Retro Gaming In Style With The Dreamcade Replay

  So E3 has done its thing for another year. We’ve had the latest, spangliest, AAA-iest games strutting their stuff in 60fps 1080p for our viewing pleasure. Because, natch, so much of gaming today is all about the tech specs. The visual grandeur. Frame rates and performance and all of that good stuff.  

Which is fair enough, really. This is 2016, grandpa, entitled gamers expect much of their games. Even with all of that said, though, there’s always time to kick back with a pixelly, clunky old classic. Nostalgia is a damn powerful thing, and the retro gamer culture will never die.

A lot of the time, to get our fix, we’re reduced to trying to fire up dusty-ass old consoles on modern TVs (have you ever tried to play Duck Hunt with the zapper on one? Because you can’t), or relying on the shady art of emulation. But take an ogle at this new Kickstarter project.

Dream Arcades have made themselves a kind of emulator/console hybrid. This isn’t something we’ve never seen before, but man does this take on it look sweet.

‘From Pong to PlayStation and everything in-between, finding and adding your favorite titles takes just a few clicks with our custom Retro-Reload Software that installs and configures everything, so adding new games to the menu is seamless. Plus, all downloads are from vetted, safe and DMCA compliant sites, keeping your system and family away from viruses, as well as intrusive, or even family inappropriate advertising,’ the press release tells us.

The Dreamcade Replay will come in three versions. In the header you’re seeing the most pimped out model, The Dreamcade Replay Mobile, priced at $599. This is a full-on miniature arcade machine, with 8-inch display, Bluetooth, wi-fi and all that fancy gubbins. There’s also a Classic model shaped like a teeny Atari, and an Arcade edition that includes a fancy arcade stick. Those’ll set you back $269 and $399 respectively.    

It’s pricey, sure, and a little dicey, but man oh man is the inner old school game nerd within me thrilled by this. Hit the Kickstarter campaign page for more details.