Retro games and retro gaming have been really popular lately. What is retro gaming? Basically, it’s just playing old video games, ranging from the first arcade games and home consoles to even ones that are just an older generation of the most recent consoles.
If you’re interested in playing these classic video games, then you might be wondering how to do that. You can play retro games in a number of different ways. Some are easier than others. Some also cost more than others. Really, it just depends on your personal preference or what you might have available.
Old Consoles
If you already have the old consoles, you can still play your old games on those. You might still have them from when you were young. To play them, though, you’ll need a TV that can connect to them. That means either finding or buying an older TV or an adapter you can plug into your current TV. An adapter would most likely be the cheaper route, unless you have an old TV lying around.
If you don’t have any old consoles, that doesn’t mean you can’t still use this way. You can still buy them. There are a lot of retro gaming shops opening all over the place now, and many of them have all these old systems for sale. You can buy retro games there as well.
Online Services
The companies that have made all these old gaming systems know retro gaming has gotten popular, so they are trying to capitalize on it too. Many of them still have their own games available to play through their online services like Xbox Live and Nintendo Switch Online.
Of course, you’ll then have to pay for their subscription, but if you’re a heavy gamer, you might be paying for it already anyway. And some of these companies don’t make you pay for the games over again. For instance, Xbox lets you download games you already previously downloaded through the Microsoft Store.
PC
Okay, this isn’t all that different from the one I just mentioned above, but a bit different. I was mostly talking about services like Xbox Live in the previous section. For this one, the focus is on Steam. The majority of games, whether they are from Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft, can be played on a PC, and that’s oftentimes through Steam.
Steam has all sorts of games available to play, and yes, it has all those classic video games as well. Honestly, they probably still had them long before the other places thought about making them available again.
Emulators
Emulators allow you to mimic video game systems. You can get emulators for your phone, computer, and other devices. Basically, it’s like you could have a Gameboy on your phone without the actual Gameboy.
However, while emulators themselves aren’t illegal, certain ways you get the games can be. So, do be careful when you choose this option. To play them legally, you must only use the game files of games you already own. That’s not saying that there aren’t other ways to get games, but I’m not going to talk about that.
New to video games or just want to brush up on the gaming lingo, check out my list of gaming terms and abbreviations.
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