psone with lcd screen made in china

The LCD Screen (for PS one) is currently the only officially licensed monitor for the PS one that"s available on the retail market. There have been a few third-party manufactured PS one LCD screens that have seen their way onto retail store shelves thanks to companies such as Interact, Mad Catz and Electro Source, but until just recently we hadn"t seen one that came with the Sony seal of approval.

Does this really mean anything? Based on what we"ve seen of all the products, not really. The officially licensed moniker means a lot more when you"re dealing with things like memory cards and controllers because there"s a lot more reverse engineering going on because unlicensed third parties aren"t obliged to information about the console and how it works. But, in the case of an LCD screen for the PS one, it"s just a monitor that must work with the system"s output and be attachable to it. Not all that hard to do with or without Sony"s licensing.

At any rate, the Sony name generally stands for quality (let"s forget about the skipping PlayStations and the "Disk Read Errors" on the PS2 for a minute) and its official monitor, the LCD Screen (for PS one), is a top notch and well-built peripheral for the console.

When you pick up one of these units, you get yourself one of the LCD Screens, an AC Adaptor (the exact same kind that comes with the PS one unit), and an instruction manual. The screen is a 5" (diagonal width) Thin Film Transistor (TFT) liquid display and to the left and right of it you get 1 1/2 x 1 1/8 in 1.0 watt stereo speakers. Also on the front of the unit and below the screen you have button controls to adjust the brightness of the screen and the volume of the speakers.

The unit fits snuggly onto the PS one with the screws that are on its rear and looks completely stylish when mounted onto the console. It"s also extremely thin and lightweight, which really lends itself to being portable, which is what the screen and the PS one unit are intended to be.

The screen provides excellent video quality with very black blacks, very white whites and excellent color separation and overall picture quality. In fact, thanks to the reduced screen size and general clarity of the picture, most PlayStation games actually look better when being played on this PS one Screen than when played on a regular television set. It"s a lot harder to notice the low resolution of the textures and the general blockiness of polygonal models that are fairly common in most PlayStation games.

And despite the small size of the screen, you won"t experience any problems reading text in most text-heavy games like role-playing games. We were able to test Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX, Legend of Dragoon, and Vagrant Story and found that the text in each of those games were completely legible. With Vagrant Story, the font"s unique style made it a little less clear than the others, but still didn"t prove to be a problem. The only times that we noticed issues with reading text was during some end-game credits where the text size was much smaller than normal.

The speakers you get are probably about as good as you"re going to get with speakers of this size. Unless you have the volume turned all the way up, which will net you a crackling sound, the sound from the speakers is crystal clear. It doesn"t provide much in the way of bass, but that"s expected given the speakers. You do however get decent stereo sound and you will notice the separation between the two channels in games that support stereo sound.

Sadly, its AV IN jack is one that requires an SCPH-180 U AV connection cable that"s used to connect video equipment such as camcorders to the LCD screen and not standard stereo AV connections like you"ll find in some of the third party products. What this means is that you won"t be able to easily use this as a portable monitor for other consoles like the PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, and Xbox, which is something that is possible with some of the third party units.

Another complaint that we have is that it doesn"t come packed with a Car Adaptor, so you"ll have to buy Sony"s PS one Car Adaptor that will be sold separately when it"s eventually made available. It would"ve been nice to have this thrown in with the unit since it is something that you may find with other third-party monitors.

Even with the omissions, which include the lack of stereo AV input jacks and Car Adaptor this is a fine PS one peripheral that you really ought to consider picking up for your system if you"re looking to make it a little more portable. The monitor provides excellent picture quality and decent enough sound and looks stylish and extremely cute when attached to the PS one console. It"s currently priced at $129.99, so it"ll cost more than the unit itself, but it"s actually a decent price for a unit of this kind.

The original PlayStation almost didn’t happen. It was the result of a canceled collaboration between Sony and Nintendo, leading to somewhat of a feud in the mid-90s. In 1994, the PlayStation launched in Japan, giving its players a way to enjoy beautiful (at the time) 3D games using discs instead of the expensive price tag that came with cartridges.

With the launch ofPlayStation Plus, Sony’s new subscription service designed to rival Xbox’s Game Pass, many of these classic PS1 titles are going to be making their way to current-gen consoles.

The Castlevania series was over a decade old by the time Symphony of the Nightarrived. It was the franchise’s defining moment, as the game radically expanded the series’ platforming with RPG loot, progression and non-linear exploration, lending its suffix to the subsequent “Metroidvania” genre as a result. In previous Castlevania games, you controlled members of the vampire-hunting Belmont family. Symphony of the Night, however, revolves around Alucard, the lazily-named son of Dracula. To protect humanity from his father, Alucard sets out to slay the castle’s monstrous inhabitants. Symphony of the Night stood out immediately for bold choices like hiding more than half of the game behind a false ending. It used the CD format to make a massive game filled with rich, 2D sprites, rejecting the crude, early 3D the rest of the industry pursued at the time. One of the most influential action-RPGs of all time, Castlevania:Symphony of the Night is still just as satisfying to play now as it was 20 years ago.

Between Thief: The Dark Project on PC and Metal Gear Solid on PlayStation, 1998 was the year that modern stealth video games were born. A sequel to two lesser-known games from creator Hideo Kojima, you play as special ops soldier Solid Snake who infiltrates the hideout of a rogue unit threatening the United States with a nuclear strike. Snake has a variety of tools for evading and taking out guards, making it one of the most taut and tactical gaming experiences available at the time. The series has since spawned four more critically-acclaimed main entries and various spinoffs, radically expanding upon both its deep gameplay and Kojima’s baroque, nuclear mythology. But the first Metal Gear Solid remains an unassailable classic.

An action-focused spinoff of the top-down RPG series Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver is a third-person action game from Crystal Dynamics who went on to earn acclaim with its reboot of Tomb Raider. You play as the ghostly vampire Raziel in the grim-dark fantasy world of Nosgoth. In its prime, players loved the game’s dark, compelling narrative, voice acting, and varied mechanics. One of its main conceits is the ability to swap between the physical and spectral realm at any time. Crystal Dynamics was unable to simply layer two different versions of the world on top of one another because of the console’s limitations, thus achieving the effect was no small technical feat. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is also notable as one of the first major games written by Uncharted series scribe Amy Hennig, now considered among the best game narrative creators in the business.

