Back during the 1990s, LucasArts was the king of PC gaming with a slew of awesome games from visual novel Maniac Mansion to games based on Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Unfortunately, many of the games from that era have huge compatibility issues on modern PCs, but one fan has been working to make every classic LucasArts game playable again.
DREAMM (which stands for Dos Retro-Emulation Arena for Maniac Mansion) is described as a “bespoke emulator for LucasArts, Lucasfilm, and Lucas Learning games”. The emulator works to mimic the outside packages of the studio’s old games that are unfortunately no longer supported by modern Windows, Mac, or Linux. (You can grab the emulator here.)
With the release of the emulator’s 4.0 update at the end of February, a number of additional LucasArts games are now playable. Alongside all eight Lucas Learning games, the new update adds support for the licensed games Monopoly Star Wars and Willow. Additionally, six new late-90s Star Wars titles were added to the emulator.
The following games were added with the emulator’s 4.0 release:
- Willow (1989)
- Monopoly Star Wars (1997)
- Star Wars: X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997)
- Star Wars Droid Works (1998)
- Star Wars: Rogue Squadron 3D (1998)
- Star Wars: Rebellion (Supremacy) (1998)
- Star Wars Episode I: The Gungan Encounter (1999)
- Star Wars: Yoda’s Challenge Activity Center (1999)
- Star Wars: Pit Droids (1999)
- Star Wars: Anakin’s Speedway (1999)
- Star Wars Episode I: Racer (1999)
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
- Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance (1999)
- Star Wars: Early Learning Activity Center (2000)
- Star Wars Math: Jabba’s Game Galaxy (2000)
- Star Wars: Jar Jar’s Journey (2000)
Many of the games playable via the DREAMM emulator are no longer available to buy, outside of a few Star Wars titles and some of the most beloved visual novels. Alognside the aformentioned new additions, the emulator supports games like Star Wars Chess, Rebel Assault, Star Wars: Screen Entertainment, and even an unreleased prototype of Super Star Wars for PC.
In the newest version of the emulator, new features have also been added including full controller support, experimental netplay for online multiplayer, Direct3D 11 rendering, automated copy protection (woohoo), and high-quality MIDI sound support.
Alongside being playable on Windows, the DREAMM emulator has also improved both its MacOS and Linux support. For gamers with a Steam Deck—a Linux-powered handheld with built-in controllers—almost all of LucasArts’ beloved games from the 80s to the early 2000s are now playable on the go.
You can grab the newest version of the DREAMM emulator right here, but we can’t tell you how to acquire game files. However, if you look around long enough, we’re sure that some online organisation will have an archive of some sorts, or you can rip your old physical copies to run. (Hell, they should even run straight from the floppy if you have a drive!)
There’s a tonne of nostalgia for LucasArts’ slew of brilliant 90s games, so much so that fans have even fully remade the TIE Fighter games in a brand-new engine. While many of these won’t be re-released or remastered—although Nightdive did a brilliant remaster of Dark Forces everyone should check out—fans are always working to preserve what they can.
