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About RetroCombo

What the site does

Brings open-source emulators together in one interface. You choose the console, open a file that's already on your device, and the emulator runs inside the browser.

What the site doesn't do

It doesn't host, sell, recommend or distribute games or BIOS files. The file you open is read by the browser and isn't sent to any server: the site has no address that receives files.

Only use copies of games you legally own. Whoever opens a file is responsible for it.

Trademarks

Console and manufacturer names are mentioned only to show compatibility and belong to their owners. RetroCombo is not affiliated with any of them.

Privacy

No sign-up, no ads, and no tracking. Saves, settings and the last 5 games you opened stay in your browser's storage, on this device, and can be erased by clearing the site's data.

Play online

In an online room, each player runs the game on their own device, from their own copy, and the site checks that all copies are identical. The picture is the original on every screen: only the buttons pressed travel between players, frame by frame. The game file is never sent to anyone.

Players in a room connect directly, browser to browser, so anyone in the same room can see the others' IP address. Only play online with people you know. To help browsers find each other, the site uses public Nostr network relays, which only see encrypted data. Buttons, chat and voice don't go through our server and aren't stored.

In an open room, the host approves each person who asks to join and can remove anyone. The microphone starts off.

Free software used

The source code for each component is available at the links below, under each one's license.

Console photos

The photos come from Wikimedia Commons, almost all already on a transparent background by the photographer; only the empty margins were cropped. On the NES and the Atari 5200 the white background was removed. Public-domain and CC0 photos need no credit, but all of them are listed below.