New arrivals and some thoughts.

Last week saw a couple of parcels drop through the letter box as well as the latest issue of Archive magazine. Alongside those, the tail end of the week also saw a noteworthy news announcement from Evercade and the Wakefield Show for fans of RISC OS took place on Saturday.

Evercade Cartridges and new hardware announcement

The new cartridges first and we have No.15: Jaleco Collection 1 and No.16: Piko Collection 2. Containing 10 and 13 games respectively, there are nice additions to the range and cover 8, 16 and 32-bit software releases. My current favourites in the Jaleco Collection 1 are Earth Defense Force and Bases Loaded, whilst in the Piko Collection 2, Top Race 2 and Soccer Kid have seen the most play time so far. There was a nice mini-poster included in the former collection and some stickers in the latter. I have more carts on order: No.17: Indie Heroes Collection and No18: Worms Collection 1 (both due by the end of May), and there are even more releases due out later in the year: Codemasters Collection, Mega Cat Studios Collection 2 and the Intellivision Collection. According to their own 2021 timeline, Evercade have five more releases due for announcement before the end of the year, so it would be fair to say that they are doing well with the handheld. But that is not all...

On the 23rd of April, Evercade announced the Evercade VS, a mini-console that plugs into your TV via HDMI, has four controller ports and accepts two carts at a time. Funky feature, that one, but it does mean you can have up to 40 titles ready to play without touching the base unit. Following the NES in its styling (that flip up cover is a nice touch), you can also connect other USB controllers as well as wireless dongles to give further controller options. With built-in Wifi for over the air updates and including a controller with a 3m cable, it looks like they have pretty much thought of everything with this addition to the Evercade range. Pricing isn't bad either, £89.99 ($99.99/€99.99) will get you the base machine, though from what I have read, you don't get a power brick or an HDMI cable in the box. Then again, it's not uncommon to have spare cables lying around and to be honest, the last thing my house needs is yet another micro-USB cable and power adaptor. The base pack will get you one cart collection in the box, though they have not announced which one yet and I sincerely hope it's a new release. That way, existing Evercade users won't be duplicating carts if they buy a VS, and if they don't go for the new console, they will still be able to buy the cart separately. One slight issue at the moment is that neither Namco Collections (No.2 and 6) will work with the VS due to licensing issues. That may, however, be sorted by the time the console launches.

As it stands, this is a maybe purchase for me. The price is cheap enough and the Evercade handheld gets a fair bit of use as it is. Ironically, the multiplayer part of the equation isn't the key selling point for me, though I am sure my good lady will kick my backside in quite a few of the titles supporting multiplayer. No, the biggest draw here is the easy connection to a big screen, something that is possible using the handheld but never feels quite right. If I do order this one, it's going to be a busy couple of months later this year, as hopefully I'll receive my Intellivision Amico in early October. Whilst I know that's been getting some stick for delays, the level of communication from the company has never let up, which is promising. It's certainly better than silence as that always puts me off a product that is vying for my pennies and something that has veered me away from supporting the now-released (but not exactly storming it) Atari VCS. That being said, buying one of those if you live in the UK seems nigh on impossible at the moment and that $399 price point is more than a tad off-putting. 

Archive Magazine and the Wakefield Show

Archive magazine 25.3 landed on Saturday and it was quite timely, watching as I was the livestream from the virtual Wakefield Show on YouTube. The latest issue is another packed edition and I particularly liked the final part of the ARMs and Architecture series (focusing on memory) and the now semi-regular column Acorn Retro by Colin Piggot of SAM Revival magazine fame. Incidentally, I have pre-ordered issue 26 of SAM Revival which appears to be getting closer to release. As for Archive mag, some interesting figures were released by Gavin over the weekend: a print run of 500 copies and subscribers in 18 countries. That's bloody impressive! The quality demonstrated in the latest issue bodes well for the future.

