It can be overwhelming for someone who’s not all that tech savvy.
It can be time consuming to setup and use, and let’s face it, time is not something all of us have in abundance.
Lastly, it can get very costly if you want to move your emulation to it's own platform, off your PC or laptop, where it's mostly free to do.
Depending on why and what you want to
emulate, not only can it be a pain to setup for some people, but it
can also get very expensive very quickly. A good example is my
preferred method of emulation using the Raspberry Pi 3B+, as of
writing this article they are virtually impossible to find, unless
you want to pay vastly over-inflated prices from scalpers or shell
out the cost of 3 or 4 new units in 2019 for a single used unit on
eBay in 2022. Granted, the crazy state of the economy will eventually
stabilize, but the fact remains going this route can get expensive.
November 2024 Update: The Pi 3B+ has come back down in price and can be found at their orignal cost of $35 from trusted suppliers like Mouser Electronics. The Raspberry Pi Foundation has indicated they will continue to manufacture the Pi 3B+ units at least until January 2030 (Bottom of page). Still, the economy is a fickle thing, and I suggest getting yourself however many units you want sooner than later.
Not only do you need the Raspberry Pi, but you also need an SD card, and you will likely want to have a case to put it in. Also, you may have to buy a power supply for it since not all phone chargers, something most all of us have lying around, can adequately power the unit. Plus, you have to know how to install the emulation suite of your choice, track down the ROM’s you want, and then get them all installed and setup how you like. The simple fact is, it’s not going to be easy for everyone, some people just want to hook it up and play.
There are “official” mini consoles that have been released for some of the most popular 8 and 16-bit consoles, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and TurboGrafx-16. The problem with all of these units is they are not readily available and can really only be bought at the same crazy over-inflated prices the Raspberry Pi suffers from. Nintendo even brought back their old “Game & Watch” line of handhelds that you can buy for around $50, and while they are still available near retail prices, they lack content, with each unit only having 3 or 4 games built in. There are ways to hack in more games, but it’s an involved process that requires tools and skills many people don’t have.
All the same problems, and more, carry over to portable emulation using handheld devices. Hardware options and availability are even more limited, can be more complicated, and once again can cost quite a bit of money.
Thankfully, if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on emulation, there are cheaper alternatives. With many of these options, what you save in money comes at the cost of features, customization, and sometimes quality. You have to be thrifty and read reviews to avoid buying crappy products, but it can be worth it in the end.
There are countless generic and knockoff brand electronic devices for sale on Amazon, most of them are copies of copies trying to undersell each other, often easily identifiable by the nonsensical “company names” you see on the listings. Most of these are just the rebranding of cheaply produced knockoff devices, but sometimes those knockoffs can be of sufficient quality to warrant taking a chance and spending your hard earned money since Amazon makes it very easy to return items and get your money back should you get a dud.
This all holds true for the classic console emulation devices as well, and thanks to what we will just call “legal loopholes and deceptive marketing”, many of these cheap knockoff devices actually contain legit game titles from the golden age of gaming. Though to be fair, the deceptive advertising is not just geared to skirting copyright laws, but to try and get you to buy the units as well. Many claim to have far more games than they actually do, where they may say something like “400 games!”, but not specify that only a portion of those games are the real deal. Many of the games included are often knockoffs themselves, or some games may have different play modes and they count each mode as a separate game like Atari used to do back in the day. Some games may also be in the wrong language, but in many cases that’s not as big of a deal breaker as it sounds since most instances of this are for games where understanding the language isn’t required to actually play the game.
Still, with these drawbacks, there are cheap units available that can offer hours of retro entertainment for those on a budget if you’re willing to overlook the flaws.
Here is a list of products I have tested out that are designed to fit within tight budgets, yet still offer classic console emulation that can be enjoyed by young and old alike.
Here is a good video by Matt Heffernan covering another NES style knock-off unit that I haven't personally tried, currently selling for around $20 on Amazon if Wish isn't your thing, and they go on sale for under $15 quite often. It hosts many of the same games as the other units and is designed to hook up to your television. Again, these are super cheap, but can provide hours of entertainment for a retro gamer on a tight budget!
He also covers a bit more of the recent history of these devices and why they've popped up all over the place, why they can be so cheap, and more. It's worth checking out if you're looking at buying these sorts of devices.
No comments:
Post a Comment