Even though we’re surrounded by exciting new technology, the latest advancements in gaming hardware and graphics, and thousands of modern games available at our fingertips, sometimes we get a bit nostalgic for the simpler games of our past.
Tracking down those older games of our childhood yore isn’t hard at all, and in this article, we’ve put together a handful of sites where you can find literally thousands of classic retro games.
ClassicReload
ClassicReload is an entirely free retro gaming site, which hosts over 6,000+ classic games from a range of retro systems. You’ll find a plethora of classic titles for DOS, Windows 3.X, Amiga, Commodore 64, Sega Genesis, ZX Spectrum, and even arcade machine titles.
All of the games run completely in your browser, using an HTML5 version of DOSBox emulator, instead of Java plug-ins, which are known to cause lag and slow frame rates when emulating old DOS games. So not only is there zero headache of getting the games to run using an emulator, but you won’t feel like you’re playing a slideshow.
ClassicReload offers several nice features. You can enable full screen mode for every title, and it also detects if you have a gamepad connected to your computer, so you won’t need to use your keyboard. Using a keyboard for arcade fighting titles is virtually impossible, so being able to use a gamepad for browser-based retro gaming is quite an awesome feature.
With over 6,000+ titles, you’ll be able to find many of the greatest classics in retro gaming, including titles like DOOM, Leisure Suit Larry, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Prince of Persia, Commander Keen, and obviously, thousands more.
If you create a free account with Classic Reload, or even just log in using your Facebook account, you’ll be able to save game progress. The great thing is that your save files are stored locally, instead of saved into the browser cache, so you just load save files from your local storage. Basically, you won’t ever lose progress by doing something like clearing your browser cache.
Casumo
While online slot machines have evolved immensely in recent times, adding 3D graphics and elements similar to video games, many slot players yearn for more classic and retro slot machines. Casumo online casino offers the best of both.
So while you’ll find many of the latest and most graphically advanced slot games on Casumo, you’ll also find plenty of classic slot games, like Slots O’Gold, Mega Moolah, and Thunderstruck 2.
One of the best things about Casumo is that you don’t need to actually gamble any real money to enjoy many of their slot games. You can play entirely for free, depositing real money is entirely optional.
PlayRetroGames
Similar to ClassicReload, PlayRetroGames offers a huge library of classic titles for your enjoyment. However, instead of focusing on classic DOS and Windows 3.x titles, PlayRetroGames focuses on classic console games.
What that means is that you’ll be able to play many classic games from ‘90s consoles like the first Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, and older consoles like the original Nintendo, Atari 7800, and more.
Many of the games run in an HTML5 version of emulators for the respective consoles, with gamepad support, so playing older Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64 games right in your browser is a total breeze. There’s also an alternative Flash-based emulator, though saving game progress is disabled if for some reason you use Flash.
While downloading emulators and old console games is pretty easy these days, using PlayRetroGames is an easy way to quickly play titles like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Mario 64 right in your browser, without committing to downloading ~600MB .ISO files (for PSX games) onto your local storage, which quickly adds up if you download an entire catalogue of classic console games.
TopMUDSites
For some truly retro gaming, you can check out TopMUDSites, which lists some of the most popular text-based games still being ran today. Text-based adventure games were quite popular in the earliest days of computer gaming, with titles like Colossal Cave Adventure, Zork, and Rogue laying a thematic groundwork for the future of RPG and adventure games as a whole.
On TopMUDSites, you’ll find some of those classic text-based adventure games, but also many MUDs (multi-user dungeons), which are online text-based games. Think of them like MMOs, but without any graphics. Some of these MUDs have been in operation for over 20 to 30 years, with well-established communities that encourage roleplay within the games.
While the idea of text-based games seems highly archaic (who wants to type “kill orc” in 2019?), what these games generally offer is immersive roleplay, like interactive fiction novels being written by you and hundreds of other players. With all the questing, looting, and PvP you’d find in modern MMOs of course, only rendered entirely in text.
MUDs are a classic genre that were pretty much the precursor to MMOs, as classic MMOs like Ultima Online and Everquest derived a lot of inspiration from these classic text-based RPGs, so if you’re in the mood for some multiplayer retro gaming, you may certainly want to check out TopMUDSites.
ZOOM Platform
We couldn’t finish the article without mentioning ZOOM Platform. Headed by Jordan Freeman, Ben Herman and Bernie Stolar, not only have they remastered many classic retro gaming PC games like Commandos, Killing Time, the Duke Nukem games and the Cannon Fodder series that can be deployed to your PC and run from DOSBox, they are also releasing their own games in the very near future.
MegaRace: Deathmatch and Shadow Stalkers are set to wow gamers in 2020 and you’ll hear news about those first here at Arcade Attack!