Why does retro gaming and emulation matter so much?
Android Arcade
With Android Arcade, Android Central Senior Editor Android Myrick takes a weekly deep dive into retro gaming, emulation, handhelds, and everything in between.
For years, the word “emulation” has been synonymous with “piracy.” It doesn’t help when you have bad actors leaking games before they’re even released, only for others to livestream those same games, while telling people how to also illegally obtain the necessary files.
But for me, retro gaming and emulation are so much more than just seeing someone try and “stick it to the man.” This is a topic that I could probably write enough to fill a short novel, but I won’t be doing that here. Instead, I picked four reasons why being able to play a game from 1985 in 2025 is so important to me.
Re-living the past
Admittedly, I didn’t really dive deep into gaming until about 10 years ago or so. I would go through phases when I was addicted to heading over to a friend’s house with my Xbox to have a Halo LAN party. Which later transformed into playing Call of Duty with friends for countless hours. But for the most part, I just enjoyed going outside, touching grass, and playing sports.
To this day, there’s nothing quite like being able to fire up Super Mario Bros. for the millionth time or Link’s Awakening DX on one of my retro gaming handhelds. And if I’m in a particularly foul mood, there’s always The Lion King for the Sega Genesis, which I’ve still never actually beaten.
It’s crazy to think about the number of classic games that are now just a couple of taps away. There are literally thousands upon thousands of games that can be stored and played from the slab of glass in your pocket. Of course, it doesn’t feel exactly the same compared to playing on the original hardware. But there are things you can do to replicate the feeling of a CRT, as long as you’re willing to spend some time tinkering.
Discover all new experiences
Throughout the years, my family primarily stuck to Nintendo and Microsoft, with a bit of Sega thrown in the middle. The first Sony console any of us had was a PSP, and then later a PS Vita. Because of that, the only time I ever could play anything PlayStation was if I were to head over to a friend’s house.
There are even some Nintendo consoles that I missed out on, such as the 3DS, GameCube, Wii, and Wii U. There are a whole lot of incredible games that I didn’t get to enjoy firsthand. But now, all it takes is a few taps on my phone, and I’m piloting an X-wing alongside Luke Skywalker as part of Rogue Squadron.
Thanks to emulation, I’m able to dive into the library of PS1, PS2, and PS3 games that I never had the chance to play before. And until recently, PS3 emulation on Android was thought to be a pipe dream. That’s no longer the case courtesy of RPCS3-Android, which has been merged into a newer RPCSX project.
If you had told me that I would be able to play PS3 games on a smartphone with an almost 8-inch screen that folds in half, I would’ve thought you lost your marbles. But that’s exactly what I’m able to do, and it’s just absolutely mind-boggling and incredible.
Pushing devices to the limit
Whenever I get my hands on a new Android device, one of the first things I do after the initial setup process is load up a few emulators and ROMs. Switch is usually first, as that gives me a pretty good idea of what to expect right out of the box. But that’s only part of the fun.
For example, say you picked up something like the AYN Odin 2 or AYANEO Pocket S, and your favorite Switch game isn’t running as smoothly as you’d have expected. Well, before giving up the goose entirely, there’s actually quite a bit of tinkering that you can do.
To start, play around with the different settings and options that are built into the emulator you’re using. The most common culprits are changing the Accuracy Level, turning off VSync, making sure that Docked Mode is enabled, etc. If you go through everything and only see marginal improvements, you’re still not out of luck.
That’s where Turnip drivers come into play, as these are custom-tuned drivers for the built-in GPU on your device. The problem here is that just because a new driver is available, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will actually resolve your issue. So I always recommend trying out a bunch of different drivers until the game is running the way you hoped.
Even then, there are limitations, as Turnip drivers are only compatible with Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered devices. When it comes to MediaTek, Exynos, or Tensor, then you’re relying on a Mali GPU, and emulators won’t even let you try to use a Turnip driver with a Mali GPU. Which means, what you see is what you get.
One more thing
In years past, the above reasons served their collective purpose as to why I’ve been enamored with retro gaming and emulation. However, something rather special happened almost a year and a half ago. At the time of this writing, it’s been almost 450 days since I became a father.
He doesn’t care one way or another about the teether in the shape of the NES controller, other than the fact that it makes his mouth feel better. Nor does he care about the Fisher Price controller that lights up and plays music, other than that it makes noise.
But more recently, he’ll come and crawl up next to me on the couch while I’m playing some Pokémon Ruby on my RG35XX SP or Wind Waker on the Retroid Pocket Flip 2. Sure, part of it’s the vibrant colors that draw him in, but he also just seems genuinely interested in whatever’s happening.
To that end, while I don’t want him to grow up any faster (seriously, how has it been 14+ months already?), I also can’t wait to introduce him to some of the games that I played. But instead of being huddled around the family CRT, we can sit back and enjoy games on TVs that are much larger, much thinner, and won’t have to worry about neck pain.
For the record, I’ve already started mentally planning how I’ll get everything set up. But knowing me, I’ll go through a million ideas first, only to figure out a way to connect a handheld, Raspberry Pi, or my phone to a CRT TV.
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