How to legally play retro games today

Cassie Mammone

15.8.2025

Translation: Julia Graham

If you don’t have the original hardware at home, there are alternative ways to play old video games. The range is manageable.

A lot of gamers have a soft spot for retro titles. Developers know this too. That’s why they’re reissuing numerous old titles as remasters or remakes.

However, their increasing popularity also shows the biggest weakness of retro games: they’re not (yet) made for eternity. Hardware is limited and ageing, licence problems prevent re-releases and servers are being shut down. Signatories of the petition Stop Killing Games are fighting against the latter and calling for the preservation of video games.

Fellow editor Rainer describes the problem of disappearing games in more detail in the following article:

In addition to multiplayer functionality, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo subscriptions also offer a selection of new and old games.

Xbox Game Pass

Game Pass is Xbox’s subscription model. This gives you access to a constantly updated catalogue of video games. Amongst its hundreds of games, you’ll find classics such as platformer Banjo Kazooie. This is actually an N64 game, but it was re-released for the Xbox 360 in 2008.

It’s handy that the offer is linked to an existing product, as it gives people who are already using Game Pass an additional goodie.

In collaboration with Antstream, Xbox has added a range of retro games from publisher Activision to its Game Pass offering this year. The 72 titles include numerous classics such as the Dolphin simulation, tactical game Commando and horror text adventure Zork.

These titles are mainly based on the versions for Atari 2600 and DOS. Some exceptions are mech combat simulation Mechwarrior for the SNES and the successor Mechwarrior 2: 31st Century Combat for PS1. These titles have been adapted to the modern gaming era and been given achievements as well as a save function.

To access the Retro Classics game library, you need to have a Game Pass subscription. These games can’t be purchased separately in the store. Retro Classics is a cloud streaming service, which means you need a stable internet connection.

In 2022, Sony gave its PlayStation Plus subscription a major overhaul. The result is three different subscription levels (essential, extra and premium), which to this day hardly anyone can keep track of. Retro fans will be particularly interested in the most expensive of the three subscription models, premium.

This gives you access to what’s known as the Classics Catalogue, which includes games for PS1, PS2 and PSP. PS3 games are also included via cloud streaming.

Coupled with the multiplayer subscription, regular new games, exclusive discounts and cloud storage, this delivers a lot for the monthly price of CHF 18.90.

Unfortunately, the Classics Catalogue is tied to the most expensive of the three PlayStation Plus subscriptions. Even if you’re not interested in the other functions, you still have to buy the most expensive subscription. However, there’s also good news. Unlike the Retro Classics offer from Game Pass, you can find many games from the PS premium catalogue for purchase in the PS store.

Nintendo is the last of the three console manufacturers to jump on the subscription bandwagon. The company introduced the paid Nintendo Switch online membership with the Nintendo Switch, which unlocks retro libraries as well as online multiplayer.

Basic membership allows you to play selected games for the NES, SNES and Game Boy. The more expensive expansion pack adds game libraries for N64, GBA and the Mega Drive. The Switch 2 also contains the first GameCube titles, but this library in particular still needs to grow.

The advantage of the Nintendo libraries is primarily the brand name. After all, classics such as Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda have been shaping the video game landscape for around 40 years. Unfortunately, game libraries in recent years have been filled with good first-party games as well as shovelware – i.e. mediocre, unknown games that have nothing to do with Mario, Link and other characters.

This is particularly questionable because not all classics are available in the catalogues – although Nintendo has already sold them as software titles in the Wii Shop.

The Nintendo Switch online membership (especially in the family model with other people) is significantly cheaper compared to the other console subscriptions.

Antstream Arcade is a subscription-based streaming platform that exists independently of console manufacturers and their online features – even though there’s a separate subscription for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Antstream currently has the widest range of retro games. The catalogue spans more than 1,300 titles for a wide variety of consoles and handhelds. This is the complete list of supported devices as of August 2025:

• Amiga (176 games)
• Amstrad (42 games)
• Arcade (295 games)
• Atari 8-bit (36 games)
• Atari 2600-bit (28 games)
• Atari 5200-bit (1 game)
• Atari 7800-bit (11 games)
• Atari Lynx (6 games)
• C64 (294 games)
• DOS (7 games)
• Sega Mega Drive (48 games)
• MSX (16 games)
• MSX 2 (1 game)
• Game Boy (8 games)
• NES (34 games)
• SNES (49 games)
• PS1 (12 games)
• ZX Spectrum (291 games)

The range of Sony and Nintendo devices is manageable because the manufacturers have their own subscription models. Unlike the competition, you can buy the service for life instead of paying a monthly or annual fee – whatever that means in the age of the cloud and streaming services.

