Demoscene & Retrocomputing Videos Hacker News Recommends

demo#65

elevated by Rgba & TBC | 4k intro (FullHD 1080p demoscene demo)

Demoscene High-Quality Videos (Annikras)

“It demonstrated that 4k was more than sufficient for impressive effects and music”

7 HN recommenders · 2013–2025

talk#112

The Ultimate Game Boy Talk (33c3)

media.ccc.de

“I'd recommend watching The Ultimate Game Boy Talk [1] before trying to dive into any code.”

10 HN recommenders · 2017–2026

demo#150

A Mind Is Born (256 bytes)

lftkryo

“not only because it is 256 bytes, but because it is a compelling song too.”

8 HN recommenders · 2017–2025

talk#171

CppCon 2016: Jason Turner “Rich Code for Tiny Computers: A Simple Commodore 64 Game in C++17”

CppCon

“there is a wonderful talk by Jason Turner about writing a simple Pong clone for the Commodore 64 in modern C++”

13 HN recommenders · 2016–2024

talk#272

Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper

suckerpinch

“His video about the printable x86[1] is my favorite engineering video of all time.”

8 HN recommenders · 2018–2023

documentary#295

Trackers: The Sound of 16-Bit

Ahoy

“is an incredible, in-depth overview of trackers, their sound and history”

7 HN recommenders · 2021–2026

tutorial#392

I painted a Landscape with Mathematics

Inigo Quilez

“My favorite video of his is Painting a Landscape with Maths.”

7 HN recommenders · 2022–2025

demo#410

Elevated by RGBA and TBC

BUTTONTANG

“you'll have a hard time believing it if you haven't seen it yet”

7 HN recommenders · 2009–2025

documentary#444

Apollo Guidance Computer Part 1: Restoring the computer that put man on the Moon

CuriousMarc

“My new favorite YouTuber, CuriousMarc, has a whole series of videos about restoring the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC).”

8 HN recommenders · 2019–2024

talk#482

How we fit an NES game into 40 Kilobytes

Morphcat Games

“Here is my favorite video about 8-bit era optimisations. Makes you appreciate games from this era even more.”

6 HN recommenders · 2019–2026

documentary#494

Moleman 2 - Demoscene - The Art of the Algorithms (2012)

Vakondok (Moleman)

“Both are expertly crafted and fun documentaries”

6 HN recommenders · 2015–2023

explainer#598

CGA Graphics - Not as bad as you thought!

The 8-Bit Guy

“The 8-Bit guy did a great piece on CGA that goes into detail about how old developers abused the fuzzy smeary nature of composite signals”

6 HN recommenders · 2016–2024

tutorial#601

Amiga Hardware Programming 1 - Use the Assembler and wait for left click

ScoopexUs

“you should fasten your seatbelts and check out this video tutorials by Photon of Scoopex”

4 HN recommenders · 2015–2024

demo#616

Using a 1930 Teletype as a Linux Terminal

CuriousMarc

“It's one of the best things on the Internet, IMO.”

4 HN recommenders · 2020–2025

demo#802

The Black Lotus - Eon - Amiga Demo (50 FPS)

RetroDemoScene

“I feel like this is one of the best demos of all time from both a technical point of view plus storytelling.”

4 HN recommenders · 2019–2026

tutorial#840

I made a NES emulator in 15 minutes

Bisqwit

“Here's a very clean and clever NES emulator in C++ by Bisqwit of TAS fame”

3 HN recommenders · 2013–2022

documentary#915

Doomed: The Embers of Amiga FPS

Ahoy

“go watch Stuart Brown (aka XboxAhoy)'s excellent documentary on FPS on the Amiga”

4 HN recommenders · 2015–2017

demo#924

fr-08: .the .product by farbrausch | 64k intro (2000) (720p HQ demoscene demo)

Demoscene High-Quality Videos (Annikras)

“not very many 64Ks have reached the amazingness”

2 HN recommenders · 2016–2020

documentary#972

How Prince of Persia Defeated Apple II's Memory Limitations | War Stories | Ars Technica

Ars Technica

“Essential viewing for anyone interested in game development history.”

5 HN recommenders · 2020–2026

demo#990

Intrinsic Gravity by Still

TiXL

“It's lots of different scenes that transition beautifully from one to another”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2026

demo#997

.kkrieger - The FPS Game in 96KB (Full Gameplay)

Daniel Hands

“I suggest that you look at the result in awe”

3 HN recommenders · 2013–2026

talk#1047

The Making of: ROM City Rampage (Retro City Rampage)

VblankEntertainment

“There's also a fascinating video of him getting the core of the game to run on NES spec constraints”

4 HN recommenders · 2014–2022

demo#1050

"Memories" - 256 byte MSDOS intro

Héll Mood

“producing stuff that is just as mindblowing as it was when it all began.”

