How to Get Into Retro Gaming: A Practical Starter Guide

By · October 17, 2026 · 7 min read

Retro gaming looks simple from the outside. You liked a game as a kid, you want to play it again. Then you start looking into it and suddenly there are dozens of consoles, collector prices, scaler boxes, cartridge regions and emulators to think about. This guide cuts through that. It's written for someone who wants to start playing this week, not someone building a collection.

Start with what you actually want

Before you spend any money, decide which of these sounds most like you, because the best setup depends on it.

  • "I want to replay the games I grew up with." You probably know exactly which console and which games. Official re-releases are likely to cover most of them.
  • "I want to explore the classics I missed." You care more about breadth than authenticity. Subscriptions and collections give you the most games for the least effort.
  • "I want the real thing." Original hardware and cartridges. It's the most rewarding route and also the most expensive and fiddly one.

The easiest legal options

Subscriptions. If you own a Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Online includes libraries of NES, Super NES and Game Boy games, and the Expansion Pack tier adds Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance and Sega Genesis games. It's the cheapest way to sample a lot of Nintendo history, and it includes rewind and save features that make older games much friendlier.

Collections. Many publishers have re-released their classics as bundles on modern consoles and PC. Capcom's Mega Man Legacy Collection, Konami's Castlevania Anniversary Collection, Sega's Genesis compilations and Atari 50 are all good examples. They're usually cheap, often on sale, and the emulation is done properly.

Mini consoles. The NES Classic Edition, Super NES Classic Edition and Sega Genesis Mini are small plug-and-play boxes with a curated set of built-in games. They're no longer made, but they turn up second-hand, and they're ideal for a TV in the living room.

Original hardware: the rewarding hard mode

Playing on a real console with a real cartridge has a feel that's hard to describe, and for some games it matters. Light gun games like Duck Hunt only work on an old CRT television (we explain why in our light gun guide). The downsides are real, though. Popular cartridges have climbed in price, old consoles can need repairs, and plugging a 1990s console into a modern TV often gives you a soft, laggy picture. If you go this route, budget for a good upscaler or a cheap CRT, and buy games you intend to play rather than everything at once.

A note on emulation

Emulators are legal pieces of software. What matters is where the games come from. Playing backups you made from cartridges and discs you own is the generally accepted approach; downloading copies of games you don't own is not. Our sister project Rec0m88 is a free emulator built around playing your own games, with online play for two people built in.

Pick your first five games

The biggest mistake new retro players make is starting with a famous game that's also brutally hard, getting stuck in the first ten minutes, and deciding retro games aren't for them. Start with something welcoming instead. Our retro games to start with list is built for exactly this. A few safe picks:

Five habits that make retro games more fun

  1. Use the save and rewind features if you have them. Many old games were made hard on purpose so a short game would last longer. You're not obligated to suffer.
  2. Read the manual. Old games explained a lot in the paper manual instead of on screen. Scans are easy to find, and five minutes of reading saves a lot of confusion.
  3. Look things up without guilt. Some secrets in games from the 1980s were designed around magazines and playground rumors. A guide is the modern version of that.
  4. Play one game at a time. A huge library is great until you spend the whole evening scrolling. That's literally why we built the Matrix Picks quiz.
  5. Play with someone. Couch co-op was a big part of what made these games special. Our couch co-op guide has picks for every console.

Not sure what to play? Let the Matrix pick

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