ΒΆ the raddest links in cyberspace!!!
here is a personally curated list of what i consider to be the most fascinating websites, software, games, downloads, and whatever other cool stuff the information superhighway has to offer in modern day!
π¦ ARCHIVAL AND PRESERVATION
π§ EMULATION AND HOMEBREW
π₯οΈ RETRO COMPUTING
πΉοΈ VIDEO GAMES
π±οΈ BROWSER EXPERIENCES
πΎ SOFTWARE
π΅ MUSIC
π¨ CREATIVE TOOLS
ποΈ INDIEWEB
π RETROWEB
π FUN
β MISC
internet archivedigital library sanctioned by the US government. #1 source for downloads of all kinds.
archive teama loose collective of rogue archivists dedicated to saving digital heritage.
flashpoint archivea community effort to preserve games and animations from the web. the best way to experience flash and shockwave content on modern computers.
Flash Museumarchive of playable flash games and animations, powered by ruffle.
macintosh gardenfantastic archive of all sorts of old macintosh software, games, patches and OS images.
winworldarchive of old OS images from 2000 and before.
defacto2.netvintage warez archive, mostly scene releases and NFOs.
retro eXomassive preservation project with collections of curated and immediately-playable retro games.
no-intro.orgROM and digital game curation database targeting mainly cartridges and downloadable titles.
redump.infopreservation project and curation database for optical media.
scene.orginternational demoscene organization. has its own demoscene archive and links to other ones.
the textfile directoryan archive of 80s text files from the ASCII days of the internet.
dumping.guidewant to dump your cartridges or discs? this'll get you up to speed.
media preservation frontendthe de-facto tool for creating Redump-standard optical media dumps. if you're going to dump your discs, use this guide.
PCGamingWikifantastic resource for tweaking and patching old games to make them playable on modern computers.
GameCopyWorldtons of scene release patches and cracks for video games, generally keeping NFOs intact. been around since the late 90s. their sister sitehas old console stuff, too.
emulation general wikiactively-maintained and ranked lists of emulators per-platform. they supply emulator filestoo. unbeatable resource for retro gaming.
MiSTer FPGAthe raddest FPGA gaming platform. cycle-accurate emulation machine that can output perfectly to CRTs.
hacks.guidewant to homebrew your game consoles? do it right with hacks.guide! this site has guided tutorials to safely mod your wii, wii u, 3ds, vita, and switch.
mother 3 fan translationthe definitive way to experience mother 3. one of the greatest rom hacking efforts of all time.
retro dot cardspurchaseable paper cards that can be scanned to play custom homebrew games on game boy advance e-reader
gamemasterplc's cheat codesaction replay, gecko, and gameshark codes for all sorts of 3D nintendo and playstation games
smw centralcentral resource on everything related to super mario world rom hacking. operating since 2006.
resident evil 4 HD projectan absolutely perfect fan-made restoration mod for resident evil 4.
piuGBAincredibly high-effort homebrew project for game boy advance to simulate PIU charts. a fascinating novelty.
virtual OS museuman archive of 1,700+ pre-installed operating systems, ready to run
v86 emulatorbrowser-based x86 emulator. you can run a virtual Windows XP environment in your browser. even allows you to upload and attach an ISO of your choice. amazing!
infinite macbrowser-based classic mac emulator. run a mac virtual machine in your browser, with lots of fancy settings!
windows xp integral editionpre-patched optimized windows xp build. optionally includes lots of useful software, drivers, and tools. my go-to for when i need a fresh xp install. everything just works.
legacy updatefix access to the internet and the Windows Update service on earlier versions of Windows
windows 9x quickinstallquick/optimized/customized installer for windows 9x with integrated patches and drivers. the de-facto way to install windows 9x in modern day.
windows 3.x resourceslots of software downloads for windows 3.x.
the 386 experienceif you ignore the foul AI art on the home page, this is a great resource for DOS OS images, software, and games.
freeDOS.orga free and open-source DOS-compatible operating system. it has feature-parity with MS-DOS, and can be used as a drop-in replacement.
