Merry Christmas

MAKE SURE TO READ THE TABLE OF CONTENTS AND USE CTRL+F FOR EASIER NAVIGATION

Links to previous years (be cautious about dead or outdated links) 2020/2021 - 2022 - 2023 - 2024

OPENING

Welcome once again to my yearly Holiday link dump.

What is this? Yearly I round up links to new and old rom hacks, mods, freeware, browser games, etc and organize them into neat documents that I begin to share on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Straight from the sources: No need to worry about malware, signing up for accounts, or joining Discords. Click what catches your eye without any bullshit.
(Though unfortunately this does mean you will have to patch romhacks yourself, but it's easy and some websites even automate it)
Everything in one place: because everything being scattered across 300 websites is fucking annoying. This way you don't need to manually go through every website to find something.

No GTA leaks, Steam codes or Fortnite vbucks here, but I make sure to have something for as many people as I can, regardless of my tastes.
It's my personal way of giving during the season, and with RHDN quietly coming back (though very slow) and new translations pouring in like a torrential rain, this one is a bit bigger than last year's. I hope there's something you can enjoy here.

These are generally grab-bags with no real theming, but there are two main focuses this time:

One theme being this year is a little more Japanese oriented than usual due to the aforementioned, but also because of some fun experiences and discoveries I had during the year.
The other major theme of this year however is highly important: I wanted to focus on the archival of old internet and some older/retro stuff while keeping it related to vidya.
While ultimately for the sake of fun and nostalgia, the future is uncertain with the internet and tech changing direction to favor AI. as well as other controversial things I won't get into because this is a neutral ground solely meant for amusement and joy.
Everything is scattered around the document, but you will find most of it at the bottom of the page ("Honoring the Culture of Old" in Table of Contents).
While unlikely they will be purged, it's better to be safe than sorry, so I want to bring awareness to these. And in the event we do enter a new era, especially because I can no longer guarantee doing these each year anymore, I would want a theme like this to be a proper sendoff.
If you have any collections/archives of such content, please do not hesitate to share them with me and other anons.

I have tested most if not all links and typically use trustworthy sources, but I cannot guarantee that a single bad one won't slip under the cracks, especially when some links eventually become outdated/dead/compromised. I also cannot guarantee the quality of everything, For anything suspicious or has a caveat, I will mark it next to the link with a description or warning.

I am taking submissions in the usual yearly thread. No major restrictions, just be sure it's safe or from a reliable mirror and isn't paywalled content. Pre-patched content I may accept if there exists no other option, but a patch would be preferable, and R18 content is OK as long as you follow site rules, but I will likely not add it. But even so, you don't have to post with the intentions of it being added, you can just be helping another anon out or sharing something cool. This year, I'll be available all day both days compared to previous years due to a change of IRL plans

Lastly, but more as a side note: I'm sure you have also noticed that I've slightly changed up the formatting this year. I hope this new formatting makes for easier reading and navigation.

Let's spread the Christmas cheer and make this another good one.

PC Games

Game Jams

PC Game Mods

"Fuck modern gaming give me some patches so I can play my older PC games"

Coming right up

Browser Games

General Romhacks and Homebrew

Romhacks

Homebrew

Fun Little Winter Section

Japanese Corner (Fan translations, Japanese games, mods, etc.)

Section's a lot bigger this time around, there was a large volume of translations this year alongside a few discoveries of my own. Though I wanted to go extra weeb anyway because I had some fun experiences with Japanese stuff this year.

This section contains not much (mostly the PC-98 stuff), but slightly more adult content (marked 18+) for archival reasons and to bring awareness to some translations. You have been informed, and as such, I take zero liability for any irresponsible clicking or downloading. (For those participating in the thread: R18 content IS permitted as long as it follows site rules, but has a low chance of being added to the document. Thank you for your understanding.)

Partial Credit to this pastebin an anon made

Games

English Patches

There was also a small batch of "undub" patches in a previous year. They should still be up. Check them out if you wish.

Migu (& Friends)

2HU HIJACK LOL

Mario

Happy 40th anniversary!

SMB1

SMB3

SM64

Kart

SMW

Luigi

Other

Sonic

You didn't think I was going to make this year's list without Crossworlds, did you?

Tip: If you do not want to replace anyone on the main roster, replace their AI versions instead

Zelda

Kirby

Pokemon

Metroid

NES

Super

GB/A

Mega Man

GTA

Take Two...don't look...Horrible things such as people enjoying video games without shark cards

Doom

It is important to inform those who are unaware, GZDoom has been deprecated as of this year due to a change in leadership. A new source port, comprised of the same team sans the original leader, can be found here as well as resources and tutorials on how to play or make Doom mods. From what I can tell and from what I've been told, it is about the same currently as GZDoom with some bugfixes, but down the line there will be major changes, so make what you will out of that.

2023 had a huge blowout for Doom's 30th anniversary, it may have happened 2 years ago, but it's still recommended for a great time

Bonus Stuff

Anything I thought was cool and worth sharing but couldn't fit in any other category

Honoring the Culture of Old

Saved for last, even past the bonus content, it was very important for me to have this section up this year to go along with one of the main themes I've had going. While quite a bit of the content I've had in mind is scattered around this document, this is where it will be most concentrated.
Whether I'm feeding your nostalgia, you're simply curious, etc. I made this as a pre-emptive move in response to any signs pointing toward a shift in direction with the internet, and in case this ever ends up being my last document since I can't guarantee future years.
Here you will find various archives and collections to video game related stuff primarily during the primitive years of the net, particularly flash content and open platforms that used to have large communities.
This will be a combination of previous years' dumps and some new ones in hopes of bringing awareness to the importance of preservation and to reminisce.
And I can't stress enough, if you have something that could fit this category, please by all means share it in the thread this year. It would mean a lot to me and many other people as well.
Consider this my equivalent to the "one last thing" that is commonly done during game presentations, and a proper sendoff for a potential new era (for better or for worse)
Have a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

OPENING

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PC Games

Game Jams

PC Game Mods

"Fuck modern gaming give me some patches so I can play my older PC games"

Browser Games

General Romhacks and Homebrew

Romhacks

Homebrew

Fun Little Winter Section

Japanese Corner (Fan translations, Japanese games, mods, etc.)

Games

English Patches

Migu (& Friends)

2HU HIJACK LOL

Misc things related to Japanese

Mario

SMB1

SMB3

SM64

Kart

SMW

Luigi

Other

Sonic

Zelda

Kirby

Pokemon

Metroid

NES

Super

GB/A

Mega Man

GTA

Doom

Bonus Stuff

Honoring the Culture of Old

Flash Content

Other equally important archives

Downloadable Games

Zork Trilogy now open source officially

Misc

Warning