The retroconsoles keeping us sane these days

[View this email in your browser]( [Open Ars Technica in your browser]( [Image] [Catalina, an island off the coast of California and the new MacOS release name.]( With all this extra at-home time, we've found ourselves gaming even more than usual around Ars. And for those of us that don't regularly review new titles (or even keep up with 'em on our preferred PC/console), this has often meant revisiting classics. Yes, you can dig out the ol' SNES (pronounced es-en-ee-es, right?) from the closet, clean out the connections, and hope that old copy of Street Fighter II works. Or, if you're technically inclined and have the materials on hand, of course you can [build yourself an all-in-one gaming statio](n that can access literally any old game you can think of regardless of era or platform. But these days, there's a delightful retro console available for all varieties of classic game enthusiasts, and often there's something to be said for the value proposition these things have: moderately priced, all-in-one package, plug-in-and-play. So for this week's Orbital Transmission, we're highlighting a handful of retroconsoles that have been keeping us company under COVID-19 quarantine. Maybe it's nostalgic escapism to simpler times; maybe games like Super Ghosts & Ghouls still hold up (despite their excruciating difficulty) all the years later. But whatever kind of old gaming experience you're looking for, these modern delivery mechanisms seem ready to cater to it and have some appeal over trying to fix up the old, real thing. Because let's be real: everyone could use some save points for Contra, right? —[@NathanMattise]( Orbital Transmission 04.22.2020 [(image) ]( [The TurboGrafx-16 Mini: A niche console gets a second lease on retro life]( Familiar with the TurboGrafx-16 Mini? No? You're not alone. Japan's NEC Home Electronics released the console and it quickly became a famous casualty of late-'80s, failing to unseat either Nintendo's dominance or Sega's upstart momentum in the States. But in our era of retro gaming renaissance, it now has an advantage—it feels "new" to any casual gamers who might see SEGA or Nintendo retro offerings as "been there, done that." In whatever region you buy this new miniature console, you'll get almost the exact same mix of English and Japanese games, exactly as they launched in the late '80s and early '90s. In our testing, the TurboGrafx-16 Mini's home ports of action classics from the likes of Capcom, Namco, and Konami are still a blast, and—at least for the ones you can comprehend—carried forward impeccably by M2's emulation engineers. [(image) ]( [The Super NES Classic Edition remains a nostalgic crowd pleaser]( Maybe [the Switch]( and all of its [delightful retro ports]( remains hard to find in these pandemic times, but Nintendo has a great alternative for classic game seekers: The Super NES Classic Edition. Like classic Nintendo? Super Mario World and A Link to the Past await. Want to race? F-Zero and Mario Kart are here. There are oddities (The Secret of Mana), rarities (Star-Fox 2), and modern classic (Donkey Kong Country, Earthbound) alongside familiar characters from Samus to Kirby to Mega-Man. Yes, you can build your own with everything, but the selection and slight more modern gaming makes this our favorite of Nintendo's all-in-one options. [(image) ]( [If Nintendo wasn't your preferred gaming flavor, SEGA's classic approach is good too]( Not everyone is a Nintendo diehard, of course. If you preferred Sonic or Road Rash or Streets of Rage, the Sega Genesis Mini is actually loads of blast-processing fun (for less than the Nintendo option, even—just $80). As Ars' Sam Machkovech wrote when reviewing this late (fall 2019) entry into the retro console wars: "$80 for this many classic games and a pair of nicely constructed controllers, all floating on a remarkable emulation base, is arguably the smarter way to go for anybody who can be patient with the SGM's slight flaws. It's damned good." [(image) ]( [What about classic games without a classic console?]( There are other bits of retro console hardware we adore—the [Famicom Classic Mini]( (if you can find it) is a delight; [Atari (of course) has something](; and Analogue's take on things like the Sega have been so good we're confident/excited in their upcoming [portable, GameBoy-ish]( offering—but maybe you're after some retro gaming without finding room for a physical console in your entertainment system. Enter AntStream, a service that has spent years tracking down licenses to over 2,000 classic titles from the arcade, ZX Spectrum, Amiga, Commodore 64, and Sega Genesis. Subscribers to their all-you-can-play plan, starting at $50/year for early Kickstarter backers, can play emulated games via remote streaming on their already-owned PC, Mac, Xbox One, iOS, or Android device (even Switch and PS4 versions are reportedly "on the roadmap"). Nintendo games are conspicuously missing for now (as that company notoriously holds its IP tight), but for those who don't need an old Zelda, this could be the best option available. [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Copyright © 2020 Condé Nast, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Condé Nast One World Trade Center New York, NY 10007 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences](newsletter=ars) or [unsubscribe from this list](newsletter=ars).