If the latest print edition of NZ PC World has made you all misty-eyed and nostalgic, I have just one word for you: DOSBox.

(A note to non-local readers puzzled by that opening; it's our 20th birthday!)

DOS, the PC's original Disk Operating System really was a crock of you-know-what, but it did somehow manage to foster some great little games. And now you can recall them all with DOSBox -- for Windows, Mac and Linux.

"DOSBox emulates an Intel x86 PC, complete with sound, graphics, mouse, joystick, modem, etc., necessary for running many old MS-DOS games that simply cannot be run on modern PCs and operating systems ... "

If, like me, you have a box of mouldering discs in the attic, dust 'em off and get DOSBox. It supports a huge range of games. Check out the compatability list here. (Amazingly, you can still buy many of them! Try Classic DOS Games or GOG.)

Game speed can be controlled CTRL+F11 (slow down) or CTRL+F12 (speed up), and you can toggle full-screen mode with ALT+ENTER.

I mean, who can forget classics like ...

... Doom and ...

... Lemmings and ...

... Out Run, or the hilarious ...



... Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards?

And what about all those others like ...



... ... what??


Ah, the pixelated graphics, the clunky game-play, the tinny sounds! The good old days ...