Produced in 1989, the game was heavily based on the Indiana Jones films (as the developers themselves admit) and the Sunday Matinee adventure flicks of the 1940s and 50s - with an ironic twist. It was released for a variety of platforms, the Atari ST, Amiga, C64, MS-DOS, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum - with the common differences in graphic quality back then.

Screenshots Rick Dangerous I

Title Splash screen (Amiga)

Level 1: South America (Amiga)

Level 2: Schwarzendumpf Castle (Amiga)

Level 3: Missile Base (Amiga)

 Screenshots Rick Dangerous II

Title screen (Amiga)

Hyde Park Level (Amiga)

 Ice Caverns of Freezia Level (Amiga)

 Level 3 (Amiga)

Playable versions

X Windows/Linux clone

Play Rick Dangerous as Flash remake

Rick Dangerous mobile

and of course, if you legally own the disks, you can play it for example on WinUAE, the ultimate Amiga emulator. Here are some links to download disk images.

Links:

Rick Dangerous I (wikipedia, mobygames, games-db)

Rick Dangerous II (wikipedia, mobygames, games-db)

The Rick Dangerous franchise on Wikipedia

Core Design (wikepedia, mobygames)

An unofficial fan site

Rick I info from the back-then developers.

All three have issues with some games, even in the newest versions. Only No$GBA is able to play multiplayer on the same machine. And all of them qre quite resources hungry, so don’t expect it to run well on a Pentium 3.
The Emulation/ROMS community has the handy tendency to categorize and sort everything, so there are quite complete games lists out there. Of course you can go to mobygames, games-db or similar to grab a similar list, but when you are looking for ROM, knowing the exact name and ID number might be helpful, so here’s a quite complete list:

(J) = Giappone
(U) = U.S.A.
(E) = Europeo
(I) = Italiano
(F) = Francese
(G) = Tedesco
(S) = Spagnolo
(K) = Koreano
(Ch) = Cinese
(A) = Australia
(Mx) = Multi Language

