Retro gaming question

[sith-smith]

Hi

Is there an easy way to play old games on a modern PC - wanted to try some classic games from the the 80's/90's.

Is there also a way to play a game for which I have the disc, but it won't install or will install but won't play?

I appreciate this may be basic/obvious stuff, but the key is the word 'easy' as I don't have the best PC skills.

In fact, I don't have any PC skills as such

 

[Mini99]

@lejackal ?

 

[edd_jedi]

If you happen to have a Mac, there is an incredibly easy multi-emulator called OpenEmu where you can just drag and drop ROMs for any system, it's the most simple one I've ever come across.

On PC most people use RetroArch, which can also play most systems, however it's not very intuitive and takes a bit of configuring and learning, it's not drag and drop like the Mac one mentioned above. There are loads of tutorials on it though.

The best place to get full sets of game ROMs is archive.org

 

[edd_jedi]

Oh and for playing old PC CD-ROM games, you will want DosBox.

 

[lejackal]

@lejackal ?

What Edd said, he's my go to for this stuff

 

[sith-smith]

Thanks.

So, assuming someone is completely new to this, and doesn't have a clue about where to start, where to go, what to do etc., what should be their first step

Asking for a friend

 

[Pomse2001]

Hi

Is there an easy way to play old games on a modern PC - wanted to try some classic games from the the 80's/90's.

Is there also a way to play a game for which I have the disc, but it won't install or will install but won't play?

I appreciate this may be basic/obvious stuff, but the key is the word 'easy' as I don't have the best PC skills.

In fact, I don't have any PC skills as such

I think I once saw some of the older games can be download for free today on the internet so you can play them on your new pc. What game are we talking about ?

 

[edd_jedi]

This looks like a good demo of Retroarch:

And here's a page that lists ROMs https://r-roms.github.io/megathread/retro/

 

[sith-smith]

Thanks. I'll give it a go and see how I get on.

I imagine I'll be asking more questions shortly

 

[sith-smith]

ok, so far I've managed to download retroarch. Not entirely sure what to do now.

@edd_jedi

 

[sith-smith]

Anyone?

 

[lejackal]

Anyone?

Open the software, go to online updater in settings and then core updater. This gives a list of emulators. Select the system you want to add and then download Roms for that system from the link Edd shared above.

 

[edd_jedi]

Sorry I don't use RetroArch on PC

 

[sith-smith]

Open the software, go to online updater in settings and then core updater. This gives a list of emulators. Select the system you want to add and then download Roms for that system from the link Edd shared above.

Thanks but going to be honest, I think this is all way beyond my PC skills.

 

[edd_jedi]

RetroArch isn't very user friendly to be honest, I have it on my Android TV and it's not straighforward to setup. If you have access to a Mac I highly recommend OpenEmu which is really straightforward, otherwise you can buy "pre-loaded" emulation boxes quite cheap

 

[sith-smith]

I think in my mind, all the pieces are there, floating around...it's just bringing them together.

I've read up on it and watched some online tutorials. Have gotten to the point where I have now managed to get an old PS1 game to run.

Next issue is configuring a joy pad. Ideally I'd use mouse and keyboard, but that seems more hassle than it's worth.

Next step is trying to get DosBox to work as well!

 

[sith-smith]

Finally, having eventually figured it all out, downloaded what i needed to and configured a new joypad, I have now played my first retro game!

 

[Carl Waterworth]

Gary! I still have a commodore 64 and Amiga will a big bag full of original games in the loft.

The 64 I had down and powered up about five years ago and that still worked perfectly, I havent tried the amiga for about 30 years

 

[sith-smith]

I've still got my playstion, mega drive/mega CD and a master system. But setting them up is too much hassle for perhaps only playing for a short while, so going through the retro gaming route on a PC

 

[sith-smith]

Up to now, it's generally been going well with retroaarch. Have manage to download and successfully play a number of PS1 and PS2 games.

However a problem has developed that I can't seem to resolve. For some reason when I press the X (top) button it now exits the game (though the game is still playing) and opens up my Steam page. Any idea what's going on? I've tried remapping that button but with no change. It still does what that button is meant to do in the game, but does the above at the same time