Can You Game on a 24 Year Old iMac G3? (Kind of...)

Can you really game on an iMac? Let alone an iMac from 1999? Let's find out...
Unlikely BUT I put it to the test anyway with these 12 ICONIC games that I'm almost too young to remember.
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[@OmegaCorsair]

Zachary Trying not to make a video about the Imac *Intense Sweating*

[@zacharystaines]

Too flipping real man 😬😬😬

[@OmegaCorsair]

@@zacharystaines No It's fine I love your imac videos Man. I mean you got me interested in the G3 In the first place

[@Randomnameidk]

zachary is the imaster of imacs

[@spingleboygle]

iLove iMac

[@goat_zgamer5073]

@@zacharystaines you should try and run halo 1 for mac on it lol

[@PLC_Mapping]

It definitely could run GTA 1 😂

[@KoopaKid660]

Did GTA1 even come to PowerPC Mac?

[@PLC_Mapping]

@@KoopaKid660 idk, but if it did then it is capable

[@abobeleiranilton]

Gta London... maybe? Better... A gameboy color emulator with gta 1 and 2 for the gameboy

[@PLC_Mapping]

@@KoopaKid660 I think I found a version for PowerPC so yes

[@zacharystaines]

Yo... imagine running a gameboy emulator on this haha. That stresses me out

[@alwinter]

This gives me flashbacks of my childhood. I had (and still have) this exact model iMac. I managed to play The Sims, Diablo 2, Quake 3 Arena, and many others but man it was rough.

[@ddylan4cats]

Now you’ve upgraded almost every part of this iMac - the CD drive, the RAM, and now the Storage Unit. The only thing still untouched is the PowerPC processor, which is what makes this iMac an iMac.

[@zacharystaines]

Yeah at this point if i replace anything else it loses its soul haha!

[@ddylan4cats]

@@v1tuspotter620That could make it run faster

[@windowsxpnt2347]

you can't realistically replace the cpu in this model of imac, if it was a tray loader, then you could get a g4 upgrade card (and if you're really lucky, there was a version of the voodoo 2 that coudl fit into rev a and rev b imacs)

[@TheCustomFHD]

@@zacharystaines replace the os.

[@TonkPlus]

Ive had this broom for 20 years, its had 17 new heads and 14 new handles.

[@Challpall]

Love your videos man and I’m enjoying the video!

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks for the love bro! Appreciate ya hanging out!

[@hadirizvi9070]

just in time lets see the channel grow in a blink of an eye!

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks for the support man!

[@lauralentini9033]

so happy to see your channel grow and finally get the recognition you deserve🥳 proud to be a part of the ogs tho (don't forget about us when you become a superstar hehe)

[@zacharystaines]

Appreciate ya Laura! It's been a blast!

[@JulienOliver27]

factual

[@duc_ke]

i feel like this is becooooming a series! i love your videos zach!

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks so much Tamori!

[@souptiksamanta]

I was waiting for this so long

[@XGxgame]

Yo bro loved the video! Ive been watching for quit abit and i loved the content you realsed for the 24yo imac! (Sorry for terrible english im polish)

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks so much man! Yo from Poland? That's epic

[@random_person618]

New viewer here! I cannot believe your channel's so underrated. Subscribed just now!

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks heaps man! That means a lot!

[@mioszkoodziej7268]

love your videos man, kepp growing

[@zacharystaines]

I appreciate that bro! Thanks for showing ya support - hope ya dug this new video 🙌

[@Konkretertyp]

I think Diablo 1 & 2 should run on the mac, at least it said so on the original box, as far as i remember. GTA 1 + 2 should be possible too. Nontheless interesting video, you caught my attention, even if i am not a fan of apple products, but i kind of interested in their old machines.

[@zacharystaines]

Ooo that would be sweet to give a go. Cheers man! These old machines are a blast to use!

[@Konkretertyp]

@@zacharystaines Those iMacs are really fascinating to me, since i saw some as a child, while passing by an internet-cafe, that had a full inventory of the iMac G3. It has something unique to me, that i want to experience myself. Hope to find a working unit.

