How to Play Retro Games on Your PC

With the launch of the Xbox Series S and X and the PlayStation 5 in November, the focus of many gamers is firmly on the future. The new devices usher in a new generation of technology, with faster processors, more memory, and improved graphics chips that include innovative ray-tracing capabilities.

Yet, for many others, new does not always mean better. Older retro games can be just as fun, even decades after their original release. Thankfully, for people that love these retro titles, it’s still possible to play many on modern hardware.

Choosing Your Approach

There are several different ways to get retro games working on your computer, and the path you choose will depend on your level of expertise, how much time you’re prepared to spend tweaking, and whether you still own the original game.

Below are the main approaches you can take.

Find a Remastered Version

If you don’t still have the original game, or you want the quickest and easiest way to play old games on your computer, then finding a remastered version is your best option.

Many publishers are re-releasing old titles to serve the growing market for retro titles. They sometimes improve the graphics and fix bugs and glitches while they do it. Other times, they leave them exactly how they were.

Many retro titles are available through Valve ’s Steam platform, including Tomb Raider, Doom, and Max Payne. Even PlayStation 2 games like Grand Theft Auto II, which now fall firmly in the “retro” category, are available on the platform.

Additionally, many older games can also be played directly from your web browser. For example, the classic Flash-based games from Miniclip such as Bush Shoot-Out and Flappy Bird are still available online.

Classic casino games, which are older than almost any other game played today, can also be played in your web browser. For example, blackjack is more than 500 years old, but can still be enjoyed through Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

Some games have been made into open source applications and live on through community development. This means you can download the game for free and enjoy the original gameplay and additional features for free. One of the most popular of these is Transport Tycoon, which lives on as OpenTTD.

Use DOSBox

For older computer games, you can use DOSBox to run games that ran on older versions of Windows and DOS.

Up to Windows ME, all versions of Windows had the ability to boot into DOS (not to be confused with DDoS), allowing games released in the 1980s and early 1990s to still be played. However, with Windows XP onwards, the operating system has used a different kernel, removing DOS altogether.

DOSBox tricks your old games into thinking they’re running inside DOS. It works with old games like Doom, Wolfenstein, and Need For Speed, though you will need to have the original game files to play it.

If you have the original floppy disks or CDs, you could use an external drive to play them or create an ISO file to run from your computer’s hard drive.

Use an Emulator

It’s not just old computer games that your modern PC can run. It’s also possible to get titles released on older consoles to run on your new hardware as well.

The compatibility can be a bit hit and miss, and the legality can vary from country to country. Typically, though, you’ll need an image file of an old title which you can create yourself if you still own the original disk or cartridge. In many countries, this is perfectly legal, as long as you still own the original game and don’t share it with anyone else.

You’re also limited to much older hardware, so don’t expect to be able to play many games from the PlayStation 2 or more recent consoles. Plus, these titles will likely already be available elsewhere.

Emulators are harder to use as you’ll need to both get the emulator running on your computer and create an image file of the game itself, which, while not impossible, can require more expertise than a typical computer user will have.

Overall, the easiest way to play old games on your PC is to buy them again in a remastered format. This ensures the best experience as they have been adapted to run on new hardware. However, in scenarios where this isn’t possible, tools like DOSBox and emulators can help get old titles working.