(Credit: Zain Awais)
Editors' Note, April 13, 2026: With this update, we added the Analogue 3D, Analogue Duo, Atari The400 Mini, and Nintendo Switch 2, and we removed a number of models that are no longer available. The existing picks have been vetted for currency and availability.
Today's video games are amazing, but that doesn't change the fact that some of the greatest titles ever made came out in the 1980s and 1990s. It also doesn't change the Gen X/Millennial nostalgia for sprites, cartridges, low-res polygons, and CDs. Whether you swear by the NES, the Sega Genesis, or the PlayStation, there's a new, modern console for you to replay the games of your youth. Even better, these consoles leverage contemporary technology, so you don't need to worry about digging up analog video cables or purchasing graphics upscalers. So here are the best retro gaming consoles you can buy, split into three groups: modern consoles with strong catalogs of classic games, third-party systems that can play retro media like cartridges on modern TVs, and mini game systems.
Modern Systems for Digital Classics
Modern Systems for Digital Classics
You can play classic games on most modern systems. You still need Nintendo hardware to play even 30-year-old Nintendo games legitimately, though. Or you can go full do-it-yourself with a microcomputer-powered emulation system.
Best for GameCube Games
Nintendo Switch 2 (With Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass)
Why We Picked It
The Switch 2 is easily the best platform for playing classic Nintendo games. With Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass, you gain access to compelling, if modest, libraries of NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, Sega Genesis, and (with an optional accessory) Virtual Boy games for just $50 a year. That's on top of a surprisingly large selection of retro console games, arcade titles, and PC releases you can buy a la carte or in collections.
Who It's For
Nintendo fans: Obviously, having official ways to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Mario 3, and Super Metroid is appealing to anyone who likes Nintendo games.
On-the-go gamers: Unlike other game consoles, the Switch 2 (and first Switch, below) can be played as a handheld, thanks to the snap-on Joy-Con.
Best for Nintendo, Sega, and SNK Classics
Nintendo Switch (With Nintendo Switch Online)
Why We Picked It
The original Switch is cheaper than the Switch 2 and can play almost everything its predecessor can. In fact, the Switch 2 has only a single retro platform advantage: GameCube games. Otherwise, the Switch has every other Nintendo Switch Online retro game, including Virtual Boy titles.
Who It's For
Budget-minded Nintendo fans: Considering the original Switch costs $340 compared with the Switch 2's $450, the former might be preferable if you want to save money and don't mind the resolution hit.
Best for PS2 and PS3 Games
Sony PlayStation 5 (With PlayStation Plus Premium)
Why We Picked It
The PlayStation 5's classic-gaming appeal comes with a PlayStation Plus Premium membership. The service gives you access to the Classics Catalog, which includes dozens of PS1, PS2, PS3, and PS Portable games. There's some gold in there.
Who It's For
PlayStation fans: Casual PlayStation fans will be drawn in by the many mainstream titles in the PlayStation Plus Premium retro catalog, but only true, cultured gamers will appreciate deep cuts like Dark Cloud 2, Intelligent Qube, and Okage: Shadow King.
Best for Backward Compatibility
Xbox Series X (With Xbox Game Pass)
Why We Picked It
Microsoft has turned the Xbox Series X into a surprisingly great retro console, thanks to a backward compatibility list that reaches back to the original Xbox. Don't feel bad if you don't have your original discs, though. Xbox Game Pass adds to the retro library by making dozens of classic games available digitally.
Who It's For
Xbox fans: Any gamer can find something they'll like on Xbox Game Pass, but Xbox die-hards will appreciate the opportunity to play classics from the original Xbox and Xbox 360.
Best for DIY Retro Gaming Projects
Build Your Own RetroPi System
Why We Picked It
Why buy a retro game system when you can build your own? RetroPi is an operating system package for the Raspberry Pi that turns the inexpensive microcomputer into a retro game system capable of playing nearly any title from before 2000. It requires some work to get going, but you'll have the pride of knowing you put it together yourself. Add a Retroflag shell to give your retro box a retro look.
Who It's For
Makers and tinkerers: This isn't just a classic game system, but a fun project that involves minor electronic work and programming (or at least Linux configuration). It's also fairly cheap, and you can do nearly anything with it that its processor can handle. There's just one problem: They sell out fast.
Consoles for Cartridge Collectors
Consoles for Cartridge Collectors
These systems are for true collectors, discerning connoisseurs who keep shelves full of cartridges and discs. They run original media, reproducing and upscaling the graphics to look fantastic on modern screens. If you have a retro collection, these are the systems for experiencing classic titles in new ways.
Analogue 3D
Why We Picked It
Analogue is known for making new-retro hardware that wonderfully upscales 2D games, but the Analogue 3D proves they can handle polygons, too. This region-free system is specifically for playing Nintendo 64 games in 4K resolution, and it excels at it.
Who It's For
N64 fans: The Analogue 3D is for Nintendo 64 enthusiasts who want to revisit Super Mario 64 and other carts on modern TVs, and with low input lag.
Analogue Duo
Why We Picked It
The Analogue Duo is the company's most niche game system, especially for North America. It's designed for TurboGrafx-16/PC-Engine games and can play them in TurboChip/HuCard and CD formats. The TG16 didn't make a big splash here, but it was huge in Japan, and saw many fantastic games with graphics that rivaled the SNES despite coming out three years before it. And the Analogue Duo does the library justice with its pristine 1080p upconversion.
Who It's For
TG16/PCE fans: This is for die-hards who fell in love with the system, whether it was when it originally came out or decades later when the now-discontinued TurboGrafx-16 Mini was released.
Best for Cartridge-Based Game Boy Games
Analogue Pocket
Why We Picked It
This is one of the greatest handheld gaming systems, full stop. It uses the same FPGA technology found in the Analogue Super Nt and Mega Sg, reproducing Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games perfectly and upscaling them for the gorgeous 1,600-by-1,200 OLED screen. It is also the first system with Analogue's open-source openFPGA platform, inviting anyone to develop for the hardware (and yes, that includes running roms on it). Oh, and a dock is available so you can play on your TV, which is why it's on this list, as well as our list of the best retro gaming handhelds.
Who It's For
Game Boy/Color/Advance collectors: This is the best Game Boy ever made, and it can run your collection flawlessly with a far better picture than what the Game Boy Advance SP AGS-101 produced. If you're a homebrew developer, the openFPGA platform is also a neat, game-creation playground.
Mini Game Systems
Mini Game Systems
Most major console manufacturers or their proxies made scaled-down emulator boxes filled with old-school games at some point in the last decade. They often played great, and more importantly for collectors, they looked and felt just like tiny versions of those original systems. The problem? They've almost all been discontinued. However, there's one system standing.
Atari The400 Mini
Why We Picked It
Atari is best known for the 2600, which has seen countless retro console releases over the years, but it was also incredibly influential in the PC space with the 400 computer. Our own Jamie Lendino wrote about the subject, and gave The400 Mini 4.5 stars and an Editors' Choice award when he reviewed it. The system comes with 25 games from Atari's 8-bit era, but it doesn't stop there. It can run any software for the Atari 400, 800, 800XL, 130XE, or 5200, and you can even program in BASIC on it. That's the most functionality we've ever seen in a mini system like this, even if purists will declare it a mini PC rather than a mini console.
Who It's For
Atari die-hards: This is basically the Ur-Atari device, beige and beautiful.
