this post was submitted on 17 Dec 2023
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Do any of y'all know where I can get a retro box? (lemm.ee)
submitted 10 months ago by JeSuisUnHombre@lemm.ee to c/retrogaming@lemmy.world
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My college roommate had this little box that had 2 controllers and RCA'd into the TV that contained basically every game from the most important retro consoles. All the important consoles and games pre y2k. Including Nintendo, Atari, Sega, and maybe some arcade. I assume I can't get it through normal channels because of some of those roms are unsanctioned, but where might I get something like that? Thanks!

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[โ€“] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Typically Amazon or Ali Express. RetroGamesCorp has created a couple review videos on them.

Even then you could get an old computer (or laptop) and install Lakka on it and just download the ROMs yourself. The whole setup process can be done in a weekend. After that you could just get some cheap knock off Xbox 360 controllers.

[โ€“] Redkey@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago

Yep, this works well. I used to have a cheap, old, secondhand ultralight notebook that I used for work, and I installed Lakka to a tiny bootable USB drive so that on evenings when we planned to gather at one colleague or another's house after work, I could just throw the drive and a couple of controllers in my bag and we could have a nice, clean, 100% emulation-focused system to game on. Even a 10-year-old laptop with Lakka should smash a Raspberry Pi 4's cost/performance ratio.

I usually plugged in power and a display, but of course as a laptop it was fine for using on the go, too. Not quite a handheld, but still very portable.

Another option is one of the cheaper ARM-based handhelds with a USB port and HDMI output, so you can still play on a big screen at home. I later got a Retroid 2 for this, which also worked well, but needed a bit more technical fiddling than the Lakka laptop, and couldn't emulate a few things at full speed. The Retroid 3 should be better, or there are other options such as Ambernic, Game Park, and PowKiddy.

Now, I just use my phone with a Bluetooth controller, and optionally an HDMI output dongle when I'm at home. If your phone doesn't support HDMI over USB-C natively (mine doesn't), look into a DisplayLink compatible USB dongle. If you check specs carefully you can even find some that work over USB 2.0 for older/cheaper phones. They have a free app for Android phones.