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Here is my personal Top 20 List (and number of honorable mentions in an alphabetical order) of the finest vintage Macintosh games.
Some aged better than the others, so I tried to focus on ones that stood the test of time and are still enjoyable or worth to play today, but also pick from a wide variety of genres for both casual and more hardcore players.
If you own a vintage compact Mac and want to slow down and explore the early days of computer games, give these a try.
Genre: Platform
Year: 1986
Publisher: Silicon Beach Software
Compatibility: System 1 - System 5
Download: Macintosh Garden
A famous platform game on the Mac, where the player taking the role of a young hero, has to find the way through the rooms of a Dark Castle and defeat the evil Black Knight. The game has one of the best looking B&W graphics on vintage Macs and a great use of digitized sound effects. It's a very challenging game though (even on the beginner difficulty), filled with traps, enemies and puzzle elements. Prepare to die quickly. But unfortunately the biggest challenge is to launch it, as it crashes on everything above System 5. The best is to boot it from floppy. If you're running it in an emulator, use Mini vMac and drag the Unlocked disk image into the emulator's window. On the starting screen where you have to select a door, use the number keys (1, 2..).
Genre: Strategy
Year: 1987
Publisher: Cinemaware
Compatibility: System 1 - System 6
Download: Macintosh Garden
A medieval strategy game originally released on the Commodore Amiga in 1986 and ported to Macintosh in 1987. It set a new standard in computer game graphics. After the death of the king, different factions fight for the throne. The player assumes the role of a Saxon and must fight the Normans and compete against other rival lords. The game is map based and has several arcade mini-games (capturing the castle, fighting in tournaments, etc). The Macintosh version features more in-depth strategic elements compared to the original version and has very nice graphics despite it being 1-bit. Runs up to System 6 (it crashes at different points on newer systems). In 2002 a remastered edition was released that runs on MacOS 8.1 and 9.
Genre: Simulation
Year: 1991
Publisher: Graphic Simulations
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh
Garden
Hellcats is a flight combat simulator with 3D graphics taking place in the WWII era. The player is piloting a Grumman F6F Hellcat airplane and has to complete land and flight carrier based missions with guns and bombs. It requires at least 2MB RAM and a 68020 processor, but runs fine in B&W. The game was a huge hit and it won several awards like the "Best Simulation Game" of MacWorld.
Genre: Action, shooter
Year: 1992
Publisher: Innerprise Software, Inc.
Compatibility: System 7 - 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Cyberblast is a Gauntlet clone (see honorable mentions), a top-down shooter, where the player races against time and must make it through 64 different levels filled with enemies, collect crystals, ID-cards, extra weapons, etc, until he can find the missing control chip and and stop the crazy portal experiment that threathens our solar system. There are two characters with different abilities and limitations to select from. Even though the game was released the Amiga as well, the Macintosh version has a faster paced gameplay. It requires at least a 68020 CPU and System 7 however.
Genre: Puzzle
Year: 1991
Publisher: Psygnosis
Compatibility: System - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh
Garden
Fast paced puzzle game where you have to save the lemmings through 120 different levels, using various abilities like drilling, climbing, gliding, building bridges, etc. The game has been ported to countless platforms, the B&W Mac version is obviously not being the nicest, but it's still great and an all-time classic!
Genre: Arcade, Shooter
Year: 1987
Publisher: The Wilson Brothers
Compatibility: System 1-7 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
Asteroids like shooter in a maze. You turn your ship, can apply thrust and use your shield or lasers to get through the various levels. It also features a level editor. The difficulty level can be frustrating at times, but it's still very well done and one of the best shooters available for vintage Macs.
Genre: Arcade, Shooter
Year: 1993
Publisher: Casady & Greene
Compatibility: System 6 - 7.6
Download: Macintosh
Garden
This is a great space shooter with fast 3D graphics. The space station orbiting a planet is under attack by aliens and you're the only one who can stop them. The ship is controlled by the mouse and the game works nice in B&W. I would recommend it to anyone who has a slightly faster vintage Mac and likes 3D shooters, it's a well done game and still enjoyable today.
Genre: Adventure
Year: 1990
Publisher: LucasArts
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
Exceptionally well programmed fantasy point'n'click adventure game, that runs on almost all vintage Mac systems, in either B&W or 16 color mode. It features a unique concept of no inventory or items to carry around. The player manipulates the objects on screen by interacting with them and uses spells, which most of the puzzles in the game are built on. It also has three difficulty levels to choose from, affecting the interface, how many names and marks are displayed.