VintageOS.orglearn about old operating systems and how to install them.
steve's old computer museumexhibit all of the computers in steve's personal collection, spanning from 1970 to 1996.
oldcomputer.infolearn about all sorts of vintage computers and their history
oldversion.comfantastic archive of old versions of software. very useful for retro computers.
CrustyWindowsa wiki detailing bootlegs of the windows operating system.
the ultimate oldschool pc font packthe world's biggest collection of classic text mode fonts, system fonts and BIOS fonts from DOS-era IBM PCs and compatibles.
CANYON.MID simulatorsimulates the experience of playing CANYON.MID on a tandy running windows 3.1
the restart pagebrowser re-creations of lots of different restart/shutdown screens from operating systems.
newgroundsscrappy alternative cartoons, games, art, and music made by weirdos.
sonic robo blast 2one of the dopest 3D sonic fangames ever made. been in development since the 90s.
nethackclassic roguelike from 1985 that continues to be maintained to this very day!
mario fan games galaxyfree mario games made by fans. fuck you, nintendo!
moon child FEsource port of moon child (1997) to modern PCs. very fun and weird jazz-jackrabbit-like platformer. you have the power to be his friend.
candybox2a browser-based ASCII game where you collect candies. quickly blooms into a full-scope idle RPG.
play-cs.coma webGL clone of counter-strike 1.6 with populated servers.
TheXTechextended source port and unofficial continuation of super mario bros. x (fan game).
mario forever community editionground-up remake of mario forever (fan game) in godot engine.
commander geniussoftware interpreter to play commander keen on modern computers.
gamedate.orgplatform to create or join gaming sessions for dead games, niche mods, or retro netplay.
noclip.websitenoclip around 3D worlds from video games in webGL
Old Unrealofficially sanctioned modern distributions of Unreal and Unreal Tournament.
Unreal Archivean archive of user-made content for Unreal Tournament games.
quake3esource port of quake III arena for modern computers. use this widescreen hud mod
super tuxawesome 2D platformer where you play as the linux mascot. recently went through a fabulous overhaul.
webkinzadorable virtual pet game from 2005. webkinz "classic" is still maintained to this very day.
PUMP IT UP RISEnon-free but official method for playing Pump It Up at home. targets keyboard and steam deck play. please purchase this game, it's very good!!!
StepP1+the best free modern Pump It Up simulator for windows. use this song pack
PicoFXthe best dedicated keyboard for playing Pump It Up doubles with your hands. incredibly worth the effort to build.
ITGmaniathe best and least bullshit stepmania 5 fork for playing modern ITG.
NotITGpreservationist classic ITG fork with a sightreading-focused modding scene.
groovestatsscore tracker for ITG and PIU Pro. they also host many of the most popular ITG tournaments, such as ITL, Stamina RPG, and East Coast Stamina.
Windows 93esoteric browser-based art game themed around a surreal operating system
98.js.orga browser-based windows 98 simulator written in javascript.
Emupedia EmuOSa browser-based emulator-focused mock windows OS.
whimsy.spacesurreal browser-based windows-like operating system
Simone's Computervery cool ARG-flavored web game in a browser-based virtual desktop.
Web Desktopsa collection of web desktops; browser-based virtual OSs.
Ozwomp is Onlinea surreal 3D MMO chat room with some neat things to find.
β οΈ NSFW
CollabVMbrowser-based toy where you fight for control over a collaborative windows VM with other strangers. users can do anything with the computer, so it has the potential to be NSFW. registration required.
cachyOSthe most effortless and efficient arch-based linux distro. my daily driver.
asus linuxsystem tools for integrating linux with asus ROG computers
umu-launcherlauncher script for playing windows games on linux via proton without steam.
CSPenguin-Installerinstall script with patches to make Clip Studio Paintwork on linux.
snappy driver installer originthe best driver installer. perfect for retro windows PC builds.
iNFektthe best NFO viewer. perfect for scene releases
vitgit but for video editing. adds version control to DaVinci Resolve projects for collaboration.
copypartyturn almost any device into a file server with resumable uploads/downloads using any web browser.
ublock originfree open-source ad-blocker browser extension
consent-o-maticbrowser extension that automatically fills out cookie popups based on your preferences.
morphe.softwarecustom patcher for android apps including youtube, yt music, and reddit.
tizenbrewsideload custom apps on your tizen device. use this to install tizentube on samsung smart TV.
tizentube cobaltcustom youtube client for android TV.
