Favorite Freeware

[Jorpho]

I HATE I can't run my paid for copy of Civ 1 for Windows in 64bit OS's and because freeciv exists it will never happen as there's no motivation to bypass it like some other hot games have had done for them by smart coders.

Now I'm curious as to what "hot games" you may be thinking of in this instance.

That said, some games that always were free which I like:

DOS: Arcade Volleyball, 3-D World, Castle Adventure, Star Goose, Bananoid, SIEGE!, Mario!!, Bombs and Bugs, Pong Kombat (for the amusement factor more so than gameplay), EGA Trek (I think it's freeware?)

While EGA Trek is thoroughly awesome and highly recommended, I'm pretty sure it was originally shareware. Super Angelo was also shareware; I think the Mario!! you are referring to was a leaked, incomplete version.

[Tanooki]

Well Sim City Classic, (up until I found this odd patch with sheer luck a month ago or so) Sim City 2000 for WIndows. Under 8.1/10 64bit Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga, my Star Wars x-Wing collectors box (why both are up for sale), Civilization for Windows (win7 64bit and up), Williams Pinball Classics (encore software release for win 32 only too) and various others. I know if someone wanted to steal win 3.11 the early SC and Civ games would work, but I'm just not doing that.

As far as the hot games goes, I was thinking popular franchises. Pre windows 8.1, Win7 even 64bit I had found this german guy had made these brand new installers for Lucasarts games for X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Indy Infernal Machine which I had been using but they don't like win 8.x or 10. And of course the Sim City 2000 fix I found recently to make that one work too. The old Duke Nukem 3D and Wolfenstein 3D have 32/64bit windows patches (steam/gog I know have them but I mean side projects) so they work. DOOM along with its .WAD file buddies (Heretic etc) have multiple offshoot projects to run the old games. The point was that very popular older 90s games that don't work anymore have been made to work by talented people, but so many, like the old Civ (and same engine Colonization) for Windows have not. Sim City hasn't either, but since that OLPC system got the freeware (sans name now as) Micropolis that's taken care of too.

[celerystalker]

I don't know if it still is, but the original PC version of Cave Story for me. One of the very few PC games I love, as PC gaming wasn't part of my upbringing much. I have an old Windows 2000 tower I keep just to play it, even though I'm sure there are a billion betterways.

Also, I had some fun for a bit with Yume Nikki. Such an odd tone to that game.

[Tanooki]

Cave Story is still out there for free under it's Japanese name, just the guys website moved is all.

Here's an easy short cut: http://studiopixel.sakura.ne.jp/archives/index.html (Just click on the cave story guy icon right next to 2004.) His other stuff like Ikachan which hit the 3DS eshop is there too.

And the translations patch -- http://agtp.romhack.net/project.php?id=cavestory

It works in windows 8.1 64bit as I just snapped it up again yesterday (nice timing eh?) I went and erased (perm-hid) any Steam games I already had or could have (like cave story) as a download elsewhere from random spots, GoG, etc back backed them up.


Never heard of Yume Nikki, looks interesting, but isn't it just in Japanese?

[celerystalker]

Never heard of Yume Nikki, looks interesting, but isn't it just in Japanese?

There is an english patch, but there isn't much dialogue. Another one I almost forgot... Space Funeral. That game is surreal, and the music really got stuck in my head.

[Nz17]

Can anyone recommend any new freeware games (2005 or newer)? Most of this thread has focused on games which are pretty old, and that's cool. There is a lot of good old stuff out there, but... has the concept of true freeware died in contemporary times?

Williams Pinball Classics (encore software release for win 32 only too)

Wait, are you saying this is retail-turned-freeware? If so, can you point me to an announcement page or a download page please?

[A Black Falcon]

Can anyone recommend any new freeware games (2005 or newer)? Most of this thread has focused on games which are pretty old, and that's cool. There is a lot of good old stuff out there, but... has the concept of true freeware died in contemporary times?