Genre: Arcade Shooter
Year: 1987
Publisher: Casady & Greene
Compatibility: System 1 - System 7
Download: Macintosh Garden
A space shooter where you control a strange round ship (ball?) and have to collect all crystals on the screen for the exit to open, while enemies enter from different directions. You can also shoot in the direction you're going. Fast paced, addictive and supports both B&W and color mode. It won MacWorld's best action game of 1988.
Genre: Simulation
Year: 1992
Publisher: MEEC (Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium)
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
An educational simulation game with the intention to teach the history and realities of the emigration that took place in 19th century along the 3490 km long wagon route in the United States. The first version of the game was developed in 1971 and it was a text based. The 1992 Macintosh version features nice B&W graphics and animations and an engaging gameplay. The player can choose a starting character profession (banker, carpenter, or farmer), which determines the amount of money the party will have and thus the difficulty of the adventure. The player travelling through the trail will encounter dangers (bandits, snakes, etc), get through rivers with the caravan, repair the wagons, deal with the weather and illnesses, hunt for food and trade in cities. One of the most well known and iconic vintage Macintosh games, a must play.
Genre: Puzzle
Year: 1989
Publisher: Lucasfilm Games
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 8.1
Download: Macintosh Garden
Also known as Pipe Mania in the EU, is an arcade style puzzle game where you must build a pipe system from the given pipe shapes quickly before and while the water starts flowing. It's a race against time, thinking ahead, to build a pipe long enough with corners and junctions so that you get enough points to reach the next level. Full screen, good graphics, with fun music and sound effects. Simple, but very challenging puzzle game.
Genre: Arcade
Year: 1988
Publisher: Taito
Compatibility: System 2 - System 6
Download: Macintosh Garden
An absolute classic breakout game that makes the original much more fun by reimagining the bat as a spaceship and adding power-ups like lasers, a catching device and slow down, to make the gameplay more arcade like. The game has very nice B&W graphics, animations and digital sound effects. It uses a framebuffer, which can have issues if there are many memory residents running, so in case it complains, try to launch it from a minimal System 6 installation, or boot it from floppy.
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
Year: 1989
Publisher: Maxis
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
I guess I don't need to introduce this one. The father of all open-ended strategic simulation games. The very first in the "Sims" series. Become the major of an existing city and help to make it prosper, or build your dream city from the ground up. Manage the infrastructure and ecomony and deal with natural disasters like floods, fires, earthquakes, etc. Such a timeless concept and game, that it's a must have if you like the genre.
Genre: Arcade, Sport
Year: 1988
Publisher: Broderbund
Compatibility: System 1 - 7
Download: Macintosh Garden
Air hockey game with the atmosphere of the cantina from Star Wars. The player can choose an opponent from various alien creatures with different difficulty levels and play styles. Some of them can be very challening, so it's worth to try playing with changing some of the paddle parameters like sideways and forward bounce and power, size, etc. You can also add a moving brick in the middle of the field as an extra twist. I played this game during countless of school breaks in the computer room, and loved the atmosphere and the animations. It runs perfectly on my Mac Classic II with System 7.0.1. An interesting addition is that there was an unofficial version of the game that contained mild nudity, where Princess Bejin exposes her breast when she raises her hand. This version became so widespread that many belived that it was a feature of the original.
Genre: Racing, Simulation
Year: 1989
Publisher: Accolade
Compatibility: System 6 - System 7.6
Download: Macintosh
Garden
Probably the best car driving simulator on vintage Macs. You race supercars like the Ferrari F40 or the Porsche 959 against the clock or a computer opponent on various tracks, while avoiding the police and keeping track when to stop for refuel. There were extension disks for more cars (muscle cars and super cars disk) and more sceneries as well (California and European challenge). The game has very nice graphics and on faster machines (like the SE/30 or the Classic II) runs very smoothly. Even though it was released on many other platforms, I think the Macintosh version was done well and is still very much enjoyable.
Genre: Arcade, Casual
Year: 1991
Publisher: Soft Dorothy Software
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 8.1
Download: Macintosh Garden
Fly a paperplane across the house, catch the warm air to give you a lift, but avoid the obstacles and dangers. Arcade game requiring good timing skills with a non-violent and addictive gameplay. Many side-scrolling rooms to explore, multiple directions to go, lots of creative ideas and fun animations, extendable with new levels and comes with a level designer included. Macintosh original, a true classic.