EZ-CorridorKeygroundbreaking greenscreening tool powered by neural networks.
mpvsnazzy hardware-accelerated media player.
Clean Flash Playera custom distribution of flash player to maintain it post-EoL.
soulseekfree cross-platform file sharing network. very good for pirating niche music. be sure to support the artists you love.
modarchive.orgthe world's largest collections of tracker music modules.
keygenmusic.tksick browser-based tracker music player
bitmidiserves 113,229 MIDI files curated by volunteers.
every noise at oncea scatter-plot of the musical genre-space with previews.
fooyin.orgfoobar2000-like music player for linux.
strudel.ccmake music in your browser using code in real-time.
mydoraa continuous streaming player that plays previously-lost Myspace Music with 490,273 songs.
ipod classic cheatsheeta guide for modding and maintaining classic ipods
affinity studiofantastic free creative suite for windows and mac. it offers pro-grade photo editing, vector design, illustration, and layout editing. use this instead of adobe photoshop/illustrator.
davinci resolvefree and cross-platform video editing suite. use this instead of adobe premiere/after effects.
photopea.coma browser-based clone of photoshop. it's pretty good.
jspaintmspaint in the browser with a bunch of goofy extras
kidpix.appkid pix in your browser!!!
drawpilecollaborative drawing program that lets multiple people draw, sketch, paint and animate on the same canvas simultaneously.
monstermash.zoneweb-based tool to turn a doodle into a 3D model and animate it. very crude and fun.
flamingtext.comgenerate fancy text. particularly gaudy and awesome.
wordart generatorcreate custom wordart like it's 2003. office 2003, to be exact.
3dtext2gifcreate custom 3D text animation and export as gif.
mosh proadd weird datamosh-like animated effects to images. payware but has a lite version.
Shadertoybrowse and tweak webGL shaders
sammi.solutionslivestreaming tool to create a custom virtual "stream deck" on a smart device for controlling OBS without writing code.
custom gba boot animationneat little web tool to create a custom game boy advance boot text animation.
So You Need a Typefacehelps to visualize fonts for design projects
coolorscolor palettes. excellent for coming up with color theory ideas.
hosts file to block all adobe URLsfuck adobe!
wareware.ripa scrappy 3D zero-code game engine. make a game in your browser and share it!
Game Engines Databasea database of engines to use for game development
tinytools.directorya list of small, free, or experimental tools that might be useful in building your game / website / interactive project.
no-AI duckduckgosearch engine that does its best to filter out all AI-generated content
neocities.orgad-free website hosting. the de-facto platform for the modern indieweb.
hotglue.mereally cool and oldweb-core free webpage builder.
zoneletsmake an "unprofessional-looking" (translation: soulful) blog using HTML for free.
leaflet.pubdecentralized platform to write and publish rich text pages for free.
HTML for peoplethis book can teach anyone how to make a website.
w3schools html tutorialthis is how i learned how to code HTML! it's still a fantastic resource.
Surfers Web Craft Guidea guide to the craft of making things on the web.
html.energythe goal of html.energy is to show people that the web is still alive, and to actively make the web more human and handmade.
tilde.clubseems to be kinda like neocities where you can make a website for free, but users can access the unix server directly to do wildly creative things.
hundred year hosta non-profit organization that ensures your personal website will continue to be accessible long after your death.
wwwobblea platform for making and sharing small websites from your PC or smartphone.
rentry.corich text pastebin. good for making small markdown sites.
hyperclayexperience the zen of making, hosting, and sharing great software in a single, portable, malleable, vanilla HTML file
the Indie Internet Indexan index of small websites made by independent creators.
imood.comdisplay your current mood on your website. been around since 1999!
eightyeightthirty.onea node map detailing 88x31s that link to other sites.
88x31 collection88x31 gifs and pngs. they're essentially the indie-web equivalent to bumper stickers.
Melon's Gallery Maker!a micro-static site generator that makes it super easy to share your photos, make gif resource sites, and showcase your artworks!