On to the Wakefield show and I've had thoughts about visiting this for a couple of years now. Due to COVID, this hasn't happened yet and this was the second year where the show was held virtually via an invite-only Zoom meeting and live streams via YouTube and Facebook. You can check out the Wakefield Show website here for the links to the streams. I dipped in and out of the YouTube feed throughout the day and quite enjoyed the updates provided by the various companies attending.

On the whole, this was informative and worth watching, with plenty of new products and updates to existing hardware and software demonstrating that there is still very much an active community around the OS. AMCOG Games started the show and displayed a range of games for RISC OS. The new range of Pi4-based desktops from RISCOSbits and the existing 4te from R-Comp looked quite tasty, as did the updated Ro from CJE Micros. What is interesting to see is that both R-Comp and RISCOSbits now include a hefty amount of pack-in software. Anything to help the new user in getting some benefit out of their new purchase is always good. There was even a half hour from Cloverleaf about their second attempt at a Kickstater campaign... which although it is stated on the Wakefield Show website that the campaign would have started by the time of the 30 minute presentation was due, as at the time of posting this (six days later), it still hasn't launched. I am feeling more ambivalent about this as time goes on. Still, I'll be giving their offering a gander when it's launched. From the presentation last Saturday, there appears to be more focus and detail on what the funding is to go towards and the idea of a €499 RISC OS laptop is tempting.

All in all, this was a positive show. Some good hardware plans, plenty of software to suit a variety of needs and a very forward looking approach to the future of the OS (it is reassuring to see that there is serious discussion abound as to how to deal with the changes to the ARM architecture). What can be taken away from the Wakefield Show is a sense of optimism and, more importantly, realism. The platform is alive and well, there are plans to try and expand the userbase and there is evidence of further international interest in the platform. These are all good things and, as I have said before, give RISC OS a go, you might like it. Just remember its limitations, manage your expectations and you may find something you'll like.

E1M1 Magazine Review

E1M1 advertises itself as the world's first old-school shooter magazine. Titled after the naming convention of the likes of Doom (Episode 1, Mission1), this publication began life as a Kickstarter project back in October 2020, raising over £10,500 against a goal of £1,500 in order to create the first three issues, each 72 pages in length. A second Kickstarter ended in February 2021, raising over £13,400 against a goal of £5,000 for a second batch of three issues, now expanded to 80 pages a-piece. I admit, I missed the first Kickstarter and when the second was on-going, I'd already pledged for a couple of others and didn't have the funds for it. I did, however, start following E1M1 on Twitter and when they announced about a month ago that they had physical copies to buy, out came the piggy bank and I bought the full set of physical magazines for £50 plus p&p.

Nothing beats hardcore gaming mags resting of a tasteful(!) woollen blanket...

They arrived within a few days, well packaged as a bundle with each individual magazine in plastic sleeves. A nice touch was that each magazine had been signed by some of the team behind it. 

Physical quality is good, paper quality is a perfect match for the fan art illustrations as well as the text and screenshots, and the staple binding is secure enough to avoid worries about the pages coming loose. There is a heft to each issue that reminded me of 1990's gaming magazines. Modern day equivalents just don't have that. Maybe that's just me, but I think it gives a nice nostalgic feel to the magazine. 

The artwork is evocative and suites the tone perfectly.

Getting into the magazine itself, and it is well laid out, with white text on black background that works well with the numerous screenshots and backgrounds included. Every few pages you have fan art which varies between good and brilliant - I am not an artist by any means but none of the illustrations disgrace their inspiration or the publication. 

Content includes previews, mod reviews, rail reviews (on-rail shooters count for inclusion in this mag and I can't say I blame them. I have reviewed a number of these at retrovideogamer.co.uk for the 3DO and when the developers get it right, they can be great fun), retro reviews, new games reviews, top selection pieces (best multiplayer levels, most embarrassing ports etc), feature pieces on specific titles and interviews. All in all, a great deal of variety all linked together by the theme of old-school shooters. 

