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Must Have Old School Android Games

Tumblrers who have written about this subject in the past have often limited their idea “retro gaming” to mainstream games. (Yes, you’re guilty of this too, Tumbler Hipsters! Like we don’t know about Oregon Trail for the Apple II computers enough!)

Today, I’m taking about games that really have fallen off the grid that anyone who has used a computer between 1987 and 2000 remembers. So put your NESes and Segas away finally and look up these games.

Doom and Quake

I want to give kudos to Jack Nui for porting not just Doom to Android, but Quake as well. Doom being the fun action game where you slay zombies and aliens. And Quake being Doom’s multiplayer brother where you and your friends can frag each other over the Internet, and thanks to Nui, now WiFi.

Now the next generation of helicopter mothers can fret for their children being exposed to violent videogames. (LOL, Just Kidding.) I’m sure anyone old enough to remember when these games came out, the massive freak out made by the Witches’ Council of Concerned Mothers who spazzed out over these games. In order to prevent this from happening again: 1. Don’t tell your mom. 2. Don’t make a level map that looks like your high school. (Last thing anyone needs is another spazz out like in 1999 when the Mainstream Media found out Eric Harris like to make Doom level maps that looked like his high school in his spare time.)

Quake’s music and sound designer was of course Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor. If you don’t believe that, the game designers skinned some of the item boxes in the game to have the band’s iconic NIИ logo.

Today, Doom has been ported to just about every computer system possible, and was even ported to Flash.

I haven’t got a chance to play Quake a whole lot yet. Partly because AT&T (sadly my ISP) won’t let me use the WiFi on my Verizon-powered Motorola Droid over their crappy 2wire modem. So if anyone knows how to tell AT&T to knock there crap off so I can play with my friends online WIRELESSLY on my smartphone, I’m open to your replies.

Assuming you know where to find them and how to install them, you can get these games for free for your PC. Steam has had Quake available since 2007.

Rodent’s Vengeance

The first home computer I ever had in my house came with the Microsoft Windows Entertainment Pack (WEP) for Windows 3.11. One of the games that I remember fondly is Roden’t Revenge, where you play a mouse and must box in all the cats trying to eat you. Created by Christopher Lee Fraley in 1991, this game has been reborn—or cloned in this case—by Mike Reynolds as Rodent’s Vengeance, first as a Java applet, then as an Android App. I don’t know why people are complaining about the paid version. I guess they don’t like to move diagonally like the pussy cats that are trying to eat them.

Living Neko

Speaking of cats, System 7 Mac Users may remember this adorable creature.

Neko was originally a DeskApp for MacOS 7 (maybe older) created in 1989 by Kenji Gotoh. This kitty would be used in several other games. Many of which have disappeared from the Internet over the years. For a few years now, Neko has returned as sort of a webtoy using JavaScript. Living Neko is the Android App version of Neko and you can play with more than just one cat or even just cats for that matter.

On a related note, check out the NyanCat Game for Android.

SkiFree

Another veteran of the 1991 WEP was SkiFree! The downhill skiing game (Free for download for PC, and plays well on Linux with Wine) is now an Android App clone.

If you’ve forgotten all about this, perhaps this bastard will jog your memory.

Not enough? OK, how about all those times he did this to you?

Solitaire

Since I’ve found quite a few old Windows and Mac Games, why not wrap it up with the original time waster. I’m talking of Solitaire. Ken Magic’s Solitaire is a good procrastination tool. No ads. You can play four styles of Solitaire, and it’s gentile on the battery. I’m still looking for a Video Poker game that is this “no frills” as this game. I haven’t found it yet.

The Wish List

In closing, here’s few old games I would like to see be ported to Android, and I’m sure you would too.

• Oni - Originally a Mac Game, it became a PC and PS2 game. The game combined both FPS and hand-to-hand combat. However, the folks a Rockstar Games and Bungie (the guys who make Halo, cut out a lot of features including multiplayer.) Over the years, Oni’s fanbase continued to grow to the point that fans took it upon themselves to create an Anniversary Edition in 2007 and fix the Windows version where the game wouldn’t play on Windows XP. (It played on Windows ME, but that operating system was a joke!) Fans are trying to wrestle Oni out of Bungie’s hands especially after Bungie had put it into cold storage when Microsoft bought the developer.
• Kitten Shaver 2 - This cruel but humorous game made for Mac in 1997 is not a slight against cats. You won’t be doing anything awful, but the inside joke is that you do get to shave the cats in the game (though not in detail). Basically, you use your cursor to chase down a few Nekos, some of which have several layers of fur. Sadly, this game has fallen off the Internet and really needs revamping.
• Bill The Demon - Created for Mac in 1996, this game was ported to Flash in 2005 and posted on Newgrounds. A side scrolling puzzle action game, you eat souls and make terrible noises as Bill the Demon.
• Harry the Handsome Executive - Created for Mac in 1997, if memory serves me correctly. Think Indiana Jones meets Dilbert.
• Jared Butcher of Song (Because you know you want to hear this on your non-iPhone smartphone.)

I’m sure there are others online that could be brought back to life for a next generation of gamers to enjoy or to make the older generations of gamers happy. Enjoy!