Awesome Emulators

The Atari 400 Mini emulates all of the classic Atari 8-bit systems, including the 400, 800XL, and Atari 5200 game consoles. The modernized system has an HDMI video output and USB controller inputs. It comes with 25 games, including Berzerk, Millipede, Miner 2049er, M.U.L.E., and Star Raiders II, and you can load more via USB. An Amazon UK exclusive.

This powerful Android gaming system is perfect for emulator fanatics. Its 8-core Dimensity 1200 chip is fast enough to run upscaled PS2 games at 60 fps. What really sets it apart is its magnetic controller modules, which provide separate FPS, MOBA, and Xbox-style layouts. ETA Prime has a great hands-on review.

Powered by an internal Raspberry Pi 3B+, this 2-player gaming system comes with arcade joysticks, buttons, and a trackball, as well as over 100 licensed games from Atari. It includes arcade classics like Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command, along with games from the Atari 2600, 5200, and 7800 home consoles.

We’ve seen a number of tiny arcade machines, but what we really want someone to produce is a teensy digital pinball machine like this one from maker Matt “Circuitbeard” Brailsford. It uses a tiny Windows 10 computer called the LattePanda and runs Visual Pinball on its dual LCD screens. Build details here.

A retro gaming system built into an Altoids mint tin. It plays emulators for everything from the Amiga to the ZX Spectrum, and everything in-between. You can grab the 3D printed parts here, and follow the build guide from sudomod to DIY, or purchase a complete system here.

Dream Arcades’ retro console comes with emulators for more than 24 classic systems, from the Atari 2600 to the N64. But since it’s actually a custom mini Windows 10 PC, you can also use it to stream media, play games from Steam and GOG, and more.

Inspired by Jeroen Domburg’s tiny Game Boy-style retro console, Vincent Buso made an even smaller video game system. The Keymu has a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy SP. It’s powered by Intel’s Edison computer and runs emulators on Debian.

One of the hottest gifts this year is the miniature remake of the NES, but we’re thinking of investing our cash in this versatile palm-sized console instead. It works with a variety of retro game emulators and USB controllers, has an HDMI output, and works as a 4K media player.

The all-in-one pocket emulator GP2X Wiz is now available at ThinkGeek, and it has us drooling: it’ll play Atari ST, C64, SNES, NES, Gameboy, GBA, NeoGeo Flash games and more.