Amazing Games You Can Play on Raspberry Pi Without Emulation

I’m a little obsessed with my Raspberry Pi and have spent hours of the last 12 months looking for new ways to use it. So much so that I’m about to get a second device.

However, I’m also obsessed with a particular game: Civilization by Sid Meier. This one game (and its various sequels/updates) has eaten more time in my life than nights and it never fails to delight.

You can probably see where I’m going with this, but I’ll lay it out just in case. A few nights ago, I decided that instead of playing Civilization V on my PC, I would look for a version that I could play on my Raspberry Pi?

Thus began the search not only for a version of Civilization that could run (perhaps using an MS-DOS emulator), but for just about any game that would natively run on the Raspberry Pi.

Forget about emulation

Running game emulators on the Raspberry Pi has become quite popular lately with standalone utilities and even dedicated builds of Raspbian (like RetroPie) to turn your little computer into an all-in-one retro gaming hub.

The vast majority of games created before the mid to late 1990s can be successfully emulated on the Raspberry Pi, allowing you to enjoy some of the arcade classics, home computer legends and great MS-DOS games you remember fondly or never had a chance to play correctly.

But if you think plugging in a PSX controller and enjoying some of the top 15-year-old games is the limit of the Raspberry Pi’s gaming capabilities, you have a different story.

Find games for Raspberry Pi

While you might think it’s worth looking for games for the little Raspberry Pi with its modest 700MHz ARM, 256MB (or 512MB in later versions) processor and Broadcom VideoCore IV graphics — you’d be wrong. In fact, there is a good selection of games available on the Raspberry Pi store (see 3 Ways to Install Software on Your Raspberry Pi for more on installing apps from the store), some of which are particularly noteworthy.

These more interesting games are a mix of original creations, tributes/clones, and ports, and each one is worth installing.

Let’s look at the best options:

FreeCiv [больше не доступен]

The original game is legendary, but when I started looking for a way to play Civilization on a Raspberry Pi, I soon realized that I would have to find out if FreeCiv had been ported to a small computer.

Amazing Games You Can Play on Raspberry Pi Without Freeciv Emulation

Although FreeCiv has been available for Linux computers since its first release in 1996, it is also available for Windows and Mac OS X. More importantly, however, it has been ported to the Raspberry Pi, which uses a Civilization II-style user interface and map design ( this is at least a gamer) deep nostalgia for world domination …

OpenTTD [больше не доступно]

OpenTTD is another legendary simulator that came to the Raspberry Pi through cloning and porting. Based on the old Microprose Transport Tycoon Deluxe game, OpenTTD is a very good copy of the original that also includes some new features.

Amazing games you can play on Raspberry Pi without ttd alt emulation

The goal of the game is simple — to earn money! This is done by transporting passengers and goods across the map by road, rail, water and air, and meeting the requirements of the various settlements on the map.

While it may seem dry from the start, the pressure to make money as a transportation mogul is often too much to fight!

Minecraft: Pi Edition

Perhaps the king of Raspberry Pi games, however, is Minecraft, the hugely popular world-building sim that has proven so addictive for gamers over the past few years.

Amazing Games You Can Play on Raspberry Pi Without Minecraft Emulation

Porting Minecraft: Pocket Edition to the Raspberry Pi came as a surprise to many, as did the fact that, unlike other platforms, Minecraft is free for Pi users! Moreover, Minecraft: Pi Edition allows you to access the code of the game world and directly manipulate objects.

In order to use Minecraft on your Raspberry Pi, you need to be running the Raspbian operating system. . Full Minecraft installation instructions are available at the link above.

The little crane that could [больше не доступно]

Arguably the first game available on the Pi Store (it was certainly the only one I could find when the store launched), The Little Crane That Could is an amazingly fun construction crane game/simulator.

Amazing Games You Can Play on Raspberry Pi Without Littlecrane Emulation

You can drive, build houses, load freight trains and generally have fun building, loading and moving in this game which is also available for Android and iOS. If you enjoy building but find Minecraft too deep, this might be the answer…

Programming Impressive base games

While emulation is a popular way to play the Raspberry Pi, with the right planning, skill, and patience, you should be able to create your own with the preloaded Scratch tool.

Remember that the Raspberry Pi was created primarily as a device to help young people and students develop their programming skills and put an end to the practice of stealing computer talent from countries like India and Pakistan. .

So while there’s a great list of games here and the option to revisit some classic gaming experiences, the Raspberry Pi also gives you the option to start developing your own games. If you have ever had any aspirations and ambitions in this area, now is the time to start!