[@christopherwilliams9418]

Diablo 1 and 2 will run on most PPC Macs, GTA1 and GTA2 are technically possible, though they never got native Macintosh ports. I would recommend running the PSX versions in OS9 under Connectix VGS, or you could try in OSX on PCSX. Not sure how well the DOS versions run. That GTA III port actually requires way beefier hardware sadly because it's still in the earliest stages of porting. Long story short, it's ported enough that it will run on a Mac but because Windows games are coded in one way and Mac games are coded in another way (something about bytes needing flipped?) your Mac has to sort of... Rewrite the game on the fly to work, so it only works on G5 or REALLY powerful G4 machines. I'm hoping as time goes on it'll become more optimized and maybe even offer a version able to run on machines with only 8MB of VRAM through use of some of the PS2 assets. Honestly I'd love to see more of the games PPC Macs missed get ports, Midtown Madness is a prime candidate as it got an open source port a couple years ago. Other native Mac games I'd suggest giving a go... - Fallout 1 & 2 (1 works in OS9 or OSX, 2 only in OSX) - Quake 1, 2, 3 Arena - Driver - Unreal Tournament (The original runs great on my iBook, not sure if any of the later releases will run on your iMac) - StarCraft - WarCraft (My iBook runs II, your iMac MIGHT be able to run III if it has 16mb or more of VRAM) - Deus Ex (Runs in OS9 ONLY, does NOT work with Classic in OSX) And while I'm talking about it, let's pour one out for the Mac ports that didn't get to see the light of day... Worms Armageddon, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed (EA wouldn't give Aspyr the source code), Lego Island (Mindscape laid off their whole staff before work on the Mac port could begin) and Half Life (Completed, but never released because Sierra, then owner of Valve, didn't like the sales estimates)

[@Maxtraxv3]

it def does mate house only had macs had 2 of these running diablo 2.

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

Very nice! I was born in 89, and I remember when this came out. Haha. I searched up this computer to see what it's capable of running these days. Haha.

[@Unkown_Error9279]

love the vids keep it up

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks man!!

[@benjiluvu]

this man is gonna blow up in the next few months PLEASE remember me! I'll come back to every video you post from now on

[@zacharystaines]

Haha you're too kind bro! I got you, Void!

[@onlyjustanimate]

Epic!! Keep up the quality dude!!!!!

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks heaps man! Appreciate you watching!

[@NewportBox100s]

Subscribed!

[@majesticgrey]

Now try Half-Life on it! Keep up the good work, and you'll be the best tech youtuber on the Tube! Though,, the Wifi Card being broken may have affected Roblox. Get a new one (if you can find one), and try some of the other games again.

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks man! Appreciate ya sticking around. That was me trying with ethernet and firefox - still no luck lol but I am a noob so 🤣

[@sheporeado]

I love your videos!

[@zacharystaines]

Love you guys

[@sheporeado]

@@zacharystaines Every time i see you fix that mac i think i should fix my pc.....5 minutes later im praying that it works. lol

[@duplicake4054]

Doom can run on almost anything. Someone ran it on a touchbar! (this isn't a processing power problem just to clarify, it is a screen size issue.

[@zacharystaines]

a freakin touch bar? What the heck man?!

[@elixir7900]

Still have my iMac from 98, it used to run Unreal Tournament, TR3, StrarCraft, The Sims, Civilization II, Myst, and so many more cool games. We had to plug the additional RAM so we could run Unreal T.

[@ThatoneguyYoYo]

This channels gonna grow so fast

[@zacharystaines]

Dude its blowing my mind - so thankful

[@Gabbo-uf4eq]

Please make a longer version, it would be so cool!

[@crake345]

We had cereal box games here in the US as well. That's how I got Amazon Trail lol

[@blehmeh9889]

I'm interested in what version of Doom you just played on the iMac. What sourceport did you use? The one you were using seemed to experience a graphics error. It may be a 3D accelerated source port; if your iMac doesn't come with a very capable or compatible 3D GPU, a simpler source port that uses software rendering (such as Chocolate Doom) may work better. Also, I saw you only had 3 chapters in the Chapter Select screen. Ultimate Doom (the one released around the time that Doom 2 was released, and also the one you get if you buy Doom off of GOG or Steam today) has 4 chapters. If you want another example of a game you can run on the iMac G3, consider Quake 3 Arena. It's popular enough that it still has players playing it online today, and this game was advertised to run on the iMac G3 back when it first came out.

[@noaharkadedelgado]

POWERPC enthusiasts UNITE!!!! (Can you please make the ultimate Quad G5 gaming mac? Would be interesting to see gaming benchmarks.)

[@zacharystaines]

Oh snap - ive been on a look out for other machines... could be my next pick! I always wanted a power mac!

[@windowsxpnt2347]

action retro has a few videos on his g5 quad

[@mickeydc3023]

Hey Zachary, if you do the part 2 of this video, my suggest is try to run Halo - Combat Evolved, Max Payne and Doom 3! If run it on this iMac G3, you're rock.

