MS-DOS is a bit before my time but I expect a lot of our readers are at the age where getting out of bed is a risk for your back and knees. Sometimes you get bored of modern games and feel like having a good hit of nostalgia although it can be quite hard to get hold of older games especially considering 87% of them are considered inaccessible. There are varying reasons for this, but some good news today for fans of older DOS games, is that there is a very easy way to play some classic titles.
DOS_deck, Free DOS Games In a Browser
As shared by arstechnica, DOS games can be a bit of a faff to setup on modern systems and some people just can’t be bothered. This is where a site called dosdeck.com comes along as it offers an easy way to play several classic DOS games through your browser without any setup and you can even use a controller.
The about page shares information on DOS_deck which was effectively created by a group of enthusiasts who wanted to ensure that classic DOS titles would not fade into obscurity and would remain easily accessed unlike many other games through recent history. The group created DOSBox, a PC emulator which required an installation limiting some accessibility. Fortunately with modern web technology, the group has been able to make DOSBox run on a web browser creating JS-DOS and then bringing DOS_deck into the picture.
Emulators can be a grey area for legality and the question of if these games are legal is on people’s minds. The team claims that each game on DOS_deck is perfectly legal and verified as either shareware, freeware, demo or liberated. Currently there are 16 games available on the website though there are supposedly many more coming listed on this Reddit post
More information, and the games, are available at dosdeck.com, if I wasn’t in the office today, I think I’d play some Doom.
