10 Ways ‘Hackers’ Proves Technology Was More Glorious In 1995

Cyberpunk cult-classic Hackers turns 20 this year and we wanted to see how well it holds up. For the uninitiated, Hackers tells the story of a group of gifted high school students caught up in a sinister corporate conspiracy, with only their wits and their dial-up modems to see them through.

Highlights from the film include a young Angelina Jolie who’s eager to triple her RAM, and the most evil data center since Skynet. For those who long for the days of phreaking and Netscape Navigator, Hackers is a romantic trip down memory lane. For everyone else, it’s just amusing as hell.

Check out these choice portrayals of 90s tech culture and celebrate 20 years of Hackers at Hack the Planet this August!

Virtual Reality… 1.0

Move over Oculus Rift… Nintendo figured out VR way back in the day. Thank you, Virtual Boy.

Questionable User Interfaces

Microsoft’s hallowed Start Menu rolled out the same year as Hackers, but serious coders in 1995 preferred GUIs inspired by glitch art.

Sauron’s Data Center

Before advents like solid-state drives and blade servers, data centers were powered by pure evil.

Floppy Disk Couture

The must-have accessory of 1995 was 2.88 MB of storage space.

It came in a variety of colors.

Dramatic Handles

Any self-respecting hacker twenty years ago had a handle that sounded either like a variety of Axe Body Spray or an EDM group.

Don’t call him Eugene.

All the SWAT Teams, All the Time

“Oh, is that an internet connection? You have the right to remain silent.”

Where are they taking Angelina??

Bueller? Bueller?

If you were a kid with a computer in the 80s or early 90s, chances are you used it to hack your school to edit your report card.

Hack the Planet!

Still totally a thing.

Jedi Hacks

And you thought technology was less advanced in the 90s.

The DMV needs a better firewall…

Dramatic Typing

So you think you can type?

As anyone who’s seen the film can attest to, we’re barely scratching the surface here. There’s probably enough material in the first 30 minutes of Hackers for a hundred GIFS.

Got a GIF of your own? Post it in the comments!