3 reasons the Raspberry Pi is perfect for retro gaming

You know, companies do a lot to make bank off of retro games. After all, it's pretty easy money; just bundle a bunch of old games people like in a collection or a special retro-themed console and the thing near prints money.

But if you want to relive the golden days of gaming, you don't have to shell out. In fact, a Raspberry Pi is a perfect DIY alternative if you want to get your retro gaming on.

3 The Raspberry Pi is mighty (but not overly mighty)

It can handle retro games just fine

Stop me if this sounds familiar. You shell out a ton of money on the latest CPU, GPU, and a whole hog of RAM. Without breaking a sweat, your computer can render Cyberpunk 2077 at max specs at 60FPS. Then you use it to boot up the game from the early 2000s you've played several times already. In my case, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.

The cool thing about Raspberry Pis is that they're beefy enough to handle retro games at a good framerate, but they're not overkill. If you want to emulate NES, SNES, Genesis, and other games around that era, a lot of the Pi can handle it just fine, and they're super cheap. The Raspberry Pi 5 can emulate some 3D games that the smaller Pis can't handle, to the point where it can almost emulate PS3 games, but not quite.

The Raspberry Pi also doesn't take a ton of power to run. In fact, people leave them on 24/7 all the time and they make barely a dent on the electricity bill. You don't need to spin up an entire gaming setup just so you can revisit Super Mario 64 again; just use the Pi.

2 You can create a dedicated emulation machine with a proper operating system

Make emulation the core for your Pi

If you want a dedicated emulation device, a Pi is a fantastic pick. Forget about running an emulator in an operating system; imagine running an operating system wholly dedicated to emulation. Whenever you want to game, just boot up the device and you're immediately given your library of games, waiting to launch. A lot better than booting into a standard OS, opening the emulator, looking for a game...you get the drift.

The best part is, there are several fantastic options for you to pick from, so you can tweak your retro gaming device to your whim. We covered the best one in our piece on the best operating systems you should consider for retro gaming emulation, so give it a read and check out all the cool systems you can use on your Pi.

1 You can turn it into your own DIY console

Why make do with pre-made products?

When you get into the world of Raspberry Pis, you learn very quickly that people are very creative with their SBCs. There's something about the Pi that attracts the attention of people armed with 3D printers and manufacturing hardware, who then make awesome things for their SBCs. I guess it's the DIY nature of the Pi that really draws people in.

The point I'm trying to make here is that there are a million and one ways to set up a Raspberry Pi for gaming. Want your Pi to emulate games from a specific console? 3D print a miniature version of that console and use it as the case. And if you don't know how to model a Raspberry Pi case for your fave console, there's a good chance someone has already made it.

But why stop at just a case? You can make your very own cyberdeck and have an emulator, a screen, and the controllers all bundled into a box you can bring around with you. Someone even built a Raspberry Pi console inside a fight stick as a cool two-in-one build. The sky's the limit, really.

Plus, once you're done with using it as a console, you can put that Raspberry Pi to good use elsewhere. Remember, this thing is essentially a teeny-tiny computer, so you can repurpose it using one of these Raspberry Pi projects for beginners.

The Raspberry Pi is a retro gamers dream

The next time you fancy taking your retro gaming to the next level, why not consider a Raspberry Pi? They're pretty inexpensive, use barely any power, and can even dedicate themselves to emulation with the right operating system. Then you'll be free to tinker with it to your hearts content, from small portable screens to giant magic mirrors.