SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

The lovable archivists over at archive.org have just released almost 2,400 classic DOS games, all playable in browser here: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games/v2

For those of you who don't enjoy fiddling with DOS-box, this is really quite the treasure trove.

Posted: Jan 05 2015 08:51 pm

Sweetness! I was actually messing with DOS-box yesterday trying to decide if it was worth all the trouble just to play Kingdoms of England II.

Posted: Jan 05 2015 09:30 pm

Dune, Prince of Persia, Scorched Earth (not sure what that is but it looks neat), Lemmings, Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, Lode Runner, Karateka, Neuromancer (super excited for that one), Wizardry, Ultima, Ultima VI (I've always wanted to play it in full, used to have it on SNES but the copy I bought had a broken battery), and Dark Convergence (also not sure what that is but it looks cool). I am both hot and bothered. Wish the search function on the right side actually worked, though.

Posted: Jan 05 2015 09:37 pm

THEY HAVE HOCUS POCUS! OH MAAAAAAAAN!

Posted: Jan 06 2015 02:12 am

Cameron wrote:

...Scorched Earth (not sure what that is but it looks neat)...

Scorched Earth is awesome. I still play it to this day. It's like Worms, but with tanks instead of worms.

They also have Coaster!!! Very Happy

I just booted my own copy up a couple days ago and made my best scoring roller coaster yet. (I just tried it on the site, and the sound is garbage... Confused

)

Posted: Jan 06 2015 04:06 am

UM....UM.......UM..... (hands shaking with excitement) UM....... UH........ UHHHH........

Joined: Apr 14 2006 Location: Lake Michigan Posts: 3332

That has the potential to drain all my productivity. Must resist the temptation...

Joined: Jun 08 2010 Location: Termina Field Posts: 1541

Doesn't seem to work on my browser, which is a bit of a disappointment.

Not much, since I have a DOSbox frontend thing on my computer where I just drop the game's folder and select the executable and can immediately start playing. I honestly don't know why something like that isn't in any way implemented in the core DOSbox application.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I drag the executable of the game I want to play and drop it on the executable for DOSBox and it works for 95% of the games I wanna play, though I can see the ease of use of a frontend I guess if you really need organization. I just have a giant folder of DOS games which is all I really need.

Joined: Jul 06 2008 Posts: 142

the only thing that sucks about this is the fact you can't save

Posted: Jan 08 2015 09:58 pm

I heard of this and tried using the regular archive.org website to go through it. I didn't know about this specialized interface until today. I do not recommend using the former.

Posted: Jan 09 2015 03:06 am

dddddddd wrote:

the only thing that sucks about this is the fact you can't save

I was thinking the same thing as I was playing the Oregon Trail. I couldn't figure out how to save and assumed it autosaved, aaaaaand I was wrong.

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

Cameron wrote:

dddddddd wrote:

the only thing that sucks about this is the fact you can't save

I was thinking the same thing as I was playing the Oregon Trail. I couldn't figure out how to save and assumed it autosaved, aaaaaand I was wrong.

Cameron's save died of dysentery.

Posted: Jan 16 2015 11:55 pm

Does anyone know if Mechwarrior, Mechwarrior II, or Mechwarrior II: Mercenaries are on this, and if they are how do they play?

Each is notoriously finicky (in entirely separate ways from each other) to run on modern operating systems. Oh, it's terrible!

Posted: Jan 17 2015 01:59 am

Why/how is this legal? Why aren't companies DMCAing the fuck out of this?

Joined: Oct 19 2009 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 1479

Syd Lexia wrote:

Why/how is this legal? Why aren't companies DMCAing the fuck out of this?

I'm going to assume that archive.org acquired their permission. The internet archive is a fully legal database.

Posted: Jan 17 2015 12:37 pm

They deleted the ones that are actually still being sold on places like GOG.