0002 - Need for Speed - Underground 2 (US).zip
0003 - Yoshi Touch & Go (US).zip
0004 - Feel the Magic - XY XX (US)(M6).zip
0005 - WarioWare - Touched! (US).zip
0006 - Polarium (US).zip
0008 - Pac-Pix (US).zip
0012 - Asphalt - Urban GT (US).zip
0013 - Yoshi Touch & Go (EU)(M5).zip
0014 - Pac-Pix (EU)(M5).zip
0017 - Ridge Racer DS (US).zip
0018 - WarioWare - Touched! (EU)(M5).zip
0019 - Mr. Driller - Drill Spirits (US).zip
0021 - Project Rub (EU)(M6).zip
0022 - Super Mario 64 DS (EU)(M5).zip
0023 - Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (EU)(M5).zip
0024 - Robots (EU)(M5).zip
0026 - Pokemon Dash (US).zip
0028 - Kirby - Canvas Curse (US).zip
0029 - GoldenEye - Rogue Agent (US).zip
0030 - Sprung - The Dating Game (US).zip
0031 - Polarium (EU)(M5).zip
0034 - Zoo Keeper (US).zip
0036 - Daigasso! Band Brothers (JP).zip
0037 - Super Mario 64 DS (US).zip
0038 - Ping Pals (US).zip
0041 - Need for Speed - Underground 2 (EU)(M5).zip
0043 - Spider-Man 2 (US).zip
0045 - Urbz, The - Sims in the City (US).zip
0047 - Rayman DS (US)(M3).zip
0048 - Mr. Driller - Drill Spirits (EU)(M5).zip
0049 - Sprung - The Dating Game (EU).zip
0050 - Zoo Keeper (EU)(M5).zip
0051 - Retro Atari Classics (US).zip
0052 - Another Code - Two Memories (EU)(M5).zip
0054 - Tiger Woods PGA Tour (v01) (US)(M3).zip
0055 - Asphalt - Urban GT (EU)(M5).zip
0056 - Super Mario 64 DS (v01) (US).zip
0059 - Robots (US).zip
0060 - Meteos (US).zip
0061 - Bomberman (US).zip
0062 - Madagascar (US).zip
0063 - World Championship Poker - Deluxe Series (US).zip
0064 - Madden NFL 2005 (US).zip
0065 - Tiger Woods PGA Tour (US)(M3).zip
0066 - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory (EU)(M5).zip
0071 - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory (US).zip
0072 - Puyo Pop Fever (US).zip
0076 - Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (US)(M6).zip
0079 - Bomberman (EU)(M5).zip
0080 - Nanostray (US).zip
0082 - Rayman DS (EU)(M5).zip
0083 - Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! (JP).zip
0084 - Animaniacs - Lights, Camera, Action! (EU)(M5).zip
0086 - Madden NFL 06 (US).zip
0087 - Space Invaders Revolution (EU).zip
0088 - Advance Wars - Dual Strike (US).zip
0089 - Nintendogs - Chihuahua & Friends (US).zip
0090 - Nintendogs - Lab & Friends (US).zip
0091 - Nintendogs - Dachshund & Friends (US).zip
0095 - Yu-Gi-Oh! - Nightmare Troubadour (US).zip
0102 - Nintendogs - Labrador & Friends (EU)(M5).zip
0103 - Meteos (EU)(M5).zip
0105 - Castlevania - Dawn of Sorrow (EU)(M5).zip
0106 - Pac'n Roll (US).zip
0107 - Tak - The Great Juju Challenge (US).zip
0108 - FIFA 06 (EU)(M6).zip
0109 - Frogger - Helmet Chaos (US).zip
0110 - Lost in Blue (US).zip
0111 - Advance Wars - Dual Strike (EU)(M5).zip
0112 - Trace Memory (US).zip
0113 - Ultimate Spider-Man (US).zip
0114 - Lunar - Dragon Song (US).zip
0115 - Whac-A-Mole (US).zip
0116 - Madden NFL 06 (EU).zip
0118 - GoldenEye - Rogue Agent (EU).zip
0119 - Pokemon Dash (EU)(M5).zip
0120 - FIFA Soccer 06 (US).zip
0121 - Castlevania - Dawn of Sorrow (US).zip
0122 - Trauma Center - Under the Knife (US).zip
0123 - Nintendogs - Dachshund & Friends (EU)(M5).zip
0124 - Nintendogs - Chihuahua & Friends (EU)(M5).zip
0127 - Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney (US)(M2).zip
0128 - Marvel Nemesis - Rise of the Imperfects (US).zip
0129 - Zoo Tycoon (US).zip
0129 - Zoo Tycoon DS (U).zip
0130 - Urbz, The - Sims in the City (EU)(M5).zip
0133 - Madagascar (EU).zip
0134 - Ping Pals (EU).zip
0135 - Ultimate Spider-Man (EU).zip
0138 - Scooby-Doo! - Unmasked (US)(M2).zip
0139 - Dig Dug - Digging Strike (US).zip
0140 - Sims 2, The (US)(M5).zip
0141 - Shrek - Super Slam (US).zip
0142 - Metroid Prime Pinball (US).zip
0143 - Spyro - Shadow Legacy (US).zip
0145 - Spider-Man 2 (EU).zip
0146 - Cocoto - Kart Racer (EU)(M5).zip
0148 - Pac'n Roll (EU)(M5).zip
0149 - Spyro - Shadow Legacy (EU)(M5).zip
0150 - Megaman Battle Network 5 - Double Team DS (US).zip
0151 - Marvel Nemesis - Rise of the Imperfects (EU).zip
0153 - Incredibles, The - Rise of the Underminer (US).zip
0154 - Nintendogs - Best Friends (US).zip
0156 - Spider-Man 2 (EU)(M5).zip
0157 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare (US).zip
0162 - Sims 2, The (EU)(M5).zip
0163 - Viewtiful Joe - Double Trouble! (US).zip
0164 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (EU)(M5).zip
0168 - Mario Kart DS (US)(M2).zip
0169 - SeaWorld Adventure Parks - Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures (US).zip
0170 - Spongebob Squarepants - The Yellow Avenger (US).zip
0171 - Texas Hold 'Em Poker DS (US).zip
0172 - Kim Possible - Kimmunicator (US).zip
0173 - Chronicles of Narnia, The - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (US).zip
0174 - Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (US).zip
0175 - Need for Speed - Most Wanted (US).zip
0176 - Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (EU)(M5).zip
0177 - Sonic Rush (US)(M6).zip
0178 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (US)(M5).zip
0179 - Lost in Blue (EU)(M5).zip
0180 - Zoo Tycoon (EU)(M2).zip
0181 - Shrek - Super Slam (EU)(M6).zip
0182 - Yu-Gi-Oh! - Nightmare Troubadour (EU)(M5).zip
0183 - Scooby-Doo! - Unmasked (EU)(M4).zip
0184 - Zoo Tycoon (a) (EU)(M2).zip
0185 - Sonic Rush (EU)(M6).zip
0190 - SEGA Casino (US)(M5).zip
0196 - Chronicles of Narnia, The - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (EU)(M4).zip
0197 - Dragon Ball Z - Supersonic Warriors 2 (US).zip
0198 - Peter Jackson's King Kong (US)(M8).zip
0201 - Mario Kart DS (EU)(M5).zip
0202 - Kirby - Power Paintbrush (EU)(M5).zip
0203 - Nintendo Touch Golf - Birdie Challenge (EU)(M5).zip
0204 - Spongebob Squarepants - The Yellow Avenger (EU)(M5).zip
0205 - Snowboard Kids - SBK (US).zip
0206 - Snood 2 - On Vacation (US).zip
0208 - Need for Speed - Most Wanted (EU)(M5).zip
0209 - Incredibles, The - Rise of the Underminer (EU)(M5).zip
0211 - Real Time Conflict - Shogun Empires (US).zip
0212 - ATV Quad Frenzy (US).zip
0213 - Monster Trucks DS (US).zip
0214 - Golden Nugget Casino DS (US).zip
0215 - Ford Racing 3 (US).zip
0216 - Mario & Luigi - Partners in Time (US).zip
0218 - Bubble Bobble Revolution (EU)(M5).zip
0221 - Burnout Legends (US)(M3).zip
0223 - Animal Crossing - Wild World (US).zip
0224 - Elf Bowling 1 & 2 (US).zip
