If you´re born in the 80ies you´ll have played a lot of the games which are now retro games. The first consoles came out and we all were blown away by the possibilities. Especially with the very limited hardware back then amazing things where done. Luckily (and thanks to Moore law) we have way more compute, ram at a way cheaper price point. This gives us the headroom and ability to emulate this old systems on modern hardware. You can use something as small and as cheap as a Raspberry Pi, some free and opensource software and some old game Roms and enjoy.
What you need to setup a retro gaming console
- Raspberry Pi I use a 4 but depending on your needs you might also use something like a Pi Zero 2W.
- Pi Accessoires
- Case (I used: https://www.berrybase.de/retroflag-nespi-gehaeuse-fuer-raspberry-pi-4 )
- Powersupply
- SSD (usb)
- MicroSD card
- Some game pads (I used these: Game pads )
- Raspberry Pi Imager (Download here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ )
- Lot´s of ROMs (be aware you will need to own a phyiscal copy of the game in order to be on the safe side of copyright)
- A emulation software (is use RecalBox: https://www.recalbox.com/de/ )
Steps
- Assemble your setup
- Flash a system on the MicroSD card
- Boot up your system and transfer everything to the ssd and flash your bios to boot from it
- In case of the nespi case I used, I had to install some additional things to make the hardware buttons of the case work. For additional information have a look here: https://github.com/RetroFlag/retroflag-picase
- Load up your ROMs. I did this via ssh on my local network, but you can also transfer them using a smb mount or via sd card.
- Play
This is a lowcost solution to play all the old classics. If you´re not into building this yourself this Miyoo Mini Plus look promising (I didn´t test it myself yet, but intent to).