Mario, Pac Man and Sonic are just some of the most epic retro characters out there. Whenever you think about them, nostalgia naturally drips into your brain. Old school games and consoles were part of the golden generation of video games and believe it or not, they’re still accessible today.

Don’t worry, you won’t have to spend a fortune on collectible consoles and systems, but just bring these names back to modern devices. If you already have an Android TV, you can enjoy them through your current system. Here’s everything you need to know about how to play retro games on Android TV.

 

Get an Emulator

 

An emulator is a piece of software that replicates the original operating system. While not necessarily designed as an emulator, RetroArch is one of the most popular options. Get it from its official website only. It’s free of charge.

Once you get the app, run it and you’ll see the settings. If it looks a bit dodgy or pixelated, simply fix it through the settings. Make sure you download the extra dependencies. The concept behind RetroArch is tricking games into believing they run on original consoles, so you get an authentic gaming experience, often with customizable controls and enhanced visuals.

Now, based on what games you feel nostalgic about, you can also find independent emulators, but they mainly focus on one console only. For example, an emulator made for SNES won’t take games from PS2 and so on. With RetroArch, you have more options for different consoles, hence its popularity.

 

Find Your Favorite Games

You don’t need original cartridges or discs to play your favorite games. If you do have them, you can make image copies of them, but it’s a technical process that requires a bit of experience. Most people just download the original images from Romspedia. Quick, simple and free, just a matter of minutes. This process makes anyone start playing, even if you’re new to emulation.

Once you get a few ROMs, you can copy them to a thumb drive. Insert the respective drive into the Android TV box (or directly into the TV, depending on what system you have) and you will see the ROM images in there.

There are quite a few different ways to access these ROMs. You can also use a file manager application. All in all, get the ROMs copied into the internal storage. To make your life easier later, make sure you place them in the same folder. This helps you quickly find your favorite titles.

If you’re concerned about the legal profile, you should simply stick to ROMs of games you’ve purchased legally in the past, as well as ROM’s that you’re authorized to access. Using unauthorized copies or downloads could be illegal in your country due to copyright laws.

 

Get Some Cores

Now, RetroArch allows access to more cores, one for each type of console or system. For instance, if you’re into SNES games, you can download the core for it. To download cores, run RetroArch and you’ll find the full list.

Choose the core suitable for the platform you want to replicate and download it. Such downloads are small in size and will be completed within a minute or so, depending on your connection.

 

Play Your Games

 

Once you have the right core, find the option to load ROMs. Navigate to the folder you used for ROMs before. Pick the game, load it and you’re ready to go. The loading part is only a matter of seconds, so you should recognize the initial credits straight away or title screen almost immediately.

If you are still struggling to figure out how to play retro games on Android TV, you should know that in some versions of RetroArch, you may have to go to the top right menu and choose the name of the console. Once you pick the console, you can then load your game.

Either way, RetroArch is intuitive and straightforward, even if you’re new to emulators.

 

Tips and Ideas

In theory, using an emulator to bring back good games is fairly simple. However, emulators aren’t perfect and can’t compete with the original console.

If something doesn’t work out or if you can’t remember the precise platform for your favorite game, go online and do some research. You can also download a few other cores and try them out if you are unsure.

Another thing to know is that the 8 bit limitation makes games a bit dodgy. Other than that, like other emulators, RetroArch allows you to save your progress, whether through save states or in-game saves.

Don’t forget about controllers either. If you don’t like how your game runs, you can usually sort everything out through the settings. You can change graphics, resolutions, colors and so on. In fact, you’ll notice that modern emulators tend to improve the graphics a little, so you’ll notice an improved version of the original game.

There are quite a few things to go through in the settings. If you’re not sure about them, it’s perfectly fine to leave them as they are. After all, RetroArch is designed to work well for most users.

The process is similar for every device and not just Android TV sets. Again, you can choose between emulators, depending on what games you’re after. Other than that, if you have old controllers and devices, you can usually hook them up too, yet they require going through the settings as well.

With everything in place, just follow the process and enjoy everything from classic platformers to survival horror favorites like Resident Evil and Parasite Eve 2, all with the convenience of modern hardware.