0225 - Battles of Prince of Persia (EU)(M6).zip
0226 - Burnout Legends (EU)(M5).zip
0229 - Big Mutha Truckers (EU)(M5).zip
0231 - Titeuf - Mission Nadia (EU)(M5).zip
0232 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare (EU)(M5).zip
0233 - Battles of Prince of Persia (US)(M6).zip
0234 - Bust-a-Move DS (US).zip
0236 - Ford Racing 3 (EU)(M5).zip
0237 - Snood 2 - On Vacation (EU)(M5).zip
0238 - 4 Game Fun Pack - Monopoly + Boggle + Yahtzee + Battleship (US).zip
0240 - Pac-Man World 3 (US).zip
0242 - Franklin's Great Adventures (EU)(M8).zip
0262 - Electroplankton (US).zip
0265 - SEGA Casino (EU)(M5).zip
0269 - Dragon Booster (US).zip
0270 - Nicktoons Unite! (US).zip
0271 - Devilish (EU).zip
0284 - Billiard Action (EU).zip
0288 - Peter Jackson's King Kong (v01) (EU)(M10).zip
0294 - True Swing Golf (US).zip
0296 - Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd (US).zip
0297 - Mario & Luigi - Partners in Time (EU)(M5).zip
0298 - Chronicles of Narnia, The - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (EU)(M5).zip
0303 - Tamagotchi Connection - Corner Shop (US).zip
0304 - Dragon Ball Z - Supersonic Warriors 2 (EU)(M6).zip
0306 - Finding Nemo - Escape to the Big Blue (US).zip
0307 - Rub Rabbits!, The (US)(M6).zip
0314 - Resident Evil - Deadly Silence (US).zip
0320 - Super Monkey Ball - Touch & Roll (EU)(M5).zip
0321 - Spongebob Squarepants and Friends Unite! (EU)(M5).zip
0322 - Frogger - Helmet Chaos (EU)(M5).zip
0324 - Age of Empires - The Age of Kings (US).zip
0325 - Nanostray (EU)(M3).zip
0327 - James Pond - Codename Robocod (EU)(M5).zip
0328 - Rub Rabbits!, The (EU)(M6).zip
0331 - Tak - The Great JuJu Challenge (EU)(M4).zip
0333 - Super Monkey Ball - Touch & Roll (US)(M5).zip
0336 - FIFA Street 2 (EU)(M3).zip
0340 - Super Princess Peach (US).zip
0341 - Kim Possible - Kimmunicator (EU).zip
0344 - FIFA Street 2 (US).zip
0347 - Blades of Thunder II (US).zip
0348 - Texas Hold 'Em Poker Pack (US).zip
0350 - Pokemon Trozei! (US).zip
0352 - Bust-A-Move DS (EU).zip
0353 - Lunar Genesis (EU).zip
0354 - Space Invaders Revolution (US).zip
0355 - Big Mutha Truckers (US).zip
0358 - SeaWorld Adventure Parks - Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures (EU).zip
0360 - Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown (US).zip
0366 - Tetris DS (US).zip
0367 - Metroid Prime Hunters (US).zip
0368 - Worms - Open Warfare (EU).zip
0369 - Tao's Adventure - Curse of the Demon Seal (US).zip
0371 - Worms - Open Warfare (US).zip
0373 - Super Black Bass Fishing (US).zip
0389 - Animal Crossing - Wild World (EU)(M5).zip
0390 - Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown (EU)(M6).zip
0391 - Resident Evil - Deadly Silence (EU)(M5).zip
0392 - Viewtiful Joe - Double Trouble! (EU).zip
0393 - Rainbow Island Revolution (EU).zip
0395 - Phoenix Wright - Ace Attorney (EU)(M2).zip
0396 - Brain Age - Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! (US).zip
0399 - Top Spin 2 (EU)(M5).zip
0400 - Top Spin 2 (US).zip
0403 - Finding Nemo - Escape to the Big Blue (EU)(M2).zip
0404 - Franklin's Great Adventures (US)(M3).zip
0406 - Snowboard Kids - SBK (EU)(M3).zip
0413 - Tetris DS (EU)(M5).zip
0414 - My Pet Hotel (EU)(M2).zip
0415 - MegaMan Battle Network 5 - Double Team DS (EU)(M5).zip
0420 - FIFA World Cup 2006 (EU)(M5).zip
0425 - FIFA World Cup 2006 (US).zip
0426 - Guilty Gear Dust Strikers (US).zip
0427 - LostMagic (US)(M2).zip
0428 - Trauma Center - Under the Knife (EU)(M5).zip
0429 - LostMagic (EU)(M4).zip
0431 - Metroid Prime Hunters (EU)(M5).zip
0432 - Pokemon Link! (EU)(M5).zip
0433 - Top Gun (US).zip
0434 - New Super Mario Bros. (US).zip
0435 - Over the Hedge (US).zip
0436 - X-Men - The Official Game (US).zip
0439 - Golden Nugget Casino DS (EU)(M3).zip
0440 - ATV Quad Frenzy (EU)(M3).zip
0441 - Texas Hold 'Em Poker (EU)(M3).zip
0443 - Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends - Harvest Time Hop and Fly (US)(M3).zip
0444 - Super Princess Peach (EU)(M5).zip
0445 - Tao's Adventure - Curse of the Demon Seal (EU)(M5).zip
0452 - X-Men - The Official Game (EU)(M4).zip
0453 - Dino Master - Dig Discover Duel (US).zip
0454 - Dragon Booster (EU)(M5).zip
0457 - Dr Kawashima's Brain Training - How Old Is Your Brain (EU)(M6).zip
0458 - Cars (US).zip
0459 - Big Brain Academy (US).zip
0461 - Magnetica (US).zip
0466 - Nintendogs - Dalmatian and Friends (EU)(M5).zip
0467 - Monster Trucks DS (EU).zip
0468 - Tamagotchi Connection - Corner Shop (EU)(M5).zip
0469 - Point Blank DS (US).zip
0473 - Break 'Em All (US).zip
0474 - Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi - The Genie & the Amp (US).zip
0475 - Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (US)(M5).zip
0479 - New Super Mario Bros. (EU)(M5).zip
0480 - Sudoku Mania (US).zip
0481 - Sudoku Gridmaster (US).zip
0482 - Pac-Man World 3 (EU).zip
0491 - Big Brain Academy (EU)(M6).zip
0492 - Electroplankton (EU)(M5).zip
0495 - Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (EU)(M5).zip
0497 - Monster House (US)(M2).zip
0508 - Puyo Pop Fever (EU).zip
0516 - Top Gun (EU).zip
0517 - Cars (EU)(M2).zip
0520 - Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends - Harvest Time Hop and Fly (EU)(M5).zip
0521 - Monster House (EU)(M7).zip
0522 - Deep Labyrinth (US).zip
0523 - Madden NFL 07 (US).zip
0524 - Final Fantasy III (JP).zip
0526 - Freedom Wings (US).zip
0527 - Tenchu Dark Secret (US).zip
0530 - Garfield 2 (EU)(M11).zip
0531 - Dig Dug - Digging Strike (EU).zip
0540 - Star Fox Command (US).zip
0553 - LEGO Star Wars II - The Original Trilogy (US).zip
0554 - Mini RC Rally (US).zip
0556 - MegaMan ZX (US).zip
0559 - Mario Hoops 3 on 3 (US).zip
0560 - Cooking Mama (US).zip
0561 - Harvest Moon DS (US).zip
0562 - LEGO Star Wars II - The Original Trilogy (EU)(M6).zip
0563 - MechAssault - Phantom War (US).zip
0564 - Open Season (US)(M3).zip
0565 - Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The - Tipton Trouble (US).zip
0566 - Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Blue Rescue Team (US).zip
0569 - Dragon Quest Heroes - Rocket Slime (US).zip
0570 - Danny Phantom - Urban Jungle (US).zip
0571 - FIFA 07 (EU)(M6).zip
0572 - Alex Rider - Stormbreaker (EU).zip
0573 - Mario Vs Donkey Kong 2 - March of the Minis (US).zip
0575 - Bratz - Forever Diamondz (US).zip