With their long-held mystique both within and beyond Japan, ninjas became a prominent figure in the early days of video games. In franchises like Ninja Gaiden, however, they’re translated into nimble, hack-and-slash fighters. Tenchu: The Stealth Assassinsbreaks that mold.  It’s one of the first games to truly embrace the ninja as a stealthy infiltrator. Instead of relying solely on weapons and reflexes, he must rely on his tools and wits to survive. Developed by Japanese studio Acquire, Tenchu is the feudal Japanese parallel to Metal Gear Solid’s nuclear melodrama. Failing a mission causes you to lose whatever tools you’re carrying, forcing you to be careful and deliberate when approaching each mission. Fantastical elements from Japanese mythology provide fun flavor, but in its time, Tenchu was the most fun because of how human and vulnerable you felt, making success all the sweeter.

Although somewhat overshadowed by Metal Gear Solid, Syphon Filter is another exceptional 3D, third-person action-stealth game for the PS1. Newbie developer Eidetic took equal inspiration from Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64, hoping to create a “super-spy” hybrid genre with stealth, action, and puzzles. The game received high praise during its peak but its legacy has not endured as strongly. Syphon Filter tells a gritty, contemporary, world-spanning story about special operatives facing off against biological terrorists. This story encompasses governments, multinational pharmaceutical companies, and conspiracies that extend to the top. It’s a pulpy and immersive plot, enhanced greatly by gameplay that’s a compelling balance of stealth and straight-up action. During the game’s prime, critics cued into its stellar A.I., a key requirement for good stealth games, which was among the most impressive in any game to date.

The original Ace Combat (released as Air Combat) flew as one of the first games released on the PS1, and it shows. Namco’s sequel, Ace Combat 2, is an improvement in basically every way. Ace Combat 2is an arcade-style combat flight simulator, meaning its overall design favors gameplay over simulation. It offers semi-realistic physics and the ability to carry far more missiles than the payload of an actual jet, though difficulty settings allow more hardcore players to fly with greater realism. Gameplay divides into relatively linear, objective-based missions. You can upgrade jets using resources that unlock based on how successful you were at destroying all targets.

Although the PS1 hosted some of the best conventional 2D Mega Man games, it was also the exclusive home to weird entries like Mega Man Legends. With only the main character in common (and a cheeky reference to how he’s named after a character’s favorite video game), Legends is set in an archipelago. The Caskett family of treasure hunters travels by his side as he journeys across the land and scours ruins for ancient machinery in search of the legendary Mother Lode. In addition to refining the run and gun mechanics (replete with a fairly deep crafting and customization system), the second game presents a much richer and more character-driven narrative than the structure typical to the core series of “hunt the bosses to get their powers.” The voice-acted cutscenes are particularly entertaining, feeling very much like watching an anime. It features memorable characters like your nemesis, the pirate Tron Bonne, who has a solo spin-off game released between two Legends entries. Capcom canceled the third Legends installment during its development.

Feudal Japanese weapon-focused 3D fighting game Bushido Blade is the most well-known game from Japanese studio Light Weight, and it’s still somewhat anomalous within the genre. Eschewing the convention of health bars entirely, character blows either cripple particular body parts or outright kill. This gives the game a rare degree of realism and a much more tactical and punctuated tempo. There are eight realistically simulated weapons and six characters with different stats, abilities, and proficiencies with each weapon. There’s also a stance-based fighting system, giving players various gameplay options. Unlike the discrete levels of conventional fighters, the game’s arenas are all inter-connected. This allows players to run and climb between them, using the environment to their advantage. Bushido Blade has one direct sequel and another similar title on PS2, but those smooth out some of its quirks too much for our taste. Other fighting games like the Soulcalibur series and more recently have explored weapons-focused “dueling,” but nothing has quite replicated what made the original Bushido Bladespecial.

Street Fighter set the bar for the best fighting games in the early 90s, but Tekken focused on brawling in 3D instead. This arcade-native franchise set the high bar for 3D fighters and perfected the formula with its third entry, Tekken 3. Previous entries made relatively little use of 3D depending on the character. Tekken 3, however, tones down the hyperbolic jumping and allows every character to easily sidestep around its opponent, opening up one of the most tactically complex and polished fighting systems in video games to date. Tekken 3 instantly became a classic thanks to its large and diverse character roster and truly impressive graphics for a console port of an arcade game. It still holds the honor of being the second-best-selling fighting game on any platform of all time, after only Super Smash Brothers Brawl.

While Tekken and Bushido Blade blazed new paths for fighting games in 3D, Capcom stuck to its roots with Street Fighter, the fighting franchise that started it all. Street Fighter Alpha 3 features a massive roster of 34 combatants drawn from the series’ whole history. It also introduces three different “isms” playstyles to the genre, changing the mechanics of how combos work and special moves charge up. While some felt that the 2D, sprite-based graphics dated the game, in retrospect, it looks great, and holds up magnificently well as one of the most comprehensive and refined entries in the Street Fighter franchise.

Capcom was on such a roll producing top-notch fighting games in the ’90s that it sometimes overshadowed its other excellent titles. The Darkstalkers series of 2D fighters is a cult and critical darling but had middling commercial success. Relatively standard (but solid) mechanically, the series is mostly recognized for its anime-meets-gothic-horror aesthetic, with characters like vampires, mummies, demons, and a yeti. The look was magnificently refined by the time Darkstalkers 3 arrived, with detailed and fluidly animated sprites that are among the best of the decade. First released in arcades, the game endured several character additions and balance changes by the time it arrived on the PS1 — all of which made it one of the fastest, fun, and charming fighters to play at home.

The original PlayStation was a fascinating, transitional period in game design, with a big uptick in processing power and storage opening up a whole new field of possible aesthetics to explore. The Oddworld games are a prime example. Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee is a cinematic platformer in the tradition of Prince of Persia or Another World. You play as Abe, an enslaved member of the Mudokon race, leading a rebellion against corporate overlords plotting to make them a cheap food source. It’s grim satire for sure, but full of warmth, humor, and loving attention to detail. As Abe explores, solves puzzles, and avoids enemies, he must rely on his wits more than anything else given he’s liable to die without much effort. The sequel, Abe’s Exoddus, picks up right after the first game ends. It’s an improvement design-wise, offering quicksaves and more elaborate puzzles based on conversations with NPCs. A recent, well-received remake of the original shows that there’s still a lot to be enjoyed in this classic series.

