cool stuff to do with a classic mac?

[Frost Sheridan]

i just attended VCF (vintage computer festival) last weekend, and while i was there, i picked up a beautiful 'quicksilver' Power Mac G4! i've been wanting to get into the classic 90s and early 2000s mac scene for a long time because it always seemed to have such a fun, whimsical vibe in comparison to the windows side of things at that time.

however, as this is my first time using a mac of this vintage, i'm not sure where to start! so, for anyone on this forum who was a mac user in the 90s and/or early 2000s, are there any cool, must-have programs, toys, games, system utilities, etc. that you would recommend to someone new to the scene? i'm especially interested in weird art/design/creative software. i'm planning on dual-booting both Mac OS 9 and OSX 10.4 on this computer, so i'm open to suggestions for either OS.

[Cobra!]

You can get an SDK for MacOS9 to develop for the Panasonic M2, a games console that never released.

There are also ways you can play Bandai Pippin games on classic Mac, I got Racing Days working. It's not great, but it is what it is.

[gridbug]

What a great get! Congrats! Unfortunately I do not have a lot to contribute in this area, since I was a baby in the 2000s, but those machines are beautiful, they have such a a great look to them, and the ads for the Power Mac G4 were great too, the weapon spot was so goofy, I used to watch those ads on youtube just to enjoy looking at the machines.

Unfortunately software-wise I don't have any recommendations, as I know literally nothing about the scene or how you might go about obtaining and installing software, I'm sure at this point there are tutorials and explanations on how to run downloaded software on a power mac.

How was VCF? Did you see anything really cool computer-wise?

[TheFrugalGamer]

If you're on the fediverse, there's an enthusiast who's been working on Macstodon: a Mastodon client for classic Mac OS!

I'd also check out Hypercard, which you can still find user-created programs for around the web. I used to play all the classic Infocom text adventures, along with the original Prince of Persia and the King's Quest games. There are a ton of really fun Mac-only games over at Macintosh Garden but they also have regular software too. There was a pretty active shareware scene for Macs back in the day, and you can find some of those games by typing "Shareware" into the search bar there, and also at the Internet Archive.

If you find anything super fun, you ought to post it somewhere; I'd love to see it!

[Y2KStardust]

It's a silly request, but try and get kidpix running on it?  I vividly remember kidpix on the old macs, it was so fun!

[Frost Sheridan]

How was VCF? Did you see anything really cool computer-wise?

it was cool as heck! i think it's my top favorite convention at this point. i managed to take a few pictures of some of the cool stuff i saw and compiled them into a blog post here.

I'd also check out Hypercard, which you can still find user-created programs for around the web. I used to play all the classic Infocom text adventures, along with the original Prince of Persia and the King's Quest games. There are a ton of really fun Mac-only games over at Macintosh Garden but they also have regular software too. There was a pretty active shareware scene for Macs back in the day, and you can find some of those games by typing "Shareware" into the search bar there, and also at the Internet Archive.

If you find anything super fun, you ought to post it somewhere; I'd love to see it!

thanks for the suggestions! hypercard is definitely something that i need to explore - it's a whole other world of software all its own. i searched around macintosh garden a bit and found the very first version of Bryce, a 3D modeling software i've used a lot for artwork. it'll be interesting exploring how much has changed from version 1 to the most recent version 7.

It's a silly request, but try and get kidpix running on it?  I vividly remember kidpix on the old macs, it was so fun!

i did actually! i recently found my CD of kid pix 4 deluxe while cleaning out a closet, so i got it installed on this mac. it's just as fun to mess around with as i remembered!