Strategy

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:

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri "SMAC" has been described as a "Civilization II in space". It starts where Civilization ended - after arrival to Alpha Centauri. Colonize the new world in a turn-based game-play. » System: G3 233 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 2 MB VRAM, Mac OS 7.6+
Tropico Mucho Macho Reign your own tropical isle! Will you turn it into a communist paradise? Or a capitalist society? Tropico is a humorous real-time strategy game for aspiring Fidel Castros. » System: G3 350 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM, Mac OS 9.1+
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition The 90’s real-time strategy masterpiece! The Battle.Net edition enhances the game with online play. Check out the Mac Garden’s Battle.Net service for playing multiplayer games. » System: 604 200 Mhz, 64 MB RAM, 2 MB VRAM, Mac OS 7.6+
Age of Empires II: Gold Edition Another legendary real-time-strategy game. Gather resources, build up your civilization and crush the enemy. The Gold Edition comes with all PC expansions. » System: G3 350 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM, Mac OS 8.6+
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds Age of Empires II in the Star Wars universe. But play with Stormtroopers, ATDT Walkers and Gungans this time. » System: G3 350 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM, Mac OS 8.6+
Starcraft Battle it out between Zerg, Humans and Protoss in this real-time strategy classic. Three campaigns with 12 levels each will keep you entertained. » System: 604 200 Mhz, 32 MB RAM, 2 MB VRAM, Mac OS 7.6+
Civilization II: Multiplayer Gold Edition Sid Meier’s turn-based classic about rise & fall of civilizations in the multiplayer enhanced gold edition. Check out the Civ II on Mac fanpage for scenarios & more. » System: 604 166 Mhz, 32 MB RAM, 2 MB VRAM, Mac OS 7.6+
Black & White Platinum Peter Molyneux’s game that let’s you be a god. Aged graphics, but gameplay is still fun for a while. Contains the PC expansion Creature Isle. » System: G3 400 Mhz, 128 MB RAM, 8 MB VRAM, Mac OS 8.6+

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.