Where to Begin

Welcome to Retro Gaming

Here is a list of things required to play retro games

Interest in this style of games
Time to spend

That is all their is needed to begin venturing back in time to when games where all about challenges and solving the giving problem where you could shut yourself off from the rest of the world.
Of course in order to play the games you must have some way to actually play them. Here is a list of ways to play them. You can use a single way or multiple depending on your know how or preferences.

Emulators and Roms on laptop/desktop
Actual console and games
Backwards compatible consoles
Emulators and Roms on new consoles

Each has their own pros and cons which I will explain here for you to decide which method suits you best depending on your needs.

Emulators and Roms on Laptop/Desktop

These is by far the easiest and quickest way to begin your adventure back in time to retro games. All you have to do is find the emulator that matches up with the console you desire to play.
Example Mupen64 is the emulator name for the Nintendo64.
Roms are just the name of the file giving to emulator games. This is as simple as searching for the game itself.
Pros:

Fast and easy
FREE
Can speed up the game
Can play it on you PC

Cons:

Not quite the same feeling as playing it on the console
Download limit. NB can get a bit carried away with downloading loads of games

Actual Console and Games

This can be the easiest way if you already have a working console with the games you wish to play. There is no need to do anything else if this applies to you. But as I know for most people including myself this is not the case. As mentioned in the "about me" I did break my NES cause it needed a bath lol.
Pros:

Easy to play the games
Get the enjoyment of playing the games the way it was designed to be played

Cons:

Can be costly to get the console and games
Difficult finding games
Also finding a TV/screen which is compatible with the console

Backwards Compatible Consoles

This does not apply to every console. These are consoles which allow you to play the older games on them. For example the Playstation 2 could play Playstation games.
Pros:

Can be easier and better playing the games this way
Similar feeling as playing them on the original console
Extra games for the fore-mentioned consoles.

Cons:

Limited to a smaller selection of games compared to emulators
Newer consoles are more expensive in most cases
These consoles are knowing to burn out quicker

Emulators and Roms on new consoles

This is not for the average person as this involves modifying your console. This can be enjoyable because you have increased your selection of games to play for said console instantly.
Pros:

Increasing choice of games to play for your console
Get to play old games on the big screen with no extra wires
Use of a controller instead of keyboard and mouse
Games are free

Cons:

Can brick console during modifying.
Repeat possibility of bricking the console
Not easy to do for certain consoles.
Most difficult way of all the methods
Lack of feeling of playing games the way they were meant to be

I hope these help you begin your adventure back in time in regard to gaming. Maybe you will play childhood games that you have desperately been thinking about re-playing or just playing games that you never had a chance to play.

PS. I use all of the fore-mentioned methods and I enjoy playing these retro games more than recent games. Mean reason being I can just flick through my list of a few hundred games and choose what genre I feel like playing at that precise moment. Sometimes revisiting old challenges or dealing with challenges I never encountered before.

Links for Emulators and Roms:
http://www.doperoms.com/
http://coolrom.com/

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