0701 - My Vet Practice (E)(Legacy)
0702 - Eragon (E)(Supremacy)
0703 - Asphalt Urban GT 2 (E)(Supremacy)
0704 - Oshare Majo Love and Berry (J)(WRG)
0705 - Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (E)(Supremacy)
0706 - Tenchu Dark Secret (E)(Supremacy)
0707 - Happy Feet (E)(Supremacy)
0708 - Superman Returns (U)(pSyDS)
0709 - Zoids Battle Colosseum (J)(Legacy)
0710 - Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Spirit Summoner (J)(Legacy)
0711 - Totally Spies 2 - Undercover (U)(Xenophobia)
0712 - Chicken Little 2 - Ace In Action (U)(SirVG)
0713 - Die Biene Maja - Klatschmohnwiese in Gefahr (E)(Legacy)
0714 - Spider-Man Battle For New York (E)(Supremacy)
0715 - Flushed Away (E)(Supremacy)
0716 - Yoshis Island DS (E)(FireX)
0717 - Xiaolin Showdown (U)(XPA)
0718 - Tom and Jerry Tales (E)(Supremacy)
0719 - Cooking Mama (E)(FireX)
0720 - Dogz (U)(Xenophobia)
0721 - March of the Penguins (U)(Xenophobia)
0722 - Lionel Trains On Track (U)(Xenophobia)
0723 - Tokyo Friend Pack II (J)(WRG)
0724 - Kokoro ni Shimiru Mouhitsu de Kaku Aida Mitsuo DS (J)(WRG)
0725 - Harukanaru Toki no Naka de Mai Hito Yo (J)(WRG)
0726 - Futari wa PreCure Splash Star (J)(WRG)
0727 - Tank Beat (J)(WRG)
0728 - Catz (U)(Xenophobia)
0729 - Cartoon Network Racing (U)(Legacy)
0730 - Hamsterz Life (U)(Legacy)
0731 - Mahjong Fight Club DS WiFi Taiou (J)(Legacy)
0732 - Kirby Squeak Squad (U)(Xenophobia)
0733 - Point Blank DS (E)(Supremacy)
0734 - Winx Club - Quest for the Codex (E)(Supremacy)
0735 - Castlevania - Portrait of Ruin (U)(Xenophobia)
0736 - Akko ni Omakase Brain (J)(WRG)
0737 - Anpanpan to Asobo Aiueo (J)(WRG)
0738 - Doko Demo Raku Raku DS (J)(WRG)
0739 - Otogi Juushi (J)(WRG)
0740 - Simple DS Series Vol. 12 - The Party Unou (J)(WRG)
0741 - DS Puzzler NumPlay Fan Oekaki (J)(WRG)
0742 - Kageyama Method Dennou Hanpuku Masu x Masu Hyaku Masu (J)(WRG)
0743 - Power Pro Kun Pocket (J)(WRG)
0744 - DS Dengeki Bunko (J)(WRG)
0745 - Simple DS Series Vol. 11 - Mou Ichido Kayoeru The Otona no (J)(WRG)
0746 - Tenohira Gakushuu Chikyuu no Narabe (J)(WRG)
0747 - Kenkou Ouen Recipe 1000 DS Kondate (J)(WRG)
0748 - Cinnamoroll - Ohanashi shiyo Kira Kira DE Kore (J)(WRG)
0749 - Chao Dream Touch Happy (J)(WRG)
0750 - Table Game Spirits (J)(WRG)

