Play Legacy Video Games on Modern Macs

Before the days of computers and modern technology, media obsolescence didn't really exist. A book written three hundred years ago can still be read today, provided one knows the language. But a computer program written twenty years ago is often unusable today. Because of the fast pace of technology, computer hardware rapidly gets faster and better--but that also means that logic board architecture from five years ago might not be supported by new computers down the line. Similarly, a new version of an operating system might capitalize on new technologies while forgoing support for old technology or system specifications from years earlier. The reason for this gap in support is usually financial; coding to support an ever-increasing batch of older functions can be costly and bloat the program. Another more insidious function of hardware and software makers is planned obsolescence; by dropping support faster they force consumers to buy new products or upgrade faster, or be left behind.

As bad as the software industry is about supporting old products, video games in particular are the worst offenders. Console makers have it easy because they are designing for at most a half-dozen platforms, each with set system specifications that do not change for years until the next hardware generation. Additionally, support for previous generations is often left in the hands of the hardware maker--for example, the Xbox 360 can play some but not all original Xbox games, while the PlayStation 3 had but eventually dropped support for older PlayStation games (1).

Computer games, meanwhile, feature dramatically quicker hardware and software updates, making so-called "legacy" game support more problematic. If we gamers are lucky, the original developer will provide updates so that the game can run on the newest operating systems or the latest hardware, but sometimes they don't or can't--game companies are often notoriously short-lived, and a game from just three or four years ago might not be supported anymore if the developer or publisher goes bust. So what do you do if you want to play old games--including console games--on your modern Mac? Here are some approaches.

Know The Enemy
Find out what hardware or software advances on your system could break compatibility. For modern Macs, there are two major changes: the OS 9 to OS X switch broke every application written for the older version. To ease the transition, old copies of OS X shipped with "Classic Mode", which allowed you to run OS 9 within OS X (2), or you could simply install both operating systems and switch between them. However Apple cut support of Classic with the release of 10.5 "Leopard" in 2007, compounded by the switch from IBM's PowerPC to Intel processors. Classic is unsupported by Intel hardware, and in order to get many older PowerPC applications to work in the new Intel world, "universal binaries" were required. Now, with the release of OS 10.7 "Lion", that support may be disappearing as well (3). If you have even older Mac applications, there might be other issues, such as the fact that some very old games only support limited color palettes (16 or 256 colors) that modern Macs can't handle. Similar compatibility problems exist for PC users switching from Windows XP to Windows 7.

The Search For Support
If you're lucky, the old developers will have updated the game themselves. Web sites such as MacRumors publish compatibility lists for Rosetta, and many developers have released updates that bring their programs into the modern processor age. In many cases, the games aren't 100% bug-free with these updates, but the vast majority are playable. In some cases, fans or third parties might release their own updates. For example, Riven X updates the classic puzzle-adventure game to run on modern OS X computers (4); players install the game from the original discs and then Riven X does the rest.

Emulations or Conversions
If there's no support to be found, then you have a few options. Some intrepid gamers have taken it upon themselves to create fully compatible versions of old games--The Aleph One project, for example, has OS X and Intel-compatible versions of classic Bungie shooter games in the Marathon series (5). This is more common for so-called "abandonware"--games that are unsupported and none of the rights holders are particularly interested in doing anything with them.

Another solution is emulating the hardware device the game was played on. It should be noted that video game emulators require a machine much more powerful than the original device to replicate the hardware. For OS X, one can download SixtyForce to play old Nintendo 64 games, KiGB for Game Boy games or BoyCott Advance for Game Boy Advance Games. These programs are easy to download and install, and to run a game all you need to do is point it at a ROM (read-only memory) file--note that often the ROMs you find online are technically illegal, and often emulators perpetuate copyright infringement.

ROM-based game consoles are easy to emulate, but emulating disc-based consoles like the PlayStation can be more difficult. For old computer games, meanwhile, you need to emulate an entire operating system--this is not for the faint of heart. The two easiest (term used loosely) ways to do it are the programs SheepSaver, which emulates computers from MacOS 7.5 to 9.0.4, and Basilisk II, which emulates either a Mac Classic or Mac II (Systems from 0.x to MacOS 8.1). You can learn more about these tools at MacWorld (6).

The Last Resort
The easiest way to make sure your old game will be compatible? Actually run it on a compatible machine! A MacOS 8 iMac G3 will run you under $100 these days, although some models are collectibles and thus will put you back a bit more (such as the original Macintosh). Searching Craigslist, eBay or Macofalltrades are good places to start. How much effort and cost is worth it depends on how much you want to keep your old games--and old memories--alive. Good luck!

References
* (1) See Wikipedia's "List of Xbox games compatible with Xbox 360" for an example.
* (2) Staff (March 28, 2001). "OS X a Temptation from Apple, But Resist It For Now". USA Today. Retrieved July 12, 2011.
* (3) Topher Kessler (June 25, 2011). "Testing for Rosetta Use In OS X". CNET. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
* (4) "RivenX page ". Devklog.net. Retrieved July 10, 2011.
* (5) "Aleph One: Marathon Open Source". Sourceforge. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
* (6) "How To Run Classic (Pre OS X) Apps on Intel Macs ". Macworld. Retrieved July 13, 2011.