Underground 2 Revived (NFS Underground 2 in the browser)

Need for Speed: Underground 2, EA Black Box’s 2004 street racer, came out on PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube and has not been sold for years; EA’s online servers for it closed long ago. th0mk published the browser version on 19 October 2026 (“Need for Speed: Underground 2 in the browser” is the first commit), and it reached Hacker News the next day. Since then the developer has pushed changes several times a day; on 27 October 2026 the repository had about 336 GitHub stars and the live site ran the latest commit, from 26 October.

This site is not affiliated with th0mk, Talha Müderrisoğlu or Electronic Arts.

How it works

• A static recompilation of the PC game. A Python tool reads every function of the PC executable (SPEED2.EXE, version 1.2) and turns it into C, which is compiled to WebAssembly. There is no x86 emulator running in your browser.
• Windows replaced in the browser. The project reimplements the bits of Windows, Direct3D 9, DirectSound and DirectInput the game uses: graphics go to WebGPU, sound to Web Audio, and the game’s threads run as web workers sharing one block of memory.
• A server for the data and the players. A small Rust server sends the page and the game data, and connects players for multiplayer.
• Built on NFSU2Recomp. The recompiler and runtime started as NFSU2Recomp by Talha Müderrisoğlu, a native port of the same PC game to Apple silicon Macs with Metal. The licence credits both, and the site’s About section names it.
• Made with AI help. The README says it was “built with the help of Claude Code”.

It works like the other ports in our browser games list and the console recompilations in the recompiled games list.

What you can do

• The full PC game: the career and its races in the open city of Bayview, at up to 120 FPS, in widescreen at your screen’s resolution, with the original look at its highest settings.
• Shared free roam: everyone on the site drives in the same city, with crews and rooms, horns, quick chat and a drift mode.
• Online races: the game’s own Online menu (lobby, Create Game, Join Game, ranked results) talks to the project’s server instead of EA’s. No account; you pick a name.
• Saves in your browser, with a backup download and restore, optional end-to-end-encrypted cloud saves under a word key phrase, and import of your old PC profile.
• Languages: the game’s own thirteen languages, plus Brazilian Portuguese, Polish and Turkish packs and an upscaled HUD, all taken from community mods.
• A photo mode on F12.

Controls

Xbox and PlayStation controllers and steering wheels work too (force feedback is a requested feature). On a phone you steer by touch or by tilting the phone.

What you need

• A browser with WebGPU: the latest Google Chrome is the safe choice. Firefox works where it has WebGPU (Windows and Apple silicon Macs). On Linux and on Windows on ARM, Chrome needs WebGPU switched on in chrome://flags.
• Patience on the first start. About 7 MB of game code loads first and the data streams in as you drive. The player’s guide offers a preload of everything but the movies, about 2 GB on disk and about 1.4 GB over the network; after that it is cached and works offline.
• No game files. The public site keeps them on its server. Only if you build or host the project yourself do you need your own PC copy, patched to the exact North American v1.2 SPEED2.EXE the README lists.

Phones and tablets

The player’s guide says the game runs in Chrome for Android, starting at 75% render scale and lighter graphics and moving up to full resolution if the phone keeps up. You can steer with touch controls or by tilting the phone. Firefox for Android has no WebGPU, so it won’t work there; iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 26. We haven’t tested it on a phone.

Not working?

• A message that WebGPU is missing: update Chrome, or turn on WebGPU in chrome://flags (Linux, Windows on ARM).
• Stutter, or the city popping in: the data streams in while you drive; wait for it to cache, or use the preload. In issue #22 players reported worse stutter after one update; with several releases a day, try again later.
• Problems in free roam on Firefox: switch to Chrome (issue #30).
• “Global error 134” and other crashes: report them on the project’s GitHub issues or its Discord.

Is it official, and will it stay up?

• No, it is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Electronic Arts. The GitHub repository holds only the project’s own code (MIT); the site’s footer asks rights holders to write to its legal address.
• The public site serves the game itself. Unlike the GitHub project, nfsu2.xyz streams EA’s game files, executable included, to every visitor. That is what makes it work with no copy of your own, and it is also why it could be taken down at any time. We found no takedown on 27 October 2026.
• Copies exist. nfsu2.org runs an older copy of th0mk’s build on its own servers and names no operator; nfsu2.net is a guide site; portals such as JustPlayWeb list it too. None of them is the original. We link only to nfsu2.xyz and the GitHub repository.
• Avoid any “NFSU2 browser” download or installer: the browser version needs none.

Other Underground 2 ports

• NFSU2Recomp runs the PC game natively on Apple silicon Macs with Metal, 119 FPS on an M1 Pro per its README. It needs your own PC copy; the latest release is v2.1 (26 October 2026).
• NFSU2 Recompiled (Android Evolved) recompiles the same executable for Android and Windows with touch controls; quick races and free roam load. It needs your own PC files.

Related

• NFS Most Wanted recomp (SpeedBreaker): Most Wanted (2005) as a native port of the Xbox 360 version, and the Most Wanted browser port.
• Midnight Club 3 on PC and Burnout 3: the other 2000s street racers running natively on PC.
• PES 6 Web Online: another console-era game recompiled to run in a browser tab.

Unofficial. This page is written by an independent directory. It is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Electronic Arts (developed by EA Black Box) or th0mk (Underground 2 Revived (NFS Underground 2 in the browser)'s author). We do not host any files, and we never link to game files, ROMs or ISOs.