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| What Happened to All the Old Dress Up Game Websites? |
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Feeling nostalgic? Let's rewind from Flash glory days to today's treasures.
Table of Contents
Flash Shutdown - The Great Disappearance
Most classic dress up sites (Rinmaru Games, CartoonDollEmporium, DressUpWho, Roiworld) vanished when Adobe killed Flash support at the end of 2020. Thousands of browser‑based games simply vanished overnight, even though some are still playable via emulators or preservation tools like Flashpoint.
Rinmaru Games
This beloved anime dress up sanctuary went dark after Flash died, but the creator didn't vanish. Rinmaru formed LarkyLabs where she publishes high quality visual novels. Rinmaru entrusted Doll Divine to be the official keeper of her old dress up games and you can play nearly all the Rinmaru Flash Games here.
Stardoll
Stardoll began in 2004 as PaperDoll Heaven, a hobby project by Finnish artist Liisa Wrang. It was rebranded in 2005 and officially launched in 2006, raising over $10 million in venture funding. Over time it grew into a major fashion platform with celebrity collabs, mobile spinoffs, and a dedicated fan base. Today, it still exists but in a semi-dormant state, requiring a downloadable launcher. Though performance is spotty and updates rare, occasional content drops suggest it’s not fully abandoned.
DressUpWho
Founded by Aaron Wong, DressUpWho offered endless themed games and makeover titles. Though Aaron sold the site a few years ago, it's still online and serving Flash and HTML5 content. While no longer a solo project, it remains a reliable portal for casual dress up fans.
CartoonDollEmporium
Cartoon Doll Emporium (CDE) launched around 2005 and exploded into a giant kids’ fashion and social site, at one point seeing over 70 million visits annually. It was sold in 2009 for an estimated $5–6 million but shut down in 2015. Today it lives on through archives and memory.
Roiworld
Roiworld, a Korean casual game platform, was acquired by Lifetime Networks in 2008 and briefly launched in the U.S. Despite early success, international support faded and today only fan archives preserve its legacy.
Missangest → PastelKatto
This small indie maker moved from whimsical games into art prints. Now known as PastelKatto, she no longer creates games, but her art continues elsewhere.
DressUpGames.com
Run by a solo female dev in Iceland, DressUpGames.com still publishes new HTML5 dress-up games. It’s living proof the genre lives on.
Preserving the Past
Projects like Flashpoint and Ruffle help preserve old games. Communities on Reddit also archive beloved classics from DollzMania, GaiaOnline, TekTek, and more.
Why Some Sites Linger
• Sites like Doll Divine and DressUpGames.com are passion projects run by women who genuinely love the genre
• Dress ups have appealed to humans for millennia
• Support from fans like YOU keeps us going ^_^
In short: Flash died, but the genre didn’t. Some rebuilt, some retired, and others passed the torch to new creators. Nostalgia lives on—thanks to preservation and people like you.
About the Author
Ola Rogula is the founder of Doll Divine Entertainment Inc., a leading platform for dress-up and character creator games since 2002. Ola helped preserve many Flash-era games, built the Meiker engine, and continues to support game artists worldwide.
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