Reviews are scored out of five stars and are honest almost to a fault. This ties in with the tone of the writing and you really get the voice of each contributor coming through. True, that does at times come across as more like a pub conversation than a "traditional" magazine review, but I like that. It allows the author to demonstrate their passion in the subject, which is what E1M1 is all about, a passionate love letter to a gaming genre that still has fans today, despite modern day tastes. 

Great review, mostly forgotten platform.

Reading through the six issues took me quite a while as every page is worth reading. Certainly, with mainstream mags, I tend to cherry pick the articles and sections I read, but with E1M1, each page deserved to be perused, and I have followed a few developers on Twitter based on previews and reviews in E1M1. The retro reviews were eye opening, titles that I had never heard of before and have now been added to the list of games I will be looking for (time and money permitting). I especially loved the two retro reviews for the Nokia N-Gage, a handheld console that, despite its faults, I managed to own twice.

Are there any faults with the publication? Minor one, yes. Firstly, there seems to be a few typo's, especially in the latter three issues. Nothing major, just a missing space here and there, inconsistent spelling, that kind of thing. I am not negging them for that though. Regular readers of this blog will know that I write this in a very rickety glasshouse. Typo's happen and with every post I release on here, I always look forward to my good lady reading it and pointing out the mistakes that a good half dozen separate editing passes have missed. Secondly, there is a printing issue with the second batch where a tiny number of pages have a printing error that makes the text fuzzy. It doesn't prevent you from reading the article, just something that should be noted for the next batch of issues. If I am being really really picky, some of the smaller screenshots haven't scaled that well, but since these are effectively thumbnails anyway, it's not a problem either.

One of the pages with printing issues... it's still very readable and isn't a big problem at all.

Hold on, did you say next batch of issues? Yes. There was a game creation jam announced in issue 4 that mentions an issue 7. Given the success of the previous Kickstarters and the fact they have physical copies for general sale (plus digital copies if that's your thing), I'm confident there shall be more to come from E1M1 and this pleases me greatly. With high quality and honest writing, good fan art and a sense of overall style that suits the genre well, I really have enjoyed reading these issues. Will I be contributing to any future Kickstarter? Hell yes. Should you? If old-school shooters are your thing, give it a try. You can download sampler pieces for free from their website here, as well as digital copies of the existing issues for £7 each or physical bundles for issues 1-3, 4-6 and 1-6 for £25, £25 and £50 respectively. Also check out the E1M1 Full Mag magazine album, 23 original tracks inspired by 1990's shooters and videogames movies. It's bloody impressive. 

E1M1 is another niche physical publication that fills a gap in the market and if that genre appeals to you, I really do recommend you check out the samplers. You may decide to push for the full set of currently available issues. I know £50 is a hefty chunk of cash but, for me, what you get in your hands justifies that price. Much like Archive, Amiga Addict and SAM Revival, this is never going to be about massive readership numbers or newsagent sales. What it is though, is a heart-felt celebration written by fans for fans, and that level of passion is patently displayed on every page. Well done for the first six issues, I look forward to many, many more.

Was That Film Really That Bad??? Resident Evil (2002)

Paul W.S. Anderson is a bit of a local lad, having been born in Wallsend. His first film, Shopping, was a low-budget crime thriller (and extremely 90's), with a plot set around joyriding and ram-raiding. (Rumours that the latter criminal enterprise was started in Felling have never been substantiated). He found a wider audience with Mortal Kombat, a 1995 videogame movie that had the rather dubious honour of not being completely shite and which actually turned a hefty profit. The forthcoming 2021 Mortal Kombat film, however, looks to crap on the original from a great height. Nevertheless, Wor Paul (as he might be known to some), managed a blinder in 1997 with Event Horizon, a sci-fi horror cult classic (meaning box-office dud that picked up an enthusiastic following upon home release). That brilliant film, gentle reader, will never appear as a WTFRTB post. Ever. After Event Horizon and the flawed Soldier in 1998, Wor Paul didn't do much cinema wise until 2002, when he wrote, directed and produced another videogame adaptation: Resident Evil. 

