The Decentralized Retro Content Project (DRCP)

"RetroTorrents: Download. Play. Seed. Repeat."

Part of The R.E.T.R.I.S. Initiative (Rescue Electronic Treasures & Restore Immersive Stories)

A side project with a limited budget (I am just someone in the Hawaiian Islands, doing this for fun)

rentry.co/retreyes

Table of Contents

What is This Project?

RetroTorrents will be a public curated collection of retro video games (21 years old) where anyone can download and upload ROM files with the BitTorrent file sharing protocol. Suggestions towards soundtracks are being considered!

Aren't there projects that already do this?

Yes, there are many sites that archive these games really well!

Unfortunately, these are centralized and could be forced to remove download links when DMCA take down requests start popping up. Vimm has already been a victim of this.

These are decentralized projects, do they work?

Yes, one uses "arweave" and the other uses "BitTorrent" as their protocols to share files!

However, most files are compressed in the .7z format and may not work with emulators (although using the .zip format could work)

What is the point of all this?

RetroTorrents aims to empower global participation in video game preservation, offering a simple and clean website with videos, images, magnet links and efficient search capabilities for everyone to easily download and upload retro content!

"These guerrilla preservationists often break the law in distributing these games online, but their work does indeed rescue many digital artefacts that would otherwise be lost. In contrast, those who simply download retro game ROMs to play on emulators aren’t actively involved in the preservation of the art form. Yes, they’ve made additional copies of these titles, but their contribution to preservation ends there."

Why is This Project Needed?

We think video games are fun and we can't just let the shadows and colossi of the industry control what and how you play. We found that most are being silently toxic towards their paying customers. This licensed digital ownership is rather a delusion that should not prevail in this world. And do not get started with the introduction of fake physical media for the Nintendo switch 2.

This is where RetroTorrents comes in, we want players to see they can play and preserve video games permanently, all in one open network. Because if the industry fights with fire, we do not play their game with fire, we flood their torches relentlessly with torrents and mirrors of the same website, like this.

"The power of play"

You mean the power to dictate what people can never play?

"We help expand and protect the innovative and creative marketplace for the video game industry."

That's brilliant, just protect video games so much they can't be obtained legitimately (delisted game example)!

- Entertainment Software Association

"the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) declared that they would never support remote game access for research purposes under any conditions. The game industry’s absolutist position—which the ESA’s own members have declined to go on the record to support—Forces researchers to explore extra-legal methods to access the vast majority of out-of-print video games that are otherwise unavailable."
- Video Game History Foundation, Inc.

How Will it Work?

The decentralized nature of RetroTorrents is planned to allow anyone to download and upload content or instances (mirrors) of the website at a low cost, no need to distribute the ROM files

The idea

So, you want to download a few games to play and want to preserve them with a few clicks? That's right, with RetroTorrents, everyone can do it with little effort!

The best part? Some of these ROM files use a compressed format to save disk space on your device and are compatible with mainstream emulators, allowing more space to add more games while allowing compatibility with modded consoles by converting the compressed ROM file to an uncompressed ROM file.

No need to just ask Reddit or AI to tell you what games to play, just look for a genre you like and the system will display the games available for that genre! other features can include advanced search of release dates, developers, publishers and genres.

The network has no limits, so go wild (or not), but remember, you should always give back the community by seeding every game for at least one RetroRush, an all online weekend event to increment download speeds, always starting at UTC+0 (Europe) or earlier!

Smartphones and computers are already capable of playing videogames, so why not preserve them as a bonus?

(We are aware compression is not a silver bullet, but its potential is magnificent!)

Port Forwarding (for advanced torrent users)

When Will it Release?

Release date

Currently unknown, We are working on ways to not just reach this project to those familiar with file sharing and emulation, but to others who love the idea of preserving video games with little effort and resources. After all, iPhone users flooded Vimms Lair with more internet traffic than usual after the Delta emulator was released on the official app store.

Collaborate & Volunteer With RetroTorrents!

We are looking for people who could help in the following (and more):

You are free to name this experience whatever you like, we prefer calling by the code-name R.E.T.R.I.S. (Rescue Electronic Treasures & Restore Immersive Stories)
- Leadership (Kerrigan)
- Development (Cerebrates)
- Awareness (Overlords)
- Distribution (Zerglings)
- Marketing (Infestation)
- Artists & Designers (Mutalisks)

(This is a reference to the Zerg race in Starcraft)

Join Us!

Privacy will be the highest priority for all our members!

Socials

Slogans

Current memorable phrases!

RetroTorrents: Download. Play. Seed. Repeat.

Community-Powered Preservation. Unstoppable Access.

Video Essays

Discussing the State of Video Game Preservation

  • "If we compare the NSO to the Wii Virtual Console this number is significantly reduced and this of course is assuming that these online stores will stay online forever which historically as we know is simply not the case."

Game Preservation & the Fight Against ROM Distribution Websites

  • "You've probably noticed that every single month people are asking for games like Chrono Trigger or secret of Evermore on the service how many years will people need to wait before they show up if ever there's no guarantee that anything will ever appear on the NSO."

We Need to Preserve Video Games, or Else They'll Disappear

  • "Nintendo are very much against these grassroot fan archives and are almost single-handedly leaning the charge to destroy what thegamer.com described as the Library of Alexandria"

The Awful State of Retro Game Preservation

  • "digital is the future" [...] "then you have the situations where the games have been digitally re-released but thanks to Services shutting down those games are not going to be available anymore"

Nintendo Treat Their Old Games Like Garbage

  • "yet for some reason Nintendo decided they didn't want to put GBA games on the 3DS"

Nintendo's Nostalgia Problem

  • "they can't allow you unfettered access to their original libraries, you might realize their new games just don't stand up to the older ones, that or it might just distract you from their newer games and simply can't have that"

Limited Releases Are Absurd, Scary and Bad

  • "And gueeeess what. This collection is only available until March 2021"

Video Game Preservation (As an Art Form)

  • "We still see in real time companies straight up failing at keeping their games accessible sometimes by their original development Studio shutting down usually by which of a parent company no longer seeing the value in them or a game Studio straight up not having their games available for modern audiences video games"

All Hope is Not Lost

Library.gamehistory.org — Now in Early Access

"we're starting to roll out digital access to our collections of video game history material and they're free for everyone to access right now"

At least now anyone can see many materials like historic footage, manuals, audio and artwork (the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) is most likely, not happy).

Video Game Preservation Recap | 2024

"If you don't know your past you can't really enjoy your future or present video games are undeniably at this point a part of human culture and to understand where the games that affected us deeply came from is to understand where we came from"

Mascots (Trio)

  • Randall Mačka Escobar (He/Him) (Pixel Artist Boy) (Croatian Cat)
  • Ellie Rat Ulbricht (She/Her) (Retro Gamer Girl) (British Rat)
  • Michael Perro Escobar (He/Him) (Digital Archivist Man) (Bolivian Dog)

Color Pallete

Retreye and Logo

  • Green: rgb(48, 208, 48)
  • Black: rgb(24, 25, 24)
  • White: rgb(240, 240, 240)

Gallery

88x31 button by cerement

Old Gallery

Snow drawing and old logo

"For RetroTorrents"

-Ephraim Escobar

Edit

Pub: 26 Dec 2024 10:15 UTC

Edit: 20 Jul 2025 21:02 UTC

Views: 6879