Playing Games
Every game runs in your browser through a built-in PlayStation 1 emulator — nothing to install. Disc images are streamed while you play, so a game can start before it has fully downloaded.
Starting a game
Open a game's detail page and pick a way in:
- Play — start a single-disc game.
- Start Disc N — for multi-disc games, a split button with a dropdown listing every disc. The recommended disc is preselected; you can pick another for the session.
- Continue — appears when you have a save for this game. It starts the disc that holds your latest save state and loads it immediately.
Press the big Play button
After loading, the session starts paused with a large Play button over the screen (you can also click the screen itself). Browsers only allow audio to start from a click, so this step doubles as the sound switch.
Controls
Keyboard
| PS1 button | Key |
|---|---|
| D-pad | Arrow keys |
| Start | Enter |
| Select | Tab |
| Cross | Z or Space |
| Circle | X (Escape also works) |
| Triangle | A |
| Square | S |
| L1 / R1 | Q / W |
| L2 / R2 | E / R |
Keys are ignored while you are typing in a form field.
Gamepad
Plug in any standard controller (PlayStation or Xbox layout) — it is picked up automatically. Face buttons follow the standard mapping (bottom = Cross, right = Circle, left = Square, top = Triangle), the sticks work, and the left stick also drives the D-pad. There is currently no UI to rebind keys or buttons.
Mouse
Select the PS Mouse controller type (see below) and click the screen to capture your pointer for games that support the PS1 mouse.
Controller ports
The header shows P1 and P2 pills. Each port can hold a Standard Pad, a Dual-Shock, or a PS Mouse; port 2 can also be set to Empty. Your choices are remembered per browser.
In-game controls
Around the game screen you find:
- Save / Load (bottom left) — open the save state slot picker.
- Fast-forward (bottom left) — toggles between 1x and 2x speed. Audio is muted while fast-forwarding. Speed resets to 1x after loading a state, switching discs, or resetting.
- Volume (bottom right) — speaker icon with a slider. Starts at 85%.
- Play/Pause and Fullscreen (top right). In fullscreen, all overlays fade out after a few idle seconds — move the mouse to bring them back.
- Sync chip (top right, when signed in) — shows whether your saves are Local only, Syncing…, Synced, or Sync failed. See Save States.
Console options
The ⋮ menu in the header opens console options:
- CRT Filter — scanline overlay for a period-correct look. On by default.
- Reset Game — reboot the game from scratch (your save states survive).
- Delete Save State — remove a save from a slot.
- Memory Manager — manage your virtual memory cards.
Multi-disc games
Switch discs any time from the Disc N pill in the header — the swap happens without rebooting, exactly like swapping discs on a real console. Save states are stored per disc, and the detail page's disc dropdown remembers which disc you last played.
Streaming and the first launch
Discs are streamed in small chunks and cached in your browser:
- The first launch of a game is the slowest — the emulator reads ahead as you play, so a "Loading disc" spinner appears while data arrives on slow connections.
- Every next session is faster because chunks come from the local cache.
- There is no separate download step, and no way to disable caching.
Leaving the console (back arrow, logo, or browser back) autosaves your progress to the Auto slot first — you will see a "Progress saved." toast. Closing the tab autosaves the same way.
PAL games run at the right speed
PAL titles automatically run at their native 50 Hz pacing, so they play at the correct speed with intact audio.