Retro · Classics
Emulators are usually lawful; the games and OS images you run in them often aren’t free — bring your own legal media, because we never host ROMs or ISOs, and “abandonware” isn’t a licence.
Hard rejects (ROM hosts / wrong-shelf decoys) stay off. Holds (emugate, WinWorld, …) not listed yet. Draft — not live until OK. Wave 3 Tier A · 43 honesty cards · dry-run v18 · 26 Oct 2026.
A whole x86 PC running in your browser tab, open source (BSD-2-Clause), with FreeDOS, ReactOS and Linux demo profiles ready to boot. Anything else is bring-your-own legal media: we don’t host or link Windows ISOs or ROMs.
Faithful JavaScript recreations of classic IBM PC-era machines from an open preservation project. Follow each machine’s software notes: out of print isn’t the same as free to copy.
Fabrice Bellard’s in-browser emulator, booting Alpine Linux, FreeDOS and RISC-V builds in seconds. The Windows 2000 demo carries the site’s own disclaimer, so read it, and bring your own licensed media for anything proprietary.
Real Debian or Alpine Linux in your browser, powered by the CheerpX engine. Worth knowing: the WebVM repo is Apache-2.0 but the CheerpX engine is proprietary, free for personal and FOSS use with a commercial licence for organisations self-hosting.
A full “internet OS” desktop in the browser, with apps, files and cloud storage. Open core under AGPL-3.0 alongside a hosted paid plan, and it isn’t a Windows ISO.
A Windows 98-style simulator that frames the 1998 web through the Wayback Machine and runs shareware via js-dos. It’s a recreation, not a licensed copy of Microsoft Windows.
A Windows XP-style recreation for a quick hit of nostalgia in your browser. It’s a simulator only: it doesn’t run real XP or arbitrary .exe files, and it isn’t affiliated with Microsoft.
A Windows 98-like web desktop with lovingly recreated classic apps, built as an open web project. UI recreation only: no Microsoft software is included.
A surreal, satirical web “operating system” that’s closer to digital art than a real OS. Not Microsoft Windows; enjoy it as a toy.
A playful web desktop in the same art-toy spirit, good for a five-minute wander. Not a real Microsoft OS, and no Windows licence is involved.
Browse archived websites through emulated vintage browsers, from the open-source oldweb.today project (AGPL-3.0 components). It’s a web-history tool, not a game or ROM host.
A free, open-source operating system that aims to run Windows apps and drivers. It’s the honest alternative to a dodgy “free XP ISO”: install it locally or try it in v86.
A small, open-source microkernel OS built for teaching and reliability research. Run it locally in QEMU or a similar VM to see how an operating system works under the bonnet.
A from-scratch, Unix-like desktop OS with a deliberately ’90s look, developed in the open on GitHub. You build and run it locally: it’s an OS project, not Windows in a tab.
Microsoft’s official home for time-limited Windows and Windows Server evaluation downloads. This is the lawful route to a real Windows image; Microsoft’s terms apply and evaluations expire.
Official Windows virtual machines from Microsoft for testing apps and sites. Lawful, time-limited images under Microsoft’s terms; check the page for current availability.
An Electron app that packages a Windows 95-like experience for your desktop; the app code is MIT-licensed. The guest OS image isn’t a Microsoft licence grant and isn’t endorsed by Microsoft, so for in-browser play we point you to v86 or PCjs.
An accurate, open-source DOS emulator (GPL-2.0) for Windows, macOS and Linux. Bring your own legal disk images: we don’t host or link game rips, and “abandonware” isn’t a licence.
DOSBox compiled for the browser, behind many lawful shareware embeds around the web. The emulator is the product; bring your own legal media and remember old doesn’t mean free.
A browser hub for instant DOS gaming. We only feature titles we’ve checked as freeware or shareware, because a commercial classic isn’t legal to play free just because it’s old.
The Internet Archive’s broad gateway to preserved software, much of it runnable in the browser. Access follows the Archive’s own terms; out of print doesn’t mean public domain.
The Archive’s official MS-DOS games collection, playable in your browser. We link the collection itself, never mirrors, and “abandonware” is not a legal free pass.
Shareware-era DOS software you can try in the browser, and the safest first stop on this shelf. Shareware terms still apply if you keep using something.
A curated Archive collection of classic PC titles, playable in-browser under the Archive’s access terms. Many are still in copyright, so treat it as a museum visit rather than a free download.
Historic PC software preserved alongside the PCjs machines that run it. Follow the project’s notes on each item; preservation access isn’t a licence to redistribute.
An open-source (GPL-3.0) browser front-end for RetroArch/libretro cores, covering a wide range of classic consoles. Emulator only: bring your own legal ROMs, because we don’t host or link any.
A NES emulator written in JavaScript and released under Apache-2.0. Load homebrew or cartridges you’ve legally dumped yourself; no ROMs are supplied here.
A multi-console browser emulator: drop in your own ROM and play. Listed as bring-your-own only; we don’t point to its bundled “Pro” set or to any ROM packs.
Classic arcade machines running in your browser through MAME/JSMESS, hosted by the Internet Archive. We link the Archive’s official collection under its access terms, never rips or mirrors.
Vintage home consoles playable in the Archive’s in-browser player. It’s a preservation collection with its own terms, not a licence to download and keep the games.
A huge catalogue of free indie and homebrew games, published by the people who made them, so legal by design. Partner links stay off until the programme approves us; this card links itch.io directly.
DRM-free, officially re-released classics you can buy and keep: the “buy, don’t pirate” answer for old PC games. No affiliate link is live yet, so this goes straight to GOG with no tracking.
Official re-releases and collections of classic games, sold with the rights-holders’ blessing. Plain store link with no affiliate.
Game bundles and a store, often with a share going to charity. Any partner link waits until the network approves us; for now it’s a direct link.
NVIDIA’s licensed cloud-gaming service, streaming games you own on supported stores to modest hardware. It’s a subscription service (check NVIDIA’s current tiers), and this is a plain link with no affiliate.
Stream Game Pass titles to a browser, phone or TV, fully licensed by Microsoft. Needs a paid Game Pass subscription; plain link, no affiliate.
Amazon’s licensed cloud-gaming service in the UK, playable on devices you already own. Any Amazon partner link stays off until the network approves us and Luna eligibility is confirmed; for now it’s a direct link.
The GitHub meta-index of “awesome” curated lists, covering almost any topic. It’s a discovery hub: anything we pull from it is checked individually, and ROM-pack lists never make the shelf.
A huge community list of free software you can run on your own server. Each project keeps its own licence, so check it before you deploy.
A community-curated list of privacy-respecting apps and services. Recommendations are the list’s, not ours; no paid placements and no affiliate links here.
Crowd-sourced “instead of X” software swaps, handy for finding free or open alternatives. Listings are community-submitted, so check the licence and official source before installing.
A discovery feed of emulator repos tagged on GitHub. Most expect you to bring your own legal media, and any repo bundling commercial ROMs won’t be listed.
A secondary portal for browsing and ranking open-source projects by category. Discovery only: each project still needs its own licence and homepage check before it gets a card.
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