Play classic 1990s games with a fully functional Mac OS 8 emulator

Anyone wanting a serious dose of nostalgia should install a just-released emulator of a classic Apple desktop computer running Mac OS 8, first released in 1997. There’s even a bunch of games and productivity applications from the same era.

It’s the creation of Felix Rieseberg. But he gives major props to Christian Bauer and James Friend.

“This is Mac OS 8, running in an Electron app pretending to be a 1991 Macintosh Quadra,” says Rieseberg. “Yes, it’s the full thing.” But the developer also points out that it’s written entirely in JavaScript, “so please adjust your expectations.”

Still, anyone who was using Macs more than 20 years ago can once again tinker with the Chooser. And Stickies. Or the Scrapbook. Mac OS 8 was a huge deal at the time — the biggest refresh in 6 years.

Mac OS 8 emulator is all about the games

A highlight is likely to be the games. This emulator comes preinstalled with Oregon Trail, Duke Nukem 3D, Civilization II, Alley 19 Bowling, Damage Incorporated and Dungeons & Dragons.

However, anyone who wants a reminder of how far we’ve come can try out Photoshop 3, Premiere 4, Illustrator 5.5 and other productivity software.

Rieseberg’s macintosh.js emulator can be found on GitHub. It’s free, and there are versions for macOS, Windows and Linux.

If this developer’s name sounds familiar, he released a Windows 95 emulator for macOS back in 2018.