As the NDS is related to the GBA and as there are some ROMS who can be interchanged, this Wiki might be helpful.

NOTE!

Owning, using and playing of ROMS is only allowed if you legally own the actual game. Let’s keep emulation fun and stick to these rules. Okay?! And you won’t find any roms/rom dumps on this site nor any links to sites that carry them!

The same principle is beginning to leak into the gaming domain. After consoles adopted the idea to have specialised controlers to help immerse people into the game world (the Wii for example, with its Wiimote, which is a new approach and (!) an effective copy protection). Now with the karaoke hype in full effect, with Singstar and MS’s Lips, no party seems to work without the obligatory game on the Playstation or XBoX.

The industry is adding to the trend and produces giant bundles of game+controler. Software/hardware combos like Guitar Hero World Tour supply the game, a plastic guitar, and a mock up drum kit in a large box than can be sold for over a hundred bucks! Gold for the manufacturers: pack simple software and cheap plastic gizmos together and you can charge a hefty price for it.

And the consumers? They follow. At last you won’t like to explain complicated games to your party guests. Give them a fake guitar and they immediately know what to do - more or less. And they won’t notice that your Margueritas stink. We’ll see where this leads us…

In 2001 British developer Introversion Software released Uplink. What started as a demo version has developed into a cult game with an active fan and developer/contributor community and numerous re-relases and versions. I’ve always been a fan of Cyberpunk games, best of all being Syndicate and the successor Syndicate Wars, there seems to be a certain scheme here as both games are from England. The island with the rainy foggy stereotype appears to be fertile ground for noir-style sci-fi epics. Read George Orwell’s 1984 if you think I am wrong. Also, I am sure William Gibson and his Neuromancer is british at heat.

Back to the game: The Uplink Corporation is hiring new hacking talent, nerdy protagonists who are seeking a position as freelance hacker, breaking into systems and networks as hired guns. The corporation will supply the needed tools and the first jobs in order to get you started, after that your hacking-talent alone and your reputation will bring in new jobs.

The gameplay of Uplink is pretty straight forward. You are welcomed by a worldmap and various desktop-style tools. The inferface is styled like a typical Windows or Linux desktop - but the science-fiction version of it, with intuitive functions and an overall eerie feel. Your job is to break into various systems, appliing hacking techniques that tend to feel very real: you will deploy brute force password crackers, log file cleaners and while doing so you will have an eye on securing your position through multi-hop connections and spoofed IP addresses. The usual cycle while playing the game is browsing the job openings, accepting jobs and, based on the mission, the configuration of your system and the selection of the appropriate tools, all via point-and-click.

Although there are a number of pseudo-hacking games out there, Uplink surely stands out. The 80s style blue-in-blue graphics, the tranquillizing music, the aura of electronic crime - the developers have managed to blend it all in and give you that Lain feeling of glowing screens, hacking and early epsiodes of the X-Files where conspiracy theories permeate everything.

Uplink is not the average game. It’s not a real strategy game, and not a simulation either. No shooter and like nothing you have ever played before. The game is a cross-brew between multiple genres. The “hacking” seems real, although simplified through the advanced tools the game interface offers. In fact it feels so real, you will catch yourself thinking you might actually help someone doing this in the real world by playing the game - a concept you might know from The Last Starfighter.

Under all circumstances: try this game. Be sure to download or buy a recent version and look around the various forums and fan sites. Here is an exhaustive game guide. Also, try to make yourself familiar with the various modded versions floating around. There is even a developer CD available if you feel to contribute to the further development of the game.

If you liked the game, you might also like to grab some popcorn and watch a related film. Suggestions are:

Hackers,

Sneakers,

WarGames and

Swordfish.

Similar games are: System 15000, Activision’s Hacker, Neuromancer and mood-wise Syndicate.