Genre: Role playing
Year: 1992
Publisher: Strategic Simulations Inc.
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh
Garden
It's a role playing game set in the Dungeons and Dragons universe, with a dungeon crawler and isometric turn-based battle mechanic. It's the fourth and final entry of the Pool of Radiance series, but the story is playable in itself. Set in the Forgotten Realms, the player has to stop an evil god from invading the land of Phlan, travelling between dimensions, fighting his minions. There is a pre-designed party, but you can also create your own. Originally released for MS-DOS and then the Amiga, I think the Macintosh version is what makes the most out of this engine and the 'cutscenes' feature some gorgeous 1-bit graphics. During the combat the player goes one by one through characters, assigning them various commands. The battles are challenging, you must really think how you fight. The game comes on two floppies, one for the B&W and one for the Color graphics.
Genre: Adventure
Year: 1990
Publisher: Lucasfilm Games
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
Point'n'click adventure game, using the SCUMM engine. It mostly follows the story of the film, with lots of places to visit, puzzles to solve and jokes to laugh at. It has both 16 color and B&W support, with nicely done B&W graphics (as opposed to most Sierra games, where the B&W mode was best effort) and an engaging gameplay with sane and logical puzzles. There are multiple ways to solve them too, which give the game some replay value. I would argue that this is the best point'n'click adventure game on B&W Macs.
Genre: Platform
Year: 1992
Publisher: Broderbund
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
An iconic platform game and one of the first games to use a cinematic style animation. The game combines run & jump platform mechanics with areas requiring careful steps and enemies with a sword fighting combat. Jaffar wants to marry the princess but she refuses. He gives her 60 minutes to change her mind or die. The protagonist, whom the princess loves, is thrown into prison. He must get out and rescue the princess before the time runs out. I've spend countless of hours trying to beat the game with my friends in our school. The B&W Macintosh version looks fantastic and is a joy to play even today.
Genre: Puzzle
Year: 1988
Publisher: Spectrum HoloByte
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
The original version of the world famous Tetris game, an absolute classic and a masterpiece. It features everything that made this game so great. Challenging puzzle, good music and graphics (the background images change as you level up), and that "it takes 2 minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master." A must have.
Genre: Chess
Year: 1991
Publisher: Interplay
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
It was so exciting back then to see chess coming to life! Battle Chess is technically a conventional chess game, with animated pieces. Every piece has a different animation and battle style, depending on whom they fight with. There are 10 skills levels and an option to switch to a 2D board without animations (even during play). If you like chess, you have to try this. If you don't, still do because the animations are so funny.
Genre: FPS
Year: 1988
Publisher: Mindscape
Compatibility: System 1 - 6
Download: Macintosh Garden
The Colony is probably among the very first real time FPS games, that allow the player to move freely. The player takes the role of the commander of a spaceship, who receives a distress signal and while investigating it, crash lands on a planet. You must explore the colony, repair your ship and eventually stop the invasion of an alien race. The game is mouse controlled (3D movement and interaction with objects), which can be frustrating at times, but nonetheless a very impressive game that was ahead of it's time.
Genre: Adventure
Year: 1989
Publisher: Cyan
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
An unconventional point'n'click adventure game intended for smaller children, based on Hypercard, from the creators who later worked on Myst. The game has no goal and no scoring or inventory system. It focuses on the joy of exploration, surprise and discovering secrets.
Genre: Action, shooter
Year: 1989
Publisher: Mindscape
Compatibility: System 6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Top-down hack and slash dungeon crawler game, ported from the arcade version, with an unlimited supply of monsters. Go through dungeons, pick up treasures, unlock doors and kill monsters. The game supports up to 4 players and both mouse and keyboard control.
Genre: Racing
Year: 1989
Publisher: Accolade
Compatibility: System 6 - 7
Download: Macintosh
Garden
Formula One racing game, presumably using the same engine as Test Drive (released the same year). The game features 8 tracks and 3 different cars (Ferrari, McLaren, Williams) to choose from. You have to run a qualifying race first, then race against opponents, but be careful, the car can crash. A very enjoyable racing game, that runs smooth on faster B&W Macs.
Genre: Arcade
Year: 1985
Publisher: Ann Arbor Softworks
Compatibility: System 1 - 6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Similar in concept to Shufflepuck Cafe (which this game predates), where you start from a Star Wars like cantina to pick your alien opponents, but the game itself is very different. It feels like a mash up of Space Invaders, Centipede and Tetris. The opponent builds blocks the player must shoot before they reach the other side. There is also a shield for each row which wears down from bouncing objects. Interesting concept and a very fun game. The disk contains a minimal System and boots from floppy.
