Gaming

Mac OS 9 makes a terrific OS for games. Not only do many of the games of earlier Mac OS versions still work fine, giving you hundreds of classics to choose from. But there are also dozens of great titles that have been released for OS 9, often in enhanced versions compared to their PC counterparts.

Below is our selection of the best OS 9 games. All tested to work with OS 9.2.2. Take it as an inspiration:

Unreal Tournament The classic multiplayer first-person shooter mixing powerful weapons, diverse game modes, good presentation and nasty AI opponents. Still big fun. Join us at games.macos9lives.com! Maybe we'll form our own clan one day? » System: G3 233 Mhz, 96 MB RAM, 2 MB VRAM, Mac OS 7.6+
Glider PRO An original Mac classic. Guide a paperplane through several houses filled with dangers like ventilators, candles or pets. Great fun for the whole family! » System: any Mac capable of running Mac OS 9
Abuse A 2D side-scrolling shooter in which you try to escape from a secret underground prison. Innovative controls and challenging levels. The Amiga has Turrican, we Mac users have Abuse. » System: G3 333 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM, Mac OS 9.1+
Wingnuts Fast-paced 2D top-down shoot'em'up in which you destroy enemies, collect goodies and fight a boss-enemy at the end of every stage. Great for a quick diversion. » System: G3 400 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM, Mac OS 9.0.4+
Bugdom A Mac exclusive 3D action-adventure from Pangea Software. You control a bug trying to save all the lady bugs in a variety of levels. There's also Bugdom 2 with the same mechanics but new content. » System: G3 233 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, 4 MB VRAM, Mac OS 8.6+
Star Trek Deep Space Nine: The Fallen A 3rd-person shooter (think Tomb Raider) based on the Star Trek DS9 TV series and the Unreal engine. Knowing the series helps, but isn’t necessary. » System: G3 400 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 16 MB VRAM, Mac OS 8.6+
Max Payne An excellent 3rd-person shooter set in a noir world with Matrix-like effects (Bullet Time). Plays great with a fast graphics card. » System: G3 500 Mhz, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB VRAM, OS 9.1+

The days when Mac OS 9 was released in 1999 was the pinnacle of gaming in the eyes of many. 3D worlds started to grow up from graphics demos to playable games while classic 2D shooters like Mars Rising were still being released - a perfect time of transition in gaming history that combined good 90's stuff with exciting new 2000's style games.

Indie before indie

Well before the term "indie developers" came out big, the Macintosh had a vibrant scene of small independent developers. People like john calhoun (Soft Dorothy), Andrew Welch (Ambrosia), Joe Williams (Delta Tao) or Jeff Vogel (Spiderweb) created epic games that were often as innovative as they were stylish.

Many of these games still hold up today, offering everything from a quick little diversion to hours long epic sessions. Titles such as Glider (Pro), Escape Velocity, Missions of the Reliant, Spaceward Ho, Maelstrom, Strategic Conquest and many many more come to mind! Several have found their way to other platforms, but they all started out on the Mac - and most run perfectly fine on Mac OS 9.