The game Uplink is known under various titles: “Uplink: Hacker Elite”, but also the European title “Uplink: Trust is a Weakness” and the title “Uplink: Hakerzy, Pieniądze i Władza” in Poland.

You can buy the game for about US$20 or download a demo version to get the basic feel. The game has been ported to all major platforms, Windows, Linux and Mac.

Game Homepages

at mobygames.com

versions at games-db.com

Wikipedia

Screenshots

at Introversion

mobygames

Let’s flashback to 1989, when a dense game atmosphere could compensate for limited system capabilities. That was the time when Infogrames (the french holding company that today owns the Atari brand) released this interesting two-stage game.

The background story is a bit of a stereotype: a group of terrorists have overrun an embassy and hold the employees hostage. A group of anti-terror specialists, similar to SAS or a SWAT team, are recruited to break the terrorist’s stronghold. In the first stage, the player has to place three men of the team - “Delta”, “Echo” and “Mike” - on strategic points around the building, acting as snipers during the mission. The challange is to do so without being seen, ducking, hiding and avoiding the searchlight of the terrorists. After the snipers are positioned, another team will be transported to the roof with a Little Bird, marking the next level. Now, your job is to actually enter the building by roping down the facade and breaking into the windows. This part of the game is cleverly linked to the first part, as your snipers can assist the rope-unit by shooting randomly spottable persons inside the building through the windows, thus reducing the number of enemies once a rescue-team member is inside. Once you enter the building as one of the anti-terror-experts, the game again switches its mode, this time resembling an early Doom or Wolfenstein 3D first-person shooter gameplay. Sneaking through the corridors, where a terrorist might discover you every second - this kind of nerve-wracking situations is the foremost quality of Hostages.

The overall look look and feel of the game is impressive. Although the rich scene graphics are mere slides, simple backgrounds acting as a frame for small live-action screen-sections, these graphics by Didier Chanfray, Josiane Girard and Dominique Giro are the strong base of the game, conveying a sustaining notion of urgency and the feel of a spy flick or a cool police thriller, complete with newspaper headlines and crime scene photos. Also, the great action-music by Charles Callet is another highlight of the game, interweaving short short human voice samples to further complement the already dense atmosphere.

If you have the chance to play this gem, under all circumstances do so! My advice for a good pick in terms of version would be to pick the Amiga version. Anyway, all platforms that allow decent graphics will do, as this game strongly relies on the effect of its graphics. A downside might be the overall simple structure and the unproportional more difficult second part of the game, but this game is surely one of those titles you will pick up over and over again and that will surely leave a lasting impression once you got the knack of it. It’s definitely on the list of all-time-favourites.

Alternate titles:

• “Rescue: The Embassy Mission” (NES)
• “Operation Jupiter” (France)
• “Hostages: The Embassy Mission” (Japan)
• “ホステージ” (Japanese Kanji Title)
• “Hostages” (Europe and Israel)

Screenshots

on thelegacy.de

mobygames

Game Information

games-db.com: Atari St, Commodore 64/128, NES

mobygames

Wikipedia page

World of Spectrum

I happened to get the GX280. The GX280 differs a bit from the GX270 as the case is a little larger and the system is based on the Intel 915 mainboard (vs. the Intel 865G on the GX270). On eBay, the system sells for about US$200 in good shape and setup. As the small unit has no S-Video out by default, I decided to replace the default graphics with a newer video board, the Club 3D CGNX-GS726, a noname 256MB nVidia GeForce 7200GS based graphics card for PCI Express PCIe x16 - the bus standard of the mainboard.

In retrospective, altogether this was a poor choice. The idea was to get a bit more of CPU horsepower, but the downsides of the GX280 overweigh: the case is too big for my taste and the win in CPU speed is not noteworthy. So, for anyone who follows this how-to here, I would recommend to grab the GX270. The video board is okay, but you can save the 30 bucks for that as well.

Next on the list is an input device. Any decent Gaming PC needs a good controler. Playing with the mouse is not what you’d like (and as you can read in the first post, is not desired for this project here). I decided to buy a gamepad. Although many games rely on a Joystick for input, a Gampad is always a good replacement, while a Joystick isn’t - the other way ’round. So, after a bit of research, I decided to buy the Logitech Rumblepad 2 Vibration Feedback Gamepad (amazon en de); you might alternatively get the wireless version (amazon en de). Just as a note, so far I nver got the “rumble” to work on any of the emulators - comment here if you had more luck.
After we got all the components together, we can start assembling the system. So far the setup is quite simple. To get everything working and connected, a S-Video cable might be needed, a DVI-to-HDMI or a SCART adaptor with CINCH cables, so prepare for that.

For initial setup I would recommend to actually attach a keyboard and mouse, until we can get rid of these later on.

The OS

The first step in setting up a new system is always the installation of an Operating System. Many others that have built a similar system for gaming decided to install a free operating system like Debian Linux. I did not follow that path. From previous adventures into multimedia on Linux, I knew that I wanted quick results opposed to a lot of hacking to get everything working. By good chance, I had a license of Microsoft XP system builder at hand, so I went for that.