I remember this one well and, to be honest, enjoyed it. Having not been a massive fan of the games at that point, I wasn't among the flaming torches and pitchforks brigade that cried foul upon the film's release. But how does it fare today?

Plot wise, we have the Umbrella Corporation (very bad, as explained by the traditional videogame movie trope, the narrator/text introduction. That, however, is not as bad as the War and Peace intro to Alone in the Dark), whose secret underground lab, ran by an Artificial Intelligence called the Red Queen, has been compromised by someone stealing, and letting loose, the T-Virus, which able to reanimate corpses. Cue a bunch of hard-ass special forces types and our main protagonists who are linked together by their employment by or fight against said Corp, and what you basically have is 100 minutes of backstory, poorly timed and repetitive jump scares, and a zombie movie hampered by its relatively low budget and the tame use of a UK 15 cinema rating. Mind you, some of the story points work well: the initial heist, the build up to meeting the AI and even the postscript which promises much (I'll call this out as whilst a movie can always end on a teaser, that teaser should never outshine the film that has just preceded it).

Mr Purefoy (calm down!) but no weiner this time...

Casting is a bit of a mixed bag. Milla Jovovich is not bad as Alice. She looks the part and you can tell that she's putting her all into it. Sadly, because her character has a form of amnesia for most of the film, by the finale, you'll probably be asking yourself "Alice? Alice?? Who the fuck is Alice?". This is not Jovovich's fault, more that of the script and the direction (sorry, Wor Paul!). Still, when she realises she's a kick-ass security dame, it's pretty much there on screen. James Purefoy (calm down!) should really get second billing as Spence Parks, but he's missing for pretty much the first half of the film. His performance is more laconic, and his American "accent" is touch and go. You also don't believe for a second that he and Jovovich were in any way intimate. Fans of Mr Purefoy (calm down, I tell thee!) who have seen him in Rome or Altered Carbon will, however, be disappointed with this film as he doesn't get little (*ahem*) Jimmy out. The rest of us should be thankful. Eric Mabius plays Matt Addison quite blandly, a cop/environmental activist looking for his sister who was trying to reveal the secrets of the underground lab. He's not given much to do apart from wear a slightly too tight shirt and look concerned. Still, he went on to better (Ugly Betty) and worse things (2011's BBC sci-fi series Outcasts. That was dire!). 

Does she not desire to visit Pemberley?

Onto the hard-ass squad and only three stand out. Colin Salmon gets to flex his action muscles as James Shade, the leader of said squad. Being confident, obviously good at his job (although again the American "accent" wavers badly) and someone who can get stuff done, you just know his screen time is going to be limited though he does get to show off some acrobatic skills before being diced up by a laser field. Michelle Rodriguez is another hard-ass commando, Rain Ocampo. Yeah, I know, she gets typecast a lot for this and you have to wonder, does she not yearn for something different, like an Austen adaptation or maybe a guest appearance in Doc Martin. Hell, if Sigourney Weaver can do it, so can Michelle! Anyway, she's good value as always but you can't help but think she slept walked through this one. The only other commando of note is Martin Crewes as Chad Kaplan, the techie member of the squad who has a fair bit of screen time and looks as if the casting director was looking for an older David Boreanaz clone. He almost makes it to the end, but like the rest of the squad, you know they're all going to die as the film progresses. Still, unlike the other, at least you get to kind of know him as the rest are just zombie/laser fodder.  One final cast member who goes uncredited is Jason Isaacs. He narrates the opening info dump and appears as Dr William Birkin (behind a surgical mask) at the end of the film. Up to this point he was a kind of talisman for Wor Paul, having appeared in Shopping, Event Horizon (he did not end up in a good place in that one) and Soldier. Sadly for continuity buffs, he did not play the role in later films.

We see you, Isaacs!