The transition from 2D to 3D gaming produced a lot of interesting visual artifacts, but oddly enough, most developers didn’t think to try the intermediary style that’s grown more popular in recent years: 2.5D. With this method, the game engine renders action in 3D that’s largely constrained to a 2D plane. This Namco-developed platformer is set in Phantomile, a fantastical realm manifested from the dreams that people forget soon upon waking. You play as Klonoa, an anthropomorphic resident of Phantomile with a power-granting wind spirit that inhabits a ring. Gameplay is standard for the genre, with enemies, puzzles, and bosses spread out across themed levels. Praised by critics at its release, Klonoacan be hard to find now, particularly outside of Japan, but is fondly remembered as a solid and enjoyable platformer.

Released in 1995, one year before Super Mario 64, Jumping Flash! holds the honor (according to Guinness) of being the first truly 3D platforming video game. Presented in first-person, you play Robbit, a robotic rabbit exploring open levels to collect four MacGuffins (“jump packs,” in this case) to progress through its six themed worlds, each with a culminating boss battle after three levels. Robbit’s ability to triple-jump mid-air is the game’s mechanical focus, supplemented by various power-ups with classic effects like temporary invincibility, extending the level time limit, or increasing Robbit’s health. Although it was soon overshadowed by the flourishing of 3D platforming’s imminent golden age, Jumping Flash! is still an innovative and under-appreciated trailblazer.

In this third-person platformer you play Spike, a boy tasked with traveling through time and using a variety of gadgets to capture hyper-intelligent apes that meddle with history. Ape Escape was the first game to require the PlayStation’s DualShock controller before the now-standard vibrating two-stick model came stock with the console. Rather than using the right stick to control the camera, it’s used to manipulate the gadgets. Acclaimed at the time and fondly remembered since its debut, Ape Escape a seminal moment in platforming video games for both its cutting edge presentation and mechanics.

The PlayStation’s most memorable games tended to be immersive fantasies, yet there were a few exceptions more purely focused on gameplay. I.Q.: Intelligent Qube is a 3D puzzle game in which a player runs around on a gridded platform, clearing cubes before they push him off into the void. The game is a challenging brain-tickler, giving more replayability with the ability to create new levels, a feature that unlocks after completing the game once. Although released in the West, it was most successful in its native Japanese market, garnering several sequels.

This port of a hit Japanese arcade puzzle game for one or two players isn’t a sequel to anything. Instead, it’s cheekily named after Super Street Fighter II Turbo because it bolts the aesthetic and interface elements of Capcom’s 2D fighters onto a falling block puzzle. In it, Chibi versions of Street Fighter and Darksiders characters perform a silly battle that reflects what is happening in the puzzles. Capcom developed the game for Japanese arcades in response to the popularity of Sega’s Puyo Puyo 2. It employs similar competitive mechanics to Puyo of successful chains dumping garbage blocks onto the opponent’s field, which you can counter with a quick combo in response. The charming 2D graphics and solid competitive puzzling mechanics are beautifully aged, maintaining this game’s reputation as a delightful cross-genre curio.

Hyper-realistic driving sims are flourishing, but Gran Turismo was the cream of the crop for virtual gearheads in the PS1 era. The smooth forms and inorganic materials of cars have always been an excellent test case for the cutting edge of realistic graphics, and as such Gran Turismo 2 was one of the first racing games where you might glance at the screen and think you’re watching live television. The gameplay, graphics, and physics are largely unchanged from the first game. The sequel’s most notable expansion is the enormous roster of real-world cars (over 600, the largest in any game to date), a robust customization system, and more flexibility to take part in races à la carte, rather than necessarily structured as tournaments. In its prime, Gran Turismo 2 was a bestseller among both car fans and regular gamers, establishing Gran Turismo as a key racing franchise that has endured through the present.

Between the simulation-focused realism of Gran Turismo and the wacky hijinks of Kart racers, you have Ridge Racer. R4, the Namco-developed series’ final entry on PlayStation, looks like the former but plays closer to the latter. That makes it perfect for racing fans who want the fantasy of realistic-looking cars but are turned off by realistic handling. Overall, R4 is a great package for anyone who wants a rich, arcade-style racing experience packed with 321 unlockable vehicles and a variety of tracks and modes. Many still consider R4 as the peak of the Ridge Racer series.

Before Harmonix made the genre explode with Guitar Hero on the PlayStation 2, PaRappa the Rapper was the name in rhythm games. Sidestepping the crude stabs at realism that contemporary developers made with the console’s nascent 3D tech, PaRappa features colorful, 2D characters in 3D environments. This highlighted design over horsepower — decades ahead of current trends — to integrate 2D and 3D artwork into more visually interesting aesthetics than the brown-grey realism dominating the early part of the millennium. PaRappa’s bright and cheery look is a 90s hip-hop Day-Glo fantasia, and the music, while lyrically inane, holds up shockingly well over 20 years later. Subsequent rhythm games technically surpass PaRappa the Rapper in nearly every regard, but it’s still rightly beloved as a groundbreaking curio from a time in gaming before genres became quite so crystallized and anything felt possible.

Breaking away from the gritty sci-fi trajectory created by FF7and FF8, FF9’s return to the stylized, chibi aesthetic and light-hearted fantasy of the series’ original entries displeased many fans. In retrospect, it stands out as a fantastic synthesis of the franchise’s recent ideas with its classic mechanical and worldbuilding tropes. FF9 follows the rogueish Zidane, the rebellious princess Garnett, and their assembled friends taking on the sinister Queen Brahne and her world domination plans. It’s classic Final Fantasy through and through and easily the most charming and fun entry from the era.

Squaresoft RPG Chrono Trigger is still widely considered as one of the greatest video games of all time. Its PlayStation sequel never achieved the same reputation, but it’s nevertheless a fun and interesting game that holds up quite well. Like the first game’s different eras, Chrono Cross’ primary narrative conceit is jumping back and forth between two parallel timelines, one of which sees the protagonist die as a child. The game features over 50 recruitable characters, each with a unique quest to follow, making it impossible to see everything in a single playthrough. The connections to the first game are not obvious at first, but ultimately it ties them all together in an interesting and resonant tale that frequently meditates on loss and regret. It’s also colorful, fun, and features unique approaches to both combat and progression.

