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nes_classic

With the official NES classic going on sale and then being sold out within a day, there is an alternative other than paying silly money for ones that people were lucky enough to buy and then selling for a massive profit on the likes of eBay etc. Looked myself earlier and yes there are some at about £1000, but most around the £150 mark, but that’s still just under £100 over the retail price.

Myself I have recently got an android TV box, mainly for streaming pc games from my main pc in the office to downstairs on the larger TV, But these boxes are great for emulation of most systems including the Nintendo entertainment system. Now yes using emulation isn’t exactly legal (as officially you do need to own the original games) and some would say the not same as the official route, but with sites out there easily supplying ROMs it does give you a choice.

So here’s my ideas on a compatible emulation system if you can’t get your hands on a mini NES classic.

Hardware

Android TV box, around £20 – £40 (eBay / Amazon)

m8_android_tv
There are various types of android TV boxes available any would do the job for 8 & 16bit emulation. Personally I got a generic M8S, these are a quad core cpu, 2gb ram, 8 or 16gb storage, comes with android 5.1 or 6 and normally preloaded with Kodi aswell which is a great media streamer, complete with power supply, remote and even hdmi cable (full review in next few days)

Compatible USB NES controller £5 – £10 (eBay / Amazon)

nes_usb_controller
Yes you can use any USB controller with the Android TV box, or even bluetooth if the box has it some dont, but if you want the nostalgic feel of the nes, there are controllers that look the NES controller. Probably not as good quality as the official one, but they do come with an longer cable 🙂

Software

Nostalgia.NES – emulator Free/£2.49

nes_android_emu
This is my personal favorite NES emulator for Android highly customizable and not really had any problems with the ROMs I have tried. Though if this one isn’t for you there are a few other good ones on the play store.

ROMs (games)

emu_paradise_nes
There are some great sites or even torrents to get room files but my favorite is emuparadise.com. This site has a great search and also ROMs listed alphabetically.

To set up the above is very easy download the emulator you want, the download and save the ROMs to the relevant directory for the emulator you are using. Plug in your controller and play. Depending on emulator and controller you may need to map the buttons of the controller, but once done don’t need to do it again.

Im using these products as examples, but you can relive really any old console system through emulation on really any hardware. For instance using retropie os on a raspberry pie computer, any windows pc or laptop, or even your tablet or phone.  Personally for emulation I use both the android TV with a wired xbox 360 controller or my tablet and a ipega 9023 bluetooth tablet controller (See HERE for review on the ipega) So really the choice is yours.

By Kevin Simon

I run this blog & also self employed cleaning out fish ponds, but due to spinal problems not able to do as much, now started a youtube channel showing my converted Peugeot Partner micro camper also as interest in photography so now vlog about the trips and of course Lego figures out in the wild photos.

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