Any way to play old PC games from 2000s?

[mafia97]

Hi,

I wanted to relive my childhood by playing my favorite PC games from 2000 like SpiderMan, Need for Speed underground etc.

Any way I can still play them? I lost my copies while moving.

Regards,
mafia

 

[stinger608]

You would probably repurchase them through someone like Steam.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Highly recommend GOG for old games. They often include community made patches for stability/compatibility without having to mess around with it yourself. Games that need it also include DosBox baked in.

 

[stinger608]

Highly recommend GOG for old games.

Oh God yeah!!! Why I didn't think of that is beyond me. LOLOL

GOG.com

Download the best classic and new games on Windows, Mac & Linux. A vast selection of titles, DRM-free, with free goodies and 30-day money-back guarantee.

www.gog.com

 

[elghinnarisa]

Any place you can find them, GOG is a good place, sometimes they also have steam releases, or find another disk out in the wild.
As for getting them to actually run on modern machines, GOG generally have decent community information and sometimes patches.
PCGamingWiki also has a lot of good resources and information for older games, patches, fixes, settings, common faults and the like, eg. : https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Need_for_Speed:_Underground

 

[oobymach]

Yeah GOG copies of games sometimes include emulators like DOSbox but they all work on modern hardware. If you have the original copy of a game there are workarounds and such you may have to jump through to get the games working, most are just downloads now like from GOG but there are lots of old games that are abandonware and you can get them free from sites like below.

My Abandonware: because old video games were better

Database of 31930 abandonware games free. One of the most complete video games museum. Take a trip down Memory Lane now! Warning: whole weekends can be lost.

www.myabandonware.com

 

[plastiscɧ]

the guild part1 -- just stunning and addictive af - no idea how many time i've lost on this game..?! no regrets at all.

 

[mafia97]

Yeah GOG copies of games sometimes include emulators like DOSbox but they all work on modern hardware. If you have the original copy of a game there are workarounds and such you may have to jump through to get the games working, most are just downloads now like from GOG but there are lots of old games that are abandonware and you can get them free from sites like below.

My Abandonware: because old video games were better

Database of 31930 abandonware games free. One of the most complete video games museum. Take a trip down Memory Lane now! Warning: whole weekends can be lost.

www.myabandonware.com

Hi, Thank you so much, I was able to find the games I was looking for on this. Could not find the games on GOG or Steam. Thank you so much.

 

[Chomiq]

And switch to dark side if the game you're looking for is in copyright limbo or delisted.

 

[LabRat 891]

Gog.com usually has fixes integrated, and/or at least a serviceable DOSbox config included. Imagine my surprise when I realized SW: Rouge Squadron 3D not only worked in Windows 10 x64, it also now worked with a 360 controller.

For many titles, you may be able to find them, legitimately for free, as abandonware.
myabandonware.com (Recently grabbed MechWarrior 3 from here.)
abandonia.com
abandonwaredos.com
archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos (jump-off point. archive.org has TONS of old games.)
Edit, I also found:
classicdosgames.com

Many games may have still very alive communities and mods available. Here are a couple of my favorites:
Mechwarrior 4 Free Release (mektek.net)
Volition Software's Freespace and Freespace 2 (Hard-Light.net)

A surprisingly large number of old games will run on newer systems, just fine.
But, if you're looking for "the legit experience", I'd recommend tracking down parts to build something that still has hosted drivers for Win98 SE. There's a surprising amount of industrial PC and retail display PC motherboards available that fit that req. IIRC the GeForce 6200 and 6600s were both much better than pretty much the entire FX5000-series. Regardless of vendor or era chosen, do please avoid any GPUs w/ AGP<->PCIe bridge chips (they can be visually ID'd on most cards, where it is not clear, there's TPU's GPU Database). The bridge chips often add in problems, if only frame latency/pacing issues.

 

[silentbogo]

I think at this point the only way to do it is the "dark side"...
Spiderman was an Activision title(IP is currently owned by Disney/Marvel/Sony), and NFS is EA, neither of which really likes to publish on GOG. Hell, even newer titles were already sacked from Steam and other platforms, while the rest of the series is slowly dying.

Alternatively, check the local fleebay - I'm sure someone is selling their games collection for pennies somewhere as we speak. Got my complete Myst collection this way for a couple of $$$.
NFS should work out of the box for sure.

 

[LabRat 891]

I think at this point the only way to do it is the "dark side"...
Spiderman was an Activision title(IP is currently owned by Disney/Marvel/Sony), and NFS is EA, neither of which really likes to publish on GOG. Hell, even newer titles were already sacked from Steam and other platforms, while the rest of the series is slowly dying.

Alternatively, check the local fleebay - I'm sure someone is selling their games collection for pennies somewhere as we speak. Got my complete Myst collection this way for a couple of $$$.
NFS should work out of the box for sure.