Another fiercely-loved Squaresoft RPG, Xenogears started as a pitch for Final Fantasy VII, but eventually spun off to start a new science-fiction franchise. Long and ambitious, it amazed some and perplexed others with the plot’s complicated political and religious themes, along with a healthy dollop of Jungian psychoanalysis. You play as the amnesiac young man Fei Fong Wong in a quest to save the world from Deus, an ancient planet-killing weapon that gained sentience. Gameplay features both conventional, Final Fantasy-style active time battles as well as fights in the eponymous Gears (giant mecha suits) that involve managing action points and developing combos. The first Squaresoft RPG to feature voice acting and anime cutscenes, Xenogears was a leap forward in the medium’s potential for mature and cinematic storytelling.

Yasumi Matsuno’s action RPG stood out from its peers at Square because of its razor focus. Rather than assembling a ragtag crew of wacky misfits to save the world, you play Ashley Riot, a single knight sent after a cult leader who kidnapped a noble family and absconded to a ruined medieval city, Leá Monde. Like Parasite Eve, it features pausable, real-time combat and the ability to target and be targeted on specific body parts, crippling particular capabilities. Combined with an elaborate weapon crafting and armor system, it provides a rich and focused tactical playground that players enjoyed experimenting with over the years. Square essentially retconned the game into Ivalice, the world of Final Fantasy Tactics and XII, but even without that, it stands alone as a beloved classic for its mature story and mechanical depth.

While widely beloved by fans and critics, Suikoden II’s limited print run and distribution prevented it from reaching the universal acclaim that Final Fantasy games found on the PlayStation — at least in the West. Loosely based on a classical Chinese novel’s plot, the game was most praised for its story: A complex and mature political saga of warring nations and city states struggling for independence. The narrative’s scope reflects in the scope of the party you recruit, with over 100 characters able to join you through personal side quests (though not all in combat roles). Suikoden II features both standard turn-based party battles in the vein of Final Fantasy as well as large-scale, strategic engagements on a grid more reminiscent of Fire Emblem. Suikoden II is about as epic as you can get on the PlayStation.

The Secret of Mana series grew up alongside Final Fantasy in the 8- and 16-bit eras. It generally takes a slightly lighter tone and substitutes turn-based battles with more open, action RPG gameplay. The first Mana game launched in the United States as Final Fantasy Adventure. Legend of Mana is the fourth entry following the fantastic Seiken Densestsu 3for SNES, which is still not officially localized in the west. Set after a cataclysmic war, the player sets out to restore the land of Fa’Diel and eventually the Tree of Mana itself. Players accomplish this quest by literally placing parts of the land — which were previously sealed in artifacts — on the map. Their relative placement affects the world. like the strength of elemental magic types in each region. A recurring theme on this list, Square didn’t leverage the PlayStation’s storage and processing power to make crude stabs at 3D graphics. Instead, the studio filled it to the brim with lush, beautiful 2D graphics. The game is universally praised for rembling an animated film and aging exceptionally well. In its prime, Secret of Manareceived criticism for making the story feel too diffuse. In retrospect, its nonlinear, system-rich approach now feels ahead of its time.

One of the first RPGs released for the PlayStation, Wild Arms stands apart for its highly-unconventional setting that blends traditional JRPG fantasy tropes with visual elements from the American old west. Set in the world of Filgaia, you play a scrappy band of wandering adventurers called Dream Chasers. One of these wanderers is Rudy, a boy who can excavate and use Ancient Relic Machines (ARMS), which are guns from a lost era of greater technology. Using both 2D sprites for exploration, and 3D rendered battle sequences, Wild Arms was an interesting transitional game between the 16- and 32-bit eras. It mostly stands out for its compelling setting, however, fusing science and magic in a way reminiscent of — but also completely distinct from — Final Fantasy VI.

Sony may have set unreasonable expectations for The Legend of Dragoon by marketing it initially as a “Final Fantasy Killer,” but this SCE-developed RPG endures as a cult classic of the era. You play Dart, an orphaned survivor of a destroyed city rescuing a childhood friend that’s kidnapped by a rebel army. In typical genre fashion, he assembles a motley crew for a quest that spirals up to defeating a world-ending god of destruction. It fleshes out the typical turn-based combat with a system of combos and counter-attacks that add an interesting dimension of timing and risk/reward. While The Legend of Dragoon never panned out into a franchise, it’s just as well-written and designed as many of its more widely beloved peers.

Adapted from a popular, contemporary Japanese novel of the same name, Parasite Eve is a bit of a genre hybrid from developer Square. Equal parts action RPG and survival horror, it follows a New York City cop trying to stop an entity named Eve from destroying humanity through spontaneous combustion. Like Square’s Vandal Hearts, it features pausable real-time battles and the ability to target specific body parts, with abilities tied to the “Active Time Bar” (ATB) system pioneered in the studio’s Final Fantasy games. Critics praised its interesting and immersive design at the time, though its legacy was somewhat overshadowed by the era’s more “pure” RPGs and survival horror games, respectively. In retrospect, its infusion of RPG progression systems into a survival horror framework can be seen reflected in more modern games such as The Evil Within, though its pausable real-time combat has been less explored subsequently.

Several years before the original Call of Duty game kicked off the now-oversaturated WW2 first-person shooter genre, Medal of Honor set the bar. Steven Spielberg developed the story, working with the same historical military consultants he collaborated with on Saving Private Ryan. Where previous shooters remained relatively light-hearted affairs about blasting hordes of demons, Medal of Honor was one of the first serious, cinematic shooters that presaged future classics like

The original Tony Hawk Pro Skater was an enormous success when it launched in 1999, but the follow-up a year later truly cemented it as one of the most beloved skateboarding games of all time. The action centers around arcade-style gameplay, with the player flipping and grinding over open levels to rack up as many points as possible from tricks and combos within two minutes. Collectibles and level-specific objectives keep it spicy, and the addition of level- and skater-creation tools give it a ton of replayability.

1997 saw the Madden football franchise take its first stab at 3D with Madden Football 64, but for our money, the best sports game of the year was the less ambitious and far more refined Madden NFL 98. While other franchises leaped at polygons, Madden instead focused on improving the game’s artificial intelligence for NFL 98, making this the most strategically sophisticated football game ever released at the time. As is often the case from this console era, Madden NFL 98’s late 2D sprite graphics hold up better than the early efforts at 3D that followed it.

