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Remakes And Remasters Of Old DOS Games | 2024-04-08T20:10:00+02:00 |
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I've been known to (re)play old games---sometimes in new engines, sometimes on original hardware. The latest games to fit that bill are Duke Nukem 1 + 2 as part of the Duke Nukem Evercade Collection 1 where an amazing feat was pulled off by completely rewriting the engine to support smooth scrolling on the Evercade widescreen handheld. If you press SELECT
, you can switch between classic and modern modes, neatly highlighting the improvements. Here's a video I recorded for the review I wrote showcasing the effect:
{{< video "/vid/dn1-collection.mp4" >}}
The original source code has been lost for decades, but the initial DOS release never played smooth anyway: early PCs were never known to handle 2D sprite-based games as well as Nintendo's (S)NES family.
Hopefully Blaze Entertainment wants to keep on pursuing the direction of Apogee game remakes. I know I'll buy them in a heartbeat. But what games from my youth are already remade/remastered? I decided to compile a non-exhaustive list for my fellow 80486 comrades; in case they would be willing to play any of these without that yellowed mechanical keyboard and DOS prompt. For me, the joy of using the original hardware is part of the gameplay fun, but sometimes, I just want to waste a bit of time from my couch using whatever handheld device lies nearest. Besides, these remakes introduce a whole new audience to the great olds of yore.
Let me know if I missed big ones. Wikipedia houses a game engine re-creations and a remakes and remastered listing, and I found this awesome game remakes list on GitHub, but I'm only interested in DOS games and preferably proper remakes instead of source ports (emphasized in bold).
Adventure games
- Monkey Island 1 & 2: Special Editions1 on GOG/Steam.
- Day of the Tentacle: Remastered edition on GOG/Steam.
- Alone in the Dark: Reimagining on Steam, Free In the Dark source port on GitHub.
- Another World: HD 20th Anniversary Edition on Steam
- Leisure Suit Larry: Reloaded is a complete remake of the first episode.
- Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Ed. on GOG
- Simon the Sorcerer: 25th Anniversary Edition versions with some interesting additions
- System Shock: Nightdive's 2023 masterful remake was a critically acclaimed hit
Shooters
- Blake Stone: Unofficial source port on GitHub (Win binary released)
- DOOM: What device doesn't run a recent DOOM engine port?
- Duke Nukem 3D: it's even ported to the Nintendo Switch lately.
- Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition on GOG/Steam/Consoles.
- Quake: KEX Engine remaster on any platform.
- Star Wars: Dark Forces: Another Nightdive super-conversion
- Blood: Fresh Supply, yet another KEX win.
- Shadow Warrior: The Classic Redux version doesn't need an explanation
Platformers
- Duke Nukem 1 & 2: Remastered Evercade cart, see above
- Crystal Caves: HD Edition with level editor on GOG/Steam
- Secret Agent: HD Edition with level editor on GOG/Steam
- Monster Bash: HD Edition on GOG/Steam
- Jazz Jackrabbit: OpenJazz source port with increased resolution on GitHub
- Commander Keen games: Commander Genius source port on GitLab
- Cosmo's Comic Adventures: announced & on the way
- Lode Runner: Mad Monk's Revenge/The Legend Returns, a remake of the original
Strategy
- Command & Conquer/Red Alert series: Remastered Collection on steam and OpenRA Engine available as well
- Dungeon Keeper: KeeperFX open source remake
- The Settlers II: 10th Anniversary remake on GOG
Role-playing
- The Bard's Tale I/II/III: The Bard's Tale Trilogy remake on GOG
- Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny 2013 Remake of the 1992 original
- Wasteland: There's a Remastered version that received mixed reviews
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Interesting related read by Rock Paper Shotgun: When is it OK to remake a classic game? ↩︎