Trucknin

The thing about putting together a list of the best classic Mac games is that it’s constantly changing. More games become “classic” each year, but it’s more than that. Countless games bubble just under the surface, waiting to be rediscovered or to get their “enhanced” edition to lift them back into the consciousness of Mac gamers.

Wow, some very interesting responses here. I myself ended up in Windows land through the 2000s as Mac OS 9 became more out of date for day to day tasks and back then I didn't care much for Mac OS X. Windows did what I needed, Mac OS X didn't really. I'm kind of surprised to hear I wasn't the only one in this situation.

I remember having bought some new-ish looking Mac OS X-type games sometime ago but I don't have them with me right now. I really should have brought them for the work week. I think in the meantime I will scroll through the games here and see what else is available.

It's not a game but I also have Photoshop CS2 installed on here and it runs very well with Rosetta. It's nice having a quality version of Photoshop with most of the features I like, even on an older Mac like this.

For those here who haven't tried it, Rosetta for Mac OS X 10.6 is really impressive. Even on this plain MacBook 2008 (4,1) with its intel graphics, it can run a PowerPC game like Bugdom 2 at full speed, no issues. The first time I tried it, I was stunned. I've always loved Apple's 68k support in Classic Mac OS for PowerPC processors and Carbon Library for Mac OS 9 for these very reasons. It's sad Apple removed Rosetta from 10.7 and onward.

SkyCapt, I hadn't before considered 10.4 or 5 for Rosetta on an Intel Mac. I had heard before that 10.6 was about as good as it gets for the early days of the Intel Mac. I may have to try that down the road. I have a couple other old MacBooks I could try it with.

I have an older version of SheepShaver on this MacBook and it works fairly well. Pit Droids, Amazon Trail 1 CD version and Age of Empires work surprisingly well given this laptop's specs. I haven't kept up with SheepShaver in years though. Has it been improved in the past 5 years?

There is a simple solution to the mentioned SS video problem:
- startup with extension off;
- after OS9 has finished starting up, select your preferred video resolution using the Monitor control panel;
- reboot.
From now on, SS will boot the emulated Mac without video problems.

Thanks. Also, the new binary of SheepSaver (version 2.3-0.20060514.1) works 'out of the box'.

I am just curious how fast this emulation is on dual core Intel Macs--- I imagine it could be wicked fast, running old PPC apps faster than G4s ever did. Yes? No? Maybe?

No, unfortunately. Unlike the transition from 68k to PowerPC, the new architecture is not Wicked Fast™. Most of the performance increases seen in the new machines have little to do with the main processor, but rather with the FSB, DDR2 RAM, PCI Express, SATA, &c.
Perhaps when Conroe, Morem, &c. come out the difference will be more significant.
JP
---
Pell

Is there a way to use 9.2.2 with Sheepsaver? That's the only install disc I have (that came with my PowerMac).

Sorry for the busted links to ROM-grabber and TomeView. Here are a couple that work:
http://homepage3.nifty.com/toshi3/data/Rom-grabber.sit
http://virtual.haru.gs/tomeview.hqx

I'm curious what essential Classic apps folks are still running.

Essential apps:
Oxford English Dictionary (set up to run from a CD image instead of the original CD)
Lexis-Nexis (much faster than the web interface)
WordPerfect (sometimes)
And most important and productivity-ruining of all -
The old AfterDark Stained Glass module, using the MacDim AD launcher (see my hint about this somewhere else on the site).
It's the last one that I'm really going to miss on an Intel Mac...

Lots of custom software is needed to configure or operate older hardware. The devices may still be in use but the control computer has failed. In my case, I don't want to carry around an old laptop to occasionally configure an older device.
Does anyone know if a classic app running in these emulators can use a USB-serial adaptor?
Thanks

Lots of old Ambrosia software games!
Maelstrom, Escape Velocity, Mars Rising, Apeiron
I can't cope with all this Doom stuff!

Indeed. I'm still occasionally playing Fool's Errand and the original Myst. Except for that, I can't remember the last time I used Classic to actually accomplish anything.

Yeah, games are about all I ever run in Classic, too!

I still run Civilization 2 (sue me, that's the version I like!), and I just get a hankerin' to run Future Cop sometimes, which was a kick-butt game that never got the marketing it deserved. It even came out for the Mac before the PC (in 1998!).

Neither of these games, AFAIK, will ever be updated to OS X. As long as I can play these games, I will, 'cause they're great games, so why all the hate about those of us who still keep a copy of Classic around?

SimTower. :-D
JP
---
Pell

quarkxpress 4.0 along with a ton of custom developed software for it. the expense and time to re-develop the code for use with the current version of quark would be out of proportion with the benefit gained. xpress 4.0 runs perfectly for what i use it for.
i'll be following and researching how to run classic apps on the intel chips very closely before i can purchase any for the shop.
---
if it aint broke, break it!