Nevertheless, if you feel the open source gaming vibe, there are numerous specialised distros for that: here, here, read on here, and here. MAME has been ported to linux, also some other linux emulators:

• C64 emulator VICE
• Amiga emulator UAE
• MegaDrive emulator Gens
• SNES emulator ZNES
• Nintendo64 emulator Mupen64
• MAME multi-arcade emulator Xmame
• ScummVM for various unixes

No keyboard, no mouse

On with the setup: In order to get rid of the mouse and keyboard, we need to find a way to map certain functions, shortcuts and keys to the gamepad controllers. Actually it’s quite difficult to find information about how to configure your PC to run without a mouse and without keyboard. But once you have the right set of keywords (”gamepad as keyboard”, “joystick mouse”) you can start drilling using the search engine of your choice. I would bet on it that the first helper tool you encounter is JoyToKey, then you will try JoystickMouse or similar. But belive me: the only software you’ll ever need is AutoHotkey! It’s is extensible, scriptable, is even more than just a joystick/gamepad-to-keyboard tool and has a large and active userbase. Install this little executable, add it to autostart and let it load a script that maps your gamepad to basic mouse functionality (including drag-and-drop!), buttons and basic keystrokes. My own script to make it all work is a mess, due to wild trial and error hacking and lack of time to clean it up. But it’s based on the example script JoystickMouse that is shipped with AutoHotkey, so you can start from there.

A hint for you: it would be clever to assign a button-combination for the <ESC> key and <CTRL>+< F> (fullscreen toggle) so you can start and stop games, when your emulator got into fullscreen mode or the emulation hangs. It’s not perfect, and not every emulator reacts to it (which seems to be caused by the way each program catches the “keydown” trigger), but in many cases it works like a charm. Feel free to comment with your experiences.

(A side note: Logitech ships a similar tool with the Rumblepad, but so far it was more in the way than of any help. As it seems, it is more meant to help with various PC games, than to actually replace the Mouse/Keyboard with the pad.)

FTP server

Another hint would be to install and configure an FTP server on your console. FileZilla Server is a good choice here. Although this may pose a security leak on your machine - when it is permanently connected to the internet (due to multiplayer gaming or the like). As my system is, in most cases, offline, this won’t hurt. The FTP functionality on the other side is very useful to upload software updates, game data etc. onto the machine when your gameroom has no ethernet and you need to carry your “console” to the desktop to fill it up with new games. In this case you can just plug the Cat5 cord into it and begin loading. To prepare for this functionality, it might be needed to configure a static IP address for the Gaming PC so you find it on your LAN once it is attached.

The Emulators

Finally you need to download and install all the required emulators for the games you would like to play and the hardware you would like to emulate. Please note emulation is in many details a legal grey area. What is absolutely required is that you own the software you will run and that you physically own the hardware you will be emulating!

There are some games out there that have been released into the public domain, other were left aside by their developers (Abandonware). Additionally there are many freeware games you are free to download and play and last but not least demos. Enough to keep you well entertained for a while.

As the emulator software just emulates the hardware, there is one piece missing, that the emulator needs to be fully functional: the BIOS or EPROM. The BIOS is the operating system of many consoles and early computers. And as it is software, it is in most cases protected by copyright. This is why you need to actually own the hardware to be legally entitled to run an emulator.

The actual games can be transferred from their original storage media (cartridge, EPROM, floppy disk, CDROM, DVD) with the help of various specialised tools. How this actually works is beyond the scope of this guide. Anyway, in most cases these images of original copies are referred to as ROMs in the emulation community. Please be sure to read our legal notes below on that issue.

Now, to actually run these games, we’ll need Windows emulator binaries or installers. For the various systems I recommend the following emulators:

• for C64/C128: VICE (WinVICE)
• Atari 2600/7800: Stella
• NES: FCE Ultra
• Sega Master System/ Sega Game Gear: MEKA
• for Amiga: WinUAE
• for Sega MegaDrive: Gens (Gens+)
• SuperNintendo/SNES: ZSNES, SNES9x
• Nintendo64/N64: Project64, Project64k (multiplayer)
• Sega Dreamcast: Chankast
• for MAME: MameUI (previously Mame32)

More emulators: for example here.

Finishing touches

If you followed these steps and invested a few hours to get the rough edges round, you should now have a working Gaming PC. Not the type of machine you would use to brag about tech specs, but a steady workhorse and a real games jukebox.

Now if you have the time, you can add some final touches to complete the overall experience, adapt the screen design so that it mimics your favorite classic hardware, airbrush the case or whatever.

A simple yet nice extension is to change the Windows XP theme. My selection is a simple black theme, called the Zune-Theme (via, via) and released by Microsoft for free! An alternative is its predecessor, the Royale Noir theme (via)(via). Both themes run out of the box and do not require additional theme software. If you like, download a matching Vista wallpaper here (via) or throw in the current or retro background or your liking.

Another idea is to change sounds and/or the XP startup screens. The LogonUI Boot Randomizer effectively replaces the boring standard Microsoft Logon and Boot screens with a random screen from a predefined library.

Now, have fun!