[@zacharystaines]

So many great games dang!

[@3styler1]

If it doesn't play GTA 3 it has no chance at the rest all 3 are DX9 games

[@windowsxpnt2347]

@@3styler1 macs don't use directX, they tended to use openGL. there are native ppcmac ports of all those games tho (iirc)

[@mickeydc3023]

@@3styler1 hey dude, i'm only talking about the PPC ports of this games

[@stephanemignot100]

Halo struggles on my 2004 1.25 ghz eMac, Max Payne runs great

[@emmabentley7945]

Would love to see you play X Plane 12 (not on the iMac tho haha ) , happily send you some airports to try from our catalog ❤

[@zacharystaines]

That's awesome Emma, I'll have to get myself a solid pc haha!

[@Trapperdog]

W editing

[@zacharystaines]

Thanks boss!

[@FrxdWasHere]

First minecraft, now this. Congrats!

[@zacharystaines]

I had to give a few more classics a go!

[@MileZero313]

Awesome fun to watch, curious if it is possible for it to have an up to date web browser

[@zacharystaines]

Yeah there is a browser that works better for these legacy iMac's! I was using Firefox and it was struggglinggg but will see haha! Thanks for watching man!

[@jocelynzofia]

♡!! Now attempting ZT1 on the G3 Clamshell SE

[@yusef3132]

Might be able to run RetroArch. Not sure about on Tiger. Definitely on Leopard. Worth a shot...

[@Ich_bin_dumm.]

bugdom so nostalgic

[@farhaddeya670]

bro's literally in love with this imac💀

[@zacharystaines]

It's all i got 🫡

[@farhaddeya670]

@@zacharystaines okay i think you sre right. this is your youtube idea. making videos about imac and testing it. thats cool

[@Damn_it.]

Where you were when this thing released. You could do the best review. It would explode

[@Piipperi800]

You can run more modern browsers like TenFourFox to maybe get cloud gaming t work, althrough considerig how bad the KZbin performance is, I doubt those would work. On a G4-based system with Leopard you can just use the built-in screen sharing for some gaming though (assuming you have a modern Mac somewhere)

[@dallyp6143]

InterWebPPC is slightly more performant and has current security updates so use that

[@QUANTUMJOKER]

A 128 GB SSD in your iMac G3? Good man. I installed a 128 GB Compact Flash card in my own iMac G3 a couple of weeks ago. :D So you know, you can dual-boot Mac OS 9 and OS X on your iMac. My iMac G3 has only Mac OS 9, but I have my other OS 9-capable Macs, including my Pismo and TiBooks, partitioned with 2/3 (about 90 GB) for OS 9 and 1/3 (about 30 GB) for OS X. I even had my Power Mac G4 Cube running one SSD with OS 9 and another SSD (replacing the optical drive) with OS X. By the way, it's funny that you tried Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on your iMac, as my family's eMac actually came pre-installed with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

[@OutFreak28]

Yeah I think age of empires on cereal boxes was pretty much everywhere, I got it that way in mexico.

[@windowsxpnt2347]

so you go through classic mac games, but no mention of unreal tournament 99, quake 3 or any of the games from the marathon trillogy (bungiee fps game before halo)?

[@zacharystaines]

Shoot dude you're right! Okay next time next time 🫡

[@theknifeyone9933]

I have a G4 iMac and it can play GTA III quite well. I imagine with some work it could work at least okay on the G3. Also if you are looking for games, I'm curious to see if Halo or Fallout 1 could run on a G3.

[@DPfen]

Great video...makes me want to do the same on my 500 MHz-upgraded Bondi blue iMac. But, repeat after me...Mac OS TEN, not "Ex." ;)

[@zacharystaines]

500 MHz? Man you've got a sleeper build right there! lol good catch old habits die hard

[@virtualwastrel]

My guy, you ran Gzdoom on a 1999 computer, of course it would fuck up. The Ultimate Doom on Mac would run completely fine.

[@enestntr]

I can't believe people like you are curious about old technologies Congratulations

[@speedysonic14]

The DOOM Port you were using called DOOM Legacy does have a few bugs.

[@milannathan]

MFourFox is a browser designed to work on these older machines. It can be very slow at times but it works

[@deckofcards87]

My iMac runs 68k software perfectly, i.e. Prince of Persia, Warcraft II, Doom, Lemmings, Duke Nukem 3D. One thing I like is that the Mac versions of a lot of these games are rendered in higher resolution than their DOS cousins, they look better.