4 HN recommenders · 2020–2022

demo#1131

TiTAN - Overdrive 2 (RGB 50fps) - SEGA Mega Drive - Revision 2017 (1st Place)

Oerg866

“Overdrive 2 is my favorite example”

2 HN recommenders · 2017–2026

demo#1252

Bytebeat: Experimental music from very short C programs

Ville-Matias Heikkilä (viznut)

“The video that started it all”

4 HN recommenders · 2014–2023

talk#1313

"An approach to computing and sustainability inspired from permaculture" by Devine Lu Linvega

Strange Loop Conference

“Devine had a great talk about the "why" of Uxn at Strange Loop last year”

4 HN recommenders · 2023–2024

demo#1393

My old BBC Micro system

mikeselectricstuff

“Recommended - this guy knows his stuff, and unlike certain other youtube channels in this genre there is no annoying bravado.”

3 HN recommenders · 2017–2022

demo#1447

Farbrausch - fr-041: debris. [HD]

kb

“If you want to really show off the demoscene, try Farbrausch - fr-041.”

4 HN recommenders · 2010–2026

documentary#1487

The REAL Story On Why Space Cadet Pinball Was Removed (ft. Windows on Itanium)

NCommander

“If you have the time, I highly recommend checking out the NCommander's video talking about Space Cadet Pinball.”

4 HN recommenders · 2021–2024

talk#1528

PRACTICE 2018: Joseph White

NYU Game Center

“talk about the design philosophy of Pico-8”

2 HN recommenders · 2018–2022

demo#1568

The Commodordion

lftkryo

“This dude's work is incredible. His entire YouTube channel is amazing.”

3 HN recommenders · 2022–2025

music#1657

ZX Spectrum 1-bit music: Agent X (Tim Follin, 1985)

aki__

“Tim Follin's tunes for example are basically treating the beeper like a 1-bit DAC, with amazing results.”

3 HN recommenders · 2015–2026

demo#1690

Chaos Theory - Awesome 64k Intro! [720p HD]

Lounger

“probably the coolest and most impressive one”

3 HN recommenders · 2011–2024

talk#1692

25c3: The Ultimate Commodore 64 Talk

Christiaan008

“His “Ultimate Guide” talks are great and I rewatch them at least once a year.”

3 HN recommenders · 2011–2025

talk#1740

27c3: Reverse Engineering the MOS 6502 CPU (en)

Christiaan008

“This is a great presentation showing how this CPU is reverse engineered”

2 HN recommenders · 2014–2021

demo#1766

Future Crew - Second Reality (1993) [60fps]

DemosceneVids

“Future Crew's 2nd Reality demo, for those that haven't seen it”

3 HN recommenders · 2020–2023

talk#1828

NVScene 2015 Session: How to Create Content with Signed Distance Functions (Johann Korndörfer)

NVScene

“this is an excellent talk on the subject”

3 HN recommenders · 2017–2018

demo#1868

8088 MPH by Hornet + CRTC + DESiRE

Jim Leonard

“The most amazing thing I've heard done with a PC speaker is in the last part of this equally amazing demo”

3 HN recommenders · 2017–2024

demo#1886

XAYAX - Bang! (ATARI VCS 2600 demo)

MEGA - Museum of Electronic Games & Art

“2600 programming is alive in the demo scene. This was just created in 2014 and is completely insane”

2 HN recommenders · 2014–2019

music#1903

Razor1911

Dubmood

“This Razor1911 career retrospective demo from Revision was pretty impressive”

3 HN recommenders · 2026

talk#2008

BSidesLV 2013 3 2 7 Sixteen Colors Archiving the Evolution of ANSI and ASCII Art Doug Moore Bren

Adrian Crenshaw

“If you want to watch a cool talk about the evolution of NFO and ascii (color) art scene and processes, I recommend watching”

3 HN recommenders · 2015–2022

tutorial#2050

I wrote a Raytracer for DOS, 16 VGA colors

Bisqwit

“Bisqwit's discussion of dithering is outstanding”

2 HN recommenders · 2019–2021

explainer#2101

How "oldschool" graphics worked Part 1 - Commodore and Nintendo

The 8-Bit Guy

“The 8-Bit Guy has some great videos about how graphics worked on the older systems”

4 HN recommenders · 2015–2019

documentary#2104

The Only Famous Motherboard

Cathode Ray Dude - CRD

“Cathode Ray Dude's channel has a great video about the history of this amazing motherboard”

3 HN recommenders · 2025

demo#2115

The rigs we've created for chipsynth MD's emulation.

plgDavid

“This video shows some insight into the development process”

3 HN recommenders · 2022–2023

explainer#2123

Emulating the DX7 the HARD way

plgDavid

“a YouTube video about the reverse engineering process from David at Plogue”

3 HN recommenders · 2021–2024

music#2287

Farbrausch & Neuro - Masagin (HD Stereo)

Leonard Ritter

“features animated, recursive SVGs with antialiasing and motion blur at high rez and high frame rate.”

3 HN recommenders · 2010–2023

demo#2357

Hartverdrahtet - Akronyme Analogiker | 4k Revision 2012

Demoscene High-Quality Videos (Annikras)

“So then I'm going to post my favorite 4k [1], which even if you ignore the file size, is just a very cool use of fractals.”

2 HN recommenders · 2012–2024