Retro games won’t go away too soon. No matter how advanced the gaming industry is today, the truth is most players like to get back to their old school childhood every now and then.
Some games are classics and provide an incredible experience, even if the graphics look outdated. With these thoughts in mind, plenty of people are still obsessed with retro games.
No one’s ready to abandon this industry.
Now, over the past years, trends have also pushed retro games into the streaming industry.
If you’re mostly used to see streamers showing new releases, and modern games, more and more streamers turn to classic games too.
Now, how do you stream retro console games on Twitch? There are quite a few ways to do it. Here are the most popular ones.
Find an online arcade platform
This is one of the easiest ways to stream retro games on Twitch, yet not necessarily the most popular one among professional gamers.
Some would describe this option to be the cheating way. Basically, you don’t necessarily need a console to do it. You don’t need an emulator either. Instead, it’s all about joining an online arcade platform.
Once in there, the platform will let you own a copy of a game that you purchase. So yes, you’ll need to purchase the game there. Once you get it, you can start playing without a console.
You own the game digitally through a few different platforms, with Amazon Luna and Antstream Arcade being among the most popular ones.
The good news is you can stream games via Mac as well, without too much extra work.
Get the newest Super NES Classic Edition or NES Classic Edition console
These are the latest consoles from Nintendo when it comes to classic editions. Sure, they’re not super modern, but this is the closest you’ll get to running games on modern devices.
So, why do you need the latest consoles? Simple. They come with an extra connectivity feature. They can be plugged straight into your TV or monitor with nothing but a wire, since they have HDMI ports.
This way, you no longer need to convert video formats, upscale videos with cables, and so on. Instead, you require a capture card to grab both the video and the audio of the console to your computer.
Some consoles come with pre-loaded games and 4k connectivity. Some of them have 30 games, others may have more than 800 games. If you get the NES Classic Edition, you’ll get 30 games, a controller, and the HDMI cable.
On the other hand, the Super NES Classic Edition comes with 21 games, two controllers, and an HDMI cable.
Apart from the official consoles, there are other consoles loaded with hundreds of games that provide the exact same experience in terms of connectivity. They usually have more games too.
Connect your retro console the classic way
This is the most technical way to stream retro games on Twitch and also a common option for many avid gamers. It’s the first method out there, and lots of gamers still stick to it.
Besides, it provides a bit of freedom regarding the games you can play. You can find ROMs for all sorts of consoles over Romspedia and download them to your device for an authentic experience. Of course, you’ll need an emulator as well, depending on what console you pick.
The pure way to play retro games comes with some challenges and requires some technical experience.
First of all, such consoles were made for CRT monitors. From the actual resolution to the cables, everything is designed for them. Therefore, you’ll need to make wire adjustments and change inputs and outputs. This is the technical part of the process.
Second, pay attention to the video output as well. Most consoles can barely come up with 240p or 480i. Again, modern monitors are less likely to support this. Therefore, you’ll need to make the HDMI conversion.
The footage must be interpreted in the software too.
This process is quite technical and mostly recommended to gamers with experience. The good news is there are plenty of video tutorials over different platforms.
As a short final conclusion, unless you want to prove a point or you like to test your technical skills, there are no reasons to rely on the old school way to stream retro games on Twitch.
This option worked back in the day, when there weren’t too many alternatives.
These days, you have simpler options that can get you online and streaming within minutes only.
At the end of the day, it depends on what games you want to stream. Some of them are harder to find and will require using emulators to play them. Some others are built into different consoles, so they’ll be much more convenient to stream.