Genre: Role Playing
Year: 1988
Publisher: New World Computing
Compatibility: System 6 - System 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Also known as Might and Magic Book Two. It's a battle focused role-playing game, with turn based combat. The player creates a party with up to six characters from 8 classes (Knight, Paladin, Archer, Cleric, Sorcerer, Robber, Barbarians and Ninjas) and adventures through the land of CRON. The game improves on the first one on many ways, nicer graphics, easier navigation and gameplay elements like a "delay" selector, which allowed for faster or slower response times and a spinning icon to notify when input from the player is required. It runs in a small window, but features nice graphics and a dungeon crawler mechanics with a fast paced gameplay.
Genre: Sport
Year: 1990
Publisher: Soft Dorothy Software
Compatibility: System 6 - MacOS 9
Download: Macintosh Garden
It's an unusual sport game, where two players compete in a parabolic arena, flying on hoverboards, trying to score a ball into the goals on the sides. You can gather a momentum and toss the other player out, but you must be careful not to kick the ball out as that gives penalties. With having only a mouse control option, it's not an easy game to play, you need to get the hang of it.
Genre: Adventure
Year: 1988
Publisher: Sierra
Compatibility: System 6 - System 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Police Quest is a more serious take on adventure games from Sierra, that revolves around regular police work. Investigate crime scenes, following duty procesures, and eventually stopping a drug gang ruining the city. There is less focus on traditional puzzle elements and more on figuring out the right procedures (like you have to pull your gun before firing, or you will shoot yourself, or you have to check the police car before getting in, etc). Despite it has a command line interface, the story is very engaging. I played through the Amiga version, which is closer to the color Macintosh version and it's one of my favourite adventure games. The game is playable in B&W too, but unfortunately just like with Leisure Suite Larry, you can feel on it that the graphics wasn't optimized for it.
Genre: Simulator
Year: 1989
Publisher: Three-Sixty Pacific
Compatibility: System 6
Download: Macintosh Garden
WWII combat tank simulator, where you can pilot several different tanks against the German forces. You can control just one tank or several in formation, playing a tactics. You have to separately control the movement of the tank and the turrent, assuming both roles. The game features diverse missions, a training mode, a decent amount of realism and nice B&W graphics and sounds.
Genre: Adventure
Year: 1989
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Compatibility: System 6 - System 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
The game combines point'n'click and text adventure elements. The mouse is used for moving around, but text commands are used to interact with objects. It also has some arcade mini-games like Astro Chicken (think Lunar Lander) and ship-to-ship combat. The game takes place in a world which feels like a parody of Star Wards and Star Trek, and continues the story of Roger Wilco, who while drifting in space in hibernation, gets picked up by a garbage freighter. It has a much nicer graphics compared to other B&W Sierra titles. If you've trouble starting the game, try the SQ3 Patch 1 by Enrico Zoxx, which makes it work on newer systems.
Genre: Arcade
Year: 1989
Publisher: Broderbund
Compatibility: System 1 - 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Macintosh port of the original 1983 arcade Star Wars game. You control an X-Wing during the battle at the Death Star and have to shoot down the Tie Fighters. The game is mouse controlled and has a simple vector graphics. Simple and fun, runs well on all vintage Macs.
Genre: Adventure
Year: 1988
Publisher: Sierra On-Line
Compatibility: System 6 - System 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Originally developed for Apple II and MS-DOS, later ported to many other platforms. An 'adult' comedy graphic adventure game, following a middle-aged guy named Larry, trying to get laid. He is still a virgin, living with his mother, and decides to visit the city of Lost Wages to try his luck in finding the woman of his dreams. The game is controlled with the mouse (movement) and a text parser go give commands and interact (talk to man, open window, etc). Even though the Macintosh version doesn't look that nice graphically, it's a must have for anyone owning a B&W Mac and being interested in the genre and the history of point'n'click adventure games.
Genre: Racing, Simulation
Year: 1991
Publisher: Spectrum HoloByte
Compatibility: System 6 - System 7.6
Download: Macintosh Garden
Race a Chevrolet Corvette through the streets of San Francisco. The game features the full city completely 3D rendered and you're free to drive around and explore, which was a big deal back then! The player can drive through bridges, tunnels, highways and visit attractions like the Golden Gate Bridge, with full control of the camera views.