Abandonware: 10 Sites to Download Discontinued Classic Games

The "abandonwareIs the term used to catalog software abandoned by companies. Applications that they are already discontinued and without support, and that by not reporting any economic benefit, their owners decide to make them available to users for free download.

In the field of videogames, abandonware encompasses all those classic games from the past, from the 80s and 90s mainly, which, although they have already passed away, have been "released" by their companies, and therefore are still available for free for use and enjoyment on PC. Titles like Actua Soccer, Afterlife, Wipeout 2097 or Age of Empires: Gold Edition are some good examples of titles that today we could consider almost “cult” within the label of “abandonware games”.

Some cool sites to download free abandonware games

The truth is that there are several web pages that are dedicated to collecting and classifying this type of classic video games. Some focus on PC-only titles, while others go a bit further, including games from other platforms, such as Nintendo 64 or SNES, through emulation.

My Abandonware

Probably the largest library of abandonware games on the internet. It has more than 14,000 games ranging from 1973 to 2017, with titles Pacman, Arkanoid, Tetris, Warcraft 2 or Civilization.

Each game comes with its corresponding file, description, instructions and download link. The good thing is that in some games we will have the possibility of run them directly from the browser, without the need to install anything on the PC. | Visit Website

PC Games Abandonware

This haven for discontinued free distribution classic games has a wide repertoire of titles where we find games such as PC Soccer 5.0, Virtua Cop 2, After Burner or Street Fighter 2.

The links are available in direct download and it also has a good handful of retro games (The Secret of Monkey Island, Outrun, and many others) that we can play online from within the website itself. | Visit Website

PC Zone Abandonware

This huge library of classic games encompasses titles ranging from Atari ST to Commodore 64, MSX, Spectrum, Amstrad, and PC-DOS games. Best of all, it is a great site to find Spanish games from the 80s and 90s, which would otherwise be impossible to locate. In addition, there is a lot of extra material such as magazines, maps, covers, advertisements, tips and more.

Here we will find games like Sir Fred, The Abbey of Crime, Livingstone I suppose, The Holy Sword or Commandos, among many other classics from the past. | Visit Website

Abandonware DOS

This is another important page in English on abandonware games. It has a lot of lists, with the most popular games, the most downloaded, etc. Next to each title, a flag is attached: if it is green, it means that it can be downloaded for free. If it is red, it means that the owner still retains the rights and does not want to distribute the game for free - in which case a purchase link is attached to GOG-.

Probably the best page in terms of navigation and loading speed. Among its free games there are mythical titles such as Magic: The Gathering, Doom, Sid Meier’s SimGolf, Golden Ax or Lemmings. | Visit Website

Basic Classics

The Basic Classics website has an excellent design, and is also perfectly organized and classified. It has a large volume of games, collecting titles, from 1984 to 2012, for platforms such as Amiga, MegaDrive, Spectrum, SNES or Nintendo 64 among others.

Each title has its own file, cover and description, with its corresponding download link (usually for Windows). | Visit Website

Abandonsocios

With the nickname of "The portal of ancient games", Abandonsocios collects an infinity of games of the type graphic adventure in spanish. A true museum for lovers of this genre that became so popular in the late 80s and 90s.

Some of the most popular games we can find: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, In Cold Blood, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express. | Visit Website

They never would

This simple website is dedicated to classic games for MS-DOS and Windows. It has several outstanding games such as Where is Carmen San Diego ?, Doom, the Lion King, Prince of Persia or the mythical PC Mus. The page does not contain ads, but requires registration to download the games. | Visit Website

Little machines

On the Maquinitas website, in addition to finding a lot of retro material and magazines about Amstrad, we will also find a section dedicated to abandonware. It has an alphabetized list with a multitude of classics for PC and DOS emulators. | Visit Website

Games Nostalgia

This little retro sanctuary is thoughtfully designed, with a large catalog of games available via direct download. Among its most popular games are Road Rash, Disney’s Hercules, Doom 2, Contra, Wolfenstein 3D or Sim City 2000. | Visit Website

Open Games

Open Games includes a selection of just over 100 abandonware titles for PC, classified genre, plus a good handful of freeware games (most shots). Includes classic titles such as the original Mortal Kombat trilogy, Tekken 3, Starcraft, The House of the Dead 2 or the SIMS 1.

Each title has its own descriptive sheet, with screenshots, videos, installation instructions and a highly visible download link, without too much publicity. A good page to download classics from the 80s and 90s without complications. | Visit Website