That, and fuck the police because the need to preserve history is more important than observing antiquated copyrights.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

I know, I keep hearing this completely silly and contrarian attitude of "please DMCA this, blah blah blah, I don't like it so you shouldn't play it, blah blah blah". Just shut the fuck up and enjoy video games, don't be a crying little bitch and let other people enjoy them too, people.

If there are games that are still legally being sold and games that are still gaining revenue for their developers, yes they shouldn't be there but otherwise? Just enjoy or move on with your life. Quit defining yourself by things you hate/dislike and being the Debbie Downer of your circle of friends/families/work. I've lost too many friends because they just bitch and cry and moan about the dumbest goddamn things. It's cancerous. Grow up.

What were we talking about again?

Posted: Jan 18 2015 11:46 pm

First off, calm the heck down. You get off on being contrarian and I love you for it, but it makes it especially hilarious for you to try and pull the "Debbie Downer" card on anyone.

Secondly, I don't really care about the legality of it. What I care about is how fucking enthralled people are by this shit, like it's somehow novel and exciting.

You can find old games for free on the Internet? No fucking shit, welcome to fifteen fucking years ago. Sites have been doing this forever. Oh, but what? Now that's it's on the Internet Archive and it's so easy to find that some mentally ill Walmart greeter can find it, I'm supposed to get down on both knees and fucking swallow their cum?

Fuck that. If I want to play these games, I'll procure them from the same abandonware sites that IA inevitably lifted them from. And I will continue to root for the IA game archive to be taken down. If IA is the only place you can find this shit, you don't deserve to play them. If you have to be handed something on a silver platter with a pretty little bow, you don't deserve it.

Posted: Jan 18 2015 11:55 pm

It isn't as much about the availability or how easy it is to find as it is about the inherent convenience of not having to install or download anything and the ability to potentially run them on anything that can run Javascript and host something resembling a keyboard and mouse. But as it is right now, it is very inconvenient for me since I have to change browsers and click a bunch to get anything to go, and that's to say nothing of the compatibility issues in the current emulator.

Joined: May 22 2008 Location: Goshen, VA Posts: 6544

That's my deal. I'll never take advantage of it because I can easily use DOSBox, but this is neat for many reasons, like you stated, flat out convenience of being able to play in your browser and especially letting younger and older generations without the know how play games that I and many others grew up on.

I had a blast watching my 10 year old niece figure out Carmen San Diego, I watched my dad play Championship Baseball like he used to 20+ years ago. It's convenient, it's a nice gesture and if the legality is fine, what is the actual fucking problem? They don't deserve to play them? Gimme a fucking break.

Posted: Jan 19 2015 11:20 am

I never really considered them as an easy way to let kids give them a try and do some exploring. That is pretty neat.

Posted: Jan 19 2015 12:38 pm

I have been to shows that had a bunch of old computers running decades-old games. I personally watched children as young as five take to them just like we all did back then without any help and it's seriously one of the most heartwarming things you could ever see if you've been playing games long enough to remember the old systems. Contrary to what the last few generations would have you believe, children are very much able and willing to play the classics but they're just not as available or convenient anymore, so things like this are the next best thing.

Posted: Jan 20 2015 12:37 am

I'm mainly excited because I've tried and failed multiple times to implement DOSbox and playing these games in a browser is just way easier for someone like me that isn't particularly tech savvy.

Syd Lexia wrote:

If you have to be handed something on a silver platter with a pretty little bow, you don't deserve it.

And see, no one has to be handed something on a silver platter, but if someone is offering it on a silver platter anyway, it's silly not to take it.

I will say, though, that I'm probably not going to be using the internet browser to play these very often, due to the lack of ability to save.

Posted: Jan 22 2015 08:33 pm

Aw hell yeah! They've got Marshmallow Duel!!! I recommend everybody play this, it's one of the greatest multiplayer games ever made. If you like Smash Bros, this is at least 10x better. My brother and I used to play this game relentlessly in the 90s.