FFT wasn’t the first tactical RPG to cross over from Japan — the Shining Force and Ogre Battle series already broke that ground for western console audiences. However, it’s far and away the most beloved and influential tactical RPG of that era. The series’ traditional linear battles featured three to four party members lined up to face their enemies. Final Fantasy Tactics, however, opened up into a much richer, isometric, grid-based encounter reminiscent of X-COM, with an elaborate job system allowing for deep, strategic party customization. Set in the world of Ivalice (which was featured in later entries like FF12), it tells a mature tale of competing noble families, warring nations, and the intersection of church and state. Spin-off sequels for the Game Boy Advance were solid, but none ever quite captured the magic of the original.

Released first in Japan as Biohazard, Resident Evil is Shinji Mikami’s genre-defining survival-horror opus. Although not the first horror game, it exerted such a gravitational pull that, like shooters in the wake of Doom, all other entries in the genre were considered as “clones.” You still can’t talk about survival horror without Resident Evil rising like the undead in discussions. Resident Evil established the now-standard genre gameplay of careful exploration, puzzle-solving, and resource management. You play as American Special Operations Agents Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine who enter a zombie-infested mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City to find their missing teammates. Players remember this Resident Evil game most fondly for the creepy atmosphere and unsettling presentation. It made clever and efficient use of the hardware with 3D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds to achieve unprecedented immersion.

If you like the survival horror stylings of Resident Evilauteur Shinji Mikami but aren’t into zombies, Capcom still has you covered. Much of the same team — including Mikami himself — also developed Dino Crisis, a survival horror game that happens to be set in a secret island research facility. As the name suggests, you encounter genetically-revived dinosaurs running rampant. While this sounds remarkably similar to the Jurassic Parkfilms, the similarities end with the basic premise.  Dino Crisis takes a serious and notable departure from the arguably hokey premise of JP in many ways. Even though Dino Crisisand Resident Evilare both survival games, Capcom presents Dino Crisisas a “Panic Horror” game, giving it a higher danger rating. They argue that Resident Evil’s zombies are less threatening than the clever, speedy, and violent dinosaurs. Dino Crisisboasts commendable, real-time 3D backgrounds, in contrast to the pre-rendered gamescapes of its ancestors. This background, combined with artistic still camera angles, amps up the game’s immersion and interactivity.  It’s not as horrifying or as culturally famous as Resident Evil, but Dino Crisishas many perks. Many gamers think it is superior to Resident Evilin many different ways, and we agree that it’s intense, fun, and well-paced. Even though the Raptors are the smartest predators and highest risk, there are plenty of species to fight.  Whether you play a classic PS1 or use a console emulator, it’s worth checking out these classic PlayStation 1 games. No matter your preferred brand of nostalgia, you’ll find a retro genre or series that is perfect for you.

Clearly a blatantZelda clone for Sony’s console, Alundrais a top-down action adventure with light RPG elements. It features the same hack-and-slash combat as Nintendo’s series, as well as item gathering, and adds in the ability to explore other people’s dreams and nightmares. There’s also a heavy puzzle element, some of the most difficult in the genre.

Alongside the combat modes, the game also features a quest mode, much like Tekken‘s later installments that are crammed in as a side show. This boasts a long dungeon crawl-style of play, complete with item looting and a hunger status. Other minigames are also featured, further bolstering the longevity of the title.

Now a cult series of wacked-out RPGs, thePersona series also found a home on the PS1, and Persona 2is a great example of what the traditionally off-the-wall series has in store. Played in third-person, with random battles and the persona system that grants new strengths and abilities, it’s a different, but no less absorbing role player.

Personas can be levelled up with use, and new personas are acquired by gathering tarot cards and attracting demons. The rumor system is intriguing, and new rumors can be collected with various outcomes if the player pays for the rumor to become fact. Quriky? Yes. Great? Most definitely.

The second game in the series, and another excellent JRPG for the PS1, Suikoden II doesn’t try to follow many of its stable mates by using flashy 3D or technical prowess. Instead, it simply goes for pure, traditional JRPG 2D quality, and tasks you with recruiting a myriad of characters to aid you in your fight.

One of Capcom’s most overlooked releases, Rival Schools is a great example of the 3D one-on-one brawler. Set in typically colorful Japanese-style schools, complete with dodgy schoolgirl underwear flashing, combatants vary from martial artists to sports players, and you pick two of them at a time. One is your actual combatant, and the second is used to the game’s team-up special attacks.

Treasure is one of the the most acclaimed developers of the 16- and 32-bit era, and it made a big name for itself by creating off the wall titles with distinctive twists. Silhouette Mirage is one of those titles, and it’s a side-scroller that plays like a mash-up of two other Treasure titles, Gunstar Heroes and Ikaruga.

The main twist of the game is main character Shyna’s split abilities. Using both Silhouette and Mirage powers, you have to attack your foes with the opposite power, similar to Ikaruga‘s polarity-switching mechanic. Silhouette enemies are defeated by Mirage, and vice versa. The added twist is that to use each power, you need to be facing the right direction.

This produces a very interesting and quirky take on side-scroller play, and being a treasure title, it packs in great visuals and a well-balanced difficulty. It’s also very challenging for completionists, as you have to complete the game numerous times with only a handful of continues to unlock all of the secrets.

The game features bold, colorful worlds to jump around in three dimensions and sports a rather unique interface, complete with radar and an auto view tilt when you jump, so you can see where you were going to land. It mixes this platforming with first-person shooting of sorts, and item collection goals with boss battles.

The game plays well, even with the PS1’s limited tech, and it set the stage for 3D platformers to come when it first arrived, so it deserves praise if only for its precursor status.

A 2.5D platformer of the Metroidvania-style, this is another often overlooked, but trend-setting title on the PS1, despite the protagonist having bright pink hair. As the feral hero, players explore the large environments of the game, jumping in and out of the background and breaking the traditionally linear platforming mold. Players can also choose where they want to go at various points. Some areas of the game open up with top-down gameplay that allows more freedom, and there are tons of missions to try out, over 100 in total.

Imagine Hudson Soft’s Bomberman series, only faster, with open levels and more anime hair, and you’ve got Silent Bomber. This is a great fast-paced, top-down action title in which you complete missions by running around like a loon, jumping, and wall climbing, while throwing and detonating bombs to blow up your foes and objectives.

On a platform that’s so well endowed with RPGs, especially of the JRPG persuasion, it’s easy for truly great titles to get lost in the mix, and Star Ocean is one such example. Although overshadowed by other, more recognized titles, Star Ocean: The Second Story is one of the best RPGs on the system.

