When I saw the news that the KK battle platform had launched a "Retro Emulator" section where you can play hundreds of arcade and NES games for free, I almost shouted out loud at my desk. Contra, The King of Fighters, the Kunio-kun series, Metal Slug, Knights of Valour, Snow Bros., Battle City... The moment those names came up, all my childhood memories came flooding back.
The most painful thing as a kid was standing in line at the arcade clutching my coins, feeding them in until my pockets were empty. Now the platform just gives you "unlimited credits" and launches with one click, with save states, pause, and key remapping — it even recreates the look of an old CRT TV. The games I never managed to beat back then? Now I finally get my revenge.
The detail that hit me hardest was the line "treat your younger self." Thinking back to blowing on those Famicom cartridges over and over, and haggling with the arcade owner for a few more minutes of play — it's both funny and nostalgic. To people today, old hardware like the Famicom and arcade cabinets might be just a ROM in an emulator, but for our generation, it was our entire youth.
I've decided to install it this weekend and beat Battle City and Contra all over again. Call it a clear ceremony for myself that's twenty years overdue.
Source: 3DMGame
Retro Dodo reports on a hobby project I find delightfully stubborn: a handheld that plays genuine Atari 2600 cartridges, with a real built-in screen and no emulation at all. It is called the µTari Go (micro-Tari) and comes from Nick Bild, who has previously shrunk the Atari 2600 down to a fully working board about three times smaller than the original.
The handheld uses the original 6507 processor with zero FPGA, and it plays on a 4-inch CRT. Everything you need from a home-console session is packed in: built-in controls, speakers, audio amplifiers and a cartridge slot, all inside a 3D-printed case. It is powered through an external 12V jack, so you can run it from a portable power pack and take it out of the house. The files are available on GitHub for anyone who wants to build one, and the news first surfaced via Hackaday.
What I like here is the spirit. Plenty of modern handhelds copy the look of classic hardware with software emulation, but this one keeps the old silicon and the old carts at the center. The writer also points out that ModRetro's Chromatic helped revive interest in Game Boy releases, and wonders whether a handheld like this might nudge people toward making new Atari games too. It is not a polished product, but as a modding project it shows how much fun old hardware still offers.
Source: Retro Dodo
Together with Plaion, Atari has produced a modern recreation of the 800XL, one of the company's oldest personal computers, according to SweClockers. The original arrived in 1983 as the third version of Atari's 8-bit computer. It had 64 KB of main memory and the same components as the Atari 400 and 800, but in a smaller case with a better keyboard.
The new version looks almost identical to the original, including the mechanical keyboard. Inside are modern components, and at the back are connections such as USB and HDMI. The included joystick is an updated version of Atari's classic model and has eight quick-fire buttons.
The machine comes with 25 classic games, including Asteroids and Centipede. Original cartridges for the Atari 400 and 800 should run directly through the built-in connector, programs can be loaded from a USB stick, and you can still write your own programs in BASIC.
Pre-orders cost 220 dollars, roughly 2,750 Swedish kronor, and deliveries are expected to start in April 2027. I like that they chose to keep the keyboard and BASIC instead of simply releasing yet another mini console. For anyone who remembers home computers from the 80s, it feels like a nostalgic but still practical comeback.
Source: SweClockers
Retro Dodo has published its review of the Evercade Nexus, a handheld that still runs on physical cartridges. It costs $199 / £169 / €199 and is due at the end of October 2026, bundled with a Banjo-Kazooie double pack that the reviewer says was made for the Nexus.
The specs are solid for the price: a 5.89-inch IPS screen at 840x512 and over 500 nits, a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, a 5000mAh battery, Wi-Fi 6, dual joysticks with L3/R3 clicks, USB-C charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is no HDMI or video output and no sleep/wake function.
The reviewer scores it 9 out of 10 overall, praising the screen (9.5), the user experience and the emulation quality, including authentic slowdown. Evercade has more than 80 licensed cartridges that cost $20 to $40 each.
