Sep 21, 2012 Recently I've been looking up some old games from the 90's our family had on our old mac. I remember we had some educational games like Treasure Cove, Math Mountain, Designasaurus 2, Mixed Up Mother Goose and some Disney puzzle games. Sep 13, 2017 Before digital downloads, finding the best Mac games wasn’t always easy. They were out there, but the Mac section of the computer game stores (they used to have those) seemed to stock nothing but “Mario Teaches Typing,” and the games that included Mac and Windows versions would inevitably be scattered around the “PC” sections of the store.
?Sierra Entertainment. The name alone is enough to conjure up titanic waves of nostalgia for any gamer with a sense of history. With that legendary crest logo and accompanying theme, they were, in there heyday, like the Hollywood of electronic entertainment, or at least the Disney. Now, it and fellow adventure legend LucasArts are both seen as icons of a bygone age though, perhaps “bygone” isn’t exactly the right word, seeing as adventure games seem to be having a comeback. But for much the ’80’s and ’90s, Sierra was an indisputable powerhouse and set the standard for the graphical exploration-based game; heck, they practically invented it.
As with a lot of older pieces of entertainment, it can be difficult to look at these titles without one’s judgment getting completely be-fogged by nostalgia. For many of us, these were our introduction not just to computer games, but to computers in general; I can’t say for sure that I’d know half of what I do about Windows if Ken and Roberta Williams didn’t force me to make sure I had sufficient “heap space” to run their software (and if you get THAT reference, you probably need a hug and a good cry). But with appreciation slowly returning for these classics, it seems a fitting time to re-examine the best works developed by this dream-factory. Shall we?
10) Police Quest II: The Vengeance
Of Sierra’s Quest Family, Police Quest is probably the most underappreciated series. The concept was ambitious, as Ken Williams and former police officer Jim Walls sought to create an interactive crime thriller not only set in the real world but beholden to actual regulations and procedure. In the first game, in which series hero Sonny Bonds was a California patrol officer in the fictional town of Lytton, it meant pulling people over and spending a lot of time gambling undercover. In this sequel, Bonds has been promoted to detective, and while protocol is still an issue, the activities you get to do are a little more varied and engaging than giving speeding tickets. You must track down your old foe, criminal mastermind Jessie Bains (supposedly based on a real person) before he kills you, your girlfriend and the others who testified against him. This necessarily leads to gunplay, SWAT team raids, bomb disposal and even a scuba diving mission. And as with the first game, one unlawful move could sink your entire career and net you a finger-wagging endgame message from the pixelated head of Jim Walls himself (the Game Over screen in the third Police Quest was even more hilarious). So not only can you not draw your gun willy-nilly, you have to make sure you’re in a situation when doing so is legally justified. You would think all of this would make the game too strict, but it actually makes it more fun, in a weird way, since there’s at least logic to the puzzles, even if it’s government-mandated logic. Don’t forget the funky synthesizer score, another element that makes this feel like an episode of some lost ’80s cop show. In a good way. I wanna game mac. The best, in fact.
9) Lighthouse: The Dark Being
Sierra’s later forays into the first-person genre were generally ill-fated, tedious orgies of pain, with a focus on self-contained, annoying sequences like sliding puzzles. The one good game to follow this model, Lighthouse, had its fair share of frustrating moments, but balanced that out with an intriguing concept and an involving expansion of the Myst formula. The story has you journey from an Oregon lighthouse into an alternate dimension to find and rescue an eccentric scientist and his newborn daughter from the titular Dark Being. This Dark Being’s evil plan is to bring bad technology to his otherwise idyllic dimension, and stopping him means you must also fight weird-looking monsters and clockwork bird-people. Essentially, Lighthouse is Myst, only with more of a plot, more characters, timed action sequences, an inventory, and a villain that appears onscreen. So in my book, it’s an improvement all ’round. Yes, there’s the underground track maze (mazes are the bane of my gamer existence) and the unlocking-the-safe bit took me forever to do right for some reason. Take those away, and you have a unique, overlooked little title.
