Mac Source Ports

Developer: New World Computing
Release Date: March 3, 1999

Heroes of Might and Magic III is another 4X turn-based strategy game and is one of the best games in the series.

  Buy Heroes of Might and Magic III on GOG.com

Developer: New World Computing
Release Date: June 1, 2001

Did you like Heroes of Might and Magic III and want more of it? Like a lot more? Good news - between 1999 and 2001 New World Computing put out eight expansion packs under the heading of Heroes Chronicles. Some were retail, others were free, but retailers like GOG have collected them all into one package.

Note that the way VCMI works you will also need the base Heroes of Might and Magic III game installed.

  Buy Heroes Chronicles on GOG.com

Developer: Splash Damage
Release Date: May 29, 2003
Source Code Release Date: August 12, 2010

The story goes that Activision commissioned an expansion pack for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, which like the base game would offer both a single and multiplayer campaign, each assigned to different developers. For whatever reason, the single player campaign did not meet expectations while the multiplayer component was coming along nicely so the decision was made to cancel the expansion pack but release the multiplayer portion standalone for free as Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.

Although we have numerous options today, in 2003 this was an almost unheard of phenomenon: a free game with no strings attached and whose tech for mods and map making were already in use by the community. In 2010, the source code for the full game was released and the ET: Legacy project has been actively maintaining for years now, with an enthusiastic player base continuing to populate servers two decades later.

NOTE: due to the nature of compiled mods, not all servers may be playable for non-Windows players. Look for servers running the "Legacy" mod for the best chance of connection success.

  Buy Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory on GOG.com

Developer: Thalion Software
Release Date: April 11, 1993
Source Code Release Date: May 7, 2023

The Commodore Amiga was one of those computers where it jumped ahead of the competition by several miles, but then stayed there for a long time and got surpassed by the competition. I think this is why there's such a distinctive look to the games the platform and why it was so accessible to smaller game designers, the types we'd call "indie" today.

Ambermoon is an RPG for the Amiga that really looks like an Amiga game. It was the second part of an unfinished trilogy. Although the original game's source has been released, the source port we're pointing to is Ambermoon.net which like it sounds is a recreation of the original game in C#/.NET (the original game was Amiga-specific Assembly language and isn't a great candidate for portability).

In addition to being able to download it below from the developer's GitHub page, the game is also available on itch.io as a "Name your own price" download in case you want to support or tip the developer.

Developer: New World Computing
Release Date: June 8, 1999

There's lots of game series whose entries reflect the evolution of gaming technology, but not many of them can lay claim to staring the series on the Apple II and Commodore 64.

Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor is the seventh entry in the mainlne Might and Magic series, which runs parallel to the Hereos of Might and Magic series. Released in 1999 (the Best Year for Gaming, Ever) it is the second game in the series to use a 3D engine. The OpenEnroth project aims to implement Might and Magic VI, VII and VIII, but at the moment only VII is playable.

  Buy Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor on GOG.com

Developer: Piranha Bytes
Release Date: November 29, 2002

Gothic II is an action role-playing game set in a medieval fantasy world and follows the nameless hero from the original game as they explore a variety of environments, complete quests, and choose their faction to play as either a warrior, rogue, or mage, each with their own unique skills and abilities. Gothic II features an open-world design whose story and characters are highly regarded for their depth and complexity, and the game has amassed a devout following over the years.

The game spawned an expansion pack, Gothic II: Night of the Raven and a re-release of the two under the name Gothic II: Gold Edition.

The OpenGothic project has recreated the engine for Gothic II, and we have assembled an app bundle build for your convenience.

  Buy Gothic II on GOG.com

Developer: New World Computing
Release Date: October 1, 1996

Heroes of Might and Magic II is a 4X turn-based strategy game. Ranked once by PC Gamer as the sixth-best game of all time it features resource building, new factions, skills, and a single-player campaign.

  Buy Heroes of Might and Magic II on GOG.com

Developer: Chris Sawyer
Release Date: October 15, 2002

Another game from the mind of Chris Sawyer, RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 shares the same pixel art style and hardcore interface as his other games.

  Buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 on GOG.com

  Buy RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 on the Humble Store

Developer: id Software
Release Date: December 9, 1997
Source Code Release Date: December 22, 2001

Quake II is a first-person shooter, the second in the Quake series. Yamagi Quake2 is the most mature and advanced port actively being maintained.

  Buy Quake II on GOG.com

  Buy Quake II on the Humble Store

Developer: PopCap Games
Release Date: May 5, 2009

Plants vs. Zombies is an example of casual game perfection, from developer PopCap Games at their peak, pre-acquisition. Effectively a tower defense game without being a tower defense game, it has a difficulty curve so incredibly well done that at some point you're pulling off elaborate strategies without ever feeling like you're not ready for it. With an addicting amount of depth, additional mini-games once you finish the campaign, and no microtransactions or mismatched mechanics, it's a game that absolutely holds up.

It's also a game where I had no idea there was a modding community, let alone a nearly perfect reverse engineered source port nearly five years in the making. I honestly thought for a minute it was some sort of trick but no, PvZ Portable is a true reverse engineered port.

NOTE: While PvZ-Portable definitely works with Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Edition, I'm not clear if it works with the regular (non-GOTY) edition. As of this writing the GOTY edition is the only version on Steam. As far as I can tell it does not work with the recent Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted edition.