The Internet Archive has been working for years to bring old data and media back to the forefront over the years. This act is their main goal, as they attempt to keep the internet from being lost forever. The project has actually been going on for a while, with thousands of older games being brought back to life over the last few years. And the best part is, every single one is playable in your browser. No messing about with DOSBox or a virtual machine installation to boot into older Windows versions. It couldn’t be simpler than just picking a game and loading it up. With this new batch of games, totaling more than 2,000, the total number of games on the platform is now over 7,500.
Project eXoDOS is behind the update, bringing hundreds upon hundreds of games into the Internet Archive fold. Both eXoDOS and the Internet Archive teamed up to bring these games back to life. And since we’ve moved so far past the MS-DOS days, running these titles in the browser took a bit of work, and it’s a wonder that so many games have been made available so quickly.
The Internet Archive organization, which also features the Wayback Machine, has been a tireless proponent for preserving the huge wealth of creativity and knowledge scattered about the internet Losing websites, forums wikis and other valuable resources happens all the time, with the information basically being gone forever. That’s where these volunteer archivists come in, collecting and keeping data safe for years to come, and preserving older video games for future generations is a very enjoyable part of that goal.
Those visiting the Internet Archive can find various media like books, movies, games, and software, so it’s worth a look if you have the free time.
There are some lingering bugs though, but overall the emulation and recreation of these classics is pretty solid. Jason Scott from Internet Archives has acknowledged that there are still some hiccups with playing these games in your browser. An issue with some titles means that the game will collide with other applications when it comes to inputs, meaning there’s no switching between apps while playing these games. So if you’re sitting down to play, you’re in for the long haul.
The other major issue with this setup concerns CD-ROM games. Some of the games built on CD-ROM might include file sizes that take longer to load in your browser than you would expect. The original hardware would be faster, and older machines or browsers might feel a bit sluggish on load, but it’s not a huge issue if you’re running a fairly modern setup.
