Help
The game controls
- Full screen fills your screen with the game. Press Esc to leave. On phones that don't allow true full screen, the game fills the browser window instead.
- Lights off turns everything except the game black, like dimming the lights in an arcade. Your choice is remembered.
- Mute silences the game. Your choice is remembered across games.
- Restart starts the game over.
- On touch screens, console games show an on-screen D-pad and buttons. Game controllers work too.
How saving works
Saving is best-effort: it depends on the game, the engine, and your browser. Every game page shows its level of support:
| Support | What you get | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Full | Save the whole game at any moment into three slots. Export a save as a file and import it on another device. Cloud sync if you sign in. They also autosave as you play, so Resume picks up where you left off, and console games keep what the cartridge saves. | Our originals and console games |
| In-game | When you save inside the game, that save is kept in this browser, syncs to your account if you sign in, and exports as a file from the Saves menu. | Flash, DOOM and DOS games |
Where saves live: in your browser's storage on this device. They don't follow you to other browsers or devices unless you export them or sync them to your account.
When saves can disappear: private or incognito windows delete storage when closed; clearing your browser's site data deletes it; some browsers, Safari in particular, delete storage for sites you haven't visited for several weeks; and any browser may clear it when your device is low on space. The first time you save, the game page asks your browser to protect your saves. Export anything important.
How Resume works
Console games, DOOM games, PAL98 and our originals keep one snapshot per game, so Resume under Continue playing on the home page carries on from the moment you left.
- What it holds: the whole emulated machine, written by the emulator's own save state: CPU registers, work and video RAM, sound chip, cartridge mapper and battery RAM. Game Boy games use WasmBoy's state; NES, Master System, Game Boy Advance and Arduboy games use the RetroArch core's state file. DOOM games write an ordinary savegame (level, monsters, doors, lifts and your player) to a slot the menus don't show, through two functions added to the engine; it is written only while you're in a level, so menus, intermissions and death keep the one before. PAL98 does the same with its own saved game (party, items, scene and everyone in it), written between frames while the party walks around, so battles, dialogue and menus keep the one before; it loads as the game starts, skipping the opening screens. Our originals copy the game's state block out of WebAssembly memory.
- When it's written: every 10 seconds while the tab is visible, when the tab is hidden, and before a link on this site opens. It replaces the previous snapshot, so there is only ever one per game. Leaving with the back button or closing the tab keeps the last one, at most 10 seconds old.
- Where it lives: in this browser only. Console and PAL98 snapshots go to IndexedDB; DOOM's and our originals' go to localStorage, because those are written synchronously while the page closes. Snapshots aren't synced to your account; use a save slot for that. It also shows as Auto in the game's Saves menu.
- Restoring: Resume opens the game with
?resume, which starts the emulator, loads the snapshot and removes the parameter. Opening the game any other way asks first. A snapshot from an older version of an emulator may not load; the game then starts fresh. - Lifetime: no limit unless you set one below. Expired snapshots are deleted the next time you open the home page or that game.
- Why not every game: Ruffle can't capture a running Flash movie, and the DOS engine keeps open files, audio and video state outside WebAssembly memory, so a memory dump wouldn't restore. Those games keep their own in-game saves instead and show Play rather than Resume.
Bringing your own game data
Some games, like DOOM, are copyrighted, so we can't host their data. Each game page lists the files it needs and where to get them. The files you choose are read by your browser only and never uploaded. Please only use files you have the right to use.
Games from other sites
Games tagged External aren't hosted here. Their page names the site the game comes from, and only when you press Start does your browser download it from there. Before running it, the page checks that the file is exactly the one the page was made for, so a game that changed on the other site won't start until we've updated its page.
Reading the Sources panel
The Source line under every game names its file and the engine it runs on. Open all files to see each one the game loads, with its address, licence and source code.
Your data on this device
Checking what's stored…
Every save
Troubleshooting
The game is stuck on "Loading"
Reload the page. Use a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. DOS games need to reach the engine's website (shown in Sources); content blockers or school and work networks sometimes block it.
The keyboard doesn't work
Click or tap the game screen first so it has focus.
There's no sound
Browsers start sound only after you press a key or click. Check that the game isn't muted and your device volume is up.
My save is gone
See when saves can disappear. If you exported the save, use Import file in the game's Saves menu.
Still stuck?
Contact us with the game name and your browser.