PowerPC G4 OSX-native kids games

February 15, 2013 11:56 AM

What are the available OSX native educational kids games that will run on an iMac G4 (I have the 400mhz one)? I bought the Jumpstart games off ebay, but those seem to be ClassicOS games that they just slapped a wrapper on, and as such they don't work very well. 640x480 in a tiny window not-well, for instance.

The kids are 6 and 3, but I'm fine giving them high-school age games if that is what is available. The 6 year old can read, so the sky is the limit. Thanks!

posted by BeeDo to computers & internet (6 answers total)

A couple suggestions to find titles which should run on your older mac:

• apple.com/games circa 2002 (via archive.org)
• Inside Mac Games has reviews going back to 2000.
• MacRumors has a list big name games which were universal binaries (PowerPC & Intel) most of which should run on your G4 (depending on your graphics card).

posted by notpeter at 1:31 PM on February 15

Macintosh Garden, PowerPC LIberation, etc. Search for "powerpc mac abandonware"
posted by blob at 1:36 PM on February 15 [1 favorite]

Sim City
posted by leafwoman at 2:47 PM on February 15

There kinda aren't any OSX native educational games from that era. Just a few years before, the educational software market imploded after a massive merger & acquisition spree between competitors Softkey and Cendant consolidated all the educational game publishers of note into two mega corps and then, in a vain effort to control costs, slashed devs, halted new development on games and just started churning out shovelware reusing the same bitmapped, 256 color limited palette graphics drawn 5-10 years earlier with code updates to make the games run on newer operating systems. At the same time, the institutional educational market turned toward assessment products to meet the demands schools were facing with the enactment of NCLB and drill&kill-the-skill and critical thinking games fell out of favor and thus production. So, you are completely correct in thinking that the only thing new on those games you bought off eBay is the CD label. Because that's exactly what happened.

Anyhow, I advise adjusting down the screen rez on your iMac, seeing if it will run Classic, and getting the following titles:

Brøderbund:
Logical Journey of the Zoombinis
Living Books: Just Grandma and Me

Humongous:
Freddie Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds
Freddi Fish 3: The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell

The Learning Company (pre-1996):
Reader Rabbit's Reading Journey
Midnight Rescue
Gizmos & Gadgets
posted by jamaro at 7:41 PM on February 15

What version of OS X?
posted by churl at 10:30 AM on February 16

MARBLE BLAST GOLD!!!

yeah, I know, it's not really educational...
posted by ooklala at 9:13 PM on February 17