[@ELITE_NOTE]

It runs those games better than my laptip

[@mikec4178]

You could have boot that natively into os 9 and those classic games would have run significantly better. Just hold down option key when turning on

[@Rebateman]

We need a stream of you playing Age Of Empires on the iMac. Or even seeing if various systems work via emulation. Like imagine playing MySims DS on the iMac.

[@zacharystaines]

That sounds hilariously embarrassing (it’s been a while since I’ve played lol) but I like where ya head is at 🤌🏼

[@seifou_00]

bro really thought that cloud gaming gonna work 😂

[@zacharystaines]

Haha i am the optimist

[@alexanderbuchler4048]

Rollercoaster Tycoon will be impossible to come by, since the original code was written for x86 Architecture Assembly, while the iMac G3 uses a PowerPC Architecture. Someone (not me) would have to convert the whole thing to run on PowerPC CPUs.

[@DjMjk]

It’s so cool 1:17

[@billgates3699]

Believe it or not, these things were actually designed to run games. I know, crazy

[@krakenbase530]

I think you could try Rainbow Six (1998) or Turok 2 (from the same year) on the Mac.

[@ipodpeople]

For me, the only reason to get a pre-2013 Mac is simply to play some games not found on other platforms. E.g. GooBall from Ambrosia. Moon Lander from OnlyMac. Chopper from Majic Jungle. Modern Combat: Domination from Gameloft. Apart from that purpose, an old phone would perform a lot better than any G3 Mac.

[@cats0949]

minecraft now ultimate gaming pc wow amazing dude actually

[@Retro_gamer1980]

this is probably one of the videos that caught my attention the most proof i didnt fast forward

[@moxiegaming8726]

Can it run half life 1 I’m thinking of actually buying one of these things and that’s what I wannna do

[@aaronsells1690]

My question is why didn't you image the old hard drive so you could flash the image on the new one?

[@Nimrod355]

You should try the original Driver (You are the wheelman) game.

[@Emily_Bondevik_Official]

Remember us when you wake up with millions of subscribers tommorow

[@zacharystaines]

Haha got a while to go - won’t forget you guys who were here at the start 🥲

[@Emily_Bondevik_Official]

@@zacharystaines believe me when I say, one video is enough to blow up, but it's hard to remain relevant

[@Z64sports]

There are modern browsers for vintage PCs btw

[@Babbages]

you do know you can hook an ethernet cord to a laptop or a pc that's connected to wifi and share/bridge that connection through the ethernet cord to another pc or game console or whatever rite? I have been doing that with all types of stuff for years since around Xbox 360s times because it would allow me to run 2 devices up in my room at the same time did the same with 2 old pci ethernet cards up til I got wifi adapters lol.

[@sp8x_]

early also i hope you have a amazing day/night

[@banks3388]

Why didn't you try Bleem?

[@MaksimLifts]

Dude idk abt imacs but on windows 10 it launched only on some specific settings in Properties

[@NothingMuchHereToSay]

That I think is a second or third gen iMac G3, the first gen from 1999 had a tray-loading CD-ROM.

[@zacharystaines]

Yup! This is a second gen iMac G3 - the first slot loading from late 1999 without firewire!

[@pumsy05]

Rollercoaster tycoon would probably run but I'd guess the only way to do it would be to install Linux and use openRCT2, an open source reemplemtation of the game engine that runs natively on Linux and other operating systems. You still need the original Windows install files which can be downloaded from steam though

[@zacharystaines]

Yo this is great info man! Something about RCT on this iMac just makes sense!

[@JJNet777]

7:13 That’s a PC file You need a dmg file

[@MotownBatman]

New Sub! Dryden, Michigan, US Doom Will run on Your Girls Pregnancy Test! So when she shows you its Positive: You can Stop Screaming & Instantly HEAR THE DOOM MUSIC! Its like the LolliPop Your New Kiddos gonna get after their Shots LOL

[@DinoBite2000]

The same thing happened when I tried to get gta 3 on my old computer

[@jmanx360]

Mac OS 9 games would run a lot better natively instead of in Classic mode. You can install Mac OS 9 and then install OS X over top of it but OS 9 has to be installed first.

[@zacharystaines]

good idea! OS 9 would be a cool daily driver too haha

[@GiordanDiodato]

it's compatible with Classic Mac OS, so you can probably play Marathon on it.

[@zappalavigna]

I got angry birds 2 in a cereal box when I was little (4 or 5) and I overplayed those 7 levels (I think they were 7 I'm not sure) s0 many times I even remember s0me parts of the last level😂😂😂

[@ralphcocklin2785]

Hey that was me who suggested Roblox! Kinda surprising that it didn’t work.

