Retro gaming has come a long way in the last decade or so. It may seem odd, given how we've had emulators for a long time now, but as technology has evolved, our retro gaming capabilities have only gotten better. Now, we're at a point where it has never been better to be a retro gamer, and there are plenty of reasons why now is a great time to crack open the classics and try something familiar.

Playing retro games on the go has never been easier

There are lots of ways to take your old library wherever you go

Okay, so perhaps portable emulators aren't as good as having an actual Game Boy in your hand. The point is, if you don't mind using an emulator, and you want all of your games on one device, now is an excellent time to hop in. For example, all those portable PC handhelds that are on the market now are a fantastic way to take your games wherever you go, with some people considering purchasing a Steam Deck purely to play old games on it. In fact, there's a whole selection of retro gaming handhelds that can play both old and new games just fine.

And that's not even taking into account the portable devices made with retro gaming in mind. For example, the Miyoo Mini+ gives you a Game Boy-styled shell with all of the modern-day touches, so you don't have to sacrifice quality to play your games on the go. And if you still have your collection of Game Boy cartridges and don't want to swap them for ROMs, the Analogue Pocket is compatible with your collection while also giving them a top-notch screen to revisit them on. Or, if you want to take the phone route, you can now download the Delta emulator from the App Store.

You can make your own retro console now

It's not too tricky, either

If you're not a fan of purchasing a third-party console to play your games, why not make your own? Right now, single-board computers (SBCs) are a great option if you feel like tweaking your console the way you want it. For example, Lakka 5.0 was recently released for the Raspberry Pi, which added support for DOSBox, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Neo Geo AES, and more. And in our guide on how to use Raspberry Pi to play retro games, we went through the steps of installing and using Batocera.

Of course, it's kinda depressing to have the board sitting there in the open. That's why it's important to also have a cool shell to house your little retro powerhouse in. You can let your imagination run wild here; you can either 3D print out a miniature model of your favorite console, stuff the chip into a retro toy, or do anything you want. My personal vote goes to when someone made a retro gaming machine from a 3D-printed 286 PC, complete with an SD card reader where the floppy disk drive lived on the real deal. Or the time someone resurrected a Game Gear using a Raspberry Pi.

Randomizers make retro games feel new again

New ways to make the old games play

Have you ever given a randomizer a try? This is when you take the file of the original game and pass it through a special tool that alters how the game is played. Ocarina of Time is one of the more fleshed-out randomizer games, and its tool lets you change what items drop from what bosses, how each ocarina song is played, and even where each doorway leads. You can mix and match these random effects to have an experience that's as orderly or as chaotic as you please.

Some mods even let you play with friends. For example, OotModLoader has a mod that lets you play vanilla or randomized versions of Ocarina of Time with friends. And if you're not a fan of Zelda, there's always Archipelago, a service where multiple people can randomize their games and lock each other's items behind everyone's progression. For example, you can have three people playing DOOM, Super Mario 64, and Donkey Kong Country 3 on the same server, and each can find an object in their game that unlocks an item in someone else's.

Retro gamers have it good, and it can only get better

From making your own console to playing your favorite game randomized with friends, we really have come a long way with how we play our retro games. The best bit is, as technology continues to advance, we'll only find more fun and innovative ways to revisit the games we remember from days of yore. However, until those days come, it has never been better to be a retro gamer.