To clarify, if I was introducing someone to the Diablo series for the first time and told them they’d have to start on the first one. I wouldn’t want them playing the bare vanilla version. There is a Bezelbub mod out there that gives the game lots of QoL improvements, you’d be thinking you’re playing a build of Diablo 2 before its final version.
So, if I had to tell anyone what the best way to play that game would be, it is the Bezelbub mod. That was how I’ve beaten the first game anyways.
Pokemon Red at 10fps on a gateway laptop circa 2004
Should I put the RAM back in?
For Chrono Trigger, definitely don’t play the original SNES localization. No disrespect to Ted Woolsey, he was one man working on an unreasonably tight deadline and hard technical limitations, but the retranslation is much better.
There are a host of open source remakes of old game engines that fix bugs and update them for modern systems as well as add support for higher resolutions and widescreen aspect ratios. Here’s a few off the top of my head:
- OpenMW for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This is probably the most famous one.
- Daggerfall Unity for The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall.
- OpenRA for Red Alert, Tiberian Dawn, Dune 2000, and (in pre-alpha form) Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 (the latter requiring extra fiddling with Github repositories).
- KeeperFX for Dungeon Keeper.
- OpenRCT2 for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2.
- OpenTTD for Transport Tycoon Deluxe.
- OpenJKDF2 for Dark Forces 2 and its standalone Mysteries of the Sith expansion.
- Arx Libertatis for Arx Fatalis, though IIRC the version sold now integrates an older build of it; one without the fixes for glyph drawing - it’s worth upgrading for that alone as spellcasting is a nightmare without the fix.
- TRX for Tomb Raider I and II.
- Tfix, T2Fix, and the Sneaky Upgrade for Thief 1/2/3 respectively. These are mods, not wholesale engine replacements, but serve the same purpose.
These are just the ones I know of. There are probably loads more.
Edit: the Ur-Quan Masters for Star Control II. I can’t believe I forgot about this! Star Control II is one of the best and most influential games that most people have never heard about.
OpenXcom for the first two X-Com games (UFO: Enemy Unknown and X-Com: Terror From The Deep). This reimplementation is insanely good.
- It fixes all known bugs of the original X-Com engine.
- It works on modern systems, including Linux, macOS, Windows, and even Android.
- It has support for modern resolutions and aspect ratios.
- It allows you to use soundtracks from other versions of the game (e.g. look at the website’s “Extras” tab).
- It has mod support including a basic mod manager. And some of those mods are damn good.
- It runs flawlessly.
There’s really no reason to play the original DOS versions anymore.
OpenRCT2 is 100% the definitive way to play Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 & 2.
But I would never recommend a new player try OpenRA. The game has stellar multiplayer support but they just can’t figure out the campaign scripting at all. Go with the remaster collection instead.
Still? I haven’t played OpenRA in several years and assumed they would have fixed it by now.
Then again Red Alert 2 is even less supported than it was the last time I checked, so I’m guessing their focus is mostly on the multiplayer side of things.
Aaaaand saved. Thanks!
Silent Hill - alone, in the dark.
There’s something like 20 versions of Machaarior 2. Dos versions are the best.
Viva New Vegas for Fallout: New Vegas and the Unofficial Patch for VtM: Bloodlines are my go-to examples. Not a mod but Ninja Gaiden Black is the definitive version and much better than both Ninja Gaiden (2004) and Ninja Gaiden Sigma.
First off, here’s a big list of unofficial ports:
https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_unofficial_ports
Dhewm 3 for Doom 3. Just updates the game engine to run better on modern hardware since id tech 4 is open source. Mod support sort of, not every mod is compatible. They helpfully list those that do here: https://dhewm3.org/mods.html
The Sims 2 High DPI patch, self explanatory:
https://github.com/lah7/sims2-4k-ui-patchVCMI - Heroes of Might and Magic 3 open source engine/game extension. Has a built in mod manager, really handy: https://vcmi.eu/
Coming soon / WIP: I’m excited to play this port of the MS-DOS game Albion when it reaches feature parity with the original:
I’ve been playing BG3 with a loot randomizer. It really makes you have to think about your builds because you can’t rely on certain gear anymore. Makes it almost feel like a roguelike.
I have been thinking of whether there was a pokemon mod that does something like this.
I’d like something that gets rid of trade evolutions and puts all 151 in a single game.
I’m sure it’s out there. So, I guess that’s my half assed attempt at an answer.
A modder named Drayano has pretty much defined this category of ROM hack and I think has his own version of every major game from generations 3-6
There’s probably romhacks out there that do that.
Whichever way is most fun
Fallout Fixt for anyone wanting to dive into the OG fallout.
Huh, haven’t heard of Bezelbub mod, I’ll have to check if its compatible with DevilutionX the open source reimplementation of Diablo 1. I played DevilutionX on my steamdeck, but got stuck in beginning of nightmare as my character wasn’t powerful enough to continue.
