I bought a valid copy of pico-8 a couple years ago, and I forgot to put in the code, I don't have the code anymore. how do I update pico-8 now? do I need to buy it again?

Welcome back, @pooiod7. If this is your valid account, you can download the latest version HERE:

https://www.lexaloffle.com/games.php?page=updates

when I got pico-8 I did not know what the code was for and never registered it. is there a way to use the email it was purchased with to get another code?

it’s not clear what you are talking about.

can you rephrase without saying «the code»?
explain where exactly you bought it (lexaloffle / humblebundle / itch / ?)

I bought pico-8 from this website and it gave me the application and an activation code thing to add to my account, however at the time I had no idea what it could be for. I put the code in the name for the installer and stored it away, later I deleted the installer, and my hardrive died. but I saved pico-8 onto my sd card so I can still use it. then later after I got a new computer I found out that the code was meant to be added to my account so that I could receive updates. at the time I thought it would be ok, but about a year later I noticed I could not load the latest games. I am now stuck on an outdated unregistered copy of pico-8.

You may need to contact @zep direct then, @pooiod7. He can be found in Twitter.

https://twitter.com/lexaloffle?lang=en

ok

do you have the original e-mail you got when purchasing?

I have the original account.

but you haven’t linked the products to the account, that’s the problem. can you answer the question about the email?

By account I ment email

Do you have the confirmation email message sent to your email address when you purchased it?

Downloads and updates are available from wherever you bought PICO-8. If you bought it from this website, then you should already have access to downloads without having to enter a code. If you still have the confirmation email message from the time of purchase, you can confirm which email address was used to purchase it, and that's the email address you would use to sign in to this website to access the download.

There are other ways to purchase PICO-8, such as Humble Bundle or itch.io. Re-downloads and updates are available on those sites if that's where you bought it. (I happen to have an itch.io copy also and I confirmed that the latest is available on itch.io.)

I don't know if any purchase method involves entering a code. There might be. The major ways that I know of don't use a code, but there have been many ways to get PICO-8 over the years.

I found out that voxatron comes with pico-8 (as of this time) and I was planning on getting it anyways so I just did that.