Having given this another watch (I recently bought the six movie collection so yes, they'll all be appearing in WTFRTB posts is due course), would I say it's really that bad? It depends. How drunk are you and how closely are you following the plot?

Falling in the shower is never this graceful.

Ah, yes, the plot. It's there, but Wor Paul has followed the path of trying to have a cool looking action movie rather than have the events in said movie make any kind of sense whatsoever. 

I'd even accept Clippy from MS Office over this...

First up, the Red Queen. Never, ever have an Artificial Intelligence run something. Why? Because it always ends up bad for the meat sacks supposedly running the place. Also, why the little girl avatar? It's creepy and whoever considered the UX aspect of this super computer should really talk to a professional, and that's before we get to the precocious child approach. The Red Queen is annoying and off-putting at the same time, and then we have the logic of sealing a lab off and killing everyone in it when a virus that will reanimate the dead is loose. Think about that for a second, then stop, because it makes no sense whatsoever. But hey, she's psychopathic so why not. It also makes a mockery of health and safety rules - seal a lab which contains chemicals in it and flood it with water using sprinklers, whilst in the public areas, use Halon gas. You know, the inert gas that doesn't react with anything so is used in situations where you don't want any unplanned reactions. 

They even shout about covering the experiments! Sheesh!

And that squad - I mean, professionals? Really? Half-aimed full auto might look cool but it ain't going to stop shit after they have burned through the three magazines each person carries. Not that we see mag changes or reloads unless its important to the plot. I mean, we're not quite at the Commando stage where Arnie is hosing down legions of bad guys that, in the pesky world of physics, would also have near melted the barrel of his rifle, but RE's pretty bad. The death of half the squad by walking into a corridor without thinking about getting stuck in there is pretty stupid too. But hey, that's the way the story goes and it's a chance to get some tame gore on the screen. Then we have their actual knowledge of the facility. Their employers let them go in without prep or knowledge of Dining Hall B (there is bad shit in there and I am not referring to the re-heated tacos from last Tuesday). I mean, the Red Queen might have gone crazy but the bosses in Head Office aren't in line for any humanitarian awards either. 

Wrist-mounted computer... cool...

There again, technology is not this film's strong point either, with Kaplan's magic wrist-mounted computer being the prime culprit. It's a re-purposed WinCE palmtop and does "computer things" like showing a map with their locations noted by their heat signatures - but how does it do that when it's not connected to any sensor network mentioned in the film? Also, how can he type at all with gloves on and that crappy little keyboard? Trust me, I have some of these period palmtops similar to the one in the film (check out my thoughts on some here, here and here) and it's techno-bullshit that he can use it. The film even uses the old "smash monitor to stop computer" malarkey - I mean, seriously??? I should also mention the Licker here, a popular creature from the games series. Its inclusion serves a purpose but stating that every time it feasts on something, its DNA mutates? That would make it easy to stop, just give it a plate of escargot and wait a few seconds.

Absolute bollocks! Also, continuity check - gloves or no gloves???

Also, what the hell is Alice's job anyway? She and Parks (you're not getting a "calm down" here as I didn't say Purefoy's (calm down!) name... oh, fudge!) are glorified guards but guarding what? The train station under the mansion leading to the lab? Surely having the main entry point for staff and goods at the mansion would bring more attention to the place anyway? "Oh, have you seen that lovely couple in the big house in the forest? They have a lot of staff, all dressed as office workers and doing 9-5 shifts." Daft, I tell you. And then there is the defence mechanism that knocks people out even if they're on the train or in the mansion (including any security bods in the mansion) when the alarm goes off. WTAF???

Would give the lickings of a... never mind.

Let's not forget about those info dumps either. I counted three outside of the initial narration and they are exposition filled roadblocks in the pacing of the film. Oh, they move the story along, just in short, sharp bursts in between the poorly acted zombie bits. 

Exposition map ahoy!

