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Type of site Abandonware video games Website Defunct; multiple revivals exist (see below) Launched September 1998/April 2009 Current status Defunct; succeeded by multiple third-party mirrors/revivals | ||
Home of the Underdogs (often called HotU) was an abandonware archive founded by Sarinee Achavanuntakul, in September 1998.
The site provided reviews for over 5,300 games, as well as offered downloads of software and manuals for a number of games that were no longer commercially available. This allowed it to be a valuable resource to players who lost the original discs or manuals. While a majority of games available on the site were for DOS or Microsoft Windows, the site also contained a section with games for other platforms. Where downloads for these games were provided, they were usually present in formats compatible with emulators. The site also had scans of several gamebook series, many of them complete. In addition to commercial titles, the site contained a small number of 'freeware' titles.
On January 2006 it was posted on the site that the owner got new responsibilities at work and the site updates got a low priority. On March 2009 it was reported that the site ran out of money for hosting.
As of September 2009, Hotud.org had rebuilt the archive. An active team of four people worked on correcting errors in the filesystem. There is an active relationship between Hotud.org and GOG.com to promote both the history of classic gaming as well as modern access by digital distribution to these classic games. A notice went up in February 2014 on Hotud.org stating that the site will be taken offline due to financial reasons.
Also in 2009, Homeoftheunderdogs.net was created focusing on keeping the site more faithful to the original design. This group is still active today maintaining the site.