There are real drawbacks. The menu button sticks about a quarter of the time, wireless audio has roughly half a second of latency, some Neo Geo cartridges briefly glitch green on start, boot takes over 30 seconds and battery life is about 3 to 5 hours. The triggers also have little travel.
Personally, I find the idea of a handheld built around physical, licensed cartridges refreshing at a time of endless emulation boxes. The reviewer expects software updates to fix the main bugs, and I will wait for those before judging it myself.
Source: Retro Dodo
Atari is releasing a modern replica of its 8-bit computer, the 800XL, which debuted 43 years ago. 3DNews reports this, citing The Verge. The Atari project is being made together with publisher Plaion, and the company has already brought back the Atari 2600 console and the Mattel Intellivision.
The new machine looks almost like the original, including a full-width mechanical keyboard. As before, you can write your own programs in Atari BASIC. It has a cartridge slot compatible with most games for the Atari 400, 800, XL and XE series, and programs can also be launched from a flash drive.
The machine has 25 games built in, including Asteroids, Centipede, Berzerk, Missile Command and Millipede. Games get four save slots and a rewind function of about 40 seconds. For modern connectivity there is HDMI and four USB-A ports. The package includes an updated Atari joystick with eight extra buttons.
Pre-orders are already open, with delivery planned for April 2027. What I find most interesting is that they kept it a computer: the keyboard and BASIC are still there, rather than just another mini console with a set of games.
Source: 3DNews
A fan project caught my eye this week: a gamer known as junkatana is working on an unofficial port of Dragon Quest III to the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive. The original came out in Japan in 1988 on the Famicom (and as Dragon Warrior III in North America in 1991), the same year the Mega Drive launched in Japan, so there is a nice bit of symmetry in giving it a home on Sega's console.
Right now it is clearly a work in progress. The only footage is a short clip shared on X, and it looks closer to the 1996 16-bit SNES remake than to the 8-bit NES original. The write-up even says it has a bit of a Chrono Trigger look and feel, and the clip shows it running with a Mega Drive controller.
The planned changes are a new save system, new shops, a new castle and inn, and sound improvements. One open question is how much AI was involved: the author could not tell, only noting that the YouTube thumbnail looks like it was tweaked with AI.
I like this kind of project because it sits right where retro hardware and fan effort meet. Whether it ever turns into a playable ROM or a cartridge people can flash is still unknown, and the author says they will keep watching junkatana's updates, especially if source code gets released. I will be following it too.
Source: Retro Dodo
On October 9, ANBERNIC previewed its new dual-screen handheld, the RG DDS.
The device is built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon G2 Gen 2 platform and has two IPS LCD screens. The top screen is 4.7 inches at 1200×720, and the bottom is 4 inches at 960×720. Both are rated at 500 nits and have a pixel density of 300 PPI.
Among the internal features, active cooling, a Z-axis linear motor, and a 6000mAh battery stand out. The exterior is a metal stepless hinge with a UV coating. A telescoping stylus is tucked into the lower left of the body, a physical AI button sits on the right, and a pair of speakers is integrated into the top.
This is only a preview, so the price and release date have not been announced. The report also does not say which emulators are supported.
What I care about most are the stylus and the physical AI button, two features that are rare on retro handhelds. I think it will be more useful to judge the real feel and emulation performance once it is officially released.
Source: IT之家
A book chronicling the history of the nostalgic 8-bit PC, the ZX Spectrum, is making waves in crowdfunding. The British publisher Golden Slumbers is running a Kickstarter for “The Rubber-Keyed Wonder: The Sinclair ZX Spectrum Story,” and pledges will be accepted until November 2, 2026.
The ZX Spectrum was released in Britain in 1982 and will celebrate its 45th anniversary in 2027. The book runs to more than 200 pages and is expected to cover not only how the machine came to be, but also contributions from developers and industry figures, and the story of the ZX Spectrum Next, a compatible machine that has been in development since 2017. It also introduces 48 landmark games, including “Football Manager,” “The Hobbit,” “Manic Miner” and “RoboCop,” and touches on the Japanese games that were ported to the platform.