Puzzle Bobble 4 on the PS1 is one of the best examples of the series, too. With well over 600 levels and new pulley/scale system game mechanics, this is also one of the finest puzzlers on the platform, period. Both a story and arcade mode are present, along with puzzle mode, challenges, and more. You can even use the level editor to create your own challenges. Chain reactions are also introduced in two player matches (and 1P vs. CPU). The various modes and excellent two player challenges make this a no-brainer for puzzle fans.

With Street Fighter dominating the genre, Capcom decided to broaden the series’ horizons by creating Puzzle Fighter. Like many of the best puzzle games, the core gameplay is simple – match colored blocks and drop them on your opponent. It features cutesy versions of popularStreet Fighter characters and special moves based on the fighting title.

As with many popular puzzlers, the game has been cloned (it was itself based on Capcom’s Pnickies), most notably in Mortal Kombat: Deception. It’s also been ported to modern consoles via PSN and Xbox Live, but the PS1 version is one of the best, and despite bearing theStreet Fighter name, could have done much better.

Consistently brought up in underrated discussions by fans, Legend of Legaia is one of the most fondly remembered titles on the platform by genre fanatics. One of many examples of fine JRPGs on the system, it features a turn-based combat system that allows players to choose the type of attack by selecting left or right attacks, as well as high and low. Depending on the equipment used, these attacks can be greatly affected. High and low attacks can be useful in different situations, with low attacks missing flying enemies, for example. Characters can also team up with powerful entities called Ra-Seru, which augment their abilities.

A space combat sim, Colony Warsfeatures smooth space dogfights, and a non-linear mission structure, with mission failure not always leading to a game over, but instead changing the progress of the missions, a nod to the classic, genre stable mate, Wing Commander.

Long before Nintendo’s Wario developed a taste for tiny, bite-size minigames, Bishi Bashi Special was shaking soda bottles and wasting mechanical pencil lead on the PlayStation with style and content that could only come from Japan.

A sequel of sorts to the more famous Parappa the Rapper, Um Jammer Lammy follows the same formula as the previous release, but has a focus on guitar playing, rather than rapping. Like Parappa, Lammy has to play various songs alongside her teachers with players reproducing button presses as instructed.

As with a lot of underappreciated titles, Bushido Blade is a game that takes a famliar genre and attempts to do something differently. This time it was to replace fisticuffs and flashy special moves with realistic, insta-death sword fights.

Although it may not have worked from a commercial standpoint, hence its inclusion here, Bushido Blade‘s combat is both rewarding and addictive. It does away with the ability to button mash your way to victory, and instead features a combat system that requires genuine skill and perfect timing, especially when going up against another human opponent.

Perhaps its focus on a more realistic and low-key setting, coupled with the rather mundane characters, compared to the competition at least, did it no favors initially, but overlooking this yields some truly brilliant combat packed with depth.

Spanning the first three Die Hardmovies, Die Hard Trilogyfeatures three different games in one package, all of which are great. Die Hardis a third-person action-shooter,Die Hard 2: Die Harder is a Virtua Cop-like shooting gallery (with light gun support), and the jewel in the crown is Die Hard with a Vengeance, which is a challenging, checkpoint-lead driving game.

All three titles are full games in their own right, and the mixture of styles make for a long-lasting challenge, and what a challenge it is. The on-railsDie Hard 2 is enjoyable, but both Die Hardand Die Hard with A Vengeanceare very tricky, with the latter being the hardest of the three. This challenge is always on the right-side of fair, though, and for its time, this was a very impressive compilation. And it’s Die Hard, which just never gets old (until Die Hard 4.0, anyway).

Directed by Metal Gearcreator, Hideo Kojima, Policenauts is very similar to the previous, excellent Sega CD title, Snatcher. Like the previous game, this is a point-and-click interactive comic of sorts, with shooting segments. By clicking on the environment, the protagonist, Jonathan Ingram, can analyze items and converse with people in order to investigate the circumstances surrounding his wife’s death.

Using either the supplied music, or your own, your goal is simple, to guide the enigmatic protagonist, Vibri, along a straight line that warps and shifts along with the music. As the music plays, the line changes, generating obstacles that can be avoided with well-timed and correct button presses. The obstacles are generated in time with the music, which means that the style and tempo of music you use can actually affect the difficulty.

A criminally (if you’ll forgive the pun) overlooked gem of a game. Future Cop LAPD is a great sci-fi action title that sees you control a powerful law enforcement mech (that can transform into a car) on a series of missions. The gamepley somewhat resembles that of EA’s Strike series (which is well overdue for a return), and the entire campaign can be played in split-screen co-op.

Alongside the main content, there’s also a basic strategy game included, complete with unit building. This can also be played by two players. Great value and a great game.

Created by Crystal Dynamics, who ironically now heads Tomb Raider, the game takes plenty of inspiration from Ms. Croft’s outings, including a heavy focus on block puzzles and environmental navigation. Unlike Tomb Raider games of the period, however, Soul Reaver features a large, open world with no loading times, a big feature at the time of release. This world is split into various regions, each ruled by a different vampire clan, the leader of which Raziel has to locate and defeat in order to acquire new abilities. Raziel can also switch from the living and dead planes, and this serves as a major puzzle and plot device.

This all amounts to a brilliant mixture of Tomb Raider and Metroid, with areas opening up once Raziel acquires the powers needed to access previously closed-off zones. Throw in some Zelda-style combat and all sorts of supernatural abilities (which also make for some very impressive puzzles) and you have a fantastic fantasy adventure.

While Resident EvilandSilent Hillmay have captured all of the mainstream attention in the survival horror genre, there was another series that was every bit as good – if not better, according to its fans. This was Parasite Eve, which mixed Resident Evil-style survival horror with RPG elements to create a very different take on the genre.

Unlike the first title, PEIIfeatures a real-time battle system, reminiscent of Resident Evil, and this is tempered by the Parasite Energy system that grants Aya special, magic-style abilities. Although it’s certainly a survival horror, complete with puzzles and pre-rendered environments, there’s a larger emphasis on combat, and here you also need to level Aya up, improving her abilities and customizing her weapons. This is important, as later enemies became increasingly more and more deadly, and unprepared players can be unceremoniously destroyed.

