Retro Gaming Hacks

How This Book Is Organized

The book is organized into several chapters, organized by subject:

Chapter 1, Playing Retro Games

Get that old Atari out of the attic! If no Atari is to be found in your attic, get one off eBay. In this chapter you’ll learn about playing with the “real thing,” setting up classic game systems, fixing broken hardware, and getting good deals on buying games.

Chapter 2, Playing Neo-Retro Games

You don’t have to fuss with classic hardware if you don’t want to. The hacks in this chapter cover new hardware and software that plays old games, whether on an all-in-one joystick or on the PlayStation 2.

Chapter 3, Playing Arcade Games on Your Computer

You don’t have space in your apartment for three thousand arcade machines. Or do you? In this chapter we’ll cover MAME—the Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator—from all the angles, learning how to play classic arcade games on PC and other platforms.

Chapter 4, Playing Classic Console Games

Emulators aren’t just for arcade games. You can use these clever software programs to fool your computer into thinking that it’s a Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, or practically any other retro game console imaginable.

Chapter 5, Playing with Early Personal Computers

For many of us, our first retro game experience wasn’t in front of a console—it was hunched over the keyboard of a classic Apple ][ or Atari 800XL. In this chapter, we’ll bring back those classic computers, showing you how to set them up or emulate them.

Chapter 6, Playing with Text Adventures

Graphics? Who needs those? Some of the first computer games created a vivid, exciting, enthralling world using only the power of words. And many text adventures—now called interactive fiction—are still being created even today!

Chapter 7, Playing with DOS

The user-friendliness of Windows XP is all well and good, but sometimes we long for the freedom of the cold, unfeeling C:\> prompt. We’ll show you how to get DOS games to work properly under modern operating systems, or even get DOS up and running again.

Chapter 8, Playing at Game Design

Always wanted to make a video game? It’s easier than ever with modern tools that let you craft retro-style entertainment with instant results. Even programming aficionados will learn plenty from this chapter.

Chapter 9, Playing Around with Other Neat Stuff

Some of our brilliant ideas just don’t fit into the topics covered above. In this concluding potpourri of a chapter, we’ll learn things such as how to hack around inside games, exploiting glitches and bugs to our advantage.