The PC Computer and Video Games

The PC Computer and EmulatorsGo to bottom of page/contents to skip this page. I've been here before.

     The PC Computer these days is a very versatile computer, if you can get one that is fast enough. Something like a 800MHz PC is a pretty good standard speed machine to go for. If you can, go for something faster still - you won't regret it. There is more power here, than you realise.

Emulators and the PC Computer

     Emulators are programs which mimic what they emulate, such as an earlier model computer or a different type of computer. This is possible because a Fast Computer can almost always emulate a slower (older) computer. Videogames consoles or machines, are simply computers too. Nowadays, there are emulators that emulate almost every popular computer there was, or videogame system. There are emulators which even emulate coin-op videogame machines.

     The graphics are so close to the original games, you'll swear they are the original games? Yes folks, they are. You can play Space Invaders in all it's original glory, plus others of the classic coin-op era:    Galaxian, Galaga, Donkey Kong, Battlezone, Commando, Ghosts n Goblins, etc.

Cheap games for everyone?

      What this means is that, you can download emulators and their games [often called ROMs because the games are on ROM chips on a board] to have a big library of video and computer games that are still playable today as they once were. If you cannot afford the latest PC games, then you can play the great games of yesteryear. It's a matter of knowing what emulators and games to go for, that suits your gaming pleasure. If you haven't played these games before, they are still playable. Or maybe you will like to revisit old games you once played? Or perhaps play those games you've missed?

      Basically you download the emulator, and then the game ROMs down to your computer. I only mention the emulators for the IBM PC compatible computers, which have the most available, but there are some available for the Macintosh computers too. Here's the list of what is emulated at the moment. This does change as time goes by, there's still a few systems/coin-ops yet to be emulated?

    The Emulators                                                                                                    
      Going from High Quality towards lower quality, the ones at the top of the list, require a 800MHz or faster PC. Those at the bottom are fine with slower PCs 200MHz?

   Arcade coin-op videogames & Home videogames systems                             
      Name of Emulator ------ EMULATED SYSTEM / GAMES

        Personal Computer Emulators                                                                           

Note: Don't expect many emulators to run at a decent speed on a very slow 200MHz PC. You really need a 400MHz or better to run them like they should, at their original speed. Anything over 600MHz is an ideal PC to use.

Some comments
      If you like the action arcade games, then you can run the coin-op emulators, down to the home consoles such as the SNES and Genesis.

      For more thoughtful / strategy games, you will enjoy the adventures on the 16-bit Computers - Amiga and Atari ST Computers. Those wanting to revisit the good old 8-bit days, may be disappointed seeing the C64 running, because it's limited colour palette highlights it's sore points.

     Don't disregard the 8-bit systems completely because there are still some very original games there which may surprise you? Miner 2049'er and Star Raiders are the forerunners for Mario and 3D Star Wars games, on the Atari 800.

     You should be able to find the old IBM PC games somewhere? on the Internet, in some archive or newsgroup, which can be downloaded, but I haven't gone on a search for them. There's bound to be some playable PC games of old too.

Here are the site links to access downloads of the various emulators, etc.

             CLASSIC VIDEOGAME HITS OF YESTERYEARS Pre-1990            
These are worth checking out
These lists are in no particular order, check them all out?

         Atari 800 / 800XL / etc --- Atari 8-bit Computers                                         

and also....Rescue on Fractalus, Ball Blazer, Flip & Flop,BC's Quest for Tires, Juice, Cytron Masters, Montezuma's Revenge,Tail of Beta Lyrae, Thrust, Elektraglide, Spelunker, Pharoah's Curse,Pastfinder, Shamus, Shamus Case II, Sands of Egypt, Scott AdamsAdventures, Laser Hawk, HawkQuest... ... ... and many more

               Commodore C64 Computer Games                                                             

and also.... Samurai Warrior, Katakis, Nemesis, Salamander, Slapfight, Commando,Ikari Warriors, Track N Field, Summer Games II, Raid over Moscow, Green Beret...

                Atari ST Computers                                                                                

               Super Nintendo 16-bit Videogames console                                            

      The Most Original Games - Check these out for Videogame Design           

Emulator NOTES -----
      If you want to play the best version of a coin-op title, eg. Donkey Kong, then it's best if you did play the original coin-op game, rather than an Atari 800 version, although an excellent conversion, rates second.

