Classic games are awesome and while some fade into the vast dark reaches of lost memory, there are some that stand the test of time.
Maelstrom stands the test of time and then some. Still highly addictive and highly entertaining, this space shooter of the asteroids ilk is still kicking ass since it’s original shareware release in 1993.
Since it’s Mac (Power PC) release it’s gone on to be ported to Linux and Windows as well as being (as far as I know) GPL’d.
I love this game and so did all my friends back in 1993 when we were playing it in the computer lab in school. In fact, we loved this game so much, that a bunch of us made our own version of it called “Spacers 2.3”, which has since been lost to a 3.5 inch disk in the bottom of somebody’s old sock drawer!
So, today I’m bringing some of those memories back and invite you to play along with me.
If you want to join in the fun, here are the download links for the platform of your choice.
UPDATE: These download links no longer work. I’ll update when I find a working copy.
UPDATE 19/09/2011: All links are working again.
Maelstrom 3.0.6 Binaries Download
- Windows 95/98/ME/NT/XP/Vista/7:
- Maelstrom-3.0.6-Windows.zip
- BeOS:
- Maelstrom-3.0.6-BeOS.zip
- MacOS X:
- Maelstrom-3.0.6-MacOSX.zip
- MacOS Classic:
- Maelstrom-3.0.6-PPC.sea.bin
You pilot your ship through the dreaded “Maelstrom” asteroid belt — suddenly your best friend thrusts towards you and fires, directly at your cockpit. You raise your shields just in time, and the battle is joined.
The deadliest stretch of space known to mankind has just gotten deadlier. Everywhere massive asteroids jostle for a chance to crush your ship, and deadly shinobi fighter patrols pursue you across the asteroid belt. But the deadliest of them all is your sister ship, assigned to you on patrol. The pilot, trained by your own Navy, battle hardened by months in the Maelstrom, is equipped with a twin of your own ship and intimate knowledge of your tactics.
The lovely Stratocaster R&R facility never sounded so good, but as you fire full thrusters to dodge the latest barrage you begin to think you’ll never get home…
As a bonus, check out this page where you can download additional sound packs for Maelstrom and check out the “ReadMe” in the .zip file to see how to enable networked multiplayer Maelstrom!
Enjoy!
Paul O'Flaherty 
Download Maelstrom (Game) for Windows, Linux, Mac for Free http://a2a.me/UGw via @AddToAny
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Hey, this is really great. I used to play this back in the… well so long ago I can't remember. In fact so long ago I used to play the black and white version when it first came out! I used to be a Mac freak but my job these days is Windows based so I rarely get chance to go on a Mac. I just love some of the sounds and desperate to get my hands on some of the sound clips to make a mobile phone ringtone for myself. Any ideas if they are available anywhere? Any help would be much appreciated.
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Sites like this one, The MovieWavs Page, may have what you need and there are many more sites like that out there. Just be sure to download the MP3 version of the sounds if you are making ringtones for yourself. 🙂
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I tried downloading one of your supposedly free games and all it did was
open up an advertisement. You’re just another one of those lying, deceiving,
spamming cocksuckers. I hope you burn in HELL.
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How about, instead of acting like a complete and utter dick you realize that this post if over 3 years old and just notify me that the links are no longer working?
I guess it’s easier to be a douche-bag than it is to be reasonable!
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Anyone who runs across this page looking for the software, it can be found at http://www.libsdl.org/projects/Maelstrom/ as the original link to it is dead.
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Thanks for that. I’ve update the post and fixed all the links with the new source 🙂
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sweet thanks but do you know any way i could make pc faster?
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WOW thank you this was one of my favorite games for Mac I have been trying to find it for PC for years, Now if I can just find Bubble Trouble Or Bubble Trouble X I would be all set
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If I ever come across them Anthony, I’ll post them here 🙂
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I love this game! Used to play it back in the day on my old Mac. The version I used to have played a Jimi Hendrix lick when you completed a level. I kinda prefer Hendrix, but this is awesome to have again. Thanks!
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Hi.
why am i not able to clear or add my name to the highscore?
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I have had no problems with the high score board. whenever I score > than #10, the game automatically has me enter my name. As far as clearing the board altogether, I’ve never seen that option (that I know of) In this PC version OR the original MAC game. I wish the PC version had more sound folder options. I really liked the Monty Python sounds, and also the Mixed sounds with Star Trek, Simpsons, Monty Python, and a few other snippets all mixed together. My favorite bit was after “Game Over” You’d hear a wierd chorus of Ha Ha Ha ho ho ho, (a snick of a sword blade) and then Bones says “He’s dead, Jim”
Thanks for this download, Paul. When
I googled Maelstrom for windows, I didn’t find yours at first. Ambrosia wants $15 for this game.
