SkyRoads is a sweet little game from 1993 in which you maneuver a space ship, always keeping it on a path full of stairs, holes and obstacles. In today’s post, we’ll look at two SkyRoads games; the original and a modern Windows/Linux version called Jumpnroll. Both are, as usual, free and portable.

The original SkyRoads can be played by keyboard or with your mouse. There are plenty of levels to keep you entertained! If you can’t get enough of this game, you can download another release of the game (it’s also free and the full version) on their site called SkyRoads X-MAS special which has different levels and is even more challenging to play.

Download: http://www.bluemoon.ee/history/skyroads/index.html

Jumpnroll is just as fun and it’s open-source. Instead of a space-ship, you guide a small ball along the path with the arrow keys and jump with your space bar. It’s a very simple game but very engaging! I like the responsiveness of the ball; it reacts immediately to your control (unlike some frustrating car games).

Download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/jumpnroll

These games are great fun, hope you enjoy them!

Emulators (programs that imitate other computer platforms) open up a whole new world of portable gaming for your flash drive. Games that I once thought I’d never be able to play again (like Aztec Challenge for the Commodore 64 which I tried to find for months on a PC platform) are all available and most are all small single files that are easy to carry around with you wherever your go! The emulators required to run them also usually require no installation.

I’ll be checking out several emulators for different platforms over the next few months with links to games for each of them. This week, we’ll start with my true love: The Commodore 64!!

I’ve tried a few C64 emulators but my favorite to date has to be VICE. One of my favorite features is that it allows you to define your keys for joystick control for both game ports 1 & 2 – very helpful when playing on a laptop in which the numeric keypad is impossible to play a game with! All you need to do is unzip the files and it’s ready to go.

Now for C64 games for your emulator: one of my favorite sites is: http://c64g.com/. This site has tons of games for various platforms as well as several emulators (including VICE). Everything is free!

Here are a few C64 games that I’ve really enjoyed in the past, to get you started (you can find them all and many more at http://c64g.com/.):

• Aztec Challenge
• GhostBusters!
• JumpMan
• Missile Command
• PacMan
• QBert
• 1942
• SpyHunter
• Mario Brothers
• Donkey Kong

Update August 23: Here’s another great source of Commodore 64 games for you: http://www.c64.com.

Alright, these may not be truly portable in the strictest sense but I thought I’d pass this along because they are small and well-made arcade games. The computer you connect your flash drive to has to have Macromedia Flash Player installed and the browser has to have javascript activated. The website says the games run best on Explorer but I have played them all on Firefox and they run without any problems.

Each game has just one file (an .swf file), you just need to copy it to your flash drive. To play, simply open the file in your browser. You do not need to be online.

I’m unsure how many levels these games have (I didn’t get far enough yet!) but they are nice light games, fast to load and simple to run (provided you have Flash installed).
Here are the games that are available(you can right-click the link and select Save Link As (or Save Target As) to copy the flash game from here) :

• Pacman
• Simon
• Asteroids
• Tetris
• Donkey Kong
• Duck Hunt
• Space Invaders
• Frogger
• Star Castle
• Moon Patrol
• Pong

Download site and help on installing: http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/download_games.shtml

MemPad is a handy app that helps you to sort all your notes. It allows you to define a tree-like structure with sub-levels.For example, say you are a programmer and you want to store code snippets. You could define different headings like Database, Communications, Graphics and paste code into each page. It keeps all your research organized and easy to access.

It’s like KeyPad (which is what I was using before) but much smaller; only 86 K! Unlike Keypad, it’s packaged as portable. The interface is not as intuitive; two buttons have the same icon but do different things and there are a lot less features compared to KeyPad (but Keypad is over 2 M).
Download: http://home.mnet-online.de/horst.muc/win/index.html

Here is a really fun, challenging and very cool game: Tux Racer. Your aim is to guide the Linux mascot down snow-covered mountains and collect as many herrings on the way as you can. The game is available for Linux, Windows and Mac and is open-source.

The game is really challenging, the trick is to keep your speed down, otherwise it becomes impossible to grab all the fish!

Download: http://tuxracer.sourceforge.net/

Here is a very faithful Windows remake of the classic Jumpman game. It comes with 30 levels and looks just like the original. The object of the game is to disarm all of the bombs (yes, those are bombs and not flowers!) on Jupiter Station while avoiding bullets, robots and all kinds of surprises. One of my all-time favorite games!

If this version is too plain for some of you, here is another version, also portable, called Jumpman Zero. This one is 3D and is very well done. For both games, just copy the files onto your flash drive and away you go!

If you are a true Jumpman fanatic, check out Jumpan Lounge for everything Jumpman (and a few more versions of the game).

Downloads:

• Classic Jumpman: http://www.oldskool.org/pc/jumpman/
• Jumpman Lives!: http://jlounge.classicgaming.gamespy.com/resources.html (Scroll down to Jumpan Lives!)
• Jumpman Zero (3D version): http://www.jumpmanzero.com

Here is a small (less than 60 K) and sweet remake of the classic Space Invaders. It has no sound and I find it much more challenging to play than the version incorporated in the Arcade Pack (I found that one too easy and boring). The movement keys take some getting used to. Well, ok. They take A LOT of getting used, at least for me :

• left CTRL = move left
• right ALT= move right
• right SHIFT = fire

When you fist launch the game, the GAME OVER screen apprears; pressing ENTER starts you on a game. Also, my Windows Sticky keys kept getting activated so you probably will have to disable it. I miss the arcade sounds, but this game truly tests your skills.

Download from CNET: Space Invaders