Legal disclaimer: Laws vary from country to country on the legality of owning or transmitting ROM images, running emulators and such. For the most part, you are required to be in actual possession of the original game, hardware and bios in order to legally retain a copy of the game or system bios. Please familiarize yourself with the respective legal situation. Regardless of your actions, maintainers of goeszen.com will not be held legally responsible.

When you think about it, its a pity. A few games are fun to play, as much today as they were back then. What about another round of Super Mario Kart 64, the original F-Zero, Christmas NiGHTS, Katakis or The Outfoxies from the last post? You would have to schlep all that stuff into the living-room, wire it up, connect the proper joystick or gamepad and wait through hours of booting and loading times. To sum it all up: unbearable!

Entrance for emulators: An emulator is a piece of software that mimics the functionality and environment of one system on a, most likely, very different other system - thus enabling the user to run original software, written for the first system, on the second system. A good example of an emulator, not a traditional though, is the ScummVM. It emulates the original executables shipped with the Lucasfilm adventure games, as the original software, in most cases, won’t run on modern hardware. The ScummVM creates an environment to interpret the old data files, thus giving the opportunity to replay some classic games.

Admittedly, knowing about the technology of emulators, you can run all these games on your office PC. But imagine how much fun it would be to have a dedicated machine for leisure. Like a HTPC. Cramming all the functionality into one system is sometimes quite cumbersome. And then there’s the problem of location. You won’t like to see your grey desktop box beneath the new Plasma-TV, at least your wife won’t. So, the solution would be to build a dedicated gaming PC.

Let’s define the specs:

• We need a black case, preferably a small one, that will nicely blend into our living-room’s environment.
• It should be fast enough to run most emulators, thus giving us real multi-platform functionality.
• It should be as quiet as possible. No need to build a silent-pc/quiet pc, which is mostly a project of its own - and a costly one. At least the machine shouldn’t stress our nerves too much when running.
• It should have no keyboard. Ever seen a VTR or Satellite Receiver with a keyboard? I think a keyboard reminds us too much of work and so our gaming PC should be more a console, no keys attached.
• For high resolution compatibility with modern flat screen TVs, the graphics card should have an DVI video output (which can be easily converted to HDMI with an adaptor). At least the video board should have an S-Video output and Stereo-Cinch, so we can hook it up with standard TV hardware.
• Emulators for C64, Amiga, N64, SNES, MegaDrive and MAME.
• A reasonably sized harddrive, a proper and inexpensive Operation System, DVD drive, Gigabit LAN, etc is what we add as basic standards.

Let’s start the actual assembling and testing in the next post: Building a multi-platform Gaming PC, part 2

The story itself is quickly told: A group of hitmen, quite unique characters like a mad scientist in a wheelchair, a chimp in tuxedo, a hero type or a business-type woman, were contracted by ueber-evil Mr. Acme to engage in a challenge where the goal is to find out which one of the killers is the best of all.

Based on this setting, the player has to go through a series of 2D platform levels fighting one-on-one duels. The idea of a platform shooter is further enhanced by a great zooming and tilting effect, similar to the effect first seen in Art of Fighting and later Samurai Shodown (note the little typo in the official title…). This effect is actually what makes the game unique and fun. Cameltry from 1989 had the rotating screen, Outfoxies has the zoom. In combination with a well done level design, with all the cross sections that remind me of the Dorling-Kindersley Star Wars cross-section books, the game can be quite captivating.

For those of you who own the cartridge and are playing the game on MAME, note that on dated MAME revisions the sound isn’t working. A little helper in this case might be the limited edition soundtrack that Victor Entertainment released for this game (The Outfoxies : Namco Game Sound Express Vol.20 - VICL-15042) back in 1995. Maybe there’s a chance of getting one on eBay. For all others: happy hunting!

Credits

The Outfoxies runs on Namco System NB-1 hardware
Game ID : OU
Main CPU : 68EC020 (@ 24.192 Mhz), M37702 (@ 16.128 Mhz)
Sound Chips : C352 (@ 16.128 Mhz)
Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 288 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 59.70 Hz
Palette colors : 8192
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 3

Developers were:
Concept and design : Masateru Umeda
Main programmer : Yoshiyuki Honda
System programmer : Toshiharu Hijita
Game programmer : Koichi Motokoide
Character designer : Miki Maemori
Field designer : Taro Okamoto
Music and sound effects : Masahiro Fukuzawa
Graphic designer : Akira Usukura
Logo designer : Hideaki Ito
Chief directorer : Masuya Ohishi
Product manager : Shinichiro Okamoto, Hajime Nakatani
Producer : Akihiko Tokue, Shukuo Ishikawa
Visual works provided by: Yukiko Kaneko, Nobuko Endo, Muneyuki Tejima, Mitsuru Fukuoka, Tomoe Yamashita, Hisaharu Takahashi, Takashi Imaizumi, Hitomi Kusano, Kazuaki Fujimoto, Kanako Doi, Daisuke Tsushima, Kyoko Endo, Tomosuke Kashiwabara

Related Links

Sites

The Outfoxies (on games-db.com)

The Outfoxies (on en.wikipedia.org)

The Outfoxies (on klov.com)

Videos

Gameplay 1 (on youtube.com)

Gameplay 2 (on youtube.com)

Images, Screenshots and more

Screenshots (on system16.com)