Retro Console Playground

by cmack · Published March 21, 2025 · Updated June 20, 2025

This is a live article. It will be updated frequently to refine and expand on the options presented.

TODO:
Continue adding details to existing listings.

Last updated: June 12, 2025

There are still tons of old retro consoles floating around out there, and there’s been a renewed interest in going back to experience some of those memories we all had with our childhood gaming systems from back in the day. The big names we all know: Atari, Nintendo, Commodore, they all conjure up images and sensations that many of us long to feel once more, now and then.

So for those who clung to their babies, or maybe even re-purchased them from somebody else online, they can have that nostalgia fairly readily. Others will resort to emulating those old platforms, which on today’s hardware is quite the cakewalk.

So, let’s take a little trip, and look at some stuff that’s available for our beloved consoles, both original physical and emulation, with a specific focus on performance and convenience.

Most of the cartridge-based systems will have SD card-based storage options available, so there’s no need to spend tons of cash on a whole wall of secondhand carts that may or may not work.

Many of the consoles will have video mods available to either drastically improve the stock video output, or update it to work with HDMI, and the C0pperdragon LumaCode solutions are singularly epic for this.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to all consoles throughout history, but rather a rundown of ways to make using the popular consoles of our youth more convenient and fun. For example, when the Nintendo DS came out, there were a bunch of models released to address more features and more affordable price points. Now? Just get the best of each; they’re quite a bit cheaper than they used to be, so get the DSi XL and/or the 3DS XL (or LL from Japan; region won’t matter if you mod it).

As a quick aside, it should be noted that the actual games content for these consoles is running around pretty freely on the internet, if one puts in the effort to look for it. However, I’m not going to provide sources for that content here, because while there’s probably little to worry about with the stuff that’s decades old, there are grey areas and overlaps (think “Mario”) that makes sharing that content a… questionable legal tactic. I will link to sites I trust or think are at least trustworthy, but will not be hosting actual game content here. Just know that I can confirm that it is out there and accessible, but please do be careful; some of those content sites are rife with skeevy and doctored files. Check related forums for reliable sources. I’ll mention useful forums where applicable, too.

1st Gen
2nd Gen
3rd Gen
4th Gen
5th Gen
6th Gen
7th Gen
8th Gen

The consoles in the 1st generation primarily carry their value in nostalgia alone, and since they came along on the heels of the legendary Pong itself, most of them are copycats of the Leader of the Band. As such, their content is more closely tied to the actual hardware design, and it’s the use of the thing where all that nostalgia is really found.

Otherwise, let’s face it: Pong isn’t really that deep, nor is it entertaining for very long. If you had/have the original cabinet or one of the home consoles, you’ve got the part that carries the “magic”. The game itself ain’t it for Gen 1! 🙂

What I’m saying is that there’s no point looking for mods for these consoles, or even really emulating them (though if you’re that desperate, look up Plasma Pong instead). Cartridges weren’t a thing yet, so everything was built-in on the board, and “everything” was like 5 variations of the same Tennis/Squash/Hockey concept.