These issues are emblematic of the usual approach to videogame movies - they are aimed at what is considered their core audience: teenage boys. Yep, this is why we get Jovovich waking up in a shower with the curtain draped lovingly across her naked body. Sure, she was knocked unconscious by some gas but as someone who once slipped in a shower, I can tell you I did not land gracefully, nor cover myself artfully with a shower curtain. Still, we get a flash of nipple in that scene, so tick one for that particular demographic. Same thing happens at the end of the movie when Alice wakes up in hospital - more titillation for the audience. 

I was hoping to capture the cool part of this kick... Oops!

Despite all of that, Resident Evil isn't entirely crap. It's actually enjoyable in a "switch brain off and have a beer" kind of way. Sure, the budget sometimes makes it look cheap (Dining Hall B is straight out of a bad episode of BBC's mid-90's light-hearted action show Bugs, though some of you may rightly ask if there were any good episodes. All I can say is that it wasn't Crime Traveller), and that 2002 CGI has aged terribly. There are nods to classic zombie movies (JD's death, the axe dragger) even if the action sequences are overblown and let down by some frankly crap wire work. The music isn't bad though, and yes, it is Marilyn Manson gaining a credit for the that.

Yeah, there's that $33m budget right there...

Resident Evil, then, is a guilty pleasure. You could start a drinking game pointing out the naff bits or unintentional double entendre's (Exhibit A, M'Lud, the Licker... "Ohhhh, Matron!"), but that would be to miss the point. That would be the same point that the unhappy fans of the games missed when this was released. Videogames are a different medium to cinema and whilst the story of a game can, and will, last you hours, cinema goers usually have 90 minutes to two hours (unless you're Peter Jackson or Zack Snyder) to rattle through a tale. RE isn't a classic by any means, and if I am to be brutally honest, it's not good cinema either, but it filled a gap and doesn't disgrace the genre of videogames movies too much. One day. I'll re-watch some videogames movies by Uwe Boll - the aforementioned Alone in the Dark, Far Cry, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, In the Name of the King) and do some WTFRTB posts that will really push the idea of asking if they were really that bad. 

You tease, you!!!

What can be said for Resident Evil is that it was a box office success and resulted in five more films. In total, these have grossed over $1.2 billion on a total budget spend of $233 million, and the first film had the lowest budget ($33m) and takings ($103m)! Wor Paul wrote the scripts for all of the sequels as well as directing films three to six. That's some going, and all the time working with his wife - this continued with 2011's The Three Musketeers, a future WTFRTB candidate. Yes, he married Milla and even introduced her to Greggs pasties. You can take the lad out of Wallsend... 

The future of retrogaming is... emulation?

Last week, I posted a review of the Anbernic RG351P handheld games console, a device that uses emulation to bring a fair few gaming systems to life in a portable format. Towards the end of that post, I mentioned that whilst I am a fan of collecting games and their associated hardware, cost and space make hardware storage prohibitive which is why the emulation route makes a great deal of sense for me at present. Giving this further thought, I now consider emulation to be the best way to continue to enjoy retro videogames without destituting myself. Whilst my games collection is a shadow of its former self, what I have now are titles that I will continue to play, rather than a load of titles on shelves that will never be touched. As you can see from the following pictures, these are an eclectic mix.

Now I know what you're thinking. What about the collecting and curation of all that old hardware? Let me ask a more pertinent question. What happens when that old hardware dies?

The growing PS2 collection.

If your beloved aged computer or console kicks the bucket, you always have the option of buying another one. This may end up being very expensive. Prices have risen an awful lot over recent years and price-gouging is very common. Depending on where you buy this kit from, you're probably going to face the same issues that killed your original hardware, so preventative maintenance is a must. This isn't especially difficult a lot of the time but a heat gun, ability to solder and a decent tool kit will be required. If you don't fancy that, or don't have the space to carry out this work, then you can, in most cases, find someone that will do the work for you but be prepared to pay for the privilege. At this point, you can also find mods to make your machine of choice a bit more 21st Century friendly. Adding HDMI support, SD card readers and other bits and bobs do make usage a lot more simple, though purists might argue that it takes you away from the point of actually having the old kit anyway. Still, there is quite the industry depending on the format you're using and a quick Google will give you some idea as to what can be done to long out of production hardware.

