With Ready Player One hitting theaters these 4 sites will help you practice all the old games from your childhood for free

If you’re reading this post, it’s very likely that you’re in your 30s (or older) and wondering “how can I play those games from my childhood” right? Thinking about the past always brings us positive feelings, especially regarding our childhood. So today at Softonic, we’re going to tug at your heartstrings: four websites to (legally) download games from your childhood for free. However, first some words of advice.

Important

Before we go into the subject, it’s important to note that there are two things we need to clarify. The first is “freeware,” which includes those games that don’t have copyright and are freely accessible, i.e., they’re available to all players. The second is “abandonware” which means games still have copyright, but companies aren’t taking legal action because they don’t care (especially games from the 80s, 90s, etc., which don’t make them any profit).

Now that we’ve explained this important distinction for this article let’s get started!

Abandonia

Possibly the most popular website of all: Abandonia. This site has over 5,000 cataloged video games, which speaks to the great work its creators have done with both abandonware and freeware.

The site has a forum where thousands of users come together to discuss classic video games. Also, the most important part of this website is that every game not only includes the download link but also provides additional info about the developers, company, release date, and other info.

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Clásicos básicos (Basic classics)

The name says it all, don’t you think? On Clásicos básicos (Basic classics), you’ll find all the games from your childhood. And the best part is that the project is done in a completely selfless way by its creators, so if you want to donate money to it, you can.

Likewise, there’s also a forum for you to get answers to your questions, although we should note that it’s pretty abandoned (truth be told).

Archive

It’s pretty likely that you know Archive for its music, movies or texts, but did you know that it also has a section completely dedicated to video games? In fact, it has several, but there are two that we’d like to highlight.

The first has to do with MS-DOS, where there are over 4,000 classic video games that you can download completely free. The second is based on playing old games directly in your browser, i.e., without needing to install a program or file.

Emulator-Zone

We’ll wrap up this list with Emulator-Zone, one of the most important abandonware sites right now. Why? Well, because it gets constantly updated, so it’s rare for them not to upload a new console video game that’s 20, 30 or more years old.

Be careful with what you download: some programs are abandonware or freeware, but other risky ones are in circulation at the moment too.