Virtual TimeClock 2.5. I know that there are dozens of Time-recording applications available for OS X, but they all require entry of clients, projects, tasks, or other endless information for which I have no need. Virtual TimeClock does one thing, simply--it works like a regular punchclock, allowing me to clock-in/clock-out for the day and for breaks, and totals my time entries and overtime. There is a Pro version for OS X, but it costs $129--the one I have cost me $29 years ago. Until someone comes up with a replacement, I'll keep using this one.

Oops! That's $195 for Virtual TimeClock Pro.

Those are some interesting replies. I'm just confused how someone can have the money to buy an intel machine, but no money to upgrade software. How about you upgrade that software first?
I do understand about needing old software to control even older hardware. But again, how about some hardware upgrades?
OS 9 has been dead for 4 years, lets all let it go.

It is quite possible for software upgrades to total MORE than the cost of new hardware. Software can be VERY expensive. I got a font editor for less than a hundred bucks 20 years ago. Now it's several hundred, and doesn't even have all the features of the old software. I am planning to use vMac to run FONTastic Plus 2.0.2 and other System 6 software which to this day still have no OS X equivalent. Apple's killing of OS 9 does not magically make new and affordable software appear. Hey, I wish it did.

Over the last 20 years I have written literally hundreds of HyperCard apps that are indispensable to my research. Most of them use specialized externals that will not work with the various HC replacements that have come out since Apple dropped HC. I also need to use a genetic mapping program called ACeDB. There is a OS X version but it would require that I redo much of my data AND modify the HC scripts I use to generate the data file in the first place.

This is probably verboten, but how does one get a copy of 9.0.4? I have a CD of 9.2.2, but tossed any version of 9 before that ('Ha! Won't need THOSE anymore!'). It's frustrating since I have a valid license to use OS 9 (several, actually); I just want to use an older version.

eBay

If you have valid licenses, then LimeWire might be your friend. Be careful not to download anything you don't have a license for! ;-)
JP
---
Pell

Lew, I could afford a new machine every year, the cost is trivial compared to the number of hours invested in writing software. It is a matter of the number of hours invested in writing software. I have spent 20 years programming hypercard stacks for various psychology research projects. The time involved learning new programming languages and compilers then redoing much of this work would take me about 5 - 6 years if I worked on it non stop. I have more important things to do with my time. It is sad, I have gone from teaching in a university department buying about 30 macs a year to surrendering to use microsh**t platform for all but my individual research simply because the lack of backwards compatability and steves hubris in junking hypercard. The Gee wizz look what new macs can do focus has completely stuffed many in education and research. We do not have the time resources to cope with new platforms and are faced with a choice of hours wasted rewriting software or abandoning macs for windows because of the central support that is offered.

That is why those of you in the academic departments should push for Intel mac development because the systems themselves can be put together for around 500$ a piece keyboard, mouse, and monitor plus a p4 with HT, 1gb of DDR ram, 80gb HD, and DVD/RW- at that price that is the best deal there is. I am sorry to say also all of the enthusiasm for this new operating system has made it one of the most well documented ones in my opinion of fixing computers for the last 12 years. Unix outperforms Linux and Windows as a server OS- it always has and the mach kernel is a testament to that. The real problem is the government is forcing the university system to adopt 'active directory' as its networking standard. That alone has forced you into the situation that you are in. If there was some way for you to make agreements with the univeristy to allow you to use offsite computers in your research than the sky would be the limit as you would not be constrained to those requirements (or you can lie and say that you are following them). Who knows...I just think that in the future windows will be something that only children will use.

I've built a complete SheepShaver install, including _everything_ needed to run, as well as the last version of WordPerfect and several utilities. To download this 243mb image, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wordperfectmac, to the Links section, to the 'SheepShaver and Basilisk' folder, and click 'SheepShaver-WordPerfect Install'. It's about 20 minutes on a fast connection.
Enjoy,
John

Macos Education Games Classic Games

John,
your downloadable disk image + installer guide are terrific.
it díd take less than 20 minutes to get a classic environment running on my intel MacBook. Very well done. Thank you.

Thank you.
I have downloaded and installed your wonderful little present.. now...
how do I get it to use classic apps - where do I put them to install them etc... PLEASE help me, I'm almost there.. after months of struggling.
I also get a message that says 'The result of a numeric operation was too large' should I worry about that?
and, thanks again.

John,
your downloadable disk image + installer guide are terrific.
it díd take less than 20 minutes to get a classic environment running on my intel MacBook. Very well done. Thank you.

I can run SimCity 200 & Pinballthrillride again, not to mention the software from the macintosh gardens? Yipee!

I'm going through all this trauma just to be able to run Claris Homepage and a wonderful little game called War of Flowers.

Unfortunately SheepSaver just doesn't work. You can't write to any drive, you can't read any of your drives, you can't read firewire drives. It's just... bad.

Macos Education Games Classic Download

Let me just highlight the circular logic every single Sheep Saver instruction page seems more than happy to gloss over:
1) To install OS9 start up your already installed OS9 and extract your ROM.
2) FTW?