[Closed] Retropie and games?

What sort of games do you want to play? Depending on how much you want to spend maybe a dedicated cheap-ish pc might be better if you're a tech idiot (like me). Something like this

ebay link

will emulate everything up to and including Sega Dreamcast. There's a program called Retroarch that's a kind of launcher for various emulators (which is what Retropis use) that's pretty easy to use once you actually get going. There's an element of setting up, like downloading games and putting them in folders and stuff, but nothing that a techno doofus like me couldn't find their way through. If you eventually want to do a bit more with it, chuck a cheap graphics card in it (GT 1030) and it'll do Gamecube and Wii in Retroarch too.

Retro stuff is nice in a rose-tinted sort of way but the prices are stupid now (the good/rare games especially) and the reality [i]really[/i] doesn't live up to the memories. I just sold a recently-bought Dreamcast because I was about to drop £180 on having it modded with a HDMI output... Reality check please 🤣

edit- ah, just read the 'plug and play' bit in your post...

You might be able to find something plug n play but as the games are still copyrighted, probably only in the dodgier places! Can you not bribe a techy-nephew or something to help you get setup?

Retro stuff is nice in a rose-tinted sort of way but the prices are stupid now (the good/rare games especially) and the reality really doesn’t live up to the memories.

I mean, there’s a lot of shite that’s aged terribly of course, but as there’s plenty of stuff which IMO has never been bettered and plays as great as it ever did, even with blocky graphics! Crazy Taxi on the Dreamcast, original Sonic, Mario etc. Still like a blast on Lemmings & Cannon Fodder every now & again. Even the old arcade games are a lot of fun (especially after a few beers 🤣), Joust being a particular fave (2 player is awesome!) Definitely worse ways to pass a few winter evenings!

I meant the reality of actually using the hardware rather than the games themselves, I still play Sega Rally and Virtua Racing pretty much every day and can take or leave new stuff but you'll have to pry Sega Rally out of my cold, dead hands 🤣 Taking the Dreamcast as a very good example, a lot of the games are brilliant (MvC2 FTW!) but the reality of using one on a modern digital TV isn't great- you get a squished image (incorrect aspect ratio) and not all of the games will work in the 'best' setting (ie VGA) which leaves composite which, frankly, is a bit shit and still squished but at least all of the games work in that display mode. Add in limited memory for game saves and stuff and, well, it's just a PITA to be honest. Emulation on a £150 pc (or Retropi) takes all of that pain away 😎

Emulation/emulators are legal but it's still piracy to download ROMs and stuff but there are that many (non-dodgy!) sites now it's all but accepted behaviour and it's sometimes the only way to play those old games (which is no excuse, granted.)

I built a Picade (actually, bought it for my wife and we built it together) which is a nice standalone solution and the joystick/buttons add to the experience for the old arcade stuff. Note you'll need a Raspberry Pi, power supply and memory card on top of the kit. I plug in an a 8bitdo SNES-style controller for 2 player or doing later console stuff that suits a gamepad more.

They do a neat console version that is just a joystick you plug into your TV.

Both need assembly and all the software though - but between Pimoroni's instructions/videos and other stuff online it's all quite straightforward to set up. You get retropie images to write to an SD card then it boots straight up into it. Pimoroni then have a script that sorts out their joystick interface for you.