8) The Colonel’s Bequest
I feel like there should have been one more Laura Bow game than we got. The Dagger of Amon Ra was punishing and badly written but the whole campy 1920s murder-mystery thing had potential. As such, we can take heart in the fact that the first Bow game, The Colonel’s Bequest, does a few things right that its later sequel missed. You are indeed Laura Bow, a young journalist and would-be sleuth visiting the plantation of a friend in order to hear her aged old uncle declare his will to his remaining offspring. Naturally nobody is satisfied with his arrangement and so there are secret conversations, lies, and murders as the night ticks away. The dialogue is silly and the characters stock, but the environment is rich, spooky and atmospheric, and it’s possible to complete the game without learning everything or even solving the case correctly, which can inspire multiple replays. There’s also the shameless, leery French-maid-undressing-behind-double-doors scene, which certainly must have inspired multiple plays back in the day, if you know what I mean.
7) Island of Dr. Brain
I’ve spoken of this one before, but it deserves another mention, as it is not only a great educational game but a neat hybrid adventure as well. Having discovered the lair of the titular mad scientist in a previous game, you are now tasked to go to his secret island to retrieve a battery for his latest top secret project. Games like nancy drew mac. This game is so effortlessly educational, it teaches you basic geography skills during the copy protection puzzle! While exploring a castle is cool, if kind of creepy, exploring a tropical island is a lot cooler, especially one with its own volcano and everything. Rock and roll. There are puzzles about all sorts of topics from chemistry to art history (making this the only adventure game I know of to feature a bust of Dali As part of a puzzle), and the familiar icon interface makes it feel like part of the Sierra clan of classic adventures. There’s an inventory, adjustable difficulty level, hints, and (in the CD-rom version) even a fully voiced, creepy Dr. Brain to congratulate you. No doubt in the director’s cut he also buzzes in and asks you awkward questions about your bowel movements in front of all your best friends.
6) Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers
There are some games that I swear know that they’re impossible to beat, and the fourth entry in Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe’s legendary sci-fi/comedy saga seems to enjoy flummoxing the player at every turn. How can I tell? Because the narrator, Laugh-In vet Gary Owens, seems to take an inordinate amount of glee in informing you of the many ways you can “fade from the living organism club”, and in a game in which death doesn’t lurk so much as stomp around waving and shouting your name, it’s a refreshing touch of honesty (though it doesn’t make dying any easier). It’s for this that Time Rippers is so dear to my heart; well, that and the craziness of the “plot”, which starts as a kind of Terminator riff but soon spins off into its own deranged orbit of meta-silliness. Space janitor/loser Roger Wilco stumbles through various Space Quests both real and imagined to save his home planet and future son from voice-modulated villain Sludge Vohaul. This includes a jaunt to the AGI graphics of the very first Space Quest, where monochrome bikers harass you for being in better resolution than them. There are also the villainous Sequel Police, androids dedicated to tracking our hero down throughout his various adventures. But Owens steals the show, so much so that they brought him back for the sixth and final game in the series, sadly overdoing it there by having nearly every observation turn into a smartass conversation between him and Roger. Sometimes simplest is best. Owens’ performance here is so good and so rich with memorable lines it makes up for the hilariously bad Roger, who sounds kind of like a constantly surprised flamboyant surfer. Actually, the Roger performance is part of why I love this one so much.
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5) Space Quest V: The Next Mutation
But much as I admire Mr. Owens, I have to admit that as a whole product the fifth Space Quest is the better game in the series. It’s not just that it’s a little longer than the others, or that it features an exotic range of different planets with silly names to explore. No, it’s because this is the only Space Quest that really succeeds in going beyond being a goofy parody (although it’s definitely that) and developing a real story with characters we care about, kind of. This time, the spoofed property in question is the original Star Trek (it is surely no coincidence that our oft-killed protagonist’s new outfit includes a red shirt), though other sci-fi staples like Alien, Terminator and The Fly get the same treatment. But this game simply has a tighter plot than the others, which is to say it has a plot at all: Roger is accidentally made captain of an interstellar garbage scow and must stop a band of pirates from contaminating the galaxy with toxic sludge. Along the way he must also thwart a killer android and befriend a tiny acid-dripping facehugger. The game’s art style is suitably colorful and comic-booky, and even though the final ship airvent maze is typically frustrating, this stands as a more textured excursion into the Questoverse. So while the fourth is my favorite, the fifth is more of an achievement. It’s not as funny, but it makes a little more sense, so there’s your trade-off.
4) Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood
You know, there aren’t enough really good Robin Hood video games. Or maybe it’s just that Conquests of the Longbow is so great we don’t really need anything else. If you have any doubts about this game, they should end around the time you corner a soldier of Prince John shortly after the beginning, and instead of talking him down or using some oddly appropriate inventory item you can just shoot him in the chest with an arrow. Pretty awesome. This certainly isn’t the bloodless child-friendly Robin Hood you might be led to believe but the more robust, swashbuckley one of yore, with flowing locks and a proper beard instead of that prissy little moustache and goatee. Plus, there’s a lot of variety in the gameplay and a long, developed story chock-full of Medieval flavor and atmosphere, indicated by the insanely high number of possible points you can obtain (over 7000!). An improvement over the earlier King Arthur-themed Conquests of Camelot (also developed by Jem creator Christy Marx), this is another mytho-historical romp complete with arcade sequences and all sorts of branching decisions and alternate endings. But despite the odd infuriating wall-climbing bit, it’s an adventure game at its core, and a damn fun one at that.
3) Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness
Or, The One That’s Narrated by John Rhys-Davies. Yes, you heard me. But even if the mighty Welsh elephant himself hadn’t lent his dulcet tones to the CD-rom version of this classic, this would still stand as the best entry in Sierra’s lone tongue-in-cheek RPG/adventure franchise. Why? Eerie setting, more detailed conversation trees, more involved plot. And need I mention the Rusalka? Ah, the Rusalka. Like every Quest for Glory, this one drops your hero character into a strange land heavily modeled after a certain culture or mythology. This one is primarily eastern-European/Russian, although it’s extrapolated to a more general “spooky” theme, borrowing from Universal horror movies and other stock sources of Halloween-esque monster mashery. There’s also the reappearance of other QFG villains, like sorcerer Ad Avis, who works with a misguided kinky vampire babe in a plot to summon the evil Lovecraftian superbeing known as Avoozl. The main counts against Shadows are usually the awkward combat system and the extensive amount of bugs in the original release, but there have since been patches made and the fighting sequences can be avoided via computer if you want to be a puss about it. Otherwise it’s a solid distillation of the things that made this series fun and memorable: a town, many squares of magical forest, puzzles, random encounters, castles, diverging quests, horrible puns. And though there is a maze, at least the main town isn’t made up of an impossible-to-navigate labyrinth, like SOME Quest for Glories I could mention.
2) King’s Quest 6: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
Not only the best in the series, but the last great or even remotely good one. You take control of Prince Alexander (voiced by none other than Beauty and the Beast‘s Robby Benson), he of the unfortunate scarf/jacket combination who travels to the Land of the Green Isles (not Ireland) to seek the hand of Princess Cassima and ends up embroiled in a plot to stop the evil Vizier (just once I’d like to meet a kindly, gentle vizier who offers you hot chocolate and a place to stay). Once again, there is a delightful non-linear feel, with optional quests and alternate endings, as well as a nice variety of fairy tale/fantasy locations, from a Lewis Carroll-inspired island to the Land of the Dead. The range of themes and mythologies drawn from gives this one an especially epic feel. No doubt the unusually layered plot, which expands mightily on the standard “go take out the bad guy and save someone” objective, has something to do with the involvement of star writer Jane Jensen, who worked on this shortly before launching her own projects. And speaking of which…
1) Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers
Nerds don’t seem to be able to agree about much, but if there’s one thing we can all break bread over it’s that the first Gabriel Knight game was pretty incredible. A critical smash in its day, it tells the story of the titular reckless novelist and New Orleans bookstore owner who investigates a series of local murders and soon must thwart an evil Voodoo conspiracy, all while accepting his destiny as the latest in a long line of anti-paranormal crusaders. What’s astonishing about this one is that while it’s still undoubtedly a Sierra title in style, it’s an oddity in that 1) most of the puzzles are intuitive, 2) most of the events of the first two-thirds of the game can be tackled in a non-linear fashion, and 3) you generally can’t fuck yourself over later on by forgetting to do something crucial in the beginning. This means that although it is possible to die, you are encouraged to explore and try everything on everything the way a pixelated adventurer should. But most importantly of all is the tone of this game: it’s not completely free of the cheesy writing or groan-inducing puns native to most Sierra productions, but it generally reaches for a higher level of maturity that their “adult” games never got anywhere near. Series creator Jane Jensen takes her characters and her world seriously, and the amount of care that went into the research and development of Gabriel Knight is evident from the very beginning.
