An Ode to the Windows XP Era
Bliss, my beloved…

Image Source: archive.org
Growing up, our home office computer was a Dell Dimension running Windows XP. Everyday after school, I would, alongside my younger brother, get to play on the PC. Whether it be Webkinz (I had a black bear), Club Penguin (I had to GRIND for my Puffle), Poptropica (Find me on Mythology Island), or some random flash game on addictinggames.com (Bloons and Plants vs. Zombies anyone?), we would waste away hours at a time. In hopes to recapture some of the magic, and in my never ending quest to tinker with all the retro hardware I can, I acquired an HP 2133 Mini-Note in great condition from Facebook Marketplace. Modern installation of Windows XP is pretty straightforward and can be done via USB. I followed the guide created by James Mackenzie over on his blog. There is some additional information over on skipster1337’s blog that was super useful for the install as well. Once up and running, the memories came rushing back; I couldn’t help but scrounge up all of the old games I used to play. In an attempt at archival of these memorial fragments, I list below the names of the software I was able to remember.
Collection of Software / Games
- Age of War
- Tower defense flash game
- Feudalism 2
- Baby’s first Age of Empires
- Shinjid: Shadow of the Warrior
- Turn-based RPG flash game
- Submachine
- Escape room flash game
- Learn to Fly
- Roguelite flash game
- Platypus
- Astro Avenger
- SHMUP
- Inuyasha: Demon Tournament
- Deck Builder RPG flash game
- Alien Shooter
- Top down shooter
- Powder Game
- Flash based physics sim
- Stick Ranger 2
- Auto battler RPG flash game
- Pokemon DNS Spoof
- Inject fake Pokemon right into the game
- Custom Pokemon Card Maker
- So many early internet video themed cards…
- Action Replay Cheat Codes
- Straight up cheating
- Game of Life
- Computer based version of the board game
- Transformers Universe
- A sort of demo disc for the Transformers franchise
- Spongebob Squarepants Movie 3-D Game
- Really choppy driving simulator
- Kid Pix 4
- Early development oriented drawing program. We had this one in the classroom!
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