Also confusing is another game called Maelstrom that is out there. (Ambrosia should sue them for making a game of the same name as theirs)
BTW, nice reply to the the douchebag 🙂
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This is awesome. Hadn’t played this game since I was a kid in the 90s. Those sounds! Oh, boy. You have my infinite gratitude for this. =)
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Actually, this is the exact same game. As I recall, Ambrosia Software released the source code some time ago to silence the questions about whether or not they would ever port the game to , whichever, that may be. The version they have for sale on their website is the same OS9 only version they’ve had for years. If you have a Mac with OS9 and want to support Ambrosia, by all means, buy the game. Or just buy the game even if you don’t have OS9 but want to support them because you like the game they wrote all those years ago and you can now play on other platforms. Maelstrom isn’t exactly something they’re worried about making them money, or they would have updated it for OSX themselves, perhaps even porting it to Windows as well.
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Love this game. How do I get it to go to full screen? Thanks for bringing this back.
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Not sure about getting the game full screen. As far as I know there is no way to do it from within the game but I vaguely remember something about adding a switch to the shortcut, but I’ll be damned if it comes to mind.
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NIce game, but not what I was looking for. Use to play a game, I thought was called Maelstrom, on a Mac circa 99. The game I’m looking for had missions between various galaxies where you could recruit mercenaries and various ships. Also rewards for completing various legs depended on distance and risk level (safe cargo vs illegal) Will keep looking.
Glad to see others who enjoyed the old games.
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Sorry this was’t the game you’re looking for Brain. I hope you find it.
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I think you were looking for Escape Velocity… EV
Those were the days. Paul, thank you so much for bring me back to the hey days! Love it!
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Makes me remember my studentdays, I got used to play on my first Mac, instead of working on my “Diplomarbeit”…. where’s the time ….. I wonder if someone is able to write an app for playing it on iPad, would be great!!!!!
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That would be awesome. I don’t know if one exists but I’ll keep an eye out 🙂
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Wooow!!! Bows to your feet maaan. This is greaaat!!! Finally I foud it!! xD i remember playing this on Macintosh Quadra 610 in 1993. So cool you put it here. Thanks!
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My pleasure 🙂
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hi great game would love to play it again , downloaded the zip file , but how do i load it onto my pc?
cheers
jez
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Hi Jeremy, simply unzip (extract) the file and then double click on Maelstrom.exe in the folder Maelstrom-3.0.6. The game does not need to be installed.
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cheers great to be playing it again , well done
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I used to play this at Pitt. Looks so small on a 1080p display. Wishing I still had my old 17″ CRT!
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Hi Paul! Very nice. Thanks for making this available for Linux… It’s actually in the Ubuntu software repositories so I didn’t have to download. I can’t get the OSX version to work on my wife’s iMac though. It appears to open for just a second (evidenced by the brief appearance of the word “Maelstrom” in the menu bar) but then the computer goes on as if it never happened. Is there something I’m missing?
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I’m not sure if there is something you’re missing or not. The OSX and Ubuntu version should be almost identical from a code perspective. It may be a dependency that’s not currently available in OSX. I’ll see if I can’t dig up anything on that.
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A semi-related question… This was one of two games I really liked back in the 90’s… The other was a battle strategy game where you had to find and destroy enemy tanks. All I remember was it having yellow and red line drawings on a map screen, and perhaps a maze component. And spending lots of time playing it of course. That’s all I know and my searches haven’t been fruitful. Does this ring a bell for you or anyone? Thanks for any thought. Have a great day!
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Sorry Jonathan, it really doesn’t ring a bell with me. I hope you find it though, and if you do, you should drop a link here so we can try it out 😀
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Thank you for posting this. I was telling my kids about this game which made me want to play it again.
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You’re most welcome 🙂
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Is there a version of Maelstrom out there that works on Windows 10?
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If sounds doesn’t work install alsa-plugins-pulseaudio-1.1.0-1.el6.i686 this is needed for sound to work if you are running this on Centos/RHEL 6.
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I thought about this game on a whim and sure enough there it is — in the flesh. thanks for bringing back some good memories.
question — is there a site to download the sound pack or is it possible to extract them from the zip files (windows here)? please lmk, i’d love to port this over to my phone.
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LOVE IT!
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