many screens at once.
3. Online services. A third option for running console games on your PC is to check out a website that provides online games over the Internet. Services like gametap.com provide hundreds of games ranging from the Atari 2600 to the Sega Saturn on a monthly subscription basis through a small plug-in that installs in your web browser.
Compared to today’s titles, playing old school games on our PC is ridiculously cheap. Most old school games can even be played without a keyboard, thus saving you the expense of buying a controller. So what are you waiting for? Mario still needs your help saving the Princess!
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