Retro gaming consoles

Yeah I’ve always been curious about the ones on Amazon that hold like 1500 games from various gaming platforms.

It would be cool to switch from old school Mario to Sonic.

I’ve never bought one, but many people roll their own with detailed guides. RetroArch is a popular program that can be controlled with a controller. Emulation Station is neat- you can install it as the OS or live boot into it from a USB (so you don’t destroy the underlying OS). So when your kiddos turn the computer on, it launches right into “game mode,” though the other one is practically 0 power (usually <10w idle) and can be left on that program all day/month/year without concern.


You can download essentially every classic game free of charge or DMCA concerns from The Internet Archive.

Here’s a $140 Box that will play everything pre-PS2 and could probably do a fair amount of PS2 games, though they’re somewhat a pain to download and play.


Then pick what controller you want. The brand “8bitdo” is probably the most popular wireless controller maker. But you can Google “NES USB controller” or “n64 usb controller” or whatever the controller you want to play with (could even get several and swap them out if you want an “authentic” feel)


Any of the ones you buy, you’ll be able to add missing games to. You’ll be buying less powerful hardware. For what you want to do (you said “Nintendo,” so so long as you mean “n64 and before,”) there’s almost nothing you couldn’t play.

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Yeah I’ve always been curious about the ones on Amazon that hold like 1500 games from various gaming platforms.

It would be cool to switch from old school Mario to Sonic.

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I just built a handheld rig that plays up to PS1 games.

The emulation software and console is easy. The hard part is legally finding ROM and BIOS files.

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games are not as responsive as original games (especially Super Mario Bros.)

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Couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t even make it through the first level without getting killed. Even off a tad for a video game is life or death

TVs make a huge difference when it comes to emulation. I experienced that small lag on emulation consoles as well when hooked to certain TV's in the house but not on others.

It also seems that controllers play a part as well. PS5 and even 8bitdo controllers seem more responsive than Xbox Series X controller. Just in my personal experience.

I had a 3-4 year old gaming laptop that I wasnt using much, so I converted that to my main retro gaming system. Was able to beat Mike Tyson (after about 30 tries - 9 year old me would have been proud). You aren't beating Mike with lag, so that made a huge difference.

Most of them are at the bare minimum threshold for CPU power/speed to run the emulation software for a some of these games. You'd be better served to DIY one, either grab a i5 mini computer off FleaBay for $60-70 (for example a HP EliteDesk 800 G3 i5's can be had all day for < $75 and would be capable of emulating a LOT up to maybe PS3 or so). Raspberry pi 4's may be become available again at non-scalped prices after January. PI 3 do okay for lower end emulation, MAME and similar, NES tends to be hit or miss.

A Steam Deck can also run emulators.

Windows Central Article: Best Emulators for Steam Deck

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The hard part is legally finding ROM

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Why is Archive’s selection not adequate ?

LINK
I’m no lawyer, but they specifically have a DMCA exemption and are allowed to store and distribute:

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Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.

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…that’s somewhere near legal, no?

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Couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t even make it through the first level without getting killed. Even off a tad for a video game is life or death

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Truth. I've beaten Tyson on a real NES.

Can't get past Soda Popinski on an emulator.