Introduction
Over the weekend, I plan to switch over to the January theme for the web page. However, I wanted to write one last article about our adventures in Pennsylvania. Part of this web page acts as a running journal for me and my family. Over the summer, I came up with the idea to travel down to Pennsylvania to visit my brothers and maybe my cousins. To my surprise, everyone agreed and we made plans. My brother Zac texted about one last gift for the boys.
To my surprise, he also presented me with one of them. What, you may ask, is this gift? Quite possibly the most perfect one for me and the boys. A Retro Dock R36T emulator. We all enjoy older games more than newer ones in general. Ever since we returned from the trip, each of us plays the little console at least once a week.
The Look
When you turn on the console, it opens like an old CRT-TV with the horizontal lines and static on the screen. It quickly loads to a menu that allows you to pick from 23 different systems and over 10000 games. Not sure on the exact total there. I think it might be closer to 14000+. The first thing I tried, as I often do with these types of games, is loaded up the GameBoy and played around with Super Mario Land. For what it’s worth, Liam played and beat the game in the hotel room during our stays in Pittsburgh and Scranton.
Quinn picked it up the other day in between stints on Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Galaxy. I tried to play GTA Vice City Stories. I can’t tell if it stretches the processor too much, but it lagged a bit during the cut scenes on that particular game. Once I complete my video for Top 5 Atari 2600 hidden gems, I will try again.
The Systems
Amstrad CPC – Never heard of it, but neat!
MAME?! – Actually I played MKII first
Atari 2600
Capcom Play System I/II/III
PC Engine
Nintendo Famicom
NES
Game Boy
Super Famicom
SNES
N64
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance
Nintendo DS
Sega SG-1000
Sega Game Gear
Sega Mega Drive
Sega Megadrive 32X
Dreamcast
Neo-Geo
NeoGeo Pocket
Playstation
PSP
The Verdict
As I already said, this one last gift is perfect for me and my kids. Zac also got one for Tim and he played through something with our niece by his side. She seemed quite taken by the whole thing, too. If you want a great little system that reminds you of the handhelds of old, this is the one that you want. Even if it doesn’t have the game that you want, it also takes a microSD card that will allow you to expand the library. Let me know what I should play next in the comments.