As elite an Riskbreaker named Ashley Riot, your mission is to infiltrate the creepy, abandoned city of Lea Monde in pursuit of cult leader Sydney, who’s kidnapped the Emperor’s son. The city is populated with all manner of beasts and monsters, along with powerful bosses. Along the way we also discover Ashley’s troubled past.

What sets Vagrant Story apart from its RPG brethren is the overall style. Instead of a traditional turn-based approach used by the likes of Final Fantasy, here the game fuses both turn-based and real-time with action-adventure exploration and puzzle solving.

Combat is essentially turn-based, but is more fluid. You can move around during combat, which flows seamlessly with exploration, eschewing random battles, and you use a unique targeting system to strike various enemy body parts. As you fight, your “risk” meter fills up. The higher it gets, the less likely your hits are to connect, but critical hit chances are increased. With careful timing, you can string together attacks endlessly, using your own custom move set, and a full counter attack system is in place.

Outside of combat, Ashley can craft his own weapons, and all of these gain experience (affinity) against specific enemy types as they’re used. There’s also a hefty dose of block-based puzzling, all wrapped up with a visually impressive, very different style, and a good story with strong characters.

We’ve all purchased numerous copies of Pokemon Red, so why should we buy it again? You may even still have the cartridge but don’t want to carry around your giant Gameboy DMG everywhere with you to play it!

The RG353M is one of the best affordable handhelds on the market, with a metal shell and the ability to play Dreamcast games, it’s an absolute juggernaut.

On the back it features four mini flared shoulder buttons that work well, and the screen is incredibly crispy due to the high resolution, but do take into consideration that the screen has a hazy look to it, but doesn’t really affect gameplay at all.

Update: As of mid May 2022 they have released Version 2 which comes with a couple of small upgrades. This has also increased demand, making it harder to find in stock.

The RG353M runs on either the Android or Linux operating system, featuring 2GB’s RAM, a 1.8GHZ processor, a 3.5″ touchscreen display teamed up with a 3500MAH battery that lasts above 5 hours.

That power wrapped in metal, with a lovely crispy screen, an easy to understand Linux OS and new hall joysticks that feel great, it’s one of the best retro handhelds out there.

Steam offers frequent updates, ships products instantly, have a massive customer service team and the product is close to flawless, even if it feels like you’re playing with King Kong’s big toe.

Once that’s done you can emulate a wide number of retro consoles including Dreamcast, Gamecube and most PS2 games, making it an all round gaming behemoth when you combine it with your Steam Library.

Straight out of the box its easy to use, and comes with a simple launcher that installs all of the emulators needed with one simple click, making it an easy product to recommend for those that have never touched a retro handheld before.

The Analogue Pocket has to be 2021’s most anticipated handheld, even beating the OLED Switch. This is quite literally the modern day Gameboy with a twist.

The build quality is superb, it has 3.5″ LCD display with a PPI of 615, covered in Gorilla glass and some superb buttons that feel responsive and durable to with it.

Inserting old cartridges into a brand new handheld does feel weird at first, but give it some time and it will come naturally. The screen is so stunning and when you dive into the new AnalogueOS you can cruise through the menus and tweak settings on the fly in just a few seconds.

Yes, it is slightly limited to Gameboy games, but with some of their adapters you can play the best SEGA Game Gear games, Atari Lynx and Neo Geo games, all from the Analogue Pocket.

It’s an Android based handheld with a Snapdragon SD845 processor, with a Ardeno 630 GPU and 7GB’s or RAM, so on paper, it’s a very powerful handheld, and due to the incredible specs it can emulate Gamecube, PSP, Dreamcast and even Playstation 2 games very well.

After testing it for a couple of weeks we were blown away with the sheer performance of the AYN Odin. We didn’t have to tweak any of our settings to get PS2 games running on this thing, a simple press of the “high performance” button and it will happily run it at 40+ FPS.

It is built for gamers wanting to explore games in different ways, allowing new and old indie games developers to get involved with the release of weekly games on release day of the PlayDate.

It has a lightweight but durable shell and a small super reflective (not backlit) black and white screen that reminds us of the Gameboy DMG era where you try and get the sun or any form of light to reflect off the screen in order to see it.

We fell in love with lots of the games that the PlayDate has to offer. It’s certainly not a handheld that you can play on for hours on end due to the form factor, and the not so comfortable crank, but it’s one we keep going back to when rendering videos, or between writing articles or even on the short bus ride into town.

The team have even crafted their own operating system, allowing you to get around the menus with ease, save states with the press of a button and load up your game art to make it easier for you to manage.

It’s been built with care and quality in mind, so it’s not going to snap when you sneeze while playing and the super bright display helps with viewing the tiny 1.5” display.

It’s an adorable handheld with plenty of colours to choose from, and I am hoping the Funkey Team starts launching different consoles soon. Perhaps a mini Gameboy Advance next? Pretty please?

This device uses cartridges instead of emulation applications. The Evercade takes a step back to the good old days when you could collect games, trade them with friends, read manuals and blow the dust out of cartridges.

They have a library of over 300 games to discover, from well known developers such as Bandai Namco, Capcom, ATARI, Intellivision and more, allowing you to explore old games in an authentic way without the trouble of feeling naughty when you download ROMs from random websites… not that we do that….

The build quality is great, with a impeccable D-PAD perfect for old school fighters, it even has two action buttons below that so you can play in TATE mode, something which many handhelds can’t do.

It’s a great handheld for those wanting a nostalgic touch, and to be able to collect and trade cartridges with friends like the good old days, all while supporting retro developers in an organic and official way.

This is a handheld that has been teased for many months, and lucky for us the creator behind this device sent us out an early development sample to share with you in this article and let’s just say I’m impressed!

The KT-R1 features a MediaTek G99 processor, a CPU typically seen in high-end smartphones, up to 8GB’s RAM, a 4.5” IPS display with a resolution of 1620 x 1080 and 5000MAH’s of battery.

On paper it’s a beast and in the hand… it’s a beast. This is still in production, but I was told editions will range from $169 to $259 with a metal shell adding approximately $50 to the price tag.

It was released in February 2022 and featured some pretty impressive specs. For example, it has a Unisoc Quad-Core T320 CPU, GE8300 GBPU, 2GB RAM, a 3.5″ touchscreen (640 x 480) and a 4000MAH battery capacity.