There will be more added in the future.

There are, however, alternatives to original hardware that use original games. Companies like Analogue and Hyperkin have offered machines that accept original cartridges. These machines are designed for modern day televisions (a not inconsequential matter when it comes to playing old games) and are successful to varying degrees. It's all about the quality of the replication, be it FPGA hardware (in the case of the Analogue systems, the UnAmiga and the MiSTer) or the emulation (Hyperkin and others), though some of the emulator based consoles are hit and miss. Analogue have a lovely range of machines, the latest of which, the Analogue Duo, appears to be the perfect PC-Engine nerd solution to keep playing those old games. There is a flaw though - you can't buy the Duo yet and even when they do announce it for sale, there'll be only a handful released to order and you'll have fuck all chance of getting a pre-order confirmed. I admit, I have a bug-bear with Analogue as they seem to do this with every machine they announce. Too few made for the obvious and understandable demand. For $199, the Duo would be a steal, but even once they get it produced, they'll never have any in general stock to buy - I mean, checking out their other products, outside of a couple of controllers, none of the their gaming systems are in stock. Zero. Zilch. How the company stays in business is beyond me as I stupidly thought that you had to have cashflow to continue trading. Yes, I get it that this is a niche area of interest and, though not exactly a cottage industry, it's big enough to support these companies in the first place. However, companies like Analogue, and this goes for other manufacturers in the retro world too, seem to exist on the idea of the privileged few - those lucky/fanatical individuals who do get their hands on the kit and sod off to everyone else. The daft thing here is that cost isn't an issue, not really. $200 for the Analogue Duo, that's about £150 at present. Compare that to what original hardware goes for and it's a steal. Which is probably a more reliable way of getting hold of one when it's released... (joke!). 

Another small, but varied collection.

But what if you wanted to play the games but don't have the original hardware and aren't lotto-winning levels of lucky to buy an FPGA based replacement? That's where software emulators come in and, for me, this means RetroArch. It's free and you can add "cores" easily to increase the number of systems you want to emulate. It doesn't need a stupidly powerful PC to run, though the more graphical oomph you have, the better for some of the later consoles. My Lenovo Yoga Book is good enough for up to 16-bit consoles and that runs an anaemic Atom x5 processor. Adding games to the library is just a matter of dropping the ROM files in a folder and telling RetroArch to scan that folder. Simples. Getting the ROM's, well, that's another discussion, but what I will say is that for most disc-based consoles, it's simplicity itself to drop your copy of the game in the PC's DVD drive and "archive" the ROM. If you don't have the disc, or the game is on a cartridge, well, there are other options, both hardware and software-based, but I'm not going to talk about those. You can Google that stuff yourself.

Of course, there is more than just RetroArch. Redream for the Dreamcast is a must and although the basic free version does the job well enough, consider paying the small upgrade fee ($5) for the extra features. My i5 7600k, with 16GB of memory and a rather old 6GB GTX 1060 (a set up that's not been updated in three and a half years) can run this just fine. Other format specific emulators include PCSX 2 (PlayStation 2), Dolphin (Gamecube and Wii) and PPSSPP (PSP). There is also another emulator that is getting there in capability - Xenia. I've used this to play the recently discovered Xbox-360 adaptation of Goldeneye 007. This port was held back from release by 1 (one!!!) person during the discussion of licensing. Taking what is rightly regarded as a classic, Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64 and updating it for the 2008 audience, it brought proper FPS controls, better graphics and a much smoother frame rate. Sadly, due to said decision, it was unreleased and considered lost until this year. Now that a cracked version is available, it's a wonderful way to play the game, especially considering how janky the original is and the borked controls - sorry, in the days before twin analogue sticks, console shooters were handicapped by their controls. 