[@wildcard_xd]

Bro used russian roblox cover at 0:12💀

[@IzludeTingel]

I remember a time when people thought you couldn't game on Macs and that they were "educational PCs" because schools had them in their labs loaded with things like Super Solvers, Pajama Sam, That one Fish game, Putt-Putt, The Playroom (broderbund), Thinkin' Things (which I loved btw) and things like that. Seriously, this was the consensus of the time. Truth is, Macs have always been gaming PCs. They played a lot of DOS ports (a good amount of Sierra games), Sam and Max HTR, American McGee's Alice, Clive Barker's Undying, Shogo.. heck, Macs even played PS1 games with VGS *BETTER* Than Bleem and even still, better than the Win version of VGS.. and of course, it got Diablo 2. Had I known all these options were available at the time, I'd have bought an iMac G3 Rev B on day 1 :( I eventually ended up with a Pentium 3 PC (still a wonderful experience), but it would have felt like a luxury to own an iMac G3.

[@zacharystaines]

Dang man this was a THROW back. Also had a Pentium 3 that I bought from a recycling centre for 5 bucks. It's nuts how quickly things become 'outdated.' So it was nice to bring this iMac back from the dead a little!

[@ALEXGIMING116]

i have the spider man game u got on the imac

[@monibo7075]

Leage of legends

[@ThatRetroGuy2005]

Their is a roblox 2006 and 2008 builds for Windows so you can try that

[@لالالاه]

Should try Forza 5 next😂

[@360GAMER75]

Wooooooooo yea baby

[@zacharystaines]

oooooooooooOOOOO BABY.

[@360GAMER75]

@@zacharystaines omg thanks for replying i have a old laptop and its 20 years old i play minecraft classicube on it

[@SammyR-lp8ou]

GTA 3!! Maybe 2

[@Pul-i8s]

4:03 😂 bro this is sus salty the coc*

[@zacharystaines]

Bro i had to check myself... lol

[@FatwaGamer]

Where Did You Download Doom?

[@PCBasics]

You connected MacOS X to the internet?!? Bad idea!

[@danielsonderegger530]

6:15 bless you

[@zacharystaines]

Bless you my son

[@SuperMarioElijah2872]

Was your old youtube name Zachary staines or am i going insane

[@matieuduguay778]

What's bugdom?

[@samueldreamcastsouza252]

Try to play re volt on this mac

[@souptiksamanta]

Can you run fifa 10 or fifa 11

[@zacharystaines]

Oh dang... i smell smoke lol

[@Henrygamerreal69]

I would've loved to see Half-Life, but either way great video.

[@zacharystaines]

Ahhh man such a great game! Gonna take a look...

[@whatdidyouexpect321]

@@zacharystaines portal?

[@RugbyMunch]

If your are looking for a browser to use I recommend artic fox

[@zacharystaines]

Good shout! I'll check it out!

[@coreyc6798]

The issue with Minecraft is the java version. It's too old to be used. If you want it to work, you need to install every java version and every major update from software update(in Apple menu) I have actually gotten Minecraft to work on an iMac G3, as well as an eMac(education only Mac model, mine is from 2003)

[@Frannoidea]

Zachary i know im not a subscriber sorry about that im gonna do it right now but can you connect an gtx 1020 into an 1999 imac?

[@windowsxpnt2347]

1. it has no pci-e slot to speak of 2. it does have an agp bus, but the graphics chip is soldered to the board 3. idk what a "GTX 1020" is, but it 100% won't have an open firmware compatible bios on it (what a ppc mac needs to be able to use a gfx card)

[@Frannoidea]

@@windowsxpnt2347 ok, but your smart, liked

[@iEnjoyLaptops]

Good job mate. See if you can get windows on it (preferably 98 or 2000)

[@zacharystaines]

Cheers man! Aye not a bad shout. You seen others do it? How hard can it be haha

[@Ananasij]

@@zacharystaines sadly you need an Intel iMac for windows

[@cookies5129]

​​​@@Ananasij emulation or nt 4.0 (supports ppc)

[@Ananasij]

@@cookies5129 I didn’t think of nt4.0 but emulation wouldn’t be as fun

[@windowsxpnt2347]

@@cookies5129 the version of nt 4.0 for ppc will only run on powerpc systems running on the PReP design, iirc, apple only ever made systems based on the CHRP platform

[@MostradamusM]

You can try all games over cloud gaming!!!

[@Radim_Burda]

Next video run tech tycoon