Many modern video games offer narrative experiences that rival Hollywood blockbusters, but today’s games can also demand a lot of time and attention to play through. Sometimes you just want to dive right into the action, and the 8-bit and 16-bit retro games of yesteryear are perfect for that. Especially with all the new retro handhelds and reproduction consoles currently hitting the market.
Retro gaming as a hobby in itself is more popular than ever, but finding the perfect retro gaming gear for your needs can be overwhelming, so we’ve done the hard work for you. Whether you’re a child of the ‘80s who’s been playing classic titles for decades and has a mountain of old cartridges (and a hard drive full of ROMs) or a teenager curious why so many people still love the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis, this guide will help you figure out the best way to enjoy the classics from the past.
The biggest trend in retro gaming we’re seeing just a few months into 2023 is the release of handhelds not specifically designed for retro gaming and emulation at all. Game streaming is slowly gaining traction, and with it has come a collection of Android-powered handhelds designed to be used with streaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now, including the Logitech G Cloud, and the Razer Edge. But both devices also happen to be excellent retro gaming machines for running emulators like RetroArch, with big screens that make classic games look better than ever.
We’re also seeing another trend of companies like Miyoo and Anbernic releasing more affordable and streamlined handhelds, including the Miyoo Mini and the Anbernic RG35XX, which skip the added bulk of analog joysticks and instead focus on classic games from the original PlayStation era and earlier, which could be played using just a D-pad and action buttons.
And while the long-rumored Nintendo Switch Pro still hasn’t arrived, Nintendo continues to expand its offering of retro titles through its Nintendo Switch Online services, where you can enjoy select classic games from the NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis and most recently, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, which all look especially lovely on the Nintendo Switch OLED.
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Although delays have plagued the $220 Analogue Pocket for quite a few years, wait times are finally much shorter for the handheld that delivers a near-unrivaled retro gaming experience for titles released for classic handheld consoles. Its 3.5-inch, 1600 x 1440 pixel LCD display (protected with Gorilla Glass) is a sight to behold, and the Pocket is able to perfectly emulate the look of classic handhelds without introducing any gameplay performance issues. The Pocket runs on a custom-designed FPGA chip that plays games from the Nintendo Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Sega Game Gear, and other portable consoles flawlessly, with advanced features still enroute that will allow players to share game saves with others. There’s even a dock that allows games to be played through a TV with an HDMI connection, but keep in mind that you’ll need to bring your own original cartridges, and pay for slightly clunky cartridge adapters for non-Nintendo titles.That said, community developed cores for consoles like the Sega Genesis ensure that the Analogue Pocket’s library is always growing.
Many retro handheld gamers think the hardware was perfected years ago with the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color, and the various iterations of the Game Boy Advance. If you’d rather stick with what you know, companies like Retro Modding can upgrade Nintendo’s original portables using a mix of the old hardware (original motherboards) and newer parts, including rechargeable batteries, backlit LCD screens, louder speakers, colorful glowing LED buttons, and housings that match the originals or feature more elaborate designs. Custom builds can cost you well over $500 if you choose to upgrade every last component, and they often take a few weeks to build, but if you’re heartbroken your original Game Boys no longer work, a rebuilt replacement is the next best thing.
Like the Analogue Pocket, the Evercade and Evercade EXP are portable consoles reliant on game cartridges, but not the Nintendo and Sega ones still collecting dust in a shoebox in your parents’ home. The Evercade’s creators have licensed official games from their original publishers to create a collection of themed cartridges that each contain multiple titles. There are now hundreds of games available for Evercade handhelds, all of which run perfectly on the hardware, without slowdown, graphical hiccups, or sound effect issues. The original Evercade is getting a little harder to find, and will now cost you around $150 bundled with a collection of cartridges, but that’s because last year saw the introduction of the Evercade EXP, which added wifi, a significant bump in screen resolution, and extra buttons facilitating sideways gameplay for TATE mode titles—and a slight MSRP bump to $150 (though it does come bundled with a single game cart).
As groundbreaking as the original Game Boy was, its portability was often complicated by the need to carry around an assortment of game cartridges, often necessitating a bulky carrying case, or at least massive pockets. When portability is a priority, a handheld capable of emulation is the way to go, allowing a tiny memory card to be filled with thousands of classic game files to play on the go.
We still think the Anbernic RG350P is an incredible bargain (it can now be found for around $70-$80) thanks to a build that feels as solid as Nintendo’s older portable hardware but still includes a pair of analog joysticks for enjoying fully 3D titles with a virtual camera. But with a 320 x 240 screen, the 350P’s hardware is getting a little old. If you’re willing to spend a little more, the $150 Anbernic RG351MP brings with it nearly identical specs, but with a premium aluminum housing and a 3.5-inch, 640 x 480 screen that will make retro titles look even better. You can also find the even newer Anbernic RG353M for around the same price, which now includes a touchscreen that facilitates the use of Android, in addition to a custom Linux OS, which users can switch between.
Although the $65 Anbernic RG35XX almost feels like a step back in terms of performance, it’s deliberately designed to be simple and affordable. It lacks any analogue controls, which means that it’s best suited for playing retro games dating back to the PS1 and earlier, before controllers and gamepads had joysticks. But the hardware is incredibly solid, the 640 x 480 fully laminated screen is beautiful, and the handheld even has an HDMI port for enjoying your favorite retro games on a bigger screen. It’s design is also a dead ringer for the original Game Boy.
Over the years, we’ve watched the handheld emulators coming out of China add more and more performance and functionality, allowing them to emulate games from more powerful consoles. But the $60 Miyoo Mini did the opposite, and instead focused on older systems—from the Atari to the PS—with a compact, simple, and affordable design inspired by the original Game Boy (though not to the same degree as the Anbernic RG35XX). It was a surprise hit last year, so much so that it was almost impossible to ever find in stock. If you’re willing to hunt around and pay a premium, you can still find one. But its successor, the slightly larger $70 Miyoo Mini Plus, should be much easier to find this year. That said, the original is better for one-handed gaming, which can be helpful for playing turn-based games while on the train.
The original Nintendo Game Boy changed portable gaming forever, but it was also kind of a beast, and just barely pocketable. The ~$68 FunKey S is actually smaller than a Game Boy game cartridge, but through emulation, is capable of playing thousands of retro titles, including 3D games designed for the original PlayStation. It’s about as portable as a portable gaming machine can get while still actually being playable.
To help celebrate Mario’s 35th anniversary, a few years ago, Nintendo released a revival of its old-school Game & Watch handhelds, updated with full color screens and rechargeable batteries. The $50 Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. paired the original NES version of Super Mario Bros. with its sequel and a classic G&W game called Ball to create a charming throwback handheld that wasn’t necessarily a must-have. But a year later, Nintendo followed up with the $50 Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda, which swapped Mario for three classic Zelda games: the original NES The Legend of Zelda from 1986, the 1988 sequel Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (which introduced side-scrolling levels to the series), and the 1993 The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening from the Nintendo Game Boy. The game selection on each device might be limited, but both are very pocketable ways to scratch a nostalgic itch.
Going even thinner, Super Impulse’s Micro Arcade line squeezes classic games like Pac-Man, Tetris, Dig Dug, Galaga, Oregon Trail, and Qbert into credit card-sized handhelds that range in price from $20 to $25, depending on how many games are included on each. They were designed by the same engineer who created the open-source, $54 Arduboy FX, a tiny Game Boy that allows anyone to program and create their own games. With a black-and-white OLED display, Arduboy games are about as simple as retro games can get, and while you won’t find any A-list titles available for the handheld (aside from Tetris or Space Invaders clones), all th Source: Gizmodo