What’s the best way to play retro video games on modern TVs?

Video Games
Written By Bill Hecklick

We were spoiled in 1991.

Video games were complete when they hit store shelves. The consoles we played on were fairly indestructible.

And the best part?

Our only option for playing video games was our family’s CRT (tube) television. The gold standard. No input lag. The zapper gun worked for Duck Hunt. We sat on the floor, 6 feet from the TV, and played all day and all night.

With the advent of modern flatscreen TVs, retro gaming had some catching up to do. It’s basically impossible to beat Mike Tyson on the Nintendo NES game Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out on original hardware and a modern television. The original zapper gun doesn’t work. The graphics look funky.

So, how do you fix it? How can you play your retro game systems in the 21st century?

Here are a few options:

  • Play on an original CRT (tube) TV

This is the optimal solution for purists and those that want an authentic 80s/90s experience. Unfortunately, the big ones are HEAVY. Like, you need 2-4 people to get one of these beasts in your house. God bless you if you have stairs.

Even more unfortunately, the market has realized that there’s a demand for good old TVs. Prices have skyrocketed, especially for high-quality sets like the Sony Trinitron models.

Oh, and in case you needed more confusion, not all CRTs are created equally. Old consoles like Nintendo NES, Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis output a 240p video signal. Which means that most TVs that accept a 480 or 720 signal will create similar problems to your brand-new 4k TV. The TV will try to automatically upscale the 240p image, and you may not like the results.

For the casual gamer that doesn’t care about perfect scanlines, perfect sprites, and precision controls, any CRT will be fine. But if you’re serious about playing your old games, you’ll want a 240p TV.

  • Get an upscaler to hook up to your HDTV

An upscaler generally does a better job of taking that 240p signal from your video game console and feeding it to your HDTV.

Much like CRTs, upscalers vary widely in quality and price.

The cheap ones you get from Amazon or Walmart are serviceable. That’s the word we’ll use.

In my opinion, the best option out there are the RetroTink products. I use a RetroTink2x Pro for my consoles that output S-Video well, and then I use a RetroTink 5x Pro for my consoles that can output component video and/or SCART. All the consoles are hooked up to manual switchers. The RetroTink series can be customized for your TV, and introduces very little lag (barely noticeable to most people).

  • Play on an emulator

Playing on an emulator like a Raspberry Pi will get the job done for most people. Are they legal? Probably not. Are they cheap, fun, and easy? Absolutely.

It will hook up directly to your TV via HDMI and you can play to your heart’s content. You’ll still have lag issues, but you’ll be just fine.

Bill Hecklick