Over the years and the advancement of technology, playing classic video games has become a very simple task. Even if you don’t have your old consoles at hand or they no longer work, running the games of our childhood is as simple as getting a Raspberry Pi, putting a system and an emulator on it and loading the ROM of the game we used to play when we were little. But… can the experience be improved? If the emulation of classic consoles does not fill you up and you are looking for a more retro and analog experience, what we are going to tell you today will interest you.
Emulating analog consoles has more science than you thought
If you get the nostalgia and, from time to time, you like to play an old video game, surely you know Retropie. This system is loaded inside a Raspberry Pi and, after configuring the necessary BIOS and finding the ROMs of the video games that we legally own on the Internet, we can transport ourselves for a few hours to the past and rediscover those titles that gave us so much in our childhood.
However, back foot and other classic emulation programs they are not quite perfect. If you think about it, the classic 8-, 16-, and 32-bit consoles were completely analog. And, when we use a current system to emulate them, we replace everything analog with digital signals. Is that a problem? If you’re not a purist, you won’t notice, but really, yes. The classic consoles and video games were designed to run on a television from before, from the tube ones. By converting the signal to digital, we not only lose some of the charms of said technology, but also make the experience a bit worse. A frequently repeated debate in this regard is that of the input lag. Although it may seem hard to believe, when you press the button on your SNES and Mario jumps, there is less delay than if you perform the same process with a Raspberry Pi and a modern controller connected by USB.
RGB-Pi. Emulating the classics as they deserve
If what you are looking for is to play video games as they were created, the first thing you need is a CRT TV. Yes, fat. It will not be too difficult for you to get one. A 14-inch screen will be more than enough. They are usually very cheap, since nowadays nobody wants them. Once you have the TV, you can continue emulating your games with the Raspberry Pi. But, instead of using Retropie, you will use RGB-Piwhat is a operating system designed to act as an intermediary between the board and an analog television.
RGB-Pi is a stand-alone system that is not based on Emulation Station, but is part of a independent development. can emulate up to 30 sets different to date. It has its own user interface and is fully plug and play. It has two versions: OS2 for Raspberry Pi 2/3 and OS4which works exclusively on Raspberry Pi 4. The connection to the TV is made directly from the Raspberry Pi board, using a SCART cable that runs from the 40 pin GPIO from the plate to the tv scart, giving a 240p video output with RGB sync. Once assembled, you will be able to play in PAL mode in both 50 and 60 hertz, enjoying a gaming experience identical to the original.