In some cases, though, there is official emulation available. Amiga Forever and C64 Forever are emulators for their respective formats that contain legally licensed ROMs. This is something of a biggie as if you want to use something like PCSX 2, you'd need to locate your own PS2 ROMs, something you can do if you own a PS2 but more problematic (legally) if you do the on-line option. Official ROM emulation for is limited to specific formats but for fans of either of Commodore's most popular computer ranges, these are definitely worth a try. Depending on the package you opt for, they aren't expensive either. 

So settling on emulation from a PC is one way to keep playing these old games. There are more still, and console manufacturers (both past and present) have taken this path. Nintendo released the Mini-NES and Mini-SNES consoles, cute little representations of their 8 and 16-bit home consoles with a bunch of included games. Emulator based and suitable for modern TV's, their only real downside was the inability to add additional games from Nintendo themselves. There are "alternative" methods of fixing that - again, you'll need to Google that. NEC released the PC Engine mini which did a very good job as well, whilst Sony completely fucked their PlayStation Classic by focusing on the presentation of the system itself but not the quality of the emulation included in the box. Sega's Megadrive Mini was another decent attempt, making up for the horrendous licensed machines from AtGames. One slight niggle for all of these is the curated collection approach. Out of the box, you can only play what the manufacturer has included, so to a fair degree, more obscure titles are never going to be included in the mix.

A wonderful trio of handhelds

Talking about emulation would not be complete without mentioning the Evercade. I've posted a couple of times about this here and here, and it really is a nostalgia-fest using emulation. Less limited than the above systems, it uses cartridges so the library of titles is ever-growing. It's also not limited to a specific format which adds to the variety of games you can get on it. Be warned though, you may find out that sometimes, just sometimes, that nostalgia kick is not worth revisiting. A lot of early Atari 2600 games really, really do not play well today. Others, however, very much do play just as well. 

Still room for more Evercade carts as and when they are released.

There are other options for emulation too, and this is where the Anbernic RG351P and it's ilk come in. These relatively cheap machines come in various form factors - handheld, traditional box under the TV, tabletop arcade machine and so on, and rely upon some variation of emulation to run old games. A lot, including the one I bought, are supplied with a ton of games and you can also add your own. On these devices, you can enjoy games up to the 32-bit era with no problems at all. So what's not to like? Well, those games. The ones that come supplied. Legally, a no-no. The ones I add, well, since I own the original disc, then there is an argument for fair use, but still, it's an iffy area as I am still making a copy when I "archive" the ROM.

As you can see, there are many options that provide alternatives to aged hardware that has met its maker. Does this mean that old machines should be binned now? Certainly not, and let me be clear, hardware preservation is just as important as that of software. However, as time marches on, there will be fewer examples of the original systems to play games on, which given human nature means those surviving examples will command an even heftier price. Okay, you'll not get the feel of the original controller (GX4000 and CD32 fans rejoice!) but you will be able to play the games and it's the games that are the point. Some paths are legal and fine, the (specifically curated) mini consoles, the Evercade and the honest politician-like available Analogue kit. Others less so, and this is something that maybe the industry as a whole should address. After all, look at the options out there and tell me people aren't making money off the passion for retro gaming. Hell, the Amiga market alone has bespoke hardware galore, some at relatively low prices but unicorn levels of availability (looking at you, UnAmiga) whilst others can be bought but cost a small fortune (the Vampire boards). That, however, is a whole different discussion and one not for now. In the mean time, however you do it, enjoy playing these old games because that's what they were created for. 

P.S. If anyone is interested, the card game that's sneaked into the pictures can be found here.

P.P.S. Yes, eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that I am a Broken Sword fan. Broken Sword I and II on PC-CD-ROM, Broken Sword II for the PlayStation, Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon for the PlayStation 2, Broken Sword The Shadow Or The Templars: The Director's Cut for the DS, and Broken Sword 5 - The Serpent's Curse for the Switch (and on the XBox downstairs too). 

I even stalked Revolution's offices in York!