The best way to play Oxyd in 2026

Hey friends!

Many of you will probably still remember the classic Oxyd games by Dongleware, which were released for DOS PCs from 1992 onwards under the direction of Meinolf Amekudzi. The game was already unique and highly creative back then.

The copy protection they came up with was no less creative. Oxyd, as well as Per Oxyd, was distributed as shareware - but from level 10 onwards, so-called "Magic Stones" blocked the player's path and made it impossible to complete the respective level.

The solution? You had to order a bound book from Dongleware, which even had its own ISBN number. In addition to general tips, this book contained a code table telling the buyer which input - referred to as a magic spell within the logic of the game - had to be entered for each stone in order to remove it. 

First of all, I would like to thank Meinolf at this point, who kindly provided me with some of his remaining old Oxyd books. That was incredibly generous. I will treasure these books forever - they are also very difficult to find nowadays.

As you know, we generally do not provide shareware patches if the respective game is still commercially available, simply because anyone could otherwise download the base version.

In this case, however, things are a little different: back in 2017, Meinolf already granted certain websites permission to host the Oxyd games as well as the code book free of charge.

We are not hosting the games ourselves, but we are providing you with a loader for both Oxyd and Per Oxyd, offering the following features:

- Disable the Magic Stones routine

In Oxyd, this was a little tricky because there are certain levels in which the Magic Stones must not be removed, but we were able to solve this. In Per Oxyd, all Magic Stones can be removed safely. This means that you no longer need the code book, neither in single-player nor in multiplayer mode.

- Unlimited balls (Per Oxyd only)

For Per Oxyd, we also added a trainer feature that allows you to use an unlimited number of balls when solving a level. The game therefore no longer ends after three balls. This was not easy to locate, which is why the feature is currently available for Per Oxyd only.

- Static level codes

To prevent level codes from being shared between players, Dongleware came up with something very special. From level 10 onwards, all level codes depend on the individual PC, which is also the reason why you will not find complete level lists online.

We were able to make the level codes static. In Oxyd, our loader can write them to a text file on request. 

In Per Oxyd, it is even easier: from level 10 onwards, each level is simply identified by its corresponding number (for example, level 11 would be 00000011 and level 35 would be 00000035). This allows you to select levels directly without even having to remember the respective code. Entering 00000101 also allows you to print the certificate, which was previously only possible for players who had completed the entire game.

- Launch the game in server / client mode

This option is very useful if you simply want to explore the 100 additional Link landscapes on your own. You just start two DOSBox instances, configure one as the server and the other as the client, and connect them. Network play via DOSBox is also possible in this way.

All in all, we believe that with our loader releases for Oxyd and Per Oxyd - very much in the spirit of Mr Amekudzi - we have brought these two original titles back to life.

In 2026, this is simply the best way to enjoy these two DOS titles again.

As always, the loaders for Oxyd and Per Oxyd are completely free of charge.

As always, you can purchase a keyfile for the equivalent of EUR 5, which skips the 10-second waiting screen as a small thank-you. However, doing so is by no means required.

We hope you have lots of fun with the Oxyd games!

Eric