The £30,000 target was reached in 98 minutes, and the campaign has now raised £73,314. Stretch goals include a chapter on clones from the Soviet Union, Brazil and Portugal at £70,000, a chapter on games that disappointed at £90,000, and a chapter on peripherals such as the Microdrive and SpecDrum at £110,000.
Pledges are £14 for the PDF edition, £29 for the paperback, and £44 for the hardcover. A limited edition of 480 copies signed by hand is priced at £99. Shipping is scheduled for April 2027. As someone who loves retro machines, I was glad to see an effort to preserve the culture of old computers in printed books.
Source: 4Gamer.net
According to Hobby Consolas, PLAION Replai and Atari have announced The 800XL, a new version of the 8-bit computer that first came out in 1983. It will reach stores on April 23, 2027, and can already be reserved in Europe through PLAION's online store for 219.99 euros.
At first glance it is almost identical to the original, both in design and in its full-size mechanical keyboard. It includes 25 built-in games, with titles such as Centipede, Missile Command, Battlezone and M.U.L.E., and a THECXSTICK, a modern recreation of the classic joystick with eight action buttons discreetly built in.
For collectors, the compatibility is the most interesting part. It accepts original cartridges for the Atari 400, 800, XL and XE, and also software for the Atari 5200 console. Cartridge, disk and tape images can be loaded from a USB drive, and you can write and save your own programs in Atari BASIC.
Among the modern features are four save slots, the ability to rewind a game by about 30 seconds, HDMI output with PAL and NTSC modes, optional CRT filters, 12 screen frames, four USB-A ports and USB-C power. I think it is a good way to give a second chance to a computer that many consider forgotten.
Source: Hobby Consolas
According to Adrenaline, Atari is bringing back the 8-bit home computer 800XL as an almost identical replica of the 1983 original. The machine comes with Atari BASIC, 25 pre-installed games and a cartridge slot that actually works. The design was redone by Retro Games, and manufacturing and distribution are handled by Plaion Replai, the same company behind the NeoGeo AES+.
The built-in games include Asteroids, BattleZone, Boulder Dash, Centipede, Flip and Flop, Hover Bovver, Missile Command and Star Raiders 2. Two extras, Castle Crisis and Super Breakout, unlock when an analog controller is connected. More games can be loaded from a USB pen drive, and the machine runs software from the 400, 800, XL and XE models as well as 5200 games. The bundled CX40 joystick connects via USB-A.
Pre-orders are already open on the Plaion Replai site for US$220, about R$1,099 by direct conversion, and include 1.8 m USB-A, USB-C and HDMI cables. The problem is the wait: the companies only plan to start shipping orders from April 23, 2027.
For anyone who collects retro hardware, I find it interesting to see a computer, and not just another mini console, get a second life.
Source: Adrenaline
Former PlayStation executive Shawn Layden admits that the PlayStation Portable (PSP) once made Nintendo nervous. He made the remark in an interview with the YouTube channel The Expansion Pass, as reported by Gamebrott.
Layden recalls that Sony showed off the PSP around 2003 to 2005. A friend of his who worked at Nintendo then sent him a message that showed irritation. Layden replied that the industry is fundamentally about entertainment and video games.
On the numbers, the PSP sold around 70.4 million units worldwide. That was a huge success, but not enough to beat the Nintendo DS, which sold around 154 million units. Layden also discussed its successor, the PS Vita, which he considers a failure because Sony misread its position in the handheld market and took a long time to realize it. In his view, consumers only want a handheld that delivers a play experience without having to imitate a console, and he pointed to the PS Vita's attempt to bring third-person shooters to the device.
As someone who collects old consoles, I find this story interesting, because the PSP and DS are now in the retro device category. Imagining two giants watching each other in that era makes old handheld collections feel like they have stories of their own.
Source: Gamebrott