Check archive.org. It's not "that" P word; it's Preservation.

Also, I'd like to add: How great it is that I share beloved childhood games with people from both India, and the Ukraine, just in this thread.

 

[Chomiq]

Speaking of gog, they just launched their sale.

 

[Bomby569]

One note, some of those old games don't play nice with new hardware. There's usually fixes you can research and GOG forum is really good for that.
One of the reasons i kept my old 2011 laptop, i couldn't play XIII (OG version) without major issues for example on my new desktop, played fine on the old machine.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Some games can be found as abandonware - like Freelancer. One of my favorite space sims of all time - still have the original game disc and box it all came in. But you can find it on (I think it's called) myabandonware.com. You may find other games from your past on there.

 

[Splinterdog]

Many older games on GOG have been made playable for newer systems, like the earlier Tomb Raider games for example. In addition you can use Glidos for many older games as well as TombAti (for TR games).
Vogons is also an excellent resource as is Play Old PC Games. Both give excellent advice but are not sources for actually downloading old games directly.

 

[mafia97]

Wish GOG had old NFS games, I would have bought them in an instant.

 

[Splinterdog]

Wish GOG had old NFS games, I would have bought them in an instant.

I wish publishers in general (EA?) would stop removing older games and putting them in limbo ad infinitum. Then they wonder why people pirate games they can no longer find, or a lone ranger uploads a game to his site because it can't be found anywhere else. NOLF for example.

 

[Bones]

I think at this point the only way to do it is the "dark side"...
Spiderman was an Activision title(IP is currently owned by Disney/Marvel/Sony), and NFS is EA, neither of which really likes to publish on GOG. Hell, even newer titles were already sacked from Steam and other platforms, while the rest of the series is slowly dying.

Alternatively, check the local fleabay - I'm sure someone is selling their games collection for pennies somewhere as we speak. Got my complete Myst collection this way for a couple of $$$.
NFS should work out of the box for sure.

Agreed!
I've found what I've got plenty of times plus special editions I didn't know about back in the day, scored a few of these dirt-cheap too!
Since it's the actual game disc it's exactly what was being played and can be done whenever you want without relying on an online service.
Just be sure if it requires a key, it's included.
On or offline, just fire it up and have fun, it plays the same regardless.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Agreed!
I've found what I've got plenty of times plus special editions I didn't know about back in the day, scored a few of these dirt-cheap too!
Since it's the actual game disc it's exactly what was being played and can be done whenever you want without relying on an online service.
Just be sure if it requires a key, it's included.
On or offline, just fire it up and have fun, it plays the same regardless.

You need to remember that even if a game comes with a key, it doesn't guarantee the game will work. Some games require verification from a server on the other end that the key is valid and if the servers are offline the game is still unplayable without some extra work. Some people may not be inclined to do the extra work or even bother looking into it.

An example that I know doesn't work because EA servers are offline to confirm key verification is the Lord of the Rings: Conquest game. The physical copy I have I can install, enter in the CD key, but the game won't actually run because there are no servers to connect to so the game can not verify the CD key. There is a workaround to get the game running, but it requires tracking down some .dll files and adding them to the correct folders so the game will run.

Just be forewarned that just because an older game comes with a CD key, doesn't 100% guarantee the game will still be playable. More likely than naught the game will run just fine, but clearly there are some you may encounter problems.

 

[Bones]

You need to remember that even if a game comes with a key, it doesn't guarantee the game will work. Some games require verification from a server on the other end that the key is valid and if the servers are offline the game is still unplayable without some extra work. Some people may not be inclined to do the extra work or even bother looking into it.

An example that I know doesn't work because EA servers are offline to confirm key verification is the Lord of the Rings: Conquest game. The physical copy I have I can install, enter in the CD key, but the game won't actually run because there are no servers to connect to so the game can not verify the CD key. There is a workaround to get the game running, but it requires tracking down some .dll files and adding them to the correct folders so the game will run.

Just be forewarned that just because an older game comes with a CD key, doesn't 100% guarantee the game will still be playable. More likely than naught the game will run just fine, but clearly there are some you may encounter problems.

Yep.
Most games from the early 2000's will work as stand-alone programs, I have several that do. Those from about 2003 and on have a good chance of being in need of online activation, key or not.

The box/description of the game should say on the back if you have to be online to actually play, activate it or whatever but if you don't know or can't find this info I'd have to say "Pass" for those reasons. Just be sure if you can see it to read and know what's expected of it.

In fact, I'd research the game you want before even shopping for it.

I'll throw in that for games that need activation online, if used (And you know it probrably has been by now) have most likely been activated before and there is no guarantee it will activate again for you. Software companies don't like repeated activations of software, expecting you instead to pay for another copy so you have that to think about too.