Straight out of the box the Retroid Pocket 2+ is fluid to setup because the GoRetroid team created their own launcher, taking you step by step through the handheld while using the touchscreen. They even install retro gaming emulators for you when setting up, this level of help is what helps us advise this to anyone.

Typically, we don’t really like Powkiddy products, but this one here is the outcast of the bunch. It has a new ergonomic design which feels incredibly comfortable and it’s teamed up with a large, bright, saturated 5″ display.

It features a RK3326 chip, which is a little old, but it does that job and can emulate most retro consoles up to PS1 and a few N64 games should you like to tinker with the settings.

It feels like a Nintendo Switch Lite, but has the power to hold thousands upon thousands of your retro games in a clean UI with a big screen, good battery life and a well designed shell.

It comes with the RK3326 1.5GHZ Chip, and 1GB RAM meaning it can emulate everything up to N64 very smoothly, and with the large 3900MAH battery you can get a good 5 hours gameplay out of it.

What’s even better is that this console comes preloaded out of the box with thousands of games, and has Emulation Station already installed so you don’t have to setup anything.

Everything is ready out of the box, no mapping of keys, no installing firmware. Just pick up and play. It’s incredible and we love playing our rare PS1 games on it with no frame rate drops.

The RG351P comes with thousands of games pre-loaded straight out of the box. The firmware doesn’t need updating, the UI is stunning, and all of the buttons are mapped already for each emulator.

So, it’s the ultimate handheld to recommend to newcomers into the scene who have no experience with handheld emulators. Heck, we would even recommend it to kids because it’s that easy to play on.

It comes in two editions, the “VS” version which is Linux only and comes with 1GB RAM, but the best of the bunch is the original “RG353V” which features Linux/Android OS, 2GB’s RAM and a touch screen display.

Priced at just $119 it’s trying to compete with the Retroid Pocket 3. Although it’s not as good it’s still a great new vertical form factor for those that want a great looking handheld with dual analogue sticks and enough power to play all of your retro games up to and including PSP.

Albeit, this is larger than most on that list, and I personally think it’s “normal” sized rather than mini, but with the competitive $55 price tag, it’s put itself on our radar.

It features a 3.5″ IPS display with a resolution of 640 x 480, making it close to pixel perfect when playing old retro games like the NES, SNES and Gameboy Advance.

It has a very bad operating system, terrible shoulder buttons and high gloss action buttons, but on the good side, the screen is great, the price is great and its very easy to understand, making it great for begginers.

Around the screen Powkiddy has decided to remove its logo on the face and add very thin bezels around the edge to create a modern form factor. The analogues sticks are identical to that of a Nintendo switch, the action and DPAD buttons are bouncy, and it genuinly feels like a sturdy handheld.

Our only downfall with this handheld’s design is that the screen used is dimmer than most we are used to, and the shoulder buttons are very poor quality. They’re made of thin plastic, have very little feedback, and are just awful to use.

It can emulate everything up to N64 flawlessly, with little hiccups. it’s once you start trying to emulate large N64 games, Dreamcast and PSP games when things start to get a little choppy.

This handheld. isfor those of you that want to a larger screen for older retro consoles, yes it can play Mario Kart 64, but anything heavier than that and the gaming experience gets a little unpleasant.

This device from ANBERNIC looks like a SNES controller that features a large 3.5″ touch screen in the middle of it and can use Android or Linux as its operating system.

Unfortunately the touchscreen only works within the Android port, but it;s enough to play the best Nintendo DS games using the touchscreen for the second screen in game, which is a first in affordable handhelds like these.

But now, 9 months later they released this new handheld, with a few minor updates. These minor updates from the original RG350 makes this handheld feel incredibly polished.

The handheld feels great in the hand and comes in a wide number of different variants. It has not one but two (Nintendo Switch) analogue sticks and a large 3.5″ display that’s bright, saturated and made of glass. The screen resolution is 320 x 240.

It also has a higher resolution screen of 640 x 480 making it even crispier than the RG350P. The internals are the same, so this will still be able to emulate all of your retro games up to Playstation 1 by installing your ROMS.

ANBERNIC are renowned for doing a great job with the build quality of their products and this handheld follows suit. This is a handheld that will last for years to come and will happily take bumps and scratches along the way.

Heck’ it’s even great for kids as the sturdy build quality will last for years, and the easy user interface is simple for them to understand. The RG280V is a great pick up for the younger retro gamers out there. For us oldies, the screen may be a little small for the tiny text in some games.

The PocketGO S30 was released in December 2020, rounding off the year with a new “affordable” handheld that can emulate everything up to PS1 and a bit of PSP.

What makes the PocketGo S30 so popular is simply that price tag, coming in at just $59.99. This combined with a 1.2GHZ processor makes it “on paper” a good bang for your buck handheld.

It’s designed to look like an original SNES controller and even a member of the 8BitDo team got involved with the design, hence naming it after their “SN30+” controller.

It works well straight out of the box, and that’s why we like it. The menus are ready, games are preloaded, and the buttons are already mapped for you, meaning you can play with it as soon as you unbox it.

We are surpised to put Powkiddy so high in our list, we’ve had a bad history with their handhelds but it looks as if they’re starting to learn from their mistakes as the RGB20 is a powerful pocket handheld.

On paper it is powerful, with a 1.5GHZ CPU, 1GB RAM, a 3.5″ Display and 300MAH battery capacity. Put simply, this thing can play Dreamcast, N64 and even PSP games well.

What makes the Powkiddy X18S so wanted is the fact that it’s a clamshell Android handheld with a large screen and the ability to emulate Dreamcast and PSP games flawlessly.

The PiBoy DMG by ExperimentalPi is one of the best retro handhelds due to its sheer power. Inside is a new Raspberry Pi4 with up to 8GB RAM capable of powering Dreamcast and beyond.

You can either buy the DIY kit to make it yourself if you have a spare Pi3 or Pi4 lying around, or you can go fully assembled like we did that comes pre-built and pre-installed with retropie.

Because it’s packed with power, it can handle anything you chuck at it. PSP, N64, Dreamcast; no problem. It even has WiFi and Bluetooth, allowing you to connect to the internet or even stream games from your PC directly to the PiBoy DMG.

A 29 year old fella that’s had a Gameboy addiction ever since he was a child. Brandon is the founder of RetroDodo and created a YouTube channel with 240,000 subscribers dedicated to retro gaming products. He now wants to create the No.1 site to showcase the latest retro products from around the globe.