We’ve mentioned a few times that year is the 20th Anniversary of A Force for Good, the internet’s top source of classic PC gaming reviews and commentary. Turns out though, we share that milestone with another retro gaming project that we must admit is just a little more important. The 9th of this month marks two whole decades since the first release of ScummVM.

That of course is the application that allows us to play those old graphical adventures on a modern PC. It was originally built to run Lucasarts games – Monkey Island, Sam and Max and so on, hence the reference to their Scumm game engine. Since then, the team have added support for games from Sierra, the company who invented the genre and remained Lucasarts’ biggest rival, and a bunch of other publishers also.

Some folks might point out how the MS-DOS emulator DOSBox (itself almost as old) can do everything ScummVM does and more, running just about all the games from those days. Certainly it’s a marvellous piece of software. Still, I’ve always found ScummVM more user friendly. It comes with a built-in GUI, rather than requiring you to edit text files or seek out third party software. I’m also happy to skip deliberating over all of DOSBox’s myriad configuration details, like cpu cycles and rendering options. Here you just add the game directory to the list, maybe choose a graphics filter, and off you go.

It’s been ported to a few other systems, including consoles and handhelds, although I think you need to unlock them to enable homebrew software. There’s also an android port (freely available on the app store) which is the only emulator* I’ve ever had any real use for on phones and tablets. Most of the games are pointer-driven, and that survives the transition to touchpad a lot better than keyboard or gamepad controls. Doom or a platformer with on-screen buttons are godawful, and pairing up a bluetooth controller is just another peripheral to carry around. Day of the Tentacle is, however, the perfect way to pass a transatlantic flight.

Going further back, there was even a port to ye olde Windows Mobile, back in the dark ages of handhelds before iphones were invented. I mention it because I’m fairly sure ‘s how I first completed the original Monkey Island sometime in the mid-2000s.**

Nowadays if you buy your old games from gog, you’ll find adventures come bundled up with ScummVM, ready to run. They’ve been running a sale to celebrate the anniversary which ends, erm… today. Well if you do make it in time and want to revist some classics then my picks would be…. Loom, Fate of Atlantis and over on the Sierra side Conquests of Camelot. Rik meanwhile is a big fan of Blade Runner. If you’re wondering where the first two Monkey Islands are, the original versions aren’t available. Instead there are newer Special Editions with updated graphics and other improvements; these were created for windows and don’t require ScummVM.***

Meanwhile the ScummVM guys themselves have a new update, which you can read about on their site. Most significantly they’ve added support for some of those late-90s games that brought in 3D elements to the graphics, such as Grim Fandango or The Longest Journey.

So then, our thanks to the team for all their work in helping us enjoy classic adventures, and for keeping the project alive for two decades. Long may it continue.

*ScummVM isn’t actually an emulator, more like a replacement executable, but you get the idea.

**Why so long to play such an essential game? I’m not sure. I recall playing the first act over and over and never getting any further.

***both of which let you play the games in their old VGA-and-midi-music state. Still on some level it bugs me that the originals no longer exist as separate downloads.