[ # ] Play Old DOS Games on Any OS with DOSBox

/* Posted April 2nd, 2008 at 8:30am */
/* Filed under Apps, Video Games */

Leisure Suite Larry Screen

In the same nostalgic spirit that EA is offering Command & Conquer for free download to celebrate twelve years since its release, we’re covering a wonderful application that will let you take the nostalgia even further… in the form of old DOS games. If you’re asking, What’s DOS? my answer is exactly, it’s that old. If your first experience with a PC was with Windows 95 or after, then you’ll have no clue what I’m talking about. We old-schoolers used to have to boot Windows from the DOS prompt (heck, we old-schoolers didn’t even have Windows) and we weren’t complaining. You know why? Because of all the awesome games out there on DOS. I’m talking about Monkey Island, Wolfenstein, Dune 2, King’s Quest, and Leisure Suit Larry.

With our computers so blazingly fast today, attempting to run these games on the pathetic “DOS” prompt would make the games unplayable… not to mention all the fun you’d have trying to get your sound card and video display to play nice with the game. DOSBox takes care of all that for you (yes that sinister man on the banner of their website is the Harkonnen mentat from Dune 2, told you that game rocks). It emulates the old DOS environment on today’s modern PCs so your old DOS games feel right at home. Did I say PC? I also meant Linux boxes and Macs too. It’s an open source project, and it’s a free download away from a trip down memory lane.

Well what are you waiting for? Oh yeah… the games. I mean, who still keeps his Willy Beamish disks around right? (I still got ‘em). Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. There’s a huge underground abandonware scene where you scan score copies of old DOS games for free to run on DOSBox if you know where to look. A few sites to check out are underground-gamer, C-DOS, AbandonGames, abandonia, and DOS Games Archive. Told you we had you covered right?

Some screens to get you excited (again).

Monkey Island Screen
The Curse of Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge