Before digital downloads, finding the best Mac games wasn’t always easy.
Classic Mac Games 90s
If you're planning on running the treasures of the past you'll find here on real old Macintosh hardware from the 90's, you sir/madame, deserve to win an Internet! For others, there's SheepShaver, a PowerPC emulator capable of running Mac OS 9.0.4 down to Mac OS 7.5.2 and there's Basilisk II, a 68k emulator, capable of running Mac OS (8.1 to 7.0).
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.
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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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.
I'll be honest: I have no idea what grade school is like for kids these days. I haven't set foot inside an elementary, middle, or high school classroom since 2003, so the thought of there being iPads in them across the country is a completely foreign concept to me. My idea of what education is like below the university level is limited to a very specific set of parameters: That is, a bunch of things '90s kids experienced at school. But hey, at least I'm probably not the only one in this metaphorical boat, right? ...Right?
In all seriousness, though, I thought school was pretty rad in the '90s. A lot of that is because I spent the decade in elementary and middle school, which both tend to look more like play than work a lot of the time (and as we all know, playtime during the '90s was the best). But even moving beyond that, it was a pretty exciting decade to be a kid: Technology was just starting to get incorporated into the curriculum; school supplies were actually fun; Pluto was still a full-fledged planet; and so on and so forth. Am I looking back at it all through the brightly colored lens of nostalgia? Of course — but there's a reason my memories are so positive, and it's because I really dug school.
I'm willing to bet that most people who were in grade school during the '90s remember a lot of these quintessential experiences. And of course feel free to add your own!
1. The Wonders of Computer Lab Day
Nowadays, those tiny, clunky machines with screens that produced images only in various shades of green are laughably old fashioned — but in the early '90s? They were magical. Computer lab day meant spending actual school time playing video games.Bumble Games, Logo, good ol' Oregon Trail… ah, memories!
2. And Also of Library Day
Library day was the best. Heck, library day is still the best, even though I am definitely not a child at school in the '90s anymore.
3. The Joy of Seeing This Thing In Your Classroom
Because it meant movies.Educational movies, usually, but movies nonetheless.
4. The Myth. The Legend.
Did it actually work? Nobody knew. But the possibility that it might work was enough.
5. Learning Math with These Things
These! I don't know about you, but I had totally forgotten about them until I saw this picture. I don't think I ever knew their name when I was actually in school, but apparently they're called Base 10 Blocks. You can still get them today, too. Some things never change.
6. Parachute Day in Gym Class
I'm still not entirely sure how making a tent out of a parachute and sitting under it for 20 minutes was supposed to qualify as exercise, but maybe some things are better left unanswered.
7. Pizza Day!
When I was in elementary and middle school, pizza day was always Friday. So what if we were essentially eating the same frozen Ellio's pizza we could get at the grocery store? Pizza is pizza.
8. The Excitement When Your Scholastic Book Club Books Arrived
Did I mention that I like reading?
9. Painting Your Nails with White-Out
In retrospect, this was probably an extremely stupid thing to do.
10. Struggling to Stay Awake When the Overhead Projector Was in Use
Turning the lights out was a surefire way to put any kid to sleep, no matter how interesting or useful the lesson.
11. Field Trips to the Science Museum
Not quite the Magic School Bus, but the next best thing.
12. About Pluto…
Remember when it was one of the nine planets orbiting the sun in our Solar System? Me too. Now it's been downgraded to a dwarf planet, forever changing the landscape of the very first astronomy lesson most of us ever learned.
13. Two Words: Blue Books.
Although to be fair, most non-'90s kids remember these suckers, too. These days, there's an environmentally-friendly alternative called the Little Green Book made with recycled paper.
14. Topping All Your Pencils With Pencil Trolls…
Because pencil trolls were everything.
15. ...And Then The Horror Of Realizing You Needed To Erase Something
The struggle was definitely real, although to be fair, we had only ourselves to blame. Never underestimate the value of a pencil eraser that actually works — even if you'd rather have a troll up there instead.
16. But That's Why You Had One Of These In Your Pencil Box
Just in case.
17. That Pencil Box, By the Way, Looked Something Like This
90s Mac Games
Mine was blue and covered with dinosaurs. I also pretended it was a Transformer from time to time, but maybe that was just me.
18. Or This
Perhaps slightly less flashy than the aforementioned Transformer box, but ubiquitous and terribly useful.
Speaking of pencils...
19. Trying to Sharpen Your Pencil Quietly During the Middle of a Test
90s Mac Games School Online
And failing, because these things made so much noise.
20. Rubber Cement Contact High
90s Mac Games School Theme
There's a reason this stuff got phased out in favor of non-toxic “school glue.”
90s Mac Games Schools
21. Having Fun
I realize that I was extremely lucky in that I grew up in an area with an excellent public school system — something which I can credit with the fact that I really loved school. It was fun, and I thought it was fun all the way up through graduate school. I still dig learning new things now, too — so let's hear it for all the teachers who made school worthwhile for us, both in the '90s and throughout history. Hip, hip, hooray!
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