Mac Source Ports

Developer: Midway Games
Release Date: April 4, 1997

OK, now we have all the DOOM games (pre-2016 anyway).

The port of DOOM to the original PlayStation, handled by Midway Games, was such a hit that when it came time to port the game to the Nintendo 64, Midway wanted to do something other than just port the same game again, and wanted to take advantage of the features of the hardware. The result is the most bizarrely unique entry in the series.

DOOM 64 does use the DOOM engine, or at least it started with it, but they took a hard left. The game does use the original game's enemies with reworked assets from the original game, but the levels are new and the engine takes place of the then-novel idea of hardware accelerated graphics. Notably, the N64 could do colored lighting and they use that all throughout the game.

Reactions were mixed. Gamers wanting the original game were disappointed, gamers wanting something new were intrigued, and the critics were mostly just confused. Until recently, it was an obscure anomaly entry in the series with a cult following.

A source port project called Doom64 EX came out, whose goal was to recreate the game using the N64 ROM image for data. In the runup to DOOM Eternal, id and Zenimax decided to resurrect the game and the creator of the source port worked with Nightdive Studios to make a version that ran on PC as well as consoles. In the years since, the Doom 64 EX+ project came out which enhances the original source port as well as gives it the ability to use the data from the PC port of the game. The commercial release did not come to the Mac, but working with the author we're able to offer a Mac release here.

So fire it up and pretend like you're playing on your big CRT having just rented it from Blockbuster Video. It's definitely a unique experience.

  Buy DOOM 64 on GOG.com

Developer: Chris Sawyer
Release Date: October 15, 2002

Another game from the mind of Chris Sawyer, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 shares the same pixel art style and hardcore interface as his other games.

  Buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 on GOG.com

  Buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 on the Humble Store

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios
Release Date: September 20, 1996

Although not as popular as later entries, THe Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall still has a devout cult following today, so much so that there is an online effort to recreate it in an updated engine.

The Daggerfall Unity project, which like it says on the tin is a recreation of the game in the Unity engine, has been in the works for a few years now and for a while it's been mature enough to play through the whole game.

I had been keeping an eye on this project and the main reason I held off on adding it before was that it was an unsigned Intel-only app, and I would have built a Universal 2 version except I have no experience with Unity so I put it on the backburner. However, in light of recent developments with Unity I now don't see myself ever messing with it, and since there are technical reasons why it is Intel-only for now, I've decided to add it as it is.

For the game data, Daggerfall is free on places like GOG and Steam and the Daggerfall Unity project itself is available on GOG, but only for Windows, so I figured adding it here was still worthwhile.

  Buy The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall on GOG.com

Developer: Stainless Games
Release Date: June 13, 1997

An example of controversy for controversy's sake, Carmageddon basically took what people wanted to do in other racing games - crash into other cars and run over pedestrians - and turned it into the primary gameplay loop. They took the macabre joke about getting points for hitting people in your car and made it a gameplay mechanic. The game was successful both from a critical and commercial perspective, as well as its goal as a controversy magnet.

The dethrace project is a source port where in lieu of source code they're reverse engineering it, and according to their Twitter account they're approximately 70% of the way there. The game is very playable but may crash in some places, so I'm introducing a new tag: Early Access. This probably could use a better name but I'm using it to convey the notion that the project doesn't consider itself completely finished (though there are reports of people making it through the entire game), but it's still pretty awesome so I figured if nothing else it's worth putting up a quick build.

  Buy Carmageddon on GOG.com

Developer: Pumpkin Studios
Release Date: April 10, 1999
Source Code Release Date: December 6, 2004

Warzone 2100 is a post-apocalyptic real-time strategy game from 1999 whose source was released in 2004 and whose content was released as freeware in 2008.

Although my aim is to host signed and notarized game bundles on Mac Source Ports, the Warzone 2100 Project has done incredible work on this port and has logistical reasons for not being notarized yet. While they work through that process, I decided it was worth making an exception to the site's policy so that Apple Silicon gamers looking for a full, free and polished RTS would be able to find it.

Because the app bundle is not notarized, on first run you may run into issues. The shortest answer is to right-click on the app bundle (wz2100.app) and select Open. The long answer is here.

Developer: Grey Matter Interactive
Release Date: November 19, 2001
Source Code Release Date: August 12, 2010

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a fantastic single player game with lots of little touches you might have missed the first time around and that you don't see much anymore. Still abolutely worth firing up just to blast some Nazis. This source port also includes the multiplayer as a separate app, which still works on the servers running to this day.

  Buy Return to Castle Wolfenstein on GOG.com

  Buy Return to Castle Wolfenstein on the Humble Store

Developer: id Software
Release Date: December 9, 1997
Source Code Release Date: December 22, 2001

Quake II is a first-person shooter, the second in the Quake series. Yamagi Quake2 is the most mature and advanced port actively being maintained.

  Buy Quake II on GOG.com

  Buy Quake II on the Humble Store

Developer: New World Computing
Release Date: October 1, 1996

Heroes of Might and Magic II is a 4X turn-based strategy game. Ranked once by PC Gamer as the sixth-best game of all time it features resource building, new factions, skills, and a single-player campaign.

  Buy Heroes of Might and Magic II on GOG.com

Developer: Epic MegaGames
Release Date: May 7, 1998

Although never as big as Mario or Sonic, Jazz Jackrabbit did well enough with a hungry PC gaming crowd to merit a second game in the series. It's your standard shareware sequel story: more levels, more twists, better technology. If you liked the original you'll like this one.

It also has a very confusing release strategy. The original game was shareware, when you bought it you got the full Jazz Jackrabbit 2 game. Later, it was re-released with an additional episode under the title Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Secret Files. Then came a release called Jazz Jackrabbit 2: The Christmas Chronicles, which adds Christmas-themed levels. So when you get the game on GOG you might spot two entries, neither of which look like they're the base game, but both should work in Jazz² Resurrection.

  Buy Jazz Jackrabbit 2 on GOG.com

Developer: Thalion Software
Release Date: April 11, 1993
Source Code Release Date: May 7, 2023

The Commodore Amiga was one of those computers where it jumped ahead of the competition by several miles, but then stayed there for a long time and got surpassed by the competition. I think this is why there's such a distinctive look to the games the platform and why it was so accessible to smaller game designers, the types we'd call "indie" today.

Ambermoon is an RPG for the Amiga that really looks like an Amiga game. It was the second part of an unfinished trilogy. Although the original game's source has been released, the source port we're pointing to is Ambermoon.net which like it sounds is a recreation of the original game in C#/.NET (the original game was Amiga-specific Assembly language and isn't a great candidate for portability).

In addition to being able to download it below from the developer's GitHub page, the game is also available on itch.io as a "Name your own price" download in case you want to support or tip the developer.