[d3VwsX]

Alley Cat was one of very few old PC games that ran at a fixed speed, making it playable on higher end later PCs without having to use tools like MOSLO.

Too bad the new version was not completed for MS-DOS. If it was it would have been possible to play it on not just on Windows, but pretty much every modern and near-future (and far-future?) system.

DOSBox is a very good virtual machine for 2D games actually. It can support games far beyond what any real DOS hardware could. I wish there was support for exporting to DOS-executables included in some modern game engines, since that would provide at least a single fixed, future-safe, target platform. The closest I know of is an old DOS port of Löve 2D, but it only supports 320x200 VGA graphics. There is nothing limiting DOSBox itself to not support virtual VESA SVGA modes up to modern graphics modes (as long as x and y sizes each fit in unsigned 16-bit integers).

[suprjami]

The author mentions using "old Allegro".

If that means Allegro ⁴ then I maintain a fork for use with DJGPP which can compile DOS binaries:

https://github.com/superjamie/allegro-4.2.3.1-xc

I agree DOSBox is a good programming target these days.

[M95D]

> Too bad the new version was not completed for MS-DOS. If it was it would have been possible to play it on not just on Windows, but pretty much every modern and near-future (and far-future?) system.

Systems today can't run MS-DOS, or any other programs that use BIOS interrupts. They aren't there anymore.

[d3VwsX]

That is why I mentioned DOSBox. That is just one possibility, but probably currently the best one. DOS(Box) remains a fixed, known, target. Windows, even if it has impressive backwards compatibility, breaks older games often enough that it becomes annoying.

If a DOS game is distributed, as GOG does for old DOS games, with a bundled installer and DOSBox configuration, normal users would not even have to know they are playing a non-native game. We can treat it as just a generic virtual machine for games. The fact that it happens to also be backwards compatible with DOS games made 40 years ago is just a fun bonus, even if that is currently its primary purpose.

[Andys]

Technically they still exist, you can buy new 8086 machines and 386s with new motherboards and recycled industrial CPUs, etc.