Lode Runner: The Legend Returns, just has to be the first entry in this section! This game came with the very first PC that my parents bought, back in 1995. We were hooked on this game, as much as one could be, when using a PC in healthy moderation! Somewhere between the ages of 11 and 16, I had created over 150 two-player levels! My Dad ended up being the "level tester", who I aggravated to no end, lol. I would see him get the gold in a way that I had not intended and I would jump right back into the editor to fix the flaw! No matter how many other games we played over the years, this one was sure to follow from PC to PC, over the past 28 years!
A little over 9 years ago, in 2014, I had created/shared a torrent of the newer Mad Monks Revenge version, but I ended up losing the desire to update this site and never added it! MMR does have more playability features, but I do not like the menu, plus you need the CD for the music to work, so I will add that version later. As I wrote this, I see that around that same time, work had started on an update of MMR and it has been moving along nicely! You can find it in the reference links below. Thanks to Virtual Machine software, you can now seamlessly play this 16bit game on 64bit Windows 10!
Step 1: Download and Install the OTVDM Software, using the default installer settings.
- For 32bit Windows, use the built-in NTVDM Feature.
Step 2: Download this portable Zip of Lode Runner: The Legend Returns, which comes from a 1996 Floppy Disk backup of that original Windows 95 PC!
Step 3: Extract the game to a directory without spaces in the folder names. For example, the game was normally stored in C:\SIERRA
Run loderunn.exe and enjoy!
The game is pretty small on a high resolution monitor, but there is an easy fix for that.
Good old MultiRes still works fine on Windows 10.
Download and install MultiRes, go into the LODERUNN game folder and create a new text file, with the following contents:
start /w LODERUNN.EXE
"C:\Program Files (x86)\MultiRes\MultiRes.exe" /restore /exit
You can also open MultiRes to see all the supported resolutions for your monitor, to find the best match. For example, if you have a 1.78 aspect ratio monitor, then your minimal resolution might be 1280,720 (1280/720 = 1.78) and 800,600 (800/600 = 1.33) will be too distorted.
Step 2: Open SIERRA\LODERUNN\OTVDM, Right-click "install.inf" and click "Install". (OTVDM is version otvdm-for-old-windows-v0.8.1)
Step 3: Run SIERRA\LODERUNN\Play_LRTLR.bat to play Lode Runner! (Optional: See Resolution editing options above)
Reference Links:
Otvdm/winevdm
New Installers for Sierra Games
Mad Monks' Revenge: Definitive Edition
Jason's Lode Runner Archive
Fire Fight (PC Game, 1996) Challenge Perfect Play Mission 1 - By: Junmin Park
Rather than digging through who knows how much stuff to find my old copy, I managed to find a copy online and hunkered down for some lengthy tinkering. Don't worry about copyright, it expired in 2012 and it is officially "abandonware" now. The end result of my tinkering, a full disc copy of the game which now also includes the final version 1.2 patch! In short, no more messing with "compatibility mode" in XP and most likely, Vista/7/8/10.
You can burn it to a CD, but you can also mount the BIN/CUE image on a virtual drive. You will need to use a program that supports multi-track discs. Here are two free programs that work: Alcohol 52% v1.9.8 and DAEMON Tools Lite. Based on reviews, I don't recommend the latest version of Alcohol 52%.
If you don't care that the music works, then you can save yourself a few hundred megabytes and download the 50MB ISO. I should also note that it won't save game progress if you try to play it from the PC, so you will still need to mount the ISO on a virtual drive. Also, the patched version requires running from a disc, virtual or real.Enjoy this blast from the past! :)
Download: Full Disc - BIN/CUE OR Game Only, No Music - ISO
Additional note: If you have trouble getting the music to work from a virtual drive, then you need to re-arrange your optical drive letters. The virtual drive needs to be first, before your physical optical drives. You can change your drives letters via the Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management, then "Disk Management".