Making old games free that used to be paid titles is something that the popularity of Steam, GOG, etc. has mostly killed off. There is the occasional entirely-free game released, though -- I mention some in my list. Most of those freeware Windows games I mention are from the '00s.

Now I'm curious as to what "hot games" you may be thinking of in this instance.

While EGA Trek is thoroughly awesome and highly recommended, I'm pretty sure it was originally shareware.

Was EGA Trek originally shareware? It's certainly free now, and I've never seen it with a 'please register' screen or something, but maybe? Do you know for sure?

Super Angelo was also shareware; I think the Mario!! you are referring to was a leaked, incomplete version.

Huh, I don't know if I've ever played that version, just Mario!!, which was freely distributed. It does look pretty much the same as that game though, so that sounds plausible.

Mario!! looks nice, but the keyboard-only controls and PC Speaker-only sound hold it back... I mostly listed it because it was amusing to have a Mario Allstars-graphics game on the PC back in the '90s.

[Jorpho]

Was EGA Trek originally shareware? It's certainly free now, and I've never seen it with a 'please register' screen or something, but maybe? Do you know for sure?

It's easy enough to find. Looks like you can technically still register it if you want to.
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/EGA_Trek.html
http://www.flightsim.com/arcanum/arcanum.htm

[A Black Falcon]

It's easy enough to find. Looks like you can technically still register it if you want to.
http://www.classicdosgames.com/game/EGA_Trek.html
http://www.flightsim.com/arcanum/arcanum.htm

I did find that latter page, but it doesn't mention a price and the 'buy' page doesn't work. I hadn't seen that first one though, and yeah, it was originally shareware. Interesting. It's one of those full-shareware games though, where you get the whole game free and then can pay if you want, so the difference isn't large...

[Jorpho]

It's one of those full-shareware games though, where you get the whole game free and then can pay if you want, so the difference isn't large...

Indeed. Shockingly generous of the developer.

There is another very similar game called Visual Star Trek, but no one seems to know where it came from and everyone seems to quietly assume it's freeware.

[Jorpho]

Well Sim City Classic, (up until I found this odd patch with sheer luck a month ago or so) Sim City 2000 for WIndows. Under 8.1/10 64bit Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga, my Star Wars x-Wing collectors box (why both are up for sale), Civilization for Windows (win7 64bit and up), Williams Pinball Classics (encore software release for win 32 only too) and various others. I know if someone wanted to steal win 3.11 the early SC and Civ games would work, but I'm just not doing that.

As far as the hot games goes, I was thinking popular franchises. Pre windows 8.1, Win7 even 64bit I had found this german guy had made these brand new installers for Lucasarts games for X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Indy Infernal Machine which I had been using but they don't like win 8.x or 10. And of course the Sim City 2000 fix I found recently to make that one work too. The old Duke Nukem 3D and Wolfenstein 3D have 32/64bit windows patches (steam/gog I know have them but I mean side projects) so they work. DOOM along with its .WAD file buddies (Heretic etc) have multiple offshoot projects to run the old games. The point was that very popular older 90s games that don't work anymore have been made to work by talented people, but so many, like the old Civ (and same engine Colonization) for Windows have not. Sim City hasn't either, but since that OLPC system got the freeware (sans name now as) Micropolis that's taken care of too.

It's kind of hard to follow your post, but for most of those it's not so much a matter of "smart coders" as it is that the original source code was released. And the SimCity 2000 "fix" you found is almost certainly some sort of rip from the official 32-bit Windows version.

But I guess we're getting off-topic now.

Can anyone recommend any new freeware games (2005 or newer)? Most of this thread has focused on games which are pretty old, and that's cool. There is a lot of good old stuff out there, but... has the concept of true freeware died in contemporary times?

I hear Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy is fairly enjoyable – it sounds like Psychonauts crossed with some much less whimsical FPS game – though technically that's 2004.