It’s hard for me not to blather on and on about how great this game is, even by today’s standards. It’s not perfect (that interface certainly could have used a trimming) but it is engrossing, and remains priceless as evidence of Tim Curry’s adorable inability to do a Cajun accent, though he still manages to disappear into the role all the same (also Micheal Dorn is in it! And Mark Hamill!). Clearly most of the internet agrees with me on how awesome Gabriel Knight is, as there’s a whole movement devoted to campaigning for a fourth game. Heck, even the AV Club thinks it’s cool, which means you may be seeing bearded college kids in homemade Schattenjager t-shirts sooner than you’d think.
?This coffee mug from FanGamer is a hefty $28, but I
- E3: Wolfenstein Presentation, With a Side of Elder Scrolls
Bill Blazkowicz, hero of the original Wolfenstein games, has been in
Before digital downloads, finding the best Mac games wasn’t always easy.
They were out there, but the Mac section of the computer game stores (they used to have those) seemed to stock nothing but “Mario Teaches Typing,” and the games that included Mac and Windows versions would inevitably be scattered around the “PC” sections of the store.
As such, compiling a list of the best classic Mac games is pretty tough.
That didn’t stop us from doing it. And because we want you to actually play these games, we made sure you can still buy them all in either their original form or as enhanced editions (not remakes). It also means some of our favorite old Mac games—such as Myth, Red Baron, and Fallout—didn’t make the list.
By the way, if you want to stay on top of all the latest Mac games updates, retro or modern, make sure you check out Pure Mac.
The 10 Best old games for Mac: Revisiting the classics
Avernum is an underground prison, and of course, your adventure begins when you’re exiled there from the surface world, known as the Empire. But Avernum isn’t simply a prison; an entire culture exists in this subterranean world, presenting you with myriad options on what to do next. With numerous quests, spells, and party members to customize and control, Avernum unfolds with the freedom of pencil and paper adventures.
Avernum: The Complete Saga gives you a ridiculous amount of content and a cohesive story arc that’s tremendously satisfying. The graphics are rudimentary, but Avernum is very satisfying if you can overlook that.
Another name synonymous with Mac gaming back in the ‘90s was Ambrosia Software. You simply didn’t know a Mac user who didn’t have at least one Ambrosia game on her PowerPC.Perhaps their most fondly remembered title is EV Nova, the third game in the Escape Velocity series. A space exploration and combat game, EV Nova is set amongst warring factions scattered throughout the Milky Way. Consider it Divergent amongst the stars, as you will select your faction then find your role in it.
Gameplay involves jumping between star systems to accept and execute missions, upgrade your ship, and wreck havoc. There are six major storylines and plenty of branching missions, and how you get involved is up to you. That leads to plenty of replay options.
It’s still easy to get overwhelmed by EV Nova despite its age, but Ambrosia offers plenty of resources at the company’s website.
Our second sci-fi first-person shooter to make the list finds you waking from cryostasis to a ship full of unknown aliens, a screwed up AI, and your now zombified companions. Fair enough. We’ve been through this before, so pick up the weapons and health packs and have at it, right?Wrong. System Shock 2 doesn’t give you a lot of weapons or health packs. Rather, it gives you an RPG-like system of upgrades that forces you to use strategy, stealth, and the environment to survive.
What really separates System Shock 2 from its peers is the ship itself. It’s creepy and oppressive, and you’ll be more afraid of what could be around the corner than what actually is. Story elements are revealed through logs left by the crew, limiting your knowledge of what’s going on in a manner that reinforces how alone you are.
Another game produced by Peter Molyneux, Syndicate Plus is a real-time tactical action game in which you lead a team of cyborg mercenaries in the “problem-solving” department of the Syndicate.When you hear the term “cyborg” you just know there are going to be plenty of customization options via augmentations. You will use these to create a team that moves through futuristic locations to achieve your employer’s objectives.
Although there’s plenty to address between missions, it’s the execution of those missions that is most fun. The citizens and their belongings (cars, for example) are there to suit your purposes, should you need them. Your radar tells you where you need to go, but the direct route isn’t always best. If you need some extra help you can “persuade” the people around to help get the job done.
Best of all, the music and sound effects were incredibly effective for the time. The music that suddenly kicks in when you’re spotted will follow me for the rest of my life.
I gave up on the Star Wars movies about 25 minutes into Return of the Jedi, and I’ve never been able to get back into it. I still quite enjoy the games, however, and my all time favorite is 1994’s TIE Fighter from LucasArts.This is because of the excellent story that drives the mission-based flight-sim combat, because of the smooth graphics, and because it was the first time I got to serve the Empire. The missions are what you’d expect from any competent flight sim, asking you to engage in dogfights, take down freighters, protect your own vessels, etc. But because you’re now facing off against the whiney Rebellion, there’s a certain evil glee that goes along with it.