     And if the same game is available in different computer versions, then usually the better version is on the bigger computer, eg. Wizball although well programmed on the C64, looks and plays better on the Atari ST. Some games though, are the same on both Amiga and Atari ST, as to be practically identical. The Amiga has 32 colours in it's standard low-res mode, whereas the Atari ST has 16, and the Amiga has better sound capabilities over the Atari ST. Some games may not use the extra colours available on the Amiga?

     Back in the hey day of the Amiga, this was considered THE Computer to own and use, when 286 PCs were clunky and boring. The Amiga had much improved graphics and sound capabilities over the humble PC. And multi-tasking too, before Windows there was Workbench on the Amiga, a colour version of the Mackintosh finder/etc. At this time, it was unthinkable that the PC would eventually triumph, getting faster and faster all the time, so much so that an emulator on the PC can imitate the Amiga after all. How times have changed.

      While I am impressed by the older games, there is the likelihood that new players who have never played these before, may find that the graphics are somewhat basic compared to today's games. But if gameplay is king, then these old games are a treasure trove to anyone videogames player who love innovative gameplay.

     These lists are not definitive, they are merely my pick. For example, I have not listed all the notable text and graphics & text adventure games, mainly because I have not sampled a great many of them. I have tried enough and know which ones are agreed upon as being of interest though.

Further Notes ------

     Old games never die, they are reborn via emulation. Some may consider the old text adventure games, to be dead and buried, but I believe these are still as playable and as interesting as they once were. Children, I believe would learn to appreciate the written word through playing them. An old favourite of mine is Lords of Karma for the Atari 800 computers. It does however takes about 5 minutes to initialise itself, before it's ready to play, it displays the message "working..." for five minutes. The Scott Addams Adventure games are varied and ingenuious. I'm sure many new players will still find them interesting and fun.

     It is worth noting any special games, no matter what hardware they are on. Alien vs Predator and Tempest 2000 are truly great games on the Atari Jaguar. And Mario on the N64 is another great experience in itself. Don't be prejudiced against a game, purely because of the company name and label.

Email Harvey, if you want to chat over anything videogames related, whether old or new?

                          Harvey's Videogames background                                             

     I have been using personal computers since December 1982, when I purchased my first computer, an Atari 800 with 48K and cassette recorder. One of my first games was Star Raidersand Shamus. Since then, I have moved onto the Atari 1040ST, Commodore C64, Commodore Amiga 500, and a 486 40MHz IBM PC clone computer --- now it's upgraded to a P200 motherboard, etc.     The only computer I have now, is a PC, and find the emulators very interesting to run. I also own a Sega MegaDrive and a Nintendo Super NES. For the SNES, I have one of those disk drive/copier devices --- it is used once a week by my 10 year old nephew, who loves the SNES games. And I have a Sony Playstation. The game consoles are all NTSC machines because I always prefer 60Hz over 50Hz anyday. I have also been able to borrow and play games on the Atari Lynx, Atari Jaguar, Panasonic 3DO, Sega Saturn,and Nintendo 64.

     The first game I worked on, was Laser Hawk, was completed in 1986, programmed by Andrew Bradfield, a local friend. That took a year to finish. Andrew did all the programming and I designed the graphics in the game. 3 years later, Hawkquest was completed ---it was a huge game. Laser Hawk was 32K, HawkQuest ended up taking up4 x 90K of data. Both games was released by Red Rat in the UK for theAtari 800 / 800XL / etc computers.

With Paul Lay I have designed graphics for some Atari ST games. Floyd the Droid, Crossland and MAD. XFrog was in progress that never got completed. We decided to develop for the SNES console and put together a demo of Astrohawk, that got to a semi-playable stage. Rockfall a small game for the SNES got to a semi-playable stage too. XFrog was resurrected and finished in time for the 1988 Enix VideogameProgramming Contest, in it's PC version. Sadly we didn't get a placing.

Strangely now, Paul has ported AstroHawk across to the Game Boy Advance whose graphics capabilities is similar to the SNES. Go to www.playsoft.com to see it's current progress.


Other pages to go to, on this site....

HawkQuest............ -------------- Introduction to HawkQuest...............................
HawkQuest............ -------------- Hidden targets in HawkQuest...............................
HawkQuest Maps --------------- Solutions shown for Level 1 in Secondary game of HawkQuest
HawkQuest Maps --------------- Solutions shown for Level 2 in Secondary game of HawkQuest
Emulators...... ----------------------- Looking at emulators for videogames on the PC................
The Unexplained -------------------- The fascinating world of unexplained phenomena................
Dunedin ............ -------------------- Dunedin, New Zealand......................................................
Social Volleyball.... ----------------- Social Volleyball FAQ - almost every question answered?