In glorious nostalgia-vision —

Internet Archive releases hundreds of classic game console ROMs

Relive Christmas mornings of the '70s and '80s in your browser.

Now <i>this</i> is real gaming.
Now this is real gaming.

Tired of that shiny new game console you opened up on Christmas morning already? Looking for gameplay that's a little more timeless? Maybe you just want to show your ingrate kids what gaming was like back when you were young. In any case, The Internet Archive has got you covered with dozens of emulated ROM images of games for classic game systems of the '70s and '80s running right in your browser.

Yesterday, The Internet Archive launched its Console Living Room section with games for five classic systems: the Atari 2600, the Atari 7800, the Colecovision, the Magnavox Odyssey2, and the Bally Astrocade. You can play dozens of games for each system right on the site through the Javascript-based JMESS emulator, which runs decently (but not great) in most modern browsers

The new section is an extension of the Internet Archive's existing Software Collection, which launched a few months ago with a limited selection of downloadable and browser-emulated games. The Archive has also long hosted downloadable ROM images for games from dozens of classic game systems through The Old School Emulator Center. There's also a healthy collection of over 4,000 classic PC shareware games and 2,500 PC-CD demo discs hiding among the Archive's massive collection.

While many of these games are still in copyright, and some are still marketed and sold in ports for other platforms and formats, collection manager Jason Scott writes that there is an important fair use purpose to the Archive's offering. "Access drives preservation—making these vintage games available to the world, instantly, allows for commentary, education, enjoyment, and memory for the history they are a part of," Scott writes. "In coming months, the playable software collection will expand greatly. Until then, game on!"

Channel Ars Technica