I’m also impressed by TIE Fighter’s staying-power. The gameplay is every bit as intense (and difficult) as it was in the mid-90s, and the space combat graphics are still very cool to view. Just make sure you play it with a joystick. Trust me on this.
There was a time when Bungie Studios was the shining light of Mac gaming. With Mac-only (or at least Mac-first) games such as Myth and Oni, they were the one company that made Windows owners jealous of Mac gamers.But then Microsoft bought them to claim Halo, and that shining light was snuffed out forever.
Mac gamers can still see what made Bungie so special by playing the Marathon Trilogy. This revolutionary series of sci-fi themed first-person shooters introduced features such as real-time voice chat and the ability to wield two weapons at once. The multiplayer options may not do you much good today, but the action and the story are every bit as entertaining as they were in the ’90s.
Honestly, Marathon would be higher on this list were it not for the steps required to grab it. The games are free, but you’ll need to install Aleph One (the free, open source continuation of Bungie’s Marathon 2 FPS game engine) to run them.
“But what if this was set in space?” is a valid question for every video game ever made…even games that are already set in space. That’s because space makes everything so much bigger and more imaginative. And the time this worked best was when Sid Meier took Civilization interstellar with Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.The turn-based strategy elements all remained. You choose from seven factions, then research an unexplored planet, build new technologies and customize your units, and conquer anything hostile (or friendly, if that suits you) to claim victory.
The fun thing about Alpha Centauri is that none of the factions are bad guys. No matter which you select, you feel like you’re doing the right thing when you conquer the others.
Still, why bother playing this when there are many modern alternatives available on the Mac? Because the only thing missing in Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri are the flashy graphics. The writing, voice-acting, and depth of gameplay options are still among the best the genre has ever seen.
Mac Games From The 90s
For our next game, we go all the way back to the ’80s with Bullfrog’s Populous from Peter Molyneux. If it’s not the first “god” game out there, it’s the first that made god gaming so gleefully fun.In Populous, you’re given an isometric view of your world and tasked with manipulating this world to help your “followers” wipe out the enemy. More followers lead to more mana, more mana leads to more powers, and more powers mean earthquakes, volcanos, and all kinds of fun ways to punish the non-believers.
There are many similar games available now, most of which are much more involved and rewarding. So, why bother going back to 1989 for the original Populous? Because it’s still fun. It also contains a whopping 500 levels, and the rudimentary graphics create an odd connection with your followers. It’s more like developer and programs than God and subjects.
Those looking to relive the original adventure in this real-time fantasy RPG are in for a treat. The enhanced edition—released in April of this year—comes with the original version from 1999.No matter which version you’ll play, you are the Nameless One. A name like that means life isn’t good, and the horrors of lives you can’t remember are coming back to haunt you. Worse, a floating skull named Morte is leading your adventure that will take you to the very depths of Hell.
The characters you can recruit in Planescape: Torment are highly non-traditional, including a crossbow-wielding cube and a haunted suit of armor. You’re free to change your class and alignment throughout the 50+ hour adventure, so you’re not stuck with one way of thinking as with most RPGs of this time.
Here’s a case where the enhanced edition of a game expertly accomplishes its goal; it reminds fans of why they loved the original while making the game accessible to modern gamers.Why? To start, the remastered graphics lovingly reflect the look of the original, serving mainly to make them look sharp on today’s much larger monitors. The enhanced edition also adds four new characters you can simply ignore if you want to remain faithful to the original, and it builds Shadows of Amn and Throne of Baal right into the package. There’s now a multiplayer option, too.
The reason Baldur’s Gate II is so fondly remembered is because of the excellent story and well-balanced combat. As you’d expect from a Forgotten Realms-based game, you can play through as the good guy, the bad guy, or someone in between. Your actions affect how NPCs and members of your own party see you and will open and close quests and other options.
Good RPGs create worlds you don’t just want to play through, but live in. And in that regard, Baldur’s Gate II is one of the most successful of all time.
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. And with the ease of digital distribution, don’t be surprised if we’re soon talking about more of our favorites.In the meantime, can someone remind me why the Mac versions of Fallout and Fallout 2 disappeared again?
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Best Mac Games Of The 90's Music
Please understand that I only mention games because I believe they’re interesting, good, and/or fun. Never because I received a free copy or to earn a small commission.