Many veteran gamers can remember their first console. Many of us still cling to memories of waking up early with Duck Hunt and Super Metroid. Not to mention the times when we had to ‘improvise’ our own solutions to common problems with older machines. There was even a time when gambling halls were still common in your average shopping mall.
Remakes of classic games like Doom and the original Spyro trilogy are becoming increasingly common. The remakes of these theses allow us to relive familiar stories in a modern environment, but they do not have the same nostalgic aspect as the originals.
Fortunately, some companies are still supporting some of their old consoles and even remaking them to fit modern technology. Here’s a list of retro consoles, in no particular order, that are either still available or recently redone to scratch our nostalgic itch.
PlayStation Classic
The original PlayStation will always have a special place in gaming history. This is the console where iconic characters we all know and love first appeared. The PSX was one of the first consoles to offer 3D gameplay and the first to move away from the simple button combination gameplay of previous consoles. Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, and Lara Croft made their debut on this console, among many other iconic characters.
Sony released a recreation of the console called the PlayStation Classic in 2018. The console comes preloaded with 20 games including Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII, and Resident Evil: Director’s Cut .
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NES Classic Mini
This version of the NES console was released in 2016 and launched the trend of miniaturizing classic consoles and bringing them back for both new and veteran gamers to enjoy. This console brings back some of the best games of the video game era. Fortunately, you don’t have to blow into the cartridge or spam the power and reset buttons to keep this one going. The console is preloaded with 30 games, including Super Mario Bros. 3, Excitebike, and The Legend of Zelda.
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Game Boy Advance
The Nintendo Game Boy series of handheld consoles was outrageously popular throughout the system’s run. Even today it remains one of the most popular portable consoles available. The penultimate version of the consoles, Game Boy Advance SP, is still very popular in favor of Micro, which cannot play Game Boy or Game Boy Color games.
Many of the series we know and love today, like Fire Emblem, started on this console. Many more games like Super Mario Bros. 2 and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past were carried over to the console, allowing players to enjoy them away from home. The Game Boy series is also where the Pokémon games began with Pok é mon Red and Green, which was developed for the first Game Boy and is compatible with the remaining consoles except Micro.
If you’re holding one of these handhelds, you can still find the games floating around Amazon, in family game stores, and sometimes at some major outlets, depending on location and availability.
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Sega Genesis Mini
The Sega Genesis was the first competitor to the SNES. This is the console that launched Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Earthworm Jim.
The latest version, the Sega Genesis Mini, is equipped to reproduce any of the original cartridges that you still have lying around. If you don’t have any of the original cartridges, the console is equipped with 80 preloaded games, including Mortal Kombat. It also comes with wireless recreations of classic Sega Genesis controllers, minus the mess of tangled cables.
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Super NES Classic
The SNES dramatically changed the gaming industry. The NES revived the industry from being little more than a novelty. The SNES is the console that made Nintendo one of the most influential companies in the entire industry, a title that it still owns 29 years later. This is the console that brought us Super Mario World, F-Zero and Star Fox.
After the popularity of the new version of the NES, Nintendo released a new version of the SNES that has been equally popular. The remake features a library of essential games that every SNES fan needs to play, including The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Final Fantasy VI . Along with these titles, the console has a variety of display options for both HD output and emulating the fuzzy CRT televisions the console was originally designed for.
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Atari 2600 / Flashback 8 Gold Deluxe
The Atari 2600 was first released in 1977. It is one of the most influential game consoles in gaming history, popularizing the interchangeable cartridges first developed by Jerry Lawson.
The Flashback 8 Gold Deluxe version released in 2017 is preloaded with 120 games, including Space Invaders and Frogger. It comes with two wireless versions of the system’s iconic joysticks, two paddles, and has a rewind feature that lets you rewind the game for a few seconds.
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Neo Geo Mini
This console is great if you are a fan of arcade machines. The goal of the original Neo Geo, developed by SNK, was to allow game room owners to present multiple games in a single cabinet to save floor space. Finally, a version was released that arcades could rent to their players. Before long, a home version was released to be sold directly to consumers.
The Neo Geo Mini brings the old arcade feel back to a miniature version of the iconic arcade cabinet. The little console includes games like the Metal Slug series , Alpha Mission II, and Samurai Shodown.
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C64 Mini
The original Commodore 64 is largely responsible for bringing home computing to the average consumer. It holds the record for the best-selling single computer model of all time. The console popularized the BASIC programming language, which has influenced several modern programming languages used today. This 8-bit console introduced many influential developers to the gaming industry and programming.
The C64 Mini features 64 games, including Mission Impossible, Paradroid, and Boulder Dash . You can also plug in a keyboard and code your own BASIC programs. If one of your favorite games isn’t available on the Mini, you can still play it by loading a ROM onto a USB drive.
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Polymega
Polymega will launch on July 6. It is a unique system that is not strictly based on a real retro console. Instead, it acts as an emulator, allowing you to play retro games from 30 different consoles. If you still have Sega Saturn CDs or even NES cartridges, you will be able to play them on Polymega.
The console will include a universal controller and a CD drive with modules that you can purchase to play cartridge games. Probably the best part about Polymega is that it will allow users to install their games on the console so that they don’t have to worry so much about some of their older cartridges.
Your computer
Modern computers have come a long way since Pong first came out in 1972. There are many emulators like Dolphin, PCSX2, Visual Boy Advance, and OpenEmu that are capable of running some of the most popular retro games on your PC. While many of these emulators are fan-made, they tend to have large communities that are happy to help anyone who wants to get back to their favorite games.
If you have a somewhat decent computer or laptop and the ROMS for your favorite retro games, your PC is a good choice for a retro console. Some enterprising gamers have gone so far as to use the Raspberry Pi to create custom consoles completely dedicated to running retro emulators.
However, using emulators requires some patience. While they do have some amazing features to improve gameplay, some of the more popular emulators can still be buggy. They also can’t fully emulate some of the finer points of retro gaming. Using a keyboard is nice and convenient, but it just doesn’t have the same feel as a classic NES controller or Atari 2600 joystick.
