Feature

Saving the dinosaur

Older classic games aren't dead. They just smell funny.

Editorial panel: Rich Carlson
Article published on 25 April 2000.

Well, first off, you can't save the dinosaur. They're already long gone. If conditions were right some of their luckier bones became fossilized for our plucky perusal. Still, it is difficult to imagine the reconstruction of a living dinosaur from mere stony bits, Jurassic Park notwithstanding. That's the problem with organics.

Saving the older computer adventure games, or resurrecting them from their dusty closet crypts, is not nearly as difficult. It's only data after all. However, as with our friends the dinos, much has been lost.

Oh, I guess I'll live... but like you perhaps, I worry that many of these amazing adventure games will be lost in time and forgotten. This is a shame, particularly when good literature is involved.

Given that the bulk of the adventure game releases were, shall we say, less than great anyway, what has survived? Which adventure games have managed to make the lengthy and sometimes terrifying transition? What humble games will actually still run on your fancy hotrod PC without calling up the blue screen of death?

Java conversions

One way to play classic text adventures is via a Java client at a website. Auto loading Java program runs automatically in your browser if your browser is Java compatible, which most are. Some of the best text adventure games ever created, including Zork, Adventure, and the Scott Adams adventures, can be played instantly on the internet. Even Douglas Adams offers his classic computer game version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on his own website with the power of Java.

Emulators & Abandonware

Although most (yes, I said most) games are available as either abandonware or as emulator ROMs, I cannot recommend their use for a number of troubling reasons.

First and foremost, abandonware is clearly illegal. The term abandonware is meant to describe a game, or any software, that is no longer in distribution, simply. Some folks think that is reason enough to be able to distribute said software freely. What is wrong with this picture? Unless you have tracked down the owner(s) of the software you are about to distribute and been given some kind of permission, you are about to break the law. Now who the heck do you think you are? Al Capone? I thought not.

Secondly, the legalities of emulators and ROMs are still blurry issues. Hasbro Interactive recently bought up the rights to all of the old Atari games. So, if you are using an Atari emulator or playing an Atari game via a ROM, does that mean the Sony lawyer-assassins are going to bust your door down? Okay, it probably won't come to that. I tend to exaggerate for effect, but it is a good bet that Atari emulator sites and possibly some of its users will be hassled. Is it worth it?

Emulators appear in every color and flavor, allowing one to play games from other, usually older or outmoded, platforms. Apple, Commodore 64, Atari, Amiga and even PlayStation emulators, as well as many others, offer a game hobbyist literally hundreds of games to play almost instantly, so how can one possibly say no?

The argument: If you own the game and have the game disk(s) and manual, a game ROM is merely a current back-up.

The problem: Accounting for the folks who never owned that particular game is impossible, and it's a booboo if the game's copyright is still in effect.

Don't you feel guilty if you install a computer game you never bought, see an mpeg movie you never paid for, or download a mp3 of bootlegged music for free? If your answer is yes, then don't mess with emulators. Using them will only make you feel worse. If your answer is no, then download to your heart's content, knock yourself out, but don't come to me begging for manuals!

There are other issues, particularly dealing with keyboard or joystick compatibility, game speed and sound support, which can also render the emulated game experience a less than desirable one.

The dusty old game shelf

Surprisingly, one of the best sources of cool old classics can be your own dusty game box or shelf or wherever you put that stuff. Clean off those floppies. Check the condition of those older CDs. Take what looks good over to your box and start loading, trying each game out in turn.

Here's what will happen. Many of the games will not run without some fairly serious Windows or DOS tweaking. Flummoxed? Don't be. It's not worth it.

Forget about the dud games. Concentrate on the ones that do run. Pretty soon you should have, if your collection is anything like mine, half of a dozen to a dozen very cool adventure games working again. Immediately, and this is an important step, separate the few cool games that work from the ones that do not. Put the flunky games away. You won't be seeing them again for a long time.

Which older adventure games run in Win98?

Unfortunately, that is an impossible question to answer with all of the different PC hardware configurations out there. Still, many adventure games have little or no graphic or sound components and should run lean and mean on newer machines. Transitional titles appeared later which added or improved upon these features can be more troublesome.

Try to run older classics from your hard drive. Avoid older CD installs. I favor floppy installations because the clean full install may "force" rather standard Sound Blaster settings, which usually and simply work!

Of course, converted or ported titles distributed as freeware will usually run fine.

Freeware

Freeware? What's all this about freeware?

Some individuals and companies have generously made some of their earlier games available to a new audience by releasing them on the internet as freeware, even taking the time to port them to the PC if necessary. This is one of the best ways to enjoy a retro classic, especially if one missed it the first time around.

Infocom, Interplay Productions, Legend Entertainment, and many other game companies have released many of their older titles as freeware, either on the internet or on magazine CDs. In fact, game magazine CDs often contain complete games besides the usual heap of demos and shareware. At any given time you might find Zork, Gateway, or any number of classic adventure games tucked away there.

Conclusions

Saving the dinosaur... It occurs to me that this title is not entirely apt, as the word "dinosaur" can also be used to describe something that has become obsolete. Why would you save something obsolete?

The evolving discipline or medium we may loosely term as "game design" has historically been remarkably resilient. Modern computer versions of chess are immaculate renditions of the game of kings. When H. G. Wells dreamed up Little Wars, the rules set for his Victorian era miniatures war game, he no doubt would have appreciated that modern Real-Time Strategy (RTS) computer games would present battles largely from the same point of view and scale. A rose by any other name...

Although a master chess player might spar with Deep Blue for publicity, he would never compete against a human player on a computer chess board. Which is better? Paper and pencil Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D)? Computer Role-Playing Games (RPG)? They all serve their purpose, each feels different and all are equally satisfying, generally speaking.

So it is with all computer games. Text oriented adventure games may stand the test of time better than their graphic counterparts due to the "old cartoon syndrome." It is difficult to watch cartoons made in the 1920s unless one is an aficionado. Yet the classic short stories and novels of that day are still being read, circa 2000. The latest of Gabriel Knight may look excruciatingly dated in twenty years, even while folks are still playing the earliest of Zork on their wristcoms and contact lens displays!

Saving, or more aptly, archiving older classic computer games is not impossible at all, it is just an annual chore, like spring cleaning or doing your income tax; but it is a lot more fun. My "favorite games" collection is diverse, with selections from every category and period of computer games. I also prefer it if these games are on my drive and playable, so I can back up my spurious claims of "classic" if gamer friends drop by.

It is refreshing and fun to be able to play classic adventure games as an alternative to desktop quickies like Windows' Solitaire. Not that I indulge in such dalliance at work mind you, ahem, but when I do have a spare moment, what better way to spend time than playing an adventure game?

P. Jong: Like great works of art and literature, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The appeal of adventure games of past and present lies not only within their binary codes but without the context and era when these games are first published. All in all, the "old cartoon syndrome" cited by Carlson is the sense of nostalgia that is symbolic of the golden era of adventure games.