I aim to compile the most complete, curated, hand-tested English (or English-enough) ROM and disc image sets in the world for every videogame system from 15 or more years ago.

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The overall goal is to preserve these games and archive them for future generations to enjoy. We cannot lose this incredible history, art, and experience that has brought all of us lil' humans closer.

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Some folks have asked me why I’m doing this myself rather than just telling people to download similar projects from No-Intro, TOSEC, or “Goodsets." Let's break it down:

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There are often problems with “Goodsets” being overstuffed with multiple copies of games, buggy dumps, titles that don't work at all, hacks, public domain games, and more - They are basically a crazy cat hoarder’s collection of files. They can be a nightmare to navigate and getting the properly working games that you want while avoiding annoying, hard drive-filling nonsense is a challenge.

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On the much better side, TOSEC and No-Intro sets are clean, verified, and totally respectable. These teams work extremely hard to make them. However, they are data confirmed rather than playtested by humans, often do not include the rarest titles, prototypes, and English patched translations, and have overlapping regional versions or multiple builds of the same games. They are also completely language separated, which makes it hard to identify games that are playable without needing to be fluent in those languages.

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I started out just wanting to make “better sets,” but I ended up taking it way more seriously - A rigorous process to put together the cleanest, best archives anyone has and will ever put together. Yes, I take pride in my work... It’s my life's duty now, damn it!

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For each system I complete, here is how I prepare my collection:

 

• Gather the No-Intro sets and the largest, most ridiculous "Goodset" for that console, computer, or handheld device and find as many independent sources I can for games not found in the larger sets. This takes a good chunk of research as I go
   

• Delete all bad dumps, duplicates, alternate dumps, hacks, trained versions, early builds, homebrew titles, lower versions of games if a newer, more improved dump is available, and independent tech demos
   

• Remove any games that were released in other regions if a North American (first) or European (second) release is present. That is, unless a Japanese release is in English, because then it takes priority over the European release because of NTSC
   

• Delete all prototypes or single game demos if a final version was eventually released without major changes
   

• Add games that have fully playable English fan translation patches that I have found and applied
   

• Add the rarest games, playable prototypes that never saw a release, and legitimate independent or unreleased games from that system's original lifespan
   

• Add dumped hardware devices, software, and other important (but non-game) special items to a separate "Extras" pack
   

• Test every title for at least a minute past all intros to make sure it loads, accepts input, and has no obvious audio/visual problems
   

• Keep titles in languages other than English that are simple enough to play without knowing that language
   

• Move all titles that require fluency in languages other than English into a separate "Language Pack"
   

• Add BIOS, .cue, or other needed files so that everything will work "out of the box"
   

• If disc-based, create .m3u playlist files and separate multi disc games from single disc games for easier importing
   

• Find and apply patches that improve gameplay or experience and move them to a "Recommended Patches" pack while keeping the original game in the main set untouched
   

• Rename all files in a simple format, proofreading along the way, adding version numbers, regional indicators, and other important information
   

• Compress games into better, smaller, emulation-first (but not lossy) formats when available
   

• Delete all of the dumbass hidden files that Macs make when altering files and folders
   

• Upload to archive.org for redundancy

Hell yeah, it’s… a labor of love.

 

Here are a few common concerns I’d like to address:

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“Why so focused on English?” Simply because that’s what I know best. I can organize and test best in my first language. If any English speakers are also skilled in other languages, then more power to ’em - They can add additional games à la carte from the Language Packs and my sets will still hopefully save them a ton of time. I'm excited for the day when emulators will be able to AI translate live by reading the screen, and we're not too far off from that possibility.

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“You screwed up! I found an imperfect thing in one of your sets.” Hey, that’s great! Since this is a human collection, there are bound to be mistakes - Especially with systems that have thousands of titles. Issues can absolutely fly under my radar during the amount of time it takes to create these archives. If you spot something broken, incorrect, or missing, please do let me know! I will always make time to fix and improve these collections.

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"Why aren't the torrents I see on Archive.org working?" Sadly, this is a common problem with Archive - If there are items that are large in size or there are hundreds of files included, their torrents often do not generate or operate properly. They are aware of this, but last I checked, there is no plan to improve the current torrent system to accommodate large collections like these.