NavBlox Buildergenerate navigation block code for your homepage!
minnow.socialcreate a minimal personal website using LLMs for free. might be a good accessibility option for people that cannot code (i.e. disability, dexterity issues, etc.).
win95 media playerwindows 95 media player for your website.
ProtoWebview proxied wayback machine websites in an old-school browser. has some exclusive services like WarpStream, which re-creates the feel of late 2000s youtube. browsing can be a bit disappointing due to so many archived pages having outlinks that are unarchived.
wiby.meold-school webpage search engine. primarily serves HTML1.0 and 2.0 sites that are still hosted to this very day. performant on old computers. fantastic surprise mefeature.
marginalia searchfree and open source search engine that prioritizes non-commercial content.
404PageFounda collection of active web 1.0 sites
1MB Cluba collection of websites that are 1MB or smaller.
VidLiia video sharing site modelled after late 2000s youtube.
web design history timelineexplore the history of web design from 1990 to the present.
the first website ever madehistorically significant. you can even simulate what it would've looked like back then!
space jam 1996i fear that this website is load-bearing. if it ever goes down, the entire internet will go with it.
the geocities gallerya restored visual gallery of archived geocities sites, sorted by neighborhood.
gifcitiesgif search that pulls from archived geocities pages
Pixel Seasearch icons and smileys and download them!
frutiger aero archivea digital museum and tribute to mid-to-late 2000s aesthetics
MoMG: THe GiF GALLeRYan immersive art gallery of GIFs for you to explore.
β οΈ NSFW
z0r.deflash loop portal that has been largely untouched since the late 2000s. [potentially NSFW]
β οΈ NSFW
dagobah flash galleryflash portal from the late 2000s. mostly loops and games. [potentially NSFW]
pointerpointer.compoints a finger at your cursor.
motherfuckingwebsite.comiconic site satirizing the bloat of the modern webpages
everybootstrap.sitea satire of template-based website creation tools like squarespace or wordpress.
everyfuckingwebsite.coma satire of AI-generated websites that all look exactly the same.
kraft active gamingvery weird promotional dance game from a mac-and-cheese company.
linus torvalds crashing outa small collection of emails where linus torvalds crashes out at low quality contributions to the Linux kernel.
IMG_0001between 2009 and 2012, iphones had a built-in "send to youtube" button in the photos app. many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives.
unicode text generatorπ¦π€π ππ ππππ πͺπππ ππ ππ₯ ππ πππͺ π₯ππ©π₯ ππ π©! (if that doesn't render on your device, it says "use an annoying font in any text box!")
bubsy3d.comBubsy visits the James Turrell Retrospective is an web based edutainment experience produced by Arcane Kids
tamaNOTchivirtual pets you can customize, grow, and share on your blog or website!
gifypetadopt a virtual pet to watch over your site while you're gone!
Neko: History of a Software Petvirtual pet kitty that runs around on your computer screen. i love this thing and i have a ton of nostalgia for it.
nyan.cata website dedicated to our favorite non-crypto-related pop-tart cat.
nathalie lawhead's arti am a particuarly big fan of nathalie lawhead's experimental, esoteric, and surreal art-games. she's a huge inspiration to me.
sonic dreams collectiongenuinely brilliant satire of the internet's effect on sonic the hedgehog
zombo.comno limits. you can do anything.
heeeeeeeey.comdirects you to hooooooooo.com
hooooooooo.comdirects you to heeeeeeeey.com
freemediaheckyeahthe largest collection of free stuff on the internet.
Just Delete Mea directory of direct links to delete your account from web services.
Account KillerAccountKiller collects direct links and deleting instructions to make account termination easy.
catbox.moeupload and share 200MB files for free, no account needed.
CyberChefencode and decode using lots of different operations (base64, hex, etc.)
filmotsearch within youtube subtitles, captions and transcripts.
repogrepultra fast codebase search for any public github repository.
wikipedia current eventsa neutral source detailing world events as they happen.
homestar.wikithe homestar runner wiki! a much faster community-hosted mirror of hrwiki.org.
Supper Mario Brothlong-running blog spotlighting niche Mario content.
UFO Testtest your monitor's frame rate and sync
sued by nintendoa website documenting all of the unjust and excessive legal action taken by nintendo.