My gift to you: 7 free vintage video games
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I have a little gift for you … seven, in fact!
This time of 2015 is a little tricky. Not only do you have Christmas, a season that gets bigger and more demanding every year, but the long-awaited seventh installment of “Star Wars” is also on the minds of nerds everywhere (ask Adam Forsgren).
So for my gift to you, I invite you to play seven video games that capture the mindset and fun of the early Star Wars era (late 1970s to early 1990s, when no one had heard of Jar Jar Binks) despite their technological limitations. I have embedded all of them in this article. Only one is an actual “Star Wars” game. The rest show the adventurous spirit of the age’s science fiction in their own way.
These games were made in the era before smartphones (but after the printing press), so if you’re on a touchscreen device, you’ll want to dust off your desktop or laptop to play.
Also, I have had some trouble getting them to work in Chrome, but Firefox should work fine. And if you still have trouble, click on the game’s name, which will take you to a page where it is more likely to work.
Note: These abandonware games are all hosted at archive.org in the interest of research and preservation.
Star Wars (1988)
Experience the climactic battle of “Star Wars: A New Hope” with these early vector graphics.
Controls: Press F1 when the game begins to switch to go to a number-controlled menu that will let you switch to mouse controls. Move mouse to move around. Left click to shoot.
Gameplay: Destroy the Death Star! One counter-intuitive part of the game is the fact that you have to shoot the TIE fighters’ torpedoes (or whatever they are) before they hit you. As far as I can tell, you can’t dodge them.
Space Invaders (originally released in 1978, this version 1996)
Defend yourself from extraterrestrial baddies.
Controls: CTRL and ALT to move left and right, right SHIFT to shoot.
Gameplay: Don’t let the simple graphics deceive you. This game is marvelously difficult. Once the little shields are gone, you have no protection, so don’t shoot through them if you can help it.
Galacta: The Battle for Saturn (1992)
Not exactly an original space shooter, but the one I enjoyed as a kid nevertheless.
Controls: Arrows to move. SHIFT to shoot. ALT for shield.
Gameplay: Survive waves of alien ships! Get as many power-ups as you can.
Asteroids (originally released in 1979, this version 1987)
Controls: Arrows for movement and propulsion, ALT to jump to a random spot in the screen (if you’re desperate only), CTRL to shoot.
Gameplay: Watch out! The asteroids break apart once you shoot them. And the faster you go, the less control you have. If you want a modern take on this game for your mobile device, check out “PewPew” (it’s free) in the App Store or Google Play
Overkill (1992)
Aliens have destroyed your planet, and you’re out for revenge! My favorite of this list. It takes all the other games above to the next level.
Controls: Arrows to move, SPACE to shoot, TAB to activate upgrades, F9 in case your boss walks in.
Gameplay: I find the first level (Edrax) is the hardest, but you can start with whichever one you like, including Hoth! Watch out for walls. And never, ever run out of fuel.
Commander Keen (1990)
A boy genius who makes a spaceship out of old soup cans has to battle aliens on Mars. It spawned a lot of sequels (see the image at the top of the column).
Controls: Arrows to move, CTRL to jump, CTRL + ALT to shoot (if your ray gun’s charged), ALT to toggle pogo stick (if you have it).
Gameplay: The creators intended to make a port of Super Mario Bros. 3 to the PC, but after Nintendo saw the demo and declined, the resulting game evolved into Commander Keen. The game feels very much like its own thing, however. And the game is most fun when you are desperately dodging aliens while you’re bouncing on a pogo stick.
Donkey Kong (originally released in 1981, this version 1983)
How did this game make it onto the list? This is arguably the game that inspired the save-the-princess trope. Although Leia was never a pushover, it’s easy to see this mindset coming through from time to time in the original movie. If playing such a game bothers you, take comfort in the fact that someone has made a version of the game wherein the lady saves Mario — sadly it’s not publicly available.
Controls: Arrows to move and climb, SPACE to jump.
Gameplay: Pretty self-explanatory. Dodge the fireballs. Rescue the damsel.