Retro collections

You can easily access several retro games at once via retro collections. These are often available digitally, but can also be purchased physically, depending on the product. One example is the Sega Mega Drive Classic Collection, a reason for Sega fans to rejoice.

However, there are two snags: the fans in question will own the games one way or another anyway. Sega, in particular, releases the same highlights again and again in a variety of ways. This makes perfect sense for preserving video games, but unfortunately, it also reduces clarity.

The games in other collections such as The Disney Afternoon Collection or the Mega Man Legacy Collection were released less frequently. This doesn’t mean their games need to be ashamed. On the contrary: titles such as Chip ’n’ Dale Rescue Rangers and Mega Man offer an overall insight into the past of platformers, when they were still a real challenge.

The advantages of such collections are often the modernisation of the games, allowing saving at any moment, and adding material. Retro fans in particular will be delighted with the art books, soundtrack collections and background information on the old titles.

GoG, formerly Good Old Games, is a digital distribution platform for video games with a special mission. The company wants to preserve games for eternity. This means that DRM and online restrictions no longer apply. After purchasing your desired product, you should have unlimited access to it. Unfortunately, this isn’t a matter of course in times when companies usually only licence games to you instead of selling them.

GoG also has its own retro catalogue with almost 700 games for you to browse through. In addition, the people behind the website have launched a so-called Dreamlist where you use a GoG account to vote for the titles you’d like to see next on the platform. The more votes a game has, the more likely it is to be included in the game catalogue.

You can easily and legally digitise physical game modules using USB readers. An adapter can read the game and create a ROM, i.e. a type of file that can no longer be changed.

Devices such as the Retrode2 for the SNES and Mega Drive cartridges or the GB Operator for Game Boy cartridges exist for this purpose. The Retrode2 can be extended using adapters to make it compatible with more cassettes.

If you download the games via a device like this, you can choose how you want to play. To give you an example, retro fans turn to the easily accessible home computer or use mobile gaming devices such as the Steam Deck. Home-made devices such as the Raspberry Pi mini-computers are also popular.

The collector community is large and ready to help with any questions. You can find numerous tutorials online about how to legally digitise your game collection.

Category: Hardware accessories
Price: product and game costs

Modern hardware alternatives including Analogue devices

If you want to make use of the original games but don’t want the limitations of old consoles, there are modern devices such as those from Analogue. The Analogue Pocket, for example, is an alternative to the Game Boy that plays titles on a crisply backlit screen. The tedious task of replacing batteries is also a thing of the past thanks to the built-in rechargeable battery. Around a year ago, the Analogue 3D was also released as an N64 alternative.

Criticism levelled at Analogue devices includes low availability and possibly cost. Even if this is justified by the high quality of the devices. The quality is probably also the reason why the modern console alternatives are often sold out.

There are numerous other such devices, which are also quite affordable.

The mini consoles that were trending around 2020 are also a way to get your hands on a small retro game collection. Console manufacturers such as Nintendo have developed devices such as the SNES Mini for this purpose, where a fixed number of games are pre-installed.

In addition to Nintendo, Sega and Sony have just jumped on the trend bandwagon with their own mini consoles.

The disadvantage compared to devices that you load with ROMs yourself is the limited content. For example, if we stay with the SNES Mini example, there are 21 pre-installed games. The collection boasts titles such as Super Mario World and the first release of Star Fox 2. But once you’ve played through all the games and want more, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Nintendo has missed the opportunity to release separately available games for the mini console.

This requires the keys be arranged in a more compact way. You plug in the device and start playing without having to search for the game in your attic or download it from a client as part of their subscription model. Just like in the good old days in your old childhood room.

Category: Hardware accessories
Price: games (collection) are costly

Cassie Mammone

Freelance Editor

cassie.mammone.freelance@gmail.com

I wrote my first text about video games when I was eight years old. I haven't been able to stop since. The rest of my time is spent on my love for 2D husbandos, monsters, my cats and sport.

Follow

---

Gaming

Follow topics and stay